Recently i started grinding for the HO RI production in the japanese tech tree, upon reaching the ST-A1 it seems like my progress has completely halted. This vehicle is borderline unplayable, it has luckluster penetration, no armor, okay top speed, mediocare acceleration. You could argue that it has good optics, reverse gear and the HEATFS, but the M36 does essentialy everything this tank does but at a lower battle rating. If you can, just dont crew these tanks and go straight for the ST-A3 and TYPE 61, as they are abit better (though still mediocare compared to other nations 6.7s)
STA-1/2 are basically ambusher/sniper really, their effectiveness are limited by their armour but the gun is great.
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doesnt explain why its 6.3. You have the M36 that does that job better
m51 in Israeli tree says HELLO!
I liked the STA-1/2 though.
I dunno why you say they have lacklustre pen with 300mm HEAT (with more post pen than the M36 and Type 61/STA-3). But the APCBC is the same round thats on the American 90mm that the Pershing, T26E5, Super Hellcat, also M36 uses etc.
The Armour is pretty standard for Japan. Dont expect it to get any better the rest of the tech tree (except the Ho-Ri).
I love the Zoom myself. It makes them really good sniper tanks. Its sort of the whole tech trees thing to be honest, all the other tanks up to the Type 74s also had 16x Zoom back in the day before gaijin removed it from all of them except the STA-1/2. I was mad.
But they do suck on city maps and that again doesnt change for the rest of the tech tree until you get to the type 90s.
…especially the Type 61. It’s one of my favourite MT’s in the game. Good optics and fast rangefinder makes it a great sniper.
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Well, you’re immune to most aircraft strafing, not to mention the speedy reverse.
In my case, I love STA-1 simply because it looks stupid. Flat, long, narrow.
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ST-A1/2 are closed top and are faster. That’s about it.
almost a full br higher though
i love the way it looks too, kinda like the m26
I wish the tanks where 6.0 at most. When I first got the st-a1 I truly hated that thing, so much so that I used the chi-to at 6.3 and unironically did better, and the chi-to should be at 4.3( the late can stay at 4.7 tho)
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i completely agree
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are you sure about that?
Lackluster pen?
That’s a wild take.
The M36 lacks explosion resistance at the minimum, mobility is another issue M36 is lacking.
STAs are great brawlers.
m36 has good mobility what are you on about?? The sta’s have so litte armor that explosion resistance genuienly doesnt matter since they have 12 mm roofs. And yes, the 90mm is a lackluster cannon at 6.3 since you fight us heavy tanks and tiger 2s.
and even if, the pen isnt lackluster and the nonexistent explosion resitance is a thing, is it really worth a br of 6.3?
Are you sure about that?
Same gun, no HEAT:
Same gun with same HEAT:
Worse gun and shells at same or higher BR:
Also, Type 61/STA3 have same gun with a slightly higher pen HEAT round (320mm vs 305mm) but noticably worse post pen on that round. Its actually worse than the STA-1s HEAT round because the pen increase is irellevant at the BR but the post pen is worse.
7.3 M47 uses the same gun with the same HEAT round as the Type 61 as well. (M36B2 uses the same 320mm HEAT round as well at 5.7.
There are other tanks in the BR range using similar guns and the same shells with the same performance as well. Like the M56 scorpion for example.