Sturer Emil

[Accolon]

Hi guys, if you choose the Barbarossa South Path 1941 you get the chance to buy an Anti Tank "Gun" called Sturer Emil in German. No clue how you translate that into english...stubborn Emil?

This Unit is a Prototype and never gets into the Arsenal of the German Armed Forces but you get 20 of them so if you play them wisely you can keep them for years.

And here comes the problem. You are NOT allowed to embark him at Sealion 1943.
Since is just a 5 clore slot unit. It should be possible to embark him. I fully agree that the Gustav and Karl don't but a AntiTank Unit?

You may consider to change that?!

:-)

[Vathek1]

That is very interesting to note. I've never noticed it before since I always go Barbarossa Center.

However, it really doesn't make any sense why you can't embark Sturer Emil via sea transport when you can readily transport Elefants, Tigers, and Panthers (oh my!) which are all much heavier vehicles than Sturer Emil which weighed in at 35 tons. Does the same also apply during the Conquest of America (another massive amphibious operation)?

I'm guessing that Emil is too stubborn to board a ship... or that it must be an oversight in the coding that treats Sturer Emil like the Karl Gerat and Gustav Gun prototypes which are also made available early during Operation Barbarossa.

On an unrelated note, it's a bit unfortunate that going the North Africa route doesn't give you a single unique unit or prototype.

[Accolon]

Yeah, when you still have Emil while you invade the US, its the same.
But normally you upgrade him to "jagdpanther" or something like that.^^

I agree that the North Africa Route should provide at least 1 Prototype^^. That is a point I miss too.

[Accolon]

Btw. its the same problem with the AntiTank Gun out of Barbarossa North which is just a 4 core slot Anti Tank....
Strammer Max..

[Hochmeister]

When you have already started this topic, I have questions:

So does the amount of prototypes replenish or do we have just 20 from the start to the end of campaign?

If the amount of prototypes replenish, how useful are they in comparison to regular anti tanks? Sturer emil seems to be more useful than all anti tanks except Jagdtiger, Jagdpanther, Elephant, later version of jagdpanzer IV and maybe Hetzer, if you use him as tank killer not just anti-tank support. But what about Dicker Max? Is he still useful, when you get access to latest version of Stug III?

[w.f.schepel]

Originally posted by Hochmeister:

When you have already started this topic, I have questions:

So does the amount of prototypes replenish or do we have just 20 from the start to the end of campaign?

If the amount of prototypes replenish, how useful are they in comparison to regular anti tanks? Sturer emil seems to be more useful than all anti tanks except Jagdtiger, Jagdpanther, Elephant, later version of jagdpanzer IV and maybe Hetzer, if you use him as tank killer not just anti-tank support. But what about Dicker Max? Is he still useful, when you get access to latest version of Stug III?

It is the 20 you get at the start and that is it, unless you get the same unit regularly. eg, the Tiger which sometimes shows up as an early prototype. Some prototypes are useful, others not so much. The amerika bomber for example is just not worth it. (Which is a crying shame, given that you'd expect a final mission prototype to be of some use!)

[Hochmeister]

So should I use them just as support?

[Accolon]

Well I used Sturer Emil until Sealion 43. So the whole Russian Campaign long. Via Barbarossa South. In the beginning he is a nice tank killer but later he become "vunerable" compared to the T34 mod 42-43 and the KW1 mod42. So I play him as a AntiTankSupport. Still had 15 left out of 20 at Sealion but nearly 4 Star Unit. Its up to you. Just keep in mind once you lost 11 you need a Hero for Field Repair to keep him going.

[Hochmeister]

And Dicker Max?

[NETSCAPE]

My current playthrough I chose the southern Barbarossa path to get the Sturer Emil.

It is BRUTAL. I like to set it behind 3 tanks and 1 recon. Soviet counter attacks just get blown to pieces by it's AT support feature. Throw on a couple heroes... a very valuable weapon indeed. I've only taken losses on it by Soviet air attacks so far. Currently in Stalingrad.

[Accolon]

Dicker Max is way weaker...still valuable for the first russian Missions but in 1942 you will switch him for a StuG I guess. It is the weaker brother of Sturer Emil. :-)

[Vathek1]

Originally posted by Accolon:

Dicker Max is way weaker...still valuable for the first russian Missions but in 1942 you will switch him for a StuG I guess. It is the weaker brother of Sturer Emil. :-)

I tried going Barbarossa South for the Sturer Emil, and it really seems lackluster to the Karl Gerat you get in Barbarossa Center. It's way too expensive in core slots for just being another AT (it costs more than your tanks!) with all the disadvantages of fixed-turret AT. Now if it had a crazily high hard attack or an extremely high base accuracy, then I'd say it would be more unique.

Cheaper AT like the self-propelled 5 cm PaK get the job done just fine and can still put some real hurting on T-34s. And Stukas are very good at tank plinking, and can even be overstrengthed a bit whilst still remaining cheaper than a 10-strength Sturer Emil unit.

And the Sturer Emil will become obsolete once you get access to Jagdpanthers, whereas the Karl Gerat remains useful against everything against through the end of the war. The only downside is its slow movement. You can also just park a cheap aircraft over it to protect it from air attacks.

Of course, this is also because I don't care much for AT when I find that luring tanks into close terrain and allowing Pioneers to disassemble them violently works just as well :D.