Tackling the Panthers & Tigers

W

Wigam

Guest
This question is aimed at the more experienced commanders here. I have been seaching through the tactics section having a good read trying to up my skill base(long way to go I am afraid). I have had some fearful beatings from some Panthers in recent times, with the odd Tiger masacre to boot.

I want to know some tactics to go up against the big cats and come away with my boots still on and no toe tag attached.

As the russians I have tried the IS series of tanks and made them as highly trained as I could, but they still don't seem to be able to get the Panthers at standoff distances. I have been made aware o the SU-100 as a good choice but that game is still developing. As th Yanks I have tried the 76mm Sherman and hellcat but can never win the armour duel in time.

As the Brits I have had success with the 17 pounder At gun, but when mounted in a tank I seem to end up a flaming mess.

So any advice on my feline problem would be good.

Sorry for putting this here but I didn't ant to clog up the tactics section with a question.
 
What usually works for me is.

On the eastern front:

The SU-100 can take out the Panther and Tiger from the front, but they are only available from Jan 45 i think. The best chance you have is to select a map with lots of dead zone to allow you to maneuver onto their flanks. T-34/85s can penetrate from the front of a tiger sometimes (and mebbe the lower hull/turret of a panther) but if you get them on their flanks at short range you should have good success.

Even if you get stuck on a really open map i have defeated groups of tigers and panthers (even the king and jagd) by overwhelming my opponent with numbers and shooting down the map using whatever cover is available, right to the end of the map and hook back behind them. This can go catastrophically wrong if you're opponent has thought of that and puts an AT gun or 2 in your way.

Btw, make sure you buy lots of MGs/ATR/Sharpshooters, they can either take out the commander or at least force it to button up, making it less likely that he'll spot your tanks in time.

In CMAK:

The firefly is excellent for killing tigers, again if you send a firefly or plt of fireflys on some tigers after you've buttoned them up they will usually win. The main advantage the firefly has is that it has a very fast (or mebbe fast) turret vs the tigers slower one. The achilles packs the same punch as the Firefly but it loses the fast turret, so try and use them in keyhole positions, ambushing and the like.

Generally, try and gain height on panthers, that way their hull armor will be at a reduced angle and effectively thinner.
 
The Panthers Achilles heel is its weak turret front so if you pepper it with hail fire from multiple tanks, the turret penetrations will happen sooner or later.
Hail fire also damages their guns and causes immobilisations, so the key in a frontal fight is to overwhelm Panthers with sheer weight of numbers to club them to death like the allies did historically.
Even better, get into the weak side or rear if you can with swarms of Sherman 75's or T-34/76's, overwhelming numbers is the key again.

Against Tigers, hit them with hail fire too,but their side armour is very good so don't waste too much time trying to get into their sides or rear.

Against Panthers and Tigers frontally I'd estimate you need to outnumber them by at least 6 to 1 with Sherman 75's or T-34/76's so you can pepper them with hail fire.
 
Ok, so overwhelming them seems to be the go, but I have another question then.

What skill experience level do I buy them in ?

If I try to buy crack and vets they cost more and some times they cost as much as the big cats ?
 
Very effective against Big cats are the light A/A guns with the 37 A/A being the best choice.
After a couple of minutes of succesfull hits the crew will bail out as the Cat will be either immob or will have a damaged gun.
20mm A/A Gun needs more hits to achive the same result.
The biggest advantage of those guns is that in distances greater than 500 meters and with an HQ with stealth bonus attached ,the guns will be invisible(only sound contact).
Key for success is existance of good fields of fire and positioning of ur Guns.
 
Don't spend your money on Crack fireflies or SU's... you need to adopt an overwhelm and flank approach to these types of big cats. I kill panthers with side shots from 37mm cannons quite a bit, especially if they are cheaper Brit AC's. Tigers, a little more help is needed, you have to at least bring M-10's to the party. But don't waste your cash on expensive counters... just use better tactics: smoke, defilade, flank, combined arms, etc.

Cheers!

Leto
 
Here's a battle I'm having with numbers at the moment:

T70VSTRUMTIGER.jpg


T70VSTRUMTIGER2.jpg
 
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