I’ll put it bluntly; the current version in game of the SU-76M is just outright pathetic.
It has BR-350A APHEBC rounds, which can only pen 87mm at point blank range, basically a slightly angled hull of a Pz III N at range will easily tank this shot.
It has a 6.9-second base reload time, which is slower than everything at BR2, and somehow even worse than Pz IV J at BR3.
It has no turret 'cause it’s a casemate.
It has no armor.
It has no MGs at all.
It has a not that great mobility, and would struggle with even a bit of hilly-terrain.
Its visibilty is pretty bad because the commander cannot pop up and look outside from the top of the vehicle.
And the list goes on…
Basically:
It has a shell that need to be aimed like the 45mm or it would have a really tough time against other tank.
It has a really slow reload time, so it will get outshoot by any tanks.
It cannot take any hit at all.
In order to aim the gun, you need to turn the whole vehicle, but it doesn’t have enough horsepower to react that quickly.
It also can’t support infantry with MGs.
My suggestion:
Either buff its fire rate to be more competitive with other tanks at the same BR (exclusive) or give it BR-350B APHEBC rounds with 99mm of penetration so that it has easier time aiming than needing to aim for turret cheek all the time like the 45mm.
well when I pull out my BR1 tanks, all of them can defeat SU76. So the issues that are inherently coming with playing a open top SPG dont justify it being useful - unless having enough firepower to defeat tanks that are in a higher BR.
SU can defeat all German BR3 vehicles, but so can even soviet BR1 vehicles, because German armor in BR3 has max 50mm of armor (exception BR3 premium Stug)
I do think SU 76 can move to BR1 - but keep in mind that explosive filler is OP in enlisted, and Soviet tanks fire nukes that one hit kill everything they touch.
Marder III (BR2) will lolpen anything it faces with its 138mm penetration @ 100 meters shells every 5 seconds. Also it has an MG.
StuG III A (BR2) has Pz III N’s gun while being lower profile and more trolley armor to hit.
M8 Scott (BR2) is a HEAT/HE slinging monster that will out shoot anything above 75 mm caliber. And it’s very mobile while also has an actual (but not so great) turret. 50 cal is risky to use, but it’s there.
Ho-Ni (BR2) will fire its gun every 6 seconds while also give Shermans a few things to think about.
The SU-76M really combines every single weakpoint of them into a single vehicle.
Crew of open tops probably should attempt to defend themselves if in a logical seat position to do so, but only if the enemy is especially close, presumably the loader + commander (if player controls gunner/driver) would engage noisy (firing, sprinting) enemies w/ primary/sidearm within 0-3m or melee w/ some reaction time when enemy is atop their heads as they’d have some situational awareness to spare?
– Wait 6 seconds, then load.
– Comrade Sergeant, why wait?
– What do you mean, why? For balance.
Absurd? Yes. But not in our game. The Pz3N reloads in 3.3 seconds. Yes, yes, I believe that in a closed, cramped tank, the loader will reload the shells in 3 seconds. German strength and chocolates work wonders.
Congratulations, you have successfully named one of the least cramped designs of the war.
Anyway, comparing the SU-76 to similar vehicles such as Marder III (5 sec reload) and Marder III H (5.9 sec reload), its reload is slower which makes no sense to us, because these values are directly taken from War Thunder without changing anything about them.
Just on a funny side note: Enlisted soldiers are ubermensch since Enlisted tanks have War Thunder veteran crew member reload speed by default and can get that even faster with reload speed perk.
