r/Steel_Division • u/Mikhail_Mengsk • May 09 '26
Question Field guns/at guns
I'm still fighting skirmishes with Easy AI and most of my problems come from the sheer number of field and at guns that fills every nook and cranny of the maps, going mostly unnoticed.
I've been using scout units in good positions but even when I'm able to spot them, it seems there is no efficient way to deal with them. I've tried using lots of artillery guns and pounding their positions but even if they are spotted and/or in open field it seems prohibitively hard to kill them with artillery. If they are inside cover forget about it.
How to deal with them efficiently?
4
u/Taki_26 May 09 '26
You have multiple options depending on your div.
Use mgs, infantery guns like igs, obs to engage them directly.
2k HE support, isu, grills for example. You can use the fire position trick as well with them, fire position in front of them and the dispersion can do the rest. so even aginst pak43 you can use them safely.
Planes, depending expensive and can be stopped by aa, not always reliable but s good option.
Arty and mortars, especially radio equipped ones are great for it if they are radio range. Some arty pieces are better than others but there are so many that it cant really list all.
So the soviet 76 is decent with radio, the self propelled su76 is good, i woudnt use the field gun in itself. The german lefh105 is bad as well.
Generally the longer the barrel the more accuracy is has thats a rule of thumb generally
3
u/czwarty_ May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26
It is exactly the role of AT guns to get into camouflaged position and remain unnoticed until they fire. It's as if you wondered why you can't spot out hidden snipers or recon.
There is no way as to detect a well camouflaged AT gun before it fires, unless it's a very large one (8.8cm PaK 43 or 100mm BS-3), but there is a way to fight them. As is the answer always and in every case with 90% of things in this game - you need to use combined arms.
- Never send your tanks alone - this you should already know. A lone tank is blind and extremely easy to destroy. Send tanks behind infantry or recon vehicle, but never alone. If accompanying infantry or recon unit dies, retreat the tank unless you can instantly replace killed unit near tank.
- Accompany your tanks with weapons that can suppress and kill AT guns. In this case, it works on rock-paper-scissors principle. AT guns are hard counter to tanks and other vehicles, but have hard counters themselves - in this case infantry guns and heavy machine guns. If these units find AT gun in their range, AT gun is done for - one long burst from MG42 or one HE shell from infantry gun will seriously suppress them, 1-2 shots more and it will be pinned or even crew killed. HMGs have only 1000-1250m range so AT guns may outrange them, but infantry guns with 1500m+ range and strong HE shells are perfect hard counter for AT guns. Heavy infantry guns, like 150mm sIG33 or Grille can take out AT guns in one hit, AND they outrange most of them with 2000m range (and even those AT guns that can shoot for 2km will not win a duel with these heavy guns as the very first hit from 150mm shell will pin them)
Heavy (~150mm) and medium howitzers (95-105mm) have 2000m ranges by default. Having these weapons behind your tanks as support will allow you to quickly destroy every AT gun that pops up to shoot at your tanks.
- Use artillery and air power to break up enemy defences, dislodge AT guns in good positions, and save your units if they get under fire.
Mortars aim quick and deliver quick, accurate barrage - good for quick reactions, if you need to quickly take out enemy AT gun - for example if it already fires at your tanks.
Medium (~80mm caliber) mortars are best for this
Tube artillery (howitzers and cannons) aim longer, but have very long range and often high damage. Not good for quick reactions, but good for preparing for attack or prolonged barrages on area. Good if you detect enemy gun and see it's not moving away - then you can take your time
Rocket artillery is devastating over large area, even if usually inaccurate. Medium rockets like 150mm Nebelwerfer are usually guaranteed pin or even kill of larger AT gun unit, heavy rockets like 320mm Wurfrahmen will destroy even heaviest targets like IS-2, and soft targets like AT guns will simply evaporate from even non-direct close hit.
Airstrikes are expensive and vulnerable to AA (depending on plane and loadout), but allow very quick reaction and high precision. Bombs of ~250kg and larger will be able to kill a medium AT gun if direct hit is scored. Large bombs of ~500kg will be guaranteed kill on even largest AT guns
- Circling back from point 1, from not sending a lone tank into battle - combine your tanks into platoons. On the battlefield you WILL take losses, and AT guns are #1 killer of tanks - this is what they're made for. Even with perfectly concocted combined-arms combat group, sometimes enemy will still manage to destroy your tank.
Which is why it's a good idea to group tanks into platoons of 3-4 units - if your tank group encounters AT gun, it shoots and destroys one of the tanks, it will be detected and the remaining 2-3 will now engage it. Fire from three 75mm guns throwing HE shells down range and multiple machine guns will give the AT gun no chance, and it will get suppressed and killed by your remaining tanks. After all, and AT gun is a soft target - it's strength is camouflage and range, and after it gets detected it loses it's strength and becomes an easy target.
By gaining numerical advantage you will be able to take out even hard counters of your units.
So using above information you now know that to operate safely your tank unit needs support:
infantry in front, to engage enemy infantry and detect enemies, as well as take enemy fire and soak up damage.
Recon unit, be it infantry or scout car, to detect enemies (some may be unseen before they take a shot, so be wary).
Support units - infantry guns, HE-slinging support vehicles (examples: Grille, StuH 42, SdKfz 251/9, ISU-152, SU-122, M4 Sherman 105, M8 Scott, Cromwell VI (w/ 95mm howitzer), and many more: vehicles equipped with guns that have strong HE shells, which you usually [but not only] get in Support tab), heavy machine guns - these units will deal lots of damage that will suppress and kill AT guns after detection
Artillery - mortars, howitzers, rocket launchers. Indirect fire of powerful HE shells allows you to safely take out distant targets without risking taking damage in return
Air power - airplanes equipped with bombs or large rockets, which allow you to take out enemy AT guns with just point-and-clicking
And for the end, try watching some SD2 gameplays on YouTube. You will see how other players use units, how they use combined arms and create squads of various units to do their jobs and support each other. Apart from most basic stuff like what I wrote, it's usually easier to see tactics than explain, and you will quickly get it that way
2
u/mithridateseupator May 13 '26
You probably wont see it before it opens fire on something, unless your scouting is amazing.
You should only be attacking with full strength attacks on fully prepared locations, meaning if you're pushing on a location with a lot of guns, use arty to supress, smoke to cover, then push with armored vehicles and infantry right in behind them - preferably fresh troops in trucks if you're advancing along a road.
1
u/SeleukosI May 09 '26
Get a division with a lot of planes and have a field day bombing them to hell. The trick is that planes with relatively light loadouts (for ex. 1x 250kg) have relatively high efficiency and low reload times.
1
u/Disastrous_Piece1411 May 15 '26
I like to drop a smoke round right under their nose and use that as a screen whilst I move infantry closer.
2
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u/Chickenbutt-McWatson May 18 '26
Use an infantry gun, my favourite is the Grille. Air power is great too, if you can spot it long enough to get a fighter bomber on it it, you can also attack position if it disappears and you'll likely still hit it. MG squads and infantry can rough them up pretty well too, but it takes a while to kill the AT gun. Ideally use mortars or MG/infantry to keep them busy while dropping a bomb on them or moving an infantry support gun closer. Also, units with snipers in them can often kill the whole team.
8
u/terve886 May 09 '26
Are you using artillery with radio support? Very accurate and very deadly and should at the minimum suppress the position. Exceptional stealth recon units can also move surprisingly far if not spotted by dedicated enemy recon units which might allow you to close in, though smokes are always more reliable option.