SU-85

  Unit Properties in Men of War General Information
 * Nation:     Russia
 * Category:   Tanks
 * Class:      SPG
 * Role:       Infantry/Tank Support
 * Primary Armament: *Primary Weapon: 88mm D-5S
 * Armor:     45 - 45 mm
 * Crew:       4(8)


 * MP price:   28
 * Speed:      33
 * Fuel:       ?

Histroy
Created in 1943, the SU-85 self-propelled gun was designed to fight against the then-appearing Tiger and Panther tanks. The upgraded 85mm D-5S anti-aircraft gun was mounted atop the T-34's chassis, combining the latter's great speed and manoeuvrability with formidable firepower. The SU-85 was largely used to provide fire support to T-34's and advancing infantry.

In-Game
The SU-85 is a great tank destroyer to use in mid game, with a range of 140 meters it has a slight advantage over other contempories. However as the game advances and heavier tanks start to be fielded, the usefulness of the SU-85 will come into question. The 85mmm isn't and outstanding gun, with performance worse than its equivilent guns, the KwK 42 (mounted on the Panther tank) and the ROQF 17pdr., paired with typical Russian accuracy, the SU-85 is ineffective against heavy armor. The other downside is the fact that the gun has fixed traverse so if it looses a track it is useless, where as the T-34/85 with better armor, faster and a turret doesn't suffer from this drawbacks. One final point is that it doesn't have a secondary weapon, the lack of a machine gun makes it vulnerable to masses of infantry. Overall, compared to similar tank destroyers such as the Jagdpanzer IV/70(V) and the Hetzer the SU-85 performs poorley, thin armor and average gun, whilst these aren't too detrimental mid game, they realy do hamper its effectiveness later on, the best thing to do would be to wait untill you are able to purchase the superb SU-100 as this will handle all but the heaviest of tanks.

This tank has the same armor penetration as the T-34/85 and the KV-85 tank. Also this tank has the same armor as the T-34/57