[Review]: Sexton I- The British tier III premium SPG

 

History

In 1942, the US supplied enough M7 Priest self-propelled howitzers to equip a number of British Army artillery units in fighting in North Africa. The British found the Priest to be an excellent weapon, which gave artillery the same mobility as tank units. However, the Priest used the American 105 mm howitzer rather than the British equivalent, the QF 25 pounder gun-howitzer. Having to supply different ammunition for a few units complicated supply for the British Army. The US attempted to fit a 25 pounder to the M7 Priest - producing the T51 in mid 1942 - but the program suffered delays including the destruction of the gun mount on the prototype during the first live-firing exercises.[1] US resources were not available for a vehicle solely for British use so Britain turned to Canada.
The Canadian Army Engineering Design Branch through the Canadian government's Department of Munitions and Supply were asked to build a vehicle similar to the M7 on the Ram tank chassis. The Ram tank was a Canadian tank design that used the chassis of the American Medium Tank M3 as did the Priest. The Ram had been sidelined by a decision to standardize on the Sherman tank for British and Canadian units. A prototype was completed on 23 June 1942. Following trials in Canada, the Canadian government ordered 124 vehicles in three batches. The prototype was shipped to the United Kingdom in early 1943,[3] where it underwent further trials; the vehicle was found to be highly satisfactory and was given the designation "Sexton" (after the religious custodian) in May 1943. The British government ordered 300 Sextons in the summer of 1943; however, these Sextons were to be built on Grizzly tank hulls (Canadian-built M4A1 Sherman tanks) instead of Ram tank hulls. The Ram-based Sexton was designated as the Sexton Mark I and the Grizzly-based Sexton was designated the Sexton Mark II. British orders for the Sexton II eventually totalled 2,026 vehicles.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• High rate of fire
• Fairly mobile
• Massive ammo capacity
• Large gun sweep
• High accuracy
• High DPM (damage per minute)
• Good gun depression
• Good credit grinding abilities
• Average armor, may bounces some shells if u lucky
• Cheap price (1250 gold only)

 

Cons:

• Low damage per shot
• Don't expect splash damage
• Poor shell penetration
• Crew positions do not match well with other British SPG
• The priority target of enemies

 

Tactics

The Sexton I are played in a particular way compared to other tanks, here are some basic rules.
Find a safe location, usually the corners of the map behind a rock or a bush, it is crucial not be detected by opponent scouts who can possibly reach the area of your base. (Should notice your short range of fire)

Use the T button to indicate to your team mates the enemy that you are aiming so that they won’t enter in the explosion area and maybe maintain line of sight with the target to give you a hand.

If the target is stationary, target it back slightly, due to the trajectory of the shells you have a greater chance of hitting it in this way that with a perfect centered aim.
If it is moving aim a bit forward based on its speed, is not easy and requires time and practice.

 

Equipment (Recommend)

-Camouflage Net: increases camouflage by 25% when the tank isn’t moving for 3 seconds
-Artillery Shell Rammer: -10% reload time of weapons
-Enhanced Gun Laying Drive: -9% time required to stabilize the aim

Compare with other non-premium SPG tier III
 

http://tank-compare.com/en/compare/sexton-i/sturmpanzer-i-bison/su-26#T1=160I128I103I196I136&T2=179I151I127I219I137&T3=369I285I252I462I175