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[Schwartz_Geist]

With all the changes that have impacted SPGs it has become clear business as usual (in my case - use of Hummel, GW Panther, SU-8/SU-14/SU-51) does not work as well as it did pre 7.0.  Accuracy seems down, splash dmg is down, and shell costs are quite high.  Factoring all together I believe the M37 and M7 may be the most cost effective SPGs in the game.

Tier 3                     Gun                                             Pen Dmg Splash Cost ROF  ACC  Aim
Germany SPG III Wespe  10,5 cm leFH 18 L/28 10.5cm High-Explosive Sprgr K  
53  410 1.75   64   5.09 0.43 4.5
USSR SPG III SU-26  122 mm Howitzer mod. 1930 122mm High-Explosive OF420SO
61  270 2.36   150  7.69 0.46 4
USA SPG III M37  105 mm Howitzer M4 4.13  High-Explosive HE M1            
53  410 1.75   83   5.1  0.43 4.5

Tier 4                     Gun                                             Pen Dmg Splash Cost ROF  ACC  Aim
Grille  15 cm sFH 13 L/17 15cm High-Explosive Sprgr 18                    
75  680 3.57   505  4    0.46 4.5
USSR SPG IV SU-5  152 mm Mortar NM mod. 1931 152mm High-Explosive 53-OF500
75  330 3.67   180  7.5  0.45 3.5  
USA SPG IV M7 Priest  105 mm Howitzer M2A1 4.13  High-Explosive HE M1      
53  410 1.75   83   7.41 0.43 4.5

Tier3:
Wespe is well known for being twitchy.  Minor change to aim will explode the reticle and reset the aim time count making it hard to use this SPG effectively.  Decent armor with max speed of 40.  

SU-26 claim to fame is its turrent and its mortar's ability to drop shells where other SPGs can't.  However - it has short range, poor armor, a top speed of 30, and its mortar gun does not prepare a player for what non-mortar arty feel like so the adjustment from SU-5 to SU-8 can be a bit harsh.  It also has the most expensive shells for tier 3 SPGs and a very limited # of them.  Being short range means you need to follow tanks into battle on many maps, adding risk.

M37 - slightly more expensive shells than Wespe but on a platform with a higher top speed, allowing for faster deploy/redeploy.  More shell capacity, not nearly as twitchy while aiming.  Leads to a very cost effective M7 whereas the other 2 lead to more expensive SPGs.

Tier 4:
Grille is also known as a very twitchy SPG having the same aiming issues as Wespe and Hummel.  Accuracy is poor, shell cost it high.

SU-5 is well known as a very hard SPG to use.  Very short range and only 14 shells.  You must follow the tanks in to battle to an even greater extent than the SU-26 and you don't have the nifty turrent so...

M7: same basic gun as the M37 so when you get good with that SPG its easy to transition into M7.  Good ammo capacity, decent speed, decent HE dmg, best accuracy of the tier4 SPGs, dirt cheap shells.  Before the splash nerf you could argue that its smaller splash zone was impactful, but since the nerf I don't believe its relevant.  

Given the inaccuracy of SPGs, their slowish ROF, and the nerfs to Arty I have concluded that the US M37, leading to the M7, is the most cost effective arty to play up to tier5.  At that point normalization kicks in and everyone bends over - shell prices of 1120 for Hummel and M41 and over 800 for lighter damage SU-8s.