Cannot for the love of me make the sta-1 work

I really want the stb-1 and im currently in an unexpected painful grind.

It seems that the sta-1 is well liked by the community but I think it's such a garbage tank. It just seems like it can't work in any role.

You'd think with it's great dpm and gun depression it'll be a good ridgeline warrior but the paper turret and the giant tumor means you get shot first every time by tanks which much higher alpha.

Ok what about sniping from a second-line ridge? Every time I do that I want to rip my hair out because the gun is about as accurate as a KV2 and you miss so many crucial shots just because of rng.

So what are you supposed to do with this tank? For reference I'm not a poor player, blue recent stats and I'm an experienced medium player (solidly blue in the 140 line and two/three marked the whole british MT line)