Reducing 55td does not nerf them much against call in. Especially if we increase the call in fuel cost.
55td still have enough time to vet up, and still get their sweet vet bonuses
55td still outrange call in and non call in.
Su85 and ff have sight advantage too. Jackson of course mobility power. And making 5muni cheaper tracking will compensate the su85 non turret with slightly reduced range.
People make a fuss of pioneer extra 7 sight, yet mobile td have extra 10 range advantage, and at 640 hp, they are no longer squishy.
Panthers didn't kill medium plays, 60td did, imo
Outrange by 5 range, sure.
Tell you what, if the Panther loses range too, staying lesser than dedicated TDs, and the fuel price increases to heavies are considerable enough, I'd be willing to give that particular balance theory a go.
But of course I doubt you would agree to such a thing because, again, your whole mantra is that the Panther is made utterly useless somehow by the existence of 60 range TDs.
But on the topic of Panthers not killing medium plays, you are completely and totally wrong, since as has been demonstrated many times already, allied medium tanks cannot fight the Panther. You will get lucky on occasion and kill a Jackson with a Panzer IV. It is virtually guaranteed to penetrate it with every shot and will fire generally as fast. You can flank SU-85s with a Panzer IV and thusly kill them easily. You can outposition a firefly and light it up with minimal risk due to it's far slower ROF.
You can not, however, do any of these things against a Panther. Medium tanks can not penetrate it reliably, and can not win any sort of DPS or HP trade. You are required at absolute minimum to outnumber the Panther in terms of armor or support or both, essentially requiring you isolate it completely from Axis infantry given it can otherwise easily tank salvos of non-TD fire. The existence of a Panther on the field straight up necessitates an allied TD because no other unit will be able to counter it properly, period.
I mean, you are welcome to play a few games as allies and just never ever produce any 60 range TDs. I implore you to do so and to show us the results of this endeavor.
I believe the chance to pen a tiger with 60td is higher than a panther can pen a is2. Dropping to 55td won't make a losing impact
60td is simply unneeded and spoil the contest to laziness.
A pioneer needs to WALK to provide sight to mg42, a 60td simply drives about.
A 60td Jackson can 1v1 a costlier panther. The 10 range deficit is too much to take a chance since jackson can dive in an out of panther AND ATgun range. At 55td, at least allies td will have to reconsider the ATg more.
I want to see you try and kill Panthers and Tigers with only the M1 AT gun or the Zis-3 so fucking badly. Do you just assume every gun in the game is a copy of your Pak-40? TWP and all?
Alternatively, you could always nerf the range of all allied 60 range TDs, sure, to 55 or 50 or whatever, and then give them 200-something armor and 800 HP or so to compensate. Sure. I could get behind that I suppose. We could even talk price increases then - they would be as essentially impossible to kill with medium tanks as the Panther is (though you could still flank the SU-85 lol)