Stuka isn't a no brainer unit, you spend 100 fuel on an artillery piece knowing full well you're severely setting yourself back in the AT department. If you can't take out his Stuka with your tanks, then you're either bad or were already losing.
For some perspective, the Stuka is more expensive than a T-34/76 (due to OKW's resource penalty). You should easily have more armour than he has considering he made a Stuka and now a Jagdpanzer or Panther.
It works both ways.
KV-8 isn't a no brainer unit, you spend 145 fuel on an anti-inf tank knowing full well you're severely setting yourself back in the AT department. If you can't take out his KV-8 with your tanks, then you're either bad or were already losing.
For some perspective, the KV-8 is more expensive than a Panzer IV and comes in late game due to CP cost. You should easily have more armour than he has considering he made a KV-8 and now an IS-2 or T34/76.