the AEC still came earlier than the puma (at least WAY earlier than the ost puma), and outclassed the puma in pretty much every aspect apart from range. also, the AEC is (or was) supposed to counter pretty much everything BUT the puma, so that comparison is void in and off of itself. 222s and HTs (flames?! where does ostheer get the ammo for that from? flame HT means 0 mines, no schrecks, no LMGs, no NOTHING) can be countered by small arms, especially if you do have some dedicated AT along with it.
Munis? For what? Yeah, cos you totally needed that early teller or schreks vs Brits. God forbid they might be stupid enough to build a UC. Grens trade pretty well vs the more expensive unblostered IS. Not to mention you'll always out-cap brits.
Since when has AEC ever 'outclassed puma in every way'? That's some pretty biased crack you're smoking. In a straight up fight (ignoring the Puma's range advantage) they're IDENTICAL.
Puma:
120 Damage
0.03/0.05 Accuracy (F/N)
3.98s Reload time
18 Target size
400 HP
AEC
120 Damage
0.03/0.05 Accuracy (F/N)
3.98 Reload time
18 Target size
400HP
AEC has 40 armour to the Puma's 25, but since they both have much higher pen (100 AEC, 120 Puma), that's irrelevant.
Stats Source
As I've already said, the issue with the AEC presently is the pacing. As for comparing with the Ost puma - that comes out too late anyway, could do with lower CP timing.