We're diverging from the topic with endless arguments about schematics and trying to define what exactly the Panther is - which has been done to death in all previous threads about similar topics. Why not get back to the topic at hand instead of nitpicking on things completely out of context?
but how would these topics last 11 pages without wild tangents
On the actual subject matter, Ostheer's vehicles do their jobs.
Many of Ostheer and OKW's vehicles favour damage output over penetration, but that's usually to their advantage given the generally lower armour values of the Allied roster.
For heavy tanks both factions have the non-doctrinal Panther, which has solid penetration and the speed & durability to flank and use near-penetration values.
The SU-85 and Firefly have better penetration, but they have to fight at long range and generally face more heavily armoured targets than the Panther does.
The Jackson is a monster but has to be because USF has no other nondoctrinal option.
semantics aside the panther is perfectly capable of killing infantry quite efficiently... (since its 3 MGs are equivalent to the T-34s MG)... to treat it like the dedicated TDs and lumping it with them while ignoring its anti infantry capability is unrealistic at best...
That's not the point. If you strapped six .50 cals to a Jackson, it'd still be the USF tank destroyer.
How similar it is to other TDs doesn't change the fact that Ostheer uses it as a tank destroyer.