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Do you think part of the Panther conundrum is the lack of a well fleshed out role it has to perform?
When compared to other T4 units and T3 support it just seems to draw the shortest stick in most cases.
Brummbar will outright decimate infantry with attack ground and the Bunker buster barrage (especially with spotting scopes) is usually an outright delete support weapons button that is free. While doing huge damage to lone squads and blobs it will make a dent to several pieces of armor as well and is a threat if ignored. It also has the health and armor to act as a short term meat shield and take on lone AT guns head on.
Stugs with their low cost and popcap efficiency will burst down armor of all sizes while being relatively safe to trade in engagements. Panther losses can be unrecoverable on the other hand and the unit is in a later tier. Stugs also compensate for the moving accuracy penalty with superior RoF while Panther needs babysitting to get the same results.
Popcap efficiency also favors the Stug, a Stug duo or trio is pretty easy to manage in your BO's while a Panther duo can be an incredible burden for the results they yield. The low cost of backteching is also a bonus.
Panzerwerfer then again is the current king of alpha damage rocket artillery and close range usage will result in severe bleed and wipes most of the time.
Panther on the other hand Can be decent vs infantry and Can slug it out with armor head on. I think the important word here is Can. What is the incentive to get a unit that Might perform both roles when you have access to units on the same tier/through affordable backteching that will give you guaranteed and reliable results in their area of expertise. Investment into a Panther as of now feels like unnecessary risk that can be avoided by fielding popcap efficient Stugs and infantry remover Brummbars and werfers from T4 and using them in conjunction. Those units seem like no brainers compared to the popcap and resource sink Panther.
I think somewhat similar peculiarity can be seen between SU76 and SU85 where massed SU76s will perform better/equally than their T4 counterpart while having lower tech requirements, more mobility, utility and lower replacement cost. In that case they both of course are without a doubt TDs so its much easier to compare them. I don't think that is the case with TD Stug and *insert clear defined role* Panther.
Perhaps a better consensus about the Panther and possible changes could be achieved if it was first determined what is the role it should excel at. Something that would incentivize building it over other units.