Profile of Esxile

swap mortar and riflemen Doctrine RE CP0 flametrower.
So USF get flamethrower to clean building and flanking support weapon and Riflemen Doctrine get a super CP0 mortar, you can even make it CP1 or CP2 to delay it.

You are also not including timing and the later teching stages (to be fair, the latter one wasn't what you were talking about). Sure, the match-up is kind of fair, even though Ostheer pays more manpower and ammo for the same service. But when you start to include that Ostheer has a longer research AND has to pull back a scouting/flanking unit from the front to then start building that stupid building, you suddenly lag even further behind.
On top of that come the American officers. With every tech, you get a free unit. A unit that in most cases can more than just go toe to toe with Ostheer infantry. And those free units come with more than just combat capability. Every good player will use their Captain to pump out a Stuart even faster. Or just take a look at the Major's forward retreat, something that Ostheer doesn't have at all and something that OKW has to pay dearly to get.

These things are simply not well-thought out. Sure, they make for a cool faction, but not for a balanced game. The community was happy when the OKW free teching benefits were gone, and rightly so. Now we need the same thing to happen to USF.

USF = free lt/cpt/major
Ostheer = free pfaust/grenade/lmg unlock. We can also argue that shrecks are freely unlocked for pzgren.

I also let you check lt building time compared to Ostheer T2. BP1 is something you need to unlock asap when you reach the fuel requirement, that's why it only cost 100mp. Once unlock you should have or almost have the resource to build T2 which takes much less time than building lt/cpt.

I agree on the fact ostheer/sov need engies to build up their tiers building and this could be something changed in order to balance the game.

And it doesn't change my conclusion, yes Oshteer is underwhelming vs USF, but it wasn't the case before the introduction of the mortar.

i'm curious to see what would happen if ukf's tier 2 and usf's cpt and lt tier all had a 100 mp increase to it. so ukf would take 280 mp (?) to unlock REs and usf would take 300 to unlock lt or cpt respectively, that is how much mp it costs to tech up in an ostheer player's shoes, i feel like its because an ostheer is always having to save up for tier 2 at least to get a pak gun out in time for a AEC/T70/Stuart rush which is why they are always losing early-mid game, maybe an increase in teching cost for allies or decrease in teching cost for Wehrmacht might even things out?

If you have to save up to build T2, you have a problem.

I think we can leave the stug where it is simply due to its low LOS and fixed turret. It's good head on but when flanked it's done.

In bad/greedy hands probably, otherwise no, it has more than enough armor to reverse engine and escape. Not to mention in large team game you have more than one Stug.

Well, times have changed.

Axis no longer has the luxury to sit back and play defensively throughout the game, otherwise they will be annihilated by artillery.

If you examine the OST roster there is a huge gaping hole about which unit should be able to do the flanking and threaten overexposed artillery pieces. Why not give Panthers precisely this role?

Are you serious? It has always been the role of the panther to flank. It is fast and well armored. The problem of the panther is a problem of player. The main point people are complaining for is especially the micro tax asked in compensation for such a powerful unit.
Players that complain here in this forum don't
1)learn to flank
2)learn to stop their panther before firing
3)learn to cover a push/flank with infantry or at minimum a reco run

They are all comparing actual Panther with the one they had before, or even the one in Coh1. But before, the panther was just a left-click move unit in the area where your target was and then GG, the unit was doing the job alone. That's exactly what those guys want, the satisfaction that the game mechanisms and balance do it for you.

People here want the panther to be the ultimate solution when it is not. How many time I have see Ostheer players building panthers when the opposite side already had several TDs. On the mean time, you see no Stug, no Pz4, no Ostwind, not even a Brumbar that would suit better to the match in 90% of the cases.
Hey you know this is exactly the theme of the video in this topic, a guy that build a single panther to counter 2 M10 and 3 Bulldozers. Personally my fist react was "lul WTF, who's playing this game". It shows perfectly the mentality around the panther. - Because it is the most expensive stock unit, it should counter everything.

The panther is out of the meta right now. The reason is simple, everyone is skipping Light and Medium and rush TDs to pre-counter the incoming panther/KT rush.
That's seems stupid? So I let you watch and analyze 4vs4 random and teamgame and see it. Axis players rush PAnther and Arty/rocketarty and nothing else as Ostheer, as OKW you can expect a Luch before the KT.
I personally rush Stug and Pz4 or Sherman when playing USF and it works wonder, you get you opponents pants down with their T4 build and still 100 fuel left to build their 1st panther...

The day the majority of Axis players will actually start using their T3 efficiently you'll see less TDs and more room for Panther usage in the late game.

I guess it goes in pair with USF not being able to plant stock mines.