Some thoughts I had in terms of the ongoing discussion:
The Panther and the Tiger I are both available in the Tank Support doc (in my opinion the tank-heavy doc of Panzer Elite)
The Panzer IV J costs 410 ManPower & 45 Fuel
The Panther G costs 880 ManPower & 130 Fuel
The Tiger I E costs 840 ManPower & 165 Fuel
The Tiger II costs 1200 ManPower & 200 Fuel
In the Blitzkrieg doc (in my opinion the tank-heavy doc of Wehrmacht) there is no Tiger I, but the Panther and below that the Panzer IV
The Panzer IV J costs 410 ManPower & 45 Fuel
The Panzer IV H costs 550 ManPower & 65 Fuel before CP cost reduction, and 525 ManPower & 55 Fuel after
The Panther D2 costs 780 ManPower & 130 Fuel
The Panther A costs 850 ManPower & 155 Fuel
At least in my opinion for tank-heavy docs, Fuel is a major constraint, much more so than ManPower (MP).
So basically,
what we have is a gap from 55 fuel for the Panzer IV to the 130 fuel for the Panther.
The way I understand it is that some players, including myself, want the Panther to be fit to fill this gap.
My interpretation of it is, that the target would be to get the costs to
around 750 Manpower and 90 fuel.
Then there are some players that say that the like the way the Panther currently performs, especially in terms of front armor. They want no change to the Panther.
I would see work needed in a couple of areas:
How would a Panther that cost around 750 Manpower and 90 fuel look like?
As far as the main gun goes, it is practically similar to the one on the Jagdpanzer IV/70, so there is only limted adjustment possibility.
In terms of speed and accelleration, there probably could be some reduction, but it should still be noticeably better than a Tiger I.
One thing I am not sure that is currently adequately reflected in the price of the Panther is the awfully slow turret turn speed.
The armor has been much discussed, but more work in ways of concrete proposals would be needed. I personally see two methods, which both could be used together to get to the target cost:
an increase of the penetration chance for 17 pounder and 90mm
an increase of the lucky crit chance (crit in case of deflection) for the 76mm
If the Panther gets a redesigned role in the axis arsenal, what would people think to up the cost of the Tiger I by 40MP and improve its frontal armor to current Panther levels?
That way there would still be a tank with the front armor capabilities that some people love.
I do not believe an increase in fuel price for the Tiger I would be warranted, as they are already significantly above the average Panther level.
If the above changes were made, would it be possible in the „Customize Army“ menu, to give Blitzkrieg (BK) players the choice between Panther and Tiger?
This would be a proposal so that those players that follow more the „one tank to rule them all“ concept can play BK with the upgraded Tigers, while the others could play the redesigned Panthers.
I leave the Tank Support (TS) and Luftwaffe (LW) out for now, as I have seen the argument that such a change would ruin BK, which I have not read for TS or LW.
As always, happy to get opinions and comments!