Panzer IV ausf. H vs F2 testing

[Marzio]

Hello everyone! This is my first post here, I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts on the Panzer IV H, specifically in the BK doctrine but some of these count for the tank in other doctrines as well. In my opinion, the Panzer IV H is one of the least useful units and it really struggles to find its place in the BK doctrine. This is because of many reasons: Firstly, at 550 MP and 65 fuel it has a really high cost, making it already a fairly big investment even if it was good, which it isn't, for comparison, the Stug IV, which you can get for one CP less costs 400 MP and 45 fuel and performs similalry if not better due to its ambush ability. The Panzer IV F2, which performs very similalry is at 390 MP to give another example. At 65 fuel you are essentially paying half the price of a Panther, which is a huge deal since it is much much better than a Panzer IV H. To me it seems stuck in this limbo where it performs similalry to lower costing units and on top of that underperforms for its current price. I don't really get what the devs intend to do with this tank, it's by no means a cheap medium that you can spam around like a Sherman 76w or IV F2 but it's also not a tank that's an investment but that can stand on its own (ie. Jumbo, Panther). To me it felt like it performs essentially the same as a Panzer IV F2, with an additional defense against infantry but a much higher cost. So I went out of my way to test with a friend how a Panzer IV F2 and a Panzer IV H perform against a Sherman 76w, I'd say the allied tank that performs the most similar to them. I rerun the test 10 times for each tank (We took around an hour to do this). The modus operandi was as following: On a bridge we, in sync run both tanks towards each other, stopping at mid range, the first shot for both has reduced accuracy, but this was so that neither side would have a huge advantage, after getting in range we leave the tanks to the fighting, even if they receive crippling criticals.
The results are as following(Take in account the sample is small, so the tests are just indicative and may not be 100% reliable):
Panzer IV H vs M4 Sherman 76w
5-5
In the ten instances both tanks knocked the other side out 5 times each. It's worth noting that the Panzer IV H managed to knock out the 76W main gun twice, but idk if that's RNG.
Panzer IV F2 vs Sherman 76w
4-6
The results were pretty close, but the fights tended to be slightly shorter on average.
These tests make me believe that my own feelings about these two tanks have some truth behind them, however, I'm by no means an experienced player and if devs and other players are willing to share their own perspectives(Or even actual stats) I'd be very thankful.
In conclusion, I'd like to make a few suggestions, but I'd like to point out that I'd prefer if the devs found their own solution.
The first and easiest change would be to just make the Panzer IV H cheaper (With the mass production unlock they are still 525 MP and 55 fuel!)While this approach can work, I find like it also has the potential to upset the balance a bit too much, depending on how much the price change is. The second approach could be to give the Panzer IV H something to make it stand out from both the F2 and J, something to justify its cost. Some kind of specialy ability could work here, but I'll let you figure it out.
And here we are, sorry for the huge wall of text, I hope this post will be a chance for players and devs alike to share their opinions!
PS:
Whilst playing I also noticed that the Panzer IV Mass production unlock does not lower the cost of the Panzer IV J, I'm unsure if this is intended or not.

[Consti255]

Its the same thing like the E8 vs 76 topic.
I like to see an ability for it.
Maybe give ith the assault ability that the Stug 3 has aswell?