Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
Best WW2 MBT = Pzkw-5g (T34/85 next best)
What are your parameters? The King Tiger was actually the better tank in terms of combat performance, but that doesn't take cost into consideration, of course.

Quote Originally Posted by Sheogorath
I don't see how you can put anything second to the T-34 (in WWII) in terms of cost effectiveness. It's the second most produced tank of all time and was, by all accounts, pretty much your ideal vehicle when it came to squeezing bangs from bucks.
When employed correctly, I believe the Tiger was the most cost effective tank of the war. IIRC, it cost about three times as much as a Pz.IV, but the loss/kill ratios of the battalions not employed in Italy are considerable, sometimes staggering (1:16). Even more impressive is the fact that a large portion of Tiger losses in the ratios were not due to enemy engagements, and would have been recoverable if Germany's situation had not deteriorated. For example, in one case a maintenance area had to be abandoned to the Russians with 6 Tigers that were missing a critical transmission element but were otherwise fully operable.