The only reason to bother with hull down are the offensive buffs to range/ROF. Lowering the setup time by 7.5 seconds is not enough to make up for losing that.
At the very least let tanks initiate the ability without the need for pios/grens to be nearby. Better yet, let non-turreted tanks rotate even a little while hulled down so it's not a total downgrade.
OKW's Vet 5 system is broken, another thing Relic decided to change when it was a fundamental game mechanic around vet 3 systems.
Balancing a Vet 5 unit is difficult. If the Vet is equal to a Vet 3 is would be broken as it would get its Vets super fast. Yet some units now are almost impossible to get Vet 5 with.
Make vet 1-3 give raw buffs to stats, and vet 4/5 unlock abilities. EZPZ
This is true, which makes it theoredically worse. However since the base scatter stats on the OKW LeFH are actually better than the counterpart it is technically better. But is it worth doubling the XP requirements is the question.
I'd much rather it have the same base stats, and vet 1-3 mirror OST 100% since the range bonuses improve scatter IIRC.