It'd be better off having a role more distinct to that of the Brummbar, honestly. OKW would likely love to have the STUG-E, but it's really surplus to requirement for OST in most cases.
I agree to that. The StuG E would probably be fantastic in the hands of OKW, OST already has a lot of AI options both stock and doctrinally and even at similar timing.
The argument of it being cheap doesn't really justify it imo, especially because turretless tanks are always cheaper than turretted counterparts, and for much less you can obtain actually good turretted light vehicles with comparable if not sometimes better dps against infantry and a nice mobility.
For the same price, you can also get a nice M8 scott gun carrier that can actually deal better with team weapons and moving infantry, while having a turret and mobility, and their armor difference is irrelevant until the Stug 3 E reaches vet 2 and gets a bonus, but even then 180 armor will rarely make the Stug E bounce anything but base PIATS and Bazooka.
Not only that, but the small AOE and the slow projectile make manual aiming really inconsistent without very high accuracy.
I absolutely find the Command Panzer IV a much better AI option on top of being turretted, mobile, able to deal with light vehicles and having the Command aura. And it even got a smoke shell that can support against team weapons, and that's 100 fuel, so 25 more
I agree to most of this as well, although I find it harder to compare the StuG E with the Scott. They function similarly, but in the end the Scott has to make up for the lack of rocket artillery. But that's another topic.
What the StuG lacks (or lacked? Let's see what the patch changes bring) overall is a place: Both in the OST line up as well as in different game modes. The 50 range are a decent difference to the Brumm: Support gun instead of breacher. But I think it fell short on the game modes: Casemates are barely used in 1v1, and for larger modes it is still somewhat fragile. It had a window of maybe 2v2 but that might not have been enough.
Let's see though what the commander changes will do. The smoke is another decent ability to differentiate it from the Brummbar. Not so sure about the pintle though, but time will tell.
We have to remember the StuG E is only 8 POP when discussing the approximate power level. That puts it roughly between Luchs and Ostwind in terms of performance.