Pretty much. The primary reason I play allies is because the searching number is almost always >80% searching as axis when I start the game, not because I particularly want to play as them. They have lame, limited and boring gameplay compared to either axis faction. If I want to win as soviets I'd better sure as hell have one of the five competitive commanders selected (Shock rifle, Guard Motor, Guard Mechanized, Shock Motor, KV1), and if playing against OKW I have to start with sniper or maxim spam and move into spamming shocks or guards because cons and penals are worse than useless, being outclassed straight away by freaking volks and getting worse from there as the game continues.
Playing as USF I can already tell if I won or lost the game at the 10 minute mark. I might as well quit at this point if my opponent has held to a reasonable amount of territory and/or hasn't really taken any manpower losses. Build variety is limited to: 3 rifles + 1 assault engineer or 4 rifles to lt or captain to m20 or stuart to Major and sherman/m8 spam or skip major and Armor company bulldozer spam. On an open map I may be able to build one howitzer before the tank spam phase, wooh!
Lol. The scenarios you described above are so dead-on accurate it's hilarious.
You're exactly right, though. USF opening gambits are extremely limited, and Soviets are locked into a very strict tier structure and must use certain doctrines to stand a chance.
Not only do you need more micro as Allies on the whole (due to more fragile units), but you're also limited by predictable builds.
Proposals: For USF, decrease fuel cost of T1 and marginally increase cost of M20 and Halftrack to compensate. This will allow USF to field MGs at least instead of pure rifle spam. Similarly T2 cost could be decreased with stuart bumped up in fuel cost slightly. Or, you could simply not have the officers pop out of the buildings with the upgrades. Make them purchasable after upgrade. But USF needs more diversity.
Think about it... in CoH1, USA players could make, from the beginning of the game: Riflemen, jeeps, snipers, and mortars (and maybe I'm leaving something else out). In CoH2 it's Rifle spam + combat ineffective combat engies. It's just kind of boring. OKW synergy with Volks, Spios, Kubel and Rakaten is just more fun and dynamic.
Soviet has always felt like a faction where you MUST pick certain tiers or else you are completely and hopelessly doomed. Maybe for some weird reason I might want to use a SU-76. But the teching costs are so prohibitive that doing so will mean I get steam rolled if I try, which limits players to playing safe...Guards into ISU... T1 to T4 or T2 to T3 over and over and over.
Part of what made CoH1 so much fun is that you could use a variety of units and back-teching was more possible.
I think a big problem here is that the off-map call-ins all cost fuel... so theoretically as Soviets I'd be able to go T1 to T4 and then back-tech to T3 for some AA and then call in an IS2.
But right now I have to decide between the IS2 or the AA, because of the back-teching fuel costs... and that's a no brainer. Hence, linear gameplay.
Do something, Relic. The game is fun but the amount of VIABLE tactics available pales compared to CoH1.