Because soviets have penals and clown car in the same tier, not to mention that you are fighting 4\5 men squads. The fact that soviets could have used sniper as a frontline unit without counter play, was a disign flow.
Also british sniper, is not ost clone stats vise, and ost sniper is better, but for some reason its still very usefull, dont see any reason why soviet sniper would become useless with 1 model, considering his stats got buffed in return.
i never said that the soviet sniper was fine as is, ive even been at the heart of discussion on how to change it, this is the way to remove it from the game.
the faction that suffer most to the soviet sniper is the ost whos mainline infantry gets one of the best long range weapons on one of the most accurate squads in the game in the game making a slip up with 1 man very risky, as well as the absolutely superior German sniper
and when the ost get their sniper they also have the best machine gun in the game and a mortar.
the brit sniper works because it has other utility. it can call in arty and damage light vehcles and even then its still very niche.
pros of the ost sniper: high rof, good vet ability, FANTASITC support options including t0 mg to defend against rushes, natural access
cons: 1 man, expensive
pros of the brit sniper: EZ mode high efficiency healing, cool vet ability providing utility vs natural counters, t0 mg support, high powered infantry support, natural access, arty flare utility, reduced target size with vet.
cons: 1 man, expensive, lowish AI performance
pros of soviet sniper: once it gets vet 1 it has access to an ability it used to always have, strong infantry support (penals) scout car in tier
cons:1 man, expensive, all possible utility tied to vet, slow RoF, no MG access without side teching (fuel cost is low but mp cost is certainly not, given you are already paying the same for less in most early game units including the new sniper, cons, the maxim....), all unit in tier are expensive, only ever can heal in base and only after 250mp upgrade
so you pay the same for a unit that is undeniably worse in every possible way than its counterparts in both its intended role (killing enemy units) as well as any fall back roles (utility) while lacking any support weapons to provide indirect fire or crowd control because in that tier theres an overpowered unit?