I only play USF in competitive and OKW in standard custom games. Scott can only be a potential menace in 1v1s. A big maybe in 2v2s. It does not have the wipe potential of werfers or stukas. It can induce a steady bleed through barrages and that's it. Those steady bleeds are much much more impactful in 1v1s than in 3v3+. Hence why you seldom see USF (frontpage has a picture of factions which are most played in all modes, USF is dead last in teamgames) in teamgames, and if you do, you will exclusively see calliope since E8 is not that impactful once Panthers and heavies start rolling out and Pershing's AI has been nerfed to the ground, compared to other heavies/units. So people play Calliope for mass infantry and Jacksons to keep the heavies at bay.
I've played a decent amount of the patch preview, more so the v1 and v2. Sander was right in one of his posts about the new role of Scott and I agree with him but the pak howi autofire AOE nerf is too big. Every game I used it, it had little to no impact out of barrages. Even against mass blobs coming your way, one shot would not punish the enemy for blobbing and they would immediately start moving their units or wait it out until werfer or stuka comes online to delete it or force it off, long enough for Obers or Grens to push in through yellow cover.
Scott is downright useless in 3v3. Tried using it and for all it's mobility, the cancerous way of using it is just too high. Not being able to fire over buildings in anything but barrages and ground targets is way too micro intensive, especially against mobile opponents. The barrage is accurate though. I can see it's use in 1v1s where you want to displace an enemy MG or AT gun or infantry behind heavy cover. So basically, it's a mobile barrage unit. Autofire is gutted.
Again. This is all 3v3. I am pretty sure these units are quite balanced in 1v1. USF is one of the stronger factions in 1v1 due to their versatility. Rocket arty is not as important and the population is limited. Tank dives are seldom and most people get cold feet.
The autofire on the pak howi should be gimped, it can barrage out to 120 range if memory serves its a mini howitzer not a super mortar. Usf also has a mortar with you want an autofire low micro indirect option.
Whats more, a single shot SHOULDN'T punish a blob. That's why it's getting nerfed, because a single shot can send a squad packing IF THEY ARE LUCKY. If not it just outright wipes it.
We had mortars that single handedly destroyed infantry combat by wiping squads that stopped moving and it was changed because it was cancer.
Ontop of the long range barrage the pak howi gets specialized barrages that ensure that it remains worth its price.
The Scott, as I said, it should be alright. While usf does lose out on rockets in team games it also benifits greatly from the resource inflation effect of team games. Usf iss far from inert in team games.