@Katitof and @MilkaCow
I think you both kinda missed the mark. Napalm isn't saying buff penals DPS because they are underperforming but rather, change them from being mid-short range units to make them a long range one.
I was referencing the DPS sheets in general, as this presentation leaves the impression Soviet units are worse, while in reality only if their guns are far worse they are actually of equal strength.
I do not really agree with the assessment that Soviet non doctrinal infantry cannot stand up to the other factions, as I find especially vs Oberkommando they can. In the early game Cons can easily win against Volks and can win per cost against Sturms (fire, when they get too close either soft retreat with Oorah or hard retreat). Mid/lategame flame weapons are a great equalizer. No matter if super cheap or super expensive - flame weapons kill all equally unlike small arms. Molotovs and Flamethrowers can seriously trouble the Oberkommando.
I think the biggest problem right now is that too many people rely on Maxims because they cannot micro the other infantry squads. Fielding 4-5 Maxims (and then other support weapons) will mean you have a really easy earlygame as Maxims win against basically any other squad 1v1, but against a good Oberkommando or Ostheer player this is somewhat of a debit. You gain earlygame strength, but you leave yourself open to hardcounters like leIG, Walking Stuka, Mortar HT, Mortars, PG-HTs and other things. Once such long range weapons are on the field or the terrain is littered with craters the Maxims will be useless. They lose their gunner to troops charging from the front which is a death sentence. The artillery decrews or destroys them. Try playing without using Maxims or using a maximum of 1 or 2. That gives you several normal infantry units to be offensive, but also strong supporting firepower with the maxims.
I can agree on the assessments of Penals and SU-76 though. I think both of them are in a bad spot. The SU-76 is too expensive to be used as a barrage tool and it's performance vs tanks is too bad per cost. Unlike the T70 which shares a similar price point he has close to no shock value since only few people field the 222 and Flame HT nowadays.
Penals are problematic. A lot of their cost is probably going into those utility abilities (Satchel, Flamethrower), as those are incredibly strong. I personally would prefer if they lost the flamethrower upgrade, but got some standard infantry weapon upgrade. To stay similar to their current role and minimize costs probably give them a 3 AVT-40 upgrade.
SU-85 on the other hand I disagree with. It's a unit that's extremely dedicated AT and can be an useful addition to an infantry based army. If you already got T2 though the role can be filled to a degree with a ZiS-3 and a spotter, making it redundant. I personally think the biggest problem of this unit is the others in T4. It's a purely defensive tier with whom you cannot chase down enemies to finish them off. The lack of a turreted tank is really felt a lot :/