Even without the bonus it does excellent damage. It can inflict devastating losses on an opponent's infantry regardless.
Indeed. But you get it because it's diversified, your main target is, again, Axis (especially OKW's) super heavy tanks. With a nerf you are better off with a Katyusha and ISU to counter infantry and tanks at the same time.
A cost reduction in addition to a nerf might be justified.
Sure, but it will be really difficult to balance (nerf) this unit without making it and the rest of the commander utterly useless. If that's the case then a cost reduction is all for nothing.
This comes down to player judgment, timing and skill. If a precision strike misses it's essentially because the player using it made a mistake. It could probably be a little more responsive though.
Made a mistake? Believe me, I have used the B4 so much that I know that even a
sneaky precision strike will miss a lot simply because you can't count on your opponent to stand still. It is impossible for you to estimate whether he will randomly move his units or not. It very much comes down to luck if you play against experienced Axis players.
Not being able to 1-shot super heavies doesn't make it useless. It will be viable, but not overpowered. This diversifies the meta which is a good thing. If soviet core units are not strong enough to win using this commander, that's a complaint with soviet core units that should be discussed independently of the B4.
Again, and I will stress this: You can NOT one shot super heavy tanks only using the B4. Your team mate must interfere with something, most commonly mark vehicle. And a marked vehicle is reversing away from harms way 99% of the times, which in turn makes it a lot harder to hit with the B4, no matter how good you are predicting where the tank is going. This also requires a team mate to begin with. Do we want this commander to be viable in 1v1? I don't care since I only play 2v2 and up, but I guess there are some people that want this and other forgotten Soviet commanders to be a strong choice even in that game mode.
This should go without saying. Again, if opposing units are too powerful then changes to them should be discussed independently of the B4.
Are we discussing units in a vacuum? You must consider that other units become stronger in a way when you are taking away a hard counter to them. The B4 is already hard countered in team games by Ostheer players, it excells against OKW-only teams where it is difficult for them to counter the B4 until the late game (Artillery Flares in combination with Zeroing Artillery as a rough example).
I think the hardest part is to nerf the B4 as you'd like it but not make this commander completely useless. You only pick this commander because of the B4, the KV1 is balanced but not good enough to make this commander useful by its own. For Mother Russia is too expensive when you need all munitions to go the recon ability and precision strike. You can get Shocks anywhere else. How do you suggest we nerf this unit but at the same time make this commander even more attractive?
its not always the best idea to use precision strike on advancing infantry, for reasons you mentioned. personally i find it much more useful in taking out support weapons since a direct hit is always a guaranteed kill and its really unlikely the enemy player will move them. and if youre firing at mid range, the scatter on the b4 isnt all that bad, its pretty good actually.
as i've mentioned before, recon alerts the enemy that youre looking for a target to shoot, so theyll be annoying and try to move units around so theyre harder to hit. its a better idea to just use the vision you already have to pick off targets.
You are absolutely right. I've seen many people trying to get lucky hits on an OKW opponents trucks that are far back and trying to accumulate veterancy that way. You are much better off to use it on units that are closer to your B4 until you have precision strike.
You are also right about your point with the recon plane. But then again, you use the recon not only to find targets for your B4 but also to position yourself for an enemy counterattack. When you use the recon plane you obviously don't try to target the most obvious units but rather lonely support weapons, let's say a mortar for example, that is hidden on the edge of what you can see with your recon plane. The recon plane also gives you an idea of when to target the OKW's medic truck if you see retreating infantry.
If you use precision strike blindly in the fog of war you are doing it wrong. Only use it on medic trucks or bunkers if you can't afford the recon plane.