Profile of distrofio

Do riflemen win matchups 1v1 vs other mainline inf?; check
Do riflemen scale great into lategame, with good vets?; check
Do riflemen have weapon upgrades, and good ones?; check
Do riflemen have 5 man, meaning they survive quite a lot?; check
Do riflemen have doctrinal upgrades, flares, sbags and all that crap?; check
Do riflemen belong to a aggressive/rush faction with smoke supports?; check
Do riflemen receive healing anywhere an ambulance is, even in frontlines?; check
Do riflemen get at least any form of garrison cleaning upgrade?; check

Sir im sorry to say it but this troop cant be expensive enough...

At any point in the game if your weapon crew gets flanked by a Pio it is in danger. It's not a panzergrens squad but it can always find a place on the front.

And WFA engies have utility
What utility does CE have?
A demo?
.....
That's it. Their SOLE unique and arguably redeeming abikity got nerfed out of the game because punishing blobs is scary.

I love the way you oversimplificate in your favour. Since you dont see the utility of CE, let me tell you. They are a logistical utility, imagine like a kubelwagen withoug a MG, plus CE can build defenses, sweep for mines AND they are DIRT CHEAP. How many times you suffered the loose of your CE (for comparison SP are really punishing each time you loose them). The only valid justification is that SU starves in manpower. Still they get a helping hand with CE being that cheap.

They could use a UTILITY buff, you get my idea now?
And democharges were a good thing, dont misunderstand my opinion about CE.

Utility wise pios out class CE by far more than 30mp.
They have sandbags, Bunkers and increased LOS as well as combat capability and med kits at vet 1 that can keep themselves and even important weapon crews on field.

Pios bring Combat utility, and thats why SU has conscript. The only extra task is that you have 2 squads doing different things and need a little more micro, but the advantages and flexibility are far more than 1 single squad doing both.

I by no means think pios are overperforming by the way.

CE are over priced for what they can do (which is nothing)

The problem is that you are willingly ignorin what CE are good at (even a little) to obfuscate it with your wish for CE to be good at. I understand your position, but being in denial wont help to change it.
Making them cheaper could be a good idea tho

CE are not fine I can't think of a single instance playing as any faction where I thought to myself "ah too bad I don't have CE" there's nothing unique about them except their cost, as if you would want to pop out a bunch... Pios are worth easily 2x as much as CE since they are a threat in combat who can flank, can do all the same utilities that CE, still build Bunkers, heal allied troops... There is no way in HELL CE are worth 85% what pios are. But Soviet t0 is the single most ineffecient tier in the entire game so maybe being garbage with no redeeming qualities is just a trait.

you seem to have some serious axis fanboyism there... I cant agree with none of the things you say, neither SU T0 is utterly trash (maybe you are using them wrong, who cares) or axis facts you say are in a modded game. Neither pios are that good, and the only thing they do have is a short range weapon, but its a short lived advantage and allied engineers have more utility.

So buff sturms even further by giving them even more utility even though theyre already concentrated cancer that beat mainline infantry

Triggered much?

The suggestion is on point rather than your complaints. Even though srurm dont need more buffs its a good idea

+1000 to all but to this one:

« now pay attention, all factions should have something unique for them that no other faction gets.»

I would replace it by:

All factions should have access to all the basic tools in all field, but each faction should have better upgraded tools in one field that the others factions don't have access to.

Rough examples special expertise field)
OKW : Super armor= K tiger
Sov : At-gun = At-gun with indirect capability
Wer : Support : Mg42, mortars the best.
Brit: Scouting/commandos : brent carrier flamer, commandos (no sure what best in brits) ? help me ?
USA : Leadership (lt,capt, maj) (no sure what best in US) ? help me?

This sounds like AoE but with more steps...
Assimetrycal balance is more challenging and bring each person abilities to an optimal state. No everyone likes microing, so a faction less reliant on tanks is fine, not everyone likes aggressive tactics, and so on.

Edit. Balance comes from oportunity rather than availability of unit/tools.
Its gives an strategic insight, allied factions tend to be aggressive. Ost is balanced defensive and okm is flexible aggressive