If your early game consists of conscripts rocking out with their cocks out, dancing around the enemy's fuel point, then t2/t3 is very viable. However, this can't always be managed.
If you are incompetent in dealing with the SU-85, then you are doing it wrong. I've never had problem vs SU-85 because i lay teller mines and most soviet players don't get minesweepers. 1 teller already makes the SU-85 a worthless junk that you can just flank easly. But in a scenario when you are facing 2+ SU-85, you need heavy tanks with paks and some sort of anti infantry units to keep the paks alive. Or a pak43 which is a true soviet can-opener.
Sometimes the soviet player loses patience, so he rushes in and if you predict such push, you can take the advantage and easly take out most of his SU-85's if not all.
Most of the time, when i manage to kill the first SU-85 quickly, i have a window of opportunity to end the game before another one comes out. Even if another one comes out, i've already made my counter stronger.
Also: good micro > all.
I just wanted to highlight this in the hope that more people read it
They worked fairly well on that map, mainly because it has buildings that you controlled, and shot block against would-be MGs pinning them before they can get in range to satchel. A FHT would have been difficult for you to take down I think, combined with more defensive placement of MGs.
It seemed to me that it kept wanting to target the CEs? Although for some of the shots, the gun was pointed at the SU-76, but the shots were going in the direction of the Combat Engineers. Very sad though
To be honest, unless my Soviet mine magically gets a squad kill or destroys a flamer, I consider it a waste if it triggers on infantry. Sure muni-wise getting 2 kills (and sometimes 3) isn't a bad return, but I generally place them to deal with FHTs and later armour.