Just for the record according to this thread; http://www.coh2.org/topic/4806/list-of-infantry-weapons-by-dps , contrary to popular belief conscripts do not do more damage than grenadiers, especially not at close range. At long range they both do 6.6dps, while at short range grenadiers do 14dps and conscripts 12dps. If someone believes the chart is wrong post in that thread and let them know.
The little that I played so far I have to agree that flame scout cars just seem like one of the most effective counter to mg42s in buildings. With the mg42s now 33% more durable 1 molotov just doesn't cut it, some of the bigger buildings like the church even 2 molotovs seem to take too long to kill a mg42 though it all depends on their positioning but still that's 3 required squads considering the third squad is needed to take fire. Soviet t2 mortar is just a sad unit, sure it's decently survivable but the fire rate is insanely slow even when barraging. That leaves us with a flame engineer which is essentially playing Russian roulette considering most of the time the enemy has to kill the closest engie and boom goes the flamer. I think with the new patch the soviets need to rely on the flame scout car more than ever. I'd like to know how other people counter mg42s in buildings aside from going t1 as well.
People are always comparing how much worse the German weapon teams are to the Soviet weapon teams, but they fail to realize that the soviets need to be more effective/cost efficient or else German armor will need to be brought down to the level of the Soviet armor. As for the SU85 yeah it should cost more fuel than the p4, but it should still be the most cost effective option to countering a p4... right now it's the only option.
The Soviet MG definitely needed some sort of change, so did the German Pak. Scout cars with flamers and Maxim spam aside, if the patch helped balance out the game an equally good Soviet player should still dominate the early game with out those two units while the German is left holding 1/3 of the map... is it still the case now and was that a case before that's really up for debate.