My personal tests show the Tank Commander improves accuracy enough to be worth it vs low RA infantry, while the MG falls off. If you can get the E8 vetted, the cannon really improves vs inf.
0 vet, no cover Panther w/ mg > E8 w/ mg > E8 w/ commander, 3 vet E8 w/ commander >> Panther /w mg = E8 w/ mg. Gets more pronounced with cover.
Well, leFH still has the best general stats of any artillery. It just doesnt also shut down all Allied artillery. Now both sides can and will build arty. Sexton and Priest arent as mandatory to prevent a loss condition.
What punishes large blobs of elite infantry without overly punishing individual squads? That's what you need, and that's well tuned rocket artillery. Only the Calliope can do that effectively and garuntee some bleed for USF.
The Pack Howi and the Scott were nerfed specifically because they punished individual squads too much.
My recent problems in big team is 3 players worth of axis elite troops blobbing 1 lane and no tools to really punish it. That makes rocket arty manditory.
The E8 needs more AoE damage, thats about it. Even without increasing OHK. The cannon has to directly snipe a target, pretty much exactly like the Panther.
The problem with the E8 in team games is it requires giving up USFs other sources of elite blob control while not having enough AI to compensate.
The answer is what it commonly is. Make Calliopes Non-doc so the E8s dont have to do the work. Otherwise they need more AoE to do the heavy lifting.