by JohnRayJr
First, I want to clarify that when you say "Control" you mean the technical definition under the rules, and not "domination."Second, if you are playing without the optional cards, you should be playing with a small influence adjustment for the US: +1 US IP in Iran, minimally. Prior to the deluxe release, common adjustments in online leagues were +1 Iran / +1 Western Europe, or even +2 in one of those and +1 in the other. 3IP to the US, under the right conditions, was widely considered "the magic number," for balance purposes. Of course these adjustments were made back when the US had zero starting influence in Canada (which is effectively irrelevant to you, since you've been playing without NORAD).
Third, the game is 60-40 pro-Soviet out-of-the-box, and that's between cutthroat league players with dozens if not hundreds of games under their belt. It could easily skew more toward the USSR given inexperienced players and no adjustments. You should also understand that the USSR wins a disproportionate share of games that end before the late war and the US wins a disproportionate share of games that end in the Late War or in Final Scoring. That is by design.
As for Europe, just stop letting it happen. I mean that in the friendliest possible way. If your opponent slips a single IP into Italy (spending two OPs), then you spend a single OP to restore overcontrol. If I'll make trades like that all day, no matter which side I'm on. If your opponent controls all but one BG in Europe, then you should overcontrol the last BG by at least two, maybe even three if it's Italy. To do otherwise is to invite disaster.
I can't speak for the entire TS community, but I've got more than 80 games of this under my belt and I've seen a Europe autovictory once, and it was me winning against an inexperienced player (and believe me, I warned him). It simply should not be happening. It should not even be happening to the USSR by way of Chernobyl, except in edge cases. It's one thing to concede Domination because you can make more progress elsewhere. But you never put control on the table as an option. The overcontrol rules are heavily in the defender's favor - take full advantage of them.