Need Some US L2P Help

So, decided to give the new faction a spin. I played two 1v1 auto match games, both against Ostheer, oddly enough. I won both, but I'm at a low ELO, and even though I won, I had a hard time against what probably weren't the best tactics.

I kindly ask you all to avoid getting into balance arguments, although I certainly would appreciate a brief "I feel [blank] just isn't worth building at the moment."

Here goes:

1. The M10. I really don't get this unit. It costs almost the same as a Sherman, auto-targets infantry, has no anti-infantry ability, and lacks holds fire. It loses against a Panzer IV head on, and doesn't have that big an advantage even when it flanks. I try to use it against tanks that are engaged against something else, coming in from the flanks. Yeah, they've done some damage, but they're just so frail and inflexible. Why not just get a Sherman?

2. Machine Guns What's the best way of taking down an MG42? As armored, I usually try to draw their fire with rifle a bit, then sneak around with assault engineers. That seems to work just fine, but I was curious what other people usually do. As a doc other than armored, I just use other rifles. Is smoke the way to go?

3. Flame Pio blobs. Hey, stop laughing! Yeah, I know these shouldn't be hard to deal with, and it's not like they defeated me, but they caused more trouble than they should. I found that my rifles without BARs just didn't have enough DPS to cut them down before they got close. Should I just remember to get BARs in the future? Or keep a Flak halftrack around? Are machine guns good to keep on hand?

2. You can use volley fire from a Rear Echelon unit on an MG. Do this at least when it's not in green cover and this is best when it is still setting up or reloading. Suppressed, it is less effective at suppressing you.

1. Never fight with M10 head on head. It lacks the necessary armor but has enough speed to drive circels around the enemy tank. The turret of the P4 (or whatever) is too slow to follow the M10. The sherman will deal less damage on a P4 than a M10. You also can crush infrantry with it. It just works like in CoH 1. You actually used it already right. Maybe rng was the problem. I wish something like allied war machine would come back.

2. Actually 2 rifles deal enough damage to take it frontal out. I recommend early grenades.

3. Rear Echelon Troops can pin more than 1 squad with volley fire.

So, decided to give the new faction a spin. I played two 1v1 auto match games, both against Ostheer, oddly enough. I won both, but I'm at a low ELO, and even though I won, I had a hard time against what probably weren't the best tactics.

I kindly ask you all to avoid getting into balance arguments, although I certainly would appreciate a brief "I feel [blank] just isn't worth building at the moment."

Here goes:

1. The M10. I really don't get this unit. It costs almost the same as a Sherman, auto-targets infantry, has no anti-infantry ability, and lacks holds fire. It loses against a Panzer IV head on, and doesn't have that big an advantage even when it flanks. I try to use it against tanks that are engaged against something else, coming in from the flanks. Yeah, they've done some damage, but they're just so frail and inflexible. Why not just get a Sherman?

The M10 sucks. Accept it. It has (historically incorrect)paper thin armour, it has bad target priority, and even though it's cheap, it's barely worth the price. For all the reasons you said, just don't get it. Rely on your positioning and infantry to counter tanks. The only time you should be desperate enough for an M10 is in the rare situation they get a Tiger on the field, and then that's because it's the only American tank that has the damage output and accuracy to feasibly kill another tank, other than the M36, which is the same as the M10 just overpriced and with higher damage weapons.

Shermans also miss a fuck tonne so I'd be extremely wary about buying them, but if you're far ahead they can be the final nail in the coffin for your enemy.

2. Machine Guns What's the best way of taking down an MG42? As armored, I usually try to draw their fire with rifle a bit, then sneak around with assault engineers. That seems to work just fine, but I was curious what other people usually do. As a doc other than armored, I just use other rifles. Is smoke the way to go?

Smoke like you don't know it's bad for your health. But really, there's a few ways American infantry can take on an enemy emplacement. The quickest one is smoke. You smoke it, they can't shoot you, run up and saturate it with grenades. If either retreats, or sticks around and dies when the smoke wears off and you can shoot it again.

There's also the standard flanking that you covered.

And in a tight spot, Rear Echelons will directly counter-suppress them if you use their Volley Fire ability. That'll stop the HMG shooting and you'll be able to use your Rifles to lay down the hurt.

3. Flame Pio blobs. Hey, stop laughing! Yeah, I know these shouldn't be hard to deal with, and it's not like they defeated me, but they caused more trouble than they should. I found that my rifles without BARs just didn't have enough DPS to cut them down before they got close. Should I just remember to get BARs in the future? Or keep a Flak halftrack around? Are machine guns good to keep on hand?

Depends entirely on the situation, really. If you have enough Riflemen, you just need to spread out and focus fire and the Pios will drop like flies. If RNG is on your side, a fuel tanker will explode and will probably wipe the Pio squad, as well as royally fuck the other units in the blob.

BARs are a surefire way to handle them though, there's too much DPS for a Pioneer to handle in that situation.

A Flak Halftrack specifically to deal with Pios is overkill, but if they're not showing the intent to go for anti-tank options(No AT Guns, are producing units so they're not saving for anything like a tank, things like that), then the Halftrack is just a good investment anyways and will solo an entire army of infantry if it's given the opportunity. I just drive it around in reverse(Hotkey U) the whole time.

And HMGs are situational. They can be a quite sound investment, but they can also backfire massively if you get them too late into the game and don't have your other bases covered. And don't forget your enemy can pick them up and use them if they get decrewed.

Hope that helps.