Please test its suppression against blobbed up units.
An MG is meant to be an area denial weapon (as even stated in your games tutorial) that doesnt necessary do big amounts of damage.
Right now the Maxim lacks the area suppression but on the other hand deals huge amount of damage and can set up faster but has a lower cone. Its 6 men squad also makes it more resistant to explosive weapons.
But even with micro it cannot successfull suppress blobs running at it. It will only suppress a small amount of the squads and the other squads will rush over it.
Also please keep in mind that rifle nades are the death sentence for Maxim crews. A solution to this would be to disallow rifle nades beeing fired when the squad is suppressd (not pinned). Even in a realistic manner this would make sense since the guy firing its rifle nade usually stands up and puts its rifle on the ground. But jeah realism is not what we are aiming at here so thats just a nice side note
![;) ;)](/images/Smileys/wink.gif)
What I personally would like the Maxim to become is sth like the following. And this is only to give some feedback and add to the discussion so no need for flaming
![;) ;)](/images/Smileys/wink.gif)
An MG that can still suppress blobs effectively, isnt hardcountered by rifle nades, doesnt overperform in the damage section and stands off from the MG 42 by its smaller arc, lower set up time, but shorter duration of suppression.
The problem of the durability against explosives could be solved by letting two guys of the squad stand closer to each other so the overall squad gets affected by mortar shells equivalent to the MG 42.
This would mean:
Give the Maxim a bigger area suppression BUT a smaller duration of the suppresion and less damage.
Keep the current firearc and set up time since its allready been increased.
-- This would mean the Maxim could still be used more aggressively than the MG42 due to its faster set up time but is not as capable as suppressing flanked squads by repositioning since the first suppressed squads will be unsuppressed faster.
Also it would not be able to attack on its own since the damage output would be to small to harm a squad before backup arrives.
On the other hand it would still serve as an areal denial weapon meant to punish blobs - just like MGs are meant to be.
The MG42 would have the advantage of having longer and a bit bigger area suppression and would serve a little better as a defensive unit but would lack the ability to support attacks FAST because of its slower set up time --
Stopping grenadiers from firing rifle nades while suppressed AND letting the 6 soldiers of the Maxim stand closer together in groups of two would both allow the Maxim to be more vulnerable to explosives and still keep the rifle nade ability from beeing sincere overpowered.
The higher damage output on german squads still means the small arms damage per second agaisnt the Maxim would be balanced between the factions.
Thats my two cents - theres surely room for discussion.
Best regards!