HMG Balance & New Cover System

I've had a fair amount of these situations since the beta rolled out whilst using HMG's in cover :


Don't get me wrong, I like the new mechanic, but it has adversely affected the performance of HMG's in two ways.

1. Squads use cover better, thus harder to suppress. I have no issue with this at all to be fair.

2. HMG's clump up whilst using cover like most units, except unlike other units, they can't dodge nades. So if anything makes it into nade range, your HMG is kaput! Leads to a funny situation, where your probably better off not using cover with your HMG's as they'll stand a a better chance in the open and not clumped up.

I guess you could say support your HMG's better and make sure nothing makes it into nade range, but i'd say in practice that is map dependent and much harder to do in practice, take for example rifle nades, good luck stopping them, or in the case of the MG42, before it hits vet 2, you don't even need to flank it or use smoke, simply run two squads separated apart, the gun can't traverse fast enough to stop both squads.

If possible, i'd like to see HMG's use of cover adjusted next patch so they use it more intelligently. Otherwise, your better off in buildings or out in the open, which is an odd mechanic. Edit: Or just using mainline infantry instead of combined arms, which many already do.

That's the whole idea about using HMG. Try to prevent things like that from happening. It's a defensive weapon after all.

Try to prevent things like that from happening.

You can't control where the individual squadmembers go when you deploy a HMG. As Bryan pointed out, they cluster an armslength away from each other if you deploy in cover, and none of the little men are heroic enough to dive on the nade and shield the rest from the blast (unfortunately).

Did not notice anything like that happening myself but I'm sure this can be easily adjusted by Relic.
If they find this point valid.

I like the new cover system, even with mgs. My biggest problem was always the mg spam, bot because i couldn't beat it, more because it was fuckin annoying to play against it. Now mgs die more often from grenades, which might be too often sometimes, but at the same time i'm very happy with it. My opinion might be influenced by my hate for maxim spams but i like it.

That's the whole idea about using HMG. Try to prevent things like that from happening. It's a defensive weapon after all.

It's not possible to prevent a vet2 grenadier squad from firing a rifle nade with a maxim. With the new cover mechanic, these now have a high chance of taking out 4-5 models unless the maxim is deployed out in the open.

Did not notice anything like that happening myself but I'm sure this can be easily adjusted by Relic.

We have an optimist in the house

We can live in hope!

It's not possible to prevent a vet2 grenadier squad from firing a rifle nade with a maxim. With the new cover mechanic, these now have a high chance of taking out 4-5 models unless the maxim is deployed out in the open.

Yeah but this can be a problem with rifle grenade being too effective with new squad spacing and needing adjusting. The sheer amount of time my squads got wiped from single nade is a bit over the top.