In my Ost games I tend to get one of the two buildorders:
1) (pio), pio, gren, MG, gren (T2 if USF, pak <-> MG if russians, more grens)
Use your double pios to get ground fast, wire stuff for defence so the MG will fuck up any advancement from allies. You need to try and see the bigger picture when you are using MGs on axis side. "where will he attack from, where can I wire off the best for the next engagement. Camp or cap?" Ask yourself these questions and it should be OK.
Engies also get nice view-range for defence!
2) (pio), gren, gren, MG, gren, T2(if USF)
This is a buildorder where you can get the most firepower from, so this should be used in engagements rather than simple capping. Double gren have a good chance vs 2 engaging rifle squads (if in cover)
I tend to get 40% of the map on most maps, I like to defend in the beginning (especially vs conspam, cause I read that kind of play pretty easy IMO - cause conscript-king Kappa). From here on I tend to grap a bit more territory as time passes if I'm successful, due to the enemy retreat time. Please do note that it's very important to support your MGs, because they aren't supressing like in CoH1 They are insane for the dmg output these days! + PENETRATION-rounds!
If you get 4 units the USF can get an M20 before you grap your pak, simply bait into a mine or faust if for more time. you should have your pak in time before the M20 should be able to annihilate your army.
This just tend to work for me...
Edit:
Also recommend you to:
Preserve munitions for double shreck on PGrens
Think about getting a 222
Lenny, just a quick question about your double pio opening:
Do you build T1 with the first or second pio?
What maps would you get double pios on?
I always veto Kharkov, Stalingrad, and La Gleize.
I think the early game would be better for axis if Riflemen got a fifth man at Vet 2 like RE
I remember playing on La Gleize against a USF guy ranked around 4,000 according to CELO (at the time I was about 1,000) but the first fifteen minutes were insanely hard against his riflemen. What saved me was AP rounds from an MG42 on his AAHT, killing it, then a teller mine on a Stuart (that he saw me put down). He was very bad. But I had such a hard time early game because of the power of the rifles at mid range.
I think if most USF infantry was based around that concept - getting a 5th man at vet 2 - it would give them a bit of a better mid game while making the early game a bit easier.