None of that made any fucking sense, or was relevant.
A) First half of post purely ad-hominem.
B) Referencing someone elses post incorrectly as if it was your own.
C) Somekind of bullshit reference to RNades, as if that "drastically change the equation" in some way that I hadnt already implicitly and explicitly considered.
MG42 is absolutely, without reservation, MUCH squishier than Maxim now.
Do you recognise and accept that as fact? Or?
I think playing the game actually does give someone perspective and is very relevant to any balance discussion. You really should try it. I mean that sincerely.
There is more than just health, armor and damage to look at. The MG42 is more difficult to flank by nature of it's firing arc. That means it is more difficult to get in a position to cause it damage. That is a very real factor even though it doesn't directly increase the health of the squad.
In comparison, the narrow arc of the Maxim makes it much easier for an attacker to gain the needed position to cause damage. Again, that's a very real factor. Further, Rifle Grenades and the low pinning of the Maxim allow Ostheer players to frontally engage the Maxim. Again that's a serious consideration.
You like to talk about setup times, which of course naturally favor Maxims but I submit that the setup time edge is not nearly as decisive as you make it out to be when you consider the difference in pinning and the abilities of the attacking squads. There are no stats that I can bring up to illustrate that; it's an opinion I've gained over the course of ~200 games played using both factions. If a Maxim spins around and engages a flanking Grenadier squad that squad will still be able to advance for a little while and even once it does get suppressed (assuming that it does) the Grenadier can still use a Rifle Grenade. In the same situation, the MG42 can turn to face a flanking Conscript and probably suppress it before it can get close enough to throw a molotov. Even if the molotov goes off, the MG42 will pin the Conscript and give time for the MG42 to re-position outside the AOE of the molotov.
You keep asking why the Ostheer MG is less survivable then the Soviet's but then you put blinders on, ignoring everything else. Do you think Rifle Grenades effect the early game? How about the added DPS from LMG upgrades? Even if MG42s are less survivable then Maxims, is that a bad thing when you consider the other units in play? I'm not arguing it one way or the other, I'm just saying it's a larger issue then you make it out to be.
But let me guess, you're just going to say this is all BS and go back to your rant.