Did you also read the part where I said that bars are over performing?
The thought required with BARs is that you actually have to do something to get them. Do you tech them now and delay your officer? Or get the officer first and delay y mout light vehicle? Do you try and skip it entirely to get that sherman out a bit sooner? Do you retreat a unit now to upgrade or wait until they are beat up? Do you try and single arm a couple squads or double arm them? Do I slap them on the units with more vet or do I need them on the front right now?
Which has nothing to do with the fact that BARs, just like stgs, are an upgrade at all ranges. You made it seem like stgs are some terrible evil because they're a no brainer upgrade, implying that this was somehow exclusive to stgs. Honestly, I don't even believe no brainer upgrades are bad. You always upgrade lmg42s, lmg34s, stgs, thompsons, so this is hardly exclusive to volks (or axis, if someone wants to make that argument).
If volks are a/the problem, tell me why. The numbers I posted surely don't support that notion.
If stgs are the problem, tell me why. If "they can upgrade in enemy territory" is the best argument there, then I probably don't even need to say anything for that argument to lose momentum. If "they're a no brainer upgrade" is the argument, then why is this a problem for stgs and not every other no brainer upgrade in the game (on a side note, the game would be pretty boring without no brainer upgrades, as you would just see smgs/lmgs vs smgs/lmgs and it's always a-moving or running straight up to the other). If their performance is a problem, show me how thats the case with actual numbers (something akin to the numbers that I posted; the ones that suggest the contrary).
The thought required with BARs is that you actually have to do something to get them. Do you tech them now and delay your officer? Or get the officer first and delay y mout light vehicle? Do you try and skip it entirely to get that sherman out a bit sooner? Do you retreat a unit now to upgrade or wait until they are beat up? Do you try and single arm a couple squads or double arm them? Do I slap them on the units with more vet or do I need them on the front right now?
Except that theres very little thinking there since I could tell you the right answer to those questions. Never tech them before your officer. Always get racks before your first medium. Don't retreat units just to upgrade them. I can't imagine that any top player will tell you otherwise. Deciding whether to upgrade a vetted unit or an unvetted one is a decision for literally all upgrades that arent purchased as soon as a unit hits the field, this isn't something exclusive to BARs that make them better or more interesting for the game. The only real decision is whether you get them before or after any possible light vehicle. Word it however you like, people who play the game know that upgrading racks isn't some engaging tech decision that requires a bunch of thinking.
Hell if the STG needed one of the truck side grades it would be better because SOME sort of though would go into it...
If STGs are a balance issue as you're implying, this would probably be the worst thing you could do. STG performance is kept modest because it doesn't require tech. Assigning a side tech cost to it would require that you buff them. If you buff stgs, then volks really do start to overperform for their cost and OKW rolls over USF in the mid and late game too. If you don't buff stgs, then no one will upgrade them, and you mess up what is otherwise a fairly balanced matchup (sov vs okw).
If you want to argue that their availability is an issue that deserves to be fixed even in spite of that, I'd ask why? If your argument is that "free" upgrades make in game decision making boring, then my argument is that free upgrades make the game fun to play for every faction. Get rid of techless stgs, and OKW becomes another faction that side techs for weapons (weapons which are now presumably of a comparable power level to the BARs and brens that similarly require side tech). The fact that one faction gets a "techless", but less powerful weapon upgrade creates an asymmetry that actually translates to unique faction identities.