Some ideas might be good, but mostly - pretty lame... Today's OKW is way better, than you suggesting here. They don't need much buffing or nerfing.
Only thing that OKW needs is artillery. Howitzers. For to fight against sim-cities and massive bunches of Katyushas, Calliopes and Matresses. Very annoying units.
In games units/items/abilities are not always what devs want them to be.
Maxim is designed to be used at offensive so it has more crews, faster set up but limited firing arc, like what it is now, that what devs want it to be in the first place.
But something went wrong in between Maxim has assumed the role of core infantry rather than support weapon in this version (and many times in history versions). It's not because Cons are worthless (which they are not), it's just Maxims are just great. Once upon a time Maxim squad equals to a 6-men con armed with Maxims HMG with same price as Cons, no wonder players don't need cons. For example u can build a Panzerabwehr volk squad with 1 schreck for 255 mp will you still build vanilla volks? Of coz not.
But I DO agree this nerf is a bit too much, the cost increase is entirely not needed.
You are wrong in few points:
1. Cons are really worthless. They are maybe mobile or survivable, but they have pretty small firepower. Mosins shoot veeery slow and innacurate. And there is no non-doctrinal way to scale your "suppoused to be" mainline infantry. Exclusive only for USSR - other factions have non-doctrinal scale tools. No addition weapons, no additional firepower. Let them had at least SVT-40 upgreads or DP-28s... Just something, that will increase not only their ability "to take damage" - they are great in that, but also in dealing damage.
2. Maxim desgnied to be offencive MG, while all other HMGs (except 0.50 maybe) are deffensive. Maxim is spammed - all others don't. Why Relic just can't make Maxim same deffensive-suppourt? Yes, it is against of idea of "assymetrical" balance, but not all units in game should be balanced assymetricaly. Imagine, that we would have deffensive and offensive mortars. Or deffensive and offensive AT-guns. All support weapons MUST be only deffensive, becuase that's how people use them IRL, that's how it would be right to use in CoH 2.
3. Maxim is great. Not sure about it, I don't agree. But I really agree with making it less "great" and more similar to MGs like MG-42 or Vikkkers. Let it be not great, but effective.
You are wrong about vCoH.
The US .30 M1919 has rather slow RoF and low suppression but deals more damage compared to Mg42, but they are cheaper. PE has no infantry MG but they have mobile MG HT 250/2. Commonwealth only has doctrinal Commando MG but they can build MG nest to suit their rather defensive early game.
MGs in vCoH are very different
They are not much different in core desgin, if we talking about HMG teams, not emplacements or trucks. They all are deffensive HMGs, they performing pretty same, their core desing is pretty similar.
You said yourself, that only differense between MG-42 and 0.30, that 0.30 deals more damage, in exchange too slow RoF and supression. And you know what - this is great! Let's make MG diversity in CoH 2 in same way. Similar core design, similar foundation - different stats.
I just really belive, that that "uniqe and original" design of Maxims/DShKs is great fail. Fixing it will fix all other problems, conected with Maxims.
I don't think you can say the maxim was meant to fight on equal footing with axis infantry given the supression mechanics in this game. It is most definitely a support weapon, it's only so different from the mg42 because relic wants to create diversity between factions and this was their solution to that. This is in fact the reason for a lot of stuff that otherwise wouldn't make much sense, and it kind of gets on my nerves too sometimes. (E.G. OKW has no non doctrinal MG, USF has no mortar or sniper, Oth has no light tanks, etc)
MG42 and maxim are very different, and you can't "nerf the maxim to the level of the mg42" because in some ways the mg42 is better, but in other ways it is not. The mg42, however, was not overperforming, and so they didn't nerf it. The maxim clearly was, and this is a small enough nerf that even though the idea behind it was to discourage its use above all other units and encourage combined arms strategies, you will probably still encounter maxim spammers from time to time.
Diversity between factions is good, but balance is more important.
I keep using that example - in vCoH all HMGs were pretty similar in their mechanics. Wide arcs of fire, AoE supression, long set-up time. Only different were abilities, damage and other important poitns, not so hardly connected with core design. I don't understand, why not to make it same here - all HMGs have same arc of fire and setup/packup time, as MG-42/Vikkers, maybe little different AoE supression, dependend on damage dealing and make diversity in their abilities and other stuff. But not in general design. Let them be all "in general" like MG-42s, change other parametrs, damage, supression per shot, penetration, maybe add some abilities...
They did not design the maxim to be used as frontline infantry.
They designed it to work well with the extremely mobile Conscript force. While the MG42 better complements the long range grenadiers.
So, you think people will stop spamming Maxims after that nerf? It will continue, because even such nerfed, Maxim is still more effective than all soviet stock infantry.
Relic just missing one obvious point, which lays on ground - all factions with "support-deffensive HMGs" don't spam them at all, and only one, with uniqe, specific and "assymetrcal" HMG people spam more and more - Maxim. Isn't that obvious, that remaking Maxim into same deffensive HMG will stop it spam and will make soviet gameplay more adequate. Infantry - in assault, HMGs - support and cover. Just as it suppoused to be, just as it is work with all other factions and nobody crying about it.
There's a reason skilled players will consider spamming maxims but not mg42s.
True, there is. Let's refuse from idea of "offencive" HMG, which really causes Maxim spams, turn Maxim into normal support-MG and we will see, that nobody spamming Maxims.
Because you don't spam support units, they can't be your main power. That's why people don't spam MG-42s, Vikkerses... But Maxim isn't suppoused to be support gun. Relic designed it as "frontline assault HMG", which should be able to fight on equial against Axis infantry. So, people use it, like Relic designed.
And now Relic comes and say: "OK, our offencive HMG is too effective in offencive, just as it suppoused to be actually, so we will nerf it, for to make offencive HMG less effective in offensive". Where is logic?! They nerfing it against it's original design!
Just say "NO!" to that shitty idea of "offencive HMGs" for USSR, it sux, Relic. Really sux, you fucked up. Everyone hates it. Axis players hate it, cos it causing so much hatred HMG spam, USSR players hate it, cos Maxims making my core infantry look like useless trash... stop, they are useless trash. Even if it will be "nerf" for so OP Maxim - nerf it to level of MG-42. Really, nerf it!
Just give to Maxim wide arc of fire, wide AoE supression and long set-up time, like all normal support-HMGs in game have. And everything will be OK. Spam will stop, people will start to use Cons as mainline and Maxims as support/pointhold tool. That's what all of us want!
The dshka has the same setup time now as the maxim. People still can spam dshkas and a-move them around the map. I don't think it will be as crippling as people might think. Plus, they alluded to a balance preview where maybe they'll test buffing cons or penals.
Would be really great, if DShK would be placed in at least 5 doctrines, not in 2. And one of those 2 is 100% dogshit.
The Manpower cost is still lower than any other medium tank.
It's plenty good at killing things. If you use it properly it will kill stuff just as well as a PzIV, but you'll have 2-3 of them instead of just 1 pziv.
You should try to use T-34-76s yourself for to understand, how difficult it is too keep alive T-34 tank groups in numbers more than 2, specially when you have against you Schrecks, Stugs and Panthers with Elephants.
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FinalSolution™
Dullahan
Relic Entertainment
