Profile of FelixTHM

I'm not a strategist but here's my 2 cents. It's actually not a good idea to lump opponents into "Axis" because Ostheer and OKW are so radically different. Strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle of the two Axis factions have almost no similarity tbh.

As USF I find the mid game a struggle. Ostheer snipers cause serious bleed, which often forces me to get an early m20. Panzergrens are ferocious in the mid-game as well, and it's pretty easy to lose a squad to bundled nades. Even a significant fuel lead and getting a tank out way earlier than your opponent doesn't help too much, Stug is cheap and deadly, and PAKs are always excellent. Use smoke grenades to deal with HMGs, and double-bar all your rifles to chew through Ostheer infantry. Late game Ostheer isn't anything special, with the only real worry being a Cp17 Tiger Ace.

Whereas vs OKW the pain comes from the Luchs in the early game (I usually go Captain first), and the very late game when Vet 5 starts to kick in. OKW tech is really expensive so it takes a while for their good stuff to come online. I generally regard that as the window of opportunity - it's 285 fuel between Luchs and P4 (325 if he made a med truck), so make the most of the time when the OKW player has no real armour. Double barred rifles will chew through equal vet volks/unvetted Obers, mg34 etc. You have to reverse the territory gains and mp bleed from the Luchs period, and try to constantly push/deny the good spots for Schwer placement, which will commonly be fuel/vp pts or cut-offs.

If you're behind on fuel cos of the OKW's powerful opening 10 mins, Armour Company lets you get AT and AI tanks without teching. M10s are really cheap fuel-wise, and diving for enemy vehicles in packs can often earn you cost-effective trades. OKW vehicles are super expensive to replace, so you have to be aggressive with forcing the action. Don't sit at 50 range trading shots against each other's frontal armour.

If you're only "covering your half of the map" it's generally not good enough to win. Heck, I've lost lots of games where I had 60 to 70% map control most of the match, but couldn't handle my opponent's late-game army composition.

Yup yup, not suggesting to kick it out, but maybe update it a bit so the vps are more central and right side's cut-off isn't so extremely vulnerable.

I play it a lot too, there's definitely many more maps I prefer to veto. Better right side on Kholodny than Semoskiy (ever). What happened to Market Garden btw? It was removed the previous patch?

I'am solidly middling right now at rank 10 1v1 with the soviets, mostly off conscript reliant builds that go t2 most of the time. It is impossible to deny the ubiquity of t1, dshkas, and penals, into sherman spam in the tournament scene and upper level play, but I was wondering if there are still strategies that function well without relying on this core. This is in the context of the upper mid 1v1 scene.

Is the maxim ever worth getting? I find that it is decent upon acquiring the activated ability but prior to that is extremely lackluster suppression wise.

I'm no pro (am only lvl 16), but I've been playing and learning the game for quite some time now, and I often watch the pros play. Some of them have managed to make conscript-builds work by going for early map control, and some go for multiple engineers for lots of capping and trap setting pressure.

That said, even the other commander paths that are viable (kv8 rush vs OKW), KV1 commander, everything is just better with penals and dshka. Why build conscripts when you have terminator-esque dps from Penals? Why build maxims when you have the space age gatling gun dshka? They're vastly superior options that make it difficult for players to want to choose Conscripts and T2. You can still play/compete I guess, but they're firmly entrenched in the meta for very good reason.

I was in a rush to go off, haven't touched it since then. At that point in time the unit was just running on the spot permanently, couldn't unstick them with either retreat or any move command, unfortunately. They were "inside" the fence and couldn't hop out in either direction.

There is really no reason not to build sandbags with your Volks everywhere you cap, specially if you place them besides the flag so only you can benefit from it while defending, it will help you stall or bleed enemy rifles trying to 1vs1 your volks.

Mechanized is not really that popular, at least compared to the really meta USF commanders, so it's a surprise you are seeing it so often used against you, Raketen remains your best counter to it and I think it can one shot it, denying your enemy the withdraw and refit use.
Remember it can retreat so you can be bold with it as you go around ninja capping with it.

Yeah lower-mid level meta is quite different from higher tier play. I don't see maxim spam that much for Soviets even though I read about it a lot on forums/chat. It happens on occasion, but conscripts with PPSH or shock troops into KV8 are far more common. I guess I'll just try to improve with my raketenwerfer control for now. 0-6 in games against the damned truck.