Profile of GI John 412

OK we dont hold the same opinion on "emergencey". Yes it is multirole vehcle, but in current state it is more like "jack of all trades master of none". Not an effective at option, meanwhile has a barrage recharging time of 80s which is longer than a howitzer.

Make the barrage a zis version copy, then I would say its fine, being a okayish at and nice barrage.

Pretty sure the barrage on the Zis-3 is the same as on the SU-76.....

If the SU-76 needs a buff it could just be in the form of a cost reduction to its fuel price making it even more affordable as a supplementary AT platform to back up a T-34 or T-70 when you can’t afford or don’t want an SU-85 and also more affordable as an emergency AT solution if you skipped Tier 2.

The German tripods could actually do this (this made it extremely complex and expensive to produce, Eg, German )

The maxim definitely couldn’t, besides, I like the centaur strafe ability better

I think I like the Traversing Fire ability better myself, but pretty much any HMG on a tripod can do plunging fire. It’s a pretty basic fundamental principal of machine gun gunnery, but is also kind of a lost art in the modern day where GPMGs are more often utilized on pintle mounts on vehicles and helicopters, or on a bipod in infantry units.

The Plunging Fire ability would be very suited for the Vickers gun though. The British military continued to use the Vickers gun all the way into the 1960’s in this role as it could be an effective area denial weapon at long ranges. When it was replaced in this role it was replaced by a 60mm mortar. Sounds crazy, but it’s true and actually makes sense if you think about how plunging fire works.

Maxims will always be hard to balance due to the death loop problem.

For the most part, Maxims are actually in a decent spot right now with the improved AOE suppression, but still isn’t great compared to the other HMGs.

What I would like to see is a revised vet 1 ability that gives the Maxim more versatility in exchange for its poor performance as a suppression platform. This fits the Soviet faction design as a versatile faction of combined arms that differs from the raw power of the Wehrmacht counterparts. The Zis vs PaK40 is a great example of this dynamic done right. The Pak is a better AT gun with an ability that makes it an even more deadly AT gun with the target weak point ability. The Zis on the other hand is a weaker AT gun but can barrage to support against infantry targets. The Pak is stronger against its specialized target, but is useless against different targets.

Applying this logic to the MG42 vs Maxim dynamic shows that the MG42 is better at suppression and killing light vehicles and infantry with its incendiary rounds. It’s a better HMG.

What I would suggest is a new vet 1 ability that is either a barrage type ability or strafing fire like ability.

Plunging Fire: this ability fires a series of bursts from the Maxim in a barrage that causes light damage to all targets in its AOE and suppression in the area. This way a Maxim can barrage any vehicle, tank or infantry unit and deal light damage to a stationary vehicle or tank (the idea that the top of the vehicle is less armored and thus the extra penetration granted by the ability would make sense). It wouldn’t do very much damage, but in the hands of a high skill player it could be used to break up an attack or disrupt repairing units. Of course it would also need a fairly long minimum range to avoid it being used up close.

Traversing Fire: this ability would fire one long burst in a sweep from side to side much like the Strafing Fire ability the UKF Centaur AA tank has, except the Maxim version would deal damage to any unit in the cone of fire of the Maxim regardless of distance away from the gun, but also deal much less damage than the centaur version. This ability would give the Maxim a way to stop a charging squad or blob and also deal damage in a way that is unique and can be activated regardless of line of sight. You could activate traversing fire to stop a unit charging through a smoke grenade for example. But in order to make it not op, this ability would also deal 100% damage to friendly units in the cone as well. This way Traversing fire fired into a VP covered by smoke couldn’t be used to suppress only the enemy unit and win the VP. It would damage and suppress everything. This could pair well with Conscript builds where losing models 1 for 1 in friendly fire instances is still a good trade vs expensive units like Obers or P Grens.

Buy any of you a beer next time you’re in Okinawa. Cheers.

IR StGs are very good in some circumstances, but as alluded to already, they aren’t as good as the LMG in most cases that you would get Obersoldaten for anyways. I don’t see the harm in making the doctrinal upgrade allowed without Panzer Authorization being upgraded.