On Mortars, the 81mm RoF is offset by 82mm greater AoE.
On ATGs, the PaK RoF is offset by ZiS Barrage.
On HMGs, the MG42 Arc is offset by Maxim setup time.
None of these asymmetric arrangements account for the support team crew count discrepancy, especially not when considered against Merge, and weapon capture potential overall.
I dont get it...
And yet in all of these cases I'd rather be able to build 4-man squads with the german weapon than the soviet one. Why? Because they're better at the roles I actually want them for!
The german mortar actually hits stuff (weird though, because the stats for the 82mm and 81mm are EXACTLY the same except the german one has 40% faster firing) without having to have it on vet1 (the vet1 ability on the 82mm is fantastic though...just getting it is so hard often enough)
The MG42 actually functions as an HMG, unlike the maxim. The new patch did do a lot to reduce the MG42's ridiculous effectiveness but the maxim still has hilariously small cone and no real benefit for it.
The PaK is a far superior antivehicle unit (you know, what you're building antitank guns for), if I want artillery with bad accuracy I'll make mortars with which I don't have to pay 60 munitions every time I want to try hit something.
I too wish they'd remove the extra weapon crew members for the soviets. Not because I consider them an actual balance issue, but because it would remove an excuse for keeping the soviet weapons weaker than the german ones.