i think you seriously underestimate the power of properly positioned MG teams. im not claiming to be a super experienced 1v1 player, but in my 20 games (and 20 wins) as ostheer in 1v1, ive gone up against people from all skill ranges and am currently rank 64 and i can say that double MG start is the way to go against USF because a suppressed squad is a combat ineffective squad. youll have the manpower advantage in fights because your MG should always suppress one squad (240 mp vs 280 mp) with the possibility of catching 2 or 3 in the AoE suppression (240 mp countering 560 or 840 mp), and flame pioneers can actually go toe to toe with rifles, and grens in cover will pretty much always deal good damage to rifles when they try to approach to medium range.
well lemon, what about the m20 or m15aaht? well, thats what MG42s are for. placing an hmg into a building not only gives it good sight range, but once it hits vet you can incind rounds to rip right through light vehicles that approach. in addition you ABSOLUTELY should place teller mines here and there, you never know when they will be useful.
well lemon, what about grenades and smoke? you can hear and see when riflemen are about to throw grenades and smoke. so pack up ur fucking mg and reposition it. have your other MG or your supporting infantry constantly shooting at squads that get close and the riflemen WILL take casualties when trying to throw nades. since pioneer sight range is higher than riflemen sight range, your mg42s should get the first burst off against them, so they dont have a chance to pre-emptively smoke unless youve kept your machine guns in the same place the whole game. units are suppressed longer than your machine gun can pack up, so use that time to reposition if they f ire off a smoke grenade. remember that if your first MG gets into a tough spot, you can always reposition the second one as well to cover.
that takes too much micro! well fucking learn to play then. your opponents were probably the same skill or lower than the ones ive gone up against.
also in regards to flanking from 4+ sides, that is just absolutely ridiculous. maps are not just flat open fields. even langres there are shotblockers and natural barriers to funnel your opponents in. in kholodny ferma, theres like a maximum of 3 feasible flanking routes whereever you are on the map because thats the way the map is designed. its extremely difficult for players to get a full encirclement going because it means that a squad has to go ALL the way around without being detected. in addition one mg covers 270 degrees, thats a lot! sure, once it starts firing its difficult for it to traverse but it also doesnt mean its impossible. in addition you should always have supporting grens and flamers to help deal with close range rifles.
^This.
I'd throw a mortar to the mix as well. Synergise really well with suppression.
Key to play Ostheer correctly in my opinion is to not over extend in early game. Play defensively.