GoodGuy
Posts: 1506
Joined: 5/17/2006 From: Cologne, Germany Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Saturnian 3. The guns only fire in short, controlled bursts, when laying down heavier fire would make so much more sense. Following CC2 a change was made in the CC series where the MG teams, particularly the Mg42, started doing its trademark Bzzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzzt. But if you play the original CC1 and CC2 there is a notable difference in how it sounds(it lays down a more sustained fire) and also how effective it is against enemy units. Now it seems to just ZAP the enemy, you don't really get the impression you are cutting through the enemy and shredding them to pieces. It is intimidating, but surely they must have done more than just zap the enemy with little buzzes. 4. The controlled bursts seem less accurate. The 'Bzzzzt' was great in CC3 because it was very ACCURATE, so this made the ZAPPING more tolerable. But now it feels extremely inaccurate and sporadic. So the unit is firing these inaccurate controlled bursts at a close enemy, rather than just laying it thick. This is even so for the heavy mg42 teams, which one would assume have less recoil and would be able to fire in more sustained bursts. ... If the controlled bursts are indeed to conserve ammo, I don't find this necessary(granted I do only play 15 minute battles) since by the battle's end they rarely expend more than a quarter of their ammunition 6. It feels like the MG42 is inaccurate at all ranges. I don't have any stats on this, but they just don't feel like the intimidating weapon they were. Ultimately, it seems like an MG42 team against a rifle team in the bocage is more slanted against the Germans than the Americans, who can sometimes just walk right up to the German team and kill them with their Garands or bayonet them while they are on their bellies, whereas a German Command team hiding in a house can kill off multiple teams without taking more than a couple losses. There are always exceptions, but it is difficult to find that "sweet spot" with the MG42 positioning, and I think that there are issues that need to be addressed. Good points, as the tripods offered way more accuracy. Actually, the Heavy MGs (MG 42 on a tripod) were so accurate that they could be used for sniping (by firing single rounds). The tripod had buffer springs to reduce the recoil, and 2 diff. telescopic sights (for indirect fire, range: up to 3,500 meters) were available, and it could also be equipped with a 4x scope for direct fire (late in the war). There were confirmed "sniper" kills at up to around 1,000 - 1,200 meters, firing single rounds and using such scopes. On short and medium distances short Heavy MG bursts were very accurate, but even during sustained fire the accuracy was quite ok, due to the reduced recoil. Re cutting through enemies: the MG 42 could provide 1,500 rounds/min., so quite some units fired bursts only, in order not to be forced to change the barrel every few belts (they carried 5 replacement barrels) and to conserve ammunition. Later in the war, the inside of the MG barrels were chromium plated, which reduced wear/tear but didn't touch the problem with overheating barrels. The Brits were better off with their oil- or water-cooled Vickers, if it came to extensive usage (sustained fire). Still, an Allied unit trying a frontal attack on a MG 42 would have failed, the German MG team would have mowed them down, indeed. The only way to knock out such a position was to force the team to fire constantly (and to overheat the barrel, means to wait until they had to change the barrel (which could be replaced in a very short time, though).
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