Using AA guns is known to be unsatisfying. It lacks the turret traverse to engage targets flying fast and low, meaning that, unless a plane is spotted at a specific minimum range from the AA gun, the chances of intercepting the plane is relatively low, especially if the plane was only spotted in the terminal stages of the bombing run.
However , while AA guns are generally lackluster at their role, they are very good outside of it- As stationary anti-personnel turrets. It’s armored, has good armament and is both cheap and quick to build compared to its more dedicated cousin , the buildable MG nest.
At the moment , there is no merit to building an MG nest unless you’re doing so in a very limited space, or require gun traverse, but even then, it costs a significant amount of resources and time to build, and unlocking them is at least a ten levels away from your first engineer unlock. Making them impractical to build.
This means that AA guns are better used in the anti-infantry role because they’re frontally armored, while MG nests are only left to very specific situations where flak guns can’t take their role.
The (very) small place you need to aim for when trying to kill flak 38 user:
My proposal is to rework AA by changing the kind of AA gun used. Right now, they’re statistically better used as anti-infantry turrets because they are armored, and they lack the traverse, and the damage to be truly effective against planes
We do this by changing the flakvierling into a 40mm bofors cannon and 37mm M1939 cannon, which has comparatively better traverse, a better gun, and most importantly, an exposed crew.
What this means is that instead of being used as a bulwark, the AA gun turns into a supporting backline weapon used to deny enemy air, and occasionally be used to attack infantry.
Historically, the Germans used captured Bofors cannons, while the Americans and British made widespread use of license-built Bofors cannons, so there is justification in actually having them being fielded by both different factions.
The Most similar AA gun the soviets used was the 37mm M1939 (61-k) so it makes sense to add it as their gun.
German flak 28 (bofors 40mm):
Soviet M1939 (61-K):
American 40mm bofors:
It also means that AA guns are really, truly used as AA guns (and will only get HE ammunition) instead of de-facto armored turrets that are built for cheap, and renders MG nests largely unnecessary. This strengthens the presence of MG nests, reducing role overlap, and makes the AA gun less frustrating to use in its intended role- Shooting down enemy planes
I thank @Stein_Grenadier for helping me write this and thank you fore reading 