Their stats are mostly the same, hell, they are basically the same weapon with different skins.
What made MG42 different from MG34 in reality vs how it is in the game (infantry role):
Significantly higher rof, it was ~1,5 times higher (depends on the version).
Meanwhile in the game it’s merely 100 rounds more (1,125 times).
Less accurate.
In the game it seems that they have the same accuracy.
Better sights.
I want to add that the sights of MG34 are really nicelly done, gj devs.
Better ergonomy.
In game it’s actually less ergonomic because it’s reload speed is lower rof some reason.
Cheaper to produce.
MG42 is unlocked later and it costs the same if not more (I haven’t unlocked it yet).
More safe barrel change for an infantryman. You might argue that it’s the oposite but from what I’ve read, there are basically no statements (or they are so rare that I haven’t found them) that MG34 had better barrel change but quite a few say that MG42 had better one.
We don’t have barrel change at all in the game.
Better at suppressing.
We don’t have suppression in the game and it seems we won’t have it.
Less prone to jams (per bullet).
We don’t have jams in the game.
But as Enlisted is a game (captain obvious) there are also other important factors:
TTK
Both weapons have basically the same TTK as one round is enough to down or even kill the enemy. Aditonal 100 rof isn’t enough to make the weapon closer to it’s “legend” but it’s enough to loose ammo by shooting into the air after a kill.
Aesthetics.
MG42 has a placeholder model. It’s a matter of time untill it will be improved but I had to mention it.
“Iconicness” / legendary status.
There is no doubt that MG42 is an iconic weapon. One of the reasons why it is iconic, is it’s rof and it’s sound. That’s why it was called “Hitler’s buzzsaw”, “Knochensäge” (bone saw) , “линолеум рыхлитель” (linoleum ripper).
Both rof and sound are poor in the game.
TL;DR:
MG42 isn’t either better / distinct enough from the gameplay prespective than MG34, or historic (and aesthetically pleasing) enough to take it because of it’s iconic status.
Wait, you didn’t actually try MG42 ? Why are you writing when ? I mean, we all know that stat numbers doesn’t mean much actually, and usually numbers aren’t correlating with a reality
MG42 is a MG34 worse version, because you have the same munition, but you control it worse because it have much greater RoF, and with it you would struggle to stop on a needed bullets count, which means you basically have lesser assault time, and since other stats close to be same, ingame it is actually worse
That’s my expierience with it
Don’t know if German logistic would agree with that
Problem here is that we don’t have suppression mechanics. ROF is waste of bullets over the original MG34.
If you ask me, I would swap the MG42 and MG34 in campaigns where we have both, as 34 was rare in later years and probably even better at some points. In game it certainly is better, if you take personal opinions aside.
Why not reduce the recoil for the MG42. The MG34 and MG42 are still the most problematic weapons in terms of horizontal recoil.
If the horizontal recoil of the MG42 were 4-5 units less than it is now, it would send it off.
