I will be not the first person to say, that engineers MG nest is crabby piece of sheep.
Old and brand new bugs with MG:
Unable to repair
Little bit “wrong” aim position gets you kicked off the nest
Wrong MG model position prevent actually using it
Major MG nest flaw is that AA gun way better. Actually:
AA gun cheaper
AA gun faster to build
AA gun have marvelous elevation and traverse
AA gun send more damage per shot
AA gun is effective in both AA and AP role
AA gun don’t get destroyed when enemy farts on it
AA gun operator is less exposed
AA gun have no such bugs
AA gun, even if it is destroyed - nice barricade
So, what to do with MG nest? Make brand new one from scratch. Remove offensive MG with defensive one, with lower rate of fire. Let MG be capable to sustaine fire. So, it might be water cooled one. Then, set MG on tripod with greater traverse and elevation. Increase MG’s HP to 40-50 (or even to 100 HP). Models, that actually can be used to rebuild: MG-08, Schwarzlose 07\12, Maxim M1910\30, Vickers HMG Mk.1, Colt M1917, Fiat-Revelli Mod.1914
I think you are honestly understating the value of the mg nests compared to flak. The fact that mg nests are significantly slower to build than flak is the main thing holding them back, IMO. Once constructed, an MG nest is frankly a lot more deadly, because of two things:
Less down time, and much, much faster tracking.
A flak cannon is forced to reload every 10 shots, with no ability to force the reload to happen early outside of just burning ammo. This gives enemies a good window to do something about it. The mg nest on the other hand only needs to manage heat, which gives it enough flexibility that it should always be able to fire when needed.
Flak is also quite slow to rotate, which makes it hard to take a second shot at someone you miss initially, while the mg is essentially instant, able to immediately take down anyone in its covered angle.
But, for all of that, the fact that the mg nest is really painfully slow to build, and super fragile, and has a limited firing arc does limit it quite a bit. If they are given the same buildspeed as flak, I think their benefits will outweigh the downsides in their intended anti infantry role.
build the MG nest or any other thing with your sq buddy and its done in one whip. Push x while building it or at the blueprint if you want to build something else
I had compare time to kills capabilities, both MG nest and AA gun. AA, actually, wins. One engineer squad with two specialists have enough resources to send enemyes to hell whole match.
MG nest = infinitive ammo and a killing machine. AA is good to but like mentioned above slow and little ammo and people will hear you from miles away as they also see the tracers.
Mg nest you can also build in more cheeky spots and aim better down from, while AA are pretty fixed in a way making it more clunky as windows can be more in the way so to speak
MG nest in a window - nice spot for enemy fire. Even pistol shot can disable MG. AA gun you can place just in the open field to devastate whole enemy squads. And not be knock off.
Time to kill for both is more or less “1 shot”, its not really the factor that matters in comparing them, since they are both plenty capable of killing. What matters is how easily they can target anyone in view, and the mg is quicker.
You place it in the shadows bit behind the window bit angled so you also have some protection (same as you approach as inf) and ive mowed down teams during assaults with that ^^ But sure after a while they will be pissed off ofc and search for you but also since they will know where you are because of the killcam. But sometimes you can actually be doing it for quite some time without being spotted or even them being able to counter you if youre in your zone of control along with your team
Well they can also pretty much snipe you asw if they know what they are doing. But i dont know that map layout so they might be busy or having hard time to aim at you if your team keeps them busy.
But its basically the same danger in my opinion. AA shooter is easy to kill so to speak. PaK though now thats an nut im trying to crack atm ^^ Tried to fire in to the gap but nothing there
AA can kill: AT gunner (3 per AT squad 1\0 per another squads), Sniper (3 per squad. 1\0 per regular), Engineers that build AT gun, tank. So, not so many threads. Majority of enemyes is riflemen, machinegunners, assaulters.
Oh there are for sure times when flak is better, and more open areas with longer sight lines are one of them, especially since the slow rotation and reload window are only serious problems when enemies are up close. Yes, for sure building an mg nest in a wide open area is a poor plan.
However, if you stick it in the door way of a point, watching over a nearby cluster of buildings, where enemies can emerge from a dozen different places at any time? That is where an mg nest shines.
I don’t think the mg nest can or should always be better than flak against infantry. It has its niche, and just needs a little help to be more usable in that niche.
How did you make this comparison of time-to-kill for each weapon? I am curious because to me it seems a difficult thing to quantify given the variable nature of battles
If nobody can take you out in a position like that, its because none of them know what an AT rifle is, and frankly that’s on them. 2-3 shots from a PzB or Boys, and you’d be put of commission.
Problem is, AA gun and MG now in one niche. Make MG litlle bit tuffer with better elevation and traverse make it usable again. Just because of unlimited ammo. Also, tripod will makes MG narrower as the structure.
Why make it from the scratch? Just for not multiplying bugs.
