- Yes
- No
Hi,
I have always found the enemy aircraft to be very annoying to fight against when you are playing infantry and when you don’t have the needed squads to build AA guns:
At the moment, only the engineer squads and the premium/event squads with an engineer in the squad can build an AA gun, and it is quite limiting when you want to shoot down an annoying enemy aircraft, because if you don’t bring in battle one of these squads or take an aircraft squad to dogfight the enemy, you can virtually do nothing against the enemy aircraft.
So I came up with a solution :
Buildable AA machine guns by all squads
If you have an engineer in your squad, you could build these HMGs on tripods with very high elevation but basically zero depression
To avoid seing AA HMGs being used against infantry, they should have very high elevation but poor depression (something like +80° to 0° for example) and HMG nests should have poor elevation but good depression (something like +30° to -30° for example). These AA HMGs should also have a 360° rotation, because AA guns without a full 360° rotation severely lose in efficiency.
Another thing that can be added is the fact that when machine guns are mounted on an AA tripod, they are generally at the same height as the soldiers’faces, so they can greatly elevate the gun to fight against aircraft, but in this case the guns have virtually no depression, because the soldier would have to stand on tiptoes to aim the gun at a slightly negative angle, so good luck with that, lol.
And there wouldn’t be any sandbags on this structure to protect you like for classical HMG nests, because these are small AA guns, they are not made to be used in firefights against enemy soldiers.
This way, you could fight back against enemy aircraft, but these machine guns wouldn’t be as efficient as proper AA guns, these would remain buildable only by engineer squads and premium/event squads.
Here are the examples that could fit each nation (I haven’t bothered to include the specs of each gun yet, because this topic is about the mechanic, if it is received positively, I might add them later) :
USSR :
DShK on tripod as an AA gun (make the ingame model as an AA HMG), and replace the HMG nest (for anti-personnel role) for the soviets with the DShK on this carriage :
The DShK model in game, as you can see, it is mounted on an AA tripod and is even equipped with the AA sights, so this model should be converted as an AA HMG buildable by all squads, and the HMG nest buildable only by machine gun squads and premium/event squads should be replaced by the DShK in the pictures shown above:
I’ve already suggested such a thing in one of my previous topic here: Replacement for the Sd. Kfz. 7 and MG 131, and a few other things, the DShK model in the game at the moment should be converted as an AA machine gun, the sandbags should be removed, and the proper HMG nest for the anti-personnel role should be this replced by the one in the pictures with the carriage similar to the Maxim.
Germany :
ZB-60 HMG :
Same here, as I’ve said before on my previous topic, the MG 131 on a tripod in the game at the moment is a completely fake gun, so I have already suggested to replace it with the ZB-60 HMG, which was used by the germans during WW2, mainly as an AA gun it seems, but as you can see, it could also be used as an anti-personnel MG, and this would still be better than the completely fake gun we have at the moment.
ZB-60 in AA role on AA tripod :
ZB-60 in anti-personnel role :
US :
M2 Browning on AA tripod :
No need to change the current HMG nest buildable only by machine gun squads and premium/event squads, it is accurate
Japan :
Type 93 HMG :
Also the same case here as the DShK (I’ve talked about it on my previous topic), and I also have another link to prove my point here : Mountings, tripods and stands – Vickers MG Collection & Research Association
I know that this link is about the tripod of the Vickers MG but the part that interests us the most here is this sentence :
«The gun could be reversed on the mounting to give greater elevation for use in an anti-aircraft role.»
So, as you can see, inverting the gun on its tripod was a well-known thing for better elevation against aircraft, and at the moment, the Type 93 HMG as it is modeled in the game is set for a better elevation but poor depression. As I’ve suggested on my previous topic, the Type 93 in game atm should be an AA gun, and the Type 93 in an anti-personnel role should at least be reverted to the position which allows a better depression, which is more important when you fight against infantry.
Type 93 in anti-personnel role (mounted for good depression but poor elevation):
Type 93 in AA role (as it is ingame, mounted for good elevation but poor depression, as you can see the only big difference between the guns above and below is the way it is mounted on the tripod) :
UK :
Vickers .5-inch Mk. V HMG on tripod in anti-personnel role :
Vickers .5-inch Class D HMG on AA carriage :
Note: I had found the same pic but way clearer, but I sadly can’t find it again. Feel free to post it on this topic if you find it !
I have also found a historical handbook of the Vickers Class D here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/vickers-12-7mm-0-69437456
I includes some interesting pics of the gun:
Italy :
Breda SAFAT 12,7mm on tripod in anti-personnel role :
Breda SAFAT 12,7mm on AA tripod :
To summarize (TL;DR) :
-HMGs on tripods as AA guns can be built by any squad with an engineer, there are no sandbags on these guns, and you can rotate 360°, because they are meant to be used as AA guns.
-Proper AA guns (the 20 mm ones) stay as they are, they can only be built by engineer squads and premium/event squads.
-Proper HMG nests stay as they are, they can only be built by machine gun squads and premium/event squads, but some models of some HMG nests in game at the moment would need to be updated/replaced.
-To avoid seing AA HMGs being used against infantry, they should have very high elevation but poor depression (something like +80° to 0° for example) and HMG nests should have poor elevation but good depression (something like +30° to -30° for example).
Please note that the numbers for the angles of elevation/depression that I gave are just examples I used to illustrate my idea, these might be different in the end if it is ever implemented one day.
Please note that this topic can be linked to my other topics, which are :
Feel free to check them out, don’t forget that your likes/votes give more visibility to this topic, and don’t forget to let me know what you think about this suggestion about AA HMGs. 
