I’m personally not a fan of how hull MGs have been implemented on large scale since the Pacific campaign. Depending on a tank they are quite tiresome to use i.e. tanks that don’t have commander’s view like Ha-Go require you to switch from your main gun to use a singular MG with little vision and traverse.
On top of that, the game prioritises ‘active’ crew slots like Gunner, Driver and MG over Commander and Loader seats, which does more harm than good for tanks with longer reloads like Chi-Ha Short Gun or the tanks where Commander also acts as Loader (Italian M14/M13 tank). Would you rather have a quicker reload on your main gun or sit there reloading much longer while shooting a lil machine gun? You don’t have a choice, you lose 1 or 2 crewmen and you’re stuck with option 2.
I understand that implementing a better system which allows the player to set their crew priorities (some might want an extra MG, some might want a commander with better view or a new loader) will take time but we’ve had a workable solution for crew priority since at least 2021 - the T-28 from Battle of Moscow. The crew priority there is as follows: Driver>Gunner>Loader>Commander>MGs.
Now looking at the newly changed tanks that got access to hull MGs (BA-11, Pz.III E, Pz.III B, Pz.III J, Pz.38(t) F, M3 Stuart, M5A1, M14/41 and M13/40, according to patchnotes), all of them got the Japanese system - you control your hull MG either by directly switching to it or by using the commander’s view, which some affected tanks don’t even have (the soviet BA-11). Except one tank - the German Pz.38(t) - where you can control the hull MG from the Gunner’s seat like in a T-28 and, less improtantly but still funny, you can even use smoke launchers from the MG seat.
Finally, my tldr suggestion - please make hull MGs work like they currently do in a Pz.38(t) and T-28s but without ghost MG crewmen feature:
- Hull MGs can be shot from Gunner’s view if the MG crewman is alive
2.(optional) Hull MG has a lower priority over Loader seat
3.(distant future) Allow players to choose their crew seat priority, either through command wheel similar to aggressive/passive behaviour option for infantry or in gameplay options.