Without being able to enlarge the photo to see the actual size of the US fleet, it’s hard to say. My initial assessment is that Japan is in a winning position here. The US fleet looks awfully weak.
It looks like Japan still has a sizable air force. It also looks like Japan has three fully loaded carriers, including at least one that has planes that can reach sea zone 6 on Japan’s next move. This is a sizable fleet, although it is badly distributed and separated in violation of Mahan’s principles.
First, Japan has a blocker in sea zone 16, which means that the US can’t actually attack Korea on its next move. That means Japan has time to gather its fleet in or around the Philippines and regroup it’s air force for a joint strike on sea zone six. Regrouping the fleet is a good idea no matter what.
Japan’s next build should include at least a destroyer for sea zone six, to ensure that the US has to do combat in the sea zone and providing the option to scramble if the US fleet is as weak as it looks. That in itself might deter the US from moving into sea zone 6. At the very least, it would prevent the US from moving into the sea zone with a non-combat move without risking its valuable planes to clear the sea zone in combat movement (the blocker in sea zone 16 prevents the US from using ships).
If I’m reading the situation correctly, I would actually build a carrier and two destroyers into sea zone 6 this round, landing two fighters on the newly built carrier, and dropping at least two fighters (three would be better) onto Japan to provide air cover. I would build enough infantry that the US can’t actually take Japan, and augment them with fighters from one of the carriers. I would move the transports back within range of Japan so that they can pick up infantry built this round (I would build more next round along with some fighters to fill the carriers I temporarily emptied).
That combination of builds and movements stops the US from threatening Japan, forces it to risk it’s air force to clear sea zone 6 even to move into the sea zone in non-combat, positions Japan’s fleet to regroup, positions Japan’s fleet and air force to destroy the US forces should it be dumb enough to actually move into sea zone 6, and sets you up to provide critical ground troops that you can transport south as reinforcements.
Again, this is all assuming I’ve read the very small photo correctly.
Marsh
