Look, I think you continually fail to see the overall picture. First, a 2 transport buy is recommended vs experts, because experts will realize that the math prefers the Baltic navy reinforced with just 2 transports. 2 transports is exactly the same you’d be buying a carrier with, so you have exactly the same number of land troops that you would with a carrier buy. 3 transports is merely to minimize luck and discourage/punish lesser experienced players if they attack the navy.
So Germany attacks with 3 transports, 1 destroyer, 5 fighters, 1 bomber (attack power = 22 = about 4 hits), Allied defense is 1 fig 1 car 2 sub 1 tran 1 bb (defense power = 16 = about 3 hits). On Round 1 the German’s attack power has diminished a whopping zero points with 3 transports lost while the UK has lost 5 points (2 sub and 1 tran, 1 battleship absorbs a hit). On Round 2 the rest of the Allied fleet sinks to the bottom of the ocean perhaps claiming one fig as well as the destroyer. And realize I’m being generous here, as we’re assumign that your 2 figs + 1 bomber take out 2 subs, which happens 66% of the time, which is ignoring a significant 33% portion of the time where you only inflict 1 submarine damage. Would you trade 1 fig + baltic fleet to have taken out 2 figs, 2 subs, 1 carrier, 1 battleship, 1 transport? Hell yes!
Losing the G1 build in a naval battle on G2 where that build does not even offer any offensive punch is SILLY.
You keep thinking that the whole point of the transport buy centrally revolves around invading UK. This is not the case.
You also keep saying that oh no, the Baltic fleet is going to die. Well guess what, it always does! The question is, how does it die? If you get the UK to foolishly block SZ6 on UK1, then the Baltic fleet has died extremely well.
Let’s say that they kill the whole Allied fleet, and lose NO air force. Â Best case scenario right? Â But the Baltic Fleet is SUNK.
Now, in UK2, UK buys another AC and a TRN
US2: Â 2 TRN from SZ8 to SZ6 w/ new AC. Â Offload US land forces already in UK to Norway. Â Fly FIG from UK to AC.
USA1 build moves up to SZ8, with land forces offloaded to UK.
Care to point out the flaw?
Again, I so say what? The Baltic fleet is sunk, but so is most of the UK fleet. You’ve forced the UK to buy TWO CARRIERS and a SUB for crying out loud. That makes the UK look pretty damn silly I think (increased their land offensive against Germany by zero for 40 IPCs spent), and they have yet to rebuild another 2-3 transports and men and have no more fighters or bb shots. The UK offloads in T3, not T1 or T2. The flaw is you seem to have a double standard - you don’t care that the Baltic fleet will die anyways even with a carrier buy, and probably not doing much damage at all since you retreat the fighters when the battle will not favor you. A 2 tran buy allows you to easily wipe out a UK naval block with 1 or quite possibly no luftwaffe casualties.
Not to mention, US hasn’t landed in Algeria on T1 like you normally like to do because of the Med fleet. In fact, what if I simply attack your US fleet in SZ8 as well on G2 with the med fleet? If your SZ1 UK transport didn’t go there, it’s 80+% for the German fleet to win. If your UK transport is there for a force of 3 tran 1 destroyer, the Germans are still slated to win about 58% of the time, and will very likely have nailed all 3 transports. No landing in Norway for you until turn 3.
This is not to say that there aren’t easy/good counters against a 2-3 tran buy, and this is not to say that a carrier isn’t a good standard buy, but simply that I don’t think that your counter to a 2 tran buy makes much economic sense. You lose a ton of UK equipment and have to rebuild it….remember 40 IPCs spent towards zero offense against Germany (2 car + 1 sub), no more fighters or BB shots, and have to rebuild all transports from scratch if you defended SZ8…and all the Germans did was build 2 transports (precisely the same number of IPCs as carrier) and maybe use up 1 fig from their airforce.