So assuming the UK battleship in sz 37 (Malaya) is not attacked J1, then the UK has a battleship, a cruiser and 2 destroyers in the Indian Ocean/of Africa (not bad). When I play the UK I always find it really hard to do something productive with this. I see Young Grasshopper has posted a transport shuck which I guess these ships can participate in. I dont see any point in sending these boats towards Japan or the med if you did taranto, will be put out by Germany. If you didnt do Taranto and try to merge with the med fleet then the med is usually blocked, at least in the early rounds if you want to re-enter. I guess you could send this fleet towards anzac and merge with anzac and eventually US. But not sure what comes out of that. Basically what are people doing with these boats?
Difficult indeed.
I would love to use them against Japan. Only as a threat so the IJN cannot spread out too much.
The harsh reality however, is that Egypt is in a lot of trouble and loosing it can potentially be much more harmful than letting the Japanese have it the way they prefer…
It depends a lot on your Italian/German opponent(s) but assuming they are going to give the UK a very hard time in Africa/Med/ME, keeping this fleet ‘in reserve’ at India may be a mistake. It may arrive too late in Europe to prevent a lot of economical damage. Combined with the fact that Japan gets what it wants anyway (with the only difference of how they do it) so the economical damage there can in no way be prevented, I tend to use the Indian fleet on the Europe-maps, planning to return later in the game.
I always send them West to replace my lost Med fleet. The money is in the Middle East, so that is where the Allies have to fight and defend. India will be down to 3-6 income within 3 rounds of a Japanese DOW, so do not see the point of banning around there to be sunk by one of its (excessive) 21 Air units.
I too usually send the cruiser and battleship (if it’s alive) over to the med. The dd I like to keep in the pac for blocking, but that’s not always best.
If Japan leaves your battleship alive, you can also sail it off of Queensland to help beef up your pac navy once the US arrives.
I usually use the Indian warships to protect the transports as they take over the DEI. Yeah, they will get sunk by Japan warships and/or planes, but at least that forces Japan to commit some force there to get the DEI rather than just floating in transports and walking into the money islands.
I usually use the Indian warships to protect the transports as they take over the DEI. Yeah, they will get sunk by Japan warships and/or planes, but at least that forces Japan to commit some force there to get the DEI rather than just floating in transports and walking into the money islands.
I think the same, gets you the IPC and makes the Japs more on the edge!
If they survive round 1 I send them to the Med. Ships and planes seem to get lost in the Indian Ocean anyways and especially near Malaya. I had a recent game where the battleship in London joined up with the one from Malaya in the Med.
I usually use the Indian warships to protect the transports as they take over the DEI. Yeah, they will get sunk by Japan warships and/or planes, but at least that forces Japan to commit some force there to get the DEI rather than just floating in transports and walking into the money islands.
This is a good idea. Whittling away the Japanese fleet and/or planes, even just a couple at a time, while making them work for DEI is pretty solid.
IDK, I kinda like to preserve the few ships the UK has in the Pac (if still afloat after J1) instead of making them easy targets for Japan to hit (unless I can somehow counter attack and bring some pain which is kinda unlikely in the early going). Many games see the UK Med/Italian fleets go bottoms-up. That Brit BB comes in handy in later rounds back boning the allies fleet in the Med (or Pac). A carrier built off S Africa merged w/India fleet and presto Euro axis have something to worry about, and it takes some pressure of the USA.
I have heard of some wild allied strats to make the DEI (Java) a fortress early though, using all available units, building AB etc. Anyone have success with that? Might depend on when Japan attacks, or if they are slow-boating it giving the UK/Anz the time to set it up?
@WILD:
IDK, I kinda like to preserve the few ships the UK has in the Pac (if still afloat after J1) instead of making them easy targets for Japan to hit (unless I can somehow counter attack and bring some pain which is kinda unlikely in the early going). Many games see the UK Med/Italian fleets go bottoms-up. That Brit BB comes in handy in later rounds back boning the allies fleet in the Med (or Pac). A carrier built off S Africa merged w/India fleet and presto Euro axis have something to worry about, and it takes some pressure of the USA.
I have heard of some wild allied strats to make the DEI (Java) a fortress early though, using all available units, building AB etc. Anyone have success with that? Might depend on when Japan attacks, or if they are slow-boating it giving the UK/Anz the time to set it up?
This is what I like about this game, I have never considered building a carrier off south africa after the med brit/italien clash. paired with the pacific boats and a transport or two,might be interesting
