Question for Krieghund [or anyone else that knows for sure]

Thanks again for the input.

We ended up getting through 5 rounds, the game is still set up. We are hoping for a Saturday/Sunday finale…

As for what I did, I opted the can-opener route with Italy and purchased mech and tanks for the first 3 rounds. Had to switch to Infantry for rounds 4/5 as the US hasn’t hit land yet but have 12 TT’s and planes and bombers ready to hit anywhere now that Germany’s last DD blocker has been wiped out. Italy did well opening for Germany and I am at the gates of Moscow ready to go for it on G6 although I am not 100% it can be taken thanks to a UK stack of fighters. If I don’t attempt it Russia is gonna get 12 more Inf, 2 AAA from the Soviet Far East plus 3 more UK fighters. And, as I said, the US is going to hit hard.

Awesome.  Thanks for the quick reply.

If Germany wants to make a naval build round 1, usually it will be 1 carrier + 2 transports OR 1 carrier, 1 destroyer and 1 submarine. Either way the total equals 30 IPCs.
The reason for this purchase is it gives Germany a lot of options on future moves.
A - The most obvious is a preparation for Sealion. You will need the loaded carrier plus other warships to protect the stack of transports you put there on round 2. Also, whatever ships Germany has will be used to clear the way for the German landings plus protect the transports if England scrambles, leaving more of your Luftwaffe to join in the London attack.
B - Secondly, you can use them to threaten Sealion even if you don’t plan to actually invade England. This keeps the UK on edge buying defensively which could give Italy some badly needed breathing room in the Med. If Germany can keep UK from putting more units in the Med for even just a couple of rounds, it could be just enough for Italy to get the upper hand.
C - A loaded carrier plus other warships will threaten any Allied fleet and cause the US in particular to invest in more warships to protect it’s transports if they want to stage by Gibraltar and think of approaching Europe.
D - You could use the German navy for an amphibious invasion of Leningrad when you decide to attack Russia. If you can take Leningrad in the same round that you first attack Russia, then you can replace the “Peace With Russia NO” with the “German Occupation of Leningrad NO” and not loose $5 when you attack Russia.
E - Another idea might be to send them into the Med to boost the Italian navy and help them get over the Allies there.

I’m sure there are other good uses that I just can’t think of right now. I guess since Germany buying a navy round 1 does at least threaten Sealion which may prevent England from running the Taranto raid, although I have seen them do it anyway even if Germany threatens Sealion. The point is, if the UK player you are playing with is bound and determined to wipe out the Italian navy, I don’t think your German G1 purchase will matter one way or the other.
That being said, while the naval purchase is most popular for Germany, they are not bound by it. There are many options. 2 bombers + 1 submarine OR 2 bombers + 1 tank are a couple of options. Another possibility is a Major IC to place in Romania in preparation for a major attack on Russia round 2 or 3.

As for the Taranto attack, the UK usually sends the following units:
1 carrier, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 1 tac bomber from SZ 98 to SZ 97.
2 fighters, 1 bomber from London to SZ 97.
1 fighter from Malta to SZ 96.
1 fighter from Gibraltar to SZ 96.
The 2 fighters in SZ 96 to kill the Italian destroyer and transport. They will land on Malta.
The tac bomber from SZ 98 and strat bomber from London (assuming they survive) will land on Malta.
The 2 fighters from London will land on the carrier assuming they all survive.

The Taranto raid is pretty devastating to Italy but not necessarily game ending. Italy could recover and give UK a pretty good fight. At the very least, Italy is good for keeping the UK mostly occupied while Germany goes all out after Russia.

As for the 18 Russians in the east, there are a number of things you can do with them.
A - Move all 18 to Amur to temp Japan. In this case, they will probably get wiped out as Japan will probably take the bait. It will suck for Russia to lose all those guys and there will be nothing left to stop Japan from taking all those cheap territories. On the plus side, with Japan attacking, it will put Mongolia on Russia’s side and get them 6 more infantry. Also, Japan will be expending a lot of resources in this attack, which could slow it’s progress down south where the real money is for them.
B - Immediately start moving all those guys toward Moscow. With any luck, they will reach Moscow in time to protect the capital from the massive German assault. It does leave all the cheap territories in the east empty for Japan to take without a fight. However, Russia won’t lose more than 6 or 7 IPCs and the Mongolians will still join you.
C - Place some on Amur as a guard against Japanese aggression while holding some back for either a counter attack or to head back to Moscow. There can be any combination involved in this plan.
D - You can go aggressive. Fly your Moscow planes out to join them so those infantry will have a little offensive punch. If Japan withdraws troops from Manchuria and/or Korea and leave one or both weak enough, especially if Japan is very busy taking on India, Australia or maybe the US Navy, Russia could use their Siberian troops to take Korea and Manchuria. Depending on the situation, that could really weaken Japan financially. One thing though, if Russia is the one that first attacks Japan, the Mongolians will remain strict neutrals and will never join with the Soviets (unless an Axis power were to attack them directly).

1 ipc units are too strong, they would replace infantry.

@Young:

How did long range aircraft “save you”?, I might understand if you got heavy bombers, but you must not have been that bad off if you liked the 1 extra movement point on planes.

My window to take Moscow was originally planned to be G8-J9. My Atlantic Wall was a complete failure in this game, though, so the Luftwaffe was decimated and whatever was rebuilt was needed to hold WGer, as western Europe was getting swamped by Allied ground troops. The Soviets were earning well, so every turn was decreasing my odds.

I had to rely on a no-air 0% G7 suicide against Moscow with a J7 follow. The G7 went better than expected in number of units killed but I couldn’t hold the landing spots (and he eliminated all Japanese ground units within striking distance of Moscow) for the Japanese planes on R7. J7 I spent my only 20 IPC (Japan was getting convoy-raided into the stone age) on rolls hoping for long-range aircraft (11% chance of hitting).

Then I eliminated all the defenders in Moscow with my Japanese air while I swept out the one territory I could with my Japanese ground forces, forming a cute little spot for my one remaining German tank left on the board to take a now undefended Moscow.

Without sucking out on that 11% chance, it was time to concede.  As it is, it’s still a battle to hold the 8th VC for a turn. But the Axis have a chance now, and they didn’t before.

3 spaces left to land, it’s only 1 when you’re defending.

@WILD:

I think that if the the allies were allowed to just NCM in to take control of a fallen allied powers tt’s (collect the income) it would swing to much income to the allies and break the game. Plus if your getting paid for all those tt’s why would you Liberate your former allies capital (kinda like how Paris is now). It is better to leave things as they are and they only get paid if they liberate them from the enemy. That makes a pretty good cat & mouse game of how much tt the axis want to take vs how many of them they will be able to hold later on.

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If that were the case, then I feel the Axis original TTs should be worth double to Axis powers only.  Sort of like the Russian NO, but reversed.  But yes, I concur with your analysis, in-so-much in regard to Dutch/Netherlands.

I always viewed that rule as a way to not automatically give the income to England but not deny it to Japan either.  It really only plays in the Pacific campaign, as your only chance to get the income is to invest enough to push Japan out (otherwise, Japan will crush any resistance and take it.)

I personally feel Alpha2 does not mesh with Europe only.

There is an exploit if Germany prepares for Sea Lion. Alpha2 permits the US to declare war when London falls. Normally Germany wants to delay the US entering the war and thus will never declare war on them.

The exploit is this, UK can build a carrier, transport and artillery, place the carrier in sz 106 Canada, the transport in South africa with the artillery, they can move their fleet to sz 92 Gibraltar. Land 2 infantry on Algeria (with sz 109 tranny) with 3 planes, leave a DD in sz 94 to prevent naval bombardments on Algeria, and this prevents Italy from taking Algeria to permit a German air assault on the UK navy in 92.
The rest of the UK air lands in Gibraltar and Egypt. Stack land units in Egypt. Also grab Persia with the Med transport.

Germany must choose: Take England turn 2 and permit America to enter the war on turn 2. (Since it built transports on turn 1 to exploit the UK carrier fleet that will be waiting. A large US presence will be in the Med or N. Europe on turn 3 a smaller one on turn 2. The UK fighters move to Egypt turn 2 and it never falls before Italy does.

Round 2 UK has 3 loaded transports able to reinforce Egypt with 7-8 planes…Italy is toast, Russia is fine, and the US is knocking on Germany and Italy’s door turn 2!! Insult is, you get a French fighter and at least 2 french soldiers that can board the first US transport that lands, giving France capture Italian territory options after the US clears sea zones it non combats the French land units into position this is great if you need to grab islands (or capitals  :wink: ) for allied planes after the US combat move.

In Alpha 2 the Major UK factory becomes a minor on top of that, the money German gets after building 3 infantry a turn to defend UK is a net of +4 dollars. Yes Germany has fewer losses, and you lose out on UK land units stacking in UK. But you get an Italy that never gets into Africa as turn 2, you have a couple of ships, and 5-8 planes that can sink the Italian fleet if it is anywhere besides a scramble base, and even then its a risk. Except for sz 97, the UK airforce can hit every Med. sz and land on turn 2. because of Malta, Cyprus and the carrier.

Remember to save the 2 transports that went to Persia and S.Africa and end up in sz 81 they cannot be hit by Italy on turn 2 without Anglo-Egypt which you can liberate. When the UK fleet moves into the Med later on, they give the UK 3 loaded transports that permit assaults or 6 land units and 8 planes to reinforce any US land grabs late game. Plus the French fighter and 2 French land units! lol

If Germany refuses to take UK, the US never needs to build carriers as the UK builds one a turn , plus the 2 units in Africa….game over for Italy and likely the axis.

I get good results with this in Global too, keeping Italy down is nice in global as well depending on if the allies go Europe or Pacific first. It also permits India and anzac to declare war turn 1 after Germany and Japan have gone in order to get the bonus NO money. (The Axis only see Russia’s move and thus make moves for a normal game…japan is not ready to pounce typically as they never expect a turn 1 India/Anzac DOW)