Opening w/japan…

Ukraine is usually a good bet because it limits what can attack Caucasus and takes out a Gerry Fighter.

However, keep in mind, i also advocate hitting W. Russia, Ukraine AND Norway to get TWO German fighters. (And sometimes I go nuts and hit FIC as well to get a Japanese one!)

Honestly, I like unification of the British Fleet in SZ 30 with 1 Infantry from India.  This makes it financially worse for Japan to attack than for England to be wiped out, strategically worse for Japan to attack (since they’ll lose their air force and have to leave Pearl unattacked maybe even not take China’s fighter out) than for England to be wiped out (all those ships are generally dead by UK 2 anyway, so what have you lost?)  BUT

it really tempts Japan to try!  Furthermore, form here, you can hit E. Indies with 4 Infantry, Fighter if Japan leaves you alone, or you can hit Egypt or you can just dump the infantry in S. Africa to bolster the defenses there.

Furthermore, if you build an IC in S. Africa (which negates the risk of losing Africa and thus your paycheck and allows you to stay in the upper twenties, lower 30s) you can be a relatively annoying pain in the butt. (Once Africa is secure, you can always dump a submarine or two in S. Africa making SZ 34 a threatened zone if you want too.  Or at least pose the risk of doing so if you don’t want too.)

That said:

if I had to attack the japanese iwth England, I’d go Destroyer/Carrier to SZ 59; Fighter, Submarine to SZ 45 and land the fighter in SZ 52.  I’ve seen quite a number of Japanese attacks on SZ 52 go south because of that extra fighter.

Don’t worry about the Americans. If they split up their IPC’s between Japan and Germany, the Allies will end up loosing the fight. The Brits, if aggressive, can normaly only attack one of both Axispowers. Even if they sink your tranny and your sub, there’s nothing to be affraid of. You can destroy a lot with few efforts when the UK-fleet strikes at the Japanese in turn one, using your fighters.
The only problem is that if and when the UK strikes at the Japanese in UK1, you can probably expect a KJF. Then it’s up to the Germans to Panzer their way to Moscow.
If UK strikes the Japs on UK1, but then divert their offensive actions towards Germany, you shouldn’t have any trouble wiping them out of the Pacific and start nibbling on their income. Especially if USA splits its income between Germany and Japan.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve experienced in the games that I’ve played. An Allied player who tries to assault both Germany and Japans digs his own grave…

I think the article said that the increased risk of STDs countered the cancer fighting benefits.

You know, I have yet to win a game where I put bid units in Ukraine.

I guess if someone lets me bid 2 infantry, artillery to Ukraine I might survive, but I rarely win a 10 IPC+ bid in this game.

Because a destroyer is cheaper.

You cannot buy 2 transports and a carrier on Japan 1.  That means trading in a transport to get a carrier, not a trade I want, or getting two transports (3 or 4 total available on Japan 2) and a destroyer thus not tying up your fleet on such non-sense as transport protection duty.

Not to mention, when I go after the American fleet with Japan, I always wish I had another destroyer.  I never wish I had another transport.  (Talking rounds 12+ when Japan goes after the Allied fleet to protect S. Germany)

@Novosibirsk:

Anyways, the Allies can consolidate to the sea zone southwest of UK

Just thinking out of the box, but if they consolidate where you are saying, doesn’t that give the opportunity to consolidate the german fleet on the second turn? Right in front of WE? Isn’t this the goal of every German player to get his fleet together as early as possible to throw it at the Allied fleet. If you can get the fleet together, and attack the allied fleet early enough, it can set the UK back three turns and/or take them right out of the European Campaign. Makes sense. Any US fleet that is over there consists of two trannies and a DD. That would get swallowed up.

This whole post had an underlying meaning that I wanted us to sort of stumble on. If the Allied fleet does not consolidate off the coast of Algeria, then it opens the door for a consolidated German fleet on G2. Almost everytime I have managed to consolidate the fleet, It always gives the allies a hard time in the European waters. Without a European allied fleet, Germany Is free to focus on Russia. So the next question for you all would be, how does Germany deter the allies from blocking Algerian waters? Or better yet, what can Germany do to consolidate it’s fleet as early as possible?

(its) fleet.

Germany can play with an African bid and send its Med fleet west.  Why do you need an African bid?  I’ve explained it before a few times; I ought to put up a website or something with the explanation.

1.  The German battleship and transport must move together.  The transport is an extra hit that has to be taken down, so it protects the battleship.  The battleship obviously escorts the transport.

2.  The transport should be used to take Gibraltar.  If this is not done, the Allies can attack from London with 2 fighters 1 bomber to sink the Med fleet.

3.  You must take Anglo-Egypt.  If you do not, UK can use that fighter to reinforce the UK Pacific fleet, and the ground units to reinforce Africa - alternatively, they can consolidate to Africa, move the Indian fleet into the Mediterranean, retreat the Mediterranean destroyer to the Indian Ocean to make a serious fleet, all sorts of nasty stuff.

4.  If the Med fleet goes west, you MUST have African units.  Assuming Ukraine is taken, all you can attack Anglo-Egypt with will be 1 infantry, 1 tank, 1 fighter, and 1 bomber against 1 infantry, 1 tank, and 1 fighter.  That is horribly risky for the Germans, and there is a good chance that Germany will be forced to choose between keeping a fighter and keeping a tank to take Anglo-Egypt - and that’s the “GOOD” scenario for Germany; the bad scenario is that the attack fails and Germany loses air.  Regardless, UK takes back Anglo-Egypt next turn.  So it’s really not “good” scenario or “bad” scenario depending on luck.  It’s more like “extremely bad” and “total disaster”.  What Germany can do to help is have an extra infantry and artillery or tank that can hit Anglo-Egypt.  Now Germany can take Anglo-Egypt comfortably; even if UK takes back (still likely), Germany will almost certainly not be at risk of losing air.

–

If you consolidate off France with the German fleet, I build up air and light navy to counter.  Now the Germans have to reinforce their navy; if they stay where they are, the Allies pull two attacks; one hit and run, and one killing attack that destroys the German navy.  If the Germans attack the Allied navy, any surviving German navy will be destroyed by Allied air.

So there are five or six choices for Germany; the main ideas are that Germany must reinforce or retreat.

1.  W. Europe IC for instant reinforcement of Germany’s navy.  Allows Germany to mostly empty W. Europe of ground to be used on the eastern front.  However, Germany is racing the UK and the US for navy while fighting off the Russians.  Very difficult.

2.  Germany builds reinforcement in Baltic.  Probably impossible because if the German main fleet is at W. Europe, any Baltic build can be instantly be destroyed by UK and/or US air.

3.  Germany builds reinforcement at Southern Europe.  Impractical because it takes two turns to reach W. Europe.

4.  Germany retreats to Baltic.  Allies set up transport chain from East Canada to Algeria.  (ground units are produced at Eastern US and moved to Eastern Canada next turn.  On the turn after that, US transports pick up the East Canada units and move them to Algeria.  Once this starts going, it keeps going).  Now Germany is faced with hit and runs in Western and Southern Europe.  (Both Western and Southern Europe have to be protected.  If a medium amount of forces are used, that is a LOT less on the eastern front.  If only a few infantry hold the country, the UK and US can take both territories and keep trading with Germany.

5.  Germany retreats to the Mediterranean.  The Germans will probably control Africa for most of the rest of the game, but now the Allies go for the Norway / Archangel / Karelia / Eastern Europe attack.  If Moscow is being pressured, the Allies can transport masses of infantry to Archangel that can reach Moscow on the next turn.  If Moscow is not being immediately pressured, the Allies can take Norway, then start transporting in mass ground units to hold Karelia, Eastern Europe, etc.  The Allies will probably have to pull back to Norway at some point, but a massive force in northern Europe is something that Germany will have to deal with.

Naval consolidation is a good move if you can do it with Germany, but it’s hard to stop the Allied counter.

GG are you there, so please answer my question. :-?