What would be an interesting game would be if Japan took US but ignored the other nations. Then Japan fighting UK, ANZAC, and China.
It is possible, but if the USA player knows what he’s doing, is maybe a 20-30% chance, tops.
destroyers are the best for blocking, essentially trading and sacrificing units. Although it’s not a historically realistic tactic, it works in this incarnation of the AA games.
What about using DDs in conjunctiion with SSs? The subs can soak hits in the early rounds right, for only 6 IPCs instead of 8 IPCs. I understand the extra #3 attack over a #2 gives the DDs a slight plus for the IPC cost, but i think adding a couple subs could give a small bonus to the final numbers.