Posts made by DarthMaximus

I usually do Pearl on J1, I just don’t like seeing those US ships in the Pacific.

For Japan, I usually buy 2-3 trans in rd 1 and take China. In rd 2 I buy 1-2 trans and inf and attack SFE, and Ind. In rd 3 I buy 1 tran and inf and attack Sin and Yak. So by rd 4 I have 35 IPC or so. From here I reinforce with inf from Japan via trns and consider taking HI, NZ, Aus depending on whatever else is going. I find IC’s aren’t necessarily needed. Transports can get the job done, and after doing Pearl in rd 1, I usually send all ftrs to Asia while my fleet hangs around Japan or FIC or perhaps heads to the Med. The fighters and bomber should be all the offensive power you need in Asia, at least until you get to Novo.

If for some reason Japan is going to attack the US, I agree Alaska is the spot to use, not Midway or Hawaii.

It is not unusual for me to have 8 trans or more for Japan, so the best bet is first to transport your inf to SFE, then on the second turn go to Ala. Don’t go to Alaska directly from Japan. Go to SFE, because that is only one turn away from Ala. It takes you one turn longer to set up but the benefits are far greater. This way you can shuck-shuck 12 inf every turn to Ala from SFE. This forces the US to defend West Can and West US and almost forces them to fight in the Pacific. You can pick up HI and Mid once you have your pipeline set up.
The best bet would be proceed as normal with Japan for the first 3 or 4 rds and attack in Asia and gain IPC’s. Then once the US commits to the Atlantic, you transport your inf to SFE and then proceed to Ala and from then on you transport your 12 inf a turn to Ala. I don’t know if this would work, but if for some odd reason if I go after the US, this is how I’d do it.

No I was referring to the part of your statement which said Russia cannot hold Manch which I think is false, and that they need to build ships to defeat Japan which is also false. IMO when Russia can take and hold Manch, and turn the 4 squares around it into deadzones the game is over. Any player that actually makes you take Tokyo is just being a weiner because when Russia can force Japan to only drop troops into Asia via FIC every other turn there is no way even with IT that they can overcome the mechanics of the game. 20inf into FIC everyother turn is only 10inf a turn, with Russia in control of Manch they should be able to match that easy.

I totally agree with this. The comment about the Russian ships was ment to be a joke. As Japan, if Germany fell, I’ll usually pack it in once the Allies can hold Yak or Sin and Japan is clearly getting pushed back. And if Russia has completely stalled Japan and Germany falls, sometimes I’ll pack it in at the end of that round. Provided Germany can’t be recaptured or Japan doesn’t have a tech or something like that.

And my comment about Man was not to suggest Russia can’t hold it, it was regarding the initial setup/layout of the game and how it is indicative of the 3 Allies to concentrate on Germany, since all 3 have an easier ability to attack Germany.

Really that is a bold statement, and I also think incorrect because HBombers provide a greater firepower to cost ratio than even tanks. HBs can allow even a small stack of 10-12guys to create rolling deadzones.

Yeah, but you have to have the cash to buy HB. Also depending on who you are, you can surround yourself with aa-guns, or just place them in all your countries. I just think HB are very defendable, provided of course you know your oppenent has them to start the game and you can prepare for it. Say you play a game where one side has HB and the other has IT.
Just a fictional scenerio though.

I don’t mind tech, but I get irritated when people roll 1 dice and get IT HBs or LRA. However, I’m come to see a gradual investment in tech as superior strategy than just stacking men and hoping it creates a deadzone and an advantage, but I find that all too often playing that way plays right into the hands of the more conservative/defensive players which I’d prefer not to do because they are the ones that will roll all dice for tech on round 10 as a hailmary move. It really sucks when you’ve managed to eek out an edge in a grindingly slow game only to have somebody get cheap HBs to win the game.

Yeah, I totally agree with that! That’s one reason I don’t like tech, and you precisely laid out why. If you play someone who you know will tech later, then I say just get it out of the way and start teching early on, like you suggest, and your bound to get a tech. But if you tech, your opponents my tech earlier (or should), then it becomes a ‘luck’ race for tech and the first side which gets a meaningful tech or 2 then they are likely to win. Once and a while that’s okay, but I don’t want all my games to be like that.

EDIT:

Therefore I think we need to talk about what the guy asking the question asked: who racks up the most IPCs and capital kills. In this aspect I find Germany to be the deadliest since they can wage war against Russian territories on land, can get all of their builds to make attacks without ships, and generally reach a much higher production rate than Russia does. But that is obviously far from meaning Germany will beat Russia every time. I just think they kill the most units in the majority of games by my experience.

True, but I find the constant 3 on 1 to wear down Germany, thus leaving Japan to grow somewhat easily, at least for the first few rounds.
I do think Germany does the heavy lifting but Japan reaps the benefits.

They just kicked my butt.
Damn Russians!

MR - you should buy a BB. :D

I was just making a general statement about tech and IT, I wasn’t advocating anything by it, I was just saying if I could magically pick a tech I’d take IT.

Early on yes, but in the later game not at all, and if they do Japan is usually done no matter how strong they are in the south or in Africa.

LOL!!! :D Yeah, if Russia has ANY ships anywhere other then the 2 they start with, it’s game over. As soon as I’d see a Russian ship get bought, it’s game over. Lol! Russian ships! I do like the dreaded Russian Battleship, I like buying those. :D

And, as I’ve said before, I don’t like tech and tech games, I think it can take some of the fun out of it. Once and a while, I don’t mind tech games, but not every game. To me it’s not fun. I like the really long grueling games of position, and back and forth fighting over various dead zones.

Yeah, once Tech is involved all bets are off. I’ll take any country with IT and they are the new strongest, IMO.

Have you not considered that people pay so much attention to Germany because they are dangerous?

Or could be just easier to take them out. UK is really in no position to hit Japan all that easily, barring an IC somewhere. Also Russia can’t get ships to the Pacific and would have a hard time holding Man. It is just much easier to hit Germany 3-1 then Japan. And there’s more chances of failure in a KJF than a KGF. Why take the chance unless you have too.

As for Japan taking Moscow I don’t see this as an inherent advantage, and in fact sometimes I let them do it.

Yeah, I can see that. Tech changes everything though. It can also work the other way too. If Germany takes Moscow, there is the possibility of Berlin falling, thus making Moscow, Kar and Cauc all dead territories for the Axis. Whereas if Japan had Moscow they’d still at least have the 8 IPC and be able to place there. It can go either way, IMO. Depends on the players, board, do people have tech, among other things.

We’re just looking at strength differently. I see the US/Japan’s isolation as a positive, as they are allowed to have a singular focus - which front they want to attack.

I see Russia and Germany as weaker because they have to fight more on multiple fronts, and generally can’t concentrate on just one front. I find when I play either of these countries my job is to stay alive, doing whatever is necessary to stay in the game while I wait for an opening or my Allies help me out.
If more KJF’s were played I’d view Germany as the strongest as it would be their job to get to Russia before Japan fell, but KJF’s aren’t played that often. And since most games are played with the gang up on Germany strat, I find Japan is often left alone and allowed to grow almost untouched till they get near Novo. Thus making them the strongest with 40+ IPC’s and 1 focus.

I place so much on production because that was part of the initial question:

Who do you guys think is the most powerful country in the game? In other words, who is the country who takes the most I.P.C.'s and racks up the most capital kills in most of your games.

I find Japan generally leads in that, while if Russia falls they are the one to take it.

As for the US, I find they do the most damage for me when I play as the Allies.

Ugh. :roll:

OF COURSE JAPAN CAN BE STOPPED!!!
I never said they couldn’t!
Also Russia can fall, Germany can fall, lots of stuff can happen, that’s why you play the game!

I stated why, IMO, Japan/US are the strongest many posts ago, so you can go back and read it if you choose to or keep ignoring it.

And I stated why supply lines don’t matter in considering which country is the strongest. You should probably go back a read that as well. Well, here’s the short version since I doubt you will. The supply line problem is true for EVERY country, especially the aggressors.
So, because a counrty is on the offensive and has longer supply lines they are weaker??? That is just stupid! So, as Germany I should let Russia take EE, so I can be stronger as Germany because the Russians have farther to go. That makes no sense!
And as Japan, from now on I’m going to let Russia take Man, Fic, and Kwa, so Japan will have the shorter supply lines and thus be the stronger country. Again, that is just stupid.
Those are tactics and strategies, that is an independent discussion then what country someone thinks is the strongest.

This is not a strategy thread, and I probably should have stopped my part of the discussion long ago when you first derailed the thread, but oh well I got caught up a bit.

If Russia were so strong they wouldn’t need help from the other Allies or their Capital would never fall.

Japan is the strongest - they out produce every other country often earning 45 IPC or so, they have the largest empire by rd 4, they can tech at will, and their capital never falls, that is why they are the strongest. Period. If you don’t agree fine, so be it.
Just ask yourself why KJF’s are so hard, then you’ll have your answer.

I don’t know anymore. Too many what-ifs, coulda beens, and should-do’s for me. I’m done talking in circles.

And back on topic, Japan is still the strongest country in the game. :D

This is silly. Keeping them far away is best because while it gives them a bigger stack when they do advance it also gives me one extra turn to prepare as well. This could mean the Russians build more armor and delay them another turn, and it could mean the allies rush troops to Karelia so that Russia can swing much of its Karelia army to Russia to create a massive deadzone.

Sure Russia COULD do this or COULD do that, again your assuming a whole bunch of things for Russia, I guess Russia can just manufacture whatever weapons they want and I guess Germany is doing nothing either. You keep changing the parameters midstream. The point of waiting is to sychronize the attack with Germany. Now Germany hits Karelia and Japan hits Novo, and since they waited they now have 26 inf in Novo instead of 12. Russia can’t take both. Your tanks may allow you to hit both Ger and Japan, but by attacking in the same round you negate that. It just takes some planning. Also waiting a turn can be EXTREMELY beneficial to Japan if that means you can HOLD Novo. The key is to hold it, not get there fast and then continually lose it. I’d rather wait a turn in hold, then trade for 3 or 4 turns, that to me is silly.

Good point, and I would point out the norm is actually 10, and your odds of getting +50% can’t be very good.

You actually have a 52% chance to hit more than 10.
Infantry are extremely versitile and are extremely valuable on offensive as well as defense.
The chances of hitting 7 or less is about 11%. It just isn’t going to happen with large stacks. The greater the number the less varience, that is just statistics.

And I think this says it all. You like infantry not because they ARE better but because they defend better, and of course its always better to have too much defense that too little. However, the best defense is a good offense. Playing defensively can cost you the game against a good player.

Depends on which side you are.

This sounds like a PE bid, and I will say that I think with PE bids you must play to win by turn 5 because after that things seem to fall apart too quickly for the Axis. IMO with a PE bid you absolutely cannot play a defensive game or you will get eaten alive.

Definitely. If you wait too long, you lose your adv of having your extra units.

True.

Definitely, don’t get me wrong, thinking about my most recent posts I may have given the impression that I never buy tanks or ignore them completely, which isn’t true.

I just tend not to buy in large numbers, and chooses to go with large inf buys and a tank here or there. For example if Russia is at 26, I’ll go 1 arm and 7 inf. I think 8-10 arm is sufficient with Russia, with one bought per rd, and Germany I usually have between 10-12, unless I think I’m winning where I may buy more.

And in your 14-6 example, I may go with 19 inf, 3 arm instead and perhaps I survive with an inf or two and 3 arm. Anyway, I get your point but I tend to usually have approx 5:1 inf to arm ratio, rather than say a 3:1.

Yeah, 15 was probably 2 hits too many. The red zone is 7 to 13 hits which comes out to the standard 10 hits.
Interestingly enough, the odds of hitting:

6 or less - 10%
7 to 13 - 88%
10 to 15 - 52%
13 to 15 - 15%
More than 12 hits - 20%
More than 15 hits - 4%

I just like having the inf because then they can turn around and defend at 2. I kinda think about it this way:
20 inf vs. 10 inf and 6 tanks.
If the 20 inf attack the 10 inf, 6 arm the defender will hold with about 3 arm, whereas if the 10 inf, 6 arm attack the 20 inf the defender will hold with 7 inf. No one is going to do that attack but it is just an example. Anyway you look at it the inf come out better.
You have 7 inf left over = 21 IPC vs. 3 arm = 15 IPC
You killed 16 units vs. 13 units killed
(this ignores strafes and the mobility of tanks or blitzing ability)

I just don’t like large tank buys and I perfer the tank buying if I have the extra 2 IPC, or I’m planning on hitting a capital or something.

And here is why I don’t put as much emphasis on IPC production as you do. In PE bids the Axis rarely out produces the Allies, but they can if they are smart about it, take down Moscow. However, if you merely play to get an ipc advantage, which is the essence of the PowerAfrica play, a good Allied player is going to know this is what he has to prevent. So because of this I make the taking Africa from Germany my first priority.

I said with the Axis, I just use the 70 as a guide, figuring if I’m not near 70 by the end of round 3, then either Japan is going too slow, or I’m having trouble in Afr, or I’m not doing well against Russia. It is just an easy way to take stock of the game status, IMO.

Generally, as Germany I like to hit Russia hard early if possible and esp with bids. I think Africa is overated (shhhh, don’t tell anyone) esp if you have a bid. I say put the early pressure on Russia, force them to make a decision about Kar, and if they don’t pull back then hit them if you have the odds and if they do pull back at the very least you can trade Kar and claim Cauc, which is 6 IPC, making up for Afr.

But if they don’t does that hurt me. Keeping Japan backed up in Yakut for a turn or two longer than usual is a good trade off I think. There are even times when Yakut can be made a deadzone as late as turn6 this way despite Japans huge numerical advantage because of what I described as Japans main problem/weakness.

If Japan holds up 1 extra turn or 2 in Yak, that could be a worst case for Russia because when they do more they will likely have such overwhelming force that makes strafe impossible. It is much better to lure Japan into the strafe situation you described then to have them hold up a turn and come in even stronger where stafe is not an option.

No they have value as offensive weapons, but they are not valuable especially when compared to the tank.

I disagree with this. I’m not a big fan of tanks I perfer infantry and fighters unless I’m hitting an aa-gun spot. And since I don’t build many fighters that means it is infantry, infantry, and more infantry with the occassional tank if I have the extra 2 IPC’s or I’m preparing for a big move.

Again this isn’t totally false, and in a Low Luck game this would likely prove true, but in dice games two things can happen. First the Axis can make a M84 lunge, and here is where the walk through the Caucausus can come into play, or the Axis can roll tech. You can complain after the fact that your opponent got HB too cheaply, but that won’t help you then. The key to victory is versatility, not stacking.

Of cousre the Axis CAN do this or CAN do that. Every strat has a counter and that is why I made the point about having to see the game board and how the game plays out. If they move, I can just as easily move.

Infantry are extremely versatile especially in large numbers. They are the best on defense and a good on offense in large numbers. Here’s why they are so good on offense:
Odds of 12 inf attacking

2 or more hits - 62% <– the key is the ‘or more’ part, over 60% of the time you’ll get your 2 basics hits plus possibly more.
3 or more hits - 37% <-- about 40% of the time you’ll get a MINIMUM of 3 hits.
4 or more hits - 17% <-- about 20% of the time you’ll get a MINIMUM of 4 hits.

I picked 12 inf cause it was easy to calculate but the numbers get better and better as you have more and more inf, because you get many more rounds out of combat and many more chances to hit.

I did also do 24 inf:

4 or more hits - 58%
5 or more hits - 37%
6 or more hits - 20%

And with large stacks that build up in that reach in the 40’s-50’s, it just means you have more and more chances to hit with better odds then just having 60 inf and saying I’ll get 10 hits, there is a good chance you’ll get
about 15 hits, plus you get more and more rounds of combat and dice rolls.

Shoot, I’ve got more to say but I gotta go for now.

Yes I will. If I have 9inf 11arm 2ftrs you’d better believe I’ll hit 18inf. Round 1 I get 8 hits, Japan 6 hits. Round 2 I should hit 7times, and Japan 3-4. The end result Russia strafes Japan for 15inf, and loses only 9. Since I have shorter supply lines I should be able to repeat the feat on the next turn if the Japs aren’t careful, but at the very least it prevents them from stacking Novo/Yakut for a couple of turns.

Your assuming Japan is going to walk into that. Which is false.

I was merely commenting on how Japan can reinforce, I had no specific scenerio in mind. If we go back to my initial comment – Japan having 12 inf and you made a comment about strafing and just threw out the number 6 for losses, and I said I’d reinforce with my 12 new inf. That is a lot different then 15 hits!!! I’m not going to walk into that!
For your initial comment of 6 losses to be true Russia would have (roughly) 6 inf (1 hit) 8 arm (4 hits) 2 ftrs (1 hit) vs. 12 inf. You do 6, I do 4. Your successful. Now how do you go from now having 2 inf, 8 arm, 2 ftrs to 9 inf and 11 arm? It can’t be done in one turn. Even if you buy 3 arm, 3 inf, that only puts you at 5 inf, 11 arm, 2 ftrs. Now you only having 1 strafing run before you start losing tanks and I’ll trade Japanese inf for tanks all day long. You are also neglecting Kar, but we can assume the US and UK are defending that, with minimal Russia support.
But I think as Germany I can win that.

Again, I’m not trying to discount Russia’s ability to hold off Japan. But we can both throw around numbers all day long to support our point because we have game experience and our ‘perfect scenerios’ (or our objective) in our head but without seeing the actual game board and how the earlier turns went down, we can each throw out numbers to support our side all day long.

It’s like the quote “everybody has a plan, until they get hit”. I can have a plan as Japan, but I also have to have the abilty to adjust to how Russia is playing.

Exactly my point, shucking guys is only a defensive move, but it is not going to supply much offensive pressure on the enemy. So how do you do that? I have some very distinct means which achieve this.

True, true, true. Depends on which side I am. If I’m the Allies and maintain the IPC adv I’ll play build up all day long. The pressure is all on the Axis to make something happen, and if they did then I’ll have to counter depending on what the board shows.

If I’m the Axis, I try to do as much damage as possible early to try and avoid the large build ups by the Allies. Germany has much of the offensive power it needs when they start and shouldn’t need large tank builds in masse to pressure the Allies. So does Japan, they have 5 ftrs, and 1 bom to start and 1 tank. They need inf for their Asian Empire.

And this statement is indicative of what I see wrong here. You seem to think the game is merely a defensive struggle, whereas I want to exploit the other sides defensive weaknesses.

Again depends on which side I am.
And no, I just think that Infantry are the best unit in the game by far.
They are quite valuable as an offensive weapon, esp if you have large stacks or just a few tanks for support. The overall value of the Infantry is unmatched in the game.

Well suppose that I was clever enough to devise a strat which enabled the Axis to sneak in and capture either Washington or London, would that necessarily force capitulation for the Allies. I think not because as you’ve mentioned longterm pressure is not possible, but as such both are easy recapturable. In fact I’ve played games where I lost London early due to a clever sea lion maneuver and still won the game. The big thing is to not lose air defending these capitals.

Things like that are anomalies and not indicative of the vast majority of games. That is why I left open the cavet of KJF strats. And I’m sorry there is no good reason anybody should ever lose London or Washington prior to the fall of Moscow. That is just poor play.

Again you focus to much on mere production. Yes the US will outproduce, but then again I mentioned how much of their Ipcs will be lost to transportation so they will never be 100% mobilized which the UK is. Also, I think the UK can clean up Africa all by themselves, but since they lose Aust and India they will never have much more than 24-27ipcs.

By the way NZ and Persia are not lost causes for the Brits.

Production is the key. It is all about the numbers. That is why the Allies are so hard to beat, bid or no bid. It is hard for the Axis to get a total IPC lead and hold it. And as long as the Allies hold say a 77-70 advantage and neither side can make signifanct gains to change this then all the Allies have to do is buy inf and wait out the Axis. Eventually after a long long game the 2 inf advantage will build up and after 10 more rounds the Allies will have 20 more inf on the board and after 15 they’d have 30 more inf and so on. Eventually this destroys the Axis.

That is why, IMO, the Axis must do something early and try to put pressure on the Allies. Whether it’s hold lots of Afr, try for Cauc-Kar, or something else.

Personally, I like to try and get the Axis to 70 by rd 3, and have the IPC lead by rd 4, and hold it. Just things I shoot for, and by no means does this mean the game is won or lost if this is or isn’t achieved, just some things I like to try and shoot for.

I agree with you there on what the Axis should do and their objectives, i.e. press Russia.

I’m not debating the ability of Rus to stop/slow down Japan or Ger stopping the US and the Allies. I’m not debating strategy, or I don’t mean to.

But the Allies, especially Russia can bleed this advantage away by successful strafes and making Japan invest in land grab trades accross the board. If Japan loses 6inf a turn to trading then they are really only adding 8inf a turn which is not as significant as 14.

True but Japan should have 12 inf right behind it, so now they have 18 inf. I’ll invite strafes by Russia, infantry are much better on defense, then on offense. Now is Russia going to strafe 18 inf? I don’t think so, but even if they do, fine I’m down to 12, but I have 12 more so I’m up to 24. It is very quickly going to become clear to Russia that strafe is no longer possible. Plus Japan has ftrs that can defend as well.
It is not the singular effect of 12 inf a turn that makes Japan so strong, it is the cumulative effect of having 12 inf at your disposal each turn from rd 4 on. That means if Russia has 24 IPC, they must take off 4 inf from Jap each turn just to stay even and that is neglecting the German front and the losses Russia will take in their battle with Japan.

But this machine will still be very innefficient since as much as 60ipcs of troops will not be at your fronts.

True, but Ger has to deal with the combined effort of R, UK, US. Once you have your troops in E Can it is one turn to Fin, 1 turn to Kar. That equals the 1 turn placement by Ger and the 1 turn move to EE. Each side at 2 turns. Now it is a race for the offensive adv.

IMO after about rd 3, it is insignificant that it takes longer for troops to reach their respective fronts because once the pipeline is set up it is as if you have immediate reinforcements. Plus it is always going to take longer for reinforcements to reach the front for which ever side is on the offensive. As Ger takes Kar it takes an extra turn for German troops to get there, likewise if Russia takes EE it will take them an extra turn to get from Kar to EE. But this is true for all countries so I don’t consider it when I’m looking at the overall strength of a country.

Perhaps were looking at strength of a country differently. I’m looking at it as countries that need as little help as possible from their Allies to get going or survive. I’m also considering which Capitals generally fall. In my opinion if Rus or Ger were the strongest then their capitals would never fall because there would be “easier/weaker” countries to take out first. But that is not the case, in almost every game it is a race for Moscow and Berlin (KJF strats aside).

The only thing that keeps me from ranking the UK as high as the US or Japan, is because they really do need the US to clean up Afr, and once India, Persia, Aus and NZ are taken they are lost for good. That is minus 7 IPC. So even with WE, that only puts them at 29 IPC, still not as strong as the 30-32 the US will have.

Huh??? About the turns. It takes Germany 3 turns to get to Kar, 4 to get to Mos and vice versa for Russia. And with the UK navy in the UK sz it takes them 3 to get to Kar as well. Turn length has nothing to do with strength of country.

Japan and the US are strong precisely because they are isolated and their Capitals are never in threat of being taken. After Turn 2 Japan has minimum 34 IPC and one focus - get to Moscow! While the US will have 32 IPC and its 6 trannies and one focus - get Germany!

It is very easy to mount an offensive with both Japan and the US. One focus, get infantry to your front.
Japan - turn 1 buy trns, inf. Turn 2 buy trans, inf. Turn 3 buy trans and inf. Turn 4 buy inf. Turn 5 etc…
You have a massive economic machine flowing.
US - turn 1 buy trns, inf. Turn 2 buy trans inf while setting up the train from US to Canada. Turn 3 buy trans and inf. Turn 4 buy inf. Turn 5 etc…
The train is set up and now every turn you have 10-12 inf going to Europe.
Again, you have the economic machine of the US flowing.

The question was which is the strongest country, not which country starts out the strongest.

I think you have your numbers backward for Germany and Japan. Say 42 IPC - 14 inf. Germany must divide the 14 between Afr, WE, EE Whereas Japan can throw 14 inf right at Russia. Japan is stronger that way. Germany is the one that needs the 60.
Japan can get away with far less IPCs than Germany. Germany just has too many fronts to cover to be the game dominator. As does Russia, and the UK needs too much help to be considered a singular powerhouse.

Japan and US are the most powerful countries in the game since neither needs much support to get going and their capitals are isolated and safe from any invasion. They can solely focus on offense and a single front.
Plus Japan’s income always hits 40+ and stays there, while the US’s stays in the 30’s.

Russia and Germany are weak in the sense that they must fight on multiple sides and often All Infantry buys are required just to maintain their borders. They also need help from their Allies. Russia needs UK and US support to hold Kar or even Moscow, while Germany needs Japan to hopefully pressure Russia from the East. While Germany’s income may stay in the 30’s even approach 40, they just have too much to defend to maintain a very high IPC count for very long without Japan. And Russia rarely hits 30 in IPC, and if it does, chances are the Allies are already winning big.

UK is also weak beacause it too relays heavily on its Allies, esp the US, to maintain its world wide empire and keep its income in the high 20’s. UK has the potential to be poweful (as do Ger and Rus) but Africa needs to be secured and you still need US ships and ftrs to keep your fleet afloat.
UK’s income may also appraoch 30, but they require US support in Afr to get there.

But again, the US and Japan need no help to get rolling. Also, both Japan and the US have the power to dictate what type of game you are going to play independently of their other Allies, based on which front they are going to concentrate on.

That idea of landing Jappanese fighters on Karelia was pretty good. I had never thought of that.

Yeah, and if your opponent hasn’t see it either, it could be just the thing you need to get a real advantage.

I remember the first time I heard it and was like “I got to try that!”, but rarely is their an opportunity to take Kar on rd 1 with sufficient forces to even consider bring over 2 Japanese ftrs. I think only 2 can reach.

It also works on later assualts on Kar, where you can get even more J ftrs to Kar, but just be careful and don’t waste them trying to hold it if you know you can’t.