@Cmdr:

I prefer to use it hitting the SZ 45 submarine for that specific reason.  Germany’s Africa is easier to liberate if Japan’s navy has been hit hard.

However, I’ve had good success with Battleship, Destroyer, Carrier, 4 Fighters, Bomber, (submarine if it survived) in SZ 52.  I then send 7 infantry, 2 fighters to China.

BTW, I have been toying with sending the transport to SZ 52 as well and of course bringing the carrier, battleship from SZ 37 over to SZ 45 as well.  Sets me up nice for a hit on W. USA or Australia and doesn’t really slow me down much in Asia.  Also alleviates the need of building warships in SZ 60 to protect the transport.

I did a couple of runs incorporating the SZ 37 fighters when the Solomon Sub was killed and it worked out rather nice, it really gives you a very nice chance of cleaning the SZ52 stack in one roll. The allied fighters can be deadly if one of them - or even both - can roll twice, so having a high chance of a one roll sweep really puts some pressure off the dice. The attack on China - with two fighters - still is dominant enough to start pressuring the mainland.

@Emperor:

I meant 8 bid, if you get 9 and extra 1 to Japan’s bank is good.  Given that Germany will be attacking Egypt with normal starting forces, it’s more likely the UK fighter will be used for a counter-attack in Egypt.  That makes Japan’s position in SZ52 even better.  Also that Transport in sz50 has other options besides Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand are also open for a round 1 assault.

I tried this last night and it worked out extremely well. I had a 9 bid, placed a J-transport in SZ 50 and opened with a 2 transport 1IC build for Japan. Germany did a conventional G1 Anglo-Egypt assault that was countered on UK1. G2 I broke the Anglo-Egypt defense with a new landing + the remaining forces present in Africa which still provided a good income bonus. The Solomon Sub was thus alive and participated in the J1 SZ 52 attack and landing in Hawaii (3inf 1arm 1 fighter). The good part was that the USA player got a bit jumpy and started with a rather conservative build because of the threat on the West Coast. I attacked Australia J2, New Zealand J3 and then used the fleet to support the southern prong.

Lately - when playing Japan - I’ve been experiencing huge problems when confronted with the UK1 fighter assault on the solomon sub and the following landing on the SZ 52 AC. When it actually hits the sub - even when it doesn’t - the chances of an economic J1 sz 52 attack become very slim. My normal sz 52 assault consists of 1 AC 2 FIGS 1 Bom 1 Sub (if it survived UK1) 1 BS and 1 DST vs 1 AC 1 SUB 2 FIGS. With the SZ 37 AC - BS - FIG I attack the SZ 59 UK-DST (if alive), the other SZ 37 FIG supports the attack in China. The SZ 60 transport usually drops something off in Buryatia.

Now I am aware that most players here will probably use the UK FIG to counter the G1 Anglo-Egypt but when the German bid is placed in Libya and the G1 ANglo-Egypt isn’t desastrous that counterattack becomes very hard, thus the FIG is often used for other strategies. The SZ 52 stack (1AC 1SUB 2FIGS) has an above reasonable chance to really hurt the attacking Japanse fleet and there is always a chance for an American counterattack USA1 on the Japanese fleet - if things go horribly wrong for Japan. The dice don’t even have to be desastrous, a slight dice advantage for the Allies in SZ 52 can result in rather painful Japanese losses.
I don’t like moves where you really need a good twist of fate - definitly so early in the game, so my question is, how do you handle the SZ 52 stack - especially when the Solomon SUB was killed UK1? Do you send the transport in SZ 60 as fodder or do you divert FIGS from the SZ 37 fleet? I could use some help in this matter.