Hi folks
the move against both Hawaii and us fleet is a great move… unfortunately you can’t place your carriers in the Aleutian seazone, that would make your planes (in zone 5) make an illegal combat move.
You can’t use the carriers to make a move forward and then send of planes, the planes can only move four spaces.
When I try to make this move and I usually do this.
2 subs to z9
2 planes to z9
4 planes to z5
You will then typically have 2 fighters left from z5 and both fighters from z9
You will only loose 2 subs and 2 fighters total
(these are based out of statics’s of 1000 battles)
The US fleets will be destroyed with the exception of 1 sub left in z5 (if he doesn’t submerge this, he’s crazy)
I would recommend that you then take your carriers and move them to the northern US convoy in z6 and land your fighters here.
Now I know this means that theres a chance that you will loose the carriers and the fighters. US is able to respond to this on their first turn with 3 ftr 2 bmb and 1 sub. But with the convoy there and away from the remainders of the us fleet, its the best choice, if you are performing this move.
The outcome of this battle is very luck dependent, your fighters will have nowhere to land if you loose your carriers. so the sub has a lot to say in this battle.
if we look at the numbers again the us will only be able to clear this zone in about 20% of the time… which is pretty good odds for japan.
But still it would be foolish of the US not to try to make a move against the carriers, as the attacker they have the option of retreating, if it turns out to the dice are against them.
This is IMO a great advantage for japan, as the US will have to build their whole navy again from nothing. You take the convoy, its only 5 IPC but the US will not be able to take the convoy back until turn 2. Besides if they attack you get the chance to weaken their airforce as well.
Sure its a shame to loose the carriers this early in the game, this makes an Australian invasion very hard and you won’t have the power to do nothing else than delay the forthcomming US fleet, without the carriers.
It all depends on your playing style, but if you want to be aggressive, this is a great move. Especially if you go for an Indian invasion, as the US won’t be able to get there before its to late, if you go for this.
Regards,
Daniel
