Best posts made by shadowhawk

Just pure theory.

What happens if france has 2 units in a UK transport.
UK moves this in non combat to SZ112.
Germany has fighters in western germany.

If the france units now unload to norway does germany get to scramble?

@SuperbattleshipYamato said in Preparing for Axis game OOB in local tournament - Suggestions Welcome:

@shadowhawk

Good points, but I confess I wasn’t thinking of that when I wrote the comment. I’m think of that time I wasted Italy’s only strategic bomber on trying to attack a lone French destroyer that could not have done anything significant (regarding transports) and losing. That hurt Italy hard.

Ofcourse there are bad combats and there are good combats. There are no general rules about what to attack with what.

Each combat you should consider:
Do i need this combat
How does this help me.
What is my worst case

Attacking a lone destroyer with a bomber to prevent it from attacking a few undefended transports or remove a block can be worth it.
Attacking it for the sake of you dont like how it looked at you when you took it out of the box isnt worth it.

@Gerry said in Strategic bombing and escorts. How does a raid work?:

@mainah Thx. But then these fighters cannot be deployed to another battle. The price difference seems small to me (10 vs 12 ipc). It seems more useful to use multiple bombers (as long as the possible interceptors are the same amount or less then the number of bombers). At what point should you refrain from strategic bombing with regard to number of interceptors? Interceptors are only fighters or also tactical bombers?

Same goes for the bombers as well. Doing strategic bombing removes them from other targets.
A strat bomber run only has an expected outcome of 3.5ipcs. In most battles it can make a much bigger impact.

@bakerbei

If playing OOB rules you can just build a bunch of subs with the UK.
Then take denmark and norway with the US and use the subs + airpower to sink this fleet.
If he doesnt build a destroyer just go with the subs and without air power.
CV+ cruiser vs 4 subs = dead fleet.

If you play YG setup, do the same but take with UK and use US subs.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris said in How to best threaten German Baltic fleet?:

You don’t have to sink the German fleet, just force them to shelter behind Denmark for safety.

If they actually have a fleet large enough to stand toe to toe with the Allied Atlantic fleet, the Allies have won concur it means Moscow won’t fall for a very long time. Having multiple German carriers is a guaranteed L for the Axis.

That fleet does allow it to keep trading norway so sinking the fleet is not required but it does help.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris
If the units are in finland they are not near moscow.
If the airforce is used against finland its not used against russia.

Having that fleet there allows the germans to just move units from W-ger to norway to trade and to use those finland troops to attack moscow. They are a lot closer.

But even if you have a big stack in finland and no navy whats stopping me from dropping 2-4 inf and 1-2 AA guns in norway? Either your big stack moves in and its gone next round. Or you airforce is used and risks losing a plane or 2. Its not like the AA in London is doing anything anyway.,

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris

It depends on the size of your fleet, the 3 fighter scamble isnt always that big a difference.
Attacking norway + denmark also requires him to trade both or lose the NO as well.

Also it gives you a staging ground for going to leninggrad which causes him to lose even more NO income. He can ignore Normandy as you cant do much from that location, its only 2 ipcs not a big deal.
Norway is 8ipcs lost.

So its not 20-30pu its more like 6-12pu, as the AA guns from london are basically free.

@DocFav

Just wondering what your trying to do?

If you want to see a specific setup just load it into TripleA.

@Colonel-Mustard

Not legal,
Firstly you unload your forces. Then the combat starts with the pre-combat shots ( BB-AA gun)
So you have to commit groundforces to even start the combat.

Also you get only 1 bombardment shot for each unloaded ground unit. So things like 10Battleships and 1 inf doesnt work either. ( it did in older versions )

@Galendae
Its more of a sucker punch that people might overlook. But its really obvious a lot more obvious then the berlin grab that the allies can do.

Its also pretty easy to counter, you need a load of fleet to pull this off but you also need a load of attacking fleet just to get to WUS.
It would only work if the US would focus completely on japan, but since it starts as a sea-lion setup US would be focussing on europe anyway just to make sure.

If the US isnt focussing on europe and leaves itself open against this why travel all the way there? Might as well have a lot less of an investment and take london. Without any fleet the US wont be taking that back any time soon.

Also why the hell would you buy Tanks and mechs if your fighting near your factories?

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris

It all depends on what germany does really.
If they neglect norway and push all to finland and then into russia there is nothing stopping the UK from using a starting transport to just take norway.

Basically after round 2 its not possible to determine what can or cannot be done as your opponents strategy migth have some holes in it or just bad dice.

Like Italy can never take egypt before round X. Well what if taranto went wrong and italy has still 3 transports? Its unlikely maby? But could be that the UK had other plans with those ships?
If you want to consolidate near Gibraltar and only use 1 attacking unit near malta both attacking forces can be destroyed. Just an example.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris

If the US can take and hold normandy then germany is in trouble as well. You can see it comming and if you cant destroy the fleet without the extra airbase it wont make a difference.

Also 3 units? Thats 2 transports worth of troops. If your attacking and holding normandy those 3 units wont make a big difference.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris

Well my point is that if you can land there without the airbase to protect your fleet ( you can only build it the round after ) you dont need the airbase.

You dont need the naval base as you can use SZ110 and get the UK naval base.
And its only 2 steps away from gibraltar.

So not capturing it allows the US and UK to land planes there. But they cannot use the factory and cannot build a airbase ( but you dont need that otherwise your fleet will be destroyed on the first round you invade )

Capturing it allows germany to build subs, or DD blocker ( no normandy or W-german invasion )
Its 2 ipcs a round.

Either way the US can simply move its fleet from gibraltar -> normandy on 1 turn. Move back the next turn and at that turn ferry fresh troops from US to also gather at gibraltar. So you invade every other turn but less fleet required and more operational flexibility.

If germany cannot take back normandy the same round yea you can build 3 extra units but you can also just walk into south france and have your reinforcements ready for either zone the next turn.

Guess the game is become a bit over-analysed to the point where in dice games it comes down to dice most of the time. Its not always about if you win a combat but how you win/lose a combat.
With a fixed setup most games boil down to the same moves every turn so people tend to play it less often. And its a long game.

@Arthur-Bomber-Harris said in Question Regarding Normandy/Bordeaux:

@shadowhawk dice games don’t come down to dice if there is a sizable skill gap which we still see even for League matches. The top players can beat the mid-tier players 95% of the time and the bottom-tier players 100% of the time.

Normandy is usually invaded when the German Luftwaffe is off in Russia providing pivotal support for a turning point move, protecting a stack and/or threatening the key Russian defensive territory. They fly back the following turn so having additional allied fleet defenses becomes crucial or else the beachhead will become overwhelmed.

Im merely stating that with the state of the game ( which has the same starting moves ) the only difference going into round2 will be how the dice fell round1.
With nearly equally skilled players its down to dice.

When germany lets the allies have normandy and there is no threat there is also the option of taking south france for free. But thats kind of the problem isnt it, every move we can come up can be countered but not every move can be done at the same time.
Also when those airforces come back you can predict as US so your carrier can be build that turn, Or the UK can just build a carrier on demand.

@Classified_22 You can support the push from mainland japan for the 2nd turn, so you miss out on 3 units round 3. Factory can only produce the turn after its build.

But you lose flexibility what if your attack goes really well and you dont need additional reinforcements. Though you do need a lot there is 18 russian infantry and 6 more from mongolia.
If you build 2 factories russia or the UK might put a fighter or 2 there, then it becomes a really hard nut to crack.

@Classified_22

Few things, how will you ferry your troops from the UK out of there? Everything that survives your invasion will be locked in there without your fleet.
You got 1 loaded carrier + cruisers + DD, thats all nice but what prevents the US from using a few strat bombers as well as planes from a carrier on 102 ( they can move there while neutral ) to just destroy your fleet in 110?

What if the UK consolidates its fleet off gibraltar round 1? With an airbase and the airforce there you cannot attack it with italy. UK is still safe but with that fleet in 110 your sea lion plans are gone.

Russia will be pretty free for 2 rounds as germany just invested 100ipcs in fleet and japan invested 44ipcs in factories. Those 18 ( soon to be 24 ) infantry with 2AA guns will block your way for the comming 4-5 rounds. You cant really attack those guys. Firstly you dont have the forces to attack them, i can pretty much remove your airforce and your slow movers from the attack. You cant send your airforce after it or else it not helping against china and UK-Pacific or Anzac.

But the US is free to do whatever they want in the pacific. Anzac and UK-pac are free to expand and get extra income. China will be free to take more lands ( and you dont want china to have free reign) Anzac with 2 minors pumping naval forces out and just grabbing the pacific. UK-pac taking and helping with the middle east and the US 100% against germany.

@barnee

TripleA also has various versions and setup of the the game.
So you could start the 1942scenario or balance mod, or tournament rules.
Or even classic or revised.

@Classified_22

Axis can win on both sides they just have to put enough pressure so that the allies cannot form a unified front.

The problem for the allies is the vast distances, USA has a hard time getting into play either on pacific and europe. The axis have smaller internal lines easier to reinforce.

It takes time for the allies to shift between the 2 boards. And axis are favored because of this ( and the turn order ) you just need to learn to abuse your advantage and leverage it.

Dont spread your forces, just make a single point attack on both boards, the allies are spread thin and cannot reinforce every part fast enough just make sure that you focus your resources and if the allies leave a gap in their defences abuse it.
Germany/Italy can switch from russia to afrika or from london to russia in 1 turn. UK takes several turns to switch from sealion defence to helping russia.

@bakerbei

You dont really need the sub, the figher in schotland makes things interesting for germany.
Adding a DD off gibraltar is nice keeps that cruiser alive. Or at least forces germany to send 2 or more subs and even then its pretty risky battle for germany.

You can also put a sub off scotland. Combined with a plane it could make things interesting. Especially since germany has to buy a carrier to attack like you mentioned.

With just 2 subs and 7 air the UK can scramble 3 air.
Their air can only hit your air. With the BB or a DD in 110 the UK air can hit the BB or the subs making scramble a lot worst.

The first strike doesnt to anything in 110 anyway, the first hit will be on the BB which can hit back. Only if they make 2 hits does it make a difference, would you put a bid in a place where 1/9 times it makes a small difference?

Putting it in SZ91 will make a much bigger difference, even putting it with the fleet off schotland would be better.

Interesting things:
Add a art in alexandria and a mech or tank in egypt and destroy tobruk at the same time as destroying the italian fleet.

Put a transport off south afrika so you can take iraq round 1, or if doing taranto put the troops from malta on greece ( your planes from the carrier can land ) and still do your things around east afrika.

If your opponent allows, add an AA gun to china, japan has to attack with planes so you can get 3 shots. Its a gambit though.

@bakerbei said in Assistance with the bidding rules:

@AndrewAAGamer Would Germany still not be able to take both SZ 110 and 111? I believe that Germany has 4 subs, 4 fighters, 4 tactical bombers, 2 strategic bombers and 1 battleship to bring to bear on the two sea zones.

If it’s split evenly, with the battleship going to the English Channel, Germany has odds on both, even with a Scottish Fighter bid and scrambling the now 5 fighters.

Are my calculations off or is it not a given that the Scottish Fighter saves a fleet?

No they will still win both combats. But it will cost them more units.
Gemany cannot afford to lose most of its planes there, and a bad roll of the dice can really screw up german plans.