@FranceNeedsMorePower
America is too underpowered in this game to operate independently of the other Western Allies against the Central Powers. Your general outline is correct.
In my experience, the main challenge as the American player is achieving maximum efficiency in the transport of units, as the “shuck” between America and Europe can easily become convoluted and result in far too many or too few transports.
@The_Good_Captain has a great video detailing the ideal balance of transports and American ground units for that exact purpose (I added a correct timestamp for ease of use):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjOZblbqy1o&t=430s
If you want a 3-stage shuck*, after some experimenting I came up with what seems to be the best balance between efficiently transporting troops in a timely manner while being able to sustainably build enough units to regularly fill up the transports:
US 3 stage shuck example.tsvg
Note that these exact moves rely on a set of what I think are realistic assumptions:
- America only loads transports if they can fill the complete 2 unit capacity (so no transporting single-infantry units, even when technically possible).
- The US doesn’t need to build anything else, including other naval or ground units. Otherwise the balance is messed up.
- American transports follow these exact moves, with no diversions for attacks elsewhere or strategic movement whatsoever.
- Only American transports will transport American units, so no other Allied transports are moving American units from America.
- No other Allied units are moved with American transports. So no transporting British units. In my experience American transports usually aren’t necessary to move other Allied units, as the British and French have enough transports to bring units from Canada and the British Isles to the European mainland.
- The US doesn’t receive any additional income besides the 20 they get each turn.
And while in my example the units are being moved to Italy, this same process works for moving American forces to Egypt, Belgium, or Picardy.
This looks pretty complicated (it is), so let me break it down (to clarify, every time a transport leaves sea zone 1, it should be fully loaded with units, even if I don’t explicitly say so below):
Turn 1-2: Don’t buy anything, save. By the end of turn 2 you should have 60 IPCs. If the Central Powers are unexpectedly successful at sea, you can quickly pivot to build warships and figure out a different shuck process.
Turn 3: Buy 5 transports, 1 artillery, and 1 fighter. That costs 40 IPCs, and in addition to the 20 you recieve that turn, you should end with 40 IPCs.
Turn 4: Buy 6 infantry and 3 transports. This should cost 36 IPCs and by the end of your turn you should end with 24 IPCs. Move 6 infantry, 3 artillery, and 1 fighter on those 5 transports to the midway point, in this case sea zone 14. Let’s call these 5 transports Force A. Remember to unload them to reduce the damage of your transports being sunk!
Turn 5: Buy 4 infantry and 2 transports. This should cost 24 IPCs and by the end of your turn you should end with 20 IPCs. Move Force A to the destination, in this case sea zone 17, unloading on what’s likely to be the European mainland. Move the 3 transports and 6 infantry you bought on turn 4 to the midway point. Let’s call these 3 transports Force B.
Turn 6: Buy 4 infantry and 1 transport for 18 IPCs. You should end the turn with 22 IPCs. Move Force B to the destination and move the 4 infantry and 2 transports to the midway point. We’ll call those 2 transports Force C. Move Force A to the midway point.
Turn 7: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs. You should end with 21 IPCs. Move 4 transports of Force A back to sea zone 1, move Force B back to the midway point, and Force C to the destination. The 1 transport and 2 infantry bought on turn 6 will move to the midway point. We’ll call this Force D. Move 2 infantry bought on turn 6 to Canada, and move 1 transport from Force A to sea zone 2. We’ll call this Force E.
Turn 8: Buy another 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, and you should end the turn with 20. 3 transports of Force A load 6 infantry and move to the midway point. Force C also moves to the midway point, Force B returns to sea zone 1 (1 transport from Force A joins them in that sea zone, so Force B now contains 4 transports), Force D moves to the destination, and Force E loads the Americans in Canada and moves to the sea zone in between the midway point and destination, in this case sea zone 16. We’ll call this the mid-midway point.
Quick check in. The “Forces” should be composed accordingly:
Force A: 3 transports
Force B: 4 transports
Force C: 2 transports
Force D: 1 transport
Force E: 1 transport
Turn 9: Buy 4 infantry and 1 transport for 18 IPCs, ending with 22 IPCs. Force A moves to the destination, Force B loads 8 infantry and moves to the midway point, Force C moves to sea zone 1, and Force D also moves back to the midway point. Force E moves back to sea zone 2.
Note: To somewhat simplify the following instructions, after turn 9 the US only buys infantry. By this point, the US should have 12 transport in total.
Turn 10: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, you should end with 21 IPCs. Move Force A and Force C (the latter having loaded up 4 infantry) to the midway point, Force B to the destination, and Force D and Force E to sea zone 1.
Turn 11: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 20 IPCs. Move Force C to the destination, Force A to sea zone 1, Force B to the midway point, and Force D, Force E, and that 1 transport bought on turn 9 (we’ll call it Force F) to the midway point, collectively carrying 6 infantry.
Turn 12: Buy 6 infantry for 18 IPCs, end with 22 IPCs. Force C and Force A (the latter with 6 infantry) move to the midway point. Force D, Force E, and Force F move to the destination (we’ll combine these forces into Force D). 3 transports of Force B move to sea zone 1, 2 infantry move from the US to Canada, and 1 transport from Force B moves to sea zone 2 (we’ll call this Force E2).
Quick check in. The “Forces” should be composed accordingly:
Force A: 3 transports
Force B: 3 transports
Force C: 2 transports
Force D: 3 transports
Force E2: 1 transport
Turn 13: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 21 IPCs. Force A moves to the destination, Force B loads 6 infantry and moves to the midway point, Force C moves to sea zone 1, Force D moves to the midway point, and Force E2 loads 2 infantry from Canada and moves to the mid-midway point.
Turn 14: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 20 IPCs. Force A and Force C move to the midway point, Force D moves to sea zone 1, and Force B moves to the destination and unloads. 2 American infantry move to Canada from the US, and Force E2 moves to sea zone 2.
Turn 15: Buy 6 infantry for 18 IPCs, end with 22 IPCs. 2 transports of Force A moves back to sea zone 1, Force C moves to the destination, Force B and Force D move to midway point, and Force E2 loads 2 infantry from Canada and moves to the mid-midway point. The third transport from Force A moves to sea zone 2 (we’ll call it Force F2), and 2 American infantry move to Canada from the US.
Turn 16: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 21 IPCs. Force A and Force C move to the midway point, Force B moves to sea zone 1, Force D moves to the destination, Force E2 moves back to sea zone 2, 2 American infantry move to Canada, and Force F2 loads and unloads at the mid-midway point.
Turn 17: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 20 IPCs. Force B and Force D move to the midway point, Force C moves to sea zone 1, Force A moves to the destination, Force F2 moves back to sea zone 2, and Force E2 loads and unloads at the mid-midway point.
Turn 18: Buy 6 infantry for 18 IPCs, end with 22 IPCs. Force C and Force A move to the midway point, Force D moves to sea zone 1, Force B moves to the destination, Force E2 moves back to sea zone 2, 4 infantry move to Canada, and Force F2 stays in sea zone 2.
Quick check in. The “Forces” should be composed accordingly:
Force A: 2 transports
Force B: 3 transports
Force C: 2 transports
Force D: 3 transports
Force E2: 1 transport
Force F2: 1 transport
Turn 19: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 21 IPCs. Force B and Force D move to the midway point, Force A moves to sea zone 1, Force C moves to the destination, Force E2 and F2 load 4 infantry together and move to the mid-midway point.
Turn 20: Buy 7 infantry for 21 IPCs, end with 20 IPCs. Force A and Force C move to the midway point, Force B moves to sea zone 1, Force D moves to the destination, 2 American infantry move to Canada, Force E2 and F2 move back to sea zone 2 together.
Turn 21: Buy 6 infantry for 18 IPCs, end with 22 IPCs. Force B and Force D move to the midway point, Force C moves to sea zone 1, Force A moves to the destination, 2 American infantry move to Canada, Force E2 moves to the mid-midway point, Force F2 stays in sea zone 2.
After that, it seems like the Canada transports repeat the movements they did from turn 16 to 20/21 over and over again.
I know it looks quite non-intuitive, but after turn 9, you just progress along the 3-way shuck system with a couple of transports moving from Canada and buy as much as infantry as you can.
If you have any questions, please let me know. I understand these instructions seem incredibly complicated (though they’re more intuitive in the game).
*I define a 3-stage shuck as one where the transports have this journey over 6 turns:
- The sea zone off of the east coast of the US (sea zone 1). This is where you load new units created.
- An area halfway between the US and the destination.
- The sea zone off of the destination.
- Move back to the midway point.
- Return to the American coast.
- Repeat.
This is in contrast to what I call the 2-stage shuck, where transports simply move from the American coast the ultimate destination and back.
3-stage shucks in 1914 are usually used to reach France proper with transports, Belgium, or Italy. They should be used if Spain for some reason cannot be used by American forces (such as in The Good Captain’s house rules for this game).