Two Ideas for the Allies. What do you think?

So far, it’s a Japan victory every time, with J1 attack or not. The cause is because the US cannot break the SZ6 fleet, so I’ve come up with some ideas to help the Allies, primarily involving bypassing a Japanese invasion.

1/ Japan is almost certainly going to build a MIC in Kwangtung or Kiangsu. The US could build a growing fleet that parks itself in Hawaii, a fleet that includes 6 or 7 transports with 1 tank and infantry each & 4 bombard capable craft. The japs will think that force is meant for Japan. But it’s actually meant for an Asian invasion, with eyes on the MIC.

After the fleet is sizable enough, the US examines the Asian landscape to verify it’s pretty well thinned and appropriate for an invasion. At that point, the fleet moves to Marianas. If it waited until Britain fell, It could take over the MIC in Kwangtung, only giving it back to the brits after the US is secure in Korea with another MIC. If the MIC was in Kiangsu, that wont help the Allies, but Japan would think that Kiangsu is the intended target (and divert forces or IPC’s accordingly). In reality, the US could do many things with this fleet, even though it takes two turns from Hawaii to make it happen. It could still attack Japan while the transports invade a less important Asian province, or the transports could turn back entirely if it doesnt look right, or so could the whole fleet. Or the phillipines could be easily retaken.

The point is, with 9 provinces in range of the Marianas fleet, the japs wont know what the US is planning, creating confusion. The best parts about this plan is that it doesnt have to be executed quickly, and even with no Fog of War, the japs cant tell what the US is doing.

This fleet would have to be fairly large to avoid the possibility of Japan attacking it at Marianas. Japan is less likely to want to attack because the fighters and tacky’s stationed on Japan cannot help, and neither can the AC’s attack. If they did attack, the advantage would be to the US, although losing all the transports would blow. Without the US midway bombers assisting (because the US is not on the offensive this time), Japan would win, but it would be very costly to the japs, more so than if the US just attacked them from Hawaii, at least in my experience.

2/ I’ve been toying with the idea of sending the 4 ANZAC planes to support the British. The japs are unlikely to go after Australia before Britain.

I must be doing Anzac wrong then because the best I can ever produce with them is 15 with the Island bonus. They’re never really in a position to be going on an offensive. Far as I can tell, they’re just shoring up to slow Japan down, buying time for the US. Britain’s not much better off either. They’re in a position to retake the southern provinces, but not advance northward.

As japan, I never let Britain have the East Indies. They’re worth 20 to both Japan and Britain. That’s a 40 IPC difference that cannot be ignored by the japanese. It takes Britain two turns to make it happen. And by then, it’s too late.

@Uncle_Joe:

ANZAC is there to pee in Japan’s pool IMO. They can build TRs and a few troops and launch raids on the DEI. If Japan leaves naval forces in the area, buy a sub or so and coordinate with your airpower to wear down those blockers. The TR(s) will not survive, but who cares? You are diverting Japanese TRs, escorts, and more importantly ground troops back to the islands. If Japan ignores them, that is substantial income hit every turn.

ANZAC is not as helpless as they first appear. You just have to ignore the temptation to try and build a navy to contend with Japan and concentrate on raiding forces and local power projection (subs and aircraft).

What I have been doing with ANZAC is building tanks an infantry. 1 Tank and Infantry for each of the islands, and the rest for maintaining control of Australia for at least two waves of japanese amphibious assaults. It occured to me that I wasnt using their planes for anything, and they cannot be used for scrambling, so I was thinking about sending them to support India. I never build any ships for ANZAC. Attempting to ferry troops to DEI seems pointless because the transport will get popped on the first offload, and then I wont be able to afford another.

Basically, I’d been making lots of ferry trips with it to get the 5 IPC bonus of the northern islands. Perhaps that’s an error, but their production is so small, I dont see how it could be.

But if I sent my planes that I’m not using to support India, that seems like a good idea.

@MaherC:

I’d really like to see how any of it matters.  I’ve never seen an allied victory, and once india falls, the japs can MATCH any buy the allies make.  on a long enough timeline, the japs win.  On a J1 attack, the US has one LC on the board that can make it to SZ6 on turn 3.  add turns for subsequent LCs.  the “starve the japs out” plan with subs works if the Japanese player doesn’t just buy destroyers and scramble fighters off japan.  you can’t nickle and dime them off the DEIs if he knows where to put his fleet.

you guys get all hung up on the carolines, I’ve never seen a Jap player KEEP them.   Airbase/navy in the Phils, Naval yard in Malaya.  All you need.

You must play exactly like I do Maher. I have made all the same observations. As Japan, I dont even attempt to keep the Carolines. I just grab the valuable infantry off it for my DEI assault. I also bring down more infantry from Japan for my phillipines assault, along with all my bombarding ships, which are all best served down south. There’s no point in leaving any transports in SZ6 because I never use them and the cant be used as fodder for an attack on SZ6, but they’re real valuable in the south seas, and for the eventual assault on Australia.

Even after pulling all those ships from Japan, including the ships in SZ19 and SZ33, and diverting 65% of my income to asian ground troops (only 35% for re-thickening the SZ6 fleet), I can still reliably repel a USA attack on the homeland via scrambling.

This is why I’m trying to come up with ideas for the allies. I noticed that stationing 10 bombers on Midway to assist a SZ6 assault helps a lot, but it still doesn’t win the day. An IMO, you get one shot if you taking that strategy. If you fail (and I always have), it’s over. So, it’s gonna have to be a USA invasion of Asia. And you have to assume that Brits wont have the DEI.

@Vareel:

If Japan abandons Caroline, the US should move in and take it on US2, followed up with ANZAC landing her planes there.  Carolines is a great base to launch an assault into either of the US’s NOs, threatens 2 DEI’s, and a good amount of Asia.

An assault from ANZAC? Doesnt seem to me like they’re ever in a position to assault anything with a mere 15 IPC of production (gained at the end of round 2).

@Hobbes:

I’ve only played 4 games yet, and J only won in 1 of those. Never seen a J1 attack but from the discussions on the forums and my own calculations it is risky but offers J the best chance to reach economic parity with the allies. Unless J has the 3 aircraft carriers in range of Hawaii it is impossible to destroy the initial US fleet and airforce if it moves there. Plus UK and ANZAC can land their fighters on Borneo (or any other of the DEI, if they conquer it) which will force it to position assets to take the islands.

There is no need for Japan to attack Hawaii or the WUS. I might consider Midway to avert the bomber threat, but Japan is best served allowing the US to attack them. In fact, neither Honolulu nor WUS are needed for a Japanese victory. The JIN should remain in SZ6 as much as possible to retain the scramble benefit.

@Hobbes:

J doesn’t have to actually attack Hawaii, merely deadzone its sea zone to stall the advance of the US fleet. With the US I’d rather to focus on moving the US fleet to NSW since it places it on reach of Java and Celebes. If the US takes Java away from J and then ANZAC UK lands planes there it can be a major pain for Japan to retake since only bombers in Phillipines or carrier planes can reach it.

Now that, my friend, works! In fact, I’ll just go straight from Hawaii to the previously unimportant Carolines, which puts me in strike range of all my previous targets and the DEI. True, the US wont have an any production capability overseas, but the southern JIN will be no match for US Navy. US Navy losses will probably be minor, as there are several ports at which to repair ablative hits. This inherently means the US fleet will be mostly intact for a return to Hawaii, picking up the Phillipines along the way. If the UK survived, and it should have, that will turn the tide of the Asian theatre against the japs.

@xzorn:

You mentioned something about 7 US transports? I use 3. All of the money needs to go into naval power to take out the Japanese naval power. The ground troops don’t need to be that numerous, since they’ll have so much naval support and will likely only be taking coastal territories.

It occured to me that I only needed 4 since this isnt an asian invasion, with the idea being to drop an infantry and artillery in each of the DEI, but I wanted two more transports anyway to reconquer the Phillipines and have a little bit of slack if I lose a few.