Neutral Activation

Yeah, the issue is that I would like Ethopia in USSR hands, it is one that is avoidable, like I said, I have seen a USSR marker on it but I wasn’t playing this game so I didn’t see how it came. However, I usually have no problem getting to Somalia, and the northern African territories can be confusing because in my case, UK had Italy on a stalemate front line not pressing so Italy had no reason to assume what I was doing until of course he saw me bring my mech. into Africa.

Going through the med is just impossible in pretty much any game. Either Italy or Germany is going to sink that transport with planes.

So with that reasoning, you must hope for a J1 declaration of war on the US, and then you could do this:

US 1: Buy 5 fighters. Sail your single atlantic transport 1/4th toward Saudi (SZ 87)
US 2: Buy 5-6 bombers. Sail transport 2/4ths to Saudi (SZ 82 or 69). US 1 fighters to French West Africa.
US 3: Transport now 3/4ths to saudi (SZ 71). US 1 fighters to Egypt. US 2 bombers to French Equatorial Africa.
US 4: Go time.

Hit Saudi with your transport. Send in 5 fighters and 5-6 bombers from Africa, taking bomber losses.

US 5: Build factory (and an air base couldn’t hurt), land your planes on it or near it. If Iraq/Persia are still available, take those if possible.
US 6: First turn you can purchase units in Saudi Arabia. Buy factories in other middle east countries, if available.

This is about the time Moscow has gone to hell or the Germans are coming into the middle east. Not enough time to really get any ground units over there. But you could build fighters on US 3 and 4 that would arrive US 5 and 6 for a respectable plane stack. With a bit of UK help, probably enough to shut down any hope of Moscow or the middle east being seriously threatened. A huge problem with this is that you’d have +8 Germans or Italians coming from Turkey.

This is a 100% Atlantic buy for the first 2 turns turns and a significant drain for US 3, 4, and 5 as well. Very dangerous. Japan is going to go nuts because, remember, they J1’d you.

Seems like a crazy damn idea–one that is too crazy to work well, probably. Not only that, but it’s completely obvious what you’re up to. However, I think it’d be pretty easy to have UK prevent Japan from killing/blocking your transport J3. And if Japan invested too much in the Indian ocean to stop you for sure, then they’re ruining some of their J1 momentum, so maybe that’s not entirely awful.

edit-
I guess you could also send your pacific transports through the panama canal, building a naval base there. This would give you four more units in the middle east shortly after your first transport arrived.

Better alternative, with nearly the same effect:
Don’t do Saudi, just have UK save you Persia/Iraq. This saves you from having to violate neutrality, and both are reachable on the same turn as Saudi. If you do hit Saudi, do it the next turn, saving the neutrality violation for one round later.

Here is another way of implementing auto Shipyards that just occurred to me.

At the beginning of each round* roll 1d6. The hit will determine whether the Shipyards technology is activated for all players.

round 1: hits at 1 to activate Shipyards for all nations
round 2: hits at 2
round 3: hits at 3
round 4: hits at 4
round 5: hits at 5
round 6: auto tech Shipyards for all nations

This means that from the first round, and for each round which the game progresses, the odds of Shipyards will increase. Until the 6th round, at which point the Tech is activated automatically for everyone.

Germany starts the game round sequence so they can roll it. Or, depending on how many players you have, you can alternate the roll each round so that someone else gets a chance to try for the hit.

The logic here is that the Naval Race escalates as the war itself escalates, until it crescendos, and everyone gains access to the cheaper naval unit cost structure at the same time.

Axis have the strong early incentive to go naval if shipyards is activated in the first or second round. Every round after the 3rd the cost structure starts to favor Allied builds. Though even then, Axis can exploit late game naval action.

Naval Race rules: an independent and escalating tech roll, which grants Shipyards for All! :-D

In TripleA this is how you use the roll…

At the start of each round:
“Game” tab > “Roll Dice” > roll 1 six sided die (free roll)

If it hits according to rules above, then
“Game tab” > “Enable Edit Mode” > Add Tech Shipyards for All

*note: you could also choose to make this roll at the end of the game round rather than the beginning. This means the roll would usher in the 2nd round, rolling each round thereafter until Shipyards is activated, or until auto-tech Shipyards in the 7th round. It works either way, though I think it would be more fun to roll Shipyards at the beginning of the round rather than the end of the round and this keeps the value of the roll corresponding exactly with the game round G1 at 1, G2 at 2, G3 hits at 3, and so forth. Its a fairly simple way to get cheaper ships into the game for everyone.

For people who play using the Optional Global tech rules, the Shipyards technology is now removed from Breakthrough chart two. If you roll on 3 on the second breakthrough chart, re-roll the die until you hit one of the other technologies.

@Krieghund:

@Shaniana:

Is the basic rule that every British unit counts as “Europe” as soon as it is on the European board and treated accordingly (may not enter Russia), whereas every UK Unit in Asia is treated as Pacific and may enter Russia, regardless of where it started or was built or anything?

UK units are just UK units, no matter where they are or where they came from.   The distinction here is which map the Soviet territories are on, not the source of the units moving into them.

@Shaniana:

What if my Russian airplane lands on a carrier off the Indian cost, and that carrier then tries to move to Africa?

The carrier may not leave the Pacific map until either the Soviet fighter leaves it or the USSR is at war in Europe.

@Shaniana:

And what about an ANZAC fighter entering the European board? Is it allowed to fly to Russia’s European side?

No.

Thanks alot!

what about from an allied POV though?

Allied POV might work if Germany is on the defencive (not very common), but Japan has outgrown US economy but not taken India. (happends alot, especialy with kgf or balance)

Allies need to keep Germany from activating Sweden (might be the easiest to isolate), Spain (easiest to attack) and Turkey (big UK army from 2IC in Egypt and Persia?). Goes without saying that allies attack land in africa and south america to boost their economy.

Im not saying its usualy a good idea, but it might be a plausible strategy to get that little extra IPC that stops Japan from winning pacific side. (Japan gains nothing if allied DOW neutrals, unless they pick up Afgahnistan.)

Now Cow sure is comming to trollpost me, no dubt :P
Trow in your best comment.

K, thanks for your answer!

@TheDefinitiveS:

Now with the Alpha +2 rules i think it is theatre specific but im not sure hopefully someone can confirm/deny this.

Nope.  Not as of Alpha +.2

It’s something many people are petitioning for, but I doubt it will be made official.  There’s a lot of ways to do it, but not many are truly balanced.