Pearl Harbor?

[warwinner]

I've played several games of Global now (all as the axis) As Japan my strategy has always been wipe out as much Chinese as possible and push for Calcutta, but has anyone tried for pushing towards the US? Not necessarily and invasion, but maybe crippling them by attacking their navy and island territories. Is there any benefit to attacking America early in a Pearl Harbor fashion? FYI, when I say Peal Harbor, I don't necessarily mean attacking Hawaii, I'm merely referencing a full scale sneak attack.

[Geist]

   You can't really do a sneak attack when the enemy see's it coming. If you mass up in force the US will likely move to the west coast. I think any real Pearl Harbor will have to come from a sloppy US move, rather than any real strategy. Otherwise the problem of a big push against the US is that there is very little terriotry to gain and you're facing a more powerful economy. So he just builds and manuevers, until the odds are to his liking.

[Sire Fred]

It looks like most of the time the only turn in the game to perform a Pearl Harbor attack is the first one. The US Navy (and the Royal Navy BB too) cannot run. You sink expensive hardware for relatively low losses on your side. After that, USA must be bullied every turn to prevent it from gaining must of their NOs and to get yours.

[munchie19]

I think idea of Pearl Harbor can be applied to any Allied country in the Pacific. I found that grouping my fleet in the Caroline Islands really makes my enemy nervous because of the islands and territories reachable from the Caroline Islands.

[Geist]

   The problem with startbursting out from the Carolines is that the Allies can block too much of your movement. It would be nice if to represent surprise Japan could move past enemy ships on the turn they declare against the UK/US. Obviously you'd have to do combat with them in any sea zones you stop your movement in.

[GoSanchez6]

The way this game works kind of kills the whole Pearl Harbor invasion. Even if you attack on the 1rst round you are really not wiping them out. They still have a carrier and battleship. The biggest thing you hit is the cruiser. Not really coming close to what happened. Larry should have positioned more Japanese navy in the Carolines right from the start and put a carrier or battleship at Pearl.

[Geist]

   I dunno, it seems like there is no good way to allow Japan to attack on a variable number of rounds and to expect the US to leave their fleet vulnerable. You have to compromise between allowing both Japan and the US freedom to move.

[Pelanderfunk]

I've had good success as the Axis pushing for Hawaii J3. I generally don't get too aggressive in China, spending my first two turns buying transports and aligning my forces. With large fleets at both Japan and the Carolines, the allies don't have enough forces to properly defend all of my potential targets.

If you can get Hawaii on J3, not only do you get the NO for Japan, but you also hold the easiest entry for the US into the Pacific. It's a little harder to defend with the new scramble rules, but I've found that the US has a tough time with the Pacific war if they've committed even a small fleet to Europe and Japan holds Hawaii.