Normandy

It is best to take all of France on G1. Leave nothing.

I am in agreement that Normany must die.

Fighters from London can still make it to nuke the Italians, but the threat of sealion, post taranto, with no fighter in normandy, is brutal.

Worse… If the Germans build 1 acc 2 trn, or even 1 acc 1 sub 1 trn,  there is an IMMEDIATE threat of sealion, because ALL german planes can reach london, as the british cannot take BOTH holland AND normandy.

It’s a MUST territory IMO.

I see no real advantage to capturing all of france other than the 3ipcs for SFrance.  I wait until either I1 or G2 to take it but I don’t like to lose units and so I tend to send overwhelming force at a few targets to minimize losses.

both france, normandy and putting german fighters at taranto?
damn, i’d like to play UK in that game, means most of your atlantic navy lives, if not all…

I normally take out the UK Battleship located by the Naval base and Normandy G1.  There was one game where I got unlucky in Normandy and didn’t take it but it is a normal target for me.

This is easy math. Do you want your plane to kill a 3 IPC unit or a 20 IPC unit ?

It takes atleast 5 planes and  2 subs to kill 1 cruiser and 1 battleship - or the british will scramble.

Yes, the math IS simple.

The subs have better things to do, like sink the cruiser off gibraltar.  so we’re talking about 5 planes that can make $20 elsewhere.

The question is, do you want your 5 planes to kill units in france and elsewhere, over more than one round, and NOT die?  Not to mention, if they kill units in earlier rounds, thats less defensive rolls your opponent gets.

SO.  Lets map this out, for me, those 5 planes are 2 fgt 3 tac.

I like to send 1 fgt 1 tac to normandy  So for each round, that’s 1.15 hits,  battle likely lasts 2 rounds… so 2 hits,  there is a varying degree of equipment there, but lets call it $4 a hit,  so that’s $8.

France usually goes 3 rounds,  I like to send something like 1 fgt 2 tac,  the tacs are supported by tanks so that’s 11 attack value,  basically 2 hits.  So 2 hits, over 3 rounds, = 6 hits.  Mostly infantry so lets call that all $3 hits.

6X3 = $18 + 2X4 = $8

So that’s $26, in killing, PLUS, that gives you 2 subs to use as fodder/attack elsewhere, PLUS you now lose LESS units in both of those attacks, as you are killing more enemy ground units.

Even if you spare yourself 2 infantry, in Normandy or france, that’s another $6 that swings your way.  And because you don’t go thin everywhere else, you shouldn’t have to lose ANY of your planes G1.

Sz110 - 32 IPC’s

Normandy = 26 IPC’s,  1 sub shot at Sz91?(Gibraltar) 50% win rate = 12 IPC’s

38 IPC’s is also greater than 32.

Math Rules all.  I’m not even going to get into the exponents of what surviving units can do the following round, and comparing that to the battleships 2 hit capability.

I have thought about the fact that yes it does take 5 planes to kill the Battleship and Cruiser with the risk of 3 fighters scrambling to defend from UK.  And yes I really want to use those 5 planes in more useful ways.  The problem is that Battleship and Cruiser have a naval base so if you don’t kill them G1 they can run away to safety and hurt you in a multitude of ways.  If they go to Sea Zone 92 UK1 and your sub pot shot on the Cruiser in SZ 91 fails G1 the UK will have 1 Battleship, 2 Cruisers and 1 Destroyer sitting in the Med.  That is to go with the Cruiser, Carrier, Destroyer, Tac Bomber, and Fighters that can then either be combined with that fleet or used to destroy half of the Italian Fleet UK1.  So then when Italy takes its first turn it could have half of it’s Navy dead with 2 British fleets sitting in the Med and 1 French Fleet.  Italy can probably then safely take out the French Cruiser and Destroyer.  Then on G2 the Germans can finish off the Brittish Med fleet that sunk half of the Italian Navy but that still leaves the other Uk fleet that got into the Med after not getting taken out G1 to finish off the other half of the Italian Fleet UK2.  So now the Axis are playing with a very ineffective Italy.

That is why I believe protecting the economy of Italy is even more important than using the 5 German planes G1 to smash all of France G1.  Yes it can save you a lot of German units to smash France up with the Air Force G1 but value of protecting Italy’s economy is priceless.