Thank you!
Germany Opening Move I've Been Trying
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A German opening I’ve been having success with involves taking all the UK DD’s off the board.
Opening buy: Carrier, Sub, DD
Standard attacks on Paris, Southern France and a strafe of Yugoslavia.
What I do on the water:
2 subs to 106; 2 subs to 91; 1 sub, 3 fighters & 3 tac’s to 109; 1 BB, 1 fighter, 1 tac (can land on the carrier) and 2 bombers to 111.
106 and 91 usually end with 3 subs surviving. The other battles are dependent on scrambling obviously, but I like my odds no matter what.
If UK scrambles 4 planes to the 109 battle then they’ve hurt their chance at a successful Taranto (especially if the battle in SZ91 goes as planned) and left themselves wide open to Sea Lion. Even though Germany would lose a few planes I’d gladly welcome a scramble in this situation.
I’ve done this a couple of times in face to face games and ran it about ten times using Triple A; the result is usually 3-4 German subs left on the board (not counting the one that was purchased) with nary a DD in the Atlantic to do anything about it.
Just to see how it would go I tried it a few times with the UK scrambling its 4 planes (well, one belongs to France but who cares about them) and the results aren’t any better: UK loses the RAF while taking out (usually) two fighters and a tac. With the RAF out of commission the Germans can buy as few as 5 transports and still take London turn 3, not to mention Italy gets to keep more of its ships than usual.
Thoughts? Questions? Holes in my plan?
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A German opening I’ve been having success with involves taking all the UK DD’s off the board.
Opening buy: Carrier, Sub, DD
Standard attacks on Paris, Southern France and a strafe of Yugoslavia.
What I do on the water:
2 subs to 106; 2 subs to 91; 1 sub, 3 fighters & 3 tac’s to 109; 1 BB, 1 fighter, 1 tac (can land on the carrier) and 2 bombers to 111.
106 and 91 usually end with 3 subs surviving. The other battles are dependent on scrambling obviously, but I like my odds no matter what.
If UK scrambles 4 planes to the 109 battle then they’ve hurt their chance at a successful Taranto (especially if the battle in SZ91 goes as planned) and left themselves wide open to Sea Lion. Even though Germany would lose a few planes I’d gladly welcome a scramble in this situation.
I’ve done this a couple of times in face to face games and ran it about ten times using Triple A; the result is usually 3-4 German subs left on the board (not counting the one that was purchased) with nary a DD in the Atlantic to do anything about it.
Just to see how it would go I tried it a few times with the UK scrambling its 4 planes (well, one belongs to France but who cares about them) and the results aren’t any better: UK loses the RAF while taking out (usually) two fighters and a tac. With the RAF out of commission the Germans can buy as few as 5 transports and still take London turn 3, not to mention Italy gets to keep more of its ships than usual.
Thoughts? Questions? Holes in my plan?
I have done this move the past couple times I’ve played. However, I have found that a strong USSR player can ruin Germany because all german resources are going towards Britain… I’m not exactly sure how to prevent this, so this is my only issue with this plan.
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Good point.
I should follow up by saying I don’t like to Sea Lion but if it’s a walk in, well, ya know…
Turn two I usually have 68 to spend and go heavy on Tanks and Mechs.
More than anything it’s about killing those DD’s as a way of preserving the subs.
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Potential counterplay is for UK to not scramble anything, then hit 112 with all they’ve got:
3fig, 1bomb, 1cr, 1bb
vs
1ac, 1cru, 1dd, 1ss, 1tac, 2fig (max possible if 6 air to 109)
I get 51% for attacker and 6% mutual annihilation. Risky, and no Taranto to worry about, but still food for thought. If you lose one plane in 111, your 112 survival drops to around 16%.
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Another good thought.
I usually land one of the fighters from the 109 battle on the carrier and land the fighters from Norway (111 battle) and SH in W Germany. That gives Germany a loaded carrier, a sub, DD, C, two fighters to scramble. Still a target of course, but I’m of the mindset that the UK losing the RAF to wipe out German ships (and in all fairness some planes) is a win for G.
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I didn’t think you could scramble more than 3 planes?
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I didn’t think you could scramble more than 3 planes?
To sea zone 109 you can scramble 4 planes, 1 from scotland and 3 from united kingdom, but you are right, max 3 planes from 1 air base
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With that in mind sz109 might be the best staging point for Royal Navy if the RAF is strong, they can scramble up to 6 fighters there. Never considered that before.
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