It’s all good stuff. Many people just don’t realize how easily ANZAC can force Japan to spend more than them in order to maintain the DEI.
With ANZAC, you should try for any island whenever the odds are in your favor or will likley cause mutual annihilation. UK often does not have the transports to keep doing this (when possible, I send a transport plus land units from South Africa). I like keeping US transports up north, but when the opportunity is there, send US fleet to be in range of the DEI and hop on all four and maybe Malaya in one boot. Though you will lose heavily, Japan cannot recover for a while.
It basically becomes ANZAC’s job to keep Japanese troops held up in the DEI. To better you odds of capture, consider buying a strategic bomber that can hit Java, or maybe even cruisers. I know cruiser cost too much for their bang, but for some reason I just like using cruisers for ANZAC to get an extra shot on islands. I must admit, this is not a cost-effective way to wage war.
The ideal is to keep hitting the islands until you win with two units left. Mathematically, Japan simply cannot just use one transport to fight 2 vs 2 so you force them to invest more: a cruiser, carrier, another transport, or strategic bombers in range. Once Japan is forces to use more than a transport to reclaim an island, you pull out your small navy and smash them.
As mentioned earlier by others, subs can be great for forcing Japan to invest more. For this job, I call on the US, but ANZAC can help. The whole theater of war in the South Pacific is as Larry described it: "…can Japan hold them (DEI) long enough…? Every Japanese ship you send down, every infantry on a island, is delaying their advances. The idea is to force Japanese ships to come down to you. Once they are in range, then you strike. Don’t send yourself in first.
Another simple strategy that is worth noting is “master prevention.” This requires US help. Simply stated, grab an island, send every commonwealth ship you have, and call the US to back you up. If you can manage to have such a large navy sitting outside Java that Japan cannot take it out….well Japan cannot take it out. Even if Japanese call in air and sea to force you out, you can still try to keep Java (or any other island) by using overwhelming multinational odds. Try to hold for a round, dump a ton of land units and fly off some fighters, and then leave. Japan cannot take back an island if you have 8 land units and 3 fighters on it because the force necessary will requite them to move a large portion of their fleet. If they dare come out, your combined Allied fleets can hit them while they are out of air cover. It takes considerable effort and requires that some of the Japanese forces do not have fhe DEI in their crosshairs.
Just food for thought. In my opinion, the Allies should not move any major protions of their fleet when taking islands. Just put enough to take the island and/or force Japan to use many ships to take you out.