So the game is getting close and this week I will be able to test out the Bright Skies strategy!
The Bright Skies: The United States of America.
In short this strategy is the Allied version of the Dark Skies, with the USA going full strategic bombers. This post focuses on the perspective from the USA.
Ofcourse the bombers will be coupled with additional units such as submarines etc. However the main thing that the USA will not do, is to build invasion fleets that focus on either Germany or Japan. Therefore the mission of the USA is not too kill a certain enemy first, so no KJF, KGF or KIF, but too stop a certain first. What do I mean with stopping instead of killing? By weakening a certain Axis nation to such extent, that the combined efforts of the mainland Allies will be able to defeat and kill it.
The reasoning behind this strategy is that logistics are the main problem of the USA, to get their economic superiority to a place where it can attack the Axis. Western Europe is very easy to defend for the Germans, so is Scandinavia as long as the Baltic Fleet lives. Yes it can be overpowered by the USA, but it takes the USA a lot of IPC to build a strong enough invasion force, time that is used by Axis to advance and win the game. The moment Scandinavia permanently falls to the Allies, might also be the moment the Germans take Moscow. Also by focusing on 1 Axis, it loses threat to the other Axis, that can go rampage. So how to solve these two fundamental problems of the USA: logistics and threat?
The answer is simple I think: Strategic Bombers. From airbases they can move 7 zones, which is simply amazing, They have the strongest attack value in the game and are relative cheap. Even better, they can bomb industrial complexes therefore hurting the Axis economies, which is crucial for them to maintain momentum. There is one particular target the Strategic Bombers excel against: fleet. While Japan has such a big fleet, it will still take many turns to build enough Bombers to take out its fleet, both Germany and Italy are no great sea-faring nations with only small effective fleets. Germany prefers to build up its luftwaffe instead of its fleet, as its fleet is useless against Russia. Therefore the logical focus of the USA should be to take out Germany’s fleet as soon as possible resulting in SGF (Stop Germany First).
Even before stopping Germany, the Axis have a much weaker partner, Italy. UK alone is already able to take out this medium Axis player when played aggressive, but the USA can finish them off without any investment. The USA have 3 initial transports and a relative strong fleet based for the Atlantic side. One transport will remain in the Pacific with several blockers to slow down Japan if they decide to attack the USA, but the rest will move to the Atlantic. In the Atlantic they get into the Med, kill any Italians left and then convoy it to death. So actually without any investment, the USA will use its initial forces to SIF (Stop Italy First). This should not be any problem or need much consideration.
The mission of this strategy is to kill the German Baltic Fleet as soon as possible, and to do this with Strategic Bombers. It can build 4 bombers every turn, more when in war. In USA4 it can attack the Baltic States with 8 bombers, 9 if the USA is at war in his second turn (and the minor complex becomes a major complex). Normally 8 Bombers should be enough to finish the small Baltic Fleet if the Germans have focused on Russia. As soon the Baltic Fleet is destroyed, the Allied have a big strategic advantage where both the UK and Russia will take advantage off. A bit more about the destruction of the Baltic Fleet. The Baltic Fleet is crucial for the Germans to keep its Reich intact, but it is also very easy to defend, that is why the UK is normally not in the position to achieve that with traditional aircraft. Germany is also likely to want to keep its Baltic Fleet alive at all costs, and have two tools to achieve that. 1. investing in airbase in Germany, this is the best thing Germany can do and very cost effective taking in account it is likely to have enough fighters to scramble 6 of them in this case. There is nothing the USA can do except for building up its Bombers until it is strong enough. If Germany wants to rescue its Baltic Fleet the only thing it can do is 2. build up its fleet for more hits. This is great as all those ships are IPC that is not invested in artillery and tanks against Russia.
So in any case you win, as you give Germany the choice between two bad options: 1. lose the Baltic Fleet or 2. build useless fleet.
But it does not stop with destroying the Baltic Fleet. The mission of the USA bomber fleet is threefold.
1. Deny German Logistics (fleet)
2. Destroy German Military Strength (airforce)
3. Lower German Production (infustrial complexes)
It is also ranked on importance, as the first target should be German fleet, second German airforce and third German industrial complexes. By destroying the German fleet you deny his excellent logistics to Scandinavia. By destroying unprotected airforce you greatly reduce its military strength against Russia. By strategic bombing crucial German industrial complexes (those at the Russian front) you lower his income or even cripple his ability to reinforce the Eastern front. Therefore the bomber fleet should always be able to do something useful for the Allied war effort.
The goal is to send 25 USA bombers to SGF (Stop Germany First), something that only needs 5 turns in the case Japan declares war in its third/fourth turn. These 25 Bombers can threaten a lot of positions of the Germans from London, forcing them to defend their airforce much more careful while giving much more other head aches.
After the 25 USA bomber fleet has been sent to the Atlantic side, the mission of the USA is to stop Japan. Again not by taking over Japan itself, as this is something very difficult to achieve against a good Japanese player, but stopping them. Ideally the game should end by the surrender of the Axis because they have lost momentum, fast shrinking economies and will definately lose the game.
Also against Japan the USA will focus on Bombers, however in this case it did not have initial fleet to convoy like it had against Italy. Therefore it becomes a mix of Submarines and Bombers. Ideally in USA6 you buy 6 submarines, and then 2 every turn after, while the rest is invested in Bombers, normally 5 per turn. The combination of massive bombers and submarines should be able to take out lone Japanese fleets, force the main fleet to remain united and therefore slow to react while you flood the Pacific with submarines to convoy the Japanese economy.
So here you have it, the USA Bright Sky strategy.
Ofcourse to make this strategy work there are certain things the other Allies should do.
1. Focus heavily on Yunnan to slow down Japan, do anything in your Allied power to make Japanese life hell in China and try to get China in the ‘out of control’ stage.
2. UK should be the one doing the small amphibious landings in Westen Europe
3. Russia mobilize to the north to capitalize on a destroyed baltic fleet taking over Scandinavia.
I play the USA, Russia and China. This was the first perspective of the Bright Skies strategy, the Russian and Chinese perspective will follow later.
EDIT: While it might seem to be un-historical to go full Bombers with the USA, remembers that you do follow the historical order of the USA: Italy, Germany, Japan. More than any nation (especially Germany!) it should be the USA that swarms the world with its flying fortresses!
