@Speusippus:
In a game I’m playing right now, G has a fighter and bomber on Norway, a sub in sea zone 2, two subs in sea zone 7, and a Bomber in Germany.
(Also two fighters in Western Europe, so SZ8 is covered as well.)
That’s in round just after Germany’s move.
Is there something I can put in SZ2 that can’t get killed by all that? It’s 17 attack points, 6 pips.
If I’m doing the math right the best I can do is a carrier (land the two fighters on it*) and two destroyers. But that’s not enough–not even close.
To be clear: as is usual, UK has no navy whatsoever at this point other than a transport off the Canadian coast.
*Is this legal? I haven’t been sure. Gametableonline’s A&A 1942 allows it, but I know they had to play a little lose with fighter landing rules because of some earlier bugs. I THINK it’s legal because the rule is I have to be able to show how my fighters could land before the end of my turn. If I put my two fighters in SZ2, I can show it’s possible for them to land before the end of my turn by pointing to my bought carrier and saying “I can put that under them during my new unit placement phase.” If it’s not legal, then things are even worse for UK!
First off, this is not necessarily ordinary. Usually Germany loses the sub in SZ2. Also, you ought to have the Russian sub in SZ2 as well unless you got unlucky.
But in the scenario you describe above, it would be kinda risky to put fleet in the water. Not necessarily a bad move, since Germany would have to divert bombers to attack it and it would be a risky play. But consider–those German subs don’t have much better to do than attack your fleet. So if you drop an AC 2 dd in 2, you have fair odds of defending, but Germany might try the attack just to see if it got lucky. If it gets unlucky, it just loses a few subs.
I’d say wait until UK2 then drop your fleet then. Buy fighters or bombers as needed UK1 (you may need a bomber if you haven’t killed the med fleet yet).
But if the sub in sz2 is dead, then it’s usually safe to drop 2 dd 1 ac (plus the Russian sub for defense) in SZ2 (or better yet in SZ8 depending on how many fighters are in Western).