If you can add several bid units to same area, then yes - 2inf 1arty in Ukraine are way better than 1 fighter there.
And even if not, 2inf 1arty can help several theaters - like arty Libya, inf Ukraine, inf Belorus (or EEu).
German buys turn one
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Without a carrier, I’d say 10 Infantry, 1 Fighter.
Armor has a tendancy to get left behind the front for the safety of the armor in most games.
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Anyone every try 8 tanks or 4 fighters. l ike the battle ship option or 2 trans if you are going to build navy.
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I prefer option three if forced to choose.
I generally believe that German Navy is a waste of IPCs. But some Baltic buy seems needed to keep the Allies honest. UK has to buy ships and US has to reinforce UK.
While your FTRs are better off somewhere else the BB is just too pricey for 1 unit. While it will keep the UK BOM and FTRs from coming after the TRN, DD and subs it is still just one unit. It is still a long shot against a UK attack of 2 FTR, 1 BOM, 1 TRN, 1 DES, 1 AC. FTRs in the SZ will still be able to be kept for last as they will have a landing spot in Germany.
Destroyers are two units but no other benefits like the shore bombard threat or taking two hits meaning that you have to be attacked with something substantial to sink anything.
Channel dash is hoping for the best. Also could put you in range of a turn 1 US AC in SZ10.
What about AC, FTR? Taking only 1 FTR from the land. 2 more than the BB I know but it still gives you two fours and a three defending. The FTRs will still be able to land on Germany if you lose the AC. 1 AC, 1 FTR, 4 INF save 2 or 2 INF, 2 RTL, assuming no cash from a bid.
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I switch it up, sometimes I go with the carrier to protect the baltic (and from landing my fighters in weu ive had some nice opportunities to steal the UK from right under their noses) with 4 INF 3 RTL, then sometimes I go 5 INF 5 RTL 1 ARM and try the channel dash, which rarely works since the american player can be an a****** and send a transport to algeria to block the unification. Like frimmel said, its hoping for the best.
I once bought 1 DES 1 TRN 5 INF 1 ARM and went heavy into africa. it was a wierd game, Germany went heavy africa and moved into india and Russia had trouble breaking germanys massive walls of infantry moving east. Eventually the allies reinforced russia and beat germany back though.
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First off we are assuming a bid of no more than 6 IPC. I dont think anybody can get 8 IPC anymore.
The problem with many of these is this:
- if you try the channel dash you basically hasten the total defeat of your baltic fleet. The british player (with the american player latter) will clean up that fleet.
the loss of this fleet mean that the allies have yet another place to land against germany and or railroad stuff to the Soviets and create pressure against all adjacent territories from the baltic which they need to be elsewhere.
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If you buy nothing at all i suspect those 3 UK planes will kill you on UK1, or wait one turn and combine the navy for an attack against it on UK2.
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If you buy a battleship it will cost perhaps too much but as mentioned before it can pay for itself by providing that shore bombardment roll.
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i dont think 2 destroyers is a good idea because a) no SB, and b) if you take a hit you lost 12 IPC
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So it boils down to a carrier option, battleship option or ignore the baltic fleet and let it take its chances.
I do not favor this last option because you stand to lose more than you gain. Uk brings up fodder and uses its planes to take you out and at best you take out 1-2 fodder ships and her RAF remains for other duty.
Secondly you abandon the safety net that the baltic fleet protects germany and also forces the uk player to build an honest fleet. This is a diversion of sorts to detract from Uk from making and landing land forces in africa and europe. This has a strategic value that cannot be ignored because it forces UK to spend tempo to build warships to protect her transports.
If the baltic fleet was gone the uk fleet would also be much smaller and consist of more transports and less warships…which works against germany.
so i ask you are you really sure you want to not build anything for the baltic navy?
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Actually, dear, I was assuming a bid of 0.
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lets also assume no NA’s are used. does that change the 3 subs, one carrier purchase?
And if it does not what are you doing with that fleet? does it buy something else from the lost tempo from land units not being built in a critical period of the game?
Are you chasing the British fleet?
How much time does it buy you from Uk not building a fleet?
Is this what you do everytime?
really need what you do as the safest plan for germany rather than what is a good gambit
What is the best thing to do to avoid any loses and get the best jump on the allies in a safe way?
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Oh most assuredly. Why spend 40 IPC on navy if you get no return?
I’d go, with bid 0, no NA, no tech, 40 IPC:
6 Infantry (18)
3 Artillery (12)
1 Fighter (10) -
try the channel dash, which rarely works since the american player can be an a****** and send a transport to algeria to block the unification. Like frimmel said, its hoping for the best.
If US uses a transport blocker to algeria, can’t Germany just take it out in combat with your fighters and still get your med fleet to SZ7 in non-combat?
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try the channel dash, which rarely works since the american player can be an a****** and send a transport to algeria to block the unification. Like frimmel said, its hoping for the best.
If US uses a transport blocker to algeria, can’t Germany just take it out in combat with your fighters and still get your med fleet to SZ7 in non-combat?
You cannot realistically block the Germans from joining in sea zone 7. We had this argument a few months ago.
As for IL, I dont think you should try this “paper”.
Dont fall into this trap of one “optimal” strategy. There isn’t one.
There are several that will work depending upon your strengths and weaknesses, your opponents, your strategy, your risk nature, the type of game, the amount of the bid, and the opponents first turn moves.
For example, a partial list:
There are so many potential openings…
1. 13 Inf (39)
2. 12 Inf + art (40)
3. 10 Inf 2 Tanks (40)
4. 5 Inf 5 tanks (40)
5. AC + 8 Inf or- trans or
- subs or
- BB (not a fan of this one)
6. “C-sub” 2 or 3 trans buy
7. Med AC
8. Med transports
9. 10 Inf + fighter
10. 8 Tanks (dont like this one personally)
Frankly, I could make most of these work. So could other people. And that’s not even a full list.
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I’m not a big fan of the German Navy buys but they can work.
I think if you go Baltic Navy with the intent on going after UK or unifying the Fleet then okay, but I think it is a bad idea to buy ships simply as a delaying tactic and having them sit there.
For land buys, I’ve been very successful with both the 10 inf, 2 arm and 10 inf, 1 ftr (also buy ftr in rd 2).
With the Wrus, Belo opening, I think I like the 10 inf, 1 ftr path b/c you quickly have 8 planes, then 9 after rd 2 and 10 if you continue in rd 3. This can protect a vast area and forces the Allies to be very careful with their ships.
If I went navy for whatever reason, I’d probably lean towards adding to the Med fleet instead of the Baltic. I think the potential is there to get much more out of it and even unifying with part of Japan’s fleet.
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As for IL, I dont think you should try this “paper”.
Dont fall into this trap of one “optimal” strategy. There isn’t one.
The paper is not about one strategy but while people argue about how and why i can gauge other ideas formulating safe, not so safe, and ruthless aggressive ideas into different catagories. I have my own strategy in this as usual.
If many prefer to avoid the idea of a fleet and allow the uk player to destroy that fleet (if your following the advise of capsian policy papers)
then how does the german player counter the hole in the baltic?
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@Imperious:
then how does the german player counter the hole in the baltic?
Land troops > Navy
Capitals can’t be taken with ships. :-)Most likely UK (with a UK 1 attack) lost 2 ftrs. I’ll trade my Baltic fleet for that, and if I pick off their bomber as well, woo hoo!
German Air power can still keep the Brits out of the Baltic for several turns, plus they still have to go to Afr.
With no naval purchases for Germany, UK still can’t crack WE, GER, EE until rd 5 or so, buy that time you’ve had 5 rds of land buys and can deadzone WE (and EE if need be) as you move to Ukr, then Cauc or Wrus. In the meantime rd 5-6 should be just about the time Japan is fully rolling and preparing to seriously assualt Moscow. It is all about timing.
Called the “lurch” in Classic, it still works in Revised. Leverage your rd 1-4 gains in Afr for a rd 5-8 assualt on the Russian East and Wester boarders.Control the center of the board, once you do that, then go back and deal with loose ends, if you don’t quite have enough to end the game.
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I’m getting attracted to the idea of building an AC on G1 (and landing AF in WE) in order to support fleet unification in G2. Then you can choose to go into the Med or the Baltic with a decent sized fleet that’s capable of more than being a speedbump.
I like being in the Med because having TRNs there a) gives you rapid movement of Inf to Caucasus / Africa b) enables you to control the Suez for Japanese naval reinforcements and c) keeps the allies away from Algeria / Spain seazone.
I don’t mind leaving the Baltic open because if the Allies move in there, they can’t land in Archangel which is the fastest way to reinforce Russia. With the Med fleet securing some decent African Income, Germany can keep the Allies at bay until they give up facing a stack of 52 Inf (what happened in my Tournament game) at which point Germany can get to Russia before too many Allied units do. So personally I love it when UK spends 2 Ftrs just to lead their fleet into the baltic hole.
Also with a huge force in Germany (and maybe EE) EE/Karelia become nice little dead zones.
I think I’ll try the AC, together with a bid placement in Lib. But other than that, I would say you can’t go wrong with 10 Inf 2 Arm, but the Ftr has its attractions too.
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I like to sometimes put a nice fat Industrial Complex down in Western Europe on G1, plus an Aircraft Carrier in the Baltic and a few ground units back home.
Gotta stock WEU with troops to defend the IC, but you should be doing that anyway. Now you’ve got a way to pop up 6 defensive units there in no time, plus that single factory gives you naval placement options (4 seazones, including one in the Med) exceeded only by the UK (5 SZs) and matched only by Australia. All of a sudden you can throw down all sorts of blockade ships to hamper Allied sea movement. Or coordinate more-surprising naval expeditions that your opponent won’t see two coming from two rounds away.
Give 'er a try sometime, it really opens up the Atlantic for Germany.
~Josh
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As I understand it, the point of the Carrier on G1 is not for fleet unification, it’s to make the Baltic fleet hard to sink and force England and America to hold off landings until Germany 4 or 5.
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Yea a carrier on G1 is for defence and protection for the Baltic fleet.
I don’t see how germany can get away with a channel dash unless UK has deployed her bomber in eastern Soviet Union to harass Jap transports built on J1.
She would also have to allocate her fleet out of reach of the travel path
and we have to assume USA is taking a passive role or went KJF.
Too many ifs cannot in general protect this idea unless Germany builds something more in the Baltic first ( carrier and possible destroyer)
Building subs is an idea but they cant hit planes in combat and thats what will detract the UK player from going after the Baltic channel dash if he sees too many potential hits on her planes.
Another question is to play a wait and see attitude… so if the UK comes within range of Baltic fleet THEN you do something about, while allowing the possibility of exchanging planes for ships if UK decides to go after you w/o navy fodder.
Many here have decided upon this course of action as a ‘calculated risk’ assessment and instead want to develop the attack against the Soviets with land unit purchase.
So now we have three plausible ideas:
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do nothing with baltic fleet and buy land/air units instead hoping UK avoids the issue
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buy a carrier and play defence
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make a dash and hope and pray for the best and link forces in medd… leaving the baltic open
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As I understand it, the point of the Carrier on G1 is not for fleet unification, it’s to make the Baltic fleet hard to sink and force England and America to hold off landings until Germany 4 or 5.
“the point” - whose point? Sometimes a unit has more than one point.
If it adds defensive value in the Baltic, it adds it in SZ 7 too. Plus if you join the Med BB, Sub (assuming it survives killing the UK BB) and TRN you now have 2 TRN 3 Sub 1 DD 1 BB 1 AC 2 Ftrs - takes 11 hits to kill and can absorb 3-6 hits without losing much strength - there’s a good bit of fodder to back up the DD/AC (2@3) BB, 2 Ftrs (3@4)
Well I think I’ll try it anyway.
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Normaly I don’t buy navy with Germany. Â I think you can avoid a few Air attacks with submerge and buy units to pressure Russia more effectively. Â I might try dropping a couple DDs over the course of the fist couple turns just to see if it diswades the brits, but only if I start getting bored.
When the game first came out I used a tank only strat with Germany quite successfully. Â I would only buy tanks for 3 rounds and charge Russia with everything I had via the northern route. Â However Russian strats have developed now and it doesn’t work.
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the point" - whose point? Sometimes a unit has more than one point.
If it adds defensive value in the Baltic, it adds it in SZ 7 too. Plus if you join the Med BB, Sub (assuming it survives killing the UK BB) and TRN you now have 2 TRN 3 Sub 1 DD 1 BB 1 AC 2 Ftrs - takes 11 hits to kill and can absorb 3-6 hits without losing much strength - there’s a good bit of fodder to back up the DD/AC (2@3) BB, 2 Ftrs (3@4)
Well I think I’ll try it anyway.
This idea of a carrier build does not allow for a channel dash because the channel dash has its only hope as an option on G1. It can be used to defend the baltic fleet or it can be used to ‘attack’ the british fleet, but many think buying subs is the way to go if the intention is to attack the brits. A carrier build primarily is used as a defensive platform because your typically only bringing fighters to defend if the UK player looks like hes gonna go and attack the Baltic fleet. Hence the “point” is the carrier is mainly protection to either defend baltic passively or directly by also bring in fighters.
The benifits of a channel dash are obvious but all those “IF’s” kinda damper its appeal. If you try that on G1 most likely you will lose the fleet and be in worse position than if you had just left it alone in baltic and done nothing.
Of course its possible to wait and build stuff and then send it out but as you grow so does the enemy.
I dont think you would recommend the channel dash as a standard idea given normal turn results up until G1.
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