@Nippon-koku:
@simon33:
I dislike the fighter buy on USSR1. You have plenty of factories at this time, no threat of SBR and no need whatsoever for the fighter. Better to buy it later when you are building solely in Moscow and can’t spend more than 30 IPC on inf. It is useful later but mostly only needed when the German bombers are in SBR range.
Artillery is a bit more useful because you can at least threaten a counter attack with it.
Disagree that there’s no need for it early on.� It deters SBR (by G3 Russia will already have 4 fighters), it helps with those little counter strikes (instead of having to use artillery on the front lines you can strike with 5+ planes), and using the money on extra infantry early doesn’t equal more infantry later.
Let’s say turn 1 and 2 Russia spends 74:�
or
Now let’s say you want to get those extra planes on turn 3 and 4 instead, and lets say Russia can spend 65 total:
or
2 ftr and 15 inf
Either way, Russia has 2 ftrs and 39.67 inf.� So the question is what has more value in those first few turns: 6 extra inf, or two extra ftrs?� I’d argue the latter
That is a very interesting though Nippon-Koku. There are several factors you have to account for to see which buy is better for Russia. Are the fighters worth it at all, and if they are when should they be purchased?
At first I thought the answer was obviously those 4 extra inf and 2 arty are better a few turns earlier because they can be used to counter/defend against Germany earlier. The infantry you build in Moscow take time to reach the front and become an implied threat, but the fighters you build in Moscow are immediate implied threats, so infantry should be purchased before planes with that line of thinking. When you look past game theory and go into real game scenarios, though, more factors come into play.
A. Can the 4 inf 2 arty be used for a more effective possible counter attack than 2 fighters. The answer is yes, obviously, but is the counter attack reasonable? The answer to that is simply, no. A good German push is going to be un-counterable/defensible anyways. Meaning countering a German/Italian stack in West Russia/Ukraine/Bryansk isn’t realistic. The odds would be at best horribly unfavorable for you to attack.
B. Can the 4 inf 2 arty be used for a more effective defense than 2 fighters. The answer, again, is obviously yes, but is the defense reasonable? The answer depends on what you want the allies to do as a whole. Russia alone can’t defend certain key positions without support from her allies, regardless of how many infantry they buy. If you want to have UK help defend Bryansk later in the game with fighters, then you might want to build 4 inf 2 art over 2 fighters, but if not then maybe you should build the 2 fighters over 4 inf and 2 art.
C. What would the planes be doing if purchased early rather than later/not at all? This depends on what your strategy is for the allies. The only reason you’d want early fighters is to help china. Russia and China alone cant stack stack Szechwan with enough units to defend against a J1 that puts 20 planes in Kwangsi. You’d have to put the 3 UK planes there as well, which would mean you are declaring war against Japan as UK on turn 1. That is because Russia and China can easily stack Szechwan if Japan declares war on turn 1. Here are the numbers for what the defense in Szechwan would look like given maximum values for offense and defense minus 3 infantry for China that would be used to take back Yunan, which is average.
Japans Offensive power that can reach Szechwan:
10 fighters
8 tacs
2 bombers
Total offensive power: 70
Russia not purchasing two fighters turn 1, and UK not declaring war:
10 Chinese infantry
1 Chinese fighter
2 Russian Mechs
2 Russian tanks
2 Russian fighters
1 Russian Tac
Total Defense power: 45
Win %: 3
Russia purchasing two fighters turn 1, and UK not declaring war:
10 Chinese infantry
1 Chinese fighter
2 Russian Mechs
2 Russian tanks
4 Russian fighters
1 Russian Tac
Total Defense power: 53
Win %: 22
Russia purchasing two fighters turn 1, and UK declaring war:
10 Chinese infantry
1 Chinese fighter
2 Russian Mechs
2 Russian tanks
4 Russian fighters
1 Russian Tac
2 UK fighters
1 UK tac
Total Defense power: 64
Win %: 76
In Global 1940 2nd edition with an average bid of 25 I’d say the buy might not be worth it. That is because Japan declares war Turn 1 much more often then in the balanced mod version, and a turn 1 declaration means a lot less air-power that can reach Szchewan.