I am certainly not the first one to come up with this, but I couldn’t find something with the search function.
To quote the rulebook, the turn sequence and the sequence for the Purchase Units phase are as follows.
Turn Sequence
1. Purchase and Repair Units
2. Combat Move (Powers at War Only)
3. Conduct Combat (Powers at War Only)
4. Noncombat Moveis
5. Mobilize New Units
6. Collect Income
Purchase Units sequence
1. Order units
2. Pay for units and repair damaged units and facilities
3. Place units in mobilization zone
When we play at home we often find it difficult to decide things to buy before the combats are declared. So we simply swap the first two phases. First decide what combats you do, then decide what to buy, then conduct combats and move on with the rest of the turn. Still no dice are rolled before deciding what to buy.
Everywhere in the rules, all player desicions are required as early as necessary and as late as possible. So I don’t get why this is not the case here, too. It seems I am missing something :)
The only thing that I see as a problem right now is the repair part of the phase. With still damaged shipyards/battleships for example you can’t plan/conduct your combat movements. A solution would be to repair first, then move and after that buy new units.
In detail something like this should work:
Turn Sequence
0. Repair Units/Facilities
1. Combat Move (Powers at War Only)
2. Purchase Units
3. Conduct Combat (Powers at War Only)
4. Noncombat Moveis
5. Mobilize New Units
6. Collect Income
Am I missing something? What do you think?