@trulpen
Where are the extra ships coming from? SZ 111 is dead and might have a wounded German BB in it as well (when favorable I like taking the fighter hit as Germany just to create this problem…since it gives me fits as allies/dividing later movement/attacks.) The UK is left with a single BB and cruiser in SZ 110 after G1, assuming the SZ 91 cruiser is sent to the Med.(SZ 96). Most probably, the UK has no DD’s left in the Atlantic, no transports, some German subs to contend with depending on where they survive (based mostly on scramble and dice), and a turn or two wait to inflict any counterattack.
The French have a cruiser in 110 (and a fighter if not scrambled and lost). But they can’t fully coordinate with the UK, which means piecemeal attack on the damaged BB in 111. This French attack will usually win…although not always…I have lost both in the counterattack on F1 (dice fun) which really hurts. More importantly, the disjointed command means that simultaneous attack can’t happen, so the UK has 1 BB and 1 cruiser for attacking, independent of builds, and you don’t want to expose them in front of 110 even if they win without loss–the counterstrike by 2 SB’s and 3+ fighters from W. Germany is ugly. Anything put there is a write-off with insufficient compensation. It will reduce Russian strike forces somewhat statistically, but the economics seem poor in most situations since UK moves before France.
The UK1 transport build in Canada doesn’t have an impact on the game until turn 2 or 3. It likely requires a UK1 DD as well since it will likely face 1 or 2 surviving subs–building the DD and transport are half the UK IPC’s for the round, ignoring convoy losses, which will likely reduce it even more. And then the transport only threatens Gibraltar on UK2 (and can be destroyed without loss unless supported), which might have been held by Italy as early as IT1 and might not be so easy to take (dice again). Doesn’t do anything to reinforce UK for G2, which is anemic…I am not a Sea Lion player, but a stripped UK would be hard to pass up even if I thought I was going to target Russia initially. Air units can be diverted rapidly, ground and naval not as quickly.
The UK’s lack of TT’s is a problem, but so is the lack of DD’s to clear the German subs. Germany gets an extra round of initiative as a result. Again, resorting to chess parlance, the extra round of freedom/initiative might be worth a tempo or at minimum several tempi.
UK building carriers is expensive. It means they can’t reinforce Africa, etc. A carrier costs slightly more than a transport/inf/art for South Africa. Spending early money on a carrier makes Italy more viable and a potential threat rather than readily subdued. In later rounds after Italy is neutralized UK carriers are very useful. Early on, they would seem to give Italy a reprieve and threaten little vs. the Axis. Again, the Italy/UK game in the Med is “sharp” so it is hard to predict outcomes there even if the UK is favored initially, but things often shift rapidly based on a single combat result. (That is part of the game I enjoy…the wide range of results in the Med. is one of the things I like about the game because I have seen it turn back and forth at random with what appears to be solid play…but the dice say otherwise.)
And I like the G1 sub attack on the cruiser in SZ 91 as well to weaken the UK SZ 96 and/or Taranto attacks as well. Two subs in 91 usually doom the cruiser, often with zero loss. But they leave that pesky transport/DD combo as a counterstrike (with air support tipping odds against subs), with troops landing in NCM to reinforce Gibraltar if the zone is cleared. That can deny Italy Gibraltar if 1 TT survives.