So since with the new rules setup, no power can build an IC on enemy soil, does that mean Japan can’t build factories on mainland Asia anymore or is China the exception to that rule?

If its not the German players turn, which I assume, lets say its USA that has the other ships then they can just ignore the German sub on their turn.  It states in the rulebook that subs and transports can be ignored in combat moves, basically forcing players to buy destroyers as movement/bombard blockers instead of transports and subs.

The player moving the transports and battleship has to openly declare he is attacking that German sub because it isn’t implied.

I agree that the navy in the Black Sea is just a waste of cash, better off pumping out tons of units and air planes.  Can opener is nice to do with Italy.  Also if you are gutsy as Japan and you do wait several turns for the onslaught on Russia, you could double can open with Japan planes attacking front line targets, Italy pulsing further in, and Germany moving up with 0 casualties.

The only change I would toy with is the steady increase of USA’s NO for being at war, starting at 10 then increasing by 10 until it hits 30, 3 turns later.  It would open up the possibility of going to war sooner in the Pacific and allow Japan to cripple people faster instead of waiting around for a couple of turns.  I don’t like the factory reduction, the game is slow enough as is.

Thats an interesting idea to possibly have the USA wait til the end of their turn 3, regardless of whats happened to get their wartime economy boost.  I have not had the chance to play OOB global yet, so I can’t make a true formal opinion on it.  I think Larry is spot on in making the Pacific theater more drawn out.  Sure there are the 18 inf from Russia to deal with and the USA money boost, but with OOB you could still do that dominate turn 1 attack and destroy lots of units and turn up the heat on the Allies.  Anyways, I like the reduction in air power and the increase in the boots on the ground.

What I am thinking about as to the USA income boost is what about having a tiered increase that started at 10 then ended at the full amount per turn 30.  Say if they were attacked turn 1, they get a bonus of 10 bucks at the end, attacked turn 2 then that would be 20 at the end, and if normal turn 3 attack happens, then they get the 30 at the end like normal.  Regardless of when the attack happens, in the end they get 30 bucks at the end of turn 3, but if it happens earlier, depending on the turn then it would be less.  The increase each turn to the cap of 30 would simulate the ramping up of war time production for the USA economy.

Ah I guess I miss read that somewhere, could have sworn in the Pacific book it said something like factories don’t have a built in AA gun, gonna double check the rule book myself.

The AA gun fire is only for the bombers since they would make it on through a small dogfight that occurs if fighters were involved in the strategic bombing run.

As for the bombing of a port or airbase, remember that even if your bombers make it past the fighter defense the naval base or airbase gets an AA shot as well.  They have built in AA where as a factory does not and requires a AA gun to placed for defense.

Like I said before, it slows the pace down in the Atlantic and makes it worthwhile for all of the Axis to agree to hold off full out war with everyone a few turns.  If Japan decides to go all out J1 like in OOB then I think it just means that Europe could get steamrolled faster by the Allies.  Either way in either set up you still have all the choices in the world to decide when to go to war with people.  The Alpha setup does make Pac 40 by itself much more fun, at least I think.  So far I think Europe looks and feels pretty well balanced, unit placement and distribution wise.  I think I remember reading on his website about Larry saying that he was wanting to look at England for some tweaks to not make Sea Lion a dominant choice for Germany in the first few turns but lets face it, if Hitler was halfway smart back in the day he would have invaded and taken England if he devoted enough resources to it.

Here is the question I got, can the USA and USSR invade neutral countries while not at war with one of the Axis powers?  Could the USA take all of South America while not at war with anyone?

If you are playing only Pacific 40, then the Alpha set up is recommended by Larry Harris himself to help balance that game out.  The Alpha setup itself has no effect on the Europe half of the board for the time being.  Larry has commented, I believe, on making some minor changes in the coming months if they are needed for Europe.