How to use America effectively in KGF?

[Jennifer]

37 IPC:

5 Infantry (15)
3 Artillery (12)
2 Armor (10)

But this isn’t until well into the game.  After all, we’re talking about the building of 7 transports, that’s 56 IPC!

[Lucifer]

I usually have around 10 trn by rnd 10, but many games end before that.
5x5 might be needed if Jap take Moscow, and if UK have Berlin.

[Jennifer]

Round 10 I might have 10 transports.  Kinda depends.  Did Germany go heavy navy?  Did Japan get foolish enough to invade the Med?  If so, I may have had to sacrifice transports to sink them while not interrupting a 3X3 or 4X4.

[trihero]

I’m reviving this thread, because I simply blow as the US the most of the powers.

What do you guys find are the most effective methods of transport in a KGF?

A) combine shuck to Northern Europe with the UK, which directly threatens Berlin with a double drop and allows for some nice combined naval defense to operate in the Baltic (drop some units into Africa early but mostly focus in Europe)

B) split shuck with the US going to Africa then through the med, with the UK doing Europe drops, which seems like it’s more difficult to defend the navies but opens up some nice pushing options when the US can reinforce Cauc and push along Ukraine/Balkans with ease, and also defends Africa.

And in the case of A), is it better to attempt to have the “support fleet” shuck along SZ1/SZ2, or along SZ8/SZ1? SZ1/SZ2 is much safer from attack, only a bomb in W. Europe could threaten the tran there, but it usually takes an extra turn to set up like that.

There’s obviously some costs/benefits to each, but I’m having a hard time seeing which choice is better in which circumstance or if there is a clearly better option for the long run, any ideas?

[Lucifer]

US is the easiest country. My problem is that many games end at the time US starts to have an impact….  > rnd 6  :roll:

I usually go 2 trans + mostly inf, less art, some tanks, x 3 rnds. Sometimes I buy a ftr each rnd.
US should always contest Afr. If it’s not needed, then US should start trading SE or WE asap, or send as much
towards India or Caucus as possible. It’s fully possible to switch from WCA - Algeria, to Alg - Norway. This might happen
rnd 3-5 etc. U should have 8 trans before changing front, and also to take controll over the med. can be crucial.
Then u trade Balkan, WE, SE and strengthen Caucus.  If Jap does not contest the med, then US “should” bring
the victory home where it belongs…SE, Cauc, and stacking Persia.

[frood]

I buy 3 TRN 1 Inf 3 Arm on US1 - enables you ship four loads to UK or Alg on US2. I don’t like to over-commit to Africa, I’ll usually do one drop there, which is enough to keep contesting Germany for territory for a while (in combination with UK forces coming from South Asia / SAF), and then switch to unloading both US/UK to Norway/Kar. I just think the advantage of having your land forces grouped is worth it - you can have a big block that Germany can’t attack.

However, if Germany builds a big baltic fleet, I might head to the Med, just so that that naval expenditure is wasted, and has to chase ME if he wants a naval battle, and then we fight where I can reinforce more easily, closer to US shipyards.

[Jennifer]

I’ve been downgrading to 1 Transport + ground units/air units/naval units on Round 1.  That gives America 4 Transports. 2X2.  You can build up from there with 2 transports a round for the next two rounds if you want.

[Lucifer]

If axis have managed to merge Jap+G fleets in med, then maybe its better to get as many ground units as possible
to Algeria, and towards AE. It’s hard to say if more ground units is better than naval units, b/c u may have to buy
exceedingly much naval ipc if u gonna kille a united Jap+G med fleet. And G might buy AC in med rnd. 4-5 if it helps
to keep US out of SE.
If US only shucks units from WCA to Algeria then no more than 5 trans are needed, maybe only 4 trans if u buy a ftr each
rnd.
Imo US is better to go to Afr and SE - Cauc etc. than Norway, because it’s longer to Norway. And this
makes US stop Jap in Persia through the med.

[Jennifer]

If Germany and Japan have merged in the med, it’s my secondary goal to take Egypt or Trans-Jordan each round to keep them there and then park a large American fleet in SZ 12/7 to lock them into the med.  Now the Japanese fleet is neutralized and I didn’t have to attack them to do it.

Though, it can be expensive getting units there to keep the suez closed.

[trihero]

I buy 3 TRN 1 Inf 3 Arm on US1 - enables you ship four loads to UK or Alg on US2. I don’t like to over-commit to Africa, I’ll usually do one drop there, which is enough to keep contesting Germany for territory for a while (in combination with UK forces coming from South Asia / SAF), and then switch to unloading both US/UK to Norway/Kar. I just think the advantage of having your land forces grouped is worth it - you can have a big block that Germany can’t attack.

I also hate over-committing to Africa. It’s sometimes hard to tell when it is over-committing though.

When you do switch to Norway/Kar, where do you keep your “support” fleet? The one that shucks from E. Canada to London? I think I like to use SZ1/SZ2 which is safe since it’s 3 spots away from W. Europe’s airforce, but that can take another turn to get into place. I think it’s worth the time since in the beginning you have all sorts of annoying little kinks in your system anyways and I hate to buy a defensive naval thing that I don’t need.

I’ve been downgrading to 1 Transport + ground units/air units/naval units on Round 1.  That gives America 4 Transports. 2X2.  You can build up from there with 2 transports a round for the next two rounds if you want.

That makes sense. One of the buggers I keep running into is getting new transports into the Baltic area. What I mean is it’s easy to send a new transport from SZ2 or SZ8 to SZ6 to increase the forward portion of your shuck, but sometimes the UK/US have moved into SZ5 which makes it a bugger to get more tran into there safely. I guess I just need to think harder about that so that either I stay there a turn to accommodate more tran or build tran earlier.

If axis have managed to merge Jap+G fleets in med, then maybe its better to get as many ground units as possible
to Algeria, and towards AE.

That does seem like a pretty difficult situation, but it’s also fairly costly for the Axis to reinforce that area and can really take the pressure off of Asia if Japan sends off their tran fleet all the way off of Egypt that early (generally has to be early or there’s no G fleet to merge with) as well as their fighters into Egypt.  That’d be tricky since now that America is focusing on Egypt, then it will take longer for the UK/Russia to knock Germany down, especially if German ate some IPCs below Egypt.

If Germany and Japan have merged in the med, it’s my secondary goal to take Egypt or Trans-Jordan each round to keep them there and then park a large American fleet in SZ 12/7 to lock them into the med.

That does seem like the thing to do, but it can be easy to basically have a massive backlog of US units in Libya staring down Egypt which isn’t particularly productive. The alternative isn’t very pretty either though (ignoring it), that means the Axis get Egypt at low cost and early on which is very bad for a KGF.

[Jennifer]

Well, hopefully you are coupling the bottling up of the Japanese fleet with a light raider fleet for America in the Pacific. (transport, carrier, 2 fighters would be sufficient.)

That would force japan to counter because their warships are in the Med.  And, since I am the type of person who generally has 120% of what I need to fill America’s transports anyway, I have the flexibility to spend america’s income for one round on fleet to do it. Nothing says you cannot move it away or just leave it in SZ 55 as a continual threat of raiding islands.  But it’s nice to have the threat if Japan went and did something silly like putting their fleet in SZ 14!

[Aretaku]

Using Enhanced rules has really altered how I use America, especially with Britain and Russia both having lend-lease NAs.

US Tech-dice NA is nice too.

You almost don’t need to send ground troops…just give Russia fighters, UK destroyers, and roll up those tech dice so your allies can upgrade their equipment for a far lesser cost.

As for regular LHTR, I prefer America to focus on Africa while UK goes for Norway. This gives Germany three opponents in “three” directions, and allows Russia the greatest degree of flexibility to defend against Japan.

[axis_roll]

@Aretaku:

Using Enhanced rules has really altered how I use America, especially with Britain and Russia both having lend-lease NAs.

US Tech-dice NA is nice too.

Enhanced alters every countrys buys.

Purchases of more than strictly inf/tank are doable, almost preferred.

It;s a whole new way of thinking… outside the box.

In fact, I almost think all ground units buys are a bad thing in Enhanced (except for Russia, obviously)

[trihero]

Hmm what is inside the box anyhow? Nobody agrees completely on how to run a KGF or even whether or not to buy a navy as Germany.

[Lucifer]

@Bean:

Hmm what is inside the box anyhow? Nobody agrees completely on how to run a KGF or even whether or not to buy a navy as Germany.

Example:
Usually G attacks AE. So my mind is set for either to take back Anglo, or attack Borneo, or stack Persia or India.
But in the few games G don’t attack AE, then I handle different from usual, its even possible that I don’t do the
sz 59 attack!

As mentioned before, with somewhat experienced equal players, no tech, no NA’s, etc, KJF will fail, generally. But again, not always.
Generally G should not buy any navy, but sometimes this can be a smart move. And maybe G naval investment is wiser with
reg dice rather than LL.

Imo, G naval investment is like religion, u cannot prove or disprove the existence of God.
There r others issues in A&A with can be calculated and counted, if it pays off or not. But many dimensions in A&A
is like “dark matter”…    :?

[Jennifer]

Lately I have been going heavy Kreigsmarine.  1 Carrier is silly if you don’t reinforce it.  2 Carriers, 4 Fighters, 2 submarines, maybe another transport in there, now you are forcing England to build navy, not ground forces.  That’s almost the equivalent of removing one power from the game right there.