Tech changes everything, so I think it is safe to assume no one has tech. Obviously if Germany Gets HB, LRA or Jet Ftrs, that changes everything.
England doesn’t need a lot of income. All they need is 18 ipc per turn, that fills 3 trns, anything over that is a bonus. This of course assumes you have units already on the board from round 1 and 2.
NO’s are fine and all, but I still value position over them. Japan can have Aus/Ind and Fra is overrated. I’d never attack there just to get the 5 extra ipc. There better be a bigger strategic value, like I can actually
hold it through the G/I counter or I’m killing a bunch of G planes for UK Inf. I’ll galdly sacrifice NO’s if it means I control Kar to Belo to Mos.
The reason the Gemany and Japan incomes in the 50’s aren’t that bad is b/c:
1) German build limit of 10 units.
-Germany needs to take/hold Kar or buy another IC, otherwise they only place 10 units per turn in Berlin.
-UK and Rus can match with ~12-16 units per turn that jumps up to 20+ if US joins in
2) Japan build limit of 8 units.
-In order to take Adv of 50+ you’ll need at least 2 IC
-The Allies don’t need to buy any extra ICs
3) Japan to Mos is longer.
-Japan to Mos is 6-7 turns
-UK to Kar is 1 turn, UK to Mos is 3
-US to Kar is 2 (from Ecan), 4 to Mos (from Ecan)
4) It is still cheaper to defend
-I’ll take a slightly lower income if it means I control the center of the board (Kar to Mos/Cauc and Alg to Egy). Once I feel safe in that, then I’ll pick off the outlaying areas.
It is much easier to recover from losing Ind/Aus/Safr or other NOs in the first few rds then it is losing Kar or Cauc in G2 or G3.
As for 8 CA, that would be great and all, but I think that’s probably overkill.
Now I’ve only played 2 games as the Allies but you probably only need 1 AC per sz you intend to hold. So I’d go 1 to Sz 12 and 1 to Sz 6 (then moves to Sz 5 when ready).
But you don’t necessarily need the one in Sz 6 which is when you can employ a CA heavy strat. To kill 4 dd, 4 ca Germany needs 8 ftrs. They’d probably clear with 2 ftrs give or take. That is a pretty heavy investment into air for Ger. Throw in just one more dd and UK wins outright. The UK can always match Ger air buys with dds, although I try to keep the DD level down since they are pretty useless once you have naval supremacy so I like to keep just enough for a first wave and prefer if the US buys them. The US can at least use them for Ita or the Med as fodder if they aren’t needed in the North that way the UK can get more bang out of its buck with say 4 CA vs 6 dd.
I find the benefit of the multiple CA (say you have 6), is you can now legitimately attack 3 ter with 2 inf, 2 CA shots and reinforce one ter (probably kar) with 2 inf. It essentially deadzones NWE, Pol, BST and make for a powerful assualt on Kar when you can go 8-12 inf (0-4 inf from Fin), multiple CA-shots, then only subject 1-2 ftrs, 1 bom (if planes are needed) to AA fire. It also forces more Axis inf to Fra. It is is better to see inf there then on the boarder of Russia.