@uffishbongo:
Yeah, that may not have come out very clearly in the article; I wasn’t trying to recommend type 1 KJF; I was trying not to comment on it one way or the other (because I feel I have insufficient data). A more complete breakdown of the different types of KJF I’ve seen would be as follows:
(1) Go whole hog against Japan, from the start, with everybody.
(2) Go against Japan from the start, but only with the US Navy.
(3) Go against Japan (either US Navy only, or with other assistance) in response to dice and/or opponent mistakes.
The purpose of the article was to make the case that (2) is a bad idea. In my mind the jury is still out on (1); at best it’s very difficult, but it’s possible I just haven’t honed it enough. I think (3) can be usable. Although, as you say, I’ve been suckered into (3) when I shouldn’t have. I wouldn’t do (3) just because Japan skipped Pearl; in that case they still have all 4 capital ships and all or most of their air, i.e. they’re still an absolute beast. I might go for it if they went to Pearl and left the BB and CV open to counterattack, although even then I’d be reluctant if there weren’t other things going my way too.
Returning again to the topic and this earlier post…. basically you suggest only go with a USA Pacific offensive in response to either mistakes or ill dice on J1.
What I’m trying to determine (and I imagine every expert Revised player has their own ideas on this) is when it is favorable to go Pacific in a competitive expert game where you want to win? In such a game, there is no UK1 India factory and at best there are only the 6 Russians in Bury and 4 in Sink. How much does Japan have to have lost…or not destroyed (ie. what Allied ships are still alive?) in order for him to be weak enough for USA to attack?
I have a Facebook game going now where my oppo lost his Jap sub on UK1. On J1, he skipped Pearl, and hit Bury (the UK destroyer had been destroyed by the 59 tranny, enabling the Bury assault) and hit the UK fleet off Egypt…losing 2 fighters. So all in all he was down 2 fighters and a sub…and he didn’t hit the Pearl fleet… In addition, he went with a 2 factory approach (clearly whether Japan goes with factories or trannys should also play a role) and his attack on China was weak, enabling the USA to retake China on USA1… So even though Japan had lost no capital ships, I felt that the USA ought to invest in the Pacific theater (giving all the factors working against Japan) even though my opponent is very skilled. Was I right?
It is a hard question to determine. What I am relatively certain of is that if Japan leaves either the USA or UK carrier alive that should be significant in deciding what to do. Similarly, every spare unit left alive (such as the UK sub and transport originally from Aussie) should count to some extent.
