Help with building a Navy

[Glamorboy]

Hi all,

This is the version of game I am playing, but, I guess it might apply to a variety of different versions, eg. Pacific that I also own.

What are the best naval units to purchase to project and dominate the naval battle against Japan? Conversely, if the USA is building up naval forces, what are the best forces to build up to counter this?

For IJN, I feel that fighters and bombers are the way to go as they can be used in land offences and fly quickly back to deter or destroy American naval pushes.

For the USA, I’m not as sure. If they continue to build fighters and a sub or DD a round, what are the best naval units? CV’s/Fighters? Subs or DD’s? Should I build up 4-5 BB’s?

Thanks,

[PGsquig]

@Glamorboy Cruisers and Battleships aren’t worth the cost. Certainly you should use the ones you start with, but I have literally never bought a cruiser or a battleship.

For a defensive fleet, focus on carriers with fighters and destroyers. For a more attacky fleet, use subs as well. You are correct that fighters and bombers are fantastic, especially for Japan. The range of bombers is unbeatable.

When you are playing US and going after Japan, be careful to not buy too many transports too early. Your first priority should be building up a navy that Japan absolutely cannot mess with. Once you have a large enough navy to crush the Japanese navy and withstand any attack from fighters/bombers that might be within range, you can control the Pacific- you’ll have a free hand to ferry men on transports anywhere you wish.

[Glamorboy]

@PGsquig Thanks for the reply!

I’ll share some quick backdrop to my query: I’m about to play a couple friends who are newish to A&A. So I want to play well, but I’m going to do a couple things to help handicap myself so as to not make the game unenjoyable for them. First, I’ll play the Allies without any bid. Second, instead of going all out with a KGF or KJF strategy, I intend to play and fight against both. I want to build up a USN Pacific fleet to challenge Japan, as well as using the British to mostly support Russian (or perhaps via Africa) in challenging Germany.

So I realize I’m asking for the optimal non optimal…

I find myself questioning whether CV’s and Fighters are the way to go as far as pure fleet dominance. Taking the starting IJN fleet versus the USN fleet (assuming the Brits don’t go for SZ37, and the IJN don’t go for Pearl Harbor, I started using a battle calculator.

My results are showing that for the USN, building pure subs is the way to go. Not the CV/Fighters. In fact, building 34 IPC’s of a CV+2 Fighters seems to drastically underperform compared to 5 subs.

Of course, subs will not help with subsequent land invasions, but, to gain initial control of the oceans, it seems that subs are the way to go?

[PGsquig]

@Glamorboy A big load of subs can definitely be useful, and if you aren’t trying to protect transports at all, it is a good option. True, one carrier and 2 fighters loses to 5 subs. Typically though, your navy will be much more expensive than $34 and the fighters are also relevant on land. Also, subs are not good at defense while fighters defense kings.

When I play against friends who are new, I just give them a bid. If they win, their bid goes down and if they lose, their bid goes up. I never spend money on both coasts as US because I feel like I can never get anything going at all and it seems like all the money is wasted. Also, I think it is more helpful to use viable, typical strategies against new players so that they know what to expect. I have learned a lot more about the game through losing than I ever have by winning.