Help me find a USA strategy

[mozkaynak]

I am relatively new to the game. I will play my 4th A&A game this weekend and I will be commanding Allies. Thanks to all who helped me to come up with a reasonable Britain and Russia strategy. Now it is time to think about USA. I will use KGF approach. In my last three I could not bring USA to the war zone in time so I could not benefit from them. Now I will have the following strategy:

• Put an IC in Sinkiang: Therefore I will able to produce US units near to Russia to slow down Japan and defend Moskow when needed.
• Develop a fleet in Atlantic Ocean and continuously transfer soldiers to North Africa. I will attack Germany from Mediterranean sea and will make sure that I control Suez Channel.

Do you think these are reasonable strategies to bring USA to the war zone in time?
Thank You.

[77stranger77]

I don’t recommend the IC in Sinkiang unless you’ve already built an Indian factory and Russia is able to support this effort against Japan. Even then, it might end up as a distraction from Germany and a pair of free factories for Japan.

Having an Atlantic fleet and transporting troops is a more reliable strategy. Attacking Germany from the Mediterranean isn’t a bad idea. It isn’t as threatening to Germany as if the US were working directly with the UK. The upside is a better hold on Africa if Japan is meddling. The US may need to build a carrier if Germany is threatening both sets of transports or just builds a lot planes. One set will be in zone 12 transporting troops from Canada to Algeria. The other will be operating in zones 13-16.

A more common approach to the Allies is for the US and UK to land Algeria together in the early rounds and then to move up to Norway on round 3, pumping units into Northern Europe from here on out. This doubles the threat to Germany and Eastern Europe. The Allies are able to stack in Karelia sooner. Unless Germany builds a lot of planes, the Allies won’t need to build any carriers.

A good rule to set up the US that I saw someone else post was 2-1-1-1. Round 1: 2 transports + infantry. Rounds 2-4: 1 transport + infantry. It’s a pattern of builds that will set up the US transport chain to deliver 8 units each round and units will move from West US to Western Canada to Eastern Canada.

[way2slo]

@mozkaynak:

• Put an IC in Sinkiang: Therefore I will able to produce US units near to Russia to slow down Japan and defend Moskow when needed.

Only if you go after Japan first, KJF, which can be fun to do for a change.  Otherwise, it is easy pickings for Japan and now they have a Factory really close to Moscow.  :-(

@mozkaynak:

• Develop a fleet in Atlantic Ocean and continuously transfer soldiers to North Africa. I will attack Germany from Mediterranean sea and will make sure that I control Suez Channel.

I like to do this myself.  Just watch out for a possible attack on London if Germany has their air force in West Europe and made any naval purchases on their first turn, G1.  You may have to divert your first landing in Algeria to UK to help defend London.

@mozkaynak:

Do you think these are reasonable strategies to bring USA to the war zone in time?
Thank You.

Another bonus about having the US go to Berlin via Africa is that now Germany has to guard the territories that border Med too.  It can cause them to keep more units back to defend instead of advancing the Eastern Front.  And you can still 1-2 punch West Europe.  I find that I don’t mind so much when my US transport fleet gets strafed by the Luftwaffe because 1) it is a distraction, preventing the Luftwaffe from hitting on the Eastern Front and 2) you get some defensive hits and now the Luftwaffe is that much weaker.

[aarules]

Have the UK distract Germany in North Africa while the US builds transports. When you have enough transports, bring battleships with the transports and land in Western Europe. Bomb Germany to keep them from counter-attacking. Build up your men and attack Germany. At the same time, UK should land in Southern Europe and Soviets attack Eastern Europe. Keep bombing Germany until they are low on units, then invade. It always works against new players.

[mozkaynak]

Have the UK distract Germany in North Africa while the US builds transports.

Could elaborate this a little bit?

[Darkman]

Even without being a jerk, apart from one post almost all of these answer are utter crap.

It all depends on the whole picture of the allied strategy. US has two basic options:

1. Go KGF only
2. Also try to take care of Japan

Easiest part first: KGF only

There is one thing you should never lack: Transports and landing troops! Well okay, they should be guarded against air attacks, but: NEVER build more fleet than you need. Usually German fleet is dead turn 1, if Germany goes navy it’s an autoloss against Russia unless they have a very very smart plan (if you are interested in that, try googling ‘Canadian Shield’, and even that has just a single turn fleet buy). So, move your Pacific sea units to the Atlantic to give additional protection to your transport fleet. Against a good Japs player, you won’t stand a chance in the Pacific anyways unless you fully commit there. Basic plan: build about 2 transports each turn until you have about 8, and establish a shipping route from Eastern Canada to Western Europe. The troops you build in Eastern US walk to Eastern Canada and get shipped the turn after (called the shuk-shuk). My standard turn 1 buy as US is 1 AC, 2 tanks, 2 transports. Along with your existing 2 full transports and the one coming from Pacific (which should be joined by another transport buy turn 2) you should easily have enough transports by turn 4. Your invasion target number 1 is Western Europe. But you also have a few other options:

• turn 1, you can land in Algeria. This is useful when the Axis took Egypt but are weak there. You might lose the transports landing there though, depending on German opening and buy.
• turn 1 to SZ8, landing troops in UK and uniting fleets, turn 2 take Norway and maybe build a factory there.
• when you have at least 4 full transports, enter the med sea and take Southern Europe IF you have a chance to hold it.
• when UK takes Western Europe or Southern Europe, fortify it with your troops.
• when Russia is about to fall, help in Archangel, Russia or Caucasus (I won’t go into detail here, but in a lot of games especially online a lot of UK and US troops help the Russians to survive)

2. also try to take care of Japan

This slows down the landings a lot. You will have to put a factory into Sinkiang turn 1, as well as UK needs one in India, and you will need air superiority in Asia, which is not easy to establish. That costs a lot of resources and demands very good teamplay with UK and Russia, so I don’t recommend this to newbies. If this strategy fails, you autolose because you built 2 ICs for Japan. In general: If you try this, try to push Japan from the mainland. This cannot be accomplished on sea. Focus on killing transports and getting air units into Asia. Russia will have to help you defend the ICs, and in exchange you have to take care of Africa or Scandinavia usually, and maybe threaten to land in France so Germany has to use up resources there. In case you want to try this, let me know and I’ll give you a whole overview about allied teamplay then.

Whatever you do, focus on

• good teamplay with Allies
• having enough transports and landing troops
• keeping them defended
• not wasting money in too many sea units
• supporting Russia where absolutely needed while putting up threats against Germany
• establishing a shuk-shuk of troops from Eastern Canada to Western Europe.

Just my 2 cents

Darkman

Edit: As a note: Forget about Suez. The Japs will come there by turn 4. Hold one side to prevent them from entering the med sea. Take Germany and it’s game over.

[The Dessert Fox]

Play with Na’s and then you can preform D-DAY with U.S and U.K forces because of the U.K NA Joint Strike. Also research Long Range Air and use Grnland/UK as bmr base. Only Deal with Japan if they take Alaska and start shucking 4+ units in there every turn as I did yesterday.

Allies strat is always KGF because Germany will go for a Moscow push the other allies need to prepare for D-Day before Moscow is taken. Soviets then need to turtle and build 6-8 inf every turn so the Germans need to send in reinforcements from Rome and Berlin.

Soviets will lose CauCau on first turn but Germany can only build 4 units per turn in it. They will probably build 4tank then 4 inf turn after turn they will also send in Air from homeland.

Just go for the KGF the KJF is hard and taking Tokyo is very very hard so you will need at least 1 German Vc to win.(If your playing LHTR)

[Darkman]

Oh man this is even worse ^^

If Russia falls before turn 5, you had either very bad dice or a poor strategy.

Turn 1, Russia attacks West Russia big + either Ukraine (which I prefer because it takes pressure from Cauc and kills a German fighter) or Belorussia with just enough forces to win. Give up Karelia, establish a big army in West Russia. Play semi-aggressive, keep Germany away from Moscow and Caucasus, their support lines are longer than yours. If you lose Cauc or West Russia and cannot take it back that’s a major disadvantage. Do NOT turtle with inf unless you really have no other options because this will make it easy for Germany to take your territories and get even more income. Common buy for Russia turn 1 is 3 tank, 3 inf or 2 tank, 2 inf, 2 art. If you get rich because Germany falls back, maybe get 1-2 more fighters instead of tanks if you have enough inf. If Germany goes all Russia, you will need Allies help about turn 5. Look for options to set up 1-2 beatings in Karelia or Archangel (maybe even Cauc), where UK bombards, lands with air support and sacrifices all ground troops; then Russia takes care of the rest. If all goes wrong, make sure you have allied fighters in Russia to hold Moscow.

[aarules]

@mozkaynak:

Have the UK distract Germany in North Africa while the US builds transports.

Could elaborate this a little bit?

Keep Germany from gaining Africa so the US has time to send transports over.