If I’m doing a J2 DOW, sometimes I like to stage my carrier and destroyer from the Carolines off of New Guinea and bring a pair of planes and a bomber from Japan down to Carolines. This allows me to threaten any early ANZAC/American stockpile off Queensland with 2 pairs of planes plus added flexibility for carrier placement in the concombat phase. It also threatens anything off of New South Wales, or forces ANZAC (or America) to waste a blocker.
How many of you would attack that loaded carrier/destroyer on ANZAC1? Keep in mind that as Japan I would take hits on my carrier last, since otherwise a retreat would kill my planes for cheap. Also assume that I haven’t left any opportunities for India to exploit to sweeten the uninitiated attack.
Just killing one loaded carrier on ANZAC1 isn’t worth it. You probably would gain 15 PU advantage in that attack, but now Japan can abuse the Allies in the Pacific for the next couple of rounds since they can completely ignore any American fleet until J4. The only reason I would do an Allied DoW on round 1 is if Japan has most of their forces delayed up north to attack Russians and you know that they can’t make it down south until turn 4 anyway.
That’s what I thought too. So if that’s the consensus, does anyone else stage their fleet there? If not, why not? Do you have a better use for it?
I like to put any bit of fleet I am not using on J1 on or near the Carolines since Japan has a naval base there and can threaten ANZAC and Hawaii or even move quickly to Philippines and back to Japan should the USA invest heavily and feel frisky. Best thing for Japan is to spend enough on land units in Asia to keep China under control and threaten India (with aid of some transport and as little surface fleet as you can and as much as you need), and the rest on fleet to either face off with the US or maybe knock out ANZAC when you can and convoy them with subs.
That also has the benefit of threatening SZ26 and requiring two blockers to block navally.
I do this move every time with a J2 now. One carrier for SZ35 which allows planes to support the Philippines assault and land on the Asia.
Can’t let USA be strong in SZ54 at the end of J2.
If my bid was in the Pacific I would definitely strike that fleet.
Unless if Japanese positioning is otherwise very strong, I would DOW, hit Japan with everything I can and bring the Russians back to Amur on R2.
The American ships and the fighter would live to fight another day.
When you put your small fleet carrier/dest at New Guinea…
1. Do you put 2 fighters on the carrier for a little more defense value?
2. Besides putting replenishment planes at the Carolines, do you ever place another back-up fleet, like 1 battleship, 1 loaded carrier, 1 dest at the Carolines, or are they all needed for hitting the traditional J2 targets.
You can get the best of both worlds by having an unloaded carrier at the Carolines during your J1 move, and be able to fly in planes from SZ36-based carriers if ANZAC makes a big mistake. I love having as many planes as possible near mainland Asia for supporting ground units during J2, but it is nice to have some flexibility to support strikes of opportunity.
Ichabod, yes the carrier is loaded. The point is to bring as much firepower to bear down off the coast of Queensland without committing yourself to staying around Australia. So the planes off New Guinea can strike and land on a carrier off any of the money islands or Malaysia to protect wherever your transports land. Meanwhile your second pair of planes off Caroline Islands can land on your New Guinea carrier which can move to Indonesia or back to Carolines. And yes, I bring some or most of the fleet that can make it to the Carolines, at the very least a sub and destroyer and loaded carrier. Which traditional J2 targets are you referring to that can’t be reached from the Carolines? India always pulls back its BB. And whatever ships can’t make it Carolines I put off SZ 36 plus my third CV, which is more than enough to clear out any American ships that don’t make it down to SZ 57 (the only safe place for them).
AB Harris, how much firepower do you really need in Asia on J2 that 12-14 planes isn’t enough? That’s plenty to take down any and all Chinese stragglers/intrepid guerrilas and still take Malaysia, even if he did land his planes on it. India can’t stack up with any force in Yunnan just yet.
Of course, it doesn’t leave enough flexibility to take Sumatra just in case India feels like sacrificing his transport there, but I don’t mind waiting a turn for that. It’s not just that 7 vs 4 is a beneficial IPC trade, but that India loses projection of force and that move tends to help out Italy.
I didn’t say traditional J2 targets can’t be reached from the Carolines. Naval units (and therefore transports) at New Guinea can’t reach Borneo, Sumatra, Malaya, and Kwangtung all traditional J2 targets.
Carolines can’t reach Borneo, Sumatra, and Malaya either.
Both of these distances for targets doesn’t really matter because other ships and transports have to be staged in SZ36 anyways. Ships at Carolines hit the areas within reach and ships at SZ36 and SZ20 go to the areas for landings that Carolines stuff can’t reach.
Looking at the map right now, I can’t grasp how New Guinea presents a greater threat than staging a fleet at the Carolines. Also, more stuff can get to the Carolines on turn 1. Aircraft carriers can be moved to sea zone 46 anyways to pick up aircraft if they hit ships at SZ62 anyways. But just sitting at SZ46 takes away the flexibility of the naval base at the Carolines. With the naval base, the ships are not out of position and could go back to reinforce SZ6 if needed.
It projects a bigger threat by still allowing a destroyer and even a carrier if you want to reach 54 in case America or Anzac puts a blocker in 46.
I find this move allows more flexibility than keeping that carrier off Carolines. Granted, it doesn’t allow me to move 2 carriers back to 6, but I’m never going to do that anyways; I want to bring them to the money islands to protect my transports. And provided that I commit myself to taking at least either Indonesia, Celebes, or Philippines on J2 (a no-brainer), then that carrier off New Guinea won’t be out of position.
So the major advantage, besides the one I listed at top, is that it allows you to get 2 more planes into any fight off 54 without requiring you to leave a carrier out of position. You just have to remember that you’ll be shuffling your planes all around on to different carriers when you plan out your J2 combat. Planes from your carrier in 36 should land in Asia, making room for the planes from the carrier off New Guinea, which hop over to make room for the planes from Carolines.
