Well it would be too devastating if Germany could attack the UK main fleet off of England in the first turn, considering Germany already decimates the Med fleet and possibly Egypt.
Was it too devastating for the Allies in the original version? The positive bidding of the Axis implies that it wasn’t too devastating.
I think it’s a blessing and a curse for both sides. While the Baltic navy can’t reach 2 or 8, the same is true of the UK forces - those ships he builds there can’t reach the baltic in one turn. It turns into a question of who tries to move in range first, otherwise you’re both hiding from each other. Of course I guess this tends to bias it in favor of Allies since Germany doesn’t have time to build a navy, so the UK can safely build up until he’s ready, but on the other hand Germany can reactively build a navy if the UK tries to boldly move in from those hiding spots. I don’t think it’s really an issue overall though because the Uk will use an airforce to clean out the Baltic moreso than a navy.
It’s worse than that. UK has the option of moving the fleet he built up in 2 or 8 into SZ 4 and then placing new purchases in SZ 4! Germany doesn’t have that luxury. If Germany moves their fleet from the Baltic they can’t add newly purchased units to the fray. Give Germans the ability to build in SZ 4 as well and then I’ll agree with you.
In a nutshell, building in SZs 2 and 8 gives the Allies too much of an advantage because it gives them many, many more options than the Germans get. I don’t have to tell knowledgable people that the more options a player gets, the more likely he is going to beat a player with fewer options at his disposal.
The way the seazones are cut up is favorable to the Axis if the US tries to go in; it takes an extra turn to get into the Baltic from sz1, taking an extra turn for the US to set a shuck system (one from east canada to england, one from england into the baltic).
Agreed. It does take longer for US to get shucking to work, but the extra SZ between US and UK is independent from the ability of the UK to build out of range of the German fleet. In other words, you can design it so US shucking is just as hard and UK can’t build out of range.