It seems to be a popular view that Japan is wasting its money if it buys a complex before it has maxed out the first one (i.e. is transporting 8 units/turn to the mainland). However, I am of the opinion that 2 tran 1 IC–this is assuming $1 bid to Japan–is the optimal J1 purchase for getting units to the mainland quickly. There was an old thread (sorry, I couldn’t find the link on my first search and I’m too lazy to look harder) that had some calculations to this effect, but for the short version, consider:
—If you build 3 tran on J1, you can put 8 units in Asia on your second turn. However, with 2 tran 1 IC you can get 9 units there: 6 from your three transports, and three more from your complex. With a 2 IC purchase it’s down to 8 again, one from your transport and 6 from your complexes. (I’m assuming throughout that the UK killed your transport in SZ 59 so that you only have one to start with.) So if you’re trying to get as many units to Asia on J2 as you can, 2 tran 1 IC is the way to go.
—4 tran on J1, using a bid of $2, is also a good way to start fast. However, in this case your capacity outstrips your income; it will be a couple rounds before you can actually get new units fast enough to keep your transports busy. The 2 tran 1 IC buy is better optimized at keeping your production/transport capacity matched up with the number of units you can afford to produce. In particular, a 4 tran J1 purchase enables you to put as many as 10 units into Asia on J2 if you clean out Philippines, East Indies, Okinawa, and Wake, but then you run out of island units and can only make up to 8 new ones in Japan. So you get a lot of inf on J2 but it’s more of an anomaly, where the 2 tran 1 IC buy gives you a smoother and more continuous startup.
—As far as location, I like FIC the best. Kwang is farther from Moscow than either Fic or Man, so if you’re trying to put pressure on the Russians quickly you want either Fic or Man. You can supply plenty of troops to the northern area from Japan itself, so the complex is needed more on the southern end. Plus it enables you to get to Africa, Caucasus, etc better.
—So far I’ve been assuming KGF. In KJF you should certainly be a bit more hesitant about getting factories up quickly. However, I’ve found that a FIC complex, which is always where I build on J1 if I build a factory at all, can be very helpful in KJF. Ideally when defending against an American fleet you want to defend as far out as possible, e.g. with a fleet in the Caroline or even Solomon islands. However, if you’re forced to fall back, FIC is a great fallback point. The key thing about it is that it borders all three of your valuable islands. If you get in trouble you can fall back to SZ 36 and build more ships there to join your retreating fleet. Often this will be enough to prevent the Americans from taking any of those expensive islands right away. If your only factory is in Japan you’re forced to keep your navy farther north to incorporate the new builds, and the Americans have an easier time getting to the southern islands.
IC builds for G?
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I agree with that. Germany is so centralized that the two that they have is almost overkill. If germany gets so spread out that it needs another IC, either the game is over or someone just dosen’t know what they are doing yet.
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Well i know after much trouble with my strat concluded that you people are right, no IC biuld should be done by germany…
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Well… if your facing a newb at the game then it’d kinda fun to try out an IC as Germany.
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I think that an IC for G is not pleasable.
It has got 2 nice IC’s that will probably never hit their building limits like you wish they would :-) -
I can’t see why you would ever want to build an IC in egypt, you already have an IC in south Europe with a limit of 6 units.
If your african divisions needs assistance you can just build another transport and save yourself 7 IPC. An extra transport in the meds can also be used effectivly to transport more infantry to your fronts in Russia if needed and remember the free shot from the BB!
-Daniel Malus
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Exactly Malus. IMO you should always play to your carrying capacity. For Germany it’s 16 units per turn, or 48 IPCs worth of Inf. It’s pretty rare to carry that many IPCs, and even more rare to only build all Inf (unless you’re an Infantry loving madman, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
Only in a silly game where you were consistently averaging enough money to place 3 more units would an extra IC make sense, and that would just be icing anyways.
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if things are going so well for germany they need an extra IC it is usually known as caucasus (or moscow)
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I dont think either Axis power needs to waste money on an IC.
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I might build an IC in Egypt some day…
when my Med transport(s) are dead and can’t be resurrected…
AND when I have a chance of holding Africa (Arrica for some people on the forum :-P)I would build one overthere for fun!
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Yeah I think an IC build against a newb in Arrica might be a fun idea (not a good one).
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I say we petition Larry Harris to change the name of Africa to Arrica. :-D
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Fisrt turn, germany buys an IC, a tranny and an aircraft carrier. Connect your med fleet with your baltic fleet and then add everything you bought on western europe seazone (2 fighters land on aircraft of course!).
Germany now has a very powerfull fleet (2 subs, 1 destroyer, 2 trannies, 1 aircraft + 2 fighters and a battleship). I play with NA so next turn i buy 1 or 2 subs to have the wolfpack attack and affect uk and usa economy. It radically changes the game. America and UK have to face an unusual threat. Of course Russia will rule for some rounds…
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Germany now has a very powerfull fleet (2 subs, 1 destroyer, 2 trannies, 1 aircraft + 2 fighters and a battleship). I play with NA so next turn i buy 1 or 2 subs to have the wolfpack attack and affect uk and usa economy. It radically changes the game. America and UK have to face an unusual threat. Of course Russia will rule for some rounds…
I think you mean 3 subs, right? 'Cuz the one from SZ8 meets with the med fleet on G1, then they link on G2.
Letting Russia rule is very dangerous! I would advise against spending more than cash on the carrier; the tranny and IC aren’t going to help you much against a properly aggressive Russian player.
Inevitably you will lose your fleet, as well. The UK and US have 70 IPCs between them that can be dedicated just to taking your fleet out. You only have 40 IPCs to spend, and probably a lot less if you want to keep your Eastern territories against the Russians. Sure sure you can buy like 3 carriers total over a few turns and have 6 fighters land on them which is very efficient for your money, and it’ll stall them for a while, but Russia isn’t quite as weak as it looks. If you let it get out of hand you could be staring at them at Eastern Europe in a few rounds.
I’d probably beef up some land troops with UK while building transports. The Americans would start off with 2 carriers and a fighter, then churn out fighters for a couple turns afterwards depending on how much navy the Germans have. If the Germans stay off of Western Europe, the Americans can nail them with 8 fighters, 2 destroyers, 2 transports, 2 carriers and 1 bomber on US3. If the German fleet is too powerful, wait until US4 and add 3 fighters, 1 battleship, and another transport to the mix. If for some ridiculous reason the Germans have such a strong navy as to still dissuade you, wait until US 5 with 4 more fighters.
The German navy can be tough, but you can also wind up losing a lot of fighters in the water and certainly Russia will have you by the throat with you unable to push back without enough land troops.
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well… question was IC or not for germany, if yes, where? I almost never buy an IC and always rock on russia. BUT, if i would want to try something new, western IC can be fun
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I agree, U-505. Any additional IC is a money pit! Germany just has to devote materiel to support and protect the new IC, when more pressing concerns exist. Japan has need for the new IC, because its original placement value is so low and the additional problem of tranny’s required to get troops to the mainland.
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Does it get you to Moscow faster than anything else you can build with 15 IPCs? Anything that Germany buys that can’t shoot and take a hit is a bad idea.
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German IC in India. Now there’s a wicked thought!
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Jennifer,
I prefer a German IC in Central U.S. Because if I make it that far I’m building one there just or fun.
In that case, dear, build it in Brazil. It’s always fun to build 3 inf a round there and freak out the American player! The trick is putting enough in the initial invasion to HOLD it until you can start building. (You also have to time it so Japan can put the screws to the US making him/her decide on Brazil or Pacific.)
Also, a determined American will definately win in Brazil. However, s/he might loose an entire round of spending in the Pacific AND the gain of the IC in Brazil is a liability to the US, now they have to actually defend it. Unfortunately, the US has no need for an IC in Brazil. (Classic A&A anyway.)
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Yea, I’d heard of that plan. It doesn’t work well. It’s much cheaper to buy two transports and do a long range infantry shuffle then it is to build an immovable IC
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I don’t think I have this kind of athority but I think this topic should pretty much be over. I mean you have sixteen… SIXTEEN units you can build just with your beginning ICs. If you actually are rich enough to buy more than sixteen infantry DON’T, buy a tank or go crazy and buy a bomber. If you can build more than sixteen infantry the game is basically over.
The only time I have ever built an IC as Germany was when I had already beat Russia. The game was already won for the Axis and I was just fooling around and put one in Western Europe so that my navy could reach U.S. quicker (total victory).
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