UK Pacific Fleets

[jsp4563]

Has anybody come up with a viable strategy for keeping the UK Indian Ocean and Aussie fleets intact?

[tcnance]

if the japan player attacks j1 there isnt a viable plan to salvage the uk pacific fleet

[tcnance]

about the only think i can see, is if g1 fails to take anglo-egypt, you can choose to combine the fleets in sz30 and move the anglo fig to the carrier, this force will help take down some jap sea units if they attack, another option is to move the aussie tranny and sub toward s america

[jsp4563]

Assuming a successfull attack on Egypt in G1, is it worthwhile to combine the UK & Aussie fleets?  I got away with this once but whenever I tried it after that, Japan was all over me.  It seems like the only option for these fleets is to do as much damage UK1 and then write them off.  The last couple of times I took out the Jap transport with my destroyer, landed troops in Borneo (AC & tranny w/fighter support) and New Guinea (tranny) and attacked the Jap sub in the Solomons (aussie sub).  Any thoughts?

[tcnance]

the only thing i would do diff is use tranny and fig to retake anglo-egypt if germany didnt survive the first anglo battle with very many forces left, but yeah taking out the jap tranny with the destroyer and ac is a given, send the aussie fleet to attack the jap sub is pretty popular too.

i suggest looking at our games section and seeing how different players have moved on uk1

[Shining Bowie]

I’m going to say it in this topic too… as it applies here.

Try taking the destroyer to the transport… the fighter and 2 INF from india to Borneo… and leave the AC in the seazone…

If you’d rather have your navy survive the counter attack then you could put the DST in the SZ off Borneo too… but if you take out the TRNS in 59 then you get an extra turn to hold onto Borneo … more money to UK to fight in the Atlantic/Europe front… less money to Japan for 2 or 3 turns… making a US naval supremecy happen much faster in the Pacific… cause lets face it… Japan starts with a HUGE navy… but without atleast 30 IPCs they aren’t going to get that much more built… unless they want to give up the mainland.

[Guest]

You can keep your fleets a few rounds IF…

1)  you combine them in one of the SZ’s west of Australis
2)  you sacrifice Africa to Germany
3)  you sacrifice India to Japan.
4)  you let the US defend China on their own.

I don;t think those units are worth any ONE of those, let alone all 4.

[Aretaku]

My friend unified the Indian and Aussie fleets in the southwest Aussie SZ…then built an IC in Australia.

I was slightly concerned about the prospects of British fighters disrupting my transports without major naval build-up on my part. Germany was attempting to unify his fleets in SZ 7 on rd 2, so he had failed to take Egypt.

The kicker, though was that the U.S. foolishly wasted his entire build round on Long-Range aircraft, and threw his whole airforce, plus BB and Tran, at my fleet off of Hawaii. The dice were completely on my side. I lost only a sub, comapared to his ENTIRE Pacific navy and airforce (both ships, 3 figs, 1 bom)

Had the U.S. not gone and done such a fool-brained thing (not a common occurence for this player), I could see Britain and U.S. causing Japan all sorts of headaches.

Instead, I fixed the situation rather easily, although Britain’s fleet managed to escape, I got a free IC.

In short, US’s 1st round handed us the game, but what is a good way for Japan to counter this move by Britain if America doesn’t play it stupidly?

[88 Millimeter]

The key is Germany’s battle in Egypt. If 2 units survive then it’s worth using 3 infantry and a fighter to take back Egypt and stall Germany’s advance into Africa. (If Germany isn’t positioned correctly with air power then it’s also the right time to land in Algeria with a combined U.K. and U.S. force). If 3 German units survive in Egypt then the Brit fighter and sub can kill Japan’s sub and the fighter can beef up the pearl fleet. In either case the destroyer needs to take out the Kwangtung transport. No matter what I choose to do offensively, in NCM I pick up the NZ infantry and bring it back to Australia, and my carrier and transport are in SZ 34.

During U.S.1, fly the U.S. Hawaiin fighter to Australia. There are now 4 infantry and a fighter on Australia, which pretty much assures that Japan will look elsewhere for IPCs on J 2. They probably would have anyways, but now it’s a done deal.

On U.K.2, move two British infantry from Australia west to SZ 30, and move carrier/ fighter from SZ 34 to SZ 30 if Japan has fighters parked on a carrier off F Indochina. If not no protection is needed.

On U.S. 2 move the fighter parked in Australia to the British carrier, wherever that might be (SZs 34, 30, or 28).

On U.K. 3 those two Australian infantry are now in position to limit Germany’s depredations in Africa. At the very least they’ll be able to help hold the 2 IPCs in S Africa. Furthermore, the U.S fighter from Hawaii is now positioned to be used throughout Africa on U.S.3, which otherwise wouldn’t be the case (it would be landing in Britain or Algeria normally, and therefore unusable for combat).

The Brit carrier and 1-2 transports can move around the Cape and be in SZ 12 by U.K. 5 at the latest, which will free up other Allied shipping for more efficient logistics.

So all told the British Pacific fleet will have either participated in re-taking Egypt or making Japan’s life more difficult in Pearl, will have taken out a valuable Jap transport, will have helped to bulk up Australia, will assist in holding Africa, will act as a landing strip for an important U.S. fighter, and the carrier will soon help greatly in the Atlantic. Assuming a long game against a tough opponent, every piece is valuable and shouldn’t be thrown into the fire for short term gain (i.e. Borneo/ New Guinea strikes).

[Flagstaff]

On UK1 I always pull my fleet out from the Pacific to the Mediterrenian to assist in taking out the German fleet. There is no use getting your whole fleet destroyed and maybe an enemy or two when you can threaten the German naval defence.

[Shining Bowie]

But maybe he plays someone who DOESN’T take Egypt with Germany first turn…… yes they do exist.

[Guest]

Well, I did a UK fleet consolidation in SZ38 in the last game I played where Egypt was not attacked on G1 (all except the DD which went to Kwang, and I replaced the original naval FIG (which also fought off Kwang and landed in China) with the Egypt FIG.

So, I had 2 TRN, 1 SUB, 1 AC, 1 FIG in SZ38.

Japan proceeded to sink me losing 1 unit.

BUT, Japan used many of the forces needed for Pearl to do so, and thus the US fleet was untouched on J1…

[jsp4563]

@ncscswitch:

Well, I did a UK fleet consolidation in SZ38 in the last game I played where Egypt was not attacked on G1 (all except the DD which went to Kwang, and I replaced the original naval FIG (which also fought off Kwang and landed in China) with the Egypt FIG.

So, I had 2 TRN, 1 SUB, 1 AC, 1 FIG in SZ38.

Japan proceeded to sink me losing 1 unit.

BUT, Japan used many of the forces needed for Pearl to do so, and thus the US fleet was untouched on J1…

If you’re going to consolidate the UK Indian/Aussie fleets, do it in sz30 instead of sz38.  This puts the fleet out of range of the Jap Caroline Island fleet.  I learned that one the hard way.

[Guest]

I am not sure that 38 is a bad move… US fleet intact on US1 is a pretty good trade off in my book, rather than 60% of the initial Pacific Fleet sunk before you even get to move…

:mrgreen:

[DarthMaximus]

@jsp4563:

Has anybody come up with a viable strategy for keeping the UK Indian Ocean and Aussie fleets intact?

Yes.

Ignore the Jap Kwa trn and move everything to Sz 30 (including 2 inf from Aus), so you have:  1 sub, 2 trns, 1 dd, 1 ac, 1 ftr (2 inf)

Very, very, very deadly position when combined with a UK retreat from Ind to Per and a trj to Per.  And a UK/US landing in Alg.
Add in the UK bom to Cauc, ftrs to Wrus, with a UK heavy air purchase on UK 1 and look out!

@tcnance:

about the only think i can see, is if g1 fails to take anglo-egypt, you can choose to combine the fleets in sz30 and move the anglo fig to the carrier, this force will help take down some jap sea units if they attack, another option is to move the aussie tranny and sub toward s america

It works even if G takes Egy, you can position yourself for some pretty good attacks on UK 2.

@jsp4563:

Assuming a successfull attack on Egypt in G1, is it worthwhile to combine the UK & Aussie fleets? I got away with this once but whenever I tried it after that, Japan was all over me. It seems like the only option for these fleets is to do as much damage UK1 and then write them off. The last couple of times I took out the Jap transport with my destroyer, landed troops in Borneo (AC & tranny w/fighter support) and New Guinea (tranny) and attacked the Jap sub in the Solomons (aussie sub). Any thoughts?

Sz 30 works.

@ncscswitch:

You can keep your fleets a few rounds IF…

1. you combine them in one of the SZ’s west of Australis
2. you sacrifice Africa to Germany
3. you sacrifice India to Japan.
4. you let the US defend China on their own.

I don;t think those units are worth any ONE of those, let alone all 4.

1)  Sz 30.  Again.  :-P  :-D
2)  No, you don’t.  Sz 30 can reach multiple spots in Afr AND the MidE, if Ger isn’t careful their entire Afr army has the potential to be wiped out in one swift move.
3)  Nope.  Not of concern.  You can counter with extreme force and really set Japan back.  I’d aregue India is overrated to begin with, but that is a different thread.
4)  China is a lost cause and should have no bearing on the UK move.  I’d also argue you should pull out of Sin as well, again that is for another thread.
@jsp4563:

If you’re going to consolidate the UK Indian/Aussie fleets, do it in sz30 instead of sz38. This puts the fleet out of range of the Jap Caroline Island fleet. I learned that one the hard way.

Yep.  :-D

[NoMercy]

Darth,

You do know the fleet in SZ 30 is hittable by 4 fgts, 1 BB , 1 AC on turn 1 by Japan right?  And it still leaves you with 1 ss, 1 Trn, 1 DD , 1 bmb to take if not kill 2 out of 3 units at hawaii then retreat the bomb.

and still leaves you with 2 fgts for China.

This doesn’t mean I would hit SZ 30…. Actually I did try it once and it worked out really well. The british fleet was crushed there. Africa ended up falling quicker and harder.

[ajgundam5]

@NoMercy:

Darth,

You do know the fleet in SZ 30 is hittable by 4 fgts, 1 BB , 1 AC on turn 1 by Japan right?  And it still leaves you with 1 ss, 1 Trn, 1 DD , 1 bmb to take if not kill 2 out of 3 units at hawaii then retreat the bomb.

and still leaves you with 2 fgts for China.

This doesn’t mean I would hit SZ 30…. Actually I did try it once and it worked out really well. The british fleet was crushed there. Africa ended up falling quicker and harder.

What about the BB for Pearl but still with that little in Pearl and say you miss sneak attack and America gets 3 hits u have to lose a transport, and sub so that could go bad. And as America I would probably counter attack that.

[Jennifer]

Bah, with my dice, I may as well sacrifice Egypt to Germany.  It’ll net me a bomber, a fighter, 3 infantry in not lost units to the german infantryman sitting there.  (No matter what country I am, I always loose Egypt or take extremely heavy casualties for it.)

So yea, move your fleet into one spot together.  Tempt the Japs to attack it instead of America.  Gives them more boats to use against Germany to defend their fleet.  Costs you boats, but so what?

[DarthMaximus]

I’d have no problem if Japan went after both.

Everyone here has basically conceded the UK fleet is toast, with the possible exception of the sub/trn which could escape to the Atlantc.  But if Japan splts her fleet and for the price of 2 inf on Aus, you’ll kill 3-4 ftrs, possibly an AC in the South Indian Ocean, and another ftr/sub/dd at Pearl since the battle will go 2-3 rds.

Once US counters that you’ll be left with about 2 ftrs on Asia and a BB in the Indian Ocean while the US has a BB at Pearl a DD sitting right there and a purchase of an AC and ftrs puts SZ 60 in Jeopardy of a ftr/bom strike.  Ouch.

Lot to gamble just to take out 2 inf on a tran in the Indian Ocean.

I mean people here have said they send the DD and AC to kill the tran (I noramlly send the DD), maybe kill 1 ftr.  You lose two power units just to get a tran (possibly ftr on counter)???  Well, consolidate in sz 30 and get Japan to commit half her fleet and airforce in the Indain Ocean, and now you get them to throw away several ftrs and possibly capital ships.

[NoMercy]

I wasn’t saying I was doing it :)

just said it could be done.

Me as Germany if I saw your Uk fleet gather in SZ 30, just means I would use my arm to blitz to and back from the surrounding territories and re-boost Egypt or keep my bb/trn in SE and load an extra 2 units to Libya to prepare for some algeria invasions as well.

and if the UK does not use this nice fleet in the first turns… there usefullness is gone from what I see. the japs will guard most of there stuff from the FIC SZ anyway + they can fly some fts to Egypt to help out the germans. I just don’t see a delayed Egypt attack as feesible… You could probably stack around the bottom of africa and hold out as long as you can with that strat… But I think yes the fleet is pretty much dead and uesless anyway. might as well kill all you can and stall the best you can on turn 1.