SZ 12 and the allies

[bugoo]

The more I think about it the more I like SZ 12 as a turn 1 to 4 staging area for the UK/US fleets.  It offers many advantages.

1- threatens France, NW Europe, Norway, Italy, Balkans, and of course Africa.
2- fairly safe, if you control Algeria, which inst that hard with most German/Italian strats, fighters can only hit you from France and NW Europe, both areas you threaten.
3- 1 SZ away from UK and US for ease of troop shucks.
4- bombers in Algeria can threaten the entire Med, a sub or 2 in SZ 13 can really scare the Italian fleet as well (with bombers helping of course).

Now the downside is your not directly helping Russia, but in my experience Russia can survive a few turns and Italy tends to be the deciding factor in making Moscow fall.  Also, the UK cannot drop defending boats into the SZ, but honestly after UK 1 if they are shuttling 4-6 units and building a handful of planes and/or pumping units out of an IC they really cannot afford to anyway, that’s the US’s job.  If really pressed UK can load up US carriers.

Has anyone had the allies hang out in this SZ? How has it panned out?

[Jennifer]

I find that if America goes after Japan, then England cannot muster a strong enough fleet to go near Europe and thus, it is better to build a new complex in south africa and move up from there.

Haven’t really tried ignoring Japan and bringing the Americans to assist England though.

[DarthMaximus]

I like Sz 12 and that goes all the way back to Revised.  It also cuts down on the number of US trns needed.  You don’t need to worry about a 3x3 or 4x4 system.  This is nice in freeing up income for other things.

The nice thing about AA50, is you might be able to get away with only 2 US trns leaving you tons of income to deal with Japan (if you want), since the UK can place a pretty large navy on UK1 with US ftr support.  I think strong round 2 and 3 landings give you a good Allied base in Afr, then you can decide to shift to Sz 6 or stay off Afr.

If you’ve sunk the Ita fleet you’re safe to move or if the US has decided to focus on the Atlantic they can protect Sz 12 while the UK moves to back to Sz 6.

For me the Ita fleet is the deciding factor on how long I’ll stay off Afr, unless I’m doing a KIGF strat where I’ll have a fleet in both Sz 12 and one in Sz6 (or 5).

[bugoo]

On turn 1 UK can easily drop an AC-destroyer-trannie or 2 plus whatever survived, which is plenty, then US can add a destroyer a turn if needed.  I"m not advocating ignoring japan, that would be bad idea.