My third global game

@rockrobinoff:

thoughts ZOOOOMA?

@rockrobinoff:

japan did its normal japan stuff, and eventually attacked UK on J4 (which brought america into the war, but since America was not poised to retake england on USA four, did not accelerate USA into the war against germany, and nor did america make any extra money)

Japan took India turn four, but declared war turn three, collecting  for all of DEI, all of China, Northern Russia, and All of Pacific UK except India and Honk Kong.

I’m not sure if America could have done a better job poising for a turn three liberation of the British Isles.  Ill have to count hat out I guess.  Either way, the turn three attack did allow America to sit of the coast of Gibraltar on early.  This could have been prevented with a turn four declaration instead, but the boost for Japan was nice.

@rockrobinoff:

germany could have no doubt defended better, but perhaps more importantly, russia could have bought better

That’s not more important.  Germany could have defended much better too.  Russia was only a favourite because I missed the American attack on West Germany.

• If I give up Italy, I can send enough reinforcements to secure West Germany from USA and Germany from Russia.  Italy falls, but you couldn’t hold it nor could you replace the troops which captured it.

• Alternatively, if Japan waits till turn four to attack, America doesn’t get to Gibraltar turn three and can’t threaten both West Germany and Italy.  This slows Japan down, but they still capture India turn four.  It may be worth it it it saves Germany and Italy

I suppose we should count exactly what Russia can bring to bear.

@rockrobinoff:

• for that reason, i think it highly likely that a dedicated sea lion is a non starter against a competent russia.

You’re probably right, but I wouldn’t describe my actions as consistent with a “dedicated Sea Lion”.  You made a conscious decision to go light on homeland defense in order to further pester Italy.  This meant spending 14 IPCs in South Africa between UK1 and UK2 as well as pulling your tactical bomber into the Mediterranean.  That’s why I went for Sea Lion.

I might have wasted a lot of effort in Africa given the circumstances.  If I’d concentrated on holding Germany post sea lion form the beginning,  I think I could have pulled it off.

Aside from that, I’m still not quite ready to give up on the devoted Sea Lion push until I’ve experimented more with Japan…
When can we play again?

@rockrobinoff:

we are talking about a whole buys worth of russian troops (less three inf) attacking germany that turn. i would call that massive, and perhaps more important.

Recall I vegged on the defense of West Germany - the result of eight hours of non-stop fast paced gaming.

Had I noticed, I could have simply blocked USA with a cruiser in sz110 or sz104.  That’s all I needed.  Your “very cool move” was no more than my big blunder.  The point is tat attack killed way more than one Russian build - something like half a dozen tanks, half a dozen troops, and a bomber.

I’d counted your stack, and without the assault on W. Germany (which I missed blocking), you were a big dog.  If you’d sent more from the beginning, I could have sent more Italians to help, and even left fewer defenders in UK.  It’s not so bad if you take back UK.  I get to bring my tanks back, so It’s mostly only cost me the ten transports.  for this 70 IPCs I collect 45 back and prevent three turns of UK spending (preventing five turns of UK boat building).  If this leaves me enough to hold against Russia, maybe it’s a good deal.

Incidentally, If you want to be in Germany on R5, build as follows:

• Turn one, artillery in Leningrad, tanks in Moscow.

• Turn two, artillery in Leningrad, tanks in Moscow

• Turn three, tanks in Leningrad, planes in Moscow.

• Turn two, bombers in Moscow

But do you really want to plan an R5 strike in Berlin before you’ve seen my G2?  If I spend my 70 IPCs on ground forces you might wish you’d bought more infantry and artillery I think.  This is very interesting though, because an aggressive R1 might just allow you to under defend UK slightly (as you did) and still deter Sea Lion.  This might end up being too costly for Russia, though.

@rockrobinoff:

i think it highly likely that a dedicated sea lion is a non starter against a competent russia. japan was still a couple of turns away from knocking on the russian door as well, and played about as speedily as japan can (without attacking UK straight away).

Too early to say.  Probably it’s a non start if Russia buys top heavy turn one.

As for Japan, I couldn’t have been much faster doing what I did, but If I made a devoted rush for the Mediterranean I could have been supporting Europe a little sooner.  I also think it’s possible to discover a Japanese strategy which lures USA into a fight in the Pacific.  This would cast a new light on Sea Lion I think…

@rockrobinoff:

i dont think the buying of a few offensive units on R1 (they could be mech inf instead and be only slightly less efficient in our russian defense should germany turn against us, and perhaps even better if speed counts for anything)would be that (if at all) hampering to Russia coping with Germany.

Offensive units are vital for a strong defense but speed is not, since most of the fighting will be close to the ICs in Russia.  Given the abundance of Russian infantry, artillery is the best bang for your buck if you want strong counter attacks.  If Germany can’t beat Russia when Russia buys offensive, I shudder to imagine how Germany would fare if Russia buys for defense.

A thought, Russia might like to buy three artillery round one and save the rest.  This threatens to build an attack force if Germany pulls Sea Lion, or a defense force If Germany goes Barbarossa.  It might be hard to spend all that money on cheap units before the Germans arrive though…