The best 166 IPC Fleet.

I would build

4 carriers -> 64
5 fighters -> 50
2 destroyers -> 16
6 subs -> 36

Aren’t the first 3 turns only 156 IPC’s?  52x3=156.  Or are you talking in general 3 turns worth throughout the game?

Anyways, you can never just concentrate on one theater for 3 straight turns unless you plan on losing.  You have to give some to Europe side of the board.

WAY too many tactical bombers.  Bang for buck they’re not worth it in a carrier fleet, as the central premise of a strong navy needs to be it’s advantage on it’s defence.  And almost 2 too many carriers.  That’s not a “fully loaded” fleet at all,  and only half loaded at best.

As edfactor posted, fighters are the way to go.

With the extra $4, drop one of the extra carriers for a battleship.

Save another $1 by ditching the cruiser for a tactical.  giving you the same defence as a cruiser, but attack advantage with the tactical @4.  Good switch, unless you were planning on bombards.

So

1 bat - 20
5 fgt - 50
1 tac - 11
3 acc - 48
3 dst - 24
2 sub - 6

Finally however…. you are missing the MOST important unit in a navy.

A transport. 100 battleships won’t win you the game - if you don’t build an transports.  Boots on the ground are all the difference. In short - Without a transport your navy means squat.  My final revision…

1 bat - 20
5 fgt - 50
1 tac - 11
3 acc - 48
3 dst - 24
1 sub - 6
1 trn - 7

Now you have a navy with more effective air cover,  Better on attack, better on defense, with just as man tips, a better bombard capacity, with the ability to take territory.

And you’re welcome.

You could drop some DST’s to add more subs, but be WARY, too many subs put you at risk of being attacked by all aircraft.  ignoring your cheap sub fodders… a dangerous game to play sometimes.

zillion subs and loaded transports, backed up with carriers and airbase…

Aren’t you limited to 3 ship builds per round?  Doesn’t that mean only 9 more additional ships?

If I were to place units (logistically on minor ICs) for the US using $156 for the first three turns (unprovoked), My forces (including my startup units) would look like the following.

Eastern:
10 Infantry
4 Mech Infantry
1 Tank
5 Artillery
10 Transports
1 Cruiser
1 Aircraft Carrier (1 Fighter)

Western
2 Battleships
2 Cruisers
3 Aircraft Carriers (5 fighters 1 Tac Bomber)
4 Destroyers
2 Submarines
1 Bomber

@docfav7:

Aren’t the first 3 turns only 156 IPC’s?  52x3=156.  Or are you talking in general 3 turns worth throughout the game?

Anyways, you can never just concentrate on one theater for 3 straight turns unless you plan on losing.  You have to give some to Europe side of the board.

your correct it should be 156 not 166, so let me modify my build:

I would build
1 battleship -> 20
3 carriers -> 48
4 fighters -> 40
3 destroyers -> 24
4 subs -> 24
build the subs on the East coast the first turn and they can get to Hawaii or the West coast on turn 3

@docfav7:

Anyways, you can never just concentrate on one theater for 3 straight turns unless you plan on losing.  You have to give some to Europe side of the board.

That is open to debate.  There is some lively discussion in some other threads about the US going 100% in the Pacific in the beginning of the game (about 7-8 turns) in order to crush Japan as an effective fighting force before turning to Europe.  The claim is that this strategy overwhelmingly favors the Allies.

I’m not the one making the claim (not sure of it myself), but there are those who would strongly disagree that you can’t concentrate on one side of the board for 3+ turns.

I am more and more convinced that throughout each game, the allies need support from the US on both boards.

TASK FORCE 156

Now if you want to build a versatile multi-purpose Task Force to be based at seazone 26 by the end of turn 3, you would go like this:

First you would commit 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Trsp and 1 Carrier with Ftr/Tac from sz 10. The Destroyer must go to sz 8 as blocking ship. Then you commit 1 Cruiser, 1 Trsp and 1 Sub from sz 26. The Destroyer must go to sz 25 as blocking ship. You will also commit 1 Cruiser and 1 Trsp from sz 101, 2 Inf, 1Art and 1 Ftr from Western US and 1 Inf, 1 Art and 1 Ftr from Eastern US.

T1 you purchase 1 Carrier, 1 Destroyer and 1 Sub in sz 10, 1 Tank and 1 Ftr in Central US and 1 Sub in sz 101.

T2 you purchase 1 Carrier and 2 Destroyers in sz 10 and 2 Ftr’s in Central US.

T3 you move all ships to sz 26 and purchase 1 DD in sz 10, 2 Ftr’s in W.US and 2 Bombers in C.US.

Now you have in sz 26:
1 Battleship
3 Carriers with 5 Ftr’s and 1 Tac
3 Cruisers
3 Destroyers
3 Subs
3 Trsp with 3 Inf, 2 Art and 1 Tank
3 Ftr’s on Hawaii that may scramble during defense or switch with carrier-planes during attack.

The units in sz 26 will defend with 63 pips, and together with the new aircrafts in US attack (land based planes switch places with carrier based planes) attack adjacent seazones with 70 pips. This fleet will absorb 4 hits before they start taking casualties, and it will roll 3 pre-emptive dices in the first round of combat.

This Task Force may also Ampibious Assault adjacent islands with 9 land units pips, 13 Shore Bombard pips and 19 aircraft support pips, for a total of 41 attacking pips.

This Task Force cost 156 IPC’s.

WARNING: This Task Force may be a sittin’ duck if not used properly, moron.