5 U-boats G1?

Grasshopper - I like your attitude - it is bold, and I think might be devastating against inexperienced players.

Five German subs G1 would tell me I can start building Destroyers/Aircraft with US/Britain to defeat your convoy raiding, and that Britain will have a free hand vs. Italy for a time.

Like everything, there is something gained and something lost - you could hurt Britain economically in the short term and hurt Italy in the long term.

My two cents!

I like that you question what is possible.

@Stalingradski:

Five German subs G1 would tell me I can start building Destroyers/Aircraft with US/Britain to defeat your convoy raiding, and that Britain will have a free hand vs. Italy for a time.

That’s why I go 3 a round in SZ 105.  Before you know it, Germany “suddenly” has a couple dozen submarines scattered about raiding the hell out of any poor merchant ship that dares not pay tribute to sail the Atlantic Ocean.

Infantry, Artillery, Fighter, 2 Submarines, Save 1

Hit SZ 106, 109
Hit W. France, France Yugoslavia

Land in Holland

@Young:

@Cmdr:

Infantry, Artillery, Fighter, 2 Submarines, Save 1

Hit SZ 106, 109
Hit W. France, France Yugoslavia

Land in Holland

I thought you agreed that an aircraft carrier is a standard G1 buy? That’s the direction I’m going (along with a Strategic bomber for G1), G2= land units and subs. Just don’t see how 1 infantry and 1 artillery is going to be effective, I would rather buy multiple land units when I do buy them.

Standard.  Not necessarily what I would put out, but you could, theoretically go a lot of routes

1)  Infantry, Artillery, 2 Submarines, Fighter, Save 1
2)  Aircraft Carrier, 2 Transports
3)  Aircraft Carrier, 2 Armor, Save 2
4)  Aircraft Carrier, Destroyer, 2 Infantry

A few others.  Most are aircraft carrier.

Grasshopper - I’d say without the strong foundation provided by a Carrier (with two aircraft) your subs become vulnerable, unless they are purchased and tucked away in the Baltic. The Carrier is almost always a lock-down purchase (in the absence of poor dice or poor early decisions on British fleet-killing).

The two transports provides an instant credible sealion threat, and also a credible threat on Leningrad.

A single transport and a sub is a nice option as well, but Britain gains more purchasing flexibility.

The problem with subs is that they are not foundational for your fleet - the 1 on defense is rough. They need to prowl, and hit convoys in places where counterattacks aren’t possible, unless you’re positioned for (and desire) a trade war as a stalling tactic.

So personally (admittedly in Alpha 2) I like them as a turn-by-turn purchase for a strong defensive German fleet - providing cheap fodder and/or cheap offense with the added bonus of convoy raiding.

If I were buying all light ships with Germany on G1, I’d go 3 Destroyers and a Sub… but I’d never do it in the first place against my usual opponent… the threat of sealion is needed to keep Britain honest.

BTW, if anyone here likes good old fashioned fantastic heavy music, try Faith No More’s Album of the Year. It’s great - can’t believe it took me 15 years to discover it. Listening to it right now while I think about my first German turn vs. Gargantua…  :)

I like to buy subs (2 at a time) for Germany. Now w/Sea lion nearly off the table (Alpha+3) I think your best shot is to attempt an economic attack on UK, while pushing into Russia. If I’m Germany I’ll try to get subs off the coast of S Africa, and force them to buy DDs down there instead of ground units. If opportunity arises I will also attempt to raid the N Atlantic convoys (3 IPCs now), but I think that will be tough. I haven’t done much w/SBR against England, but if they feel safer now, maybe they don’t have as many ftrs in England so who Knows (an extra German bmr can be very threatening when combined w/cheap ships). I think the carrier build G1 or G2 is still a good idea (more threatening by extending your range). It keeps UK on their toes, and UK/US will have to spend resources to deal w/it at some point (even if it retreats to the Baltic).

Try to keep the UK from rebuilding its navy for as long as you can, and squeeze them for IPCs. If they are stuck on the island they can’t hurt you much. Subs lurking w/air power is pretty cool, and will be useful if/when the US gets involved. Position your subs to hit sz 91 if you can, you know they will be there.

In answer to your odds question Grasshopper - using dskelly’s simulator, and assuming a Brit Battleship, Cruiser, 2 Destroyers, and 3 Fighters - around 4% chance to win. A bad idea to attack you!

If you brought the 4th Fighter from Gibraltar and bought a UK1 Carrier to land it on (an awful idea), it increases the odds to about 14%.

Your fleet is locked down without the Destroyer.

Your 5 Sub purchase, by the way, locks your fleet down just as much, but doesn’t provide you the same flexibility vs Britain. No extra transports, and less versatlity with your aircraft.

W Bill - great point about subs and airpower - esp the second bomber. IMO, at some point a 2 bomber Germany is a must.

I’d use Frood over DSKelly…personal opinion (then again, I am in the credits…so personal bias?).

Anyway, submarines ROCK I give you that, but you do need a few more surface warships as I am finding out.  That aircraft carrier certainly does give you a myriad of different actions you can take and by extention, the allies have to plan for.  Without it, you are landlocked to adjacent airbases and even then, you are severely limited in your defense capabilities.

To war!

Good luck to you -

@Young:

Thank you all for the great advice, my G1 purchase will be 1 aircraft carrier / 2 transports with 1 or 2 subs every round after, as well as a bomber here and there. It’s 5am, I smell a war comming.

In alpha 3, you might be able to get away with reducing it to 1 submarine with a second anytime you lose one.  In alpha 2, it seemed if I didnt put 3 in the water every round, I got pushed out too easily.

Jennifer - can you give me a link to Frood’s combat sim? Thanks ~

Hopper - hope all is well with your pet ~

http://www.campusactivism.org/aacalc/

It’s built for AAR, so you have to play with it to make it work for G40.

Thank you!

Yeah w/o an AC buy early w/Germany you may not even be able to move your fleet towards Leningrad. In our games the Russians seem to add to their air power. At times they will nearly abandon Novgorod (leaving some def to possibly kill part of your landing inf), and set up a counter. This includes having the Russian air force in range of hitting the German Baltic landing fleet in sz 115 (if its weak).  Losing Russian air in the battle is costly in the end (may need allied help), but Germany not having mobility at least in the Baltic hurts. They will find it very hard to fight off the allies in Norway, and the western allies don’t have to figure out a way to destroy the German fleet.