AA.Org Official Alpha 3 Thread

Let me rephrase it then.  I HAVE USED AMERICAN AIR POWER TO CLEAR BOTH TURKEY AND SWEEDEN ALLOWING ONE RUSSIAN INFANTRY TO TAKE BOTH TERRITORIES UNOPPOSED, FURTHER I HAVE USED AN AMERICAN TRANSPORT TO MOVE A RUSSIAN INFANTRY FROM SYRIA TO SARDINIA AND SICILY WITH NO RISK TO RUSSIA AND I HAVE IN MORE THAN ONE GAME LANDED A RUSSIAN INFANTRY IN IRELAND.

That help?

Look, it’s pretty simple.

America and England had an airforce in Russia to prevent Moscow from falling.  A large airforce.
America had a large fleet in the Med to cripply Italy.  With the new convoy rules, this is a little harder but not impossible since you can do more damage than normal. (BB doesnt always do 1 damage, it could do 3.)  With this fleet, the Americans were able to recover a Russian unit that walked to Syria.  Then it was a matter of protecting the transport as they offloaded into Sardinia and Sicily.  Not exactly hard to do when Italy has at most 3 or 4 aircraft on any given game day.
England had a decent fleet in the N. Atlantic.  It wasn’t going to defend against the 20 or so fighters Germany had, but it was enough to keep Germany from threatening Sea Lion or reinforcing Norway, Finland.
Russia blitzed an armored unit up, snuck into undefended Finland, sailed into Norway and Sweeden the round after and raced back to Karelia.  Since they had Novgorod, this wasn’t an issue.
Since the allies had an insane number of planes, strafing the small stack of Germans in Finland and the infantry in Sweeden cost next to nothing. (I think all in all there were 3 planes lost which is about what you would expect from 7 or 8 defending infantry.)  Those losses cost Russia nothing, but made them independantly wealthy.
With Japan landing in W. USA routinely, Russia was earning more money than ANY other nation on the board!  (Keep in mind,without Sweeden, Germany earns no objective money and with the Allies all over the Med, they were getting none of the Middle East money either.)

This is pretty standard in our games, has been since Alpha 2.

It’s only been 5 days, there is no routine yet.  Routine that is referenced is routine for Alpha 2 games.  Large American fleet (150-250 ipc value), moderate British fleet (100-190 ipc value) and large airforce (roughly 30 allied non-russian planes.)

As I’ve said, this is accomplished by about Round 11.  I detailed this out in the other thread in great detail.  Basically, for the cost of 2 Russian Infantry, by round 11, Russia has:  Norway, Sweeden, Finland, Ireland, Sardinia and Sicily.  If the Russian guy isn’t strafed and needs to be replaced, then by round 13 add Crete to the list. (Otherwise Round 14 and cost is now 3 Russian infantry.)

Just about anyone who’s ever played can tell you how to get that sized fleet in the Med and up by England by that time.  The only purpose of the British fleet is to keep SZ 125 open for the Russian IPC, so even if you cower with the Americans, we’re talking 35-40 IPC for Russia instead of 40-45 IPC for Russia.  Not a huge difference really, since they only have the one complex anyway…and all you need is 30 IPC to keep the Germans from ever cracking that shell.

Germany’s problem is landing zones for the fighters.  The British only need to protect SZ 109 so they can drive a destroyer to SZ 125 and sink any submarines.  On top of that, they have 6 fighters to scramble to protect the fleet.  That’s 24 Punch for Fighters requiring 8 Attacking Fighters just to match it.  Add to it any surface fleet and defending carrier bound fighters and you’ve out matched the Germans pound for deutsch mark.

If that wasnt bad, in order to hit SZ 109 they need either W. France or Holland to land on.  Usually that’s not a problem, but towards the beginning and end of the game, it can be an issue to contend with.  Not to mention once you land there, you have no pre-existing airbase to extend your range or scramble with, nor do you protect SZ 112/SZ 113 against British attack.

For instance, Germany has 2 Strategics, 5 Tacticals, 13 Fighters and no kriegsmarine (since they rarely do anymore).  To counter this Britian has 6 Scrambled Fighters, 4 Carrier Fighters, 2 Carriers, 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 3 Submarines and 5 Destroyers (a moderate fleet.)  Assuming Germany has a place to land, they only have a 15% chance to win.

England had to invest to get the fighters and had to move the carrier into position to cut costs, but since they were sending fighters to Russia like mad to prevent it from falling, they have the fighters to move back.  To clear SZ 125, they send 10 Fighters, 1 Destroyer and pretty much anything Germany might have gotten there, is gone.  So they might be costing Russia 5 IPC, but are losing 6 IPC in submarines to do so.  A losing battle for Germany.  (And iwth only a 17% chance to kill the destroyer, they might lose something attacking SZ 125 to reclose the shipping lanes.)

America has a larger fleet, mainly because they have to protect SZ 91 and SZ 95 to perform their landings.  Figure about double what England has, if not 2.5 times what England has.  We’re talking 11 rounds remember, so America has earned about 800 IPC give or take a few dozen IPC.

Many mistakes players make are to over invest in the Pacific and “go for the win” in the Pacific.

To successfully prevent Japan from winning in the Pacific you need to match him carrier for carrier, destroyer for destroyer and fighter for fighter in the Pacific.  Well, that’s only partially true, America needs this equipment to contain Japan, add to that destroyers and submarines from Australia and India for use in “trading” with Japan.

Often times I like to add a carrier for Australia, sometimes even two carriers.  This adds a lot of defensive punch and that’s what you are really looking for in the Pacific.  However, these are a secondary concern, your primary concern must be to have no less than 3 destroyers to use in blocking the Japanese warships!

It is often necessary for the United States to purchase a naval and / or airbase in the Pacific.  Unfortunatly, this will end up replacing destroyers that America would otherwise be purchasing, so it is often wise to save 5 or 6 IPC a round for the United States to assist (that way you have 21-22 IPC set aside for the Pacific each round, if you have to drop a base, that leaves you with enough that you can still drop a destroyer without greatly upsetting your Atlantic planes, as it is only an extra 1 or 2 IPC you lost from your Atlantic mission!)

Atlantic side is another faltering point for the United States.  Many people are inclined to keep building warships well after the mission objectives have been accomplished, because it’s what they have always done!  Once you control the Med and have a few warships to protect transports from Strategic Bomber attacks in SZ 91, you can stop investing in warships for the Atlantic.  Actually, you can stop investing in armies as well, since you can just use what you have stockpiled if you need too.  (Best solution might be to downshift and send only partial shipments to replace losses.)

Essentially, by round 11, I expect the Pacific to look thusly:

Japan:  15 Aircraft, 5 Aircraft Carriers, 2 Battleships, 2 Cruisers, 6 or 7 Destroyers, 3-5 Submarines, 7 or 8 Transports
America: 8 Aircraft, 4 Aircraft Carriers, 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 6 or 7 Destroyers, 5-7 Submarines, 2 or 3 Transports
Australia/India: 7 Aircraft (3 Airbase, 4 Carrier), 2 Aircraft Carriers, 1 Battleship, 2 Cruisers, 4 or 5 Destroyers, 2-4 Submarines, 3 Transports (1 British, 2 Australian)

Atlantic side we are looking at:
Germany: 1 or 2 Submarines, maybe + 11 Aircraft
Italy: Nothing
England: 1 Battleship, 2 Aircraft Carriers, 1 Cruiser, 2 or 3 Destroyers, 1 or 2 Submarines (maybe, for Convoys in SZ 125, SZ 105), 3 or 4 Transports, 6 Fighters - Fleet in SZ 109 or SZ 110
France: Fighter, Destroyer (in the Med)
USA: 1 Battleship, 2 Aircraft Carriers, 1 Cruiser, 4 or 5 Destroyers, 2 or 3 Submarines (for Convoys), 8 Transports, 4 Fighters - Fleet in SZ 91 or SZ 92

I find it done by round 11 which is about 4 rounds before one side conceeds the game in a traditional Alpha 2 or antique Alpha 3 game.