Karl7, I agree with you on US transports. One of my main problems playing the US is getting too many transports too early, then not having enough fleet to protect them properly. One time I had a really good invasion force parked in SZ 91, something like 9-10 transports full of men, artillery and tanks, with what I thought was a pretty decent fleet. Germany attacked with a cruiser, a destroyer, a few subs and 3 or 4 planes. The result: Germany has 1 single bomber survive the battle and sink all 10 of those transports. Now I had all those infantry, artillery and tanks stuck in Morocco with no way to get anywhere important.
By the time I got enough transports plus warships, Germany had quite a few more subs prowling around and were at the gates of Moscow and Stalingrad. Not to mention Japan was having a grand old time in Asia and the Pacific because I dedicated too much to rebuilding the Atlantic fleet so the Pacific got neglected. Lesson learned.
I used to think that the US made just too much for the Axis to compete, especially if the US got in the war early. Since they have to use so many transports and go so far, especially in the Pacific, I can see now that it’s not so overwhelming after all. If done right, the Axis on both boards can make a lot of headway by the time a sizeable US force arrives.