The German Baltic navy is merely one big sinking ship (pardon the pun), and purchasing an AC is simply a futile attempt to save that sinking ship. True, investing more money into that ship (by the addition of an AC) keeps the ship afloat for a little while longer, but don’t confuse this delay with a possible denial of the ship’s inevitable fate on the bottom of the ocean’s floor.
I say buying an AC is a relative waste because of the following reasons:
-Numerical advantage: 2 vs. 1. UK and US are probably going to build up strong in the Atlantic and plow through to either Europe and/or Africa. Germany alone has to compete with both of these nations. 2 against 1 is not a fair fight even if 1 of the 2 nations (namely the UK) has far fewer IPCs than Germany. It’s nothing personal against Germany; you could say that a US navy in the Atlantic would be as hopeless if the UK and Germany were ganging up on the US instead.
-Positional advantage. UK and US can easily attack the German Atlantic navy with their navy AND air force. It is much harder for the Germans to include their air force in a attack against the Allies navy. The way the map is set up any fighter on the UK can reach almost every SZ within 2 spaces and thus make it back to the UK. The same can’t be said for Germany when the Allies and holding back and building up in SZ 2 and/or 10. The positional advantage the Allies possess in the Atlantic comes from this fact that the Allies can more easily dictate WHEN this battle for Atlantic naval superiority occurs.
It is better to strengthen your defenses where they are strong, not where they are weak. Germany is weaker in the waters than they are on the land. Germany starts the game with more armor than everyone else COMBINED. Use this to your advantage. An AC divides your forces between the waters and those already present on the land. Instead, play into Germany’s natural strength of land superiority and buy 5 infantry if defense is your goal. Supplement these infantry with armor and/or fighters if need be.
On the flip side, however, if offense is your goal, then go for long range air craft. Since the rules of AAR allow any nation to instantly use any tech they discover, but they have to wait 1 full turn to use any unit purchases, it seems that techs have a little advantage on units in that regard. Long-range air craft on G1 allows Germany to attack UK’s fleet before they get a chance to reinforce themselves. Long-range air craft effectively reduces this Allied positional advantage in the Atlantic.
Go for long-range air craft!