More on the choice between sz 106 and sz 109…
There is a uboat in sz 117 that could hit either. In sz 106 you have a decent shot destroying 15 TUV. In sz 109 you have basically no chance of winning but are very likely to draw a scramble out of England or Scotland. In either case, you are likely leaving 1 transport and Destroyer alive that can reach Gibraltar on UK1.
sz 106 seems like the obvious choice, but when you consider how potent a scramble can be in sz 110 or sz 111, it might well be worth the cost of the 6 ipcs in TUV to draw a potential scramble into sz 109 rather than those other two. Basically trading the cost of the units in TUV for a better chance to control how UK can respond.
If you send the Holland fighter as well its a total cost of 16 ipcs risked, to virtually guarantee a scramble here, or no scramble with a very good chance of sinking that destroyer and transport (which means among other things that you don’t have to defend Norway, Denmark, West Germany etc.) Though this puts less heat on the 110 battle, so probably very risky.
If you just attack sz 106 you don’t force the defender to make a decision, and they may still smoke you on defense. In 109 on the other hand, you will almost certainly get smoked, but just launching the attack gives UK a very strong reason to scramble into 109 rather than into the Channel or the North Sea with at least 1 fighter.
How would you respond as UK? Scramble 1 fighter out of Scotland or 1 fighter out of UK? No scramble at all, and wait to see your counter attack potential? Given the possible wild swings in 110 and 111, I think its hard not to consider the full scramble, especially since Allies don’t have a lot of opportunities to destroy German TUV at the outset beyond this opening engagement. On the other hand, scrambling can doom the Royal airforce. How much scrambling do you do these days? haha ;)
Curious if other people regularly try the 109 gambit to draw the scramble, since it seems like it could dramatically reduce the risk in the other naval battles if you can push the UK player to scramble here and play it safe, rather than putting everything into the first round defense of the English Channel and North Sea. Any thoughts?