How about USA spend less (but definately not zero) IPCs in Europe now. The large (and growing) allied fleet @ Gibraltar looks enough to scare Germany to not think about ‘going for London’. Furthermore, once the net closes around Cairo, it can quickly relocate to reinforce Egypt. The USN can stage inside the Med (off Gibraltar) to cost Italy economically and to tighten the rope around its neck. Of course, then you also have to be creative about finding a way to reinforce this position. Reinforcements either stage off the coast of both the Guyana’s first, or simply rely on the presumption that German bombers do not wish to land in Southern France/Normandy/Belgium and stage west off Gibraltar anyway. Consider building an IC in Egypt. You’ll need every man woman and tea spoon you can lay your hands on to defend Cairo with.
Meanwhile, with the bulk of US investments going into the Pacific once more, Japan will collapse soon. After that, Cairo (and Europe subsequently) can also be reinforced from the Pacific. Germany against the world doesn’t sound as a very fair game to me ;-). UK can spend most (but maybe not all) its IPCs into Africa/med at the same time. Tip for once IJN is in an inferior position in the Pacific: convoy each and every coastal area Japan owns to further reduce their income. This is what should happen immediately after Japan takes Calcutta (IJN out of position), or at a later point if they do not (this game, and the very reason why I didn’t go for India I might add). At this point, the USA/ANZAC need more submarines for it, but ultimately it can very quickly result in another -30IPCs per turn on the Japanese income. If you can’t own the coast, raid it.
Alternatively the allies can keep spending heavily in the Atlantic, but that doesn’t look likely to achieve anything better than the current status quo in Western Europe, plus building up in advance for the defense of Cairo.
So basically I guess the two options for the USA are offensive (spending much more in the Pacific) or defensive (Europe spending), both ultimately ending in a struggle for Cairo and both with its own pros and cons.
On a personal note, I don’t think DS is too strong but I do think the balance of the game is too heavily centered in the Pacific. If the allies do NOT deal with Japan first (one way or the other), I don’t think they stand a chance. Likewise, there isn’t much Japan can do if the USA spends their income of the first 3/4 turns into the Pacific entirely. Maybe if they give up either the land or naval war for the long term and focus on the other from the start, but I would need to try that. Either way Japan will be hurting very badly in the area not chosen but maybe the achievements in the chosen area will balance it somehow. In our current playtest, I am obviously trying to keep Japan’s head above the water in both area’s, resulting in less hurting but also in less Japanese achievements.
