Buying and using submarines

If I am playing as US or Japan I buy subs often.  Commonly as the US, usually around turn 5 or 6, I will do a 10 sub buy in the Pacific.

I like to have USA sink the Japanese fleet, then fill the Chinese coast with ANZAC subs.

Honestly, as the Germans I think the best sub strat involves gobbling up Southern France on G1 and pumping out subs into the Mediterranean from G2 onwards. I’ve had great success with that strat after trying a number of other possible solutions to help out the Italians with Germany. If you keep a couple of planes handy in Southern Italy you get even more mileage out of them.

As for deliberately going after all of the UK destroyers… I don’t really see that working out. Leaving 111 alone so that you can hit 109 just doesn’t sound that smart to me, and you can’t hit that sea zone with everything you could throw into 111 either. There’s also the problem that destroyers are among the cheapest and most effective naval units in the game, so forcing the Allies to build them isn’t exactly doing you a whole lot of favours. Just my 2 cents.

A German opening I used to use now and then was taking out SZ 106, 109 and 111, with the obvious idea being to take out every British DD.  When Ike lived in the area we’d play often, and one of his favorite counters to this was to combine the remaining Royal Navy from 110, 91 and 98 into SZ 92.  He’d even use the DD from 98 as a blocker against Italy in SZ 94.  Worked pretty effectively.

If the Allies plan to win, the USA has to buy subs at some point.  The question is - when?

Subs are the endgame for the Pacific battle - the USA builds them once it’s confident that the Japanese fleet is nothing to worry about, or can at least be held at bay for quite some time.  USA likely occupies SZ 6 at this point.  But start building them too early and your fleet defense takes a nosedive.  All this assumes that taking the home islands is not a serious objective.

Subs are also how Italy gets shut down, generally.  I can rarely seem to make this work in practice when I play Allies, but I’ve had it done to me on many occasions.

To add to Shin Ji’s post I would say that subs are most valuable when convoy disruption is viable - i.e. when you have naval supremacy in any theatre. In the Med to disrupt sz97 and take out Italy’s economy is the most obvious example.

Lesser roles include threatening unescorted transports or preventing amphibious assaults that are not accompanied by warships. Both can be relevant in the Pacific.

@Young:

So is it safe to say that purchasing subs is only viable if you have the upper hand on naval supremacy?

I believe they can also be a valuable purchase toward attaining naval supremacy.  If the fleets are somewhat close, a large sub purchase is a good way to swing it in your favor.

As an example using David Skelly’s calculator:

Attacker has 4 CV with 8 fighters, 2 subs, 2 DD, 2 C, 2 BB

Defender has 3 CV with 6 fighters, 2 subs, 2 DD, 1 C, 1 BB

This battle is a 97% win for the attacker.  I then ran two scenarios: one where the defender adds a loaded CV, and one where they add 6 subs.

Extra loaded CV: 62% for the attacker

Extra 6 subs: 54% for the attacker

Once you have a solid set of power ships, large sub buys seem to be the way to go

Getting enough forces to also hit SZ110 is difficult.  It would be very tempting for the UK to scramble on one of the attacks.

On the Pacific side of the map:
As US, I like to make sure my fleet is secure against the Japanese navy from a defensive point of view. In other words, I buy the number of carriers needed to protect the Allied fleet. After that, it’s nothing but subs (5 a turn or so).

On the Atlantic side:
I like to have 1 Axis sub ready to strike SZ91 (common place for the Allied fleet) because of the rule that subs can always pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Even though I almost never attack, the Allies have to spend resources to protect against Italian subs and German bombers.

The reason I like to hit 111 is that it leaves zero DD’s on the board for the UK, meaning any surviving German subs are safe.  I’ll usually do it this way:

• 2 subs to 106
• 3 subs, 2 fighters, 1 tac bomber*, 2 str bombers to 109
• 1 BB, 2 fighters, 3 tacs to 111

*I buy a CV when using this strategy in order to get the tac from Berlin involved.

Even a scramble in 111 doesn’t do much other than kill the BB and one fighter.  But the key is 109.  UK can scramble 4 fighters, but the numbers don’t advise it.  Germany should get four hits, UK three if they scramble, which means they would be down a DD and 3 fighters as opposes to Germany’s three subs.

That being the case, UK never scrambles in 109 and all three subs usually survive.  Combine that with 106, where Germany should survive with at least 1 sub, and you’re looking at 4 German subs on the board without a single UK DD in sight.  Not only that, but when the UK collects at the end of its turn, Germany is able to convoy up to 11 damage.

@Young:

Right, I forgot about the DD in 111… I just don’t know about leaving 110 because those ships can get to a safe area fast and even help the American fleet flex some muscle later. Can’t justify giving the UK an extra battleship and cruiser to play with just for the possibility of convoying 11 IPCs for one turn (you know the UK will buy at least 1 DD and the Americans would get a couple as well if the Germans have 3 or 4 subs on the board after G1).

And ultimately this is why I don’t love it.  It’s fun to do it now and then just to change up the game, but ultimately, giving the UK the chance to combine fleets in 92 is too much.

@Young:

Right, I forgot about the DD in 111… I just don’t know about leaving 110 because those ships can get to a safe area fast and even help the American fleet flex some muscle later. Can’t justify giving the UK an extra battleship and cruiser to play with just for the possibility of convoying 11 IPCs for one turn (you know the UK will buy at least 1 DD and the Americans would get a couple as well if the Germans have 3 or 4 subs on the board after G1).

If the UK is making Sea Lion preparations and also trying to bolster Egypt with an industrial complex on UK1, that destroyer simply does not get built. If the US is being kept out of the war (a lot of folks favor keeping the US from moving until US4), US destroyers do not matter.

The tradeoff of course would be that Egypt is easier for Italy to conquer if the UK does build that destroyer. Of course, that is yet another circumstance of trading disadvantage for Germany (or Japan if the ships head Pacific) for advantage for Italy.

The surviving UK/French ships from 110 could be slaved to the US fleet for additional protection, dispatched to the Pacific via the Panama Canal (nothing stops the US from allowing them passage), or head into the Med to inconvenience Italy. I actually kind of like the Pacific idea, which means that the US Pacific fleet can be geared more towards attack because it has slaved UK and French vessels that provide additional defense…

So yeah, I also think that letting the fleet in 110 go is a mistake.

Marsh

PS (added after original post): I like sending those ships to the Pacific more than sea zone 92 because the UK does not need them in the Med if it is deploying blockers and building an IC in Egypt on UK1.

@Young:

So I don’t see a viable submarine strategy for Germany past turn 1, they have much higher units on their priority list before submarines, like bombers, tanks, and fighters. Even if Germany can get into a position to make significant convoy disruptions, it won’t last long with allied air units in the area. Also, a SBR strategy on London to go along with some convoy money is a good idea, but it would only allow Moscow the time and freedom to get stronger. If Germany ever got into a situation to hurt the UK with large multiple convoy disruptions, it would likely come from a very odd and rare set of circumstances that can’t be planned going into a new game. Even if there were no allied destroyers around, it would be difficult to justify a sub purchase when a tank is more useful (why buy subs for 6 when you can buy tanks for 6 is the same argument as why buy cruisers for 12 when you can buy bombers for 12?). However, subs are the best unit for taking away the Soviet Union NO National Prestige by sitting in sea zone 125.

One thing I have done when employing the “eliminate the UK destroyer’s strategy” (never had a good name for it) is purchase 5 subs on G1.  Again, it’s not the strongest move Germany can make, but it’s a lot of fun to do now and then