Fighter attacks sea zone with no place to land...

OK thanks for the help!

For Japan:
SZ 6(obvious)
SZ 35(central location of Japanese Empire; can reach Queensland, Burma, Japan, and Carolines.
SZ 33(Easternmost base; threatens Hawaii and Sydney and protects japan
SZ 37( Can reach India and most of Australia from here)

Allies:
SZ 54(This is the NB where both ANZAC and the US threaten the DEI and the Phil from)
SZ 26(US, on the way to Z54, threatens SZ 6 and SZ 33)
SZ 63(Can still reach java, is further out of reach of Japan, and can be protected with scramble)

I think that you shouldn’t have to separate out your defending fighters from the SBR.  The entire escort rule is there to make it harder to SBR someone.
The only reason that I could see to NOT send your fighters up to intercept would be that you don’t want them getting shot down… but realistically they’d get shot down on the airfields anyways.
My point is that in order to SBR somebody you should really need to be in a perfect position to do so (i.e. have fighter cover) but having to select which fighters intercept the bombers and which defend the zone i think detracts from that alot.  Just because you can bring some ground forces with you to attack shouldnt mean that you can SBR at will.

You seem to have it all correct. Your planes can not hit the subs because you do not have a destroyer in the battle. Japan may not remove them as a casualty, if you hit with your planes.

The Japanese subs also don’t get to shoot, if all you have fighting in the naval portion of this attack are planes.

@Omega:

don’t forget the +1 the tac give to Fig. Its a very powerful tool on offensive!

No, it’s the tac receiving the +1. I still prefer a sure def of 4 than a maybe attack of 4. And figs are cheaper while bombers move more. Anyway, no harm having at least one tac just in case

Japan can pass through those sea zones during the non-combat phase while not at war with the ally powers.  So really, is it that big of an issue?

AA 1940 Pacific has been released for 18 Days (Not 1 month as someone said, closer to a 1/2 month).

Let’s see if this question changes over the weeks/months.

Hawaii on round 1 is a pretty dicey proposition.

With no shore shot hits, the odds are about 20% of taking the Island.
If one shore shot hits, you are at 41%. 
If two shore shots hit, you are at 76%. 
Yes, you can get a third shot, but I would count on three hits. 
This assumes that you attach the Islands with all three transports including 3 infantry, 1 artillery and 1 tank (max 5 units since you only have 1 at Caroline)
Bottom line is that you need to be fairly lucky to take Hawaii round 1. 
I think the payoff is huge, but I can’t reccomend building your strategy around something that has such a high chance of failure.

If you fail badly (brick) then the counter attack could be pretty ugly.  The US has 8 planes that can reach along with 5 ships.  That is 13 total units.  You have (If I recall correctly) 15 total units that can reach, including 6 carrier aircraft.  You will likely win.  However, since they will be getting a check for $62, they can afford the losses, but you probably cannot.  You gained nothing on round 1 except a few territories in China.

Too much of a crap shoot for my tastes.