@barnee
We have made 1 change to the Kamikaze rule:
Carrier Based Fighter units cannot be used for a Kamikaze attack.
Why:
Since the preparation of a Kamikaze attack requires additional explosives and modification of the aircraft, the Carrier Based Fighter unit is not suitable for this purpose.
The requirements mentioned above would simply strain the capacity of an Aircraft Carrier unit.
For game play reasons this also seems more balanced, since the Japanese player would have to use an expensive air unit for the Kamikaze attack, rather than sacrificing a much cheaper Carrier Based Fighter unit.
This might make the Japanese player think twice before launching a Kamikaze attack.
- Concerning the Japanese Strategy in the Pacific:
Japan should not count the Kamikaze attacks as part of their strategy - whether or not the Kamikaze rule is OOB or Expansion.
If Japan is forced to use Kamikaze - the War is most likely over anyway.
Japan should only use the Kamikaze rule if an Allied player is careless - and there is an opportunity to inflict heavy casualty to an Allied Aircraft Carrier unit, Heavy Battleship unit etc.
The Expansion Kamikaze rule seems to give the Japanese player a better advantage rather than the OOB Kamikaze rule, since the attack has approximately 80 percentage chance of a hit - the attack is not limited to any specific sea zone - and also Japan has limitless number of Kamikaze attacks available (though only 1 attack in each round).
- Concerning the US Strategy in the Pacific:
Whether or not the Japanese Kamikaze rule is from OOB rules or from Expansion rules, the US amphibious assaults that are made in the Pacific are for the most part a “one way ticket”.
Transport units do not have the time or get the chance to go back to the Western USA to pick up fresh reinforcements.
Since Transport units cannot be attacked by Kamikaze, the US player can launch an amphibious assault with Transport units only - supported by air units and Submarine units (if there is a Naval battle - or if Japan scrambles air units against the Transport units).
This hinder that Japan can attack with Kamikaze.
Then during Non-Combat Movement, the US player can move the Naval Task Force into the sea zone where the Transport units launched the assault - to protect the Transport units from Japanese counter-attacks.