@Lynxes:
Of course you should use your at-start subs aggressively like you describe. The problem is any sub you build will either be blocked in North Sea (sz6) or if you get it out to English Channel or Norwegian Sea (sz7 or sz3) it’s very easy for the UK player to send either one DD forward or move his entire fleet forward and destroy your sub while defending with their measly ‘1’ in defence. If you have enough air power you might force the UK player to send in only their DD with the RAF so as to not expose their fleet, but if I was UK I’ll trade one DD for one sub anyday since it comes out of Germany’s hard-pressed IPC pocket!
The only way for BUILT subs to be effective for Germany is to get them to attack the main UK/US fleet in sz3 or sz7 in conjunction with air units and the mistaken DD block rule negates that possibility.
Again I’ll say, if you build subs you’re telling your opponent “I will not let you go into sz 7 or sz 3.” If you plan to be effective with them. A sub on G1 will not be blocked into sz 5 unless the GB1 build is directly into sz 6. Your goals are: clear sz 2, clear sz 6. You want ss sz 6 and, pie in the sky all 4 of your ftr survive, they’re in nwy x2, fra, and alg. This will nearly force the GB player to spend either nothing on a navy or all 43.
My general objective is to get a few subs on the board, spread them out, and use them as the infantry of the sea as Germany. This strategy generally involves the aggressive pursuit of Kar, as an air-base established their allows ftrs to defend sz 3.
If 2 subs then sz 5 sz 6
“” 3 “” sz 3
“” 4 “” sz 4
As you space your subs, you need to be able to think “well if a dd sinks this sub it’s not a big deal because I will sink a dd and I will net 2 IPC, BUT if he goes full force at one of my subs I should be able to destroy whatever’s in that sea zone, or at least come out +IPCs” If you’re spending money on this and you can’t tell yourself that, you’re just wasting the cash.