It seems alot of people are struggling with the US, does anyone have some ideas on what the US can do to make an impact sooner? Is it better for the US to go north after Japan right away, head south to take on carolines, or skip the direct attack and head to new zealand and then after the dutch east indies?
To me it also seems the US would be best served purchasing destroyers and subs primarily with perhaps 1 or 2 carriers, as she lacks the spare aircraft for carriers that japan has, and with carriers being so defensive in nature, it seems better to load up on alot of smaller, more offensive ships. With the large aircraft force japan starts with, combined with he power of airbases, to me it would seem best for the US to head south, rally with ANZAC forces, and start liberating islands. This would force Japan to attack a combined allied fleet to keep her income. Any thoughts?
Yes, I think that is exactly correct. The US also needs to make sure they have troops and transports available in the SoPac area or else the threat isnt ‘real’. In one of our games the US player staged air to Midway and took Iwo and deployed an airbase there with which to threaten any new Japanese builds. But the Japanese were able to relocated about 6-7 Fighters/Tac to Japan and coupled with anything new that was build it was just too tough to kill even with a fleet of bombers and other aircraft. And truth to tell, the Japanese didnt NEED more navy in the south anyways so unless the US was presenting some other threat, there was little need to reinforce the Sea of Japan anyways.
One thing that strikes me as considerably different than AA50 is that the islands around Australia and the Coral Sea dont seem to be importan to Japan (at least not important enough to risk a fight over). Sure there is a bonus there, but 5 IPCs isnt worth overextending and losing even a single unit. This REALLY takes pressure off of Japan to stretch and lets her consolidate defensively after taking the DEI. We thought about a naval base at the Solomons for the US, but if I’m reading the rules correctly, the Anzacs have to build it, not the US (since it is Anzac territory). This seems a little wrong as the US DID build up Guadalcanal past where it was when they took it from the Japanese. But even a naval base in the Solomons (regardless of who built it) is just too little too late. Building it means that the Allies are down a few MORE ships or planes in the area and unless Truk falls, the US can’t easily reinforce to that area anyways.
I like the way they made Truk important. I do NOT like how the Japanese can cheerfully ignore everything south of Truk until the game is essentially over anyways. It doesnt allow the US to fight anywhere NEAR her own lines of supply/reinforcement whereas historically an awful lot of fighting took place at that extreme end of Japan’s logistical pipeline.
But to the point, I still think the US has no choice but to head south. Without that they can never endanger Japan’s econ. Unless Japan’s econ is brought down it’s only a matter of time till she can take out Australia for the win.
