If Japan does not go after the Hawaiian Islands on turn J1, where do they put their ships?
I do not curently favor the J1 attack against Hawaii. But If Japan is not going to make a major more against the US on turn 1m where should they place their ships? My thought is they should move almost the entire IJN to the Carolines. From the Carolines, the IJN can threaten all of the Eastern Pacific.
The one big problem in this is the transports. I use the transports in SZ 6 to send down four more ground units to SE Asia, which puts them out of position to use against the US or ANZAC in turn 2. The transport in SZ 33(? - Carolines) I move to SZ 6 to be in position to move more troops of the home island. I buy a transport in J1 also giving me two for J2.
Now to the crux of the problem. The US should add forces to Hawaii on US1, but that is limited to two ground units, one an infantry. The other should probably be an AA gun or a tank. If the IJN attacks Hawaii on turn 2, they have the same problem they had in turn 1, except worse, because the US can still scramble one plane, and the island has two more troops.
Are we looking at a J1 or J2 attack against ANZAC now because of these US resources?
I curently attack J3 because I need the time to buy a few transports to make me comfortable “taking the plunge” as the Japanese. I wonder if Pearl Harbor Day will be forgotten in this alternative universe?