(I started this reply under the Battle of the Atlantic thread but thought it deserved its own…  Tell me what you think.)

Germany intelligently using its starting Kreigsmarine and Luftwaffe at game start plus building a few subs a turn should result in easy dominance of the Atlantic, at least for the first three turns.  When the USA joins the fray, however, its probably going to be a losing proposition with up to 80+ IPCs being dropped on the East coast a turn.  Unless you’re able to maintain a decent sized naval stack, with both German and Italian units joining together somewhere off Gibraltar, the naval situation will probably end up being what happened historically to Germany; relegation to the Baltic and eventual annihilation.  So, if you want to do a navy, you might as well use it where it will do the most good: Operation Sealion.  You will need the collusion of the Japanese player to maintain neutrality through turn 3 to keep the US happy, and Italy will have to pound Britain as hard as it can in Africa early on to deny Britain some NOs and IPCs.

Looking at the initial setup, it appears that a German Sealion strategy can work, but it won’t be very fun and with a smart British player you will probably just barely be achieving even odds if you want to invade England.  It IS possible though, and since Britain is the only power Germany starts the game at war with, it is your best opportunity to KO a major opponent Round 3.  Here’s the plan:

G1:  This strategy centers around Germany’s ability to build from Western Germany into SZ 112.  Build an AC and two transports; or if you’re feeling less adventurous, build an AC and a destroyer and sub (or save the 6 IPCs).  Use the bomber, 4 fighters, and 3 tac bombers plus your starting subs in the Atlantic to clear the SZs around Britain.  Both battleships are in range from Western Germany and your own battleship and cruiser can attack the British and French cruisers in SZ 112; with leftover air it should be cake.  Use your 6 starting tanks to pound France along with as much infantry as you can spare for casualties; if you have any tac bombers leftover use them for the 4s with the tanks.  If you feel a little risky, take an inf and art from Holland into Normandy for the IC and NB.  I think you can use an infantry from Norway and Romania to liberate pro-Axis Finland and Bulgaria and get their IPCs, but I’m not entirely sure on that point.

Hopefully, you won’t lose more than one plane from the carnage, some subs will survive in SZs that will perform convoy raids on the UK, and your main tank stack in France will be intact.  Land your fighters on the carrier to be built in SZ 112, the cruiser, battleship and transport there with the loaded carrier should prove a sufficient deterrent.  Depending on how many fighters the UK actually has on England round 1 (we still don’t know, I’m thinking 3-4 for balance purposes), whether you build the 2 transports or the destroyer/sub combo in addition to the carrier will be based on how well England can respond UK1.  At any rate, a fleet capable of supporting a Sealion will be ready to go.  Pull your tanks and infantry into Western Germany depending on how bad the losses were in France, at least enough to fill the transports you will build.  Germany should have around 60+ IPCs with the money looted from France as well.

Additional G1 strategy:  This is a bit riskier, but it may in fact work better in bringing England to its knees.  The AB in Western Germany allows the starting fighters and tac bombers to reach England G1.  3 fighters, 2 tacs and the bomber buzzing England could conceivably KO the RAF the first round since there’s only 1 inf as a soak at game start.  This attempt would depend on how many UK fighters are present at setup (1-4?), plus you are risking a lot to AA fire.  The remaining fighter and tac could attack only one battleship, too, so the UK could counterattack your fleet building in SZ 112.  But this attack would be the equivalent of cutting the UK off at the knees, since without the 3-4 fighter 4s defending the island, any UK infantry stack will be at a severe disadvantage.  I think it might be worth a shot.

G2:  All right, this is where you make the British player cry.  If the UK player was stupid and built all naval units, use your fleet, remaining subs, and airforce to tear it to shreds in SZ 110.  Your 1-3 transports should be able to get through the carnage and land with enough force to take the island (should only be a few inf plus the 3-4 fighters).  A few fighters and the bomber helping out the 6 land units should do the trick.

If the UK player was smart and built 8 infantry and a tank, you are now facing around 10 inf and 1 tank in addition to the 3-4 fighters the UK starts the game with.  Fairly daunting task to chew through, but not impossible, especially with your French IPCs.  Germany should have upper 50s, if not 60+, IPCs at start of G2.  Depending on whether you have built 2 transports the first turn or the destroyer/sub combo, you still have the option of building up to 8 transports off SZ 112.  However many you decide to build, make sure you have enough armor/artillery/inf to make the crossing count.  Germany starts with plenty of both and two turns is more than enough time to pull everything together in Western Germany for the invasion.

G3:  Right now you probably ought to be building some ground units to start defending eastern Europe from Russia on Round 4, but who cares about that!  SEALION!!!  I’m looking at a total of up to 9 transports (1 starting with 8+ built over 2 turns), with possibly 6-7 armor, up to 3 artillery, 9 infantry, plus your 4 fighters, 3 tac and 1 regular bomber ready to go G3 (possibly more than 8 transports if you built 2 extra transports G1).  The MOST the UK player can come up with is around 20 inf, 3 tanks, and 4 planes after they build UK2 (and this is if they are PERFECT, i.e. pull back everything, and go defensive everywhere else).  With AA hits, the battle should still be slightly in your favor…  But I know slightly may not be good enough for you experienced AA players.  The best part about this strategy is that there are options before you reach this juncture.

If UK builds all land units UK1, you can chicken out G2 (Pysche!), and instead build a moderate inf/tank/air combination with the French IPCs, and either pull the fleet back into the Baltic to use against Russia G3-4, or go kamikaze with it and try to hold as much of the Atlantic as long as you can.  Using the Normandy minor IC you can even reinforce the fleet with subs or a few transports a turn to keep Britain on the defensive; but I think after UK3 taking the island just isn’t going to happen, with the US forces incoming.  The land units UK built in England the first turn should help Italy out in Africa, at the very least.  This pretty much sums up the German Sealion strategy.

PROS:  Taking England G2-3.  Even if you barely manage to take the island (like with 1 tank), you should have enough transports and ground units to permanently hold onto it the following round.  Once the US enters the war, holding onto Britain will definitely be more dicey, but with 9 transports able to reinforce, plus the fleet being easily rebuilt/reinforced from England, the US should be having its hands full.  Japan (in Global) should be having a field day in the Pacific, if nothing else.  Italy should also be having fun in Africa.  The fleet can also be used to invade Russia at Leningrad on a whim.

CONS:  You’re sinking two rounds of IPCs (plus France’s) into transports!!!  Very risky if Britain knows what it’s doing and builds all infantry.  The US and Russian players can make hay out of your naval gamble.  Russia will definitely get huge and dangerous once you pull everything back to Western Germany for the invasion.  Good luck trying to defend the transport stack from the US if you lose all your fighters taking Britain!

P.S.  I’m thinking that sending most of your air units to attack the 4 British fighters at game start might be the best option in crippling the UK’s chances for defending the island.  Even if you lose half your air force killing them off (5? 4? hits) the UK will be hard pressed with just ground units defending.  Guess we’ll see when the game goes out to the public at the end of the month.

I like the game balance in this version in that it actually plays differently.  Each theater acts individually yet still blends into the world game map as a whole.  US and UK cannot effectively ship 20 FIG to Russia like they have in previous games unless they have already dealt with Italy and Japan and have them successfully contained (i.e., Russia is its own separate theater for the majority of the game).  In the Pacific, however, playing as a team for the Allies is required.  More territories and more money on the game board means that traditional infantry-push strategies will be ineffective; it will be up to the tactics and strategies of the players to see their conquests through to capture the capitals.

J2 attack is considered the “best” since you prevent the UK Pacific and ANZAC from grabbing the ENTIRE DEI FIRST from the get-go.  If you let these powers take the DEI first, there’s now defensive infantry there you need to shoot through, necessary amphibious assaults and more infantry/art needed for transports, carriers needed for air support; it becomes a huge mess very quickly.  While you do have the big fleet units and are better equipped to fight for the islands, if you can take the DEI first without needing their extra support the ships and air can used offensively elsewhere and not necessarily relegated to guard duty for your transports.  The UK and ANZAC also start with pathetic navy units in the area and generally can’t get to most of your transports or put up much of a fight in the first place (they’re really only there as blockers and to help drop off land units); another reason to beat them to the DEI first so you don’t have to fight landed troops already there.

However, if Germany is attempting Sealion, it might be a good idea to wait it out for another turn.  Just that you know you’ll be headed into the long slog for the Pacific theater with UK Pac at 30 and ANZAC at 20 with their NOs…  So possibly take it a bit slower.  (Though, with the new rule for the US being able to declare war on the Axis if London falls, there’s really not that much point of waiting till J3, the US will be coming after you anyway.)

You might consider buying a transport on Turn 1 of UK Pacific, to help take the DEI islands later on, but that’s about it in terms of building ships.  India’s income falls so fast from the Japs by Turn 3-4 that trying to maintain a navy is suicidal.  ART and INF buys are generally the way to go.  You can throw back the Japs in Burma for quite awhile with consistent land unit buys.  Just don’t leave your land stack in Burma and have Jap transports from Malaya in range of an undefended India.

Think of the Pacific UK in gameplay terms like Russia, where you just have to hold out until the cavalry arrives.  Usually this is the US, though the UK can sometimes send a fleet in from the Med after they’ve taken out the Italians there.

Now we’re talking about either attacking with the Russians OR attacking the Russians as Japan on game start?

OK.

I disagree here.  If Japan wastes a lot of resources killing the Amur stack, that’s just it, a waste.  You’re just building up a future unit deficit against China and India by not consolidating your forces in the right places.  It’s also worse to piddle around against the Chinese and the UK at game start since both powers can make MORE money as the game progresses compared to Russia which will always stay close to a static 37 IPCs (at least for the first 3-4 turns).

True, you could argue that those troops aren’t doing anything anyways, but what would you rather have on J5:  20+ land units you carefully marched across China to Burma with loaded transports in range of India; or 5-10 land units possibly without support isolated in Russia somewhere?

Same could be said of Russia with its 18 INF in Amur, if Germany goes hard for Barbarossa with a G2 build and attacks, you’ll be glad you were cautious with them at game start around R6-7.

Even though these land units aren’t effectively “used” every turn, they still have “threaten potential” to influence future events and builds across the board.

@Cmdr:

Does better, but still loses.

I would even suggest that a J2 attack would still work even in the face of a Sealion since the US would need to commit everything to the Atlantic for several turns for the UK retake and Japan would get even more gains than it would have otherwise in the Pacific.  It’s only (+20-30, depending on how many territories Japan takes on J2 attack) extra US IPCs for one turn since the US always declares war on US 3 collect income anyway.  Hell, with a good push on Hawaii on J2 you could force the US to split those extra IPCs into the two theaters right off the bat.  Early Japanese attacks still seem to work best.  Even if you wait and don’t provoke the US’s war NO till Round 3, the UK and ANZAC are making almost that much off the DEI already, AND fortifying it with infantry to boot!  (It’s also kind of dumb waiting around to declare war since the US can declare war if the Germans take London on Round 3 anyway…)

Also, define “loses” if the Euro Axis win by going for Barbarossa instead.  Faking Sealion has never been easier for the G2 build.  And all Japan needs to do is really buy time and force the US to spend in the Pacific.  Even historically the Japanese willingly entered a war with the US that they knew they couldn’t win; they were simply hoping to wear the Americans down enough to where the Pacific would become a stalemate.  Same thing in this game.  The way this game is set up in separate theaters with little overlap makes it even more so.

Bah.  Change the rules so that submarines can retreat if they survive a round of combat, offensive battles OR defensive.  It’s stupid that a single destroyer with backup planes can destroy an entire sub stack with the current rules.  Maybe have destroyers’ effects on subs only work on a 1:1 basis.

Gah, if you build 3 minor complexes in Asia you almost have equivalent output to a major IC (Malaya, Ksi, FIC, 36 IPCs vs. 30 IPCs).  If you did your job correctly in the DEI in the opening turns as Japan, the UK Pacific major IC ISN’T going to be producing 10 units a turn to counter that (likely it’ll be reduced to 6 IPCs in short order).  You also have the advantage of transports that can reinforce at will along the coast.  Japan can easily crush India over time as the UK’s unit deficit adds up, especially if Japan moves their starting units in China over to Yunnan in a hurry.

Get over it.  Japan is not underpowered, I would say its overpowered compared to the US with the ability to kill 10+ IPCs each turn of the US’s NOs during the entire game and the monstrous advantage in starting aircraft.  Even if you play to the point where Japan is finally losing against the US, if its J8 or J9, you’ve done your job in distracting the US away from the European theater and the Axis should be victorious on that side of the board.

NAs?

NAs were older Axis and Allied canon, they were power-specific “techs” each side started the game with.  Like mech infantry for the Germans and destroyer infantry carrying capacity for the Japanese.  Not sure on the specifics for the older games, however.  Someone’d have to look them up.

@warwinner:

I agree. I don’t think defending subs should be allowed to retreat, but they should be able to submerge. If you think about it, that’s the tactic they employed when they encountered a destroyer. I like the 1-1 match up. Should (defending subs) not matched up be allowed to submerge before first round of combat? I think so.

Someone bring it up on Larry’s site.  I think its a great idea.  Subs are damn near worthless except as fodder hits in major battles as is.

What are you talking about?  Convoy damage is so pro-Allies it practically breaks the game.  Italy is a dead duck if the Allies get significant forces into SZ 97 (up to -12 in convoy damage per turn with Yugo and Greece), and Japan’s SZ 6 can wipe out up to 1/2 of Japan’s starting income.  The Allies’ corresponding UK convoy damage SZ 109, however, is a damn death trap for the Axis for most of the game as both the US and the UK can reach it easily with destroyers and subs.

We need to add either more convoy zones to the map (I’d like to see more for Russia in SZ 126 and 127, also Vladiostock in SZ 5 possibly as an NO block), perhaps the ability to BLOCK resources entirely if you have enough naval units in a convoy zone from far-off territories.  It’d also be nice to see if subs could retreat if they survive an initial attack by a destroyer, their 1 defense is pitiful and they need some method of escape.