I’ll scramble for mainly for two reasons.
Sometimes if I know my opponent doesn’t like to SL or isn’t very good at handling USSR after a SL, I’ll scramble just to tempt them into going down a path I know they’ll struggle with. Depends on what Japan’s doing as well as where I’m planning on spending the bulk of my US money.
Thanks for the responses! I’m still not quite convinced…
On spending the 30IPC on ground forces against Russia:
While I agree that ART/MEC/ARM are better ground forces against Russia - I think INF are a better first turn build. ART can be built on G2, arriving in time for Moscow but kept safe from the small attack/counter attack battles that take place in pushing Russia out of Leningrad and Ukraine. ARM and MEC are best built on G2-5, since they can catch up. I digress though: the important aspect here is spending on land forces against Russia vs spending on naval units.
Any inf/art placed down in Berlin will take an additional 5 turns to get to Moscow. That means any G2+ inf/art buys in Berlin will arrive after the Soviet Far East forces could potentially return home. Unless economic parity is attained and maintained, the axis chances of victory will decrease each round they fail to win. IMO, the axis must be in position to win by Rd 8 or very shortly thereafter. While they are cheap, I don’t really think Germany can afford to be buying slow movers to push into Moscow past G1 unless you’re building them in captured factories.
Germany does start with a bunch of infantry, so I’m not sure more infantry are needed. If nothing else, get arty to boost your existing infantry plus all the planned mech builds that will be rolling off the factories G2+.
I don’t like buying a ton of ground units on G1 unless I’m doing a G1 Barb. If UK sees an all ground units buy, then they can take the gloves off against Italy. Others have enumerated why a carrier can be an effective G1 build, but I’d be hesitant to buy those transports. Maybe save the money or get something else.
My favorite G1 buys are either saving that money up or spending a partial buy getting 1-2 bombers. The bombers give you a little bit more options G2 and can still be used in a SL.
It seems pretty fair; you have to commit to what is going to die before you see how you do on the retaliation. That usually means avoiding losing your destroyer or tipping a carrier until later in the battle; forcing you to take these casualties without gaining another piece of information (your defensive performance) seems like a great idea.
Its the exact same as buying your units; you are not allowed to purchase units and then see how you do and what dies and lives and revise that buy to make up for what was lost or not gained by luck. Same in each round of combat; you don’t get to know how you perform before you are forced to choose what dies. Usually, its losing a DD at the wrong time. Without this rule, subs would be slightly weaker because as it is; they force that choice on the defender.
This favors the attacker pretty heavy as they know what they did before they take hits where the defender does not know the result of the roll.
Normaly we play that we first roll the battles and then remove the casualties, defender first then attacker if it makes a difference.
Just makes defending a bit better currelty the attacker has all the advantages.
If done right, attackers should have the advantage, they get to pick the when and where. If the odds aren’t favorable for an attack then they can choose not to attack in the first place. That’s why defense in depth is such a crucial strategy in the real world. Defenders do have some things going for them, it’s cheaper to build a defensive force then an offensive one. Usually you need to have around 1.4-1.5 times more/better units to be able to have good odds of winning a battle. You often have a decision to make in regards to scrambling/kamikazing which forces your opponent to account for the potential that you might do something. This can lead to the attacker diffusing his attack power all on his own.
Lastly whatever advantage or disadvantage a player (nation) might have, the roles will oftentimes switch in the near future.
@WILD:
Example if you have 11-12 bombers bombing western germany, intercepting with 3-4 German fighters that usually sit on western for 2-3 rounds isn’t worth it. You would probably just hope the AA guns would work
Odds are with 11-12 bombers you would be losing money or at best breaking even at that point. If you send that many you should expect to lose ~2/turn costing you $24. The max damage that you could do to a major factory would be $20, which you would expect to reach with 4-5 bombers. The other bombers are extraneous at that point and you’re just subjecting them to enemy aa fire that could get lucky.
If you have that many bombers and are still buying more, a better strat might just be to start strafing small stacks of German units. It would either force Germany to abandon various territories or really pile on the units so your massive bomber force can’t touch them.
As far as where escorts could land, they could land in sz110 (assuming allied fleet there), somewhere along the French coast, or Norway.
Well you could also add a Frenchie in London. But I can’t figure out anything really worth bidding. :-D
The whole point of the Transport is that you can only put bid units where like units exist
Have the bid rules changed? I thought that limitation only applied to sea units?
League has the default rule as it applying everywhere.
Ah, I haven’t played any games with that rule. Wasn’t even aware it existed and had to look up those league rules. I’ve usually played with 1 unit per territory, no ships where there aren’t already ships, and you had to put down a unit matching the nationality of the terr you were placing it in.
I guess that rules out putting an Aussie in New Guinea or other similar moves. With those rules I’m now trying to figure out if there’s a way add an Aussie or French unit in any of the territories they share with UK that would be really useful . . .
The whole point of the Transport is that you can only put bid units where like units exist
Have the bid rules changed? I thought that limitation only applied to sea units?
I’m going to take that as meaning “You don’t have to, but it may be advised”. On that point, I’m happy to agree.
It’s 79% IIRC correctly of killing a 3ftr scramble and the BB with 3ftrs (2 from London) and no sub.
Yeah, that was my intended meaning. Your way of writing it conveys what I meant. I guess it all comes down to what you’re willing to risk percentage wise in that battle. Some people might be comfortable with something in the 80s, others might prefer a higher percentage.
The great thing about G40 is there’s never really a right or wrong answer. I’ve never looked back from the classic or even the revised editions once I tried G40.
If UK can hold the Middle East and Egypt then yes. They can hold off Germany long enough for US to switch back to Europe IF US doesn’t take too long against Japan. Germany will eventually overpower the European allies without US intervention, but you can stall Germany for some time. You can lose all the Russian VCs and still get the win. I feel a lot of players think all is lost once Moscow falls. You can slow Germany long enough to allow US to focus on Japan through the early and into the intermediate game. Spend too long focusing on Japan or allow Germany to take Moscow too early and you could easily be facing some poor odds though.
US fighters could reach Egypt in two turns if you really need to hold that last VC in Europe. Just be cautious of London’s defense as it could be vulnerable if you’re putting most/all the US money into the Pacific. I’ve lost a couple games when I wrote off the threat to London when US wasn’t in the Atlantic and Germany was building land/air. One turn is all it takes for Germany to reposition its large airforce and put down 9-10 transports.
I’ll scramble for mainly for two reasons.
Sometimes if I know my opponent doesn’t like to SL or isn’t very good at handling USSR after a SL, I’ll scramble just to tempt them into going down a path I know they’ll struggle with. Depends on what Japan’s doing as well as where I’m planning on spending the bulk of my US money.