But an invasion of Hawaii does not distract a good US player. Often I will purchase either 5inf arm 2trn or 6inf 2trn, but with only 2 new trannies which is what I want to do with America anyway so that I can keep pumping troops into Africa/Europe without a lag. Anyway with a 5inf arm purchase the US will have 9inf 2arm in their homeland and only need 5-units to defend WUS of which two can be the British canadians. So the US will have 4inf-WUS and 5inf 2arm in the EUS fully capable of landing in Africa on US2.
Exactly right.
I remember when I was first starting out in the game, that losing Hawaii or Alaska as the US seemed like a big deal, and it would definately alter my strategy. Anymore, I basically just build a few extra infantry in the West and that’s it. In order for Japan to pose a threat that’s even worth noticing they have to fully commit themselves, and even then it’s a long shot. They effectively take themselves out of the rest of the war. Meanwhile, the USA is only slightly less able to help out in Europe.
As Japan, if I know the USA player is somewhat new I’ll go after Alaska pretty early, just to draw him off Europe for a while. Sometimes I’ll take Hawaii or Midway just as a place to land bombers. However, the main focus of Japan should always be holding mainland Asia and then taking Moscow.
If I go after anything else with Japan, it’s generally Africa (from India) if the opportunity presents itself. I love having a Japanese IC in Egypt.