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Protecting the Transports
As important as it is for the UK and US to get a transport/infantry
pipeline going into Russia, it’s almost as important for Germany to
try to disrupt it as much as possible. I say “almost as important”
because the Allies almost have to get the pipeline going to win, whereas
Germany can still win if the pipeline gets going.
Unfortunately for the Allied players, they usually start their turns
without any capitol ships in the Atlantic (killing the British
battleships on turn one is usually a top priority of most German
players). While extremely large transport fleets become self-protecting
(a lone bomber going against eight transports isn’t going to come
home), the Allies usually start from scratch.
Since they can’t afford buying a huge fleet immediately, they are
forced to buy a capitol ship or two as fleet protection. It’s a costly
problem, but must be timely dealt with as having a few newly purchased
and undefended transports getting shot up by the Luftwaffe on turn two
is never a fun experience for the Allied player.
This means that the UK needs to buy a carrier on their first turn,
along with a transport to help defend it. Under no circumstances, should
you ever buy a battleship. They are completely overpriced and definitely
not worth it. Carriers are much more cost efficient and allow you to
land a plane or two aboard for additional fleet protection that is
completely flexible.
At the end of the UK player’s turn, they should have a new carrier
and a transport (preferably two if the Canadian transport survived
Germany’s turn one) off the UK coast. The US player can back it up by
landing one or both fighters (Western Canada is connected to the Eastern
Canada sea zone!) aboard the carrier, and also move their transport
across to serve as cannon fodder, should the German player attempt an
attack in round two.
If the Allies are extremely lucky, it’s possible that Germany loses
all of their planes in turn one, in which case, the carrier is unneeded.
If they are somewhat lucky, they may be able to get by with just one
carrier. Sometimes though, if the Luftwaffe still poses a threat, one
capitol ship for protection won’t be enough, because as great as a
carrier is – it can’t be in two places at one time.
The Allies need the ability to invade Africa, Eastern Europe, and
drop troops off directly into Karelia or Finland/Norway at different
points in the game. Doing so can frequently leave one transport group
unprotected.
For example, in turn two the UK wants to invade Africa, but also
wants to build two more transports. If the UK moves their carrier off
the coast of Africa to protect the transports in the invasion force,
then those newly purchased transports will get hammered.
Similarly if the UK sees an opportunity to invade Eastern Europe and
wants to strike using the previously landed troops in Karelia, as well
as some more troops that would come in through transports in the Baltic
Sea, that could leave US transports wanting to end their turn off the UK
coast completely undefended from German planes.
The solution: buy another carrier with the US if the German plane
threat is still dire. That carrier, also purchased on turn one, would
then be able to protect the US fleet invading Africa or dropping off
troops in Finland/Norway, while the UK carrier could protect the UK
troops getting dropped off directly in Karelia. |
