Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: brian brian

quote:

ORIGINAL: terje439

In an attempt to make this "THE noob Q-thread", I'll post my questions here;
1. Do any of the more veteran players ever place German convoys outside of the Baltic? Seems to me that is a sure way to waste some BPs as the CW will bounce on those convoys asap??
2. Is there a tactical factor number that makes you automatically think "nah, I will not ground strike with this unit, I will use it for added combat value instead"? I tend to use all 5 factor Stukas to ground strike and all others to aid in the attacks. Any input here?
3. Removing planes. Do you guys use this? I tend to not place units if they are weak (early German TACs etc) and save the pilot, and it seems to me those 5 A2A factor Bf109s are useful all the way (although somewhat short legged), so I never remove them.
4. If using synthetic oil, should Germany and Japan build as many as possible or just one or two early on? (I understand that the earlier I build them, the greater the return, and that after a given point they will end up costing more than they provide).
5. How many BBs/CA/CLs do you build as the CW? My thinking is that there are so many other things that the CW needs, and that the RN is already quite sizeable, so not sure here at all.

Terje

1. all in the Baltic. things could change in a SeaLion type game.

2. of course ... it all depends. 5 pt Stukas are great for Ground Strikes, sure. But on the surprise impulse, they are worth 10 factors of Ground Support for no Air Mission cost. against a single 5 point defending unit, a 5 point Stuka flying Ground Support for an attack against it is the same thing as a successful ground strike in most situations. (not all). 4 factor planes...same. 3 factor planes...still OK against a stack of 3 enemy units, maybe...you be the judge. 2x rolls on Surprise of course, always good. weak Japanese planes ... fly all of them on a Ground Strike against a single hex might work as good as all as Support, esp. in the mountains. it's easy to forget the option of taking an Air Impulse to re-org a lot of planes, including a bonus one with your ATR possibly not otherwise employed that turn. your land units don't move, but your air are powerful.

3. removing planes is ... I'll say infrequent. an older plane can have a great run of luck in combat but eventually be simply too old and has to be shipped home. or a single type can take a lot of losses and you need to pull a different type from the map and reach into your Reserves for the missing type.

4. when to build Axis SYNTH. opinions differ. from a purely accounting stand-point, the earlier the better, yes. but an Axis oil crunch doesn't really develop until the middle of the game at the earliest. an early build means you have less units to use to expand while the Allies are weak; 2-3 INF class units might gain you more goodies from the Allies than the accounting returns of building SYNTH ASAP. I take the latter view but I think more people look at the former. Also depends on strategy. Germany in a 42 Barbarossa or Sea Lion will need them more than a Germany planning to conquer the entire Mediterranean perhaps.

5. CW BB. lots of ways to go. their newer BBs populating the Construction Pool through the first year are eventually nice to have as they move fast and thus can make better task forces with the CW fleet carriers. but they are a bit of a luxury item better finished after the first year or two of the war when infantry in large amounts are far more important. more economical than building those is simply keeping them out of the Repair Pool....ask the Americans to do this for you. I don't ever lay down hulls for brand new ones or finish many CA/CL, if any.