GSv2.10 Strategy Article - The Allied Navy in GSv2.10

[rkr1958]

I'm not an elite player, but how do you plan to stop the Axis in 1942-1943 if you spend so much on DDs? 1 DD is almost 1 MECH. It's hard to defend as the Soviets against a good Axis player if the western Allies won't help them.

It's not the Soviets that are spending PP's on their navy. It's the western allies. As the western allies you help the USSR in 1942-1943 by making sure the Murmansk convoy gets through, taking care of North Africa and then knocking Italy out of the war. Also, you help them by bombing targets in Germany.

It may often not be enough, especially in 1942. The Germans can really punish the Soviets in 1941-1942 now. It's not uncommon to lose Leningrad and/or Stalingrad and if the Axis player is good, he will also obliterate your army.

I really not following you here. There's absolutely no way that an allied player can get and stay ashore in France in 1941-1942 against a skilled and experience axis player; especially the caliber of the one that you're describing here. Again, I think the best way for the allied player to help the Russians in 1941-1942 is make sure the Murmansk convoy gets through and nibble away at the edges in North Africa and Italy and bomb Germany.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I also invest heavily in navy for the Allies if I see more than 3 German subs.

For Britain I usually build: 2 CV, 3-6 DD, maybe some subs
For USA I buld: 1 CV, 2 BB, 3 DD, maybe some subs
In addition I build quite a bit of strategic bombers that can help against the subs until the battle of the Atlantic is won. Then the bombers can bombard Germany and Italy.

I want enough units to protect convoys and transports to the Mediterranean.

I don't agree that the naval units are useless in the end game. CV's are particularly useful because they can intercept German fighters or escort Allied tactical bombers. CV's have very high survivability late game so they don't take many hits. BB's are great for shore bombardment of targets you want to invade. The main reason is to inflict shock damage on the land units, but you get some hits as well. DD's can to some degree bombard softer targets.

You can also send the DD's to the Norwegian coast to intercept the Swedish iron ore route. That means 6 PP's less per turn for Germany during not fair turns.

The main downside of having a very strong navy is that you get the strong air and land force later. So you can't overrun Libya in 1941 or early 1942. So I build the CV's and BB's first and then build as many DD's as needed to win the battle of the Atlantic. This depends on how many German subs you can find. If the Axis player does like Morris and doesn't build more subs then you can ignore more DD's as well. With 3+ more subs you need quite a bit of extra DD's.

I don't like having a wolfpack attack my valuable transports. Let's say they go after my tactical bombers and fighters sailing for Egypt. Even if the transports survive I get a huge repair bill. It's much better paying maybe 150-200 pp's up front for having 3-4 more DD's so these units can't be attacked at all.

Finding the right balance of naval units is one of the challenges for the Allied player.

[Cybvep]

I am not so crazy so as to invade France in 1941, but if the opponent is good at performing Barbarossa, then you need to create distractions in 1942. Otherwise, the Soviets will get badly mauled. You may try to perform the Operation Sledgehammer, invade Norway, do some feint attacks in France or maybe even real ones, but the point is that without things like that the Germans are simply too strong in the East.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

It's interesting to hear people saying the Germans are too strong when many testers wanted to make them even stronger and opposed the latest game balance tuning we made (made the Russians slightly stronger).

I feel that the Axis are much more potent in GS v2.1 than in GS v2.0 so they definitely don't need to be buffed even more. In GS v2.1 you can't just sit and do nothing with the Allies in 1940-1941. You have to engage the Axis somewhere to drain power from the east.

I therefore think that both sides now have a pretty good chance to win the war. I feel the game is pretty balanced when you have as many people complaining that the Axis are too strong as people complaining the Allies are too strong.

[rkr1958]

I feel the game is pretty balanced when you have as many people complaining that the Axis are too strong as people complaining the Allies are too strong.

Borger, I agree 100%. That's probably the best indicator that we've gotten the balance right.

[Cybvep]

I cannot wait for articles describing strategies for Barbarossa.

[rkr1958]

I cannot wait for articles describing strategies for Barbarossa.

There's already a ton of them in the AAR section.

[Cybvep]

They all deal with Morris Barbarossa, not the regular one .

[rkr1958]

They all deal with Morris Barbarossa, not the regular one .

I see your point. Here's one that isn't: viewtopic.php?p=269138#p269138

[Cybvep]

Thanks. Did you notice who was the first commenter in the thread?

[rkr1958]

Thanks. Did you notice who was the first commenter in the thread?

I guess you already knew about this AAR then.