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Cut off counterattacks
If I am invading somewhere by sea I will sit a few carriers full of bombers (along with some fighters, battleships etc. for protection) near the city and bomb every railroad and road within at least two spaces if not more. Then take the city with marines and load it up with defenders, counterattackers, and more bombers. As the AI dumbly inches through the no-man's-land you've created you can bombard them at your leisure. This is very helpful in repelling the counterattack of a strong enemy. For example lets say he has enough troops to send a SOD 200 strong at you.
Leaving all roads you would have to repel all of these attackers. Without roads leading up to the city you will have two turns to repel the attack at worst:
1) D-Day turn: Do whatever you have to do to take the city with a bunch of marines. A dozen of them ought to do it with a little bombardment if this is a surprise attack, but that's a whole other topic. Move a bunch of other transports in and unload some defenders and artillery. Use the artys to take out all of the roads just outside the 9-tile radius. At most three transports full (18) will be needed. Bring carriers full of bombers in and use them to bombard the next ring of roads around the city. This should take at most six carriers full (24) of bombers. Also fly in any additional bombers and fighters you can spare.
2) D-Day +1: The AI began his counterattack predictably by throwing all of his attackers at you. Lets say there are 50 three-move attackers right next to you and 150 two-move attackers two spaces away. Both will be able to attack you next turn, but did not attack you this turn.
Now you can whittle away these attackers. If there are MA attacking you you'll want to bombard them first to get as many as possible down to one or two hitpoints. All of the MAs you bombard this low will retreat instead of attacking. I think if you only knock off one hitpoint they may attack anyway. Next bombard the tanks and MI two spaces away. Any of them which have a hitpoint knocked off should retreat. Notice that for all of this bombardment, artys, bombers, and battleships can hit either the two- or three-move attackers and any destroyers, cruisers, etc can hit the three-move attackers. Even if you only bombard 50 of the attackers you had a whole extra turn to transport additional defenders in to repel the counterattack and you forced fifty of the attackers to retreat. If you bombard 100 or more attackers you may send nearly have of the counterattackers home to heal up and try again (or maybe just fortify). Before the end of this turn rush an airport and of course move in any more bombers you have built.
3) D-Day +2: If you had enough defenders the AI counterattack didn't do a whole lot. Since you have an airport you can airlift more troops to the city. During this turn do some more bombarding of both the second (inevitably much weaker) counterattack wave and any fortified attackers who are waiting to heal up before attacking you.
4) Afterward: Just keep going on destroying counterattackers and then invade the rest of the AI's mainland. There won't be much resistance since you have destroyed their offensive military.
This works even better if you start with a remote city on a peninsula (i.e., one with only four or five squares of railroads leading up to it within a three square radius). Ideally, you would also want a city surrouned by hills of better yet mountains to slow down those attackers even more. If you pick a good city you will have two whole turns before even the fastest of attackers can reach the city to counterattack. And by that time you could airlift lots of units.
Admittedly, this can take a lot of bombardment units but it can be worth it if your enemy is some fascist cranking out units like crazy. Besides its more fun than just dropping your invasion force somewhere and weathering the storm while a huge force counterattacks you.
If I am invading somewhere by sea I will sit a few carriers full of bombers (along with some fighters, battleships etc. for protection) near the city and bomb every railroad and road within at least two spaces if not more. Then take the city with marines and load it up with defenders, counterattackers, and more bombers. As the AI dumbly inches through the no-man's-land you've created you can bombard them at your leisure. This is very helpful in repelling the counterattack of a strong enemy. For example lets say he has enough troops to send a SOD 200 strong at you.
Leaving all roads you would have to repel all of these attackers. Without roads leading up to the city you will have two turns to repel the attack at worst:1) D-Day turn: Do whatever you have to do to take the city with a bunch of marines. A dozen of them ought to do it with a little bombardment if this is a surprise attack, but that's a whole other topic. Move a bunch of other transports in and unload some defenders and artillery. Use the artys to take out all of the roads just outside the 9-tile radius. At most three transports full (18) will be needed. Bring carriers full of bombers in and use them to bombard the next ring of roads around the city. This should take at most six carriers full (24) of bombers. Also fly in any additional bombers and fighters you can spare.
2) D-Day +1: The AI began his counterattack predictably by throwing all of his attackers at you. Lets say there are 50 three-move attackers right next to you and 150 two-move attackers two spaces away. Both will be able to attack you next turn, but did not attack you this turn.
Now you can whittle away these attackers. If there are MA attacking you you'll want to bombard them first to get as many as possible down to one or two hitpoints. All of the MAs you bombard this low will retreat instead of attacking. I think if you only knock off one hitpoint they may attack anyway. Next bombard the tanks and MI two spaces away. Any of them which have a hitpoint knocked off should retreat. Notice that for all of this bombardment, artys, bombers, and battleships can hit either the two- or three-move attackers and any destroyers, cruisers, etc can hit the three-move attackers. Even if you only bombard 50 of the attackers you had a whole extra turn to transport additional defenders in to repel the counterattack and you forced fifty of the attackers to retreat. If you bombard 100 or more attackers you may send nearly have of the counterattackers home to heal up and try again (or maybe just fortify). Before the end of this turn rush an airport and of course move in any more bombers you have built.3) D-Day +2: If you had enough defenders the AI counterattack didn't do a whole lot. Since you have an airport you can airlift more troops to the city. During this turn do some more bombarding of both the second (inevitably much weaker) counterattack wave and any fortified attackers who are waiting to heal up before attacking you.
4) Afterward: Just keep going on destroying counterattackers and then invade the rest of the AI's mainland. There won't be much resistance since you have destroyed their offensive military.
This works even better if you start with a remote city on a peninsula (i.e., one with only four or five squares of railroads leading up to it within a three square radius). Ideally, you would also want a city surrouned by hills of better yet mountains to slow down those attackers even more. If you pick a good city you will have two whole turns before even the fastest of attackers can reach the city to counterattack. And by that time you could airlift lots of units.
Admittedly, this can take a lot of bombardment units but it can be worth it if your enemy is some fascist cranking out units like crazy. Besides its more fun than just dropping your invasion force somewhere and weathering the storm while a huge force counterattacks you.
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