Should I invade all dot bases?

[Alfred]

1. They prevent enemy supply going through the hex.

2. Potentially provide an easier ingress path for reinsertion of enemy forces into the theatre.

Alfred

[zuluhour]

2. Potentially provide an easier ingress path for reinsertion of enemy forces into the theatre.

[John Lansford]

I only invade dot bases that have non-zero port or airbase capabilities. The others take so long to develop it's not worth the effort even if they are undefended. On larger islands such as New Guinea, though, if I can take an undefended dot base like Sansapoor I'll do it in a heartbeat, since I can build up that base and interdict all the enemy occupied bases around it with little effort.

[Icedawg]

I like to take the dot bases just to provide more flexibility for my TF retirement paths. The more bases you own, the more options you have for "home port" selection. With more ports to choose from, you can tweak your retirement paths to a greater degree.

The flip side of this is that your opponent has fewer "home ports" to choose from and hence, fewer retirement paths for his TFs. Less flexibility for your opponent is a good thing.

In most cases, "home port" isn't going to matter much either way, but there very well can be cases when you really want your TFs to go in a particular direction to a particular port (and cases when your opponent really wants his TFs to go in a particular direction to a particular port - which you now have denied).

Also, those dot bases can be convenient places for your float planes to operate out of. They can make nice temporary sites to base your ASW float planes to cover your big cargo TFs; and they can hop from one dot base to another virtually the entire length of the cargo TF's path to provide continuous ASW cover.

These aren't exactly the most crucial elements of the game, but they can provide a slight advantage in certain situations. And, playing as the Japanese, you can use every advantage you can get.

[Cap Mandrake]

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

2. Potentially provide an easier ingress path for reinsertion of enemy forces into the theatre.

Yes, quite. I strongly recommend JFB not occupy dot bases especially in the Moluccas, Sulawese or the Phirripines. . [:)]