@Rob76

Ignoring weather altogether, if you have amphib warfare level 3, (8 AC for ampib transports, then you can make it from Boston or NY to invade on the fourth turn of sea movement. Does anyone have experience with the losses with that many turns at sea? Interestingly, at amphib warfare level 2, you can just barely make it from Boston to invade on sea movement turn four (south of Brest), but the problem there is that you can only stage two units out of Boston, since tile (10,21) is a bummer. A NY embarking unit at level 2 needs five turns to cross. My experience with reducing Brest is that it takes 3 air attacks (from England) and two army unit assaults to kill the Brest defender in one turn. Then you either need the US corps to take the city itself, or a British paratroop to drop in. Another possibility is two US units from Boston at tech level 2 and a couple of British units. But stealth is low, and the Brits would need to be able to spare the units from N africa.

Sounds good. So based on experience, which would you choose when you are at Amphibious Warfare bonus level 2?

I'm new to SC2 (though I did play SC1), and I would like to save learning curve time by soliciting an opinion based on experience. Playing as Allies, is it better to transport US units across Atlantic as ampib transports and invade France directly, or is it best to transport US units to UK ports first, then reload them into ampib transports for the invasion? The latter is expensive and time consuming at a time that the Soviets are getting mauled. I have the Ampibious Warfare research bonus at level 2, but I do wonder about the transatlantic trek resulting in high landing losses. Is there an Amphibious Warfare bonus level (which goes potentially to 5) at which ampib assault staging from USA would be the best option?

Yes, I'm finding that a bomber with just one step up in Long Range Aircraft, situated on (68,18), the square just NW of Paris, can just reach Liverpool. As you would expect, high quality air wing support is a must for winning the air battle.

I've had career issues keeping me from playing SC2 till now. Great fun--though the diplomatic penalties (and the size of Swedish force) SEEM to nix an Axis nordic campaign--the one that was standard fare for playing against the AI in the original SC game. But I do have a question about convoys. Playing as Axis, it seems like the best way to solve the strategic challenge of Allied convoys is to bomb the Liverpool port to dysfunctionality. But what is that value? Is it four, same as for shutting out transports? Or does the port need to be reduced all the way to zero?