Blue Hawaii

[DavidDailey]

Defending Oahu, the big island of Hawaii and Midway is a fairly considerable investment for the Americans. The West Coast is harder to attack, easier to defend and frees up resources that can be used elsewhere. But it greatly complicates and I fear almost eliminates a U S counterattack in the Pacific. What is the smart move?

[firsteds]

I am in a PBEM game as Allies where I lost Hawaii / Oahu (long story). The NM hit every turn is absolutely killing me. In my view it is worth investing in defending Oahu / Hawaii or retaking it quickly if it is lost. I don't think Midway is a game changer.

Someone on the forum will know the exact NM hit per turn for Oahu / Hawaii and the other islands and hopefully post it here.

Defending Oahu / Hawaii probably requires AA upgrades, fighter upgrades etc. You can place one extra unit on the smaller island (Hawaii) prior to the attack without decreasing mobilisation. One sub can hang around without decreasing mobilisation. You can have some units ready to reinforce straight after the attack. It is still pretty tough to defend from a determined attacker, but hopefully you can make it costly for them.

[El_Condoro]

It's pretty steep. I didn't know about this but looking at the national_morale.txt scripts:

USA - loss of Hawaii -10000 NM
Japan - capture Hawaii +5000 NM

Each turn (that's yours and your opponent's)
To 1943: -100 NM
1943-1944: -125 NM (so that's a cumulative -225 NM)
1944+: -100 NM (so -325 NM per turn)

So worth defending.