That was by far the most entertaining WWII game that I have played as the US in the Pacific theatre. In almost all of my previous experiences, the war was decided in Europe before the Pacific war got going. This time Churchill and Stalin were able to keep the Axis contained so that I could focus nearly all the prewar American builds towards the Pacific. As Yoper mentioned earlier, I was working on a Japan first strategy.
I finally got a chance to review the replay pictures. They key to breaking Japan was using the US industrial might to overpower them with fighters. The US can have 8 on the build card while Japan can only have 2. I recall many naval air battles in which my airmen where outnumbered and often outfought (those crazy dice
). Even though my air casualties where higher, my replacement rate was higher. If memory serves, it was the spring of 43 when the US finally got air superiority in the Pacific.
I have to give credit to my Allies. If they were not doing as well as they did in Europe, the drive to Tokyo would have been more difficult.