Axis and Allies 1942 SE First Turn Builds
Triple A First Turn Builds

I loaded up the game Triple A and tried a game with the Hard AI.  This is what the AI built:


Russia (24 IPC): 2 Infantry and 2 Artillery in Caucasus.  1 Infantry and 2 Artillery in Russia.
Germany (40 IPC): 7 Infantry, 5 Artillery.  1 Inf and 1 Art placed in Italy and the rest in Germany.
UK (30 IPC): 1 Infantry, 2 Artillery in India.  Carrier and transport in SZ7, Ireland.
Japan (30 IPC): 1 Armor in Japan.  1 Carrier and 1 Fighter in SZ60, Japan's East Coast.
USA (42 IPC): 1 Carrier, 1 Destroyer, 2 Fighters in SZ11, the US East Coast.


Are these the best generic builds?  I don't know.  Probably not.  I think a lot depends on the dice rolling in the first few rounds.  I would have expected both Japan and the US to build at least one transport.

Another Idea

After playing a few more times, this is what I would do.


Russia: Infantry and one or 2 artillery.  Always use all of your income.
Germany: Perhaps a sub or a bomber.  Perhaps another ship in the Med.  But mostly infantry and some artillery.
UK: If your fleet got annihilated, you may just want to build 3 ground units in India and SAVE the remainder for a giant fleet build on your next turn.
Japan: You need to get ground units into Asia.  Transports and maybe a factory on a 3 production territory that is as close as possible to Moscow.  Don't forget to build ground units to fill each transport.  You don't need more naval pieces yet, since you have superiority in the Pacific.
USA: Build a fleet in the Atlantic on the first turn.  Once you have naval superiority in the Atlantic, pump out transports and ground units on subsequent turns.