I’ll add to Grim’s post a small note.
If able, start bombing Moscow. Use Japan’s bomber(s) if needed. They can hit from Western China. Have Japan keep casually gobbling up Eastern Russia to pinch their economy more.
Help needed against Japan
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Hi all,
we (me, my brother and a friend) are currently playing a G40 game. I play on the Allies side and we have a good position in Europe. However Japan did a J1DOW, attacked Hawaii and has now in round 4 gathered a powerful fleet at the Caroline Islands. Calcutta is SBR each round successfully. China just lost Yunnan against a Japan stack with many aircraft. In the north I have 13 Russian Inf running around and 5 Russian Inf in China. That looks good, but UK pacific and ANZAC are doing not so well.
We have no good plan on how to successfully fight Japan. The US fleet is currently to weak to attack the Japan fleet, ANZAC is also quite weak, because Japan attacked them on J3 a and invaded Australia. So it now looks like Japan is going to keep Hawaii and if they manage to capture the weak Calcutta, then they are close to winning.
So what should we do? What are good strategies against Japan?
I have attached the current tsvg file. I play UK and Russia, my brother plays US, China and ANZAC, while our friend plays Axis.
P.S. We currently still hold one money island.
JAP r4.tsvg -
If the ANZAC can get the Japanese out of Australia, maybe ANZAC could focus on submarines? Convoy the Japanese islands, threaten lone transporters, force Japan to invest in destroyers and keeping some airplanes at sea, away from Calcutta. Or ANZAC should invest in fighters and send them to Calcutta or Hawaii. It might be too late, though.
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The majority of the Japanese fleet was in Hawaii at j1 to j2. They moved this turn to the Caroline islands.
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Subs, subs, subs and more subs. Forces them to protect transports. Forces them to spend more money on destroyers and less on ground troops for mainland. And they are cheap!!
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So the way to go are sub, convoys and trying to kill some transports. Ok, we will try that as soon as possible. But what next? What should we do after Japan starts to build destroyers ad goes hunter for our subs?
What is a good way to attack Japan? China is getting weaker with each turn, UK Pac and ANZAC are shipless.
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subs do not protect your fleet on defense, and as a result, cannot be relied upon.
They are the cheapest way to add soak hits and attack power, but Strat Bombers are more flexible and can join the battle more easily (though the don’t defend your fleets at all)
In order for you to do much on mainland Asia, you have to play very cagily for the first 4 turns with both UK PAC and CHINA. UK PAC can intervene in a number of ways and time it so Yunnan is much harder to take. Russian units can join the fun also, but Russia really can’t spare that stuff from the Rus-Germany fight.
If all you have is a bunch of infantry (uk, china, rus) scattered all over that region, then japan is about to mop you, take all that money, and stab Russia in the back.
convoy attacks are very long game and they don’t hurt the enemy very much. Also, a better axis player will pick these off one by one. It is much wiser as the Allies to concentrate all your power in an attempt to overwhelm the Axis, specifically Japan’s fleet near its homeland.
Unlike in other versions, once the USA is at war, it has enough $$ and power units to overwhelm a careless and depleted Japanese build. by turn 5, it isn’t going to be anywhere close to taking Japan (or its empire), or bombing/convoying its $$ into nothing. Those are siege tactics and they are not very effective until you have already bled the Axis out.
If you have some ANZAC stuff alive at that point, and Calcutta is either intact or so hard to take that Japan will lose its airforce, and china is holding on with something, you have fair chance of winning when the USA lazers the Japanese fleet.
However, if all the little powers are in disarray by the mid-game, then Japan grabs all the money, helps Germany kill Russia, and gains so much money they can build against the USA threat 1:1, bring all its fleets together, and stalemate the USA Pac fleet.
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Is there still hope to win? We have now round 8 and I am not sure if there is anything we allies can do? See screenshot.
I play UK and Russia….
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It looks like you’re mostly in control of the Med, Germany has not achieved victory in Europe (not even close really), and Japan does not appear to be imminently about to capture India, Hawaii, Sydney, or San Francisco.
It’s hard to see from the tiny screenshot what strength levels are around the various stress points, but overall this is what I would try.
Russia Fight those German NOs, but otherwise build nothing but infantry. Try to trade your infantry for German mechs and tanks.
US Take Norway as soon as possible. You have to get Germany’s income down.
In the Pacific, start shuttling two ground units and a fighter per turn to Hawaii. Also, retake Alaska to regain your NO. Kill Japanese transports whenever possible. If Japan maneuvers its fleet to a point where sea zone 26 is no longer a viable location for your fleet, drop all your planes on Hawaii and retreat your fleet – every fighter you drop on Hawaii requires Japan to bring another loaded transport to the invasion (at that point you just start flying in two or three or five planes per round and Japan just has to keep building loaded transports). If Japan is spending all its money on loaded transports, it is hampered in it’s ability to attack/defend India, contest the money islands, and threaten ANZAC. (Also, it’s ok for him to take Hawaii as long as he also doesn’t take Calcutta, Sydney, and San Francisco.)
All the while this is happening, you are pounding Germany with the rest of your money.
You need to get control of the Med and get some ships into the Med quickly (enough that Italy can’t just blow them up with a couple of planes) to stop Italy getting it’s NO, and you need to get some subs into sea zone 97 to start nerfing Italy’s income. The best way to accomplish this is probably to build a new task force on the East Coast and sail the existing task force into the Med bound for sea zone 97. Depending on how dire the situation is, you might need to pull the Pacific fleet completely and rely on the plane strategy to keep hold of Hawaii.
UK Make sure that the UK cannot fall to a late Sea Lion. One or two units a round should do it.
Start funneling troops through the Middle East into Caucasus to kill Germans (any German troop the UK kills in Russia is a win for Russia and a loss for Germany). Also try to relieve some of that pressure that Japan is applying to Russia (which also helps you in the Pacific). Get some fighters to Moscow in a hurry – they defend against strat bombing and also kill attacking Germans very well.
Get some strat bombers into Russia to strat bomb the Ukraine and Novgorod and Volgograd factories. Pound them each round, without fail, unless the risk is higher than you can afford.
In a couple of turns, you’ll want to make sure you have some loadable transports, destroyers, and planes backing up the US fleet.
ANZAC Fight the money islands so Japan cannot just rest on that income. Either Japan spends money struggling over the money islands with you or leaves a small task force down there to keep you from taking the money islands (if the latter, you start building a small task force of your own to force Japan to tie up even more money). Either way is a win for the Allies. If Japan heads down towards ANZAC, turtle hard. If Japan feints into your neighbordhood, turtle hard but then unturtle when Japan moves away.
A couple of general thoughts:
1. Always consider the outcome before you fight the battle, from both a strategic as well as tactical perspective. For example, some folks like to attack Tobruk on UK1 but they lose most of their UK ground forces doing it (which makes the Med considerably easier for the Axis despite having lost forces too – Italy can just ship more troops in, but the UK can’t. That battle is a logistical and strategic win for Italy even though it loses the battle).
2. Pass on risk. If your opponent is making bad odds attacks and getting lucky, let it go. He will get unlucky eventually. Make sound attacks guided by your long term strategy.
3. Consider not just your opponent’s counterattack but your counterattack on that counterattack…
4. If your opponent leaves money lying on the table, kill it (i.e., always kill unescorted Japanese transports. Strat bombers and sub swarms in the Pacific are great for this if you can get them there, since it dilutes Japan’s fleet power by forcing them to escort transports)
5. Focus on the basics, in order of strategic importance. For example, Germany has a 70% attack on Moscow? That’s far too high – get some UK planes in to get it down to 30%. You have to start looking at this during Russia’s turn and follow through on it later in the same round with the other Allied powers – it does you no good to say that the UK will ship fighters into Moscow, only to have the UK use those fighters somewhere else.Marsh
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Thank you for that great reply. I am pretty new at axis and allies and have problems with late game strategies. Germany is with its fleet at Gibraltar and has three transports with it. So I guess they want to support Italy and attack Egypt. They also have 6 planes and tanks in the Ukraine and a transporter and aircraft carrier in the black sea.
Subs in the med is a great idea.
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I think the allies appear to be winning. You’ve still got the critical triangle of Egypt, Moscow and India. Usually one of these will fall.
I would be worried about Germany being able to hold SZ91. That should not be possible! You can defend SZ101/East USA, right? Otherwise USA are about to go down.
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The us fleet had to move into the Pacific, because Japan had Hawaii and was close capture Sydney. Now the Japanese player retreated his fleet to Tokyo to protect it.
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Oh well sz101 is unprotected and Washington has only two fighters. So I hope Germany doesn’t notice this. That is a capital fault on our side that I didn’t saw.
It is easy to overlook something in triplea.
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Update: US make his turn and Italy as well. Washington is now protected, but Italy conquered Turkey and now Iraq is in reach of 5 tanks and 6 aircraft units. I only have 6 tanks and 1 inf.
We will play a bit and I will inform you how the game ended.
Lessons learned until now:
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UK Subs in the Med
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More US subs in the pacific
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Using UK aircraft to protect Moscow or Russian aircraft to protect Calcutta proved to be very effective
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Inf + aircraft is very good for defending Moscow and keeping the lands around Moscow a death zone, but 4 aircraft is not enough
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The air superiority of the Axis powers make the really dangerous and flexible.
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Update: US make his turn and Italy as well. Washington is now protected, but Italy conquered Turkey and now Iraq is in reach of 5 tanks and 6 aircraft units. I only have 6 tanks and 1 inf.
We will play a bit and I will inform you how the game ended.
Lessons learned until now:
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UK Subs in the Med
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More US subs in the pacific
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Using UK aircraft to protect Moscow or Russian aircraft to protect Calcutta proved to be very effective
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Inf + aircraft is very good for defending Moscow and keeping the lands around Moscow a death zone, but 4 aircraft is not enough
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The air superiority of the Axis powers make the really dangerous and flexible.
You may be misinterpreting what I suggested. While what you have listed are all correct points in the right circumstances, they are by no means always correct. Even air superiority for the Axis is not a guarantee if the Axis is weak on the ground.
Marsh
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It is easy to overlook something in triplea.
So true. I find that it’s hard to take into account everything your opponent does on triplea, due to the fact that you don’t see your opponent’s moves in real time like you do in a face-to-face game
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Yeah. It happened to me that I didn’t saw a single enemy transport sneaking across the ocean and invade the US or africa. It also happens often that I don’t move all units.
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@Marshmallow:
You may be misinterpreting what I suggested. While what you have listed are all correct points in the right circumstances, they are by no means always correct. Even air superiority for the Axis is not a guarantee if the Axis is weak on the ground.
Marsh
That is true. Some points are not alway good or valid, but I have never really considered them so I added them to my lessons learned, because the right situations might occur in a future game.
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@Elsass-Lorraine:
It is easy to overlook something in triplea.
So true. I find that it’s hard to take into account everything your opponent does on triplea, due to the fact that you don’t see your opponent’s moves in real time like you do in a face-to-face game
Hi Elsass-Lorraine, Fatespinner
Do you guys use the triplea history feature ? Because you can see every move made. Also there is a key you can hit that will highlight the dudes you haven’t moved. I forget which one it is f or m maybe, anyway I think it’s under help in the top of the screen.Sounds like a fun game : )
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I do use the history feature, but that highlight key is new to me. Thanks for pointing that out!
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Yeah the history is known, but the highlighting is also new to me. It seems like a good feature.
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