You do not need to buy an airbase as Japan! Naval base is fine. 3 carrier = 12 planes attack and 2 bomber (6 from carrier move 2 to hit india then 2 to land shan state while other planes move 3 to land to hit india and land on carrier)!!!
Whenever there is a burma stack, it is a money saver for Japan, because Japan just need to slam that and doesn’t need an airbase! Just make sure to move carriers non combat below burma.
Or couldn’t Japan skip on the Naval base by just building 2 bombers instead of transports on turn 1? Air losses would be heavier with just the 3 transports but 2 more bombers would help. You would be spending $24 for 2 bombers instead of $21 for 3 transports, plus $15 for the naval base, plus 6 ground units.
Noononono!
Always buy transports j1! Why? There is no opportunity to buy them later usually. Usually Japan sz is not something you can defend while attacking cash money islands. Get them now. Also 6 man power is stronger than 2 bomber. Also there is no way to predict a burma stack by enemy… also yeah like I said 6 power is better!
I’m not very good at this game…I have difficulty getting India on J4; but my usual best is J5.
I’m still looking forward to seeing a J3 India crush. I have a super difficult time making Japan Great Again.
I am with you Ichabod. I find Japan the most difficult to play. The India Crush is just a script so doing it is just a matter of practice. What I am looking for is a way fr the allies to crack it so that it doesn’t work all the time. I haven’t found a solution yet but there has to be one……
You can have somewhere close to 20 men and at least 6 planes on J4.
The conventional wisdom would be to stay on your factory so more units are always together–stepping up and spreading out means he doesnt need a sea base to hit you.
Did Japan build the sea base on yunnan/hainan/fic J1-2? if he does he can reach India in one turn and the only square you can screen or block is SZ 37–otherwise he has 2 ways through.
Does he control Burma? if he cant land his planes on Burma only carrier capacity can come. This is why Japan may also want an airbase, but having both is a big investment.
If Japan is coming directly at India, that means a couple of things; the push on Russia, China, and Anzac will be weaker and the US doesn’t have to worry about the whole japan fleet for 2-3 turns. Japan may try to KIF (Kill India First) because it is the most strategic move–the factory lets him help Germany kill Russia and UK. This means less Japan money and the JDOW J1 focuses on getting all of UKPACs income, not killing it quickly, necessarily…
Id say usually go full turtle and max infantry. No china interventions, nothing fancy, just get a ton of stuff on india. Air can fly in from all over, moscow, africa, med, since moscow isnt on the ropes yet. He cant attack you on J2 if you leave the DD in SZ37. He can simply just move his whole fleet into or past yours, at peace, there is nothing you can do about it. Still, his planes can only reach so far and they’ll need a spot to land–Ceylon is the best choice then Burma and he should grab it. Once your UK fleet is dealt with, India is going down–everything can flee or you can have departed early, this is like the rebels on Hoth. Live to fight another day, the fighters head towards moscow. He can still only bring 6 ground units plus what walks through burma–and you can attack any of that with your UK air to help. 1 ship can block all his bombardments. In some cases you just leave a stack there to die (or die in west india) but that’s still important because it wastes a japan turn with transport use to kill it, a turn that otherwise would be spent securing the money or asia/africa. If Japan can be held off until J 4-5 (or fails entirely) then you can consider it a kind of stalemate, where you wasted Japan’s time. The decision of whether to make a stand or not all depends on whether Japan is set up to bring everything, its different game by game. If the USA is KJFing or bombing japan or taking over SZ 6 Japan cannot screw around they have to move every thing back the other direction (mustering at SZ 36) as soon as they can.
Its not so bad to build up a Red Sea UK navy with (2TT 1-2CV 1BB 1CA 1DD) all stuff you can build or scavenge up on UK1-4. Then, when this happens, if the UK has a bunch of stuff in the middle and near east, Japan has to keep fighting/chasing those guys and cant just turn around and obliterate russia or anzac.
Having both an airbase and a naval base there is a big investment, but it is also a solid one. Not only is it good for taking out Calcutta, it is also in a strategic location. After you dispatch India you can turn your sights on the money islands and Australia. Having both bases will help reach and keep control of both. Unlike the bases on the Philippines, you are situated on the mainland where you can continue to bend China over while you launch your transports from there. If you can manage to control SZ 6 you can do a transport shuck and save money on purchasing multiple minor IC’s on the mainland. One IC on FIC after Calcutta is sacked and you’re golden. As long as Germany is kicking butt in Europe they will draw some of the US money away from you. If the US comes after you with everything then Germany wins.
During on of my games the UK player moved 10 inf and some planes from India to Burma. I found that this put Japan in a difficult position. They could take India, but would not be able to hold it. this would mean having lost ground forces and needing to get new troops via transports. This takes a lot of time.
I am with you Ichabod. I find Japan the most difficult to play. The India Crush is just a script so doing it is just a matter of practice. What I am looking for is a way fr the allies to crack it so that it doesn’t work all the time. I haven’t found a solution yet but there has to be one……
I know in your current game with Sovietschat you’re succeeding with the India Crush….haha (he told me). I taught him with a Sea Lion game to keep UK Europe honest. Maybe he’ll start keeping UK Pacific honest now!
What about using the 20 Russian Siberians aggressively? The India Crush requires almost every plane in position to strafe Burma or something like that; so losing Manchuria/Korea for several turns (loss of 6 IPCs per turn), might help. Obviously India has to turtle which then hurts China. If your cautious about those 20 units, then even just putting them in a threatening position could divert enough planes?
Putting the 20 far east units is one way to bait japan into attacking that and hopefully they get out of position to strike burma. No guarantee though; they could just stack manchuria with ground troops and ignore it. Russia may miss having those troops in moscow later
During on of my games the UK player moved 10 inf and some planes from India to Burma. I found that this put Japan in a difficult position. They could take India, but would not be able to hold it. this would mean having lost ground forces and needing to get new troops via transports. This takes a lot of time.
That’s an interesting move. I can see how it would help; troops in India would be cut off. Russia did that to Napoleon too.
I’m confused about the purpose of the Burma airbase for the allies though. It can just be bypassed via SZ41. Better to put down a blocker in SZ37. In one game I put an airbase on Shan State as Allies to defend a fleet in SZ37. Did have some effect - I guess most of the IJN must have been tied down in SZ6.
yeah I think we resolved that the airbase thing is a bad idea.
I still think it’s a good idea. You can use it for the rest of the game too, not just taking down India.
If japan does an india crush, its no use defending india. But what you can do is use the money for the 3 or 4 turns you have and bulid offensivse units, let him take india, then attack india. Just a thought.
I still think it’s a good idea. You can use it for the rest of the game too, not just taking down India.
What’s the “it” which is a good idea though? An Airbase on FIC? A naval base on Hainan?
I’ve been reading more about the J3 Calcutta Crush. I like what Cow’s saying about not getting the air base and doing the carrier swap to “just” get 12 planes to India. It’s not that the AB is useless, but 15 IPCs isn’t nothing and I’m not seeing how it’s necessary.
It seems the J3 attack is effectively stopped if on UK2 the UK puts up a blocker in 37, or if the UK declares war and takes back Yunnan, taking away the planes’ landing spot. The latter option has the downside of being an unprovoked DOW, so it seems a UK SZ37 blocker is a simple counter.
For Japan, then, could they declare war J2 on the UK to make sure that no blockers get into position, while not losing Yunnan, and have good odds at a successful India capture on J3?
If UK emptied Burma on UK1, then you don’t have to worry about Yunnan getting retaken. Your fleet can move towards India, preventing blockers, and the 2 transports in SZ36 might even be able to safely take Sumatra and/or Java and still be in position for a J3 Calcutta strike. If UK stacked Burma on UK1, Japan might have just enough to take Yunnan with your Hunan troops, 2 of the units brought down J1, and a stack of planes, do a strafe of Szechwan if necessary, and also take the 2 TTs brought down J1 to take 1 inf 1 tank and the 2 inf in Siam to hit Burma with the rest of the planes? Burma could easily be taken back, but key would be that Yunnan was safe, and UK couldn’t block a J3 Calcutta hit with at least 3 loaded TTs and 14 planes.
Another benefit of the J2 is you can strat bomb the factory for a turn.
With this, you’d leave Hong Kong and Malaya for later. Sure UK would make bank collecting income after its second turn… but that’s going to immediately go into Japan’s pocket after Calcutta is sacked.
Anyway, this seems pretty obvious, so there is likely some simple counters I’m not seeing. If nothing else, it seems like this would force UK Pac to play incredibly conservatively UK1, without sending the troops, ships, and planes to Africa that I see a lot of games.
The carrier “swap” would only work if the carriers started in SZ 38, the other distances are too far to “shuttle bomb” (my name for that swap). Unless you have the air base, or more carriers.
With no mobile units to start, how could UK take Yunnan? It just cant get there until later in the game to threaten it.
The J2 is what is stopped by the blocker. On J2, Japan can move to SZ 39 at peace, so it just ignores the blockers. Then you’d use the UK/ANZAC trick, we hope. J3 is impossible to stop, but it just wont work because there is no landing place (Burma, Ceylon) for the bulk of the fighters.
The best move is to get 6 men into Burma, in a way that UK wont attack (because he is afraid of defending short), then get 6 MORE men the next round, so you double the transports ability too. This only works 1 time because of the limited number of ground troops the Japanese have in that area to start, unless you slow down the whole plan in general to a J3.
Since backwatered ground troops can take HK, its just gone. Even 2 men 1 arty could take it. Malaya is a distraction, it can just be mopped up by Japan at its leisure or taken before India, if India cannot be, in order to suffocate UK money (this is the J1 plan’s J2 move).
The carrier “swap” would only work if the carriers started in SZ 38, the other distances are too far to “shuttle bomb” (my name for that swap). Unless you have the air base, or more carriers.
So J1 you move your carriers to 36, J2 to 38/41 to block 37 getting blocked :) Both of those SZs support a swap on J3.
With no mobile units to start, how could UK take Yunnan? It just cant get there until later in the game to threaten it.
So if UK moves its initial units to Berma on UK1, and then Japan is taking Yunnan on J1 and retaking it on J2, those Berma units would be easily enough to take Yunnan on UK2, right?
The J2 is what is stopped by the blocker. On J2, Japan can move to SZ 39 at peace, so it just ignores the blockers. Then you’d use the UK/ANZAC trick, we hope. J3 is impossible to stop, but it just wont work because there is no landing place (Burma, Ceylon) for the bulk of the fighters.
J3 is impossible to stop if you do this, but the 3 TTs you build on J1 will be at your SZ36 Naval Base on J2, and rely on SZ37 being open to participate. And if UK is at peace UK2, there’s nothing stopping him from moving a DD to SZ37. Isn’t the point of the initial transports that you’re hitting Calcutta with 12 land units instead of 6 in front of all of that air power? Seems like a much more IPC-favorable battle.
The best move is to get 6 men into Burma, in a way that UK wont attack (because he is afraid of defending short), then get 6 MORE men the next round, so you double the transports ability too. This only works 1 time because of the limited number of ground troops the Japanese have in that area to start, unless you slow down the whole plan in general to a J3.
I didn’t quite understand the part about doubling the transport ability, but I think you’re referring to using the initial TTs to take Burma J2, right? That move puts pressure on Calcutta while making sure you keep the Yunnan landing zone. How can those TTs be reused though, I only see the 2 units in Siam that can get in position for that?
