Also, how do you send 4 figs and a bomber if there’s a good chance of a couple menacing boats in sz59 threatening your transports (perhaps with UK bomber coverage as well)? I figure 2 planes are in China, that leaves you nothing to deal with any other possible threats. The E.Indies boats alone make for a very shaky attack on a destroyer and CV (even worse if stacked with the trn as well). They’re heavily favored to win, but you stand a very good chance to lose at least one, if not 2 capital ships. That doesn’t even address the possibilities of whether there’s a sub in sz45, a stack in bury, or what you might want to do with those fighters on J2. Sending 5 planes on a tour of hawaii seems like overkill, and would ultimately hurt you elsewhere.
Ok great questions, here we go.
I would say keep these goals in mind:
- Purchase correctly. You would very much like to build 3-4 transports immediately (4 tran is if you take 2 IPC from the bid), because of their incredible flexibility for getting units to land and providing fodder. You would not like to start with 1 or 2 complexes, but may find yourself in a situation where it could be justified. In any case, make sure you purchase correctly by purchasing something that gets units onto land, and that you defend your purchase. It’s no fun forgetting that fig/bom can hit SZ60 and land in Bury, or that the Uk bomber can bomb your complex for free, etc.
I highly do not recommend purchasing anything other than tp/complex. A destroyer buy is useless later on and may not even be enough to deter a strafe, a carrier is overkill for J1, a btl is also overkill and doesn’t leave you any money anyways to buy tp/complex, land units are worthless since you’re looking for a way to get them off of Japan since you already have enough there, and fighters you have plenty of already for round 1. Well maybe keep fighters in mind but I’ve never had to buy them on J1.
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You must hit China. The reason for this is because you need to get some land, and you need to bust up the midline of Asia before it becomes too difficult. The American units there border all of your Asian territories, and you do not want to have them expanding early on, nor do you want that American fighter as an additional attacking piece on your navy. The minimum is 5 inf 2 fig.
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Do not overextend with too many weak attacks. You may have to allow some evil to survive, but do not do the enemy’s job for them by attacking many targets with barely enough force, because you can easily wind up losing valuable navy, which simply costs too much to replace with Japan’s income.
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Do not leave anything exposed after J1. This includes not only your purchases, but your fighters and other naval units.
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Do not be so afraid to lose 1 or 2 fighters. If the battle is very important, 1 or 2 fighters is an acceptable cost. You don’t need the full 6 fighters to push in Asia so don’t conserve a fighter if it makes life very hard for you out in the seas later on. Of course the more fighters the better in Asia, but think long term instead of simply focusing on having a shiny intact airforce.
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When given the option, massacre a stack in Buryatia over hitting Pearl, but do not plan to lose fighters in this engagement since it’s inf we’re talking about, not navy. This makes use of your bb shot as well as pretty much removes Russian defense in Asia leaving you free to expand. Generally though if Bury has more than 6 inf, do not hit it. If it has 6 inf, then take 2 inf Manch 1 inf 1 arm or 1 art from Japan + airforce.
For some specific cases:
If there’s just a destroyer off of Kwang, you can relax. If you’re absolutely crazy about hitting China hard, then use the E. Indies figs in China for 7 inf 4 fig and simply send the btl + car to Kwang. You shouldn’t even really care if you happen to lose the carrier, unless you suspect KJF. If you do care, then send 1 fig to Kwang with your BB/car and send the other fig to China.
If there’s a destroyer + carrier off of Kwang the way I normally like to do it is send the entire E. Indies fleet at it. You have a great chance of whooping them, sometimes you will lose a carrier but big deal.
If they sent a destroyer and it got killed, then your E. Indies fighters are generally free to go to China (rare, but remember to capitalize on good luck).
If they sent a destroyer/carrier/tp to Kwang, then rejoice because the Germans are facing less opposition in Africa (hopefully). You can still send the E. Indies fleet at it, and there’s also a funny thing you can do which is send both bbs 1 car at it then immediately retreat to SZ60. The bb absorb 2 hits if they come, and you have nice defense in SZ60.
If they send dest/car to kwang and block F. Indo with a tp, then you need to watch out because you can’t reach kwang with your Indies fleet. Kill the tp obviously with your btl/car, and you’ll have to do something to protect your transports (if you build transports).
Now there are some combination situations which are tricky. The most compound problem is if the UK hits your sub with their fighter/sub and reinforces Pearl and their sub lives and also there’s a dest/car in Kwang and there’s a bomber in Sinkiang and a stack of 6 inf in Bury with 1 fig and a blocking transport off of F. Indo which prevents your E. Indies fleet from attacking Kwang even if you wanted to. Any transports you build anywhere are not safe by themselves, Pearl is difficult, Kwang is unreachable, Bury is unattackable, and the UK sub survived.
First you need to realize that you should not be completely doomed, because Germany should be all over Africa if you see something like this as well as having an easy time in Europe to the Russian fig being off in Bury. You are going to be hard-pressed early, but you just need to keep focused by centralizing your defenses and attacking only what you can, and you’ll just have to let some evil survive.
With such a nasty combination on your doorstep, this is when I might abandon Pearl, either heavy or light. The reason for this is because the Allies have a massive chokehold on SZ60/61 and if you don’t have the proper defenses there immediately, it may take you far too long to get units onto land where you get your money from. But don’t take my word for it, there is the option of still hitting Pearl heavy and not building any tps, like build a complex in Kwang. That might be a good option if you really need to clear the waters.
Consolidate the best you can, take out the UK blocker tp off of Indo with the btl/car from E. Indies, and hit China ultra hard with all airforce that can hit, and simply stage your carolines fleet back to SZ60 with a fighter or 2 during noncombat, take one inf from Wake Island back to Japan, and mobilize your tran. From there Bury is finished if they stick around unless they reinforce it with more stuff, but even if you can’t attack it next round at least you can start shuffling units to the mainland. Pearl lives, but you have nothing exposed and you’re ready to go. Even if UK/Russia walk in on manch/f. indo, you can counterattack with your China inf to collect the cash.
Or alternatively, still go after Pearl hard, but build no tran. This will be Pearl super heavy 4 fig 1 bom 1 btl 1 dest 1 car, and don’t be afraid to lose 1 or 2 figs. Still kill the blocker tp with your Indies fleet, and China with 7 inf 2 fig. This could work, you won’t be able to counter Bury next turn but at least the Allied fleets are a non-issue at the end of J1, all they have left is a sub in Solomons and the kwang fleet which both can’t do anything due to the btl/carrier groups they’re next to. Complex goes to Kwang since it’s safe and you will have to suffer an SBR, but you can still fight your way out of the land situation.
It’s kind of a give or take situation, do you either prepare heavy for land, or take out the seas?
