I thought the best strategy to counter KJF was to KRF with Germany, since the Allies are ignoring you.
How to counter Kill Japan First?
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I’ve hit a brick wall here. What happens is:
Russia sends all infantry that are east of Russia, to the east. 2 tanks from Russia head east as well. The rest he conducts as normal, taking West Russia and planning a mass defense. From here on out he just builds infantry to stall Germany and uses those forces in the east to take and hold Manchuria for a good long while.
UK builds 2 factories, 1 in Africa and 1 in India. Combat is a strategic bombing on Germany. Sends infantry from Persia into India and from Trans-Jordan into Persia. Combines Australian/Indian fleet into Sea Zone 30, minus the destroyer who kills the kwangtung transport, and the fighter who goes help defend India. Beefs up England with the Canada forces. From here on out he masses tanks in the 2 complexes to stall Germany from taking Africa as well as threaten Indochina/Kwangtung. The combined fleet hangs on the periphery in the south, threatening Japan’s islands and running away when necessary.
US builds with 1 battleship and 1 carrier. Sends all fleets and troops to the west, leaving nothing behind. From here on out he keeps massing battleships/destroyers. His strategy is to drop down to Solomon islands, then undercut Japan’s IPC islands Borneo and East Indies. If Germany bothers to take its time to send the transport/bship to the west to take Brazil, just let him have it and build a few minimal troops to defend the capital. He sends his extra fighter and bomber up to UK to both help defend it as well as strategic bomb.
I have a very very hard time with this strategy. I can’t last long as Japan because in a few turns either I lose my land territories or my sea territories. If I focus on sending all forces to the land, then the US comes in with this massive fleet and cuts off Borneo/East Indies, then builds a complex there and proceeds to bully me into the ground. If I focus on a large navy to stall the US, the Indian/Russian forces sweep up 9 IPCs from land territories, which is very difficult to take back without complete attention due to the initial number of Russian infantry and the 3 tanks coming out of India each turn.
I understand that it is solely up to Germany to win the game now, but I don’t see how Germany can do this quickly enough. The African complex is contesting Africa with 2 tanks every turn, which sucks up a lot of time and resources. Germany is also getting bombed once by US and once by UK each round. Russia with a full infantry build can delay you for a very long time. Trying to pressure UK’s capital is almost certainly folly; it takes you many transports/fighters to threaten properly, and if you do that he simply forgoes 1 round of tanks and beefs up his main with 7+ infantry. Then you’re left with a lot of transports that aren’t going to be doing much since it’d be a waste of time to invade UK, and with all those useless IPCs sitting around Russia gets more time to buff up his defense. If you continue to pursue many transports and such, you will end up screwing up any chance you have of winning because the UK can build infantry very easily and Russia will be crashing your backyard while you’re loading up those transports.
I just don’t get how to counter this, and I don’t know what to do with Japan to stall long enough while Germany goes in. The 2 bombers doing runs and the factory in Africa can really slow down Germany’s invasions. Meanwhile Japan is forced into a defensive position almost from the start. If I attack China or India turn 1, then Russia will push in from Buryatia along with his tanks. If I attack Buryatia with full force the first turn, then pearl harbor goes unmolested because I’ll be using the battleship/transport and fighter/bomber from Japan, not to mention whatever surviving force I have will be countered by 2 tanks + 4 inf from Russia in Yakut, and one of the Asian territories will be captured by either US or UK for lack of reinforcements.
Any suggestions like general strategies or build orders to counter this?
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Ever heard of “golden hand shake”? Do it through China (US loose foot hold in Asia main land) and Persia to hunt India down as well (together with Japan). Japan should more or less solely focus on navy with transporters (no new ICs), those transports will be good cannon fodder for the big clash with US. Try to take out Australia and New Zealand (and Madagascar if possible)! Build one more AC for Japan. The only thing Japan will do in main land is to hunt US down and go for India in concert with Germany. Germany go for Africa with a tank or two. Otherwise Germany focus on Caucasus and defense in Eastern E. and ukraine S.S.R.
By this strategy Axis will ruine U.K. on all UPCs. But Japan must hold an american invasion fleet for at least 5 turns. It is important that Japan don’t loose any fighters before the big clash with US navy and that India and US is cleared from mainland. Bottom line is that Axis will earn more IPCs then Allies by now, since the US navy (almost the only build by US in a KJF strategy) has not taken any land, but lost China. UK only have Canada and U.K left. Russia will be square, maby 2 up for Norway (4 down for Caucasus but 4 up on West Russia and Belarussia).
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That sounds good in theory, but I don’t get a couple of things:
How does Germany quickly annex Africa with 1 tank when the UK has the factory down there and is pumping out 2 tanks every turn? How does Germany meet up in India? To me this sounds like you’re building a lot of transports in the Mediterranean, and with that many IPCs going to transports then Russia can crush in a bit and gain IPCs from you.
And for the record, the US never ever has to engage the Japanese fleet offensively. He will always force Japan to attack him, not the other way around. If you go down to Solomon islands from the West Coast, you can hit Borneo, East Indies, and Japan itself. The Japanese fleet can’t split itself even into 2 forces because they’ll get individually crushed by the American fleet. The US takes either Borneo or East Indies without a fight because the Japanese fleet can’t defend both, then sits a complex down there and pumps out naval units on Japan’s doorstep. Japan can’t focus on both a navy and hold his land territories, so then Japan is forced to build a navy to deal with US but then loses 9 IPCs on the mainland, sending him into a doomed state with 21 IPC income.
Taking Australia is all well and good, but the US can very easily liberate it once he sails down to Solomon Islands.
I think you have the right idea in building like 3 transports on the first turn, then funneling troops and such to Manchuria, but again I think the main problem is that the US fleet can maneuver around the Japanese one, forcing the Japanese to attack him and taking severe casualties. Also the US has superior IPC income that is solely focused on training a navy; Japan is not only splitting its money between land troops and navy, but he has a lower income level.
Wiping India from the mainland is going to be tough before the US navy arrives. With 3 tanks building up there every turn, you can barely match that much in French Indochina with 4 transports trafficking back and forth because it’s two spaces away from Japan. If you use your fighter force you are likely to lose at least 1 of them to the anti aircraft gun there. And Russia can always spare his couple of fighters to help defend India, especially if Germany is maintaining a pipeline.
I just think Germany is going to be bogged down before he can save Japan from doom. If Germany is going for Caucasus then Russia has nearly a free hand in sending all his defending troops down there. Germany is going to have a hard time maintaining a pipeline into Africa to fend off those UK tanks coming from the African Union as well as maintaining a quick and winning offense against Caucasus. It’s true that Germany has many fighters and such but they mainly have to be in West Europe to discourage the UK from landing in Norway. Germany can build infantry to free them up but that means it’s many turns before his offense is going anywhere because he has to spend the next turns building an offensive land force whereas the first one he built is going the opposite way of Caucasus. Not to mention the 2 bombings he’s receiving from UK/US.
Maybe Germany should start with something zany like 1 carrier + 1 transport + 5 infantry. This way his med fleet and therefore his west coast is defended adequately since the UK is focusing his cash elsewhere, so he can send his other fighters down south to quickly finish off the African IC. The extra transport would go into the Med to help get more troops there quickly to deal with those tanks. But even in this case, it takes a long time to muster the forces necessary to deal with Russia.
I think overall this is the strongest strategy for Allies to pursue. Germany can do very very little directly to help Japan; killing Russia doesn’t help Japan since Russia didn’t dedicate a single IPC to killing Japan, just sent a bulk of his initial troops over there, as well as even if Germany did get the capital he’s still quite a ways off to defeating the American lock on the fleet. It’s easy for Japan to help germany by going into Russia, but not the other way around, so I think it’s easier to go after Japan first.
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If I attack China or India turn 1, then Russia will push in from Buryatia along with his tanks. If I attack Buryatia with full force the first turn, then pearl harbor goes unmolested because I’ll be using the battleship/transport and fighter/bomber from Japan
You should pretty much always go for pearl, and definitely always go for pearl if if think KJF is coming! The US fleet is going to be your biggest worry, not the India foctory and Eastern flux of Reds.
You mentioned that you consider attacking Buryatia on J1, why? I will only consider advancing that front if Russia retreats. In fact, I would go so far as to say that you actually want Russia to advance into Manchuria. This way you can bombard them and attack with all your airforce without landing them out of optimal position.
Here is what you should do:
Build 3 transports and 2 inf. Hit Pearl and China so the Allies can’t counter on either of these fronts. Unload 2 inf with your only transoprt into Manchuria. These 2 inf are the only units you should leave in Manchuria. Hopefully this will make Russia decide to send everything into Manchuria. On J2, your counter-attack potential is incredible! You can counter with all remaining troops from China, Kwangtung even, 2 BB bombardments, 4 fully loaded transports and any airforce you wish to include. You should take this back no problem and have no threat of a Russian counter on R3.
Japan’s goals for the next few turns should only consist of the following (anything more increases the risk of a total Japanese collapse):
- Try to hold the Asian coastal territories (your starting territories) but you should also invite attacks by the Allies that you can easily counter on your next turn (just like you did with Manchuria on J1). Moving further mainland is too risky and should only be done when a good opportunity presents inself (but it probably won’t).
-Always have 3-4 transports and always try to keep them fully loaded. Unload as many units as you can each turn into mainland Asia. If US fleet is strong however, then stick to 3 fully loaded transports being unloaded each turn. The remaining IPCs should go into strengthening your navy.
- To counter the US fleet, buy subs. You have plenty of capital ships already. Even if you lose one early, 3 is still plenty. Subs are the best attack/defense for the money.
The 1 thing that I can say that I find helps people the most when they feel overwelmed as Japan in KJF is that you have to have some give on some of your fronts. No one can maintain every front so don’t try. Relieve some of the pressure the Allies are forcing on you by deliberately releasing the pressure on one front that you can afford to lose (at least until you probably counter there on your next turn). Once again, a good example by what I mean by this is Manchuria on J1. By deliberately weakening the Manchurian front you are directly and indirectly strengthening all your other fronts. Hope this helps. Let me know if it does or you still have questions. KJF is generally not as good as KGF for a reason.
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That sounds good in theory, but I don’t get a couple of things:
How does Germany quickly annex Africa with 1 tank when the UK has the factory down there and is pumping out 2 tanks every turn? How does Germany meet up in India? To me this sounds like you’re building a lot of transports in the Mediterranean, and with that many IPCs going to transports then Russia can crush in a bit and gain IPCs from you…
Caucasus Is the gate to India and Africa! Since you said that Russia will pile a stack of infantry for defense, just but infantry, he wont be an offensive problem! If UK put up an IC in India and Union of South Africa, Germany will go for India first, and loose most of his infantry. Mean while Germany has transported 2 infantry each turn to Africa. Most likey Germany has wiped out UK from Anglo-Egypt on turn 1, including the fighter! UK will not be able to build so much since 2 ICs costs 30 IPCs and 2 tanks for Union of South Africa and 3 tanks for India costs 25 IPCs each turn. UK will loose foot hold on Africa and Asia, be so sure about that if you dont have an extreme bad luck!
TheDuke is describes the naval strategy for Japan pretty well, I do agree that Japan should focus on navy. But Germany should go for Africa and India!
P.S. I you nuy an extra BB instead of carrier for Japan then Japan will have three BBs. Those BBs will be very useful for shorebombardment on Soviet Far East. or any lost positions in mainlan. D.S.
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US builds with 1 battleship and 1 carrier. Sends all fleets and troops to the west, leaving nothing behind. From here on out he keeps massing battleships/destroyers.
…wait, you actually know someone who buys battleships?!? said person also wins to boot? i am floored.
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Your counterattack on Manchuria will only have 1 BB since the one in Pearl Harbor can only bombard Buryatia.
The UK can easily support 5 tanks per turn. I quite understand Egypt is wiped out, but those 2 tanks down there can really stall the German effort to gain many IPCs for free.
How does Germany get units to India without Caucasus? Russia is just there to delay Germany while Japan goes down; he can do that fine with mass infantry. Are you using the transport to get units to India? If you are, then UK will have an easy time dominating Africa if you’re not using those units and are trying to threaten India.
Caucasus may be the gateway to India, but you have to control it first with Germany…
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US builds with 1 battleship and 1 carrier. Sends all fleets and troops to the west, leaving nothing behind. From here on out he keeps massing battleships/destroyers.
…wait, you actually know someone who buys battleships?!? said person also wins to boot? i am floored.
Sorry Duke I ment Trihero. Moreover I did not say that he wrote anything about buying a BB, but subs instead. It is probably a better alternativ, but depends on what US does. I will not talking about details of this strategy again.
Have you tied my strategy called Game Over Theduke yet??? :wink:
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Have you tied my strategy called Game Over Theduke yet???
I’ve never heard or read of this strategy. If you ever want me to read something, just send me the link.
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Well, I would rip the Russians and the UK a new ahem if all I am fighting is a depleted Russia on turn 1 and UK who is splitting thier forces into india and Africa leaving my western front virtualy uncontested.
German Air force will solve the Africa problem. Keep dropping your 1 inf and tank a turn till it turns into the meat grinder in Africa. Than, put the vast bulk of the German airforce into Africa and proceed to march down the continent and take out the UK IC. This may take 3 turns till you get the full use of the German airforce again in Eurupe, but you will be making a lot of $ and can afford it. I would than solidify the coast ensuring I will keep Africa unless the US mounts a MAJOR landing. With the extra IPC Russia will fall like a ton of bricks very quickly.
Russia will fall well before the US can take out Japan. After Moscow falls, it turns into a war of attrition that the Axis will win.
As far as countering the US. You can’t, you can only slow them down. Whatever the US wants (if they fully commit to it) they will get. You just need to hit them where they are not committed.
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Full power blitz with japan to russia and invade amerrica with germany.
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I say just rearrange the teams. Those problems will more or less disappear! :P
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Just do your best to last as long as you can until Germany kills UK or Russia, or both.
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