@SGT-Pitbull
Rulebook Europe 1940.2, page 21, under
“Liberating a Territory” (especially second paragraph).
Best Places for Japanese Factories
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I think that having factories on the Asian mainland is a good idea but I don’t know where the best spots are. Where do you guys put your factories?
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When I buy a factory turn 1, it almost always goes on Shantung. I almost never build factories on Manchuria or Korea.
After Shantung, if for some reason I’m declaring war late, I may get a second one on Kiangsu, otherwise my second factory is almost always on French Indo China.
If I can hold it, I’ll get my third factory on Malaya, otherwise I’ll put it on Kwangtung. Although sometimes I don’t get a third factory. Just depends on how the game is going.
If I had to rate them from most to least useful I would put the territories in this order:French Indo China
Malaya
Shantung
Kwangtung
Kiangsu
Manchuria
Korea -
We only really have 4 spots to evaluate
Korea; too vulnerable. Can be taken by Russia without activating mancuhuria. Can be taken by US during a SZ6 cross. An airbase is better than a fac.
Manchuria; this is good for defeating Russia, defending against Russia (and the US if it comes that way), and attacking Mongolia, but that’s not really optimal because there are no strategic objectives up here, just defensive and attritional war.
Kiangsu/Shantung; these two are pretty much the same. this is the vanilla choice because its safe and you can do it early. However, the very puzzle-piece like arrangement of China means that you are an additional turn north (with armor) and usually 1 more space than that out of position to attack india or the areas around it. Access to SZ 19 is ambivalent at best.
French Indo China; I never saw this as a good position in the past, and its not if you J3 or J4. However J1 openers are more popular now, and you don’t lose the bonus NO (American Oil) if you are at war anyway, you already lost it. Also, you cant place here T1, so you have to save up some $$ and wait.
However, it is a massively better choice than the others, the discussions on the board have convinced me of this. You are closer to INdia. Sz 36 is not a great place to put stuff but if you have a naval or air base on Kwangsi (very popular) it can protect/help that SZ. You are much closer to india here. Even with placing planes and strat bombers, they are right at the front.
If you place in any of the first four areas, it gives your strat away as well; it would seem that you are going to fight china and eventually invade india. If you have any other strategy, placing the MIC early and dropping 18 worth of armor each turn will leave you with too little money to execute other plans or supplement your navy.
You need transports anyways, more than 3, so typically 5 or 6. You cant buy all of it (though MIC + tran + tran is perfectly fine = 26, you wont be able to afford to fill this stuff with infantry, much less better stuff).
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French Indo China is great for a lot of reasons, including the ones you listed, but also because the Chinese can’t attack it.
I like Malaya for the same reason, but also because it’s the same distance from India as French Indo China, which is useful if you’re just slow playing cheap units against India.
I also like Malaya a lot because it is very useful for going after Australia. -
Malaya is good if you need to build naval forces because the naval base makes those forces more usable immediately.
Marsh
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Bridging with transports is a reasonable enough defense to not need factories on Korea or Manchuria.
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FIC (DoW on France J1 even if no-one else), Kwangtung and lastly Malaya. All good for money islands and India and avoid destruction if captured even temporarily by the allies.
As simon33 said, for more northerly production can bridge with TTs from Japan.
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If I build one on the first turn I almost always plop it down on Manchuria, even when I’m not screwing with Russia. With mobile units it’s no farther away from key areas like Hong Kong, Kwangsi, Yunnan, and Szechwuan than ICs on Shangtung and Kiangsu. But even with slower guys, it’s has an advantage so long as I can keep a steady supply of guys coming down. You need a certain number of troops in Manchuria to defend the Russian stack, however large it may be. By building an IC there J1, you’re allowing 3 more troops that were originally there to start making their way down south, because they’ll be replaced by your J2 builds. They’ll actually make it into Anhwe one turn earlier than troops bought on J2 at a factory in Kiangsu. So, counter-intuitively, you actually bring 3 more troops to the front sooner with a factory built farther away.
The trick of course is to maintain control of the war, dictating where and when the fights will be so that you can uphold the supply chain. If you’re running around putting out fires with ad hoc clean-up crews, then yeah, you’d want a factory closer to the fight so you can build whatever you need as needed.
Also, if you end up mopping through China, having the option of preparing against Russia is always nice. So is it’s distance from Chinese troops if the war goes sour. If it goes really sour, it’s easier to defend one province (Manchuria) from Russian and Chinese stacks than two in both Manchuria and Kiangsu.
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I generally prefer to place a factory in captured French Indochina. I invariably take it on J1, and the factory there allows for some decision on whether you want to send troops to China or India. It is quite versatile and a handy place to put it IMHO. Also, you can build some ships easily to take money islands.
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Just played Game 103, not feeling Malaya. Its not usually taken on J2, more likely J3 and then only placing factory on J4 and units J5, too slow. J2-J3 anywhere else.
Japan and UK money is perfectly balanced so that if they are running an MiC (or 2) they don’t have $$ for the other stuff they want and need.
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Just played Game 103, not feeling Malaya. Its not usually taken on J2, more likely J3 and then only placing factory on J4 and units J5, too slow. J2-J3 anywhere else.
Japan and UK money is perfectly balanced so that if they are running an MiC (or 2) they don’t have $$ for the other stuff they want and need.
Actually just tried it for the first time. I had only one IC, in FIC and needed more troops to take down India but no more for China. Seems to be working in this case.
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