@calvinhobbesliker:
The other 2 is probably FIC, which you’d forego on turn 1 to collect the +10 NO. Some players move the British battleship to Queensland to help defend the ANZAC/American fleet, and it can also be used along with some planes as part of a 1-2 or a 1-2-3 against portions of the Japanese fleet that split up.
Exactly.
I’d even argue that if you were hellbent on wanting to do J2, that taking FIC J1 might even be worth losing the +10 NO in some instances (effectively only a +8 NO at that point), because that territory with a naval base on it can be pivotal to control of the south pacific. But then again, I wouldn’t ever J2 in the first place unless I was gonna kill me some Ruskies.
I said the part where you don’t build minor industrial complexes is a whole other discussion. I’m bored at work, so I’ll jump into that, too:
As far as the FIC mIC, I don’t know how common that is, but I’d guess pretty damn, and I personally see it a lot. I can’t think of a game as Japan (after my first trainwreck of a try, which we all probably have :p) where I haven’t done it. Again, to be clear, it is incredibly useful. You’ll likely already have a naval base there, so any boats you build are immediately useful on the next turn to go damn near anywhere, be it Calcutta, Western Aus, the money islands, Carolines to smack Americans, up to SZ6 to drive out a convoy party, etc. Basically 1/2 of the pacific and the eastern half of the Indian. You never have to worry about it being destroyed, unlike a mIC in china. Chances are you also have an airbase on Kwangsi, meaning any planes on that can scramble to protect any naval buys.
If you only have your Japan factory, and the Americans do come over and start the convoy party, you can’t build navy off of Japan before your next turn (when you’re likely swinging your fleet back around and getting everything in position to kill the convoy fleet). But with a factory in FIC you can pump out a very cost-effective three submarines to have on the subsequent round(s) of smashing.
If you only have your Japanese factory, a transport has to go a long damn way to pick up some replacement units. If they can stop to pick up a new unit or two in FIC, you’ve saved yourself two entire turns of that transport going up then coming back down. Two turns in A&A is enough for your entire campaign to crumble or come into fruition. Having your transports, that you can’t afford to replace, disappear for two turns instead of threatening ANZAC (again, so it must build land units), or Calcutta, or there to pick up some cash islands is a huge detriment to the glorious cause of the IJN. Taking land units out of China to do it harms your efforts there.
I always build a mIC in FIC, and by J4 I often have one or two more on mainland Asia, depending on what all has happened. If America has twiddled too much in the Atlantic, then it’s very often four factories, and a Pacific win is nearly unavoidable.
Eventually, the US is going to come over and break your boats. You can’t help that. Either he’s going to make you attack him or he’s going to crash into you. If you still have some capital ships, your navy is still vulnerable and anemic for a turn or two. Or, worse yet, you’ve got nothing. Having the ability to immediately splash down some more boats in the South Pacific can get you back up to running speed much more quickly. If the US does win, and is parked on SZ6, without Japanese mIC elsewhere… game over man: You Lose. Having the mIC on the mainland means that you can, always, definitively, kill china. It also allows you to send (fast) units across china and into Russia. If the Americans do make a suicide dash into China to liberate some things (more effective than you might think), then the factories let you contain the issue before it gets too far out of hand, while not requiring your transports stop threatening (or killing) Calcutta or ANZAC.
List of territories, in order of likelihood, that I place a mIC in:
1: FIC. Always. J2. See above.
2: A mIC in Kwangtung is good for keeping a lock on China, and, like FIC, will have a (free) naval base on it. Can reach sz6 (two routes, making destroyer blocks a bit more difficult) as well as all of the money islands, and the Carolines, but only the Northern Territory of AUS. Depending, either J2 or J3, rarely J4.
2: Malaya! Just as close to Calcutta, land-wise, as FIC. With both you likely don’t need transports to go west any longer, and can slowly prep for the slow burn on Calcutta or to restock for a hit on ANZAC. Or, with both mIC and transports, Calcutta cannot stand, no matter what they do. Very close to money islands, and once again, the UK was nice enough to plant a naval base here for you already. Those guys are swell. Can’t reach SZ6, but it does reach 4/5 sea zones around Australia, and at times it being able to reach West India can be nice. J3 or J4.
The above two tie for the second one that I build, and it’s sometimes both, depending on what’s going on in the game.
4: A mIC in Korea, or actually better Manchuria unless you’re worried about it getting burned down by snarky americans liberating it, can be useful for activating Mongolia for the Russians and then killing them all and taking all of the far east territories from Russia. Depending on when this is done, this is of huge benefit to Germany. While the far east isn’t as good of a time/money investment vs. reward as other pursuits can be for Japan, it is not too awful, and helps out the European theater a good little bit. Think good and hard about this to make sure it’s not likely to be threatened in the next 2-3 turns, however, since if you ever lose it, the Manchurian factory is gone forever (though maybe it was still worth it anyway!), or you just built a factory for the Americans in Korea. Manchuria can also build in SZ19, which can be useful if SZ6 is, or will soon be, hot.
5: Shangtung/Kiangsu I almost never do, but I have seen it done. There are edge cases where building destroyers to block destroyer blocks can work out, and early game mICs here can be used to push into Russia/Mongolia very hard (IE: in the “strategy” where you chase down and kill those 18 Russians even if they do try to run back to Moscow).
If you’re ever in a position to build another mIC in another place, like Western India or Queensland, the game is too far advanced to be able to talk about much, and you’re likely winning (or are losing and are very desperate) anyway.
