Industrial Complexes or Transports for Japan?

@imperious-leader
Thank you oh glorious leader!

It difficult enough for the axis to win as 2 vs. 3.  But  1 vs. 3 is much harder…
sounds like a fun game though, which is what is important!

@Linkon:

Taking any Allied islands should be considered a luxury move.  Do it after critical territories are secured.

Not quite.  The question of whether to attack Australia depends on what the Russians did in round 1.  IF Russia is making a strong Asian stand (ie: if the Russian fighter was sent on the Manchurian attack and/or if 2 or more Russian INF were sent east in round 1) then I would agree with you:  Pull all Japan forces back to Japan proper, assault Manchuria with so much overwhelming force that Russia is basically totally defeated in the east, then move toward Moscow as described elsewhere.

However, if Russia did not attack Manchuria at all, or if their attack forces were not at maximum strength, or if Russia sent all available forces west to defend Karelia, then you do not have to send EVERYTHING against Russia.  In fact, “wasting” both battleships sitting in home waters is counter-productive to Japan’s openning strength:  navy.

Remember, the US has to stage forward to attack Japan, or any navy around Japan.  That means that Western US navy has to move to Hawaii (or Midway, or Wake, or SOMEWHERE forward of California) one round before it can attack Japan’s home waters (and that transport fleet you started building in round 1).  Japan has more than enough initial air power to counter any Round 1 US attack, and then you simply re-start building that transport fleet and move the Australian navy back toward home waters.  And if the US does stage forward, then the TWO Japan fleets pincer it, destroy it, and then keep building their transports to attack Russia and threaten Midway, Hawaii, and Alaska.

I just played a game before I wrote this against the computer where the usa spent 90% of their money attacking germany. the dice went against me and i lost nearly everything. the germans lost finland and the ukrain pretty fast too. the germans looked like they were done except i had placed a factory and was pumping out 3 tanks (on my mainland factory) and 1-2 planes per turn.

in the first round i had managed to get india, one of the chinese provinces and the 2 eastern russian provinces. that’s probably why i lost so many troops. I spread them to thin. turn #2 i lost india and SE asia to britain and i captured them back right away and sunk their transport. i had about 2 infantry and 3 planes spread across my whole frontier, but russia had wasted some troops attacking me.

germany held on for a few turns and it was looking dim for them but my tanks started rolling in and my planes rushing in for some kamikazi action and sunk 8 american transports while i lost 4 planes. germany took moscow and i think you can imagine how it went from there.

i hate when i attack a territory with 3 inf and 2 planes and they have 2 inf and i miss completely for 2 turns and they get dead on hits both turns :P that’ll make you rethink your strategy in that area right quick. luckily the closest enemy factory is moscow which is concentrating on germany.

if you are japan and can capture all of asia and place a few factories there or even only one russia is pretty much done and all the germans have to do is hold off britain and the usa. after that the game is done. it seems every time. that’s why i stopped playing with japan with my friends. i always ended up owning asia and half the time africa too.

Geez you guys live to kill each other :wink: :lol: :-? :roll:

Why should germany be ready to push into Moscow on turn 5? The allies are dropping of units into Karelia faster than the Germans can build up. Germany is lucky to hold out until round 6 never mind being the one to cause the russians to retreat to Moscow. Germany’s goal is to stay alive and threaten Russia as much as possible to limit what the allies can throw against Japan.

By turn 5 the allies have had 10 transports pumping units into Europe. 20 allied units plus airforce can hit W. Europe, Germany or E. Europe by navy alone, no way Germany takes Karelia and you can’t threaten Moscow as Germany without Karelia.

BB

@Ansbach:

There is a mythical Japanese strategy out there that has yet to be discovered. It involves Japan putting equal amounts of pressure on Russia and the US with the idea that Germany would have some relief from the US but would face more pressure from Russia.

Anybody want to move to New Jersey, become a US Senator, accept bribes, only have to give the non-financial gifts back, and get a slap on the wrist from the US Senate, while the dude who bribes you has to serve time in prison? Reminds me of the good old days back in Chappaquidic(sp.?). Sorry, just got a little nostalgic.

It might be bad for Japan to ignore China in turn 1. If the US/UK both place IC’s in turn 1 in Sinkiang/India, Japan can’t touch them, possibly at all. By the end of turn 3, Japan will only have 2 or 3 infantry in Novosibirsk or Evenki, and the Allies could take FIB and Kwantung. The Allies could also have armor rolling north waiting for Japanese infantry columns. Japanese NP will stagnate, the Russians can deal with them easier (with US/UK IC help), Japan can’t regain south-east Asia without reducing the drive into Russia, etc.
In turn 1, if Russia takes Manchuria with fighter support and the UK builds an IC in India, Japan better keep their eyes open…