You're America, you've been J1 DoW'd, what now…

My biggest weakness in this game is being effective with America as soon as possible.

Let’s assume these preconditions:

-All players are of relatively equivalent levels of skill.
-G1 “standard”. They either built some navy, bombers, or saved 30. At any rate ,no strong indication of their plan.
-R1 The 18 far east dudes begin heading to Moscow.
-J1 DoW on all allies (see 3rd post in thread)
-You are planning on doing some kind of KJF to avoid, or at least slow down, a monster.
-UK1 will be full defensive buy for London: 6 inf 1 fighter.

US1:
How would you spend your first 52 IPCs as America? What do you do with your current units? What do you look for in the Atlantic that could possibly distract you away from a full, or near-full, KJF?

US2:
Combat moves? What units? What is your goal? What can happen in the Atlantic to make you take notice?

3+:
Any general mindset here?

What would you ask of your allies?

When do you expect to be able to begin harassing Japan in a way that matters?

I find we get into a standoff either on the Japanese Phillipines and the U.S. Carolines (plus usually some ANZAC), or worse, U.S. must piddle around on Hawaii if it has spent too much in the Atlantic. This standoff does not end until either side makes a mistake, but let’s assume that won’t happen, or until turn 6 at the earliest. Do you see this as well? Something else?

Feel free to mention any situational but useful maneuvers as the U.S. (such as the Midway naval base to circumvent the destroyer block for a Korea invasion/convoy party)

Feel free to mention any adjoining ANZAC or even U.K. Pacific strategy in this, since they’re intimately related.

Edit(s)-
Assume no bid, or if you must, a bid in Europe/Africa/Western Russia–one that won’t help you in the Pacific for the first few turns, or ever.

I’m aware of this thread (also, great job on making video resources, Young Grasshoper), but was wanting something specifically for a reaction to J1 DoW:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=35707.0

Synopsis of Japan’s turn added below.

I think “Cow’s” J1 opener is a good assumption.

Synopsis of J1:
-UK BB sunk
-ANZAC is untouched
-Philippines/Kwangtung are now JP
-JP fleet is positioned mostly on the Philippines.
-Plane stack Kwangsi, Continental JP moving southwest as normal
-JP positioned to take any three of Malaya/Celebes/Java/Sumatra (already has Borneo)
-Japan proper has 2 dests and 3 planes left to defend what it bought:
-JP ends with ~45 IPCs, and has built 3 new transports.

All good J1 DoW openers I am aware of do 80-100% of what is detailed here:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=26960.0
Check attached screenshot for a visual snapshot of the aftermath.

A naval yard on panama when and to do what, exactly?

I think the point at which you achieve mutually assured destruction between Japan and US matters as well.

If it’s turn 7, and they’re already making 70+ IPCs a turn and have minor factories on Asia major with India destroyed or permanently neutered, then Japan can rebuild its fleet and have it in position as fast, or faster, than ANZAC/US can. The US is always two turns away from being any kind of threat to Japan, whereas Japan can build fleet immediately on the front.

The loss of a few islands to ANZAC is annoying at this point, but that’s assuming ANZAC even had transports ready to go as soon as the hammer fell between US/JP (which it probably should have, since annoying Japan is their entire MO).

Turn 1-3, and almost assuredly on 4, it’s impossible to cripple a Japanese offensive after J1 DoW. Their fleet remains well-positioned and numerically superior to anything the US can throw at it.

Bombing Japan from Manchuria/one of the russian easterns is kinda amusing. I’ve never seen that before. But if the Japanese really wanted to, could they not just crush the hell out of whatever stack you have with a few transports and their planes? That’s 18 less Russians and 2 AA guns less in Moscow as well. Worth it every time for the axis. That’s why one of the assumptions was that the Russians marched west, because if they did an Amur stack or something the J1 DoW probably didn’t happen, so this point is invalid.

At what earliest point do you think going MAD as the US is viable? And where do you usually see this battle take place?

For instance, if I were a Japanese player on turn 3-8, I’d gladly let you surround Japan and convoy me for a round and make a Korean landing, then on the next turn swoop in with my navy, at least 3 new submarines I bought out of minor factory on the Asian coast, as well as all of my planes to obliterate it. The TUV swing in this instance will favor Japan so much that even losing 15-25 income for 1-3 rounds will not have mattered. The Chinese waking up would be a bit of a pain in the ass, the loss of the money islands to ANZAC would sting, but all is easily, if not slowly, handled well before the US can come back and try again.

Do you see something differently?

Yeah, I don’t think UK will ever be in that position on J3-4. ANZAC might have all sorts of crap, depending on what happened, for instance maybe UK took Dutch NG for them for an extra 5 IPCs a turn that they’ve been getting every turn. But UK? No. As a UK player I tend to love to fly 2/3 of my pacific planes west to first cause a ruckus in the middle east (by taking Iraq UK 1 or by at least being in the med) until they are needed to either stack Moscow or swing back east no earlier than UK 4.

China is never okay on J3-4 against a decent JP player unless Russia has decided to hang themselves against Germany. They’re either hiding way out west, or have stacked Yunan in a glorious attempt to delay Japan by destroying a large amount of it’s hard-to-replace ground troops. If you see something else than this, I’d greatly appreciate hearing about it.

As said above, ANZAC might have some clout to toss around. They can make 24 on ANZAC 1 with Britain sacrificing an infantry/transport for them to take Dutch NE, and ANZAC sending a transport to Java. They’ll very often still be making at least 19 on ANZAC 2 as well. Their 10+24+19 IPC income from AZ1-3 on top of their starting 3 fighters/cruiser/destroyer can lead to an impressive little force to help out big brother America for sure, but that is a best-case scenario. If Japan is threatening Western Australia, they’re often forced to go into turtle mode and won’t have much in the way of projecting their power off of their tiny continent.

I have already said assume Russia heads back west toward Moscow with its 18 men, as them not doing so usually causes Japan to rethink a J1 DoW in the first place (and gives Germany a big ol’ smile).

I don’t see where all of these units are coming from, and how they can manage to converge at the same time on Japan, out-maneuvering them, unless Japan makes a fairly decent-sized mistake.

I’m not going to lie, I was hoping for a bit more information here when I came back from my week+ long vacation. If it’s not too abrupt, perhaps I could directly ask Cow, who is mulling around here again these days, for his suggestions on how best for the U.S. to retaliate, or what to keep in mind for them, against his own playbook for J1 DoW?

@calvinhobbesliker:

Is there a way to prevent India from falling too quickly? I just had a game where Japan attacked on turn 1, built up 7 transports I was never quite able to hit, stacked FIC with planes and build an AB and NB, and took India on turn 4 using all of Japan’s planes. The US wasn’t able to get there in time…I might have been able to delay India falling by 1 turn by putting a DD blocker, but India seemed unsalvageable, and after it falls, Japan becomes a monster and threatens the Middle East. What could I have done to stop this?

I don’t think you could have done much. As only Britain, to say nothing of what ANZAC, China, and the US can/should be doing when JP is so far west, you have three (really just two) options when this happens, as far as I know:

1:
Delay them taking India for one turn by recapturing the territory that their planes are needing to land in. This is usually either Yunan or Shan State, and requires that you put units in Burma. This necessarily is a suicide mission, but buys you one more turn. The force required in Burma is pretty circumstantial depending on what all ground units are in southern asia and whether or not your UK Pac air flew west to the middle east or stuck around in India.

If Japan has taken Ceylon as the point where their planes are going to land, then there’s nothing you can do to delay it. But this is not optimal for Japan since either their planes are likely one entire turn away from being usable in the pacific again, or they also have to drop 15 IPCs for an air base on Ceylon on their attacking turn so that on the next they can get back to their air base in Kwangsi or FIC–not cheap.

2:
Just let them have the damn thing. Hold out as long as is practical, at least until J4 unless something awful has happened, but don’t throw those units away. Even if you turtle up on India, your economy is gone. They are likely convoying you with at least one sub, meaning your income is somewhere between 2 and 5 per turn. An occasional bombing run on your factory makes this as good as 0/turn. Instead, march west and do some good there by joining up with the British middle east (which hopefully has a factory somewhere) and help out Russia or kick Italy out of wherever they are, or make it to where Japan simply can’t push onto the Atlantic maps. It’s usually not worth it to just sit in Western India and wait, but in some games this can keep Japan from taking all of their units and heading toward ANZAC for a turn or two longer, which is the only thing that makes this waiting-in-western-india edge-case worth mentioning.

3:
A smart Japanese player will never let you do this, so it’s hardly worth mentioning, but making a suicidal stand on India is worth it if Japan is going to have to take plane more than a couple of plane losses to take your capital. Again, a decent JP player will simply wait, but if you’re playing against someone who is in a hurry or is drunk, Japan losing some of its airforce in the first 5-6 turns is pretty awful for them. Moreover, if you kill a lot of their ground units, they now have mostly empty transports, which are hard to refill so far southwest for JP. India is worth another 8 IPCs/turn for Japan, and they only get way less than 10 IPCs (probably 5) when taking Calcutta. That’s not enough money to make putting themselves in a bad position or to taking significant losses worth it, especially since the allied economy is not affected by the loss of Calcutta since the UK Pac economy was already effectively 0 anyway.

But that’s just what you can do as Britain. If Japan is sending 7 transports to India, full of units, they will need at least 2 boats to cover those transports. That’s not cheap. What JP is not doing is building as much navy as the US has been building, so that’s the US’s sign to move in. China probably isn’t all the way dead yet, and is causing at least minor problems. ANZAC can perhaps sneak up and take a money island or somesuch. The US can position itself one turn closer to Japan, or perhaps even do the Sea Zone 6 smash-in and land in Korea/Manchuria and convoy for one good turn if Japan has put its fleet and planes, or just its planes, in a bad position.

It really doesn’t take much to throw a stick on Japan’s spokes with only moderate effort in the first seven turns. If they take India, hopefully you just jammed a few Americans in china that will take at least a few turns to clear up. If you’re really lucky you can even permanently destroy some JP factories if they built them on Manchuria/Shangtung/Kiangsu. This is not a super common thing to see, but it’s something to always keep in mind.

ANZAC will need to be in full turtle mode, probably, if Japan can reload those 7 transports after India, as 14 japs landing in Western Australia is just about the limit of what they could possibly handle even with full defensive buys for every turn.

I can never take India against someone who isn’t dumb before J6 without leaving my flanks more vulnerable than I’m able to tolerate, but perhaps that’s because I play like a pansy. If Japan turns its glare of death as far west as India, make them pay for it, especially since as said before 7 loaded transports are not cheap. They have made sacrifices elsewhere. America will come crashing in at some point, just be sure to keep ANZAC alive to help pick up the pieces.

The problem I had, and still have, is when the US can finally move in US6-8, the climactic crash is still boils down to odds that are not much higher than 70% for the US, at best, which is basically the entire pacific theater coming down to one round of dice luck, and not so much strategy. Any time I see the pacific allies really turn the tide, it’s either through diceluck or by Japan not playing perfectly.

edit-
Argo also had some points worth commenting on, but I’m out of time, so I’ll respond when I can.

@Argothair:

I’m a rank (as in stinky) amateur at A&A 1940, but here’s my two cents for how America can respond to a J1 DoW:

1. Establish a limited goal for yourself in Europe, and stick to it. Your ability to be effective in the Pacific depends on rapidly building up a US Pacific Fleet that can defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy; until you at least get to the naval break-even point, all the IPCs you drop in the Pacific are earning zilch for your team. That means you can afford to send 15 - 18 IPCs / turn across the Atlantic, tops. Any more than that and you’re not really playing a KJF strategy; you’re playing a muddled grabbag that happens to lean toward the Pacific. What can you do with 16 IPCs per turn? You could build a Mediterranean naval squadron to help the UK sink Italy’s surface boats, flipping a couple of national objectives your way. Or, instead, you could land troops in Morocco to march east across North Africa, helping to relieve Egypt. Or, instead, you could land troops in Norway to take away Germany’s bonus for Swedish ore. If you hold Norway, you can build a minor factory there and start marching troops over to Leningrad. Don’t try to accomplish more than one of these goals in the first five turns, and don’t try to invade the western European mainland – you just don’t have enough cash.

I mostly agree.

I’d say 18/turn to the Atlantic side is definitely too much against a decent Japanese player. That’s three less submarines or nearly two less planes you’re building per turn, which is probably going to delay your ability to run in and smash up japan by at least one entire round, which can be damning. If I’m going to contribute anything much to the Atlantic as US, I’m for dumping the initial 52 into the Atlantic and then going straight 100% Pacific from then on, or at most 8-12/turn (on average) in the Atlantic, if even that.

With that first 52, as you said, you can help permanently keep Gibraltar (if necessary), or as you said snake your way up to Norway and cause no small amount of issues, or if the Axis make a mistake, let you blow up a major factory on Northern Italy or Western Germany or other GOTCHAs that are possible on that side of the map. I agree that Normandy is a bad call unless the Axis have made some pretty severe mistakes or risky plays, but let’s assume for this thread that the Axis are playing theoretically perfectly.

I don’t think the northern Africa marching is really all that useful in most games unless it’s just to keep them off of Morocco for the 6 IPCs it’s worth (1+NO), and even then. Too slow, and either Italy has crashed Egypt and your forces won’t get there in time to help, or Italy is retreating their troops back up to the continent they came from with their one transport that is left and there’s nothing left for you to do since Egypt doesn’t need relief.

@Argothair:

2. If the Japanese swing their boats way out of position to take the Philippines and the East Indies on J1, you can probably afford to stack your Navy in Hawaii on A1, and you may be able to move out to the Carolines as early as A2. If it helps you seize the harbor a turn earlier, consider sending ANZAC destroyers to act as blockers to help keep the Japanese navy out of position. It’s very much a race.

I either disagree completely or don’t fully understand you here.

I would call Japan putting its boats to take the Philippines the optimal position. Yes, you can get your meager starting U.S. navy to Hawaii, but there’s no way in hell Japan is going to let you take the Carolines A2 unless you do sacrifice the ANZAC cruiser/destroyer to do it. If you do sacrifice the ANZAC boats, japan kills them with planes and subs, and is still sitting the bulk of what they have on the Philippines J3 keeping you from doing much of anything useful at all A3. I would love for you to tell me how I my line of thinking is wrong, because as the US I feel most impotent A1-3.

@Argothair:

3. If the Japanese are more careful with their fleet positioning, then you won’t be able to get to the Carolines until A3. In that case, spend ANZAC’s income on a couple of loaded transports so that ANZAC can take control of the Carolines in case the big navies wipe each other out.

I don’t see the “wiping each other out” thing working at all well for the US J3/4.

I see this situation in 50%-60%+ of games. J3 has JP sitting on the Philippines, and has gotten the money islands/Malaya and is going all ass wild as Japan tends to do. It’s A3, and you have a fleet on Caroline. America cannot hit the Philippines, because their strength is simply too anemic to reliably deal favorable damage. And even if they do hit it, it’s not super juicy since Japan likely has its transports sitting off of FIC (which has a naval base/mIC) with a Kwangsi air base and any J3 naval purchases from the FIC factory defending them. Attacking Japan on the Philippines destroys some of the imperial navy, yes, but it destroys all of what america has yet to build and put west, and the trade off I never find it worth it for the US, at all.

Japan is making well over 60 at the end of J3, and the US 72 (assuming Brazil). China is probably under control to some degree (or completely wrecked) and UK Pac is economically crippled. Japan still has its transport fleet alive, meaning they can make Britain pay dearly for attempting to be too plucky with its units. They can rebuild a large part of their fleet that is either directly in the action or only 1 turn away while america is spending 1 or 2 turns getting back into position.

Can Japan on J4 potentially attack the Carolines and win against what is there? Potentially, but I see that they very often do not take the risk and move themselves that far out. Time is not really against Japan in the pacific, it’s against the Allies. Japan is served just fine by continued posturing if it means keeping the US at bay for an extended period of time. All the while, its economy is swelling dramatically, easily outpacing the US by J5/6.

However, if the US fleet is too heavily based on submarines on the Carolines A3, then Japan should attack, and that’s likely the tipping point leading to heavy momentum to an eventual Japanese victory.

@Argothair:

4. There’s really not much you can do with UK Pacific or China when Japan starts mowing them down on J1. The Burma Road is going to be closed early and stay that way, and UK Pacific is going to be very short on income. Just play conservatively – use single infantry blockers as appropriate to help slow down Japanese mech. inf. / tanks, and otherwise be constantly on the retreat. Don’t throw away your armies just to make a point, even if it wins you an important territory for one turn. It’s not glamorous or fun to lose every battle, but just by keeping significant infantry reserves in your rear, you (a) force Japan to commit large numbers of infantry and transports to keep resupplying the south Asian fronts, which takes away from Japan’s naval purchasing power, and (b) have the option of reinforcing Moscow or the Middle East during the middlegame with your surviving infantry.

I think I agree.

I usually see the Burma road reopened each turn until the 4th round, though. China can only annoy Japan and hope to slow them down. Britain is best served by keeping its options open and, indeed, eventually heading west if the situation gets too gross for them in the pacific.

@Argothair:

5. Build lots of American subs. Because ANZAC can deliver loaded transports from close range, and because you have some airbases along the way to help with your fighter/bomber logistics chain, you really don’t need to protect an American carrier fleet against Japanese attacks. It’s cheaper to build a force that’s made up mostly of subs and bombers so that you can sink whatever Japan sends out to guard the islands, letting ANZAC pick off the actual Japanese ground forces. Do keep one loaded American transport someplace safe (Hawaii at first, then later the Solomon Islands) so that you can retake the Philippines or capture Java and build an American industrial complex there without having to wait for the transport to arrive from San Francisco.

I think I disagree.

If you have all subs and bombers with only a smattering of other units, Japan will just withdraw just barely out of your immediate reach, then wait for you to move closer, counterattack, and destroy all those subs defending on a 1 with absolutely amazing effectiveness, they wouldn’t even need much more than half of their navy/air to do such a thing.

You can use the airbases to scramble to buy you a little more defense, for sure, but that’s not going to save you after a certain, rather early, point.

As said above you cannot build mICs on islands. The only viable points for US factories on that side of the map are Kwangtung (assuming India has fallen), taking Japan’s FIC mIC from them (good luck),  and Korea (right in the damn bees’ nest).

If I am misunderstanding you, or am blind to the mechanics of the strategy, please elaborate.

@Argothair:

6. Ask the UK Europe player to make it a priority to help Moscow survive until turn 6-7, so the Siberian reinforcements can arrive. If the UK player has a choice between propping up India and propping up Moscow, you definitely want to go for Moscow – India is going to be small no matter what in this type of game, and the whole point of retreating 18 inf, 2 AA guns before they even clash with the Japanese is to get them safely to Moscow – don’t let the Axis pick off Moscow before they even get there.

Agreed.

The UK Pac air usually ends up in Moscow for at least a couple of turns along with lots of other british air in games I play in. Which, (as the assumption in this thread went) buys time for the 18 eastern ruskies to end up in Moscow. This forces Germany to start the long game, or perhaps even allows Britain/Russia to ensure they never reach the middle east.