War Plan Orange

Subs are the cheapest Naval unit, therefor you can mass-dominate the Pacific with SS.
But I also think that you have to bring in the airbases to project a real threat.
3 to 4 CV’s paired with DD’s is maybe enough plus Bmbrs.

R1. 3xSS + 1Bmbr
R2. 2xCV
R3. 5xSS
R4. 5xSS
R5. 3xBmbrs
Total of 158 Ipc’s

15 SS plus 3xCV and 5xBmbrs.
Combined with units allready on the board makes an impressive stack.
An existing total on R5 of 198ipc.
(this is just an example of buys)

We ran some sims this last week regarding this, and as YG pointed out, the subs are easy to ignore until they are on your convoys and it takes forever to get them there.  The ironic result is that we found a couple of ways of hiding/protecting JAPANESE subs and ships by spreading them out and only placing them where Destroyers didn’t want to be, but there was not much of a intimidation factor created by having the subs spread out among carolines, Hawaii, queensland, or anywhere else in between.

Some of the respondents talked about getting a massive stack of subs, complementing it with a few carriers so that you have 2-4, ignoring BBs and just taking the surface ships that you get at the beginning of the game along.  America doesn’t really want to ‘dance’ around with Japan in the northern pacific because they can never achieve odds;  the SS strategy may well be very intimidating to SZ 6 and force the Japanese to garrison it in great force.  Unf. you need to do this before Japan reaches peak income or he will be able to buy up enough defense to stop your invasion.

The interesting dynamic there is that as soon as the last Japanese destroyer is killed, their planes can no longer hit the subs.  The destroyers are prime causalities because of their low cost,  so are the subs.  But if you can land 6 sub hits from 20 subs, and they still have to retain a destroyer or lose the ability to hit your subs…then they have to make some bad choices about what to lose.  since they can still slaughter your surface ships, it could result in a battle where American subs survive but neither Japanese nor American fleets do…then its just planes v subs…until japan brings up one more DD and wipes you out.

@aequitas:

Subs are the cheapest Naval unit, therefor you can mass-dominate the Pacific with SS.

A stack consisting mainly of subs is pretty vulnerable to DD + plane attack. They need to be spread out to be useful. Perhaps that is what you are saying.

Correct Simon33.
Thank you.

@taamvan:

We ran some sims this last week regarding this, and as YG pointed out, the subs are easy to ignore until they are on your convoys and it takes forever to get them there.   The ironic result is that we found a couple of ways of hiding/protecting JAPANESE subs and ships by spreading them out and only placing them where Destroyers didn’t want to be, but there was not much of a intimidation factor created by having the subs spread out among carolines, Hawaii, queensland, or anywhere else in between.

Some of the respondents talked about getting a massive stack of subs, complementing it with a few carriers so that you have 2-4, ignoring BBs and just taking the surface ships that you get at the beginning of the game along.   America doesn’t really want to ‘dance’ around with Japan in the northern pacific because they can never achieve odds;  the SS strategy may well be very intimidating to SZ 6 and force the Japanese to garrison it in great force.   Unf. you need to do this before Japan reaches peak income or he will be able to buy up enough defense to stop your invasion.

The interesting dynamic there is that as soon as the last Japanese destroyer is killed, their planes can no longer hit the subs.   The destroyers are prime causalities because of their low cost,  so are the subs.   But if you can land 6 sub hits from 20 subs, and they still have to retain a destroyer or lose the ability to hit your subs…then they have to make some bad choices about what to lose.   since they can still slaughter your surface ships, it could result in a battle where American subs survive but neither Japanese nor American fleets do…then its just planes v subs…until japan brings up one more DD and wipes you out.

What purchase strategy did you use taamvan?

I think that is a good thought YG, but it’s flawed. At this point your looking at probably a US4 turn which means India is worried about defending itself, not wiping out an occasional Jap destroyer.  Also war plan orange kind of plays into your Spanish Beachhead strategy, right? So if that’s the case the Russians shouldn’t be wasting 12 IPCS for a bomber used against Jap ships, that bomber IF bought would be used to SBR Stalingrad/Ukraine/Leningrad.  And if the American beachhead has gone well, then those 12 IPCS should be used for a couple tanks to
Be pushing torward the German front for an offensive strike. But that’s only how I’d play it.

True, I wasn’t trying to derail by mentioning Spanish Beachhead, so apologies.  If U.S. Is indeed going with a KJF then perhaps a British bomber is justified, but even then you could just move your London Strat bomber that way opposed to spending India money on it. And if you need your bomber in London consider a UK Euro turn 1 buy of 5 inf for London and 1 Strat bomber for South Africa. The Strat Bomber could then be moved to India on UK2 or help a Eygpt Counterattack first before going on to Calcutta. In my games India simply can’t afford any type of offensive unit until R6+ where US has relieved pressure from Calcutta or if Japan goes with a ballsy Sydney first move.

I’ve just noticed that the rules apparently allow NCMing a sub into a SZ defended by a fleet which includes a hostile destroyer, unless you argue that the rule which states that DDs nullify the “Treat hostile SZs as friendly” ability overrules the rule in the sub unit description which states:

Treat Hostile Sea Zones as Friendly: A submarine can move through a sea zone that contains enemy units, either in combat or
noncombat movement. However, if a submarine enters a sea zone containing an enemy destroyer, it must end its movement
there. If it ends its combat move in a hostile sea zone, combat will occur.

This appears to imply that you can indeed move a sub into a hostile SZ on NCM even if it contains a DD, you just can’t move through it.

Triple A allows this move FWIW.

This strengthens this play, a fair bit IMO because you can’t just have a half the number of fleets as SZs to protect.

A couple UK bmrs positioned in Calcutta could definitely help pick off those lone Japanese destroyers for sure. UK sub(s) would also help protect your expensive bmrs when attacking w/bmrs, or could be used to bait Japanese dd’s to isolate them, if you can build subs in India (or send them from Africa). You need to have India stay in the game though to be used as a launch pad, so they will need to be using most income for inf and def units in the early rounds. I agree w/Tirano that UK bmrs could be sent over from Europe, but I would prob send the London bmr over (maybe after a Taranto run) instead of building one in S Africa on the first turn. I’m just a firm believer in max def for London on the first turn (or save some income), and don’t generally build luxury units, or ICs in Africa unless the Germans drop all ground G1. Anz bmrs in both Queensland and India have good range for this mission (bmrs can fly back-n-forth from those ABs).

Another thing is that this form of sub ware fare takes a few turns to develop so you really don’t need to have UK build bmrs right away. You should max def both London and Calcutta, while the USA gets fleet and subs into position, then build the bmrs (which have great range) just before the US is ready to go IMO to coordinate efforts (will also help to hide your intensions). I like to have some mobile units built for the India, and this would fit into this type of swamp Japan strat because once the Japanese have to back off Calcutta a couple mech with those bmers can be pretty effective getting into China too.

YG in your games when is Japan attacking, and what are they hitting when you do see a J1 attack. I ask because we see a lot of J1 attacks (J2 at the latest). Many of those J1’s include a hit on the US Hawaiian fleet. Japan also hits the Phip and the other UK stuff too. I realize that this could be just our group, but when they hit the Haw fleet it takes a couple turns for the USA to get up to speed. It also ramps up presser on the US to build Pac to stabilize things (although they would prob rather go Europe when entering the war early). With that said I think that “War Plan Orange” could work well in this situation, but it will take a bit longer to develop. Actually it could play right into WPO because when Japan does hit the US Haw fleet on J1 they may loose a dd in the attack, and have to leave another dd in sz 26 (Haw) to block out the US San Fran fleet that will die in the counter. I’ll have to give it a go the next time those pesky Japanese kill off my Haw fleet.

Ok that explains a lot, good to know.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but in my experience, Japan can pose an immediate threat to the US/Anzac fleet almost immediately under normal circumstances.  Build a few extra carriers in the first few rounds and you’re good to go.

If the USA is spending all that cash on subs, how are they keeping their fleet alive?  Japan can simply ignore the subs and steamroll the main fleet.  Once the money islands are taken, Japan hardly even needs transports anymore.

ANZAC can only reach Java the next turn. No other money island.

@simon33:

ANZAC can only reach Java the next turn. No other money island.

Even if you trade Java a couple times Anz is doing its job of forcing the Japanese to expose ground units and transports (something that Japan doesn’t want to do). The allies are looking to trade ships to force the Japanese to build more boats and less ground for Asia.

sz54 is a great launch point for the allies, and building an IC on Queensland at some point gives the Anz much better mobility. From sz 54 you can reach all the money islands, Malaya and even the Phil (although Phil is prob where the Japanese fleet will be sitting with air cover). You may even get the Japanese to picket block certain sz’s with those valuable dd’s so US can pick em off.

That option of building an IC on Queensland is one I’ve never done nor had done in a game I was playing IIRC. I’d always rather upgrade an inf or two to a fighter or DD (or CV) with the money. It’s rare that ANZAC are making 30IPC per turn or enough that the IC becomes a good use of resources and when it does, it is sometimes better placed on Saudia Arabia or FIC.

Ok, so a while ago Italy became upsetting for me after Taranto…now Japan is upsetting me.  I tried this strategy as the US and succeeded. My opponents got wise. Now whenever I play as Japan I get mowed over by this strategy :cry:  now we need a “How to beat Plan Orange” guide.  Seriously.

P.S. The key to this strategy as the U.S. is to simply place a submarine or more in each Japanese convoy zone (in a standard game there will be 10); just work out the details of getting there and Japan is going to be losing ground in Asia very soon because they either have to build a ton of destroyers, or build a few destroyers(only taking out your subs in big zones like 6 and 19), or totally ignore which is admitting defeat. Good luck Japan.