If japan does an india crush, its no use defending india. But what you can do is use the money for the 3 or 4 turns you have and bulid offensivse units, let him take india, then attack india. Just a thought.
I still think it’s a good idea. You can use it for the rest of the game too, not just taking down India.
What’s the “it” which is a good idea though? An Airbase on FIC? A naval base on Hainan?
I’ve been reading more about the J3 Calcutta Crush. I like what Cow’s saying about not getting the air base and doing the carrier swap to “just” get 12 planes to India. It’s not that the AB is useless, but 15 IPCs isn’t nothing and I’m not seeing how it’s necessary.
It seems the J3 attack is effectively stopped if on UK2 the UK puts up a blocker in 37, or if the UK declares war and takes back Yunnan, taking away the planes’ landing spot. The latter option has the downside of being an unprovoked DOW, so it seems a UK SZ37 blocker is a simple counter.
For Japan, then, could they declare war J2 on the UK to make sure that no blockers get into position, while not losing Yunnan, and have good odds at a successful India capture on J3?
If UK emptied Burma on UK1, then you don’t have to worry about Yunnan getting retaken. Your fleet can move towards India, preventing blockers, and the 2 transports in SZ36 might even be able to safely take Sumatra and/or Java and still be in position for a J3 Calcutta strike. If UK stacked Burma on UK1, Japan might have just enough to take Yunnan with your Hunan troops, 2 of the units brought down J1, and a stack of planes, do a strafe of Szechwan if necessary, and also take the 2 TTs brought down J1 to take 1 inf 1 tank and the 2 inf in Siam to hit Burma with the rest of the planes? Burma could easily be taken back, but key would be that Yunnan was safe, and UK couldn’t block a J3 Calcutta hit with at least 3 loaded TTs and 14 planes.
Another benefit of the J2 is you can strat bomb the factory for a turn.
With this, you’d leave Hong Kong and Malaya for later. Sure UK would make bank collecting income after its second turn… but that’s going to immediately go into Japan’s pocket after Calcutta is sacked.
Anyway, this seems pretty obvious, so there is likely some simple counters I’m not seeing. If nothing else, it seems like this would force UK Pac to play incredibly conservatively UK1, without sending the troops, ships, and planes to Africa that I see a lot of games.
The carrier “swap” would only work if the carriers started in SZ 38, the other distances are too far to “shuttle bomb” (my name for that swap). Unless you have the air base, or more carriers.
With no mobile units to start, how could UK take Yunnan? It just cant get there until later in the game to threaten it.
The J2 is what is stopped by the blocker. On J2, Japan can move to SZ 39 at peace, so it just ignores the blockers. Then you’d use the UK/ANZAC trick, we hope. J3 is impossible to stop, but it just wont work because there is no landing place (Burma, Ceylon) for the bulk of the fighters.
The best move is to get 6 men into Burma, in a way that UK wont attack (because he is afraid of defending short), then get 6 MORE men the next round, so you double the transports ability too. This only works 1 time because of the limited number of ground troops the Japanese have in that area to start, unless you slow down the whole plan in general to a J3.
Since backwatered ground troops can take HK, its just gone. Even 2 men 1 arty could take it. Malaya is a distraction, it can just be mopped up by Japan at its leisure or taken before India, if India cannot be, in order to suffocate UK money (this is the J1 plan’s J2 move).
The carrier “swap” would only work if the carriers started in SZ 38, the other distances are too far to “shuttle bomb” (my name for that swap). Unless you have the air base, or more carriers.
So J1 you move your carriers to 36, J2 to 38/41 to block 37 getting blocked :) Both of those SZs support a swap on J3.
With no mobile units to start, how could UK take Yunnan? It just cant get there until later in the game to threaten it.
So if UK moves its initial units to Berma on UK1, and then Japan is taking Yunnan on J1 and retaking it on J2, those Berma units would be easily enough to take Yunnan on UK2, right?
The J2 is what is stopped by the blocker. On J2, Japan can move to SZ 39 at peace, so it just ignores the blockers. Then you’d use the UK/ANZAC trick, we hope. J3 is impossible to stop, but it just wont work because there is no landing place (Burma, Ceylon) for the bulk of the fighters.
J3 is impossible to stop if you do this, but the 3 TTs you build on J1 will be at your SZ36 Naval Base on J2, and rely on SZ37 being open to participate. And if UK is at peace UK2, there’s nothing stopping him from moving a DD to SZ37. Isn’t the point of the initial transports that you’re hitting Calcutta with 12 land units instead of 6 in front of all of that air power? Seems like a much more IPC-favorable battle.
The best move is to get 6 men into Burma, in a way that UK wont attack (because he is afraid of defending short), then get 6 MORE men the next round, so you double the transports ability too. This only works 1 time because of the limited number of ground troops the Japanese have in that area to start, unless you slow down the whole plan in general to a J3.
I didn’t quite understand the part about doubling the transport ability, but I think you’re referring to using the initial TTs to take Burma J2, right? That move puts pressure on Calcutta while making sure you keep the Yunnan landing zone. How can those TTs be reused though, I only see the 2 units in Siam that can get in position for that?
