US Industrial Complex in Sinkiang?

It’s not a terrible idea, but there are a few problems to overcome. One is that you have to either keep the factory alive or force Japan to pay a crushing price for it – which is very unlikely. Even if you can stack the factory heavily enough that Japan doesn’t want to attack on J2, they can probably attack J3 – so you get 1 build before the attack. It’s not realistic to send in enough Russian reinforcements to stand up against a probable J3 attack of 6 inf, 6 planes with your US/UK/China forces of 4 inf, 3 planes; you could do it, but Russia would promptly collapse. The Russia vs. Germany battle is really sensitive to minor changes; Russia doesn’t have that kind of breathing room to spare. Send in 1 Russian inf as reinforcements, yes. Build 4 tanks and send them all into China, no, not without a huge bid.

Another is that even if you keep the factory…so what? Japan’s not dependent on China for its economy, for factory spaces, or for freedom of movement. China’s the fastest route to Moscow, but it’s not the only one – one of the main reasons why Japan might opt not to attack Szechuan J1 is if they’re busy stacking Burma on the way to India. Do you really want to pay for a 1-build-slot factory in Sinkiang for the US if that means that Japan gets free early access to the 3-build-slot factory in India?

You could imagine an all-out KJF plan where an American Sinkiang factory makes sense – Britain bids a sub and uses it to attack Japan’s capital ships in SZ 37, Russia bids an artillery in Buryatia and uses it to attack Manchuria, and America bids an AAA gun in Szechuan to make Japanese attacks there more painful. Britain builds 1 inf, 1 art, 1 tnk in India and starts flying planes from London to support the attack; America builds 100% in Pacific, mostly DDs, CVs, and ftrs, to gain control of naval lanes to the money islands as fast as possible, and Russia sends over 1 tnk to support the Siberian forces while attacking West Russia (only) and building mostly infantry, playing a nearly-turtling defense on the European front. If the SZ 37 battle goes well (and it should, statistically) then you can force Japan to give way on at least one front; they don’t have the starting cash to fight in China and India and Siberia and the Pacific all at once from the very first turn.

Without a bid, though, the Sinkiang factory starts looking more than a little silly. You’d need the perfect turn on defense before US1 comes along, with Japan getting diced left and right.

It’s a popular strategy in games like Classic/Revised where you actually have a Chinese Territory that’s worth 2 IPC.

In this version, not so much. It takes way too long to get your units setup and with the pitiful rate of reinforcement of 1 Unit/Turn Japan can really eat you alive whenever they want.

Normally, you use a few Russian units to help beef up the Chinese defense, but in this version the Soviets are so weak OOB that they really do need everything (bar maybe 1 or 2 INF) to keep the Germans at bay.

Also; think of what else you can be doing with that 15 IPC.

• 1 SUB/1 DD OR 2 DD (This is technically 14/16 IPC but you get the point) - Helps USA build up its Pacific Fleet to stop Japan OR provides absolutely vital cover for the Atlantic Fleet, depending on whether you’re going KGF or KJF.

• 1 TT/1 INF/1 ART (again, 14 IPC, blame the devs for making TANKs cost 6) - Starts your land-bridge

• FTR + whatever else you want - Can reach Moscow in time for the final battle if you start moving it A2 (USA -> Greenland A2, Greenland -> ??? (Various options in Russia) A3, ??? -> Moscow A4)

EDIT: forgot East USA FTRs can’t reach London in 1 round in 42SE. What were the Devs thinking?

All of these either start the process of applying pressure to your opponent, or set yourself up for a direct contribution to the defense of Moscow. Arguably the IC in China helps with the “defense of Moscow” bit, but the second Japan sees this they’ll make a beeline for it and use it to start pumping out TANKs in Russia’s backyard.

@djensen but at what cost? Yoh say three Fts? From where? Will they be missed, I mean?

@djensen I realise , but you don’t want to lose India or Moscow. Or not have a viable US Pacific fleet. (Mug main worry.)
When you find time, tell me and I will be your Axis guinea pig. Happy to help.

I thought we wanted it to be a recruitment center instead…can we build factories in this version? I forget but I also haven’t ever done it that I recall (in 60 games).