Axis Road to Economic Parity - Unlikely

As Bean is aware, I just experienced this in my game against Rising Dragon.  By all rights I SHOULD have won that game, having overrun Moscow essentially without a fight and even liberating Berlin with a massive Japanese armor stack.  Anyone looking at that game would have sworn Japan would win.  However, the economic factor ultimately prevailed for the Allies, because I simply could not keep pace with Allied production, once the American factories in Western and Southern got up and running.  America literally went from almost no presence in Europe (after I destroyed everything defending Berlin) to upwards of 100 units in Europe (not counting UK’s units) in a VERY short period of time.  My early piece advantage got me to Berlin, but that’s as far as it went.

But I would point out, in addition to the economic factor working against Japan, there is the dilemma for the Axis player of “Do I liberate Berlin?”  On the one hand, there is stuff to detroy there and you want to deny the Allies the IC.  But the downside is, the moment that capital is liberated, all original “grey” territories on the board revert to Germany, which ends up costing Japan IPCs for German territories it captured after the fall of Berlin.  AND on top of that, if Germany manages to cash out one turn, and if you cannot hold Germany (which happened to me), you end up handing the Allies a 20+ IPC gift when they re-take Berlin.  So, yeah, the “upper limit” in economy is a real problem for Japan.  The Allies simply can sit back, build large stacks of infantry and dare the Japanese player to attack.  Even if you crack Berlin or even Southern, a good Allied player will be able to push you right back with available “shuck” troops.  The key for the Allies is to build the IC in Western and keep shucking troops until the ICs get up and running and have enough troops on hand to defend themselves.

All things considered, I think the Axis have a less-than-even chance of winning a capital trade scenario.  So if you’re the Axis, you need to hold on to Berlin for as long as humanly possible.  Once it falls, Japan has a tall order to win.

The capital swapping is not very uncommon imo, but it doesn’t happen often either. Less than 1 out of 10 games is
my experience.

IMO, it really depends on how you have Japan set up as Moscow falls.  I think there are two ways to go about it (if you can’t get to 80+ ipc).  Although, I think it is very possible for Japan to claim much of Afr.  Once you take Moscow or it is clear it will fall you should be heading out pick up any ipcs you can.

Okay now the 2 ways:

1. Control of the Med.
   Japan needs to be the one that took Cauc and you need your ships in the Med.  This way you can directly threaten SE and Claim the IC from the Allies.  You don’t necessarily want to liberate Berlin, you just want to prevent the Allies from placing in SE or better yet you get to place 6 in SE.

2. You hit North America.
   In this case once you take Moscow, it is clear you won’t advance too far into Europe, and the Med is a real dog fight.  You still have troops messing around in Afr, but start backtracking your troops in Yak to Bury and from Jap/Bury to Ala/Wcan.  Take the fight to the US, esp if the are going heavy Atlantic or European builds.  If you take Ala with 3-4 units and Wcan with 3-4 on the same turn at least now when the US counters you can still threaten Wus while you counter Wcan.  You are also still building 12 units in Mos/Cauc and another 2-4 in Asia (earlier ICs), plus 6-8 in Japan for your North American strikes.  You should be able to fill at least 24-26 units at 72-78 ipcs a turn.  This assumes you have about 6-8 planes.

@DarthMaximus:

IMO, it really depends on how you have Japan set up as Moscow falls.  I think there are two ways to go about it (if you can’t get to 80+ ipc).  Although, I think it is very possible for Japan to claim much of Afr.  Once you take Moscow or it is clear it will fall you should be heading out pick up any ipcs you can.

Okay now the 2 ways:

1. Control of the Med.
   Japan needs to be the one that took Cauc and you need your ships in the Med.  This way you can directly threaten SE and Claim the IC from the Allies.  You don’t necessarily want to liberate Berlin, you just want to prevent the Allies from placing in SE or better yet you get to place 6 in SE.

2. You hit North America.
   In this case once you take Moscow, it is clear you won’t advance too far into Europe, and the Med is a real dog fight.  You still have troops messing around in Afr, but start backtracking your troops in Yak to Bury and from Jap/Bury to Ala/Wcan.  Take the fight to the US, esp if the are going heavy Atlantic or European builds.  If you take Ala with 3-4 units and Wcan with 3-4 on the same turn at least now when the US counters you can still threaten Wus while you counter Wcan.  You are also still building 12 units in Mos/Cauc and another 2-4 in Asia (earlier ICs), plus 6-8 in Japan for your North American strikes.  You should be able to fill at least 24-26 units at 72-78 ipcs a turn.  This assumes you have about 6-8 planes.

Good advice.

You really ARE a guru :)

I especialy think your first choice is the better one, but it is very hard for the japanese to be the one to take caucasus (and hold it) to enable them to use it.  As the allies, I would do all I could to prevent this (even sacrificing Moscow if I knew it would fall before long)

If Jap has Moscow and allies got Berlin, then UK+US need to plan their moves accordingly. US should have a lot of trans, as should UK, then both fleets should move to med to face the Jap navy. If UK have Berlin then US should have SE. Jap can still take Russia without contesting Afr, but if Jap got bot Cauc and Moscow then Afr can be contested.
This is why Fic and India are good TT’s for building IC for Jap. Also TT’s can have an impact, Jap don’t get income
for TT’s that is German and allies don’t get income for the TT’s which used to belong to Russia.
Japan will only be able to move to the med if US go north instead of the Afr –> Cauc route, if not Jap already
managed to get the fleet into the med, which is always good for axis and bad for allies. Vice versa, to have
US moving back and forth in the med is really bad for Germany.

Once captials are traded Japan faces the same problems taking berlin that Russia faced.  Namely supply line\IC capacity problems.  My solution was to take Africa and build IC’s in Egypt and Ukraine, parking the Jap fleet in sz16.  With Africa in Jap hands and trading belo, balkans, and Karelia you can maintain rough parity in IPC.  The allies will have to put their fleets in sz14 to prevent japan from doing an end run.  At this point the slight allied advantage in IPC is negated by the fact that they can’t attack at the same time, and neither ally is strong enough to hit Japan alone, Japan on the other hand can bring all units to bear, even if it’s just for strafing.

The mistake Japan usually makes after the capital swap is moving to far into europe before they have built up suffiencient forces. Take a look at this map.  It’s round 31 after Japan’s move, the US has a huge army in Eastern but an attack against Ukraine only has a 29% chance of success.  Even if they reinforce Eastern this turn with tanks from Germany, Japan has an 55% chance of success.  If they add the US fighters then they’re fleet is exposed, if UK also adds reinforcements they are giving up Karelia.

The problem for the allies is that while they have parity with Japan in IPC, Japan has a +$20 advantage over the US and a +$60 advantage over the UK.

JSPvEzto_31Dj.aam

Good thread here, gentlemen.  Many solid posts.

I’ll add a couple of thoughts.  I have to admit, however, that I don’t feel particularly well qualified to talk about this topic because I am almost exclussively a FTF player.  FTF games are functionally time-limited, and you don’t get many games where capitals fall and the game continues for many more rounds.  Usually, good sportsmanship dictactes that after 4-6 hours you make your best guess on the winner and everyone heads to Chipotle’s ;)  Online you don’t have the same rules-based or pragmatically-based limits.

On the rare occassions I have worried about countering Allied advantage, my response has been to go with a strong economic Japan game.  R1 I’ll build Japan up to 4 transports, and then send them away on cash grabs.  ICs go up on the mainland, but they build only inf until A) you have 4 of them and B) you can build 6inf on the 2 forward ICs (IND/MAN) and 6tnk on the interior ICs (FRI/KWA).

The econ transport progression is this: R2 2tra to HAW.  This nets +1 IPC and forces some consideration to defending LA.  That slows the US a small amount.  2tra more go to Frindo.  R3 the HAW 2tra take AUS and NwZ.  The Frindo 2tra hit some combination of Africa, often MAD and then wherever the Allies aren’t.  R4 you keep living the life of a pirate.  The African tra either scoop more land or come back to Frindo to help with a shuck.  The AUS/NwZ tra move east, looking for BRA/Africa on the following round.  Notice that you’ve set up the Z42 sucker punch which can win some games for you (see CSub paper for that move).

On the mainland, you’ll have avoided a “tank bubble” and instead you’ll have solid columns of inf marching up with no land-swapping at all.  The buildup is slower, but what Japan takes, Japan keeps.  When the end comes for Russia, the flowing power base is significant.

Now in a 5 or 6 rd game, that strat is not going to pay divedends quickly enough.  That’s what I was developing in a longer format, however, and it is the next strategy I would attempt to refine for the longer games.

Have at it!

@Bean:

I like the progression Mazer. It’s also used by one of the best players on this site, U-505.

It’s good to be in good company  :-D

Couple things though - do you do Pearl Light, or Pearl Heavy?

It depends on the bid situation in Asia.  If I need extra gear on the land, I may not go to PH at all.  7 times out of 10, however, I go heavy.

And what do you do if the solomon sub was killed by the UK sub and the UK sub survived? It’s not so easy just to plop some transports in SZ60 in that case, so island hopping could be a little bit slower.

That’s a case to either 1) skip PH or 2) bring ftrs in from the EIN fleet.  A bit risky, but the risk hedge is just to build the transports in Z61 instead of Z60.

One thing I also realized is that the units you send island hopping could conceivably be what you need to push faster in Asia, and there are IPCs in Asia, as well.

No doubt, no doubt.  That is the trade off: slower Japan in R1-R3, but stronger and bigger when they do come.

Going to Brazil sometimes is too difficult because of a mediterranean US shuck.

Yeah, it’s pretty rare that popping BRA is a good option.  Those units almost always end up going to Africa.

Peace

Mazer: I like your progression ! Do you push primarily against Persia/Caucasus or Novosibirsk ? I mean, if Russia has a serious counterattack force so that Japan can only have one route in force. Having a slow mid-sized force down other routes is a great waste… cannot advance without being killed/badly strafed, but cannot help other routes.

I did similarly, but usually ending with 3 factories and 5 transports (of which 2 run around islands etc. and 3 shuttle methodically from Japan). First round of purchases from factories - inf, then add enough arty, at times 1-2 rounds of tank-only make a great ‘cumulative charge’ effect at distances of 3-4 areas from factories. That means, 2 rounds of production arrive in 1 turn.

I’ll usually go to Aus in Rd 3 with the inf from the East Indies.

Assume UK attack the trn in the Kwa sz
I’ll buy 3 trns on J1 and 2 inf or 1 arm.
So on J1 I’ll pull the wake or oki inf and 1 unit from Japan.

On J2 I buy another trn and the rest ground troops.  Here I believe you still have 5 trns worth of units and I make sure I end up with 1-2 trns in the Fic Sz.

On J3 I’ll probably buy my IC, but you can send one of the Fic trns with the EI inf to Aus with a BB shot and 2 ftrs.

If things are going well enough in Asia then you can pull 2 more inf from Fic and go to Aus as well with the intention in Rd 4 to take both Mad and Nz, etc…

I’ve found it pretty helpful to take the islands as soon as you can b/c once you have them you are really free to do whatever you want from then on with your ships/trns like go to Afr, Ala, or the South Atlantic depending on the game situation, but the longer you put it off the harder and harder it gets to find the “right” time to go after them.

@Magister:

Do you push primarily against Persia/Caucasus or Novosibirsk?

Well, you need to send enough inf north to take and hold Russian dollars, so you will have some forces split up.  That is not as ineffective as it sounds, however, because you’re sending cheap stacks of inf that can’t be profitably strafed.  If you have a stream of inf coming, there is very little advantage for Russia to fight back; the concentration is too small for a profitable strafe and there is no “bubble” to burst to get relief from tanks.

Functionally, however, you’re going to end up popping CAU first due to your navy.  After the initial cash grab, your transports will likely bring extra inf forward to Persia, and Russia will have to choose between RUS and CAU.

@Bean:

I still don’t believe the correct answer is to send 2 tran to go island hopping - unless Australia has been reinforced to 4 inf. Sending that extra tran gets you the island one turn earlier, which doesn’t pay for itself. Doesn’t make sense to me, I could be using that money to shuck to Asia.

For me this strategy started as a way to sack the UK paycheck immediately.  The UK has several key income points.  The first is $32, which allows maximum land power with an 8 unit cap (4inf 4tnk).  Every dollar you knock them below $32 turns 1tnk into 1art.  The second critical threshold is $28 (4inf 4art).  Every dollar below that pulls off 3punch from the offense.  So the plan of sending transports to AUS/NwZ/Africa was about hurting the UK as quickly as possible.

The second thing the 2tra to HAW accomplishes is to slow down the US on R2.  The US has to have a plan for LA, and while it won’t require massive readjustments, you are taking a few units of pressure off of Germany.

My experience with pushing hard on Russia is that you can’t pull them off of Germany even with the extra transport of gear, so I am content to do the slower but stronger build up.

And my goodness Mazer, 4 complexes with Japan? And 6 transports?

Not quite  :-D  I said I build Japan “up to 4 transports” so I buy 3 or 2 depending on the battles of R1 (almost always 3tra 1tnk).  The 4IC require $48 to fill, which is not an unrealistic target.

Nonetheless, that is still a LOT of infrastructure.  But can you hurt the paycheck of the Allies without it?  Soon enough?

Peace

Good post, Darth.

It also reminded me of a quick, counter-intuitive point: Most of the time people grab the inf off of WAK for an R1 shuck to BUR.  The inf on OKI is left behind because OKI is worth money, while WAK is not.  But if you’re going to HAW R2, then WAK is on the way so it is easy to pick up in your progression.

Minor point, but worth noting.

Peace

@Mazer:

Good post, Darth.

It also reminded me of a quick, counter-intuitive point: Most of the time people grab the inf off of WAK for an R1 shuck to BUR.  The inf on OKI is left behind because OKI is worth money, while WAK is not.  But if you’re going to HAW R2, then WAK is on the way so it is easy to pick up in your progression.

Minor point, but worth noting.

Peace

Very true and definitely worth noting.  When at all possible pull the Oki inf first, for exactly the reason you mentioned.

Honestly, if I go to Hawaii, which I have been lately, it’s been Australia to New Zealand to Hawaii.  Then I can hit W. USA if it’s available, or land in Buryatia next round.

Wake is normally picked up on Round 2 then, at the same time as Okinawa.