Well, I have no worries about anyone taking american provinces. I usually have a few points left over to atleast leave enough troops to spread to stop a one transport attack from sneaking in … But … You’re blind if you don’t see a japanses d-day hitting the US. stop bomber production for one turn and build some infantry/tanks. Plus I always shift most my troops to alaska in wait of the landing on eastern russia. I would also welcome a japanese attack on US soil because that means that’s a huge diversion of funds from harassing russia and maintaining asia.

Maybe i’m wrong here but unless germany gets good rolls it’s hard to keep and maintain it’s fighters. especially if they are doing lots of offensive. Same thing for japan. I’ve done the 1 infantry many planes attack for japan and it’s expensive as hell and leaves no room for an attack on the US. I mean … it’s possible to attack the US but what’s the point unless you’ve got something big enough to attack and hold provinces in the US. A smart US player should be able to see any kind of real attack coming and be ready for it.

I dunno though. I consider myself an A&A rookie because I never get to play with actual people, hehe. But I just believe I could stop a quick economic victory. As britain I like to build a factory in southern africa on UK1 and pump out tanks. If germany is able to take and hold karelia and africa all the while stopping 2 tanks per turn from the UK in s africa and a few troops every now and then from the US in africa and bombing runs that only get worse everyturn also from the US i’d like to see the strategy and try it out myself.

The only time i’ve seen a quick eco victory for the axis is when I controlled both myself against the computer, heh. The computer isn’t so good at thinking many turns in advance other than that it must build units and take countries.

You’re right about it taking awhile to get the bombers flying in. I am decently bombing germany by US3 when I have 3 bombers in there. You’re also right that germany does push into russia pretty hard but by the time they start loosing all their IPCs it’s hard to hold karelia, ukrain, cacaus, germany, western europe, southern europe and africa. That’s a thin spread of troups as it is without having your IPCs bombed. As soon as germany starts loosing lets say even … 7-8 ipcs per turn they have to almost go into a completely defensive stance if they want to hold what they have. And if britain has either got troops in scandinavia with transports still alive or a factory going in S africa then on either or both fronts the germans are in trouble.

As to the transports to get those 24 infantry across. I usually manage to get 5 transports sitting just out of range by alaska and bring 10 troops over at once and then buy 4 more or so in another turn to keep a flow going. if you can secure the water by the soviet far east with a destroyer or subs.

It all depends on the roll of the dice as to what you’ll get in the pacific. if I have lets say 8-9 bombers in germany and the pressure is on them i’ll buy nothing but transports and infantry until i’m down to 5 bombers. sometimes that can last a decent amount of turns depending on the dice. sometimes at that point i will only buy 1 bomber per turn just to keep light pressure on germany. but by that point germany has probably lost africa and the allies are sitting on the ukrain anyways.

I’ve played this strategy about 5 times against the computer now and everytime it looks like germany and japan have a heads up on the allies then the bombers kick in and it’s like germany has hit a wall. just imagine germany only bringing in half the IPCs all of the sudden just after taking karelia. they’re pretty much screwed. how are the going to hold that. usually they spread themselves just thin enough for britain to take western europe once or twice. if that happens (which at least in the computer version it does often) germany either has to accept this loss or turn it’s army around to recapture it while weakening it’s eastern front all the while loosing even more IPCs from US bombers.

I don’t have a perfect strategy written down as to what to do as I see some other have for their strategies. I just react to how the dice treat me :P

Anyways, maybe give the strategy a try with real people and let me know how it goes. I’ve only tried it on the strategically impaired computer, hehe.

I don’t think the american sub attack would work as often as liked. All the different strategies I like and/or mess with never rely on japanese sea power. It’s too much of a money sink for the japanese when they could be doing so many better things.

I have been messing with one new American strategy. It’s kind of an expensive strategy though. Build nothing but bombers and send them to britain. You end up being able to build 2 a turn while getting some extra infantry to defend the homeland. Bomb germany from england strategically. It gives japan free riegn though to do whatever they want almost.

it’s positive affects are kind of obvious though. I’ve hasd turns where I took all of germanys IPCs. They cannot reinforce africa and if they do … Great! They’re weakening europe. Usually a normal turn once I have about 8-10 bombers goes where I loose 0-2 bombers (i’ve lost 3 only once) and take all but enough IPCs for germany to buy 1-2 infantry. If you feel like mixing it up and germany is weak and russia is also weak divert your bombers to bomb ground units and clear (or nearly clear) a province for the russians and/or british. I always retreat after loosing a few bombers which is the firsat attack, but i’ve already taken out about 7-8 units by then.

If you start getting lots of bombers change production to like 12 infantry per turn and move them up to alaska. This is obvious what you want to do with them. It makes the japanese decide whether they want to stay and defend against 24 infantry (what i usually end up attacking the far east with) or carrying on with attacking russia.

I’ve only tested this on the computer and it always keeps attacking russia which i see as the way to go anyways because germany is screwed without help and no money. And once I land my forces in the far east germany is usually about done and japan is starting to loose all it’s money from every coming in from all sides.

Anyways, it’s just a strategy I have been messing with and you could say it coukld backfire with some bad rolls … But show me a strategy that won’t backfire with some bad rolls :P

I just played a game before I wrote this against the computer where the usa spent 90% of their money attacking germany. the dice went against me and i lost nearly everything. the germans lost finland and the ukrain pretty fast too. the germans looked like they were done except i had placed a factory and was pumping out 3 tanks (on my mainland factory) and 1-2 planes per turn.

in the first round i had managed to get india, one of the chinese provinces and the 2 eastern russian provinces. that’s probably why i lost so many troops. I spread them to thin. turn #2 i lost india and SE asia to britain and i captured them back right away and sunk their transport. i had about 2 infantry and 3 planes spread across my whole frontier, but russia had wasted some troops attacking me.

germany held on for a few turns and it was looking dim for them but my tanks started rolling in and my planes rushing in for some kamikazi action and sunk 8 american transports while i lost 4 planes. germany took moscow and i think you can imagine how it went from there.

i hate when i attack a territory with 3 inf and 2 planes and they have 2 inf and i miss completely for 2 turns and they get dead on hits both turns :P that’ll make you rethink your strategy in that area right quick. luckily the closest enemy factory is moscow which is concentrating on germany.

if you are japan and can capture all of asia and place a few factories there or even only one russia is pretty much done and all the germans have to do is hold off britain and the usa. after that the game is done. it seems every time. that’s why i stopped playing with japan with my friends. i always ended up owning asia and half the time africa too.

One more thing. With planes every time you take new territories the planes are forced to land on old terrtitories which is a bonus. The planes land on other territories with shoreline to defend from quick transport attacks from britain or possibly the usa.

I love playing with Japan and I usually do a different tactic than most i’ve seen. On the first move I send zero transports to Hawaii. I sent 2 battleships, carrier, sub and 2 planes. Only a few times have I lost nearly everything but most times I still kill most of the american fleet there. So what if the americans retaliate and I loose my fleet? That’s alright. I half consider the fleet a write off before the even leave dock anyways. Here’s why:

I but 2 fighters on turn #1. The transports respectively go to far east in russia and india with the remaining fighters and bomber going where they’re most obviously needed. send the 2 inf from kwangtung into china with a plane. Everytime I do this I always take india and the far east. half the time china. If germany does their job right then they should put pressure on russia to defend their western border and pretty much leave their rear open. It’s too much pressure on russia. I do build factories in asia … depending on how hard the fighting is decides how many. Usually just one, sometimes 2. I usually build the first factory in turn #2 if there is absolutely no way another country can touch it.

I usually buy 2-3 planes per turn. Why planes? because you can’t sink planes and planes have a defense of 4. I can attack with my planes and use my factory to build a tank or two a turn to conquer territories. But usually I have enough left over from taking the countries in turn #1 that I only need to build a few tanks.

So, in a few games the USA killed my navy right off and … stayed the hell away from japan and my islands. why? because I had a ton of planes and russia was done. i can always fly my planes back in time to defend japan. by the time the usa is knocking on my door i’m making a ton of money to buy 4-5 planes a turn. to us has to buy transports … troops. maybe battledhips or cariers and planes. and the whole time barely gaining money … they loose money from china.

My only problem with my strategy using japan is that i’ve never tried it on someone who is very good at A&A … just some friends who are ok at it and the computer. wins the game for me everytime. but … the computer is weak and can be beaten everytime. Maybe some of you guys will give this strategy a try. it usually messes with people because they never expect a move like this from japan and it makes them have to rethink their plans. Try it out … just once. Oh yeah, one more thing. if germany is getting pummeled you now have a ton of planes to rushb to their support. and if germany is getting beat down it usually means the usa abondoned the pacific to fight in europe anyways.

i’m sure someone can come up with a way to beat this … if they knew it was going to happen in teh first turn. but most people don’t expect and it makes japan the big winner in the short term on mainland asia and the big winner in the long term if you play your cards right.