I have found in a couple of games recently that Japan going hard for India can end up being kind of a trap, especially when USA goes hard in the Pacific.
Most times I have found that Japan just can not get to India before USA gets into the war. Then Japan ends up taking India, which seems good because you not only knock out one enemy in UK, but you also somewhat weaken China’s income since the Burma Road is pretty much permanently closed.
Problem is that in the mean time, USA comes over with a strong navy and sinks what navy Japan has around it’s capital, which is usually somewhat small because most of Japan’s navy is down by India and the DEI and it is kind of spread out down there to protect it’s holdings. So, the US Navy kind of stations itself in SZ 6 and starts convoy raiding Japan, hurting their income and really not allowing any new ships to be built there. What’s more, USA often takes Korea in the process giving them a nice place to stage bombers to SBR Japan.
This can go on for a couple of rounds before Japan can get the bulk of it’s navy up to challenge the US Navy, which will continue to get more ships coming over from W US so they will keep getting bigger.
Also, even if Japan is able to successfully attack the US Navy and clear SZ 6, they have left all their holdings in the DEI open for ANZAC to sneak in and take, which not only costs Japan the money from the expensive islands themselves, but also that important DEI NO. There’s even the possibility that ANZAC could slip over and liberate India.
Along with this, with Japan having to concentrate on the naval battle, China will keep buying more men and exhaust Japan’s already limited land forces. Then China will be retaking territory, costing Japan further.
So, while I agree that Japan taking India is a good plan for them, they need to find a way to do it that doesn’t require so much commitment. So they can better deal with the US Navy and not leave their capital so vulnerable.
