the times I build 3, i do Kiangsu, FIC and Kwangtung. The good thing about having 3 is that you can build carriers at FIC and have that as your main naval base. You can build planes for those carriers in japan and still drop 6-9 landunits/turn on the main land. That means the the japanese seazone isn’t that vital anymore. You don’t need to transport landunits from theere anymore. you don’t need to protect it so that you can build a fleet. All you need to protect is to protect against a landing in tokyo.
Edit:Spelling ain’t no easy thang
FIC, then Kwangtung and later Malaya.
Not that experienced but in my last game as J that combination (plus relevant ABs & NBs) really seemed to work well, allowing me to control the spice islands, threaten India and retain dominance in China despite Russian reinforcements.
Manchuria is not that useful unless struggling against China or incurring Mongolia’s wrath. Also Chinese territories are risky sites for factories given that the allies can destroy them by recapturing the territory for China. Something that caused me great difficulty in my first game against an experienced player.
FIC is the best spot, hands down.
Kwangtung is generally my second choice, especially if I see the possibility of needing to build ships there, and later in the game it makes a nice launching pad where you can build a loaded transport every turn - good for attacks against Australia and pushing back against the US, with the option of sending them to the Indian Ocean instead.
After that it depends. If Russia retreated and I’m building an early IC, then Manchuria is a very nice spot for a first IC build. You can focus your initial forces south and have units from that IC attack northern China and later into Russia proper. Its effectiveness is game-dependent, though; if it’s four or more territories away from any contested area, it’s going to be of limited effectiveness.
the times I build 3, i do Kiang su, FIC and Kwangtung. The good thing about having 3 is that you can build carriers at FIC and have that as your main naval base. You can build planes for those carriers in japan and still drop 6-9 landunits/turn on the main land. That means the the japanese seazone isn’t that vital anymore. You don’t need to transport landunits from theere anymore. you don’t need to protect it so that you can build a fleet. All you need to protect is to protect against a landing in tokyo.
I’d recommend Shantung to Kiangsu. Same amount of time/spaces to get to all the major spots down south (except Kwangtung, but how often is that threatened?) while at the same time letting you get to Manchuria in one turn if needed.
That means the the japanese seazone isn’t that vital anymore.
It’s still pretty vital. Convoy disruption prevents your production there and in Korea if you hold that. And if the Allies are strong in SZ6, then they in danger of moving down the coast to SZ19 and SZ20. That’s one of the ways I lost my last game as Axis.
I’d recommend Shantung to Kiangsu.
But you can build a major in Kiangsu and only a minor in Shantung.
You can’t build a major in Kiangsu - its “original owner” is actually China. Only place Japan can build a major is in Korea.
You can’t build a major in Kiangsu - its “original owner” is actually China. Only place Japan can build a major is in Korea.
Oh right. Hadn’t noticed that.
JP plopping a mIC in FIC is a given for basically any game.
Your second/potential third/rare fourth mIC, and the order in which you do them, depends on a few major factors and a half dozen more minor but still important ones. If you give me a style of game or a map layout or a savegame then I could offer my humble take on the matter.
Without any context, in general: I love Manchuria if the plan is to pick on Russia, and it also potentially messes up an American landing in Korea if you leave SZ 6 exposed. More often than that, though, at least for me, Kwangtung and/or Malaya are great for a variety of different and similar reasons, and doing both sometimes, but by no means always, can also be pretty damn great. Shangtung I’d do least often, but it has its merits for certain situations.
edit-
wurdz spellings is hard
That means the the japanese seazone isn’t that vital anymore.
It’s still pretty vital. Convoy disruption prevents your production there and in Korea if you hold that. And if the Allies are strong in SZ6, then they in danger of moving down the coast to SZ19 and SZ20. That’s one of the ways I lost my last game as Axis.
Oh. Don’t mean that it si unimportant, but concider this: If you only have one minor IC on the main land and that IC has to produce mech. Then you can use a total of 12 IPC per turn. If you are playing against a balanced or european heavy us player, that player can set up shop in honolulu. So while you are making 50-60 with japan, you have to build all your new fleet in japan. So lets say you produce fighters and every 3 turns you put down 3-5 Carriers. Then you have to move your entire fleet to japan every time you want to build any fleet, otherwise US just kills your new boats. In that case, the japanse seazone is vital to defend. You cannot allow the US to even enter it.
If you instead have your factories to the south, and build all your new boats off malaya, Kiangso or FIC, all you have to do then is to killzone japan. There is no actual need to prevent US from killzoning it.
That is what I mean by saying that the seazone becomes less vital. you will still lose the game if you lose controll over it, but you don’t have to defend it against attacks.
I have started buying an IC in Manchuria on J1, along with 2 transports. I find it so valuable in getting China eliminated and gone from the game. I then build 2 mechs and a tank on J2. They can reach anywhere in China on J4, except Sikang. Life is good for Japan if the Chinese are bottled up in western Tibet!
It is also nice to be able to build transports in SZ19 so that they are out of range from the Hawaiian fleet.
