My newest Japan strategy

Very interesting. I’d agree that Japan usually wants at least one factory in China no later than turn 3, even if you’re primarily playing a naval game. It’s rare to see a board where you’d want zero factories, although I believe it is a possibility. You can use up your limited 10 production slots pretty easily when you’re building serious naval units. Even if you’re pulling in 80 IPCs a turn, that can usefully go to something like 1 BB, 1 CV, 1 DD, 1 SS, 2 trans, 2 inf, 1 art, 1 tnk.

The USA sub build is a special case, because subs are optimized for killing your navy, but subs are bad at protecting American transports. If the USA builds more than 3 subs in the first 2 turns, then you do want to build Japanese factories, because, as you say, the subs make it too difficult for Japan to protect its fleet, and the subs also make it easier for Japan to nuke any transports that the USA tries to bring west to take over your factories. The USA is rich, but it can’t afford to build a huge sub stack and a huge carrier stack and a huge stack of loaded transports all in the first few turns, even if it ignores Europe altogether.

(Unlike what the others have said, I’m not that much of a friendly kind of guy, but I did genuinely mean the line about welcoming you to the board.)

@Degrasse:

I just copied Young Grasshopper’s moves for the Pacific side, I haven’t studied that side much.  I’ve been intrigued by the Sea Lion puzzle and thus mostly have been thinking of moves and counter moves.

I played it yesterday, and I realized that UK India needs at least 1 destroyer left on the Pacific side to block the whole Japanese fleet for 1 round.

UK pac is the answer to EURO axis after a KJF… that’s why people do KJF. Japan shutdown… ok uk pacific you make 22-30 right? ok that is what russia was making before he went down… you go hold egypt down till usa supply train shows up. don’t worry anzac got yo back. japan makes 0 from naval bombard… it can be so sick sometimes.

I don’t like the aa gun buy. also I tend to buy strait inf for uk1, because I sink the hell out of italy. I don’t care if I get sea lioned. Gives usa something to do in the atlantic, because I tend to buy some mech for russia anyway. so the turn london is nabbed i got romania hold and can hit the other adjacent to russia spots.

Which is why I never really minded sea lion so much. russians bank hard. i save persia for them to blitz too, I always do that russian income thing in iraq/persia and if i can get the two italy territories in east africa, I do it too. just 3 mech all i need to start banking. get a bomber to bring down there so 2-3 mech inf 1 bomber kills 1 ethiopia guy or w/e unless uk has it.

@Dark_Destroyer:

@knp7765:

@Dark_Destroyer:

The war Japanese started began with Korea and ended with America, it just flowed into WW2.

Incorrect.  As was previously stated, Korea already belonged to Japan.  The war started when Japanese forces invaded Manchuria from Korea in Sept. 1931.

Actually you are incorrect.  Japan had a 35-year imperialist expansion, which lasted August 22, 1910 to August 15, 1945.  That expansion included Korea, China, and finally US islands.  Which ended up (you guessed wrong) happening to include WW2.

nit-picking the nit-picker: japanese expansion started in 1905 with attacking the russian forces in Port Arthur ^^

@Frank:

I just played a 20+ hour game to a draw although I might of lost if it was played to conclusion. I sent the Japan Navy to Africa and protected Italy.  Italy then was spending close to the points of Germany.  The USA fleet battled the Japan fleet in the Med Sea and the Japan fleet destroyed it along with 17 US transports.  At this point Europe was Fortress that the US could never crack because I built mostly inf and art with Italy and Germany all game.  The problem is I was only able to destroy India and the Russian Inf.  China and Australia got out of hand because I did not kill them.  The Australians boarded transports and took some islands and china had a stack of like 40 inf.  We were at a point of after 20+ of play that I was not in position to get 14 victory cities but that I had about 200 inf art in Europe and America had to start a new fleet to come over to attack.  It was called a draw.

The problem is that you would have lost if the game played out as a simple money thing. The allies have more to throw at the axis over time and they could have taken Japan out forcing Germany to attack with lots of 1’s  or sit back and watch Japan get killed and then over time wittle down Germany and Italy. It would have taken another 20 turns at least.

Airbases should just be able to scramble to adjacent Seazones, thereby eliminating the island rule mumbo jumbo while allowing the UK to have SOME control of the English Channel.

AGREED!

@Final:

I usually do this in conjunction with Italy/Germany fleet coming from Gibraltar that feigns a sea lion.  Forces the allies to just sit on their capital while denying their NO’s. Then the Axis fleet can move into the pacific to Hawaii to attack ANZAC. Such a strategy usually gears the Axis up for cheesy Pacific win unless the U.S. player completely reads the Axis intent from round one.

Definately seems like you got to catch the allies off guard.

Gotta turtle HK and Shanghai.