Best posts made by weddingsinger

@Mursilis

If you have 5 fighters it means you didn’t scramble and didn’t do Taranto, in which case, yeah, no Sea Lion but that seems counter to your take of UK going strong against Italy. If Germany is going Sea Lion though London is getting bombed G2 with 3 or 4 bombers.

All it takes is a 4th bomber hitting G2 and London only having 4 fighters and the odds swing to Germany and they get it with 1 land unit and 4 or 5 fighters/tacticals and their 3 or 4 bombers.

As for Russia, most players don’t buy mechs/tanks and I’m not certain how that would affect things. If Germany stacks Romania G3 and let’s Russia attack Finland and Poland, then G5 they can use their transports to take back everything on the Baltic and some Russian territory.

@taamvan

U.S. can’t if you don’t swing all the way around to India. J2 you’ve got all the Money Islands and J3 you can take Malaya, J4 you head back to Philippines or off coast of FiC if you splurged for a naval base (I don’t). Japan’s fleet is strong enough to cover 2 transports and sz6 for sure for a turn or 2. Maybe 3 transport zones if US1 buys for Atlantic.

So for buys to keep US off Japan’s back…(ipcs based off a balanced Mod game)
J1 (26ipcs) 1 mIC and 2 transports
J2 (43ipcs) 1 MIC (FiC) and 1 carrier for sz 6, then rest on mech/tank for mainland
J3 (58ipcs) 1 or 2 carriers for sz 6 and inf/art for FiC and mech/tank for Northern mIC

and so on… every turn I check the battle math of whether the U.S. forces could hit sz6 and add a carrier, land 1-2 more planes on it… by J4 I usually have 2 or 3 carriers with my Southern fleet, and 3 or 4 carriers in sz 6 if the U.S. is buying for Pacific side. After J4 I usually start adding destroyers and subs to my fleet.

Its also a useful strategy because a bored U.S. player might hit the Caroline Islands… every single Japanese plane can reach from Japan, FiC, and your ships (and land on Palau or carriers).

@simon33

Usually I lose one at Sumatra. If UKPac sends their planes to Yunnan, it means zero lost.

In this scenario Japan lost the cruiser sinking the UKPac battleship and a destroyer/sub sinking UKPac’s other ships. There is still a cruiser, destroyer, and carrier with 4 planes at sz 6 to prevent a U.S. attack.

Celebes can only be reached by ANZAC’s ships, no planes, so Java needs more protection.

@simon33 Great questions…

I don’t care about taking Calcutta J4. My goal is to turtle UKPac while I secure Japan’s income and preserve as many planes as I can. That means J3 I take Malaya and gather my ships there, not losing more than 1 transport if I can help it, and just flat out keeping the Money Islands. UKPac will collect 5-7 ipcs on UK3 with 1-2 subs convoying them and the bombers maxing their factory.

Here, if the Allies decide to 1-2 punch with U.S. and ANZAC to hit Java, I might lose a naval group but he’ll lose all of ANZAC’s ships and some of the U.S.’ but Japan will still have 4 transports and earning 55+ ipcs and can keep fighting for more. J4 is when the Japanese fleet should gather at Philippines and mainland’s factories outputs will start hitting the front, so I start pushing them back to Calcutta, maybe invade Eastern Russia for the extra 5+ ipcs.

I’m not sure how it would go if UKPac, ANZAC, and U.S. all used their 3 transports to flood the Money Islands and were aggressive.

@simon33 I was gonna say… all the opening Allied Air Force can reach, so 5+ UK fighters, 1 French, 3-5 U.S., and some tacticals, plus some more built after that would put quite a hurt on Germany’s Moscow dreams.

@M36 Well, while I was accepting the absurd premise, its actually not as ridiculous as all that.

UK’s planes don’t need to head to Russia til UK2 or UK3. So if UK puts its fighters on Scotland on UK1 they can reach Novgorod UK2 after the Sea Lion threat is gone. Similarly, the planes in the Med don’t have to head up until UK3 (if they were in Cairo) to be in place in Moscow for G5 and they can bring 1 U.S. fighter along (via Gibraltor, Malta, then Cairo).

On the other side, the U.S. can land 3 planes and troops in Soviet Far East US1.

That gives the Allies 6-12 fighters/tacticals that can reach by G5 without committing until round 2 when initial Axis threats like Sea Lion are done. Of course, UK might prefer its planes in the Med head to India. Japan might keep the U.S. out of things until US3… etc, etc.

@simon33

I guess it depends. As Japan, I’m used to opponents who go hard at the Pacific, so protecting sz6 and my ability to keep the Money Islands or retake them, is #1. Then I take a longer approach using the troops from the mainland factories rather than focusing on my transports.

So if the U.S. is spending on the Atlantic side, yeah, go for Calcutta. If taking India will cost me all my ground troops and some planes and ANZAC/US can take islands and start convoying sz6 then its not worth it.

@Guam-Solo Here is the Pacific theater after US1 from Crockett’s save game file

If you’re curious about anything else specific, let me know

In person? 10-20 the past two years. Same two opponents though.

@crockett36 It blocks China from buying artillery. Very useful down the road to limit their counter attacks.

Its also the largest group of Chinese troops you can hit and you can do it without any real risk of losing.

@Aaron_the_Warmonger

Is UKPac at risk of breaking out? Will you be able to actually take it with those tanks? If not, infantry/art, keep shucking more guys south via transport. Or mechs to save money over tanks if you still want fast movers.

Option #1 If UKPac isn’t breaking out, 2 more carriers. Japan’s greatest asset is its many, many planes. Use them. 32 ipcs gives you 4 more planes to attack with. Take Philippines fleet north, Malaya goes to Philippines, Sumatra fleet heads up to FiC which gets a naval base. That base let’s you reach Japan in 1 move, but also makes the transports worth while to bring guys south. If you won’t need to keep going back and forth with the transports, it’s still useful for bring all 6 transports into your Calcutta attack.

Make sure the FiC fleet is just big enough to safely sink anything ANZAC has right now. Then you’ll have 6 carriers in your attack fleet and can annihilate anything the U.S. has or they retreat or they spend 100% of their IPCs on Pacific which is what Germany wants, too. After that any navy spending is just subs to soak hits or bombers for their reach.

You’ve got 6 transports that can take more troops South to FiC for 6 more on the mainland every turn plus the 6 you can build.

If Japan wanted to help out Germany, hit Russia, not South Africa. By the time you reach S. Africa, UK can easily have it well defended and for not much cost. Japaneses bombers in China can hit Moscow. More Japanese troops in the north and you can do a full invasion of Russia, Mongolia be darned.

On the next turn, Philippines fleet can join Japan, they can all go to Caroline Islands to force U.S. to choose whether to help ANZAC or not. You should have enough to destroy them all, though, so the U.S. retreats. Not all your fleet goes south to ANZAC. Just enough to stay afloat, some planes to help take it. Bring a few transports. New Guinea can be taken to use for bombers. Get a naval base as quick as possible down there.

But, mostly, go for the win with Japan.

@simon33 Yep, for example, UK2, once you see Germany isn’t doing Sea Lion land your starting fighters on Scotland then in Russia on UK3. 2-3 more fighters to add to the 3 a turn via Persia.

Here’s another scenario (from BM3).

G1 German buy is not fast movers but a carrier and bomber, so along with skipping artillery, Russia takes @taamvan advice and splurges on a tactical to counter a potential (relatively) weak G2, which does come. The other scenarios that seem like from Germany are a G3 invasion or Sea Lion, so this seemed a solid move.

R1 buy, 5 mechs, 1 tank, 1 tactical.

Though reviewed the battle calculator says buying 2 more tanks instead of 3 of the mechs would have improved the chance of a win by 3+%, and ONLY buying 6 tanks instead of mechs or the tactical bumps it up noticeably more than that, to a 60%+ win shot.

So on R2, Russia has a straight 50/50 combat here. IF Russia were to win, its a huge victory and slows down Germany. Now, in the actual game, no, it went poorly and Russia under rolled -4+ so… oops. But, hey, take a chance for a big win.

@crockett36

lol. I love it.

I’ve been considering a few things like U.S. bombers in India taking down random Japanese soldiers who are solo in China (Balanced mod)

I will say that mechanized Russia works well against Germany if they do make a mistake about doing anything other than going after Russia. I’ll still working out the right mix of units, though.

@max334 I might be your guy, Max, by next week I should have 2 more games done and room for another.

There it is…

I usually play by more casual rules, as if we were playing in person, so if its ok… if you miss something and want to fix something before it matters, that’s fine by me.

@simon33 said in Taking French Indo China without a J1 DOW:

@Caesar-Seriona said in Taking French Indo China without a J1 DOW:

I think strategic bombing India is pointless since it is so easy for Japan to take UK territories away in that region anyways.

I’ve stopped bombing India if I do a J1 DOW. I expect it would be different if there’s a J3/US3 DOW because India will surely live on a lot longer.

I do disagree with @weddingsinger about letting India live to fight China for 1IPC territories. I’ve tried a few different things with a J1 DOW and I reckon the optimal path starts with buying an IC for Kiangsu and 2TTs J1. It is still possible to hit India J3 with 5TTs instead of 6. This reduction in force doesn’t make or break the crush. What does make or break it is holding either Yunnan or Shan State until J3. Once India is dead, you don’t want to have a rampant China to fight. The more you have pushed them back, the fewer inf they will have built and the easier they will be to kill off.

The purpose of holding off on Calcutta has more to do with the U.S./ANZAC and keeping the Money Islands than it does China, though it does free you up to keep steam rolling China and even invade Russia around J4 or J5. You bomb J2, park subs off their coast J3 or so and if they’re fool enough to poke their head out, you can wipe them out, otherwise, they’re a non-factor.

Of course, it matters what the U.S. did and whether they’re threatening you, but gutting India’s income without worrying about taking Calcutta and its 3/5 ipc, you can still preserve your entire fleet, air force, and keep jacking up your income. Something like J1 39/40 ipc; J2 57ish ipc; J3 60-65 ipc

Buy fast movers for the mainland and carriers with a couple of destroyers later on for your fleet and the U.S.’ superior income is less of a factor (you can drop 2 planes on every 16ipc carrier you build, they need to spend 37ipc to achieve the same)

@surfer Ummm… yeah, so that’s my bad. I somehow ended up in your guys’ game thread thinking it was one of my games (I was one round 2 against Simon and it was, in fact, Italy’s turn)

@Argothair I mean… the whole point of mechanized Russia is for Russia to be able to capitalize on that exact sort of mistake more easily.

@lil-germanz said in Optimal Japanese opening move:

@barnee your absolutely right! I have had a lot of games in which a J1 has been very effective. Especially if you do a Pearl Harbor attack and win. You severely cripple the US. Yeah they get the money right back but they basically have to take a few turns rebuilding. So there is a lot of merit to a J1 atrack.

Is there a way of doing a J1 Hawaii attack without putting your carrier at risk?

Let’s say you use 3 destroyers, 1 sub, and 2 planes to attack, giving you a 65% chance of winning if U.S. scrambles and 1-2 unites survive. This protects your carrier by letting you park in sz 31 for your planes, but you NEED a destroyer to survive to block the U.S. fleet from destroying you on US1.

So do you commit a cruiser, too, and save a destroyer for non-combat moves?

And even if your carrier survives US1, its 2 turns to return to a naval base and help, meaning US1 they can destroyer your blocker at Hawaii, J2 your carrier moves to Caroline Islands or Iwo Jima where US2 you can still be hit. So now either you have to hold back ships from going down to Money Islands, or spend on warships J1 or lose a carrier, 3 destroyers, 1 sub (maybe a cruiser and 2 planes, too) to sink a sub, destroyer, cruiser, transport, 2 planes

Of course, thinking that through means U.S. has to put more ships/planes at risk to chase you, but to sink that you’ll be left using Japanese air, which is usually better served elsewhere, and spending money on attack ships J2