J1 Openings

@Fatespinner:

I find it quite difficult to keep China from being killed. How would you suggest doing it?

It’s pretty much impossible to keep China alive if Japan focuses on them.  It’s more about prolonging death and being annoying than not dying.

It depends on what side you are playing.  If your son is going to be Japan, tell him to follow the previous advice.  If you are playing Japan, follow the USA-killing strategy in the Pointlessly Broken thread and effectively win the game in turn 5.  Sadly something like 75% of the content in that thread is a needless flame war (as these boards are un-moderated for all practical purposes) but there is plenty of insightful commentary in there if you can suffer through it.

EDIT: I should point out that the war plans in that thread don’t translate that well into the Global game.  If the USA can afford to ignore Europe for the first several turns of the game, then it has enough to place into the Pacific that Japan won’t take it down.  Japan also has the issue of a possibility of expanding too quickly- since there are so many places it needs to reach, its forces will start to thin out all along the front.  At that point the Allies can start to pick off Japanese forces piecemeal and slowly turn them around.  I liken it to blowing up a balloon- if it gets too big, you can pop it.  The Japanese are protected from this effect on the Pacific stand-alone map since they will run into the edges of the map which provides cover for their flanks.

@special:

@Dark_Destroyer:

How the heck do you get your Transports from Japan all the way down to Phil….  and Caroline Transports all the way to Java on J1 ???
Last time I looked transports only move at a 2…

There’s this great new thing called Naval bases.  You’ll like it :)

(same for airbases)

wow… understatement to say the least that was a huge oversight on my part >_>;;

@Wilson2:

What would be an interesting game would be if Japan took US but ignored the other nations. Then Japan fighting UK, ANZAC, and China.

It is possible, but if the USA player knows what he’s doing, is maybe a 20-30% chance, tops.

Sure, I hear what you’re saying, but it really didn’t take me long to get the fleet back to a position.  And I don’t recall the ANZAC transport being an easy kill in J2 - my opponent doesn’t throw it away so easily.

And what else is there for the Japanese navy to do?  It’s not like the USA navy is going to move in right away because of this move.  There’s till plenty of navy at the Phillipines.

I have no need to persuade you.  I think it’s a good move, and will likely do it again in the future.  Yes, it invites ANZAC to attack you with fighters (depending on how much J brings down) and perhaps invites the USA to venture farther west, but that’s fine with me.  It’s like a trap.

Well, Kat, here is the dilemma:

If you allow Japan to take Hawaii, the following turn Japan swings down to Australia.
Add up the victory cities: 2 starting cities, Phillipines, Hong Kong + Hawaii = 5 total.
Sydney is 6. No need to slog through to India.

If you surrender Hawaii on J2, Japan could conceivably win the game outright on J4.
J3 fresh troops from Japan land on Hawaii. New Zealand falls. Don’t forget Australia does not get to scramble fighters because they are considered a continent, not an island.
Third CV returns to Phillipines to help with ANZAC attack.
J4 fresh troops arrive in Hawaii; existing troops shuttled to Queensland or New Zealand, depending where ANZAC defends.
At best Sydney holds out until J5.
As Japan I could send out DD screens to delay US counterattack.
Also, if Hawaii falls on J2, virtually every fighter in Asia I have will be in Hawaii by J4.
The scrambling rules allow ALL fighters to defend sea zone around Hawaii.

You said “build land troops in FIC”: is this on J2?  Because you’re not allowed to place a factory in a newly captured territory, correct?  So are you putting the minor IC in Manchuria or Kiangsu (one of the 3 IPC territories)?

If the Japanese do not take NSW in turn 1, the ANZAC folks can put their destroyer off New Guinea.  With a destroyer there, the Japanese can not reach NSW from the Carolines in a single turn.  The Japanese would have to attack the destroyer in turn 1 or do some other move to open up the sea lanes to NSW.  For these reasons, an early attack on NSW does not look very good.