How many factories for Japan: poll question

  • Sponsor

    A question for research, thanks for your participation.


  • 2-4 is my idea.  Kiangsu and FIC are priorities.  Malaya and HK depend on how the game is turning out.

  • '16 '15 '10

    1-3.  4th=India.  The exact number depends on what Allies are doing.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    The chain factory spam with Japan has been an issue for as long as A&A has existed. Some games were a little better than others, Revised comes to mind, where I was a firm believer in transports over factories, but even there, it was a matter of when to buy the factories not if. Since AA50 it’s more problematic because of China, since it’s now much hard for USA/UK/Russia to eject Japan from the mainland or take advantage of early Japanese factories than it was in revised. I was actually surprised given all the other complex rules and restrictions introduced in G40 that nothing was really done to address the factory spam by Japan.

  • Sponsor

    @Black_Elk:

    The chain factory spam with Japan has been an issue for as long as A&A has existed. Some games were a little better than others, Revised comes to mind, where I was a firm believer in transports over factories, but even there, it was a matter of when to buy the factories not if. Since AA50 it’s more problematic because of China, since it’s now much hard for USA/UK/Russia to eject Japan from the mainland or take advantage of early Japanese factories than it was in revised. I was actually surprised given all the other complex rules and restrictions introduced in G40 that nothing was really done to address the factory spam by Japan.

    Good post.

  • '21 '20 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '13

    Minimum 2 IC, if you play agains an aggressive Pacific player like MrPoboto. Otherwise as much as Japan can afford. In reality I’ve never seen any opportunity and  Axis needs for more than 4 Japanese brand new ICs.

  • Customizer

    I selected 3. #1 goes in Shanghai just about every game. #2 in either Hong Kong or FIC. As for #3, that depends on Japan’s plans. If China/India is giving more trouble than usual, then #3 might go in Hong Kong or FIC (whichever didn’t get #2) to flood more cannon fodder against the Chinese and/or Indians.
    However, if things are going okay down south and Japan would like to open a drive into Russia, #3 could go in Manchuria or Korea to start tanks and mechs rumbling across Russia. Of course, if things get nasty down south, those tanks and mechs can switch direction and head into China.
    Now, if the US Navy starts being a bully, I might not buy a 3rd IC in favor of more navy and air to face the Americans.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    More thoughts on the factory chain. The way I see it factory rules on basically every board from Classic to now, have always favored Japan over everyone else when it comes to buying this unit. G40 just doesn’t seem all that different to me, despite all the various tweaks and changes to the production system. Japan is the one power that always has factory investments built into their winning strats.

    I strain to understand the logic, or the historical analogy, that has Japan spamming so many industrial complexes all across coastal China and South Asia. When the Americans rarely and Russians never buy them, even though in the war it was likely the reverse haha. You’ve seen how it works a thousand times! And I know you guys all remember seeing this same deal play out before, like it did in Classic, or Revised, AA50, 1942.2, Global. The ability to drop 6-9 tanks in Asia a round, and then drive them all towards the center, has been a go to Axis strategy since day one. The advantages are so clear, so encouraged by the map design and the ipc spread. Once you drop the factories, you can cut a whole round of movement off your logistics/time requirement.

    On some of the older boards, there was a reason to avoid an early factory purchase as Japan, because Allies were generally in a better position to contest Asia back then (when USA controlled China), than they are now. They often had some sort of triple team option to screw Japan (at the risk of maybe totally messing up Europe, but at least you’d know you could drive the Japanese back into the sea, if you put enough effort! ie Russian Tanks, into the escapade!

    Global changed that dynamic up in several ways. All these forces combine to make Japanese factories ideal on this board.

    1. China as an independent player is less effective than USA off the mainland, its inclusion locks USA off an early production option to counter a Japanese IC buy with a quickness.

    2. Russia is restricted by the DoW, and is too preoccupied with an insane German launch potential on the eastern Front. I mean hell, G collecting into the high 60s on the first round vs what Russia has to start? Of course the Soviets can’t risk some kind of nuts blitz across Asia to mess with the Japanese players plans under these conditions. Instead many of their best potential moves in the opening round for a Japan shock, are explicitly restricted by various rules (into Mongolia, China, Pro-Allied neutrals etc.) and they lack armor in the far east too. So if Japan invests in factories, there’s no way for the Allies to immediately throw money at the problem. Part of the old system was the risk, that if you bought a factory too soon or too carelessly, that the enemy might drive against it, capture it, and then use your own production investment against you. Much harder to pull off here, vs Japan.

    3. The split on UK into a separate Pacific economy. UK Pacific, like China, and Russia’s DoW, by just existing, prevents any real way for UK to upset the balance in Coastal China, or South East Asia, if Japan purchases early factories there. They don’t have the income to launch out of India with the full might of the UK economy, like in previous games, which means that the southern route for UK armor against Japanese ICs is basically out, or the potential to swing the balance with ships. Capital that can be contested.

    4. Transports, still defenseless, at a cost of 2x7=14 ipcs for 4 units per round moved out of existing production (and requires warships to defend!). Compare that at 12 ipcs for a Minor IC forward to the front, with 3 units per round. And the factory (unlike the transport) gets an AA shot if it draws a bomber against it, and it extends the available total production, if you are seeing SBR against you. Japan benefits from being able to trade on the strategic position of its fleets without requiring transports to gets units onto the mainland.

    Some other reasons as well I’m sure, but for Japan there are strong incentives to establish production earlier on this board. And if you’re going to do it, why not try to extend as far as possible against India and at least get 6 production on the mainland, for a cost of only 24? Seems like a decent bargain for Japan, given their strong air and naval advantage early on. The old rule of thumb here still applies, not to build more production until you can fill them on max placement every round. I like FIC. To set up the delta of death, one down South, one up North (or Center), and one on Japan itself. And then holding the Square is when you bring India into the fold. Tried and true. But without over committing all at once. In the older games you never needed more than the double drop on factories with Japan, the third was usually overkill. Here the situation is a bit more involved, since you need to contest more UK production out of India (either by bombing, or sending units in range per round.) That gets closer to arguing for 9 total production on the mainland out of factories instead of just 6 (if Japan is out of range to transport in with reinforcements for a round) which might recommend a 3rd. If Japan is winning and not being seriously threatened, then it starts making more sense to buy additional production even closer to the center if you get the chance during the endgame, to crack it.

  • Customizer

    The only thing I don’t like about Japan building factories on the mainland is if the game is going good for Japan, and once they eliminate China and India and any Russian threat, those factories become almost useless because Japan now has to branch out to sea.
    Yeah, you can still use them, like to build transports to load up the existing land troops, but most of the naval production seems to happen at Japan itself. Plus, unless your navy is spread out, then you will have defenseless transports all along the coast. Then again, I guess if it is going that well for Japan then they can afford to “throw away” a few transports in order to get men on the islands or on Australia.

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