Japan!!

@Concealer:

So I have been playing a lot of Axis lately and there is plenty of strategy regarding the Axis but I’m lacking in specific Japanese strategy. I generally go with transports for J1 and maybe a destroyer or more infantry. I attack the US fleet in Hawaii, push into Russia in whatever way best goes with whatever they did. And I attack China.

Now here come the questions! Should I be looking to attack Australia J1? And India as well? I like the IC on Manchuria for J2 but should I be looking to put it in Kwangtung instead? Or somewhere else for that matter? Or not at all?

My overall idea is to ship my guys off their islands into Asia and supplement my navy to maintain control of the Pacific. Thus the main focus is Russia and the two US territories. I have, however, seen strategies involving Japan moving its fleet into the Med and taking over Africa. What kind of navy do you build to bring over there? Do you place another IC in Africa for better access to Europe?

Lastly, I have tried to take over the US before. It is not possible, in any realistic scenario I could think of. Do I just completely ignore them or go for Midway and Hawaii and a small stack off the shore of Midway?

1. Don’t attack Australia on J1 it’s not worth it, they are 3 people with one transport that will be sunk soon. India if you want to attack it right away (which is not always bad,) you might need to cancel any attacks on the US navy by Hawaii. It doesn’t matter too much where you put the IC, but I do prefer Kwangtaung because it’s in the middle. Back to Australia for a second, just do it when you have good control over the Pacific because it’s really not worth it.
2. Yes you attack Soviet Union and China and Sinkiang, but remember to take control of the Pacific. You don’t move into the Med. Unless you have all of Asia, and N. America before doing that so A.K.A you don’t.
3. Okay well if your playing a 9 city game don’t worry about it, but if your playing 12 city this is how I do it. Once I have won the battle of Pacific and all of Asia, I break out of Russia, and other places, build transport (that will move with the navy,) unload and murder Alaska, build an IC there. Okay it will take a while before you attack West Canada. All you want to build there is tanks and fighters. Anyways you still need to transport and fly over units. Also do bombing raids with units you have there. When you think your ready and your forces out number the US attack West Canada, if that had next to no casualties next turn attack West US then you will over whelm them. I also like to do as Germany, after I take Africa I like to move to Brazil build and IC there and build transports at home to put them in Panama, and I protect those transports with my navy, and if Germany need to go after the UK bomb it, destroy it’s navy, do random air force attacks to weaken it, then go in for the kill.

@Concealer:

Now here come the questions! Should I be looking to attack Australia J1? And India as well?

You can’t attack Australia on J1 (at least not with ground units), do you mean J2?
If the UK has left India empty, move 1 inf to take it. If there is only 1 inf you can try going but if Japan gets too greedy on J1 (attacks too many territories) it might get some bad surprises.

I like the IC on Manchuria for J2 but should I be looking to put it in Kwangtung instead? Or somewhere else for that matter? Or not at all?

I usually place ICs for Japan on India and sometimes Indochina. An IC on Manchuria doesn’t give you any movement advantage from there to Buryatia (it takes the same amount of time to build and offload from Japan to Buryatia). Indochina is better because units build there can either move to India and/or China (while units from a Kwangtung IC move only towards China, otherwise they’ll be losing time if you want them to get to India). India is the best choice for an IC but you might need to defend it against Russian armor zooming from Caucasus.

An IC costs 15 (and will produce 3 units) while 2 transports cost 14 (and can carry 4 units). During the first rounds Japan really needs transports to bring the infantry to the islands to Asia, like you mentioned and afterwards it doesn’t really need to build an IC unless you want to produce more than 8 ground units or you want to build units closer to the frontlines (as in India).

My overall idea is to ship my guys off their islands into Asia and supplement my navy to maintain control of the Pacific. Thus the main focus is Russia and the two US territories. I have, however, seen strategies involving Japan moving its fleet into the Med and taking over Africa. What kind of navy do you build to bring over there? Do you place another IC in Africa for better access to Europe?

You should take India/Persia/Australia and take as much of Africa as possible until the US decides it is enough. You don’t need to move your fleet to the Med, except to protect the Italian Navy, but there’s a risk that the US takes Egypt and then they will be cut off and most likely sunk. Don’t get an IC with Japan for Egypt: the US can land a lot of units on Algeria to take it.

Lastly, I have tried to take over the US before. It is not possible, in any realistic scenario I could think of. Do I just completely ignore them or go for Midway and Hawaii and a small stack off the shore of Midway?

I simply ignore the US, unless they are going Pacific. It’s not worth anything to take Midway and any forces left there have no chance of taking Western US so they are wasted.

About all you should do against america is harass them a bit to keep them honest if they are going KGF.  With transports around Japan you can drop guys off in Alaska.  It’s not worth going in large, but if you can drop 1-2 INF off that would survive for more than 1 round it might be worth it.  Incomewise it should  be a draw or better for you.  1 Inf for 2 rounds more than pays for itself even if it doesn’t hit when killed.  It does cause you to waste a transport cycle but it also casues the american to have to defend against and/or divert some resources.  Generally best to do this after the first few rounds and when you have some slack transports.

An IC in FIC or India is probably the best location, India is a bit toughter to defend but closer to the action.  I think Japan should wait until J3 at least to build an IC.  You will need transports right away, 2-3 for sure.  By the time J3 rolls around you should be building lots of land units and the 8 unit restriction comes into play so then an IC so you can get 11 land units per turn rolling into asia.

It is very tempting to attack the US fleet off their coast at times but you MUST watch for the counter attack.  It’s much like chess, If I attack his fleet (Ply #1), he then does this against me (Ply #2) which then then allow me to do this (ply #3).  It becomes too difficult to go much beyond ply #3 most times but you should always think to Ply #2.

Let the US fleet hang around their coast, don’t over build your navy but don’t fall behind either.  Initially Japan can and should push out and keep the allies at arms length the best you can.  Just because you can win a bloody navy battle does not mean you should if……if you can fall back a bit without losing too much tactical position so you are stronger the next round for attack.  Also resist the temptation to split off portions of the Japanese fleet in small scale battles of attrition.  Doing some slightly advantagous trades means you lose a critical mass.  In small naval skirmishes with an attack/counter attack cycle the allies might get a loss ratio say for argument sake killing on a RATIO of 10 IPC of Jap fleet for 12-14 of theirs.  You think, yeah, ratio advantage to Japan.  Yes, true but at a cost.  Keeping your fleet together means the allies in a large scale full fleet on full fleet battle might lose in a ratio of 10 jap IPC to 16-18 of allies.  In a large battle where 3 turns of builds are lost at once, that ratio kills the allies.

I hate screen jump on long posts…  By pulling back with Japan, the american builds are ‘behind the lines’ and are a turn away for attack or defense whereas the Japanese builds might be able to defend or attack the next turn.  The difference between a battle on the US coast versus the Japanese coast is the difference between a complete build for the US+Japan around 75 IPC in equipment available for the battle.  Moreover, your jast Japanese build can be dictated by what your intention is this turn.  You think the US is moving into position to be hit from Sz 60 (lots of territory) then you pull back, let him move up and you build a whack of subs.  If he then moves up, you know you are attacking so you do builds appropriate for this task, maybe fighters as you will sacrafice some etc.  Keep a few subs near but just out of reach of his fleet to take care of any blocking DD’s he sends out, you need to pick them off with a sub or two plus some air support.  Japan can and should pull back to home waters so that when they do fight, its at their greatest numerical advantage, this also buys you time to sort out the chaos in asia.  If the americans want borneo, look how far away their supply lines are, your new builds fight right away, their builds are looking for safe harbours to puddle jump to for a round or two in order to just get into the fray.  I think you might find this game interesting in how I played Japan.  It was my first game here and I was faced with what they call the Japanese Crush I think.  It was an allout assult against Japan which I had never faced nor seen before.  No doubt players more experienced in this situation could point out better specific moves, but it highlights what I feel is the overall thinking Japan should have and that I outlined.  http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=18857.135

Japan is one of my favorite powers to play, so I’m going to throw in a few of my suggestions. But please keep me honest guys. If I give some bad advise, I’d appreciate it if you’d point it out to me.

@Concealer:

So I have been playing a lot of Axis lately and there is plenty of strategy regarding the Axis but I’m lacking in specific Japanese strategy. I generally go with transports for J1 and maybe a destroyer or more infantry. I attack the US fleet in Hawaii, push into Russia in whatever way best goes with whatever they did. And I attack China.

This sounds a lot like how I generally handle J1. The China attack is a must for me: I do NOT allow the Americans to get a foothold on the mainland. I also love putting pressure on the North-Eastern Russian territories as early as possible. More money for Japan, less money for Russia. If India has been left alone, I’ll always launch an attack there, and do my best to hold it on J1. The sooner you start stunting the Allies economies and putting yourself in position to attack Russia, the better.

I do find myself disagreeing with your choice of building a destroyer. Generally, you start off with enough navy in the Pacific to sustain you. A destroyer purchase seems like a waste of money that you could use to build up your assault force going onto the mainland.

Now here come the questions! Should I be looking to attack Australia J1? And India as well? I like the IC on Manchuria for J2 but should I be looking to put it in Kwangtung instead? Or somewhere else for that matter? Or not at all?

It isn’t possible to take Australia J1, but you should try to take it as soon as it becomes convenient for you. Once again, more IPCs for Japan and less for Britain. Also, it’s one less place for them to potentially build an IC to harass you.

I do generally go with the India attack early on. Just be careful if they’ve left it defended. You don’t want to leave yourself TOO spread out. That being said, Britain generally isn’t in good position to reinforce/take back India, so I see it as a worthwhile attack on J1.

As IC purchases go… I would suggest holding off on building them on J1, and building transports instead. Then you can shuffle troops straight from Japan into the North-Eastern Russia area. You’ll be getting more troops over for cheaper.

I.E., all of the mainland Asia countries have an IPC value of 3. An IC costs 15 IPCs, and you can build 3 units from it per turn.

Building two transports costs 14 IPCs (7 each), and allows you to shuffle 4 units over to the mainland per turn for one IPC cheaper. Plus, you can use the transports for other purposes later in the game. Seems like a pretty obvious choice to me.

Aside from this, I would recommend building an IC in India on J2 if things have gone well. If not, build it in French Indo-China, although this is much less desirable.

My overall idea is to ship my guys off their islands into Asia and supplement my navy to maintain control of the Pacific. Thus the main focus is Russia and the two US territories. I have, however, seen strategies involving Japan moving its fleet into the Med and taking over Africa. What kind of navy do you build to bring over there? Do you place another IC in Africa for better access to Europe?

I don’t think I could condone moving Japan’s fleet into the Med. It would be too expensive to maintain, and it would leave Japan vulnerable in the Pacific to the U.S. I also don’t think an IC in Africa is worth it, as most of the African countries are only worth 1 IPC. Your production would be far to slow. With Japan, I always stand by this statement: KILL THE RUSSIANS.

Lastly, I have tried to take over the US before. It is not possible, in any realistic scenario I could think of. Do I just completely ignore them or go for Midway and Hawaii and a small stack off the shore of Midway?

Aside from the occasional harassment of Alaska to keep the U.S. on its toes, I generally ignore America unless they threaten to attack me. And chances are, if they’re threatening to attack me, they’re not applying enough pressure in Europe, and Germany will be thriving, and THEY’LL manage to take out Russia.

I hope I answered your questions in a satisfactory and intelligent manner. =)

@Jaycawbz:

I do find myself disagreeing with your choice of building a destroyer. Generally, you start off with enough navy in the Pacific to sustain you. A destroyer purchase seems like a waste of money that you could use to build up your assault force going onto the mainland.

Without the DD Japan won’t be able to do anything about the UK & US subs (usually the US should submerge it instead of losing it on a helpless battle) and the only units can properly defend against them are the battleships.

@Hobbes:

@Jaycawbz:

I do find myself disagreeing with your choice of building a destroyer. Generally, you start off with enough navy in the Pacific to sustain you. A destroyer purchase seems like a waste of money that you could use to build up your assault force going onto the mainland.

Without the DD Japan won’t be able to do anything about the UK & US subs (usually the US should submerge it instead of losing it on a helpless battle) and the only units can properly defend against them are the battleships.

He said don’t point things like that out.

@Dylan:

@Hobbes:

@Jaycawbz:

I do find myself disagreeing with your choice of building a destroyer. Generally, you start off with enough navy in the Pacific to sustain you. A destroyer purchase seems like a waste of money that you could use to build up your assault force going onto the mainland.

Without the DD Japan won’t be able to do anything about the UK & US subs (usually the US should submerge it instead of losing it on a helpless battle) and the only units can properly defend against them are the battleships.

He said don’t point things like that out.

@Jaycawbz:

If I give some bad advise, I’d appreciate it if you’d point it out to me.

@Hobbes:

@Dylan:

@Hobbes:

@Jaycawbz:

I do find myself disagreeing with your choice of building a destroyer. Generally, you start off with enough navy in the Pacific to sustain you. A destroyer purchase seems like a waste of money that you could use to build up your assault force going onto the mainland.

Without the DD Japan won’t be able to do anything about the UK & US subs (usually the US should submerge it instead of losing it on a helpless battle) and the only units can properly defend against them are the battleships.

He said don’t point things like that out.

@Jaycawbz:

If I give some bad advise, I’d appreciate it if you’d point it out to me.

oh

@Hobbes:

@Jaycawbz:

I do find myself disagreeing with your choice of building a destroyer. Generally, you start off with enough navy in the Pacific to sustain you. A destroyer purchase seems like a waste of money that you could use to build up your assault force going onto the mainland.

Without the DD Japan won’t be able to do anything about the UK & US subs (usually the US should submerge it instead of losing it on a helpless battle) and the only units can properly defend against them are the battleships.

Ohhhh. That’s an excellent point there. Still, is it necessary as a first round purchase? If the U.S. doesn’t go for a naval assault against Japan, wouldn’t the DD be useless?

And Dylan, thank you for trying to help me. I appreciate it. ^^

I’ll buy a destroyer on J2, but maybe J1 is better. Even if the US leaves Japan alone, they can choose to submerge their sub at Hawaii. In that case, Japan has to protect their transports from a US sub, a UK sub, and probably some Allied planes. If Japan builds a destroyer, the Allies will have to move their subs out of range or count on losing them. Once the Allied subs are out of the picture, Japan has more flexibility with where the IJN sails. If no destroyer is bought, the subs are a constant threat and Japan will have to dedicate naval units to protect seazones around Japan, around FIC, around the Indian Ocean. The subs can cover quite a range, and then there’s the Allied planes to complicate things further.

Here’s a risky idea for J1. Attack the US z55 battleship, transport with a sub and a fighter. Attack z52 with a battleship, carrier, cruiser, and planes at your discretion. The odds on the battleship aren’t brilliant but ~60% you’ll at least get the battleship making it often worthwhile. You’ll have to build factories or something to protect newly built transports and the UK can’t have caused very much trouble for this to work.

Just played a game last night where Japan chose not to buy a DD on J1. He kept 2 fleets, each based on a BB to take over Australia/Hawaii/NZ but my subs where pretty active still:

• US2: US sub sinks newly bought Japanese DD on SZ60
• UK5: UK sub, along with 4 fighters and 1 bomber sink Japanese AC, BB and 2 TRNs (1 loaded with 1 inf and 1 art) and 2 FTRs on SZ34
• R6: Russian sub sinks TRN on SZ28

Overall loss for Allies: 3 subs, 4 fighters (58 IPC)
Overall loss for Japan: 1 DD, 2 FTRs, 1 BB, 1 AC, 2 TRNs, 1 INF, 1 ART (83 IPC)

@MrMalachiCrunch:

I hate screen jump on long posts…  By pulling back with Japan, the american builds are ‘behind the lines’ and are a turn away for attack or defense whereas the Japanese builds might be able to defend or attack the next turn.  The difference between a battle on the US coast versus the Japanese coast is the difference between a complete build for the US+Japan around 75 IPC in equipment available for the battle.  Moreover, your jast Japanese build can be dictated by what your intention is this turn.  You think the US is moving into position to be hit from Sz 60 (lots of territory) then you pull back, let him move up and you build a whack of subs.  If he then moves up, you know you are attacking so you do builds appropriate for this task, maybe fighters as you will sacrafice some etc.  Keep a few subs near but just out of reach of his fleet to take care of any blocking DD’s he sends out, you need to pick them off with a sub or two plus some air support.  Japan can and should pull back to home waters so that when they do fight, its at their greatest numerical advantage, this also buys you time to sort out the chaos in asia.  If the americans want borneo, look how far away their supply lines are, your new builds fight right away, their builds are looking for safe harbours to puddle jump to for a round or two in order to just get into the fray.  I think you might find this game interesting in how I played Japan.  It was my first game here and I was faced with what they call the Japanese Crush I think.  It was an allout assult against Japan which I had never faced nor seen before.  No doubt players more experienced in this situation could point out better specific moves, but it highlights what I feel is the overall thinking Japan should have and that I outlined.  http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=18857.135

Yeah, that was a bad strat for me. Japan starts with a much larger navy and her economy quickly catches up: taking China, Sinkiang, Far East, Buryatia puts Japan only 2 behind the US, and India or Australia tips the balance.

@Hobbes:

Just played a game last night where Japan chose not to buy a DD on J1. He kept 2 fleets, each based on a BB to take over Australia/Hawaii/NZ but my subs where pretty active still:

• US2: US sub sinks newly bought Japanese DD on SZ60
• UK5: UK sub, along with 4 fighters and 1 bomber sink Japanese AC, BB and 2 TRNs (1 loaded with 1 inf and 1 art) and 2 FTRs on SZ34
• R6: Russian sub sinks TRN on SZ28

Overall loss for Allies: 3 subs, 4 fighters (58 IPC)
Overall loss for Japan: 1 DD, 2 FTRs, 1 BB, 1 AC, 2 TRNs, 1 INF, 1 ART (83 IPC)

I assume the allies won

@calvinhobbesliker:

I assume the allies won

Yeah. He managed to fortify Karelia with Germany on G3 but the Russians were able to counter it by fortifying W. Russia. He then made the mistake of only buying ICs with Japan for the mainland and then trying to pump out as much tanks as possible and sending them one at the time to Kazakh/Novo where the Russians killed them.
On G6 he had to pull back from Karelia to defend Germany and meanwhile Japan was getting greedy and sending a lot of units to take Africa. Problem for him was that US planes blasted Persia clean on US6 and on R7 the Russians sent 14 tanks to take India, since a big part of his army was away on Africa/Sinkiang/Yakut. On UK7 the UK built 3 tanks on India using the IC and on R8 Russia took Indochina and the IC there. Then he conceded :)

I always worry when my opponent is building lots of infantry, it tells me they have a long term plan.  When I see lots of tanks I know all i have to do is weather the storm for a few rounds.  If you live long enough, the foe will run out of gas and you are taking out all kinds of juicy tanks with overwhelming infantry and a bit of firepower to get the battles over.