If the U.K. declares war, can Japan enter the DEI - or is that a DOW on the USA

As Japan, I normally J2 DOW but take FIC J1. This generally is good enough to take down Calcutta and normally keep it down. I also mostly ignore China until I have India, except Anwhe, Kweichow, Hunan and Yunnan.

I totally agree about the mutual annihilation attack being bad for Japan. Then the ANZAC can keep a fleet alive.

@ItIsILeClerc:

What Barney said will probably work fine, since you seem to have a pretty solid plan.

I can give two answers to your questions though, but please keep in mind those things work for me, not necessarily for you too.

1. I never ignore the Siberians. I kill them, chase them down, or screen/defend against them, depending on what Russia did and what my own plans are. Since Russia moves before Japan, I adapt accordingly. Sometimes it’s even worth it to allow them 1 or 2 turns into Manchuria/Korea if you can kill them/force them to retreat later on anyway (no later than 3rd turn after), because this keeps them away from Moscow and ‘upsets’ Mongolia.
Good thing to know: Japan can take down China + India completely without the troops from Manchuria/Korea. IJAF has 21 airplanes and it’s OK to sacrifice ~4planes if this means killing the entire Chinese (or Indian) army.

2. Use them when you can ;-). Use them to deny USN shorebombardment or to strengthen the IJN if it comes under threat of an attack so stage it off Japan and/or Philippines.

I usually let russia go to korea, but make sure I can deadzone manchuria.  Especially good idea since korea is easily convoy raided.

@Cow:

Get the African NOs for Russia as well. African NOs are very important for Russia.

Agreed wholeheartedly!
I must admit though, I’m still a little in doubt about when to take them and when not to.

For example, if Germany is doing SeaLion it seems better not to (correct me if I’m wrong)? If Russia goes there (early) in this situation, it has just too few units to start contesting Eastern Europe and/or Scandinavia RU3 (assuming GE did sortie into London). Contesting those area’s with Germany seems better than getting into Africa, since the Russian profit is the same or even higher but it also denies Germany valuable IPCs. Maybe in this case get the African NO’s at a later point?

In all the other situations I’d go for African NO’s (except perhaps a G1 DOW?).

@Soson:

@Krieghund:

It’s the same in Alpha 3 (as well as every other version of AA40) - original control is indicated by the emblem on the territory, not by who controls it at the beginning of the game.

Thanks, I’m glad to know it is working as intended.  The computer game just shows color, so I’m not sure what you mean by emblem.  Maybe the cardboard game is different.

Open up the territory tap and hover your mouse over a territory. If should give you information about the original owner of that territory.

Do this to Kiangsu, you can see it is not an original Japanese territory, but an Chinese one.

@Spendo02:

Much of that assertion is based on play testing of the Allies moving to defend Hawaii in the first round.

Obviously that changes if you withdraw because the only trade would be the starting fleet off Hawaii, which easily translates to a strong consolidated navy off of Western US.

That is why I posed the question regarding what would be an Allied response to a J1 DOW that stages in SZ6 and paves the way to sack Honolulu on J2 as I was not sure if that would be an experienced US player’s response….

…My standard play has been to defend Hawaii at all costs which included Anzac’s involvement (to see what the board looks like) while purchasing US1 SS and Bombers.  I never considered the US option to give it up and consolidate - which appears to be a better and stronger play…

We have a few regular and experienced players and now that we have played Global enough times America’s response to Japan positioning it’s fleet in range of Hawaii is always to just run away and let them have it.

Bringing back the Pacific fleet is always the stronger move because if Japan keeps sending fleet to Hawaii then it’s going the wrong way. Not being in striking distance of DEI and India means that the UK will start slowly building a non-trivial fleet of ships and will be making 30+ IPCs.

Meanwhile America is out pretty much nothing but a few IPCs and can just casually build boats and watch. The second Japan leaves they just retake Hawaii with almost no effort.

It really depends on which method you prefer.
A G1 attack can catch the Russians a little off guard and take advantage of their defenses still being relatively thin. The downfall is that Germany’s offense will also be a little thin and be more prone to Russian counter-attacks.
A G3 or G4 attack allows Germany the maximum build up time before Russia can declare war and can make for a much stronger punch into Russia’s borders all along the line. I often wait until G4 because you can hit Russia on 4 fronts (Romania > Bessarabia, Hungary > E Poland, Poland > Baltic States, Finland > Karelia) and have a very strong front line after the battles - harder for Russia to counter attack. The downfall of this is that Russia also gets 3 turns of build-up so they will have more stuff for you to fight. Generally, Germany will still have more than Russia, but if the dice don’t favor you, your front lines could get really ate up by the time you reach Moscow.
A lot depends on what USA does when they get into the war. If they go 80%-100% Europe, your Russian offensive could peter out fast because you have to fend off an American invasion or try to bail out Italy. On the other hand, Japan should be doing very well in the Pacific and you may get an overall Axis win that way.
If USA goes mostly Pacific, then you should be very successful in Russia. The UK will be busy trying to fight Italy and your U-Boats while you pour tanks into Russia and steadily grind them back. However, If Japan plays poorly, it’s possible the USA could wrap things up in the Pacific early enough to still come over and cause trouble for you in Europe before you can take Moscow. Then it’s the dreaded TWO FRONT WAR for Germany.

@Cmdr:

It would almost certainly ensure that Russia falls before America can save it.

You’re making some assumptions about when the USA would be able to enter the war.  You could easily say that the more powerful Germany gets (e.g. the more of the USSR it takes) the sooner the USA can enter the war to stop the German menace.

@Krieghund:

Yes, but I don’t know why it would want to.

It might be usefull to get past some of japans navy.  It’s always good to know what options are avaiable.

If USA is not netrual in this case I guess movement restrictions dont apply!?