Hi all
(luck + NOs)
As the japanese J1, I usually go for:
Buy either 2 transports or a French Indo China IC.
2 fgt to kill US navy in sz 56 West Coast
2 fgt + DD to kill US BB in sz 53 Hawaii
2 fgt to kill UK navy in 35 India
BB + CA to sz 50 Philippine sea with 2 transports to take land
1 transport to East Indies
1 transport to Borneo
1 transport to Kwangtung
and 3 areas in China.
But with a UK bid to place a sub in sz 35 India my Carrier in sz 37 is at about 50% risk to be sunk by the sub.
I really don’t wan’t to miss the DD in Hawaii as I see that battle as the weakest attack in my “conservative” J1.
If I choose not to attack the India fleet. my transports at Borneo and EI are sitting ducks.
How do you guys react to this bid as the japanese player?
One option is to just accept some attrition in your transport fleet – you start with 5 transports, and you usually build 2 more, so if you lose one of them to a British sub, life goes on. Don’t attack the British Indian fleet, use the fighters from your western carrier group to help with the attack on the Phillipines, and send your cruiser and western carrier to guard your transport off the East Indies. Your Borneo transport is toast, but that’s small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
Another option is to attack the British fleet, send your destroyer west to defend your western carrier group, attack the Pearl Harbor BB with 3 fighters, and attack the San Diego DD/TT with only 1 fighter. 1 fighter vs. 1 DD is risky, but if you lose that battle, oh well. It’s still positive expected utility. If you want something more conservative, you can attack Pearl Harbor with 4 fighters and skip the attack on San Diego altogether. Note that you can’t actually kill the British sub on turn 1 (you’re not in range with your DD) so you will still lose a transport this way. You can’t avoid losing a transport to a sub bid without radically scaling back your opening attack.
Thanks for the fast reply Argothair 
At the moment I’m working on the “Don’t attack the UK fleet plan”
Accept the loss of the 2 transports at EI and Borneo (UK sub and DD)
Then use the western Carrier planes to support the Pearl Harbor attack instead. That is now 4 fgt vs 1 BB. And then get all 3 carriers to Carolines with maybe the DD if fgt losses were high. BB and CA still attack Philippine Sea as usual.
That will leave BB, CA + 2 transports at Philippines, 3 Carriers + 1DD at Carolines and 1 transport off Kwangtung safe.
And I still get all objectives and NOs (except the India fleet that may be dealt with later).
The good thing is - the Pearl Harbor attack will be much less risky 
Take 3 ftr on the BB in pearl, 2 ftrs on the US west coast.
You will likely lose 1 ftr in pearl, if not, you do risk getting a carrier stuck in Hawaii.
However, you are only risking a carrier to be able to take out the US BB AND tpt, DD off the west coast. It’s a good risk to take, IMHO.
I don’t like leaving the UK fleet alive off India since it can take back the East Indies or go back to Africa. You can take the cruiser with the carrier to help protect it against the sub and perhaps take Burma at the same time using the cruisers offshore.
If you put a transport in Borneo and/or East Indies, the UK sub will most likely take a guaranteed transport. Even if you allowed the UK sub on the Jap carrier, the most you’ll lose is the carrier, and you have three of them to start.
Lots of good ideas here. I’d like to point out that East Indies is only in range of the one destroyer in Carolines, so you can’t defend that sea zone any heavier than that. No Carriers or Cruisers can make it.
Yes, the East Indies transport is on a no-return-mission. And if you choose not to attack the India Fleet, so is the Borneo transport. But I still think that’s the price I’ll choose to pay.
I don’t believe the UK player will try to recapture Borneo or I.E. on UK1. it will be an uncertain attack that will only leave the mainland even more open to the japanese player.
axis_roll
I take it, you are willing to take a little more risk in round 1 than I am comfortable with.
I just imagine one of those games where US doesn’t hit any fighters in Hawaii, and where the UK sub attacks your Carrier and Cruiser off Burma and hits on the first roll and you don’t hit back…… My nerves can’t handle that 
axis_roll
I take it, you are willing to take a little more risk in round 1 than I am comfortable with.
I just imagine on of those games where US doesn’t hit any fighters in Hawaii, and where the UK sub attacks your Carrier and Cruiser off Burma and hits on the first roll and you don’t hit back…… My nerves can’t handle that
True, it is a bit risky, but worth it, IMHO. Encouraging the allies to spend more IPCs on Japan instead of triple teaming Germany helps the Axis. Japan can play defense/ball up fairly easily. They will still have their planes, and can easily add 1 or even 2 carriers to land those planes if they were really needed. Japan is a long way for USA to go (and an expensive one) with little return on that investment, especially early. Don’t forget Japan also goes before USA, so she can react to the USA pressure as needed.
Sorry for my noobness, but I have been reading these boards a lot, and I have yet to play the game, but I see a lot of talk about building 2 transports for J1.
Aren’t these fodder for the American bomber on the West Coast?
They can be, goof2658, but Japan has the option of moving two of its carriers over to Tokyo Bay on J1, and up to four fighters can land there after the Pearl Harbor / San Diego J1 attacks. That’s plenty of protection against one bomber.
So, if you want to maximize your attack on Asia, rather than your attack on the US Pacific navy, you can kind of stack up near Tokyo instead of stacking in the Caroline Islands. Depending on how many of your fighters survived, this is often a good idea anyway, because your stack may not be safe in the Carolines.
