I am playing against the AI and finding it to be a bit...short sided. But that is ok as I wanted to get my feet wet before playing as Japan and then moving on to AE.
My question is....
I am in B24 range of Japan now (7/43!) and I was just wondering, in your opinons, is the most effective of the "city attacks". I have pretty much retaken the DEI so the supply situation must be pretty dire at this point. Should I concentrate on HI, Manpower or something else? Trying to get the biggest bang for the buck...pardon the pun. The IJN is mostly on the bottom of the ocean so I am not worried about anything Naval. (Only lost a single Brit CV.) Also not much air power left based on the lack of CAP.
Hitting manpower is a waste. If you want to keep kicking the AI puppy, hit HI.
The depth of game swamped most of us, and we shuddered the first time we met the AI and the game mechanics learning curve at the same time.
Soon, we learned what the AI will do and had the fun of kicking it all over the Pacific. The fun in that paled for many of us, and we converted to PBEM. However, PBEM just isn't satisfactory for some players, so they came up with ways to handicap themselves as they play the AI.
There are some interesting threads about how to enjoy playing against the AI.
Hitting manpower is a waste. If you want to keep kicking the AI puppy, hit HI.
The depth of game swamped most of us, and we shuddered the first time we met the AI and the game mechanics learning curve at the same time.
Soon, we learned what the AI will do and had the fun of kicking it all over the Pacific. The fun in that paled for many of us, and we converted to PBEM. However, PBEM just isn't satisfactory for some players, so they came up with ways to handicap themselves as they play the AI.
There are some interesting threads about how to enjoy playing against the AI.
Have fun!
The Japanese player can "stockpile" heavy industry, so that might not be the best bang for your buck... not sure if the AI does it, but...
Hitting manpower is worse than a waste - it actually IMPROVES the Japanese position (they don't have to feed those pesky civilians if manpower is hit).
You might consider hitting OIL or RESOURCES - pick one, and don't hit the other... in plain WITP, OIL might be a better choice (RESOURCES are better in CHS, i think). Otherwise, you might pick out individual factories: i.e. - bomb those that manufacture aircraft engines of a type of fighter that is giving you fits, or bomb the assembly plant of the plane itself.
Playing as the allies, I would say look at the objectives and needs of the enemy in the theatre in which you are fighting. So in Burma, the Japanese need supply more than fuel, so hit resources (one resource centre = 1.0 supply points per day), as this will affect his supply situation more immediately than hitting oil (and there is no heavy industry).
In China, for the most part, the Japanese need supply (granted some fuel is needed at the ports, but relatively speaking not much) so hit resources. It’s also worth hitting any oil you can reach, as this will starve his HI of oil so the HI can't produce supply. Earlier in the game, when the Japanese still owned the DEI, oil would have been coming in by sea, so then no point knocking out the Chinese oil centers, except for those in the hinterland where seaborne oil might not reach. Once the resources have been knocked over, then hit the HI. It’s all worthwhile as HI produces 1 supply per day, providing it has sufficient oil and resources. The other benefit of hitting any production centers is the supply cost to rebuild them, taking supply away from the troops.
Overall the vulnerability of the Japanese empire in stock might well be oil / fuel, but it sounds as if you have mastery of the seas anyway, so what you need to knock out now is is supply.
Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
George S. Patton
If you are short on either OIL or RESOURCES, then HEAVY INDUSTRY won't be producing (not at optimal levels, anyway).
If you hit one thing (say OIL), then RESOURCES will pile up... it won't make any difference if you hit RESOURCES, since you will just correct the relative difference in levels...
i.e., if you have 1000 RESOURCES and 100 OIL, this will limit HEAVY INDUSTRY... hitting RESOURCES won't effect the output of HEAVY INDUSTRY.
Once HEAVY INDUSTRY has produced, it goes into a pool, so HEAVY INDUSTRY attacks might be limited in their effect towards the end of the war, since the amount stockpiled might be enough to last the rest of the war... of course, the AI might not have stockpiled enough to do this.
EDIT: It can help reduce supply locally to hit RESOURCES, but the original question was about hitting cities in Japan, presumably to affect the overall production levels... hitting RESOURCES in China to effect local supplies in China didn't seem to be on the agenda.
