China

[ArticFire]

Newbie question , why is China's production crippled after turn 1 even if Japan doesn't drop a single bomb ? I have a game where Japan has not laid a single hand on China yet it was many turns before China could manage to produce the 4? items I cued up on Turn 1. On turn 2 China's factories go to - even thow they have not been damaged. I would like to know why it is Japan can totaly ignore China because China is unable to pose a threat since it's production is fubar bombed or not ?

[Timmeh]

until China loses an inland province they only produce every three turns. Becomes every turn if Japan captures an inland province.

So besides the inland provinces being a ravinous unending supply pit, it ends up tripleing the remaining Chinese output.

[ArticFire]

That makes no sense to me. Japan should have to suppress the China to have her way eslewhere.

[Lebatron]

ArticFire, if Japan does nothing to China, then late in the game China will be overrunning Japan's thinning defenses, even with the 1/3 production. There are 3 paths for Japan.

1. Do nothing to China. Pay the price later for it. This is not really an option, but rather a mistake.
2. Attack China's factories with airpower only. Do this to keep China from becoming strong. It also uses up China's supply and forces the Allies to donate.
3. Attack inland China and attempt to capture the factories. Not hard to do, but costs Japan quite a bit. Building many militia will be necessary to secure China if you wish to use your infantry elsewhere. When I use this strat I never bother getting the 4th factory as its to far. Rather I just keep bombing it ocasionally to keep it damaged.

[Timmeh]

They do have to 'suppress' them or at least counter the units (around 20 or so) that China will move into position to attack with (if the wallies send supplies). I think a common strategy is either bomb the infastructure or units that have no or little AA defending them. Even taking the first inland province, if Russia is not your goal, is an idea. But I think only if you've damaged the other factories is this a good idea.

To totally ignore China is just asking for the two Chinese RP's to be lost and losing out on the coastal RP they don't start with. In percentages, that can add up to 10 - 15% of the total Japanese factory output. It all comes down to trade offs here, cause if you do it badly it can end up costing you more in repairing units than its worth.

To be honest, if Japan doesn't take the last coastal RP and suck free trade and RP gifts for Siam for the first year they are doing the emporer a disservice. After the US gifts dry up then you can take Siam and continue with whatever strategy you've chosen. To do otherwise is to handicap Japan from 14 PP a turn down to as low as 10 for the first year. and if you've attacked Russia or the US this early as well, just cut your throat cause its quicker than the economic suicide you've entered into.

[Battlebyte]

It's a game rule that China's production is extremely low, to reflect the historical situation. China was not yet very industrialized (compared to the other major powers), was several years into a civil war, and had also been at war with Japan for some time before the game starts. China was unable to launch an offensive that would pose a serious threat against the Japanese. (Largely because the Communists and Nationalists were too busy fighting each other to cooperate very well.)

However, maintaining forces in the occuppied areas of China tied up a lot of Japanese resources. The Japanese knew that they needed a lot more than they had in order to go deep into China. That was one of the main reasons they attacked the colonial territories along the Pacific rim -- to capture the resources needed for the war with China. This is reflected in the game by the rule that raises Chinese production rates. The Japanese need a lot of resources to invade China, or they'll suffer.

Of course, attacking those colonial territories brings war with the Western Powers, which also makes Japan suffer; all the more because they still have to maintain the front in China.

The Chinese can't do much offensively, at least until near the end of the game. Their goal is to survive, tie up as much Japanese force as possible, and to force the Japanese to overstretch themselves. This enables the Allies to defeat Japan.

The fact that it's a player nation rather than a neutral or a colony makes you expect more from it, but it really isn't in league with the major powers. Still, it wasn't a colony and it wasn't a neutral. I'd guess that making it a player nation was probably the only way to make it cleanly fit in with the rest of the game without a ton of special rules and extra programming.

[Lebatron]

ORIGINAL: Battlebyte
The fact that it's a player nation rather than a neutral or a colony makes you expect more from it, but it really isn't in league with the major powers. Still, it wasn't a colony and it wasn't a neutral. I'd guess that making it a player nation was probably the only way to make it cleanly fit in with the rest of the game without a ton of special rules and extra programming.

Well said. For you newbies out there consider China to be part B of the Russian players turn. If you ever want to play this multiplayer, it would be a mistake to have a 5th player come on board just to play China. I have occasionally seen newbies in oponents wanted try to set up the game with the WA's controlling China. It makes the most sense to add China to the Russian player because he doesn't have much to do while he is still frozen.