The Japs are many times stronger than it historically was and I haven't find a way to effectively reducing its strength yet. If Championzhao just hide his KB and SCTF somewhere, Allies still have to plan as the entire Combine Fleet will join the Combat and thus greatly slows down our progress.
So my my strategy for now is clear: Create as many fronts as possible and force Japs to garrison as many bases as possible. And if possible, force Japs to give up some of its territories.
Sun Tzu said: "Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."
And I call it "strategic Oppression".
Let's see will it work[8D]
ORIGINAL: EUBanana
I wouldn't be quite so sanguine about sitting back and waiting for an assured victory to drop into your lap in 1944...
HI : he will have a lot, by dint of owning almost the entire map. By the time you get into B29 range he will have a huge stockpile. Some of his industry will be untouchable, like stuff in the interior of China or Thailand or whatever.
B29s : not the autowin button. I know IRL they were essentially immune to Japanese air defence, but not in WITP. Look at some 1944 AARs, you can see B29s dying like flies (at least, in relation to their replacement rate) in some of them against the hordes of high tech Japanese fighters which he will have. The late war Japs have plentiful radar, the Japs in 1944 have cannon armed aircraft, unlike IRL there won't be hordes of worthless Oscars because Jap industry will be streamlined to produce as much of the best as possible.
Marianas : you aren't necessarily going to be able to sail the Allied CV fleet in mid 1944 up to the Marianas without any preparatory bombing bar super long range unescorted B29s and hoist the US flag after a turkey shoot. FOr starters there will be no turkey shoot because Japanese pilot quality will almost certainly be a-ok. Unlike RL KB is entirely intact. The Allied carrier force will have no significant qualitative advantage in pilots or planes over the Japanese carriers in terms of fighters, and might even have a qualitative deficit given he might have the Sam by then and Hellcats are rather underwhelming. Brute numbers might work, you'll certainly have a lot of CVs. But it might not, and if all you got to support you is an outpost at Marcus Island and some ultra long range B29 bombing, the ball is kinda in his court...
Garrisons: well, I'd expect that to be. I'm amazed by the 200k troops in Rabaul for that reason. Surely he must be weak somewhere vital. He does have the entire map though, so though the IJA does have extra commitments like New Zealand, on the other hand China is no more which frees up a LOT of troops.
The Thunderbolt has a range of 9 hexes and will without a doubt get you air superiority over whatever Japanese base it's in range of. Look for a series of base hops no more than 9 hexes apart that go somewhere vital and hopefully threaten to cut off a bunch of Japanese divisions. Get prepping, and work on them as the opportunity arises.
