Does Japan have a fighting chance?

[weinsoldner]

Am debating to buy this game but one question keeps me busy. When playing I like to play the underdog like the French during waterloo or the Germans in Russia during WW2. So when buying and playing this game I would choose the Japanese to play. But do they have a fighting chance??????

[AlbertN]

Vs the, AI in general a player has always the upper hand once the player knows the mechanics.

In PvP matches it is premature to say but rarely there is a mere interest in a 'hold Tokyo and bit more' from players.

[Platoonist]

Versus a human the game can become a struggle to hold on as Japan. You're fighting five or six nations at once with no major allies. China can become a land behemoth with time if it hangs on. The US becomes an air and naval behemoth no matter what. As Japan it's difficult to find enough garrisons to hold every point the Allies can land.

As AlbertN noted fending off the AI shouldn't be too hard once you figure the game system out.

[weinsoldner]

Thanks for the feedback and will buy the game. And play the AI for a while to start to understand the ins and outs of the game. Will be a while before I will try a PvP game.

[BillRunacre]

Play close attention to the Victory Conditions, doing so is the key to a Japanese victory.

[Tendraline]

Play close attention to the Victory Conditions, doing so is the key to a Japanese victory.

Yeah, those victory conditions are key for Japan, but at the same time at least the 1943 conditions feel very stinted:
You need at least three of the following
- Batavia
- Manila
- Canberra
- Calcutta
- Chongqing
- Delhi
- Honolulu

You get the first two pretty easily, so this only means you have to capture one more. However, you can imagine that players are not thinking about the game in terms of capturing one out of a list of five cities, but rather trying to get Japan to survive until 1946, by which point Japanese advantages have eroded so much you are just hanging onto dear life.

And that feels a lot more real given the situation involved

It should also be noted that Japan can strike at two or even three (sometimes) of these locations at a time, which makes the game suddenly ending at capturing one of them a surprise

[Feinder]

Ha! Who ever reads the victory condions?!

"Only need 3 of those in 1943..."

I guess i should have bothered to read the victory conditions, before starting my game vs Ngineer! Nah. Having fun anyway.

[BillRunacre]

Play close attention to the Victory Conditions, doing so is the key to a Japanese victory.

Yeah, those victory conditions are key for Japan, but at the same time at least the 1943 conditions feel very stinted:
You need at least three of the following
- Batavia
- Manila
- Canberra
- Calcutta
- Chongqing
- Delhi
- Honolulu

You get the first two pretty easily, so this only means you have to capture one more. However, you can imagine that players are not thinking about the game in terms of capturing one out of a list of five cities, but rather trying to get Japan to survive until 1946, by which point Japanese advantages have eroded so much you are just hanging onto dear life.

And that feels a lot more real given the situation involved

It should also be noted that Japan can strike at two or even three (sometimes) of these locations at a time, which makes the game suddenly ending at capturing one of them a surprise

There is another very important condition in addition to the above: for these to count, US National Morale has to be below 60%.

I agree that players may be thinking more about long term survival than winning the game. All I can do is encourage people to use the conditions to inform their strategies...