Imperial Tide: DW (J) vs Nemo/Jansako (A)

[PaxMondo]

All of India/Ceylon is under Japanese control with the exception of Delhi which is besieged. There are no VEH factories in India because there are no Allied aircraft factories there. Japan has to capture Allied aircraft factories which turn into VEH factories for Japan. I don't need them anyways though as I significantly expanded my VEH factories in the Home Islands and have a surplus.

Crap! Sorry, got my scenarios mixed up. You are correct of course. No AC factories in India in this scenario.

How far have you expanded your VEH factories? 240?

[Chickenboy]

Sorry, disregard previous. That's what I get for commenting on a thread before reading the whole thing to the end. I saw your AV and play through post just now. Kudos to your opponent, again, for keeping this game rolling after Nemo dropped it.

He's 'up against it' as far as the Allies are concerned. I'd be curious what he envisions 'success' looking like here.

Basically my objective is to last until the very end of the game (I believe April 1946) and Jansanko's mission is to AV me before then.

A different starting point than most! But I'm most interested to see if / how Jansanko pulls it off...

[M Peaston]

It'll be interesting to see which line of advance JanSako chooses; any thoughts on this, DesertWolf?

I'll echo something Chickenboy wrote earlier - thanks for posting updates in this forum.

[DesertWolf101]

All of India/Ceylon is under Japanese control with the exception of Delhi which is besieged. There are no VEH factories in India because there are no Allied aircraft factories there. Japan has to capture Allied aircraft factories which turn into VEH factories for Japan. I don't need them anyways though as I significantly expanded my VEH factories in the Home Islands and have a surplus.

Crap! Sorry, got my scenarios mixed up. You are correct of course. No AC factories in India in this scenario.

How far have you expanded your VEH factories? 240?

280 actually, I also expanded naval shipbuilding by quite a bit.

Screenshot 2025-08-15 165315.png (290.57 KiB) Viewed 584 times

[DesertWolf101]

It'll be interesting to see which line of advance JanSako chooses; any thoughts on this, DesertWolf?

I'll echo something Chickenboy wrote earlier - thanks for posting updates in this forum.

It's difficult to say since with almost all the map under Japanese control, he does not lack for options of where to start. I am massively prioritizing the Aleutians/Kuriles however. That is the most direct approach for an Allied player trying to catch up, so will be focusing on it like a hawk.

[PaxMondo]

280 actually, I also expanded naval shipbuilding by quite a bit.

Screenshot 2025-08-15 165315.png

Actually, 2 other numbers really jump out at me here:

HI: you've taken/expanded by almost 3000 (1500 factories) with about 225 of those factories either idle or damaged. Wow. 1500. WOW.

Engines: You've gone from a starting 649 to a now 2649 ... 2000 increase. holy crap batman!! Your engine pools must be massive.

[traskott]

Jansanko has very little choices of advance. Alaska is too obvious. Hawái is really the only good choice….

[Chickenboy]

Jansanko has very little choices of advance. Alaska is too obvious. Hawái is really the only good choice….

Or Gilberts-Midway "one", Hawaii "two" punch.

[DesertWolf101]

280 actually, I also expanded naval shipbuilding by quite a bit.

Screenshot 2025-08-15 165315.png

Actually, 2 other numbers really jump out at me here:

HI: you've taken/expanded by almost 3000 (1500 factories) with about 225 of those factories either idle or damaged. Wow. 1500. WOW.

Engines: You've gone from a starting 649 to a now 2649 ... 2000 increase. holy crap batman!! Your engine pools must be massive.

Yeah I focus on boosting my engine production in 1942 to facilitate my huge expansion in airframe production starting in 1943. Here is my engine production/pools:

Screenshot 2025-08-19 133449.png (357.62 KiB) Viewed 472 times

[DesertWolf101]

As for aircraft, the George has entered mass production this month (January 1943) and I will be producing about 300 of them per month. Next on the docket is the Frank, with my first research factory having reached 30 earlier.

Screenshot 2025-08-19 134325.png (176.95 KiB) Viewed 470 times

[Chickenboy]

What are you planning on producing that you need a >3,200 *pool* of Ha-32 engines?

[traskott]

Jansanko has very little choices of advance. Alaska is too obvious. Hawái is really the only good choice….

Or Gilberts-Midway "one", Hawaii "two" punch.

May be Midway, but its too far from everywhere.

[DesertWolf101]

What are you planning on producing that you need a >3,200 *pool* of Ha-32 engines?

Jills and Frances production is going to skyrocket soon. Emily production will be substantial as well. Frances takes takes two Ha-32 engines and the Emily takes 4. Will also produce some Jacks for CAP purposes as well. All combined, this will be more than my current rate of production of 350 Ha-32 engines for month so I will gradually eat into the stockpile of engines for the rest of the war. The key thing I try to do is to build factories up early enough to waste as little supply as possible in their expansion.

[DesertWolf101]

My industry chart:

Screenshot 2025-08-20 122820.png (312.49 KiB) Viewed 385 times

[PaxMondo]

Yeah I focus on boosting my engine production in 1942 to facilitate my huge expansion in airframe production starting in 1943. Here is my engine production/pools:

Screenshot 2025-08-19 133449.png

So, your Ha-32/33 numbers look quite reasonable. In fact, only your Ha-35 number surprises me, I've never gone above 450. So, you're obviously building a ton of Oscar in the early war. I get it: numbers matter is the air war ... even a mediocre plane like the Oscar, if pilot exp is roughly equal, then numbers can determine the outcome overcoming almost anything else.

[Chickenboy]

DW, is this Scenario 1 or 2? If 2, the Ki-44IIA-C series of fighters uses the Ha-35, along with the A6M series for the IJN. I've found these two lines to account for most of my Ha-35 production.

Big fan of the Ha-35/Ki-44IIA-C combination. It's one of the best point defense and dogfighting aircraft available to the IJ. Capable of very competitive performance into 1944, good serviceability, outstanding climb, decent armament and so on. I could go a number of ways on end-game IJA fighters, but I'll 'pound the table' on the mid-war performance of the Tojos. Don't overlook this extremely versatile platform.

[DesertWolf101]

DW, is this Scenario 1 or 2? If 2, the Ki-44IIA-C series of fighters uses the Ha-35, along with the A6M series for the IJN. I've found these two lines to account for most of my Ha-35 production.

Big fan of the Ha-35/Ki-44IIA-C combination. It's one of the best point defense and dogfighting aircraft available to the IJ. Capable of very competitive performance into 1944, good serviceability, outstanding climb, decent armament and so on. I could go a number of ways on end-game IJA fighters, but I'll 'pound the table' on the mid-war performance of the Tojos. Don't overlook this extremely versatile platform.

It's scenario 2. The Ki-44II is indeed part of the reason I am building so many Ha-35s, that and my need for a stockpile to accelerate research on multiple airframes.

[DesertWolf101]

Yeah I focus on boosting my engine production in 1942 to facilitate my huge expansion in airframe production starting in 1943. Here is my engine production/pools:

Screenshot 2025-08-19 133449.png

So, your Ha-32/33 numbers look quite reasonable. In fact, only your Ha-35 number surprises me, I've never gone above 450. So, you're obviously building a ton of Oscar in the early war. I get it: numbers matter is the air war ... even a mediocre plane like the Oscar, if pilot exp is roughly equal, then numbers can determine the outcome overcoming almost anything else.

Not so much Pax, I only produced less than 500 Oscars for the entire war so far (it is January 1943 now). In general I was on a shoestring budget on airframe production throughout 1942. I use the engines for research and to stockpile them for my massive increase in aircraft production from 1943 to 1945.

[DesertWolf101]

Here are the aircraft I have used so far (and the numbers):

Screenshot 2025-08-25 133330.png (465.23 KiB) Viewed 284 times

[Chickenboy]

Here are the aircraft I have used so far (and the numbers):

To each their own and there's no accounting for taste and all that. But I only produce a handful of Oscar IIa, preferring the Ki-44-IIc in nearly every way. If'n it were me (and it ain't), I would not be producing any Ki-44-IIa, would cut my Ki-43-IIa Oscar production by 2/3 and bump up the Ki-44-IIc production to >100.

Why no love for the Ki-46-II Dinah? These guys are a mainstay of reconnaissance well into 1943 (until they're replaced with the Ki-46 III). No production?

No D4Y production yet? By 1943, the D3A series is woefully outdated IMO.

Lastly, do you have any IJAAF (yes, IJAAF) ASW platforms you prefer? I will usually use (after requisite training of course) Ki-49-IIa Helens for this task, as their halved normal range (10) still gets me decent ASW range out to 5 hexes.