Japan revisted

[Uncle_Joe]

Well, after a few more stabs at playing Japan, I think they are probably OK. There are a few things that just dont pay off, but after the bugs are squashed, they should probably be able to follow their historical course with a realistic expectation of results.

So far, I have been unable to download the patch so I cant test the Surprise Attack fix. But even without it, Japan can fight the Allies to a standstill if things break their way.

I think the keys that I found were to research Evasion and Air Combat for the Carrier Air Groups and ASW for the Light Fleets. Between these two unit types, you have what you need to keep the early Allied response in check. Without those upgrades, you are going to lose a lot of planes and ships trying to stem the tide.

For my best game, I built up supply to rebuild the resources in Indonesia and used my airpower to 'cull the herds' in China to keep them from massing a huge force. I never moved a fleet more than 1 space per turn as I got everything in position to kick off the war.

In the Winter of 42, I hit the WAllies hard. All of their ships in the Indonesia area were obliterated with no losses (BBs vs CAs will do that.... [;)] ). My upgraded Carrier groups were ready to hit the first WAllied counter attack and my Light Fleets were prepared to go hunting the pathetic early-war Allied Subs. After taking and rebuilding every resource I could easily get, I changed to taking a few of the non-resource Islands NE of Australia to use as airbases. Since my Carrier Air was upgraded, I concentrated on producing them to use for my island bases. It also gave me a steady pool of replacements for my Carriers.

Since the Allied Carrier Air and Subs were largely unupgraded, they were pretty much slaughtered every time we engaged. I did lose a fair number of Transports before my Light Fleets were able to get the Subs under control, but my losses were never crippling (producing a few Transports helps keep the Resources flowing in). The Allied BBs did KO a good number of my Carrier Groups (4 dice even needing an 18 isnt too unlikely and once your planes have engaged enemy planes, its down to 15, so 4 dice will take them out with a little better than average luck). Luckily having a reserve to draw on kept me ahead in the Carrier game.

I found that the Allies just pretty much fought me toe to toe which meant my Carriers never really had to move to fight (saving immense numbers of supplies). I think the Allies would be better off hitting in different locations to force the Japanese to chase them around a bit. The Allies have fuel to burn, but the Japanese have to be careful.

Once the econ started humming along, I could keep up sustained naval operations against the heavily 'Europe First' strat being employed. I'm sure I would have been overrun if even half the stuff earmarked for Europe came my way for a few turns...

All in all, it was very rewarding to see Japan succeed. I think just a few fixes need to be done to make them 'feel' correct. The first is supposedly already done with the patch (surprise attack). After that, making the Op-Fire properly target Supplies moving past them will make it worthwhile to secure the Bismarks and Solomons. I did take the Rabaul in my game and used it as an airbase, but never felt the need to go much further. Once the lifeline to Australia was cut, the WAllies more or less abandoned it to it's fate and I took it out. Its probably not worth it for Japan to do in most cases, but the extra Factory can eventually pay off if you can hold it.

That leads me to my next question:

Is it viable for Japan to build a Factory in 1940? Doing so will take up 25 crucial supplies or costs you a Light Fleet necessary for anti-sub duties. Without an additional Factory however, its tough to capitalize on total success. Once you have taken the needed resources necessary to power your initial factories, you dont gain much by continued conquest. Late '42 is a bit too late to be building the Factory as you wont have it in time to do much. So the problem is that if you build it, you might be weakening yourself just enough that you can never power it. Without it, the Allies can afford to ignore Japan to a certain extent.

So, in conclusion (in case anyone is still reading this...), I will reverse my earlier opinion that Japan needs some supply help or something similar. By being frugal early on, you can still generate enough to get the job done with a little luck. Note that I never expended the the 20 Supplies to conduct Pearl Harbor due to the bug. I'm anxious to try again with Suprise to see if it feels worthwhile or not.

Thanx for reading!

[schury]

if wa is controled by human,you got little chance...[:(]