Japan starts the game too weak

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: osirus2626

I just got a desisive victory with the strategy above. But I was damn close to failing. If the allies would have had one more year, they would have crushed me, since germany collapsed completely in early 1946. Luckily I had Japan at 32 production.

I guess my one complaint I have, is that the vitory seems rather hollow because I know if I gave the allies another couple years, they would have completely wiped me out.

A very good point. Basically, unless the Axis player can gain an auto-victory early on, it's only a matter of time before Allied production will destroy the Axis. However, it is very hard to get this Auto-victory but you can still win as Axis by surviving until the end of 1946 (much better than the Axis did historically). It may seem hollow, but we think it allows the game to be a more accurate portrayal of the situation during WWII. There are ways to use the various game options and and by using a bidding system with supply help to give the Axis a greater chance of winning the war while keeping the game victory conditions balanced (at least when playing human players).

[Uncle_Joe]

randell765:

Read my post called 'Japan revisited'. I too thought they couldnt effectively use their Navy. But after working at it a bit, I found ways to take over most of the South Pacific while moving slowly on into China.

I think its all about budgeting and pre-planning. I didnt bother building too many units early on and I occasionally halted the CV/BB in the queue to ensure I had enough Supplies pumping out. I also prepositioned my fleet early on by moving it slowing into position. After a few lean turns of capturing the resource rich islands and rebuilding the resources, I felt I had enough supplies and units rolling out to keep doing anything reasonable I wanted to do. At that point it became more about having the right amount of Transports around to launch my attacks rather than actual number of supplies available.

Budgeting your research is also key. Japan already starts with a sizeable edge with many of their naval and air units. All you REALLY need are the the Carrier Air Evasion and the Light Fleet ASW. Everything else is nice to have, but not essential. It will also take a bit of luck early to win some of the Carrier battles.

One other thing to keep in mind is that the units do represent more than what you see. The Japanese have 4 Carrier units which represent, what, about 6 Fleet Carriers and a handful of smaller CVLs. So, in many cases where the Japanese might have sent a 2 Carrier element, you would only be moving 1 unit, which is really quite affordable. Trying to mass the entire IJN to go out and do battle is going to trash your supplies. Its just not practical.

At any rate, I'd urge you to give it a few more tries. Ignore China except for the coastline and the occasion air attacks to keep the them thinned out. Then concentrate only on the 2 researches above and build nothing else but supplies (and a few Transports). Hit the WAllies in W'42. Then take all the resource areas in W42 and Sp42. Rebuild them and get them up to speed and soon you'll have sufficient resources to supply your fleet for attacks into the South Pacific.

Good luck!

[BlackVoid]

Japan should have higher torpedo and fighter technology levels at the start.

The US did not fix the torpedo problem real quick at all. It took them more than a year. USA should start with a torpedo technology level of 0 or 1.

[Uncle_Joe]

US Torpedoes ARE at 1. And for most Japanese Torp values 3 which is a LOT better than 1..remember each factor is 1 die and that Armor is not subtracted from the Torpedo attack.

A 1 Torpedo means a max of 6 and and average of 3.5...not a lot you can do with that. Heck even single Transport ships are only killed 16% of the time and they have the same chance of killing the Allied Sub! (assuming no research on either side).

By contrast, Japanese Subs, Fleets, and some Bombers have a 3 Torpedo factor. This averages to 10.5. Battleships only have a 12 defense for most of the game so Japanese Torps have a decent shot of crippling one each time they fire. Transports are toast. Japanese Carrier Aircraft have a 4 Torpedo value.

Looking at it, Japan has a HUGE advantage in Torps vis a vis the Allies. I dont think it could be too much more pronouced than it already is without getting into the ridiculous level.

[BlackVoid]

Maybe you are right, however in the game USA can easily catch up - in reality they never did.

[Joel Billings]

In reality the American submarine forces sunk 62% of all the Japanese ship tonnage lost during the war (vs 27% to aircraft and less than 5% to other surface ships). Japan was strangled economically by the US submarine force. This can happen in GGWaW, but doesn't have to happen depending on player strategies. American submarines by 1943/44 were killing machines, and if the WA player in GGWaW wants to invest in researching his subs (as they did historically), they should be effective. Given their starting values, it will take time and an investment to bring the US subs up to where they can do some real damage, especially if Japan invests in any ASW capability.