Uncle Joe,or whover can help me,
I always do really good with Germany(on Normal-with patch),
I always take Moscow and Cacasus, and defend pretty decently against wa with my subs(for awhile).
The problem, once again, is Japan. I have tried a new approach but still get my navy crushed. what can I do.
As Japan,
1)just take coastal territories,leave sizeable force to invade Siam and a little west when the time comes.
2)carriers in position to take Pearl Harbor(always gat one plane damaged though.
3) I attack Pearl Harbor right before 1943, I do not like giving up x3 production to the US before I have to.
4)before I attack, I have upped my carrier attack by 1 and my light fleet sub attack by 1. I buy 2 tranys and 4 art. then every turn I am buying 2 inf and shuttling them to FIC. When it comes time to attack Pearl Harbor I do fine then retreat my ac's, then wham I am out of supplies(before battle,about 105), the US has subs at my door, I do not have enough ships to attack the US's transports around OZ and then thats pretty much the game.
What do you attack on your pearl harbor turn? How do you set up your ships? what do you research? Any help would be appreciated as I still find Japan difficult to play with. thanks.
UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
Moderators: Joel Billings, JanSorensen
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
Randell;
Not Uncle Joe, but here is my typical (currently) Japanese war:
1) Strip ALL islands (including Japan) of everything except one supply (for emergencies)
2) Shuttle everything to mainland china and FIC along with every plane a ounce of supply (with a bit of work you can get this done on turn one for the most part)
3) No attacks turn one, just prep
4) Make sure your coastal chinese regions are "unassailable" from the chinese.
5) Build (1st turn) a bit of everything - CAG, FTR, INF, ARTY
6) Research CAG(aat,mv,torp), INF(ev,grat)...nothing else, ever.
7) TURN 2 - Invade Fuchow, and TAKE IT. Use air power to blast every resource and factory the chinese have without risking (unduly) your airpower. Never go against a FLAK if another area is clear of it.
8) TURN 3 - 1943 Summer, consolidate holdings in china (dont go inland) just keep their resources and factories empty. DO NOT attack PH. Waste of supplies and risky, even with the surprise patched. Let the US wait. Let them come to you and use THEIR supplies.
9) Turn FALL 1943, invade Vladivostok with whatever it take to TAKE it. Shuttle enough troops to guarantee a Russian reaction (i.e. stripping their own western front). Hit all the unoccupied WA islands worth resources. If you do it right, ONE infantry can capture EVERY empty island. Then if troops available, hit the philippines, Bornea and Malaya (WA troops on these) ...oh, mind that you take out ALL of the WA fleet in the region first.
10) From this turn on, it is pretty much drive with all haste west into Russia, and keep your Carrier Fleet in around the sea zone just south of Japan. Have them loaded with BB, DD escort. Have the island there filled with all extra airpower and CAP over the carrier fleet. With this setup (against the AI) I have yet to have a fleet air battle go against me. The AI will keep throwing CAG at you and your return strikes will cripple him (with the high torp values)
11) Just hold on in the pacific and push into russia. Germany can do the rest. 70 PP is pretty easy if Russia is out......
Hope this helps Randell! Again, this is just my strategy....by no means perfect or flawless. I am sure there are all sorts of counters (particularly from a human!!)
Good luck
Prof. Mike
Not Uncle Joe, but here is my typical (currently) Japanese war:
1) Strip ALL islands (including Japan) of everything except one supply (for emergencies)
2) Shuttle everything to mainland china and FIC along with every plane a ounce of supply (with a bit of work you can get this done on turn one for the most part)
3) No attacks turn one, just prep
4) Make sure your coastal chinese regions are "unassailable" from the chinese.
5) Build (1st turn) a bit of everything - CAG, FTR, INF, ARTY
6) Research CAG(aat,mv,torp), INF(ev,grat)...nothing else, ever.
7) TURN 2 - Invade Fuchow, and TAKE IT. Use air power to blast every resource and factory the chinese have without risking (unduly) your airpower. Never go against a FLAK if another area is clear of it.
8) TURN 3 - 1943 Summer, consolidate holdings in china (dont go inland) just keep their resources and factories empty. DO NOT attack PH. Waste of supplies and risky, even with the surprise patched. Let the US wait. Let them come to you and use THEIR supplies.
9) Turn FALL 1943, invade Vladivostok with whatever it take to TAKE it. Shuttle enough troops to guarantee a Russian reaction (i.e. stripping their own western front). Hit all the unoccupied WA islands worth resources. If you do it right, ONE infantry can capture EVERY empty island. Then if troops available, hit the philippines, Bornea and Malaya (WA troops on these) ...oh, mind that you take out ALL of the WA fleet in the region first.
10) From this turn on, it is pretty much drive with all haste west into Russia, and keep your Carrier Fleet in around the sea zone just south of Japan. Have them loaded with BB, DD escort. Have the island there filled with all extra airpower and CAP over the carrier fleet. With this setup (against the AI) I have yet to have a fleet air battle go against me. The AI will keep throwing CAG at you and your return strikes will cripple him (with the high torp values)
11) Just hold on in the pacific and push into russia. Germany can do the rest. 70 PP is pretty easy if Russia is out......
Hope this helps Randell! Again, this is just my strategy....by no means perfect or flawless. I am sure there are all sorts of counters (particularly from a human!!)
Good luck
Prof. Mike
"Yeah that I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil...because I am."
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
Hi randell765:
Honestly I've just been following a modified version of Japan's real strategy for expansion.
A few tips (this is assuming playing the AI):
1) Before you attack the WAllies, try not to ever move a Fleet more than 1 space/turn. You have time to get everything in place...no need to burn precious supplies for nothing.
2) Move the Carriers slowly to off the coast of China, and all your other air units into China. Take the coastal areas ASAP and repair the resources. Use your Air power every turn to 'cull the herds' of Chinese troops massing on the border. If you dont, they will eventually mass up and attack at the worst times costing you supplies and the resources along the coast. You'll lose a plane here and there, but what they lose takes FOREVER to rebuild.
3) Research. You have to prioritize here. I only get (in order) CAG Evasion, CAG Torpedo, Light Fleet ASW, CAG A-A. Thats all you really need to defeat the early Allied fleets AND keep your Transport Fleets alive (critical). Later in the game, you need to research up the Infantry attack and evasion or eventually you cant even take India or Australia from the Allied Infantry. Other techs might become necessary, but for the early game, just go with those 4. You should have them all before W'42.
4) Early builds: I concentrate on Supply, the above research, a replacement CAG, 2-3 Transports, and a few Militia/Infantry as time/population permits. Supply and Transports are key to taking and repairing the critical early resources.
5) Slowly empty the Garrisons on most of the Islands into China. You can use the Militia for occupation freeing up you Infantry for the attacks. The Artillery should definately be used at the front.
6) Make sure you have built up 120 or so supplies earmarked for your attacks and repairing of resources
7) Kick off the War:
In W'42, I move the CVs to Pearl and smack the US Fleet. If you have your research done (and the patch!), you should cripple/kill 4 ships and take no losses. Then move back towards Rabaul and support the attacks in the South Pacific.
By this time all of your BBs should be in position to exterminate all the Allied Light Fleets in the South Pacific (using only 1 supply each). Have your subs pick off Transports and move back near Australia out of harm's way. They'll eventually be hunted down and killed, but they can kill a handful of Transports before they go down. I never build more Subs because the Allies are concentrating on ASW against the UBoats anyways, so your subs will just be massacred.
After crushing their South Pacific Fleet and hitting Pearl, the Allies wont have much to oppose you for the first few turns. Use that time to move into Siam and towards India (you need Transports over there to supply the effort as the rail lines dont run that way). Spread out and take some of the Islands in the South Pacific once you secure the actual resource islands. The island bases should house you Betty bombers to use on Allied Transport and sever the link to Australia.
From there, its just a matter of seeing what is going on and reacting. You can take Australia or threaten Russia or move into India if the Brits dont reinforce. I've noticed that if you kill enough transports and continually batter the US carriers and BBs that come out to play, they will eventually cede most of the Pacific to you (except for sub activity). This is bad news for Germany so you have to be prepared to put the pressure on in Russia or India. I'm in '45 now in my game and my Factories are humming along at 27 while the Wallies are only at 54. This is TERRIBLE for them at this stage, but I'm sitting on Australia, India, half of Africa, and most of the Mid-east. I've been into the Russia homeland long enough to wreck the resources. Russia only has 16 working Factories (although Germany has been reduced to small fortress state by the Wallies).
A note on ASW: Keep a few Light Fleets near Japan and to the North. The Wallied subs often come by that route as it bypasses my island bases. By escorting the few Transports around Japan and engaging in aggressive ASW, I've kept Transport losses to a minimum. Never skimp on ASW. Burn as much fuel as you need to kill off the subs. Never leave one alive for more than one attack. If they go ballistic with the number of Subs, build another Light Fleet or two.
A note on Transports: You can never have too many...ever. They are your life-line to your resources, your supply routes for your fleets, and your threats into Australia and India/Mid east. If you run out of Transports, you are out of luck. I always try to keep at least one in the queue. If the Allies are killing some, you must replace the losses ASAP. Once the Transports start to go down, your econ goes into a tail-spin and you'll never get out.
A note on Supplies: Early in the game, you have to pinch every penny. The only supplies you should be using are the 10 or so to air raid the Chinese Troops and the 1/fleet to move 1 sea zone at a time. If you manage your research properly and dont get too unlucky in China, you have enough supplies to use your fleet to get the job done early in the war. After you have 'fed' all the Factories you own, you should be able to keep ahead of the Supply problem. Indeed, I've found that the bottleneck from mid 42 on is often lack of Transport capacity to get the supplies where they are needed rather than lack of supplies in general. On that note, Always build supplies in Manchuria and in captured Chinese factories. The less supplies you actually have to SHIP to the main land the better!
A note on Carriers: With the above research, your Carriers should be superior for most of the early war. The Wallies just have too many other priorities to worry about cranking out Carrier Aircraft to match yours. If they do so, you'll be in for a hurt, but Germany should be having a field day. Be happy you have a teammate at that point.
Until the US gets better Carrier aircraft, you can smash their Fleets with relative impunity. Note that if the US researched Battleship AA to 5, all bets are off (I consider this a balance screw in the game, as I believe a Human player can do so before the war and ignore carriers and beat you with just BBs/CAs). Barring that, dont move your CVs around too much if you can avoid it. Use land-based air to add to the carnage.
I have now successfully managed to take over the Pacific in three games now using the above strategy. I realize that vs a Human player, things would be considerably different, but I take solace in the fact that my German Ally would probably be bringing more pressure too!
Good luck. Let me know if any of this helps you out!
Honestly I've just been following a modified version of Japan's real strategy for expansion.
A few tips (this is assuming playing the AI):
1) Before you attack the WAllies, try not to ever move a Fleet more than 1 space/turn. You have time to get everything in place...no need to burn precious supplies for nothing.
2) Move the Carriers slowly to off the coast of China, and all your other air units into China. Take the coastal areas ASAP and repair the resources. Use your Air power every turn to 'cull the herds' of Chinese troops massing on the border. If you dont, they will eventually mass up and attack at the worst times costing you supplies and the resources along the coast. You'll lose a plane here and there, but what they lose takes FOREVER to rebuild.
3) Research. You have to prioritize here. I only get (in order) CAG Evasion, CAG Torpedo, Light Fleet ASW, CAG A-A. Thats all you really need to defeat the early Allied fleets AND keep your Transport Fleets alive (critical). Later in the game, you need to research up the Infantry attack and evasion or eventually you cant even take India or Australia from the Allied Infantry. Other techs might become necessary, but for the early game, just go with those 4. You should have them all before W'42.
4) Early builds: I concentrate on Supply, the above research, a replacement CAG, 2-3 Transports, and a few Militia/Infantry as time/population permits. Supply and Transports are key to taking and repairing the critical early resources.
5) Slowly empty the Garrisons on most of the Islands into China. You can use the Militia for occupation freeing up you Infantry for the attacks. The Artillery should definately be used at the front.
6) Make sure you have built up 120 or so supplies earmarked for your attacks and repairing of resources
7) Kick off the War:
In W'42, I move the CVs to Pearl and smack the US Fleet. If you have your research done (and the patch!), you should cripple/kill 4 ships and take no losses. Then move back towards Rabaul and support the attacks in the South Pacific.
By this time all of your BBs should be in position to exterminate all the Allied Light Fleets in the South Pacific (using only 1 supply each). Have your subs pick off Transports and move back near Australia out of harm's way. They'll eventually be hunted down and killed, but they can kill a handful of Transports before they go down. I never build more Subs because the Allies are concentrating on ASW against the UBoats anyways, so your subs will just be massacred.
After crushing their South Pacific Fleet and hitting Pearl, the Allies wont have much to oppose you for the first few turns. Use that time to move into Siam and towards India (you need Transports over there to supply the effort as the rail lines dont run that way). Spread out and take some of the Islands in the South Pacific once you secure the actual resource islands. The island bases should house you Betty bombers to use on Allied Transport and sever the link to Australia.
From there, its just a matter of seeing what is going on and reacting. You can take Australia or threaten Russia or move into India if the Brits dont reinforce. I've noticed that if you kill enough transports and continually batter the US carriers and BBs that come out to play, they will eventually cede most of the Pacific to you (except for sub activity). This is bad news for Germany so you have to be prepared to put the pressure on in Russia or India. I'm in '45 now in my game and my Factories are humming along at 27 while the Wallies are only at 54. This is TERRIBLE for them at this stage, but I'm sitting on Australia, India, half of Africa, and most of the Mid-east. I've been into the Russia homeland long enough to wreck the resources. Russia only has 16 working Factories (although Germany has been reduced to small fortress state by the Wallies).
A note on ASW: Keep a few Light Fleets near Japan and to the North. The Wallied subs often come by that route as it bypasses my island bases. By escorting the few Transports around Japan and engaging in aggressive ASW, I've kept Transport losses to a minimum. Never skimp on ASW. Burn as much fuel as you need to kill off the subs. Never leave one alive for more than one attack. If they go ballistic with the number of Subs, build another Light Fleet or two.
A note on Transports: You can never have too many...ever. They are your life-line to your resources, your supply routes for your fleets, and your threats into Australia and India/Mid east. If you run out of Transports, you are out of luck. I always try to keep at least one in the queue. If the Allies are killing some, you must replace the losses ASAP. Once the Transports start to go down, your econ goes into a tail-spin and you'll never get out.
A note on Supplies: Early in the game, you have to pinch every penny. The only supplies you should be using are the 10 or so to air raid the Chinese Troops and the 1/fleet to move 1 sea zone at a time. If you manage your research properly and dont get too unlucky in China, you have enough supplies to use your fleet to get the job done early in the war. After you have 'fed' all the Factories you own, you should be able to keep ahead of the Supply problem. Indeed, I've found that the bottleneck from mid 42 on is often lack of Transport capacity to get the supplies where they are needed rather than lack of supplies in general. On that note, Always build supplies in Manchuria and in captured Chinese factories. The less supplies you actually have to SHIP to the main land the better!
A note on Carriers: With the above research, your Carriers should be superior for most of the early war. The Wallies just have too many other priorities to worry about cranking out Carrier Aircraft to match yours. If they do so, you'll be in for a hurt, but Germany should be having a field day. Be happy you have a teammate at that point.
Until the US gets better Carrier aircraft, you can smash their Fleets with relative impunity. Note that if the US researched Battleship AA to 5, all bets are off (I consider this a balance screw in the game, as I believe a Human player can do so before the war and ignore carriers and beat you with just BBs/CAs). Barring that, dont move your CVs around too much if you can avoid it. Use land-based air to add to the carnage.I have now successfully managed to take over the Pacific in three games now using the above strategy. I realize that vs a Human player, things would be considerably different, but I take solace in the fact that my German Ally would probably be bringing more pressure too!
Good luck. Let me know if any of this helps you out!
-
randell765
- Posts: 213
- Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:56 am
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
How do you attack China when they have 2 flak guns hitting you each round???? thats taking away from resources that should be used for supplies. ;(
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
Because its 'crisis management'. Yes, its costing you 8-10 supplies to do it and yes, you might lose a plane here and there. But if you dont thin them out, they'll mass up and take out your coastline provinces wrecking rail and resources and require counterattacks to retake. All told, the cost of that is going to be higher than just the air raids every turn.
If you get lucky, you hit the AA guns and it makes life a whole lot easier...
Anyways, I'm not saying this is a 'cure all' strategy. If you arent happy with risking your planes, dont do it and see what happens. If you mass up for defense, you can probably hold them from counter-attacking, but it will tie down a larger number of troops.
The whole game is about making these kind of decisions. Where to take your risks and where to play it safe is what this kind of strategy is all about. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to run Japan. I'm experimenting with some here and there. The above strategy has given me 2 major victories vs the AI (Normal). I'm sure other ideas can work fine too.
If you get lucky, you hit the AA guns and it makes life a whole lot easier...
Anyways, I'm not saying this is a 'cure all' strategy. If you arent happy with risking your planes, dont do it and see what happens. If you mass up for defense, you can probably hold them from counter-attacking, but it will tie down a larger number of troops.
The whole game is about making these kind of decisions. Where to take your risks and where to play it safe is what this kind of strategy is all about. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to run Japan. I'm experimenting with some here and there. The above strategy has given me 2 major victories vs the AI (Normal). I'm sure other ideas can work fine too.
-
IDrinkBeer
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2003 9:30 pm
- Location: Richmond, VA
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
ORIGINAL: randell765
How do you attack China when they have 2 flak guns hitting you each round???? thats taking away from resources that should be used for supplies. ;(
If the Chinese player, either human or AI, masses all of his AA guns in one spot ( along with lots of infantry ) your best option is to go for the kill.
Attacking it with everything you can muster ( including infantry ) will decimate most of the stack. In fact, more than likely you can take the area. Of course you have just activated full production for the Chinese but if they really massed everyone in one place you can mop up the rest of the factories within 1 or 2 turns.
I have done it several times against both human and AI opponents. Trust me, the Chinese are doing you a favor by putting all their units in one area. [:D]
IDB
"Where's the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom!"
"Where's the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom!"
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
I've been playing a lot of WA/china games for some reason. I've tried a bunch of different things with the chinese and obviously what really hurt the japs. having all the pieces in a huge stack lost to a japanese attack hurts, nothing help more than for the japs to attack inward. that increase in production accelerates things 300%. after that it really requires japan to take china, which of course will take 2 years most likely and in the end garners less than it cost.I have done it several times against both human and AI opponents. Trust me, the Chinese are doing you a favor by putting all their units in one area.
the best strat I've had played against me is a strat bombing campaign. the fact that I usually move my AA guns into the same stack didn't help matters. without lend lease china can be essetially knocked out of the game from a supply standpoint within one year.
RE: UNCLE JOE<NEED HELP WITH JAPAN
Attacking Russia in PBEM is not a good idea unless Russia is already hurting bad againt Germany. Russia WILL crush you with their superior troops and you will have nothing left to grab DEI with.