Japanese Production Help!!!

[shall59]

I'm playing the Japanese for the first time in a PBEM scenario. First off, does anybody have any good general or specific advice they can give me about how to play/what to do with Japanese production? Second, I have a few rather specific questions I hope someone can answer:

1. The Japanese seem to produce many varieties of plane to do the same job; they seem to produce a lot of planes with what I would consider limited effectiveness (float fighters). I'm considering consolidating my production to just 1 or 2 planes models per type (fighter, bomber, etc) and making a lot of them or setting additional factories to research. Does this seem like a good idea? Any thoughts?

2. Some of the engine types the Japanese are producing don't show up as being used on any type of plane currently in production or planned (at least I didn't see it, correct me if I'm wrong). Is it safe to discontinue production/not let production start on these engine types?

3. Should I try to supply all manufacturing and other production facilities with resources and oil or concentrate on making sure the major production facilities are well stocked?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me!!![&o]

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: shall59

I'm playing the Japanese for the first time in a PBEM scenario. First off, does anybody have any good general or specific advice they can give me about how to play/what to do with Japanese production? Second, I have a few rather specific questions I hope someone can answer:

1. The Japanese seem to produce many varieties of plane to do the same job; they seem to produce a lot of planes with what I would consider limited effectiveness (float fighters). I'm considering consolidating my production to just 1 or 2 planes models per type (fighter, bomber, etc) and making a lot of them or setting additional factories to research. Does this seem like a good idea? Any thoughts?

2. Some of the engine types the Japanese are producing don't show up as being used on any type of plane currently in production or planned (at least I didn't see it, correct me if I'm wrong). Is it safe to discontinue production/not let production start on these engine types?

3. Should I try to supply all manufacturing and other production facilities with resources and oil or concentrate on making sure the major production facilities are well stocked?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me!!![&o]

0. Go look on Spooky's site, there is good general guidance there.

1. No. Consolidation will be too expensive ( you halve your production when you switch over ) also, unless you are playing with the "free upgrade" option ( I don't ) then your "slots" in available air units cannot be changed ... it is these slots which determine whether you can actually use the planes you produce. If you production 1000 Tonys and only have 100 slots, the other 900 will sit and do nothing.

2. Yes, switch the engine production over on turn one ( per guidance on Spookys )

3. Heavy Industry in the Home Islands can be supplied ( by the AI ) if you dump everything in any one port ... I often use Osaka ... or Hiroshima ... exclusively. and for a while you can even get a good idea about your reserves by checking resource and oil presence in your one dumping ground ( until the AI moves it around for you ).

[tsimmonds]

1. The Japanese seem to produce many varieties of plane to do the same job; they seem to produce a lot of planes with what I would consider limited effectiveness (float fighters). I'm considering consolidating my production to just 1 or 2 planes models per type (fighter, bomber, etc) and making a lot of them or setting additional factories to research. Does this seem like a good idea? Any thoughts?

Sure it seems like a good idea. Just keep in mind that for any a/c factory you change to a different type,
a) all points will be damaged, and
b) the factory will have fewer points than before

Damaged factories cost 1000 supply each to repair. It is best not to change anything very much right away. It looks like you have scads of supply but actually you will be on a fairly tight budget. Your maximum supply output for the Home Islands is only about 25,000 supply points per day.

2. Some of the engine types the Japanese are producing don't show up as being used on any type of plane currently in production or planned (at least I didn't see it, correct me if I'm wrong). Is it safe to discontinue production/not let production start on these engine types?

Yes. Mostly you need Nakajimas and Mitsubushis, with some Kawasaki (for Tonys) and Aichi (for Judys) thrown in. Again, go easy on changes that result in damaged factories.

3. Should I try to supply all manufacturing and other production facilities with resources and oil or concentrate on making sure the major production facilities are well stocked?

Oil and Resources move themselves around fairly well by rail. Just make sure that you have enough for each general area (Home Islands, China, Manchuria, Formosa, Southeast Asia). Check the remote HI factories occasionally to make sure they are getting raw materials delivered to them.

[Oznoyng]

ORIGINAL: shall59
1. The Japanese seem to produce many varieties of plane to do the same job; they seem to produce a lot of planes with what I would consider limited effectiveness (float fighters). I'm considering consolidating my production to just 1 or 2 planes models per type (fighter, bomber, etc) and making a lot of them or setting additional factories to research. Does this seem like a good idea? Any thoughts?

The big question is, do you have Player Defined Upgrades(PDU) on or off? Consolidation is a viable goal if it is on. I am not a believer in research, since it doesn't have a reputation for advancing planes more than a few months. I am more interested in hoarding HI points and engines for later use than I am in researching planes. I halt all research factories until just before the plane type is due to become available, I then begin repairs. I also halt Nates, H6K2's, and Nells. At start convert about 6 plants to producing roughly 16 zeros apiece. For me, getting as many zeros as I can lay my hands on before the zero bonus goes away is worth the supply. If PDU is on, I also convert almost all the IJA DB groups to Ki-21 Sally's. It simplifies pilot training, puts pilots in more survivable aircraft, puts more bombs on the target, allows more survivable attacks, and allows longer ranged attacks. The downsides are requirements for level 4 airfields and 2 vp per plane lost rather than one. For me, the tradeoff is worth it.

ORIGINAL: shall59
2. Some of the engine types the Japanese are producing don't show up as being used on any type of plane currently in production or planned (at least I didn't see it, correct me if I'm wrong). Is it safe to discontinue production/not let production start on these engine types?

Keep Mitsubishi, Nakajima, Kawasaki, and Aichi. Anything else should be halted or converted to Nakajima.

ORIGINAL: shall59
3. Should I try to supply all manufacturing and other production facilities with resources and oil or concentrate on making sure the major production facilities are well stocked?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me!!![&o]

Just dump oil and resources in a port in the HI. It'll get where it needs to go.

[Bradley7735]

ORIGINAL: Oznoyng

The downsides are requirements for level 4 airfields and 2 vp per plane lost rather than one. For me, the tradeoff is worth it.

Huh? 2 vp? A plane is a plane is a plane. They're all worth 1 VP in the game. (nate is worth 1, B-29 is worth 1)

[CapAndGown]

ORIGINAL: irrelevant

Damaged factories cost 1000 supply each to repair. It is best not to change anything very much right away. It looks like you have scads of supply but actually you will be on a fairly tight budget. Your maximum supply output for the Home Islands is only about 25,000 supply points per day.

By my count, the HI produce about 15,000 supply a day. This is assuming the each HI produces one supply, and each resource produces one supply a day. Am I doing something wrong? How did you reach 25,000 per day?

Edit: I should have said that I am only including Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku

[tsimmonds]

Beats me. I'm going by memory, which in my case is flyin' blind. [;)]

edit: my bad, that's like how much I was getting in mid-March 42, across the map.

[Sharkosaurus rex]

To work out a rough amount of supply you should expect per turn you can enter the intelligence screen, go to the industry/resource page (second from bottom).
Near the top right corner it shows how many HI and resources you have, so if you add them together- that will be how many supplies you make that day. Obviously, HI needs oil and resources to work and some supply made in small sites might be loss to wastage.

So at the start of the game:
HI= 13,230
res=12,120
tot= 25,350