Matrix Games Forums

I have played several MP games past July 1941 and the DE giving Japan the option to take over French Indochina has not fired in any of them. As fats as I can see, all conditions llisted in Guide have been met. Is this another case of changes to the game that are lurking in some errata list?

Hi Helsingor

Is it DE 802 or DE 808 that isn't firing?

I've pasted the notes from the Strategy Guide here ready for future reference.

DE 802 – Japan: Shall We Annex Territory From French Indochina?
Event fires: On the 15th July 1940 if DE 304 was responded to positively, Pakhoi is in Axis
hands, China and Japan are at war, and Indochina is pro-Allied but neutral.
Cost of accepting: 25 MPPs.
Yes: Japan annexes Haiphong Port in Indochina, and Indochina will swing 15-20% towards the
Axis. If this gives Indochina a pro-Axis leaning then this will hit China's income because she will
lose imports via the Hanoi-Kunming railway.
No: If Japan declares war on Indochina, then US mobilization will increase, but a Japanese conquest
of Indochina will hit China's supply.


DE 808 - Japan: Shall We Occupy All Of French Indochina?
Event fires: On the 29th July 1941 if Hainan is in Axis hands, neither China nor Japan have surrendered,
and both the USA and Indochina is neutral.
Cost of accepting: 25 MPPs.
Yes: Japan annexes all of Indochina, and the USA will swing 3-6% towards the Allies.
No: If Japan declares war on Indochina then US mobilization will increase by 10-15%.

Hi Bill,
It’s 808 that’s not firing, at least in my MP games. 802 is working.
I can give you game file ID numbers when I am back at home, if you need them.
H.

Hi

Can you tell me what the political leaning of Indochina is?

The script is set for it to be neutral but pro-Allied, so I wonder if it has a pro-Axis leaning in your game and therefore not be firing?

In terms of Hainan, if it's of any relevance, the script specifically checks for the town of Haikou to be in Axis hands.

The script is also set to fire on the 29th July 1941 if the conditions are met, i.e. it is not good enough for the conditions to be met on a different date, they have to be met then.

Hopefully this helps explain why it hasn't been firing?

Thanks Bill. Indeed you have diagnosed this correctly. Indochina was pro-Axis in every instance where all the other conditions were met on 29 July, 1941. Unfortunately, the version of the SG that is currently available to me online makes no mention of this additional condition, so I had actually dropped diplo chits on Indochina, thinking it needed to be pro-Axis.

I will say it's a bit counter-intuitive that Indochina becoming more pro-Allied would make it more likely to be taken over bloodlessly by the Japanese. Wouldn't greater sympathy for the Axis in Indochina be a more likely pathway to a coup?

I seem to recall on ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY that Indochina needed to be somewhat pro-Axis in order for this DE to fire, or am I crazy?

I think the best bet is if we have a duplicate of the same scripts so that if Indochina is pro-Axis but neutral then the event can still fire.

Hi Bill,
I must say that would be very decent of you to take the trouble! Thanks again for being willing to listen to the nit-picking of a fan of the game.