- << previous
- 1
- 2
- next >>
This game produces some pretty funny solutions. When I played as China and Japan invaded me with Axis help from Germany Japan created the fascist state of Communist China:d
Aside of that fact, it really has potential to create a puppet state since it will act as an ally and weaken China. A possible north expansion seems risky as Great Britain might realize your goal and ally herself with the Soviets which results in a naval war with them.
A southern expansion without Axis help is in my humble opinion also bares a great risk since without naval expansion and a non-allied Japan cannot hold out long against the British and French forces. However if you conquer China you can offer an allliance to Siam and if they don't comply run her over and liberate it as an ally, which will help you fight you against the colonial powers.
Advancing your industry is a good idea, improving the army too. Although at that point I think it is wise for you to research synthetic oil since Manjukuo provides you with enough coal whereas oil comes only from Hokkaido, and oil is much needed for army building, and the nearest resource is Indonesia, controlled by the Dutch, and attacking them without the Axis will result in an alliance between the Dutch, French and the British, possibly even Portugal will join especially if you take Macau and Kowloon. We can alternate history in this game but without european wars it is almost impossible to conquer colonies
- shinichi1977
- location: Hungary
- joined: Jan 03, 2010
- posts: 7
Depends on which version you are playing. If you play vanilla, the game will let you run billions in the red ink. If so, start in 36 scenario and set all Japanese homeland cities to upgrade. Use the other cities to begin research - even if less than 50. Research Infantry 1st. Buy all resources you can get your hands on - and don't be afraid to "ask" for more. Click the tab "Buy", ask the USA for 100 oil and 99% of the time they will sell to you. Germany, Italy and USSR will sell you just about anything you ask for. I have spent 50 turns buying 500 arms, 1200 goods, 2000 steele, 1000 coal and over 1500 oil each turn while all my cities grow! As cities reach advanced, use 1 to increase your research - Japan only needs the following: Advanced Infantry, Med Tanks, Self Propelled arty, Fighters, light bombers, Strategic Bombers. All of the Tactical upgrades. Super Carrier and Advanced destroyers - that is all the Navy research you will need. Use another city to begin trnasports - stockpile! Japan has continual need of large numbers of transports.
Initially, advance all cities on the mainland to 80. Then 1 by 1 advance 4 of them to 100. 1st city to 100 start building light bombers in preparation for china invasion. As soon as Advanced Infantry research is complete begin building infantry. Once you have 4 cities to 100 - then pick 2 to advance on to 200. Eventually you will need 1 city building Infantry, 1 building Med Tanks, 1 building artillery, 1 building fighters 1 building transports and 3 large cities that can build Navy - these should be your 200 cities.
Stay out of all alliances!
Early in the game begin asking small neutral nations for military access - many will refuse, but if you ask each turn.... eventually they accept. I usually ask iceland, mexico, sweden, ireland, venezuela. I'll explain the unseen benefit to these later.
China will do one of 2 things - they will get involved in someones war or they will attack you - either way, China must be your first conquest. Build up as long as you can - when you do finally fight China, accept the fact that you will lose manchuria and Korea initially. Bomb the chinese armies, shield the islands from invasion with your navy - - THEN LAND A MASSIVE ARMY directly across from Formosa and slice their belly out. The chinese army will be 90% infantry - little artillery, virtually no tanks and outdated air power. Your army should be 60% Infantry, 20% armor, 20% Artillery - it will be a slug fest as the AI seems to be able to build large infantry armies (especially if you play on higher levels).
Now - if playing on higher levels, then I highly recommend liberating Korea, manchuria and china. The AI's ability to multiply a cities IPU by up to 3X is a benefit you can't ignore. Build your alliance using only Pacific regions you defeat - never accept or join alliances from other countries.
Pick your battles - fight common enemies - be prepared to "assist" in wars where you can predict the victor - this will gain you some more land along the way - do not liberate these.
Think outside the box and be unorthodox in your strategy. If the goal is to be on top of the leaderboard - then does it matter if your power ranking is 100 or 1000? The top is the top! Example - I once assisted in over running USSR. Once they surrendered, I transferred territorial rights of several border countries to Sweden! This allowed me not to have to worry about defending that border! The power points were lost to me - but no other Alliance got them either - and in the 100's of games I have seen - I've never seen the UK or USA declare war on sweden!
Eventually you are going to have to fight the big powers - remember the military access you gained early in the game? Well here is where they come in. Through out the game, periodically form several navy fleets, moderate ar forces and moderate sized armies. Put these in those countries that have given you military acces - land the troops and planes and port the navies. Know the choke points! You can seal off the oceans at selected points to keep your enemies at bay while you chew them up. This is where knowing the computers tendencies is to your advantge - I'll elaborate:
The AI is notorious for sending small armies (10 units or less) escorted by just a couple of small ships - to invade you. Keep the bulk of your army on the mainland to defend against these small attacks (if any slip thru your blockade). Position several destroyer fleets (about 10-20 ships) in the following locations: South of the suez canal, Sea lanes between Brazil and Africa, Pacific side of the panama canal - keep 1 or 2 fleets in home waters. Back these up with a couple of carriers groups. when fleets approach, attack with the carrier planes - let the destroyers defend any surface actions. This will halt the UK and US invasion fleets. Now - have several more fleets to sweep all enemies from the pacific - once that is done, station a carrier group off of the east coast to destroy any ships in port that the US builds on west coast. Having access to several countries and having fleets ported there puts you in a closer proximity to these locations when you need them.
With the sea sealed off, your distance becomes your ally. Use bomber power to bomb the enemies cities - this takes time, but reduces the building capacity and over time even the US can't keep up. A perfect island for bombing the US east coast is the bahamas. Station a huge fleet in the water there and you can hit 80% of the east coast cities. Much of the UK can be bombed from Sweden - you will need strategic bombers for all of thes bomber missions. Minimum 50 bombers with at least equal number of fights. In the event that the AI has many fighters... well then the answer is to hit and run. Bomb city A this turn - city B the next.
Now, while all of the above is going on, your allies will be fighting on the sea, attempting to invade and fighting on land - all of this benfits you! Your allies are chewing up the enemy forces while you are destroying their cities = = = eventually they cannot keep up the pace.
Now, at some point one of your allies will crack open a country - those armies you have scattered around in neutral countries are there to exploit the break through.
Japan does not need large armies - mostly infantry - some artillery and medium tanks. Japan is an island nation and you can't have a big enough Navy! Therefore your primary build should be towards that - NAVY. You will need large numbers of heavy/strategic bombers and fighters to bomb the enemy cities.
You will burn thru lots of arms - so stock pile early, port fleets when not in use, don't fly unless you have to. Keeping the number of tanks you build small will help - heavy/advanced tanks use a ton of arms - medium not so bad. Infantry use none! DO NOT get into protracted ground wars - you can't build fast enough to win them - use your lackeys to do this.
Buy resources early, buy as much as you can, stay out of fights unless clearly benfical to you. You will not be on top at turn 480 - so load up on snacks - you will be in for the long haul.
I play as Japan quite often - its a challenge, thats what makes it fun - it can be done!
- Davis83
- location: Unknown
- joined: Apr 22, 2010
- posts: 3
Very impressive strategy, Davis!
MODS: Deadlock: making-history.com/asset/1317 ; TCBTS: making-history.com/asset/384091 ; Zombie Apocalypse: making-history.com/asset/368403 ; Onslaught: making-history.com/asset/418213
TehBoss said
One time, i invaded Switzerland as Italy, and the game almost crashed because of the massive numbers of nations that declared war on me:
Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, USSR, Usa, Brazil, Venezela, Argentina, and Spain were the only ones i as able to read lol.
Boss is right, invading Switzerland is an automatic massive war-starter. Once (I was fooling around) I was France and invaded Switzerland. The British Alliance, Germany, Italy, USSR, and the United States all declared war on me. That was the only time I'd ever seen Germany and UK and US ally.
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Davis83 said
accept the fact that you will lose manchuria and Korea initially.
Why lose those territories and then invade. I never lose Manchuria and Korea when i do this. What i would do is send all your invasion forces into Manchuria before the war starts and then declare that war and you hold on to manchuria and you will also have a land base to invade from instead of a sea invasion which is harder to win.
tmressler said
TehBoss said
One time, i invaded Switzerland as Italy, and the game almost crashed because of the massive numbers of nations that declared war on me:
Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, USSR, Usa, Brazil, Venezela, Argentina, and Spain were the only ones i as able to read lol.
Boss is right, invading Switzerland is an automatic massive war-starter. Once (I was fooling around) I was France and invaded Switzerland. The British Alliance, Germany, Italy, USSR, and the United States all declared war on me. That was the only time I'd ever seen Germany and UK and US ally.
Even if all the USA has left is Puerto Rico or something, and you just so even as much touch Greenland, they will declare war on you. And when the USA declares war on you, many nations will do the same in the following turns.
- << previous
- 1
- 2
- next >>
