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It is still going on...


NEWS FROM THE FRONTS:

The year 1942 is bringing many changes to the world map.
This is the situation in the Kashmir Region:

75 - HimalWon.jpg


You can see the various brigades. MTN+Eng are really quick to capture mountainous terrain and if confrontated by multiple enemy INF they have enormous defence bonus.
Eng-II gives +12 IIRC.

All the Indian armies got surrounded and destroyed - not in a quickly fashion, but in a very efficient one :)

After Netherland surrendered I concentrated the divisions spread out around the Indonesian isles towards Australia.
Tojo Hideki, while actively participating in the invasion increased his authorities, planning the new empire along with his fellow Generals and Admirals.

76 - Imperial Rule.jpg


A large force landed in Darwin. The Australian army was lured to the North to counterattack.
After several days 3 Divs secured Perth and the road was open to land in the south and the southeast, from both directions.
The Australian fleet was nowhere to be seen, strange.

77 - Chittagong B.jpg


Back in India, the Japanese army enjoyed air supereiority and advanced steadily over Burma to the Indian peninsula. Thai troops saw also little action.
They had their forces at 30%, so I milctrl and merged them in large armies.
Console command "event 713502 SIA" was used, and I managed to have 10-15 full strenght brigaded divisions to get some fightworthy troops , able to defend the region.

In the meantime, the whole of South America except 2 countries joined the allies. After Australias annexation even Sweden DoWed me.

Not a real threat:
78 - NavalPeru.jpg


I like to raise my ship's score, especially when they collect various flags! :)

In Europe, France annexed Vichy regime after Axis took control in North Africa.
Finland was defeated by the Soviets in March and switched sides, but later that month Spain joined the German effort.

Having unlimited supplies and resources, I puppet Bhutan and later Nepal - though the eastern province got english for some strange reason.
My Industry keeps growing...

79 - War Industry.jpg


Oops, I revealed my beautiful American invasion!

Well, in early march I simultaneously landed in LA and San Diego, which was poorly guarded.
I kept sending reinfircements to advance as quickly as possible and capture as much terrain before the superior American mechanized divisions organize effective defence lines.
Some Air units were also rushed overseas. Carriers were constantly hitting the US Fleets, first in San Francinco later in Newport, till most ships fled the pacific.
Acapulco got also attacked often.

But looks as if the American Army is busy elsewhere? Let's ask our intelligence...

2 May 1942 - BRIEFING FROM OUR GENERALS:

80 - Morocco.jpg


Kanin Kotohito:

"The US proved to be totally unprepared, even overseas they are osing ground to the Spanish forcres in Africa. But time is against us, we have to reach the aAtlantic quick if we want to win this war. Don't forget the Soviet Union, who is doing well in repelling the Axis' invasion!"...

81 - MidEast.jpg


..."The Italians, on the other hand, performed poorly.They didn't advance in Egypt and the whole Middle East is still under british control. That might benefit us in the long term, because our forces in India don't seem to be troubled much by Allied resistance..."

82 - Eastern Front.jpg


Martin Bormann: "I haf to express my dissapoinment, gentlemen. Ze glorious German armies are fighten und dying in Ost Europa together with their week allies and you are still reluctant to join our cause and fight communism... Since you haf already secured ze Pazifik you should attack the Soviet bear soon... We are under heavy pressure!"...

83 - India.jpg


General Hanada:

"Our campaign in India is going well. The japanese army enjoys support of the local population because of the wise choice of our leadership to promise independence and help improve infrastructure and local Industry. Total defeat of British India is inevitable, our army will soon be marching through Persia...

84 - Australia.jpg


Tojo Hideki: "After the previous Australian government fled to London, we ensured the cooperation of friendly elements and granded a wide autonomy, an agreement signed on April the 14th that ensures beneficial cooperation for both the peoples of Japan and Australia... The Australian Army has been disbanded and a new force is being organised from scratch. The same model is to be applied in New Zealand as well..."

85 - California.jpg


General Matsui: "We have secured a great bridgehead. Local bases and are being repaired, resources and supplies collected and now that the Americans are beginning to counterattack we have plenty of space for maneuver..."

86 - Production.jpg


Conanteacher, on behalf of the various ministers: "Infrastructure is being built by utilizing the excess Japanese Industrial Capacity. Later, Factories will ensure both strong allies (puppets) and support of local population to our cause. Some Naval bases and Airfields will also be ready in the next few months.

Japan has 500k+ supplies. All resouce's numbers are green and growing. Tachnology is at about 140%...

87 - Technology.jpg


...and cooperation with our European allies is also fruitful. We might be fighting together soon..."

88 - ICA.jpg
 
Anyone can guess the deficiencies that my so far strategy has?

Overconfident by my success, what might have I neglected?

I challenge you to guess what might hinder my advance and where I need to focus as the campaign proceeds and 1943 approaches.
 
I want to say,as i can see by effects of different events,Iron cross havent any vision about balance. 335/226 IC and +1.11 MP growth in a December of 1941,before historical raid to Pearl Harbor,its makes Japan as super/uber overpowered monster of Asia.Sorry if i said something rude,but,for all Darkest hour mods im have never seen de-balance like this one

About your last parts.My best wishes with a offensive in a California and British Raj.Its really a turning point for all war
 
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I want to say,as i can see by effects of different events,Iron cross havent any vision about balance. 335/226 IC and +1.11 MP growth in a December of 1941,before historical raid to Pearl Harbor,its makes Japan as super/uber overpowered monster of Asia.Sorry if i said something rude,but,for all Darkest hour mods im have never seen de-balance like this one
I dare to say, there is unfortunately NO balance in Iron Cross at all and manpower is probably the best example. In my latest USA game Japan conquered all the southern Asia till Turkey. OK, that might be considering, that they defeated China rather quickly, but Germany is a joke. They managed to finally defeat USSR (which is badly scripted BTW) after they were almost defeated themeselves (sic!) and quickly recovered from ultra-exhausted ruin to undefeatable superpower in just 2-3 years. This is so big LOL, that nukes already helped me stop them from devastating UK (sic2!).
Not to mention Italy being alone invincible...
 
OK guys, remember that IC is a game. If it was a real life simulator we would have few different outcomes.

I find it important to be able to have these results with appropriate effort, or more historical outcomes if one just chooses to "sit and watch".

After all, One cannot do a WC as Finland.

Can you imagine the fate of Japan if I chose to play as the US?

I remember scenarios like "conquer Belgium with Luxemburg", "Build a Battleship as Bhutan", or even "the anschluss of everybody" from good old Doomsday, they were fun and still DD was not a complete sandbox.

I managed to hold off the allies and Soviets as Germany in the 1944 scenario till 1947 once.
I also managed to hold on as France through 1944 when Germany collapsed.
These are outcomes that make the game fun enough and do not ruin it.

When I play as an other country Japan's best outcome would be invading Australia. Sometimes they even fold to China.
It is balanced enough for beginner players and intermediate ones.

Anyway, my question was "what might have I neglected?"

The asnwer is... INFANTRY. As the US deployed a fightworthy Army and I stopped producing new divisions through 1943, focusing on Infra/IC on my conquests, the front got stabilized and I suffered my first defeats. Having 1000k mp with endless supplies and not using it was a mistake. I will be back with more news, as have I played to 1944 already.

89 - TER.jpg
 
Some updates...

On June 26, 1942 the allies suffered a double blow: Both Vichy France and the British Raj got annexed.

On the other hand, US troops put up resistance - at last:
90 - 7Aug42.jpg


Japanese forces couldn't break through the Rocky mountains.
An attack towards Alaska/Calgary and Mexico was planned instead.
All the available troops were tranferred to the Americas, until new ones were trained.

Persia was made our puppet, which displeased the Germans a lot.
Further advance into Middle East was temporarily halted.

91 - 11Dec42.jpg


Too much effort was being spent in investing for Asian development. The effects of this piolicy would show up soon.

Meanwhile, in Europe:
93 - 30Apr43PER.jpg


After Spain joined Axis a new road towards Africa was opened. Britain seemed to run off manpower - reinforcing plenty of Persian exp. divisions they inherited at 30% force severed their issues.

94 - 30Apr43USA.jpg


Spring 1942, there was no chance for a swift victory left.
The Japanese Army was both outnumbered and underequipped compared to the newly formed US mobile divisions.
By conanteacher's advice, the elite Rikusentai Marine divisions were sent to wreck havoc in central America.
By spring 1944 all minor states succumbed to the Japanese:

97 - 10Feb44CAm.jpg


The Americans tried to land in Hawaii and were pressing with their fleet as well, but they couldn't concentrate on Japan only since the war in Europe was favoring the Axis.
Meanwhile, a renewed attack pressed into Iraq and tried to reach Suez - Turkey intervened and delayed us.

95 - 10Feb44PER.jpg


After a brief war and some 10+ Turkish brigades lost (30% div's) they accepted a white peace.
Soon the assault onto Suez resumed.

But in Canada the situation got worse.
96 - 10Feb44CAN.jpg


Anchorage had to get abandoned. And in Mexico there have been retreats on multiple occasions.

98 - 10Feb44MEX.png



By summer 1944 development of Asia was giving the first results - new states were about to be freed under Japan's influence, and they would be strong enough to not only be able to defend themselves, but also assist with capable armies and even blueprints.

The Soviet Union is about to collapse, since it ran out of manpower.

99 - 28JUN44WEST.jpg


I intend to release India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Burma. They will have some extra IC.
 
I don't see many people commenting here, but I'll continue the AAR till there is a clear sign that I win - or lose - the race to world conquest.
Since I face many difficulties, the title of the next chapter could be: Several defeats on all fronts.

Anyone to guess what happens next year :) ?
 
I don't see many people commenting here, but I'll continue the AAR till there is a clear sign that I win - or lose - the race to world conquest.
Since I face many difficulties, the title of the next chapter could be: Several defeats on all fronts.

Anyone to guess what happens next year :) ?

The way you were going it pretty much looked like it was a cat in a bag. Very good buildup, no china to worry about, the pacific pretty much under control. Have you ever considered taking the panama canal? you are close enough.

I think you cant win the war so long as the soviets exist.
 
Have you ever considered taking the panama canal?

Check the previous post.

All the minor states near the canal got annexed.
Cuba and Haiti / Dom.Rep. as well.

I stabilized the front towards Colombia, raided and annexed Equador (which I later abandoned) and am approaching Mexico City from the south.

Surprise came from the Middle East though...
Here is an eye candy:

101 - Candy.jpg
 
Sorry, i only read up to your invasion of the west coast of the USA. Noticed an alert on this thread and responded. Somehow i did not get an alert on your latest additions.
 
Yeah, well for some reason alerts become inactive after a while.

In my current game, as you can see, Japan is at war with Germany. How this happened will be analyzed in my next thread.
This 2-front war is geting tough, especially now that's 1945 and both alliances have superior techs.
 
Anyone can guess the deficiencies that my so far strategy has?

Overconfident by my success, what might have I neglected?

I challenge you to guess what might hinder my advance and where I need to focus as the campaign proceeds and 1943 approaches.

You already answered that one yourself. From what you have posted so far i would say conquer untill you have control over the suez canal. Then ship exess divs to USA. Seeing that they have a lot of mechanized divs it will be hard if not inpossible to conquer it all. Perhaps you can conquer South America.


Yeah, well for some reason alerts become inactive after a while.

In my current game, as you can see, Japan is at war with Germany. How this happened will be analyzed in my next thread.
This 2-front war is geting tough, especially now that's 1945 and both alliances have superior techs.

My guess is that it ends in some sort of stalemate if Germany wins against Russia and you cant annex the USA. I would start researching nukes, i hope you have done so and could keep up in the tech race.
 
Serious Troubles:

October 1944 the USSR collapsed. One week later the Reich declares war on Persia, and I have to evacuate Suez.
There goes my plan to release Israel as puppet...

The game becomes a real struggle - I gather all my allied div's and everything newly built to defend Iran...
Retreat after retreat I manage to save my western armies and retreat to the borders of Pakistan.
It was a close call, and I also ragequit once, 2 weeks after an autosave and while playing almost drunk and late at night / against the rules, I admit.

Turkey gets swiftly annexed and I cannot hold the line near Tehran - I planned to fortify there but I faced dozens of Axis divisions, so I fell back.
Allied counterattack in the Middle East fails and Suez becomes German.


My divisions also retreated on several occasions in the US Front - by Logistic Bombing and Interdiction I barely manage to hold on.
Meanwhile I send my Marines to fight as Infantry in Mexico. It is the Only front I can progress.

100 - 28JUN44USA.jpg


By abandonig some Canadian Provinces and shortening the front line I barely manage to save the Northern Front.
Carefully encircling small enemy groups at the south, I slowly decide to crouch towards Mexico city.

I released Cantral America as a sovereign state - They got Colon province (the canal) but don't get Panama. 46 Base IC is good enough.
My puppets are valuable now, I got:
- Indonesia (37 base IC)
- Pakistan (27 base IC)
- Australia (51 base IC)
- Burma (15 base IC)
- India (75 base IC)

Unfortunately lost Persia (about 45 base IC) to Germany.

These nations can give me plenty of divisions to defend Asia and hold the front against the Axis.

Soon I will upload some photos from 1945.
 
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Second Wave of attack:

Industry=

After building IC and Infrastructure in Asia, I released several puppets with decent IC.
Allocating resources to lower dissent delayed the modernization of the Army.

Another ally will be the unified states of Central America:

102 - Panama.jpg


Here we can see (with a little effort) that their cores are a bit messed up - Panama is not a core while Colon is. I hope Quintelosky will fix that soon :)

Also, the Carribean is cleared.

Most sucesses came from Mexico...

103.0 - Mexico.jpg


I even needed the help of 3-4 Manchu, Mengku and Chinese army corps to stabilize against the American attack in the winter of 44-45. Next year I gathered my MTN and counterattacked.

This was the Battleplan:

103.1 - BattleofMexico.jpg


Blue, Green, Orange the 3 successive phases.
Several divisions got surrounded, but not those 50 Mexican at the coast. I had to take Monterrey and annex Maxico to take them out.
That left US troops there a bit unprepared, so I managed to encircle some more.
In the US situation is worrying:

104 - US Front45.jpg

Several American breakthroughs were repelled with the help of my AirForce - LogisticAttack with STR/TAC is non-stop, as you can see e.g. Rexburg has 7.7% Infra. All border provinces similarly low. I even raided and captured temporarily some coastal provinces - Corpus Christi, Tampa, Miami.
Meanwhile, in the middle East, the Axis is advancing.

105 - MEast45.jpg

I couldn't do anything but fortify myself, and this with great difficulty. You can see abandoned Japanese forts near Tehran.

106 - Africa45.jpg


The Allies seem to have lost Africa. A large portion of the Axis Army is performing a sort of attrition war in Chah Bahar and Nok Kundi=
107 - Frontiers.jpg


I intend to stabilize myself there for the next 2 years at least.

Finally, here is a list of the Empire's armies=

108 - Army.jpg


I mil ctrl all of them. Most are set at 100% strenght (sometimes by event 713502) but many are guarding the beaches, especially un-brigaded ones.

IC of my top 5 enemies as of Oct 9th, 1945:

Allies: Axis:

USA= 849 GER= 984
UK= 277 ITA= 304
BRA= 122 HUN= 82
CAN= 72 ROM= 71
SAR= 59 SPA= 65

...while I have 486/311 IC and receive 1.42 Manpower/Day. It will be a lon struggle...
 
American Breakdown=

After entrenching in Asia and utilizing the various Asian allies' forces, the reinforcements arriving at the Mexican Theater brought in the first results...
On spring there was major breakthrough and Mexico as a state ceased to exist. US expeditionary forces were trampled down at the battle of Rio Grande:

109 - Victory RioGr.jpg


NOTE the battle at Boise.
Vital for sucess were the MTN+Eng divisions, as one of them - now at lvl 3 with advanced commandos researched - can hold off an attack by more than 10 enemy divisions...
In this case I retreated my INF at 0 org - 40% strenght after about 1 week - MTN had lost half Org, 19 enemy divisions gave up!

The Majority of Mexican population hailed the Imperial forces as liberators, hoping to prosper like the Asian countries.
Very few divisions of the Mexican Army continued to fight under US command.

Victory is coming closer despite a major retreat at the Northwest.
110 - TexasAdv.jpg


Plans are already being made for the next moves after the Americans fold.
Resistance is harsh though...

111 - Chaos.jpg


You can see 3 major battles simultaneously. Also, the Empire is running out of manpower - but American IC drops significantly, as drops the total number of their divisions.

Naval superiority is not certain anymore, though some new ships have joined the Imperial Navy - 3 CVs and 3 BBs , later 2 more CVs.

112 - NavGer.jpg


At this battle I lost 2 CLs. but another fleet was nearby taking out 2 enemy CA's at the cost of 1 CL - a bloody victory, but newer CL classes are already available to replace losses.

At this point, dominance is inevitable - though I have to defeat the Axis and take out the UK as well.
This AAR is almost completed and no posts provide any useful information on tactics and decisions taken.

Therefore I will only update with some news about what happened next and I will ask you people for comments and suggestions for my next AAR...!
 
Seems like those Mnt+eng are OP.. How much do you estimate it helped your advance in the USA? Considering the USA has more mechanized i am surprised you have gotten this far. You even are confident you will win against the USA, well done.

Those landings in Miami were distraction actions i assume?
 
One could easily say that they are overpowered, but what is the situation IRL?
A well entrenched and supplied Alpine division can indeed hold a very mountainous terrain against mechanized / armoured columns.
My oppinion is that it is AI's fault by trying to assault the Rocky Mountains with Shermans.

Were I to be attacked by 3-5 MTNs from 2-3 provinces I'd lose the battle even without enemy air support.

Don't forget that I had them to lvl 3 and all the commando bonuses researched.

Perhaps an extra mountainous terrain bonus should be given to Militias, to resemble effective resistance of partisan units?
In the Balkans, for instance, Germans used the Edelweiss division to hunt guerillas - which were poorly armed villagers in most cases.
Most of their operations failed.

Anyway, I stopped playing this game when victory was obvious, and here are some pictures from 1947 new years:

113 - IndiaSit.jpg


I love having strong puppets / allies.
At the borders of Persia there are 38 and 105 German divisions, I have 85 and 62 divisions respectively.
My provinces also are fortified to lvl 6-7 and have 90% and 70% infra. I was thinking to use paratroopers and navy blockade, but it would be wiser to attack elsewere.

114 - AfricaSit.jpg


Africa is getting conquered by the Axis.

115 - USSit.jpg


...and this used to be the USA. 49 divisions are trapped in the West.
Brazil is quiet strong, having 131/69 IC.

GAME OVER.
 
Well done. Now you mention it, Brazil would make for a nice next game, since a substantial *Japanese group immigrated there since the beginning of the 20th century.


*edit
 
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It is in deed interesting, as it has many options.
Sadly, I ever saw them join the comintern, even when they were Leninist and Dowed Germany they immediately joined the allies.

Other games I'd like to propose are:

UK - Operation Unthinkable after defeating Germany
USSR - Bring the west to its knees and liberate the world from imperialism.
Argentina - Join the Axis and try to survive
Mexico - Revenge by destroying the US in any means possible
ComChina - Survive and liberate all of China
Turkey - Join Axis and defeat the Soviet Union, later expanding to the Middle East
Romania - Join the Axis and if that fails, switch sides
Italy - Surpass the Germans as an effective war machine, land in the UK or America
France - Either try to survive and then attack the Soviets or return to the Homeland
Persia - Try to stay independent, repell the majors
Germany - paint the world gray asap!

Any other proposals...?
 
All very interesting. Was thinking mexico aswell but you already were in that area.

Dont know if you can restore the Austria Hungarian empire by event, otherwise by war and join the Axis.
Perhaps hungary to dominate the balkans, with or without axis help.
Republican Spain, ally with SU and survive.