Chapter 18: It’s Off To War We Go.
Hello, everyone. I’m back with another chapter in this tutorial. Last time, I said that we were ready for war, so without further ado, let’s provoke Japan, shall we?
After this point, there is no turning back. It’s an interesting take, that Paradox has taken. In real life, the US embargoed Japan in July of 1941. A lot of conspiracy theories abound whether or not the FDR administration underestimated Japanese honour or whether they knew exactly what they were doing, and I’m not going to go into all of that.
In the game, I do know exactly that the embargo will set off Japan. In-game, it’s a deliberate provocation to get us into the war.
There was another way, however. As you can see, I could just as easily have DoWed Germany directly. The end result would have been pretty much the same, with just 1 big difference.
If I had gone the route of declaring war on Germany, as a neutral nation, we would have been the aggressor. I don’t know whether that would have made a difference or not, but sometimes, it helps to actually play the victim, reducing your threat level in the process.
It takes Japan 4 days to respond as expected. The United States of America is at war with Japan. Note the fine print, however.
We are a neutral nation at war with a single country and its puppets. Japan is our only enemy at this exact point in time. If you have been letting your relations with the UK go down the drain, and have sunk to the middle of the Diplomacy Triangle, you might not be able to get into the Allies.
Now that we are at war, however, we have to set some stuff up before going ahead. First of all, the Day Of Infamy decision turns the US into more than a military hardware store. It gives a big boost in National Unity and Manpower, while pretty much ensuring that we could, at this point, do whatever we want. Feel like an alternate take on history? This is your chance. With a Neutrality of 0, we can DoW whomever we want, and enact whatever policy we want.
I’m going to stick to history, but a lot of people love doing their own thing.
Normally, you would want to get into the Allies first and change laws afterwards, but I’m doing it this way to show you why you need someone like Germany as your enemy.
Because we have more than double the IC of Japan, we cannot enact full wartime laws. Mixed Industry is not bad, but why settle for less than the best? Besides, none of these laws enhance your IC levels, and let’s be fair, that’s half the fun of playing the US, isn’t it?
We need the industrial might of Germany (or, in an alternate history, the Soviets or the UK) to go the full distance. The Axis are the only faction that can have Limited Wars. As a member of the Allies, you are expected to defend every member from every enemy.
We lose the Neutrality Strategic Effect that was holding back our research efficiency and are able to enact the very best laws in the game. IC, Manpower, Resources, and Officer Training all get a substantial bonus. Production becomes 5% cheaper and faster, and supplies move quicker.
One day later, we see the most striking result, when we suddenly have over 100 IC being wasted without changing anything in our queu. This is enough to add 3 Light Cruisers, a paratroop division (consisting of 3 paratroop brigades to keep their weight to a minimum), a second transport plane, a strategic bomber and 4 tactical bombers to the queu. The last 3 spare IC go into Lend-Lease.
All this because we are at war with a powerful enemy. That kind of says enough about how many chances AI Japan has against the US on their own, doesn’t it?
There is a little caveat, however, in that CTF 2, my second carrier fleet, is not fully organised yet. They will have to spend some time in the Pearl Harbour docks until their Organisation is full, which will take a week or so.
While we wait, we are going to play a defensive game. Let Japan come and let them wear themselves out for now. In a month or so, we should be ready to take the fight to them instead. If we can sink a couple of transports or landing craft in the meantime, so much the better.
Speaking of taking the fight to the enemy, there are 2 obvious choices.
This is the first one. It is my take on the Pacific Island Hopping Campaign, focusing on Japanese holdings in the Pacific that have VPs, airbases and/or naval bases, gradually working our way closer and closer to Japan. We will probably have to liberate the Philipines and Guam Island on the way, and maybe send some troops to assist the British in India and Birma.
I have, in the past, done it this way, and, while it is fun, it also takes time and effort.
This, then, is the plan I’m going with. A couple of jumps to get us close enough to Japan to strike at the home island directly. Again, note that I expect Guam to fall before I can get there, since it is so close to the Japanese island to the north. There is a second reason for doing it this way. I plan to add 2 Wargoals in the coming months. One is to install a democracy in Japan. The other one is to puppet them. I hope to keep as much of their navy intact as possible, so that they can assist against Germany and Italy. With the Royal Navy, the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy working together, it should be no problem to dominate the Med and the North Sea.
That is the theory, at least. Now all I have to do, is make it happen, but you know what they say about plans and first contact with the enemy, don’t you? In other words, the IJN is powerful and more modern than the USN, and naval combat is very unpredictable.
With 65 spies in reserve, I can afford to shift the Leadership effort over to training officers instead.
CTF 1 and Navies 1 through 3 are completely ready for action, so I send them to a more central location, from where I can respond to Japanese aggression in force. I also rebase the Tactical Bomber group to Midway.
If you’re looking for an alternate route, the USN in real life had, by 1944, sunk pretty much the entire Japanese merchant fleet, by using submarines. If you’re planning to Island Hop, that is a very valid choice and could ensure that the Japanese defenders of the Philipines are completely dependent on local supplies. In the first couple of weeks of the war, I manage to sink quite a few Japanese convoys and escorts, without even trying.
Our joining the Allies seems to have freaked the Germans, and the war goes fully global.
This is a good place to point out something that confuses quite a few new players. The first call to arms, send out by Germany, only sets the Axis minors against the Allies. For the moment, the Soviet Union in still only at war with Germany, Slovakia and Italy. If you play Germany, you need to call them in twice for them to join in Barbarossa.
Three hours later, Japan DoWs the UK, just to make sure that everyone is fighting on all fronts.
Now that we are part of the Allies, we have full access to UK’s provinces. I rebase 1 destroyer squadron in Bermuda, to give them better range in the Atlantic, and another one to Scapa Flow in the UK itself to protect our Lend-Lease convoys and 1 squadron to Dublin to patrol Ireland. I also send a submarine squadron to Dublin.
After 1 day, 30 IC becomes available, which is send to Lend-Lease. We are now shipping almost 50 IC each to the UK and SU.
UK enacts the decision to form the United Nations, which gives them a nice boost to NU and ruling party popularity on the 12th, the same day that Mexico joins the Allies, with Panama following a day later.
UK has plenty of ships prowling around the northern part of the islands, so I set my submarines in Dublin to hunt Axis convoys in the Western Approaches. Anything going through the Channel almost has to go through this area, or through the Bay Of Biscay, but the latter one is too close to German land-based bomber range.
My destroyers, patrolling the Irish Sea, manage to sink a Finnish convoy and escort, and a Japanese convoy headed for Ireland.
Another submarine squadron has arrived in Colon. They will hunt Japanese convoys on the Western side of the Panama Canal.
After 4 days, I have enough spare IC to start on the second motorised division.
On the morning of the 18th of July, the wait is over. Japanese CAGs are bombing our boys in Guam, which means that they have carriers in the area. The AI is wonderful this way. Any time you see this kind of a bombing mission, it means they are softening up your troops in preparation for an amphibious assault.
Immediately, I send the US Navy out in force, since I don’t know what to expect.
The destroyers have arrived in Scapa Flow and are send into action. There have been a couple of sinkings in the area in the past week, as shown on the naval mapmode. UK does not seem to have anything patrolling there, so I send my boys in to fill the gap.
Back to the Pacific. As expected, Japan launches an assault on Guam on the 19th.
This is a new TFH mechanic. The blue arrow shows you how much progress they have made in landing their troops. Not to worry, though. My navy is on its way.
Then again, there might be a slight delay in getting there, after CTF 1 slams into a massive Japanese mixed fleet. Nimitz versus Yamamoto. Two of the very best naval commanders in the entire game (and possibly, in the case of (RL) Yamamoto, in all of history) meet in pitched battle. This could get very ugly.
Will this be my Battle Of Midway, or will my tutorial get derailed a mere week after the war has started? Find out next time, as we explore the ins and outs of naval combat. See you then!
Also, thank you for all of the excellent guides and your time spent sharing them with us.
