I'll play my first game with Japan and i got a nice plan about invading the U.S.
1st: An early attack would be certain death. Preparations will at least take until 1941
2nd: I saw on www, that the early attack of China would be also a big mistake. Japan's factories outnumber the chinese factories by far. So time concerning a good build up is your best friend. I've played it through and decided, to make an attack on China in spring of 1939, but on a massive scale with many naval invasions from north to south, a solid push from the northern territories and by using paratroopers to land behind enemy lines and creating pockets. The years of 1936-1938 are exclusively reserved for civilian factories. I should get a massive output of new military factories by 1939. Total victory should be achieved in less than six months. I'll annex the country as whole, to get every bit of factory for my further build up.
3rd British Raj and French Indonesia are dangerous strategic points, which could threaten my Navy, which i will need, to crush the U.S. British Raj can be taken out by staging a coup. Since this will require a lot of PP, i'll have to get to the "improve national spirit" focus, to get more income of them. French Indonesia is just a matter of time and may be accomplished in 1940 by the other focus.
4th Still, i have to solve my ressource problems, to make my build up independent from other nations. This requires, to take out Siam and the Dutch Indies. Siam, because it grants an excellent starting point for an invasion of singapur and Malaysia. The Dutch Indies, because they got pkenty if rubber and oil for my purposes. Since the Dutch and the Siamese won't be a dangerous threat, smaller armies can do the thing with support of Marines and Paratroopers. These measures can be taken by 1940.
5th Australia and New Zealand are dangerous players in the South, which could grant the U.S. some important Bases. But they also lack manpower and troops. So taking them doesn't require a strong effort. I'll draw a battleplan for them.
6th Also the U.S. Islands, Panama and the Philippines get their own battleplans.
7th And now to the really big problem: Mainland U.S. Invading the U.S. by Sea alone doesn't seem to be a good idea. Troop transports could be sunk and my carriers would be in danger. The best and more sneaky way would be, to get Mexico on my side, by aligning them to my own faction or staging a coup. Before war with the U.S. would even start, i could get a nice chunk of troops already at the Southern U.S. border. I'll use only the best and most motorized Divisions for this task, to be able to push hard, when the war starts. With Mexico on my side, i can also station troops there, to make a possible invasion of Florida, Louisiana and Texas by Sea. And last but not least, several naval invasions on the U.S. west coast (Canada included), where i will land with faster units in Canada and regular troops in the U.S. The Canadian troops are meant to push fast through Canada behind the U.S. coastal defense and to link up with the Southern push of Mexico. Simultanously, Panama would be taken, to cut off the Canal. The invading troops from the U.S. coast do the dirty work and mow everything, what stands in their way. The naval invasion from the Atlantic side should distract the Eastern troops of the U.S., before helping out in the West.
8th when war starts, all plans should be initiated simultanously, to grant the most success.
Taking the U.S. will be a hard thing, but i think it's possible, if you use paratroopers,marines and regular troops wisely....
A good idea, but you also make a lot of presumtions, such as being able to stage a coup in mexico easily, the US not already being engaged with the allies, thus being able to support canada and already have an army. While it's definitely a better plan than what Daniel is doing AKA no real plan at all except take all loot all. It's just that it seems to me that the only real problem with US is it's insane IC. If you simply focused on building a few nukes after you take china and incite a coup in Canada, then you would be able to get into a position where you could hit basically all of US industry in one single attack. Now I am not sure how long it would take Japan to build a bomb, but if you focused on simply that and getting a facist canada with airbases near the east coast, then you are basically fine, since the US has no way of intervening. While it's probably going to be impossible for Japan to build a bomb until 1944 or 1945, if you manage to keep the US out of the war long enough then you would have a chance. You would definitely be able to simply attack the US directly from Canada. I don't know if the developers have some sort of plan to keep you out of Mexico and Canada, but who knows.
I also considered the idea if you had two players, one as brazil and one as Japan, then Brasil could take over south america and build up a large force themselves, and then combine it with the Japanese, then you would have really good odds of winning, but that idea kind of requires two players, but hey, what do I know.
Honestly though, It would be difficult to do these things before 1940-1941, and considering how WT Daniel had by 1938, and that is taking into account that Germany hasn't even gone to war yet, I find it difficult to believe the US wouldn't follow it's historical path and ally with the Allies before you had a chance to get Australia, canada etc. Again, I don't know if it's possible to take Mexico or canada by coups. I find it hard to believe that the US will simple stand by and do nothing. Add to that the fact that the US would be able to attack your ships before you have a chance to set up on the west coast or whatever. . . I don't know. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it takes a lot of things into account for your plan to work. If only there was some way to allign the US to your side, then you would have your flanks secured and could basically do whatever you wanted. If it was an actual player, then all of these plans would evaporate because a serious player would be able to prepare for them. While the US has it's political power weakened until the 1940 elections, that doesn't mean in will be incapable of making good preparations unless the AI is retarded.
I just don't feel very comfortable with being able to exploit the AI's weakpoints in order to win. It reaks too much HOI3 about it.
I would rather insist on another approach.
1. Like you said, focus on building up civilian factories from 1936 to 1937 or 1938 to get more military factories once the war starts.
2. While building up, grab the Dutch indies which contain rubber and oil which I need much more than anything I can find in China, and would enable me to free up more factories as I no longer have to worry about importing oil and rubber from the US.
3. Resource wise I would now be fine without having to invade anyone until 1938 or so. I am still dubious about whether to attack China or not, but I decided it would be better to do so, not because china has anything in particular, but I need military XP. I would however choose to puppet most of china other than the coast of whatever resources that it has plenty of to keep WT low, and frankly because I don't need anything in China really other than XP.
4. I would use coups in India and malaysia (If possible), to get India on my side and make sure the Brits won't become an Issue later on while I am hurling with America.
5. Now this is really where my strategy begins to diverge. By now, WT would be very high and pretty near 1940 or so, thus forcing me to act quickly before the US can start profitting from their freed up political power. Until now I would have mostly expanded my navy and my Army for the invasion of the US. How exactly this invasion would look like may depend on whether I can get Mexico or even Canada on my side. Australia and any other ports would be taken to prevent them from using them against me, and wouldn't be too difficult, with the UK being busy and weaked after losing India. I will just summarize a couple of ideas that I have.
5. The only thing the US truly excels over Japan is their IC. If I manage to take the east coast within six to twelve months, then I will most likely win. The question is should I begin the invasion from the Atlantic or the Pacific. AKA, should I try to ally with the Axis, help Germany take out England, and then from Canada simply stage my invasion from there? Frankly, this seems easiest, and I have seen a lot of people that do this. It's not really too hard either and could be accomplished very early, maybe between 1939 until 1940-41 when the US thinks about allying UK. The only issue with this is if the US is already allied with the UK, and then I wouldn't have the time transport my troops to Canada before the US manages to secure Canada. Personally, this would be the most preferable alternative, as it doesn't require me to take China, because I can simply focus on helping Germany and get UK possessions, (but only pick ports and such so that I can redirect my navy to England) and from there go to Canada, where I can set up a huge army. If Germany manages to keep WT within a reasonable level, then we should have about 80 to 90% by the time I puppet Canada. After that I can basically do whatever I like because the US won't be able to instantly invade me before I have managed to place all my troops on the border. I could then do naval landings combined with mechanized and other infantry troops to surround the US from multiple directions before it has time to react. If I start preparing a coup from around 1937 or 1938 in india, do all the other things I mentioned, then I don't see why I wouldn't be able to beat the US. Once the US is out of the game, I can just go into China, help Germany with SU or take colonies in the pacific or whatever.
Now, if I join the Axis, how would that affect WT? Also, would simply using the supplies in Canada be enough to support my army? At that point, even if WT is 100, it won't really matter because it will take the US some time to prepare claims anyways, so it will probably not declare a war just after WT spikes, but it's still a possibility. At any rate, Canada is my best chance of reach the East coast through the fastest way possible, so a war with the UK in 1939-1940 should not be excluded.
6. If I simply want to do my own thing, then I should still make careful preparations, try to get mexico or some other South American on my side so that I can set up some decent platform for me to attack from, and the war should be around 1940-1941. Since it would take a lot longer for me to reach the East coast, I would need better unit due to the stiffer resistance, so rather than invading the UK I might want to consider taking China for the XP (Although still puppeting them). Then I should make a beeline from the coast until I reach far enough to establish a line. Panama canal would of course be taken, and I would then have my troops supplied via the canal. This would be a lot more difficult, but I would be less dependant on Germany and even if the US was allied with the UK, they still wouldn't be able to help the US before it is too late.
It would be really cool if the US had the option to invade Canada upon an allied defeat to prevent it from falling into Axis hands, although I doubt that will be in the game.
Canada did actually manage to burn the White House in the 1812 border war, so I don't see why Japan would be unable to.
