Imperial Japan Black ICE - Hard/Hard

[Doxs_Roxs]

Part 17: Reorganization and renewed priorities

The pacific islands garrisons are reinforced with heavy AA units and artillery when available. More artillery units will be constructed to cover all islands in the event of a war with the US.
However, all heavy artillery is stripped from the pacific islands and gathered in the Japanese mainland in preparation for offensive operations against fortified positions.

The Special Naval Landing Forces are already training and preparing for their next assignment.

By January 5th the marines are gathered and depart from newly conquered Siam towards the middle east. As part of this the landing craft flotillas are combined and reassigned the two heavy cruisers Aoba and Kinubasa as protection.

Two carrier groups accompany the marines, the first group with Hiryu & Soryu, the second with Kaga and Akagi. These carrier groups are the only two left operational while the rest are heading for Japan to be refit and have their screening forces upgraded if need be.
Both carrier groups are assigned the newest light cruisers from other ships prior to leaving Bangkok and will be expanded to three carriers according to the new naval doctrine as soon as possible.

Battleships will also accompany the invasion force but are currently limited by range due to poor range of the escorts.
We also do not want to strain our Italian allies ports in the middle east with the fuel required for battleship fleets. Therefore the battleships are based in Bangkok and from there they are moved west of India in preparation for port availability in the middle east.

January 6th war is declared on Iran. The target is their oil reserves and their strategic location in the middle east where we can mount later operations against the allies if we choose to enter the war. However, since they are not part of the allies we are still free to build up our forces and consolidate our position close to major oil reserves in case our relations to the Soviet Union should take a turn for the worse.

By January 9th the light carrier Hosho arrived in Suzaki for upgrades. A technical advisor describe the changes made to Kaga to bring her to fleet standard, similar changes will be made to Hosho.

"During her second reconstruction Kaga 's two lower flight decks were converted into hangars and, along with the main flight deck, were extended to the bow. This increased the flight deck length to 248.55 meters (815 ft 5 in) and raised aircraft capacity to 90 (72 operational and 18 in storage). A third elevator forward, 11.5 by 12 meters (37 ft 9 in × 39 ft 4 in), serviced the extended hangars. Bomb and torpedo elevators were modified to deliver their munitions directly to the flight deck. Her arrester gear was replaced by a Japanese-designed Type 1 system. A small starboard island superstructure was also installed.

Her power plant was completely replaced as were her propellers. New Kampon multi-stage geared turbines were fitted that increased her power from 91,000 to 127,400 shp (67,859 to 95,002 kW) during trials. Each had a high-pressure, a low-pressure, and a cruising turbine coupled to a single shaft. Her boilers were replaced by eight improved oil-burning models of the Kampon Type B (Ro) with a working pressure of 22 kg/cm2 (2,157 kPa; 313 psi) at a temperature of 300 °C (572 °F). The hull was lengthened by 10.3 meters (33 ft 10 in) at the stern to reduce drag and she was given another torpedo bulge above the side armor abreast the upper part of the existing bulge to increase her beam and lower her center of gravity as a result of lessons learned from the Tomozuru Incident in early 1934. This raised her standard displacement significantly, from 26,900 to 38,200 long tons (27,332 to 38,813 t). The lengthy funnel ducting was replaced by a single downturned starboard funnel modeled on that used by the Akagi with a water-cooling system for the exhaust gasses and a cover that could be raised to allow the exhaust gasses to escape if the ship developed a severe list and the mouth of the funnel touched the sea. The space freed up by the removal of the funnel ducts was divided into two decks and converted into living quarters for the expanded air group. The carrier's complement increased to 1708 crewmembers."

Kaga in 1930 showing her limited flight deck:

Kaga after reconstruction showing the new, full-length flight deck above the wide battleship hull.

Completion date for Hosho is estimated to the 18th of January 1941.

January 12th battlecruisers Kongo and Haruna are also transferred from active duty to the fleet reserve where they will enter drydock as soon as possible for conversion to aircraft carriers in accordance with the new naval doctrine.

Light cruiser Tenryu, the oldest in the fleet is also sent to drydock for refitting with the latest equipment, new power plant, main armament and improved armor, completion date is expected to early May.
As can be seen here from one of our earlier light cruiser upgrades, the modernization requires extensive changes, but the work is performed significantly faster when compared to the work required on the larger carrier conversions and upgrades.

Portugals possesssions in the pacific and southern China has been a thorn in our side for long enough. However, our current levels of neutrality prevent us from taking action to secure our borders and remove these ulcers from the map.
Thus, the Imperial Japanese spying focus for 1940 will be to lower our neutrality so that we can work unhindered by diplomatic issues.

The primary target is the Macau region just west of Hong Kong. (another issue to be handled later...)
However, they also have possession just northwest of Australia that will make a good base for speeding up future expansion in the area.

Mid January Japanese scientists continue with breakthroughs in multiple areas, the latest include improvements to our electronic computation machines. This will help in many areas of research. The refocusing of research projects initiated late 1939 is already proving fruitful!

We are also receiving substantial contributions from our occupied territories and are currently approaching 70 points of leadership! By the 16th we receive word of a breakthrough in another key area, aero engines! This will enable us to test new prototype aircraft.

By January 17 our two carrier taskforces have arrived in the middle east and fighters from Soryu immidiately initiate air superiority missions over Iran. By 03:00 hours the first contact is reported with the Iranian airforce.
Initial reports from our flight leader Tsukahara over radio are positive, superior aircraft and tactics employed by the Empire of Japan will soon have secured air dominance!

 

[sebas379]

You'r clearly gearing up for the Pacific War with all that fleet action. I'm slightly surprised you seem to be getting rid of all battleships though, don't they have their use in BICE? I don't play the mod, but I would imagine them being great support for naval invasions and screening transport fleets etc? If you run into rough weather won't your carriers be in trouble?

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

You'r clearly gearing up for the Pacific War with all that fleet action. I'm slightly surprised you seem to be getting rid of all battleships though, don't they have their use in BICE? I don't play the mod, but I would imagine them being great support for naval invasions and screening transport fleets etc? If you run into rough weather won't your carriers be in trouble?

Im not getting rid of any battleships, all of them are still operational, even if they might need some upgrades. But to be honest, with the development of aircraft as it is the carriers are superior, especially since they can project power and more or less obliterate an enemy fleet before it can engage (if spotted properly).

 

[just_a_beaver]

Im not getting rid of any battleships, all of them are still operational, even if they might need some upgrades. But to be honest, with the development of aircraft as it is the carriers are superior, especially since they can project power and more or less obliterate an enemy fleet before it can engage (if spotted properly).

Do you think you can take on the USA in prolonged conflict? Or at the moment, you just don't have enough resources/IC...?

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Part 18: Lightning strikes

At 07:00 on the 18th of January our Special Naval Landing Forces make landfall at an exotic beach in the middle east, landing on both sides of the harbor region our forces initiate a pincer attack that quickly overcome the defenders.

Two days later our forces land further up the gulf and secure the two ports there. At about this time we receive news about some tiny country called Luxemburg in the middle of europe that is apparantly mobilizing. It seems more war is coming to europe.
One day later, our allies Italy mobilize as well.

By late January the military focus is set for the industrial might of Imperial Japan. It will be a balanced approach between army, navy and airforce.

With this focus we gain 8 new factories that will greatly benefit the war effort, it will reduce production as we produce the new factories though. But the long term benefits are there.

Had we not had such a pressing need for rearmament we would have focused on strengthening our heavy industry instead. But now we need more production without large penalties to our current projects.

We also initiate a large mining project that will increase the yield from our resource rich regions.

This is an example of me not knowing what is coming, I hope the "resource" choice here will lead to nylon plants further down the line. That will in turn allow me to get certain strategic effects. But to be honest, I have no idea how it works or if I am wasting my time here, seing as I picked this over another project that would have increased manpower.

By the end of January there are no enemy fighters left in the middle east and our carrier based aircraft start focusing on ground targets in support of the advance by our troops.

On the 30th of January we get some interesting news, Hungary has joined the Axis!

The day after I once again receive news from the Persian gulf, an Iranian torpedo boat attack one of our carrier fleets.

Needless to say it was sunk before doing any damage, even if we appreciate the fighting spirit!

Returning to northwest China the remnants of the huge Chinese army are still fighting on, however, they are increasingly lacking supplies after being cut off from their major cities.

As you can see, there are 43 enemy divisions involved in this battle, while they are weakened, many are still holding on, fighting to the last! Impressive!

By the 5th of February we receive news that Germany has annexed Denmark.

It would seem they are doing well in europe, they certainly have an impressive military!

Early February we have a look at current research projects and their progress, we are now up to over 70 points of leadership and fund close to 64 ongoing projects! The latest project just completed was in fuselage aerodynamics, giving us higher top speed and better fuel economy in our aircraft.

While we do not gain much from occupied territory, we do gain a few points here and there, notably from large cities such as Beiping.


On February 7th our spies have finally lowered our neutrality enough to let us liberate Macau from Portugal.
We declare war and immidiately assault their meagre defences with 6 divisions, the battle is almost over before it begins...

7 hours later the region is ours, all enemy forces have surrendered. Our forces did not loose a single soldier while killing close to 900 enemies.

LT General Ishiwara has deserved every honor the Empire of Japan can bestow upon a commander, and his combat record is impressive. Yet, the Empire will demand more from him and his men before this war to end all wars is over.

Immence leader development is something I really value in this mod! It is fun to see your commanders grow to unprecedented strength, even though far to many are limited at a low max skill level. (and I didnt min/max enough to check that before assigning them, it should be shown ingame tbh)

Around the 10th of February Lt. General Iida in command of the 2nd Infantry Corps arrive in the middle east and commense attacks aimed at the Iranian capital. He is a highly decorated combat veteran transferred directly from the Chinese mainland, I think he and his troops will regard the Iranian campaign as something of a vacation.

Yamashita and his 1st Marines are already loaded onto transports heading for the mediterranean and further offensive operations.
The 18th of February our marines land nearby the Greek capital of Athens and assault their second largest city of Salonica.

Highly trained and motivated Imperial Japanese forces are making short work of weak Greek defence forces.

On the 20th of February as our carrier fleets move into position to cover our landing craft when they land troops on the other side of their capital the Greek navy actually attempt an attack against our combined carrier fleets with a light cruiser and three destroyers.

Aircraft scramble from Kaga, Akagi and Hiryu to intercept the enemy and they are repulsed without damage to the fleet.
Our aircraft from Soryu was unfortunately not available since they where flying air superiority missions over Greece.

As soon as the enemy fleet had received a few hits they withdrew to port. That will not save them, a full port strike was ordered to disable the threat of any future Greek navy. Their entire fleet was shortly sunk in port while our marines assaulted their capital.

Supported by the fire of the big guns on battleships Ise and Hyuga our Marines rush into battle!

However, Greece actually moved most of their forces out of their capital when we attacked their second largest city two days earlier. Leaving only a weak rearguard that was quickly overcome by our battle hardened marines.
Had we split the troop ships in two and made simultaneous landings in both cities the fight might actually have been extended a few days.

At 08:00 hours on the 23rd of February 1940, our forces are in control of the Greek capital as well.
Greece surrendered with barely any losses to our forces in a 3 day war. Pathetic...

By something that might seem as an unhappy coincidence for the Turks, they now find themselves between a soon conquered Iran and Imperial Japans wish to ensure control of the mediterranean and its vital supply route for european colonial powers.

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Do you think you can take on the USA in prolonged conflict? Or at the moment, you just don't have enough resources/IC...?

Imperial Japan can defeat ANY enemy, the will of our soldiers is unstoppable!

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Part 19: Between a rock and a hard place

On the 25th of February the Empire of Japan could finance almost 67 simultaneous research projects with a total of close to 73 leadership.

News from northern europe reached us on the 3rd of March, the Soviet Union had outright annexed Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Quite worrying that they are expanding their despicable "religion" in such an uncontrolled manner...
A few days earlier the Empire of Japan declared war on Turkey, we will liberate them from their oppressive government and incorporate them as a connection between our middle eastern holdings and mediterranean naval bases.

Fighters from Hiryu and Soryu immidiately initiated air supremacy over Turkey, beating their airforce decisively.

Later the same day we received message from the American diplomat, they are breaking their trade treaties with us.
Apparantly something about occupation of innocent countries, atrocities in China bla bla bla was their reason.
To be honest, most in the room stopped listening when their diplomat started nagging about China and other Japanese interests.

Japanese strategic reserves are nearly full and our needs are covered elsewhere, this embargo has no effect what so ever on the Empire of Japan. However, it proves again that the Americans are only looking for a reason to attack Japanese interests! We must increase the pace of military expansion!

By throttling back reinforcement to existing divisions and reforming new divisions by retraining existing militia units we have been able to continue expansion and build up something of a manpower reserve.

More interesting news arrived on the 5th of March, our scientists have developed a three man turret for our tanks, this should make our armored units much better!

This was followed by a new set of small arms for our infantry units the 8th of March:

When it comes to the Turkish campaign it was quickly noted that we made a critical error in the deployment of troops.
Our troopships where stuck south of Istanbul and could not attack directly into the city since the city control the strait.
For some reason this prevented access to the southern shores, our forces had to land south of the capital and attack it overland instead of landing straight into the capital.

This cost us time and also prevented us from passing through the strait with our troopships to land forces along key ports on the northern shores of Turkey. It would not stop our advance, but it slowed us down for no good reason.

Turkey, to our astonishment, actually possess something that can be said to resemble naval warships.
On the 11th of March they engage our battleships that passed through the strait of Istanbul prior to our declaration of war.

They attacked with one battlecruiser, two light cruisers and some passenger liners (?).
While they are naturally entirely outclassed by the heavy guns on the battleships Ise and Hyuga, not to mention our heavier escorts. They did manage to get a few hits on our two destroyer escorts who both sustained damage.

This came at a price however, after the initial surprise Imperial Japanese ships and aircraft started striking back!
Their destroyer and the light cruiser TDT Hamidiye is sunk. Aircraft from Kaga and Akagi continue to pursue the enemy fleet as they retreat into port. The results can be seen here:

In the middle of the Turkish campaign we receive news from China, the final battle is over. And what a slaughter it was!
75 000 brave Japanese soldiers lost their lives assaulting the stronghold of Chongqing!

Taking a city street by street is dirty business, it should be noted though that the Chinese numbered close to 320 000 men when the attack began a couple of months back just after the heroic defence by Negai at the battle of Neijang, some of Chinese units simply ceased to exist during the battle.

Now that our largest drain on our manpower pool is at an end our manpower will start to recover!

However, something very strange happened when the glorious Empire of Japan annexed China. We lost leadership from 72.74 points down to 68.5.

That is a loss of 4.24 points for no reason at all, I think this is a serious flaw in the mod and definetly promotes cheesing where the enemies last city is surrounded and the war kept going indefinetly.
Coincidentally its also possible to extract more resources from occupied territory then from annexed territory...
Please rethink this mechanic, it is to put it blunt messed up.

On the 19th of March our newly refitted carrier force consisting of Shokaku, Zuikaku and Hiyo leave harbor in Susaki with orders to make good speed to the Mediterranean. Accompanying them are light cruisers Noshiro, Agano, Katori, Kashima and Kashii. All of them of the newest model.

While Ishida is not as experienced as certain other commanders of the navy, he is given command of this tankforce knowing that he is up to the task and will quickly improve his skills.

By the 24th of March we receive word that Finland, on the border of the Soviet Union, in the northeast of europe is mobilizing.
On the 25th we are informed that our research project into better support weapons for the infantry is completed and will result in new equipment that will help defeat our enemies as soon as it is delivered to our units.

By now the Emperor is asking about progress in Istanbul, further delays are not accepted.
Tanaka leading the attack is told to finish it or leave in shame on a one way trip to Japan and a lengthy explanation to the Emperor. Nedless to say, attacks proceeded all night at a furious pace.

3 hours later, at 03:00 hours in the morning, the battle for Istanbul is won.

Our troopships can now continue into the Black sea where they will invade key Turkish ports!

Meanwhile our forces continue toward the capital or Iran and on the 1st of April Tehran fall and with it Iran capitulates.

Once Turkey is taken Imperial Japan will have a key position in both the Mediterranean and the middle east.

The 3rd of April fleet carrier Unryu is finally completed and enter the reserve fleet at Susaki.

 

[FrozenJellyfish]

Playing a 8.4 japan game myself and I am enjoying your ARR alot. We have taken very different paths. I like how aggressive you are in Iran/Turkey but when you go to war with the british your convoys going around India might get punished hard. The suez also closes until you capture it so be careful not to get your entire fleet trapped there if you need it somewhere else + the convoys cant get through. While I dont envy your MP I do envy your awesome generals and veteran airforce. I think I might go from 2CV/3CL fleets to 3CV/5CL fleets like you. I look forward to see how your game plays out.

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Playing a 8.4 japan game myself and I am enjoying your ARR alot. We have taken very different paths. I like how aggressive you are in Iran/Turkey but when you go to war with the british your convoys going around India might get punished hard. The suez also closes until you capture it so be careful not to get your entire fleet trapped there if you need it somewhere else + the convoys cant get through. While I dont envy your MP I do envy your awesome generals and veteran airforce. I think I might go from 2CV/3CL fleets to 3CV/5CL fleets like you. I look forward to see how your game plays out.

Thanks! We will see how I tackle a future British threat, the opposite is also true, they might have a hard time to resupply India and Burma

Unfortunately Im playing 8.2, I didnt check the version I had prior to installing and didnt read the forum... tried upgrading but it wouldnt load the save game so Im stuck on 8.2

 

[sebas379]

That is a loss of 4.24 points for no reason at all, I think this is a serious flaw in the mod and definetly promotes cheesing where the enemies last city is surrounded and the war kept going indefinetly.
Coincidentally its also possible to extract more resources from occupied territory then from annexed territory...
Please rethink this mechanic, it is to put it blunt messed up.

While I don't play BICE I think this actually has to do with HOI3 itself and the occupation laws you can set on occupied territory. These do not affect annexed territory and if that is non-core land it is severely penalized when it comes to IC, resources and LS.

Very nice AAR, with this kind of bloodshed in China I can't wait to see what happens on a small Pacific island or on the eastern front...

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Part 20: Leadership problems!

The Empire of Japan continue to fund many research projects into advanced technology needed to ensure a position amongst the world powers. Early April we see the following advances:

By the 12th of April Imperial Japanese forces capture the final stronghold of the Turkish government in Ankara. Japan now posess land from the middle east to Greece!

However, after reviewing current research projects we are horrified to see the Japanese leadership pool reduced further to 59.58!

We had 68.5 leadership mid March, now we have 59.58!!!
I do not know if this is a bug in the mod or if it is by design, but this is rediculous! I have not had any major negative changes happen the last two months! Quite the opposite, I have expanded and should have more leadership!
I do not know if this happened as a result of loading the game or the last two weeks, but I noticed it today when I continued playing. A loss of close to 10 leadership translates to something between 10 and 30 technologies per year.
This is catastrophic for technological progress where Japan is already hard pressed to keep up in key technologies!

A further review of leadership in saved games show how the base value decreases as I annex more land. Makes no sense to me...
I also loose a 5% transaction cooldown bonus. I have no idea what it is connected to.
On top of all this I have lost 5% from improved technology, this I cannot understand since I have not completed any research that have negative effects on technology...

I assume the percentage losses are related to bugs or something.
But the major problem here is that cheesing by not annexing land is the way to win!

New tactics, review country for VP point with no leadership, capture rest of country for maximum leadership...

Not sure I want to play that way. This really pisses me off, Im taking a break.

 

[sebas379]

Hmm now it is getting weird. Maybe ask about it in the BICE forum, they might know more, I haven't played with the mod.

 

[RulerOfHeck]

Interesting move with Iran - that is where the UK got their oil from, curtesy of Churchill in 1923. So a great long-term move, but if the APOC exists in HOI3, the UK will be royally pissed avout your conquest

About the leadership: ruling a country requires leadership, so I think it's logical. The new provinces ought to generate new LS, however from the WIKI:

• Overseas Modifier: Provinces without a land connection to the capital get a -90% modifier to leadership points from that province

Could be the reason?

 

[DasGleiche]

We had 68.5 leadership mid March, now we have 59.58!!!
I do not know if this is a bug in the mod or if it is by design, but this is rediculous! I have not had any major negative changes happen the last two months! Quite the opposite, I have expanded and should have more leadership!
I do not know if this happened as a result of loading the game or the last two weeks, but I noticed it today when I continued playing. A loss of close to 10 leadership translates to something between 10 and 30 technologies per year.
This is catastrophic for technological progress where Japan is already hard pressed to keep up in key technologies!
A further review of leadership in saved games show how the base value decreases as I annex more land. Makes no sense to me...
I also loose a 5% transaction cooldown bonus. I have no idea what it is connected to.
On top of all this I have lost 5% from improved technology, this I cannot understand since I have not completed any research that have negative effects on technology...

I assume the percentage losses are related to bugs or something.
But the major problem here is that cheesing by not annexing land is the way to win!

New tactics, review country for VP point with no leadership, capture rest of country for maximum leadership...

Not sure I want to play that way. This really pisses me off, Im taking a break.

Your LS will fluctuate rather than constantly increasing. It's how it goes. Otherwise aggressive conquest simply makes your nation overpowered.

Full annexation/military occupation laws are hardcoded mechanics in HOI3 and cannot be changed. Annexing a country gives you less of its LS than military occupation/government in exile. Alongside a flat, un moveable RR level, and other such things - this can't be changed.

The holding off on capturing last VP has been an exploit for everyone and everything since vanilla. It is just that - an exploit. Doing it isn't some flaw in the mod that no one foresaw; it's just an unavoidable way that people can exploit the game engine. There are thousands of similar things a player can do.

The transaction cooldown is related to the BIS events, I think. There is a similar one for IC.

You likely did research something with an LS penalty. The most common of these is Officer Recruitment Program. It carries with it a 5% malus to LS. It is often not seen as it lists every single unit first.

There is also a penalty to overseas territories that reduces their LS etc if they are not connected by land to your capital. This is hardcoded into HOI3 and cannot be modded.

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Part 21: On the attack

April 13, the Soviet union is strengthening their presence along our new border in Europe. I find it hard to believe that the expansionistic Soviets are there for solely defensive purposes... we shall watch this closely, and garrison the border.

April 14, Japanese carrier Taiho is completed, she will be a great asset to the Imperial Japanese Navy!

We also complete a new carrier air wing and complete a project for improved ground attack tactics.

On April 16, in preparations for the next campaign in the Mediterranean a majority of the Japanese airforce is transferred to Greece.

Meanwhile, in Japan, light cruisers Kitakamo and Abukuma are put in drydock for modernization with the latest guns, engines and other equipment.

When reviewing diplomatic relations with the Soviet union I noticed that they consider us, and not Germany as their largest threat. I do not understand this, we have been nothing but friendly to them...

On the 17th we complete two research projects, one for better engines in our landing craft, and one for improved fuel tanks to extend our operational range.

On the 18th of April we finally make progress in the mountains of Xinjiang where we have won the battle of Shanshan.
This campaign has been extremely slow due to the incredibly hostile terrain and remote location of the country.
However, intelligence experts have informed that they have a potent industrial base that would be a substantial addition to the Japanese production capacity.

On April 21st our transport ships arrive off the coast of Spain, war is declared and Marines make landfall in Barcelona!

They respond quickly with waves of aircraft and we have limited aircover in place. During this confusion they manage to catch the battlegroup with Fuso and Yamashiro. Fighters scramble from our carriers but are intercepted multiple times en route. The attack is over before they reach our ships.

Luckily they fail to score any major hits!

On the 24th of april, after having operated around the clock since the start and won countless battles, despite being outnumbered, the airwings from Akagi and Kaga are ordered to remain on deck. Certain wings are down to 20% in strength after slowly taking more and more losses.

It is obvious that the Spanish civil war has produced hardened veterans. The remaining carriers in the Mediterranean are moved close to spain in order to provide air cover. As soon as we capture airfields we will move over fighter squadrons from our bases in Greece and Italy. But at the moment there is literally one or two fights per hour!

When we finally capture the airfield the Watanabe fighter wing is immidiately moved in, however, the airport is badly damaged by combat and will operate at reduced efficiency.

Later in the evening we are informed that the US have joined the allies. This is not good, now we risk a multiple front war.

During the 25th we finish a project for improved supply production, we are now at 120% efficiency. This will free up much needed industrial capacity for other things!

On the 27th our second carrier fleet with Shokaku and Zuikaku is attacked by a small Spanish fleet of three heavy cruisers and a destroyer.

While that is a respectable fleet, they did not stand a chance against a modern battlegroup with carriers. When they tried to flee our carrier based aircraft chased them into port. The Spanish tried to intercept our carrier based air group with fighters, but we managed to fight them off and sunk the hostile ships in their moorings.

The relentless air war continue day and night, just when we think they are finished they attack with fresh squadrons.

Despite this our naval landing forces are extremely experienced and by early may we have captured several ports and started landing our infantry divisions. The 4th Infantry division led by Lt. General Yamada is pushing inland toward Madrid via Valencia and making good progress despite hard Spanish resistance.

He is yet another example of the superior mind and will of the Japanese soldier!

On the 7th of May we finally win the battle for the Xinjiang capital and they subsequently surrender.

As soon as the factories are repaired we can start putting them to use, we even got a few armament factories that survived the fighting. Note that these cannot be repaired, but the normal factories can.

On the 14th of May the Spanish make yet another naval attack. It does not end well for them as they are sunk by our superior dive and torpedo bombers!

On the 14th, carriers Amagi and Katsuragi are leaving drydock, brand new, shining like beacons in the pacific!

They will join the reserve fleet in Susaki until a new taskforce is created, we currently have 7 active carriers in taskforces, 5 carriers in the reserve fleet and a further 7 that will be completed during 1940.
Two of the carriers will be used to reinforce the current fleets to the new standard of 3 carriers per taskforce.
Remaining carriers will be stationed in the pacific as soon as possible to deter the US.

With 18 active fleet carriers in 6 carrier taskforces, Imperial Japan is not to be trifled with!

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Interesting move with Iran - that is where the UK got their oil from, curtesy of Churchill in 1923. So a great long-term move, but if the APOC exists in HOI3, the UK will be royally pissed avout your conquest

About the leadership: ruling a country requires leadership, so I think it's logical. The new provinces ought to generate new LS, however from the WIKI:

Could be the reason?

Whos side are you on here!

Imperial Japan has lost valuable project managers, entire project groups have disappeared in thin air!
Regarding the overseas penalty, there are lots of things connected to landbased access to capitals, Japan is getting somewhat shafted by that.

When it comes to Iran, I had in the back of my head somewhere that the UK invaded them, just checked and they did in 1941.
Japan got there first this time around

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Your LS will fluctuate rather than constantly increasing. It's how it goes. Otherwise aggressive conquest simply makes your nation overpowered.

Full annexation/military occupation laws are hardcoded mechanics in HOI3 and cannot be changed. Annexing a country gives you less of its LS than military occupation/government in exile. Alongside a flat, un moveable RR level, and other such things - this can't be changed.

The holding off on capturing last VP has been an exploit for everyone and everything since vanilla. It is just that - an exploit. Doing it isn't some flaw in the mod that no one foresaw; it's just an unavoidable way that people can exploit the game engine. There are thousands of similar things a player can do.

The transaction cooldown is related to the BIS events, I think. There is a similar one for IC.

You likely did research something with an LS penalty. The most common of these is Officer Recruitment Program. It carries with it a 5% malus to LS. It is often not seen as it lists every single unit first.

There is also a penalty to overseas territories that reduces their LS etc if they are not connected by land to your capital. This is hardcoded into HOI3 and cannot be modded.

Thanks for the info! Part of my annoyance was actually that I have had to start over all day due to savegame crashes, and then I noticed this on top of it.
I sitll think its wrong even if its hardcoded

When it comes to tech with impact on leadership, I just checked the officer recruitment program and I have it at level 2, dont remember researching it during this time though. (your probably right though)
However, now that I look at it, Im not so sure its a good tech at all.

While it seems to give between about 10-20% bonus to officers (maybe more on other units?) in the units, I have waaay more bonus to actual officer output from my leadership points.
Thus -10% leadership might actually have a higher negative effect than the points I can save on the officer slider...

 

[DasGleiche]

Thanks for the info! Part of my annoyance was actually that I have had to start over all day due to savegame crashes, and then I noticed this on top of it.
I sitll think its wrong even if its hardcoded

When it comes to tech with impact on leadership, I just checked the officer recruitment program and I have it at level 2, dont remember researching it during this time though. (your probably right though)
However, now that I look at it, Im not so sure its a good tech at all.

While it seems to give between about 10-20% bonus to officers (maybe more on other units?) in the units, I have waaay more bonus to actual officer output from my leadership points.
Thus -10% leadership might actually have a higher negative effect than the points I can save on the officer slider...

Trust me, if we were ranting about hardcoded HOI3 features, I could write a book

Yeah, it's a bit of a trap, that tech. Definitely a tradeoff you 90% of the time don't want to make. The one situation I could think of where it might be a worthwhile choice is playing someone like the Soviet Union where you have 4000 brigades, 600 air wings and 150 ships (or you do if you're me) by 1943 and even having 650,000 officers isn't enough for a 110% ratio. Where you have so much LS that it is perhaps better to take something your whole armed forces benefits from and your tech won't suffer too much from.

Having said that, even in the same year you're in I had about 120 LS (2 years of research focus + convert manpower into better research, oh my) so yeah, not worth it for you/Japan.

 

[sebas379]

Spain? A potential facist ally on the other side of the world? Well that is an unuseual move for Japan. Though it does put you in a perfect position to deal a killing blow to the British Empire if war broke out with them. Not that such thing would ever happen of course, Japan is a peace loving nation aftre all.

 

[Doxs_Roxs]

Spain? A potential facist ally on the other side of the world? Well that is an unuseual move for Japan. Though it does put you in a perfect position to deal a killing blow to the British Empire if war broke out with them. Not that such thing would ever happen of course, Japan is a peace loving nation aftre all.

The Mediterranean must be secured, I heard from Germany that Hitler would rather have his teeth pulled out than have another meeting with Franco regarding Gibraltar.
Imperial Japan intend to dominate the Mediterranean, and will stop at nothing to get the job done!