Japan

[Mahrabal]

I have never played as Japan before.
Could someone tell me about there significant early events?
When should I be prepared for war by?
Is it possible to avoid war with the USA?
Anything else you think I need to know before I start my game?

Thanks

 

[unmerged(30761)]

you are going to be at war in June 37

http://hoi2.nsen.ch/wiki/index.php/Japan_strategy

 

[Spruce]

I have never played as Japan before.
Could someone tell me about there significant early events?
When should I be prepared for war by?
Is it possible to avoid war with the USA?
Anything else you think I need to know before I start my game?

Thanks

as Japan you have 2 prime objectives =

- get resources for your IC,
- get naval suppremacy to secure your victory,

the first item implies either to go to war with the Dutch and UK (so attack the allies) for the resources in Asia.

The second item implies naval victory over the UK and US ... the latter is the hard part of the Japan game.

secondary objectives are =

- take China,
- take on USSR and aid the Axis,

the Chinese AI is a nasty one, it will likely dow you when you attack the allies. So my advice is too prepare for the Chinese war immediately, be ready to invade the allies some years later and then face the US immediately ... if the US joins the allies you'll always be a sitting duck as you'll be busy "winning" in India and the US will throw his industrial apparatus in the game ... meaning game over ...

but the most difficult thing is to find the balance for Japan to first defeat China - and then find the timeline to go Pear Harbour event that will increase your fighting odds - and assemble an invasion fleet for the invasion of USA ...

you have to actually "grab" the US factories to win against them...

 

[unmerged(3435)]

I have never played as Japan before.
Could someone tell me about there significant early events?
When should I be prepared for war by?
Is it possible to avoid war with the USA?
Anything else you think I need to know before I start my game?

Thanks

Hi there!
I play most of the time as Japan, so I'd like to mention a few things I find useful for the China war:

1) You have a coup on 26th Feb 1936, which you should allow to happen for some nice slider moves. Don't bother adjusting the government ministers until then.

2) It's well worth your while building 6-8 factories in 1936 to help expand your war machine and defeat china. this leaves enough production to build an army for china.

3) I'd concentrate on Inf for that army, quite a lot of them, and some Mtn as there's quite a few mountains in China!

4) The best way to defeat the Nationalist Chinese is to confuse them! Attack by land in the north, then when they've rushed to fight you, land on the coast. That way you can use your fleet as artillery and your troops can land more easily as the beach defenders have gone north. The more marching around the chinese do, the less ready they'lll be to fight.

5) Don't sweat the chinese communists, warlords or other small states. Most of them will surrender when Chiang Kai Shek does, and the communists are well defended, so it's easier to fight them after you've annexed the rest of China.

6) Beating the chinese forces is never enough. They have to be encircled otherwise they just fall back into mountains and grow more divisions Try to trap them up against the coast and cut them off.

You should be able to force a surrender from the chinese eventually, it can be done in 6 months but if I remeber correctly it took me much longer the first time! Good luck, and one more thing, you'll be surprised how many divisions you can get from Manchukuo and Siam. Siam will become your puppet if you can get them to ally with you. But dont send puppet troops overseas, as your convoys sometimes ignore them and they starve to death :rofl:

Banzai!

 

[Moltke]

I prefer an "East Indies First" strategy and so plan around attacking the Dutch. I wait for Guangxi to attack the Nationalists then I DoW and quickly overrun the small Clique for some impressive IC gain. Don't annex them, just take all their good provinces except the capitol. You then have a foothold in Southern China to invade from.

Oddly, in my current game I invade the Dutch East Indies and before long the Chinese minors all asked me for an alliance. I accepted out of curiosity and they then immediately attacked China. I thought "I'm screwed" as the bulk of my small army was in Indonesia, but to my surprised, the minors are actually making headway into Nationalist territory!

I'll be trading them blueprints while I finish up the Dutch and wait to see if this progress can last...

 

[Akaki]

I always conquer southern part of Guangxi Clique - guarantee independence of Nat. China, when Guangxi DOW them, i DOW Guangxi (no dissent) and take Hainan, shore provinces and that nice-12IC-prov .
If you are worried about belligerance, remember that Marco Polo Bridge Incident (mid '37) will lower it to 0

 

[goobermaster]

Just be careful if you are using the CCIP - it has some nasty events during the Sino-Japanese war to make life hell on the Japanese player - trust me - I got bled white by the Commies!