Japan's Crusade Against the West and Communism?

[unmerged(190703)]

So I am playing as Japan (1936). I currently have around 130-140 divisions, almost all (the others are probably militia loaned by Manchuria and garrisons that are no longer useful). I'm currently building mechanized infantry (for Burma, India, Bhutan/Nepal, and Australia, mainly) and marines (for the obvious).

I defeated the Nationalists and Communists by 1941 (this is my first time playing as Japan, mind you). So far my only enemy is Sinkiang, and I already defeated their position in their capital, so...

I have an emergency back-up plan, if everything goes to heck. In Korea, I have level 10 forts w/ level 5 anti-air positions, in Pyongang and Wonsan (I think those are the names?). Extreme? Maybe, but I was paranoid, and I'm still paranoid with the Soviets.

So my questions are: Do I attack the Soviet Union first, or the Allies? What are my chances for going up against the USA for an unexperienced naval player? If I attack the USSR first, should I do it when Germany declares war on the USSR, or what?

Also, a couple of notes: I managed to take Guam from the USA diplomatically in 1939; I'm not really all in the mood for taking on the USA, though if you guys say it's a good thing to do I might as well, however, should I annex the Philippines, and try my ass off to negotiate peace with the US?;

Current situation in the world (year: 1941):
- After a good fight against Belgium for almost a year, Germany blitzed their way through France, and almost as soon as France was attacked, Vichy France was established; I took Indochina.
- Adolf Hitler decided to screw the Soviets, and went with "No deal with the Bolsheviks!", the Soviets then invaded Estonia and Latvia.

Alliances
Allies: Same as beginning
Axis: Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Romania
Mine: Japan, Nationalist China, Siam, Manchukuo, Mengkukuo.

So... after that summarization of my current situation within my game, tips?

 

[midget_roxx]

It's possible to leave the US alone and not recieve a DoW, so you can just focus on UK and her allies, but wheres the fun in that . Soviets won't attack you unless Germany is annexed so you are safe there. Attacking the soviets doesn't get you very far since most of the IC is either in the middle or West of SU and all you will gain is a lot of useless land that eats up your TC.

Btw, mechanized are horrible in jungles so your're actually better off getting marines or moutnaieers to conquer Burma. Possibly CAV as well so when you push into India you can easily stroll through.

If you do want to attack the US it isn't that hard, but you do need to micro it a lot because you need to coordinate your navy and airforce together. Airforce to spot and so some damage, and the navy to intercept. Check out the Hoi2 Wiki for fleet compositions, just make sure to make CVs and not BBs .

When you attack US they automatically join the allies which means it's impossible to negotiate a truce, unless you cheat

 

[unmerged(132371)]

When uncle Adolf goes east DOW USSR and go hard for the Urals and all else you can get. If you can, get Persia for the oil and location. Try a peace deal with USSR to keep your winnings and then try US but not the allies. Try to get the US done first then try England. Never have two enemies at once concentrate forces on 1 front at a time.

 

[unmerged(190703)]

It's possible to leave the US alone and not recieve a DoW

Would that also depend on my relations with the US when I declare war on the Allies? Say if I had -50+ relations with the US, and I declare war on the Allies, would there be a good chance of the US declaring war on me/joining the Allies?

Also, is there an event that triggers that allows Japan to enter the Axis, without leaving your current alliance? What I mean is for Japan and my puppets, only allies, to join the Axis? I only want to use that in times of dire straits, though.

Btw, mechanized are horrible in jungles so your're actually better off getting marines or moutnaieers to conquer Burma. Possibly CAV as well so when you push into India you can easily stroll through.

Thanks for the help. I suppose I gotcaught up with using mechanized divisions in Europe I wasn't thinking

When you attack US they automatically join the allies which means it's impossible to negotiate a truce, unless you cheat

As that triggers the Pearl Harbor event, no?

Also, about the USSR and it's resources in East Sibera; I just want to erase the USSR from seas of Asia. Obviously, the USSR isn't a threat to me, naval wise, but I just like the look of it geographically... I get upset when Germany invades Yugoslavia and creates Croatia, because it just looks stupid how German Bosnia is cut off from Greater Germany (I don't when the country is near the cut-off territory, such as Italy annexing Albania). But I digress. My point being, though, I get all OCD over geography.

Try to get the US done first then try England. Never have two enemies at once concentrate forces on 1 front at a time.

Yeah, I learnt that the hard when I first played the game. Literally, my first grand-strategy play through, let alone HOI game, is when I played as Germany and DOW'd France and USSR... oh, the horror! Looking back, that's idiotic, obviously.

 

[midget_roxx]

Would that also depend on my relations with the US when I declare war on the Allies? Say if I had -50+ relations with the US, and I declare war on the Allies, would there be a good chance of the US declaring war on me/joining the Allies?

Also, is there an event that triggers that allows Japan to enter the Axis, without leaving your current alliance? What I mean is for Japan and my puppets, only allies, to join the Axis? I only want to use that in times of dire straits, though.

I'm quite certain that your relations won't matter because of USA's high isolationalism, but I've only played one game where I didn't DoW US as Japan and they just sat there all game (it was DD1.2 though).

As that triggers the Pearl Harbor event, no?

The moment you go to war with US, the Pearl Harbour event will trigger. Regardless if you carry out the attacks or not, US will join the allies

Also, about the USSR and it's resources in East Sibera; I just want to erase the USSR from seas of Asia. Obviously, the USSR isn't a threat to me, naval wise, but I just like the look of it geographically... I get upset when Germany invades Yugoslavia and creates Croatia, because it just looks stupid how German Bosnia is cut off from Greater Germany (I don't when the country is near the cut-off territory, such as Italy annexing Albania). But I digress. My point being, though, I get all OCD over geography.

If a nation is in a major alliance (Allies, Axis or Comitern) it will never accept any peace offers you give them. If you join the axis and Germany is at war with SU, then you will also be imediately at war with the SU as well + 5% dissent from cancelling the non-agression pact its automatic). The only benefit of allying with Germany is that Germany now only needs to take Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad for the event to fire. But you also need to hold Vladisvostok for the event to fire as well. If you do intend to move into SU lands, then release puppets are you go along so you won't lose any of your land during BP

 

[alufdufe]

Whether the US will declare war on you is dependant more on your belligerence than on your relations. You need to keep an eye on their interventionism on the diplomatic screen. This will tell you how high your belligerence must go before they can declare war. The other route for the US is to get their interventionism high enough to join an alliance without being attacked. This is their back door in. They only get half the dissent penalty they would from a DOW.

 

[unmerged(190703)]

Whether the US will declare war on you is dependant more on your belligerence than on your relations. You need to keep an eye on their interventionism on the diplomatic screen. This will tell you how high your belligerence must go before they can declare war. The other route for the US is to get their interventionism high enough to join an alliance without being attacked. This is their back door in. They only get half the dissent penalty they would from a DOW.

Yeah, I kind of lumped the word relations with belligerence, relations, rather than the in-game context of "Relations". But thanks for the help, none the less.

 

[unmerged(48743)]

In war against USA you need (at least for the first 6 months) only naval force, but a very strong naval force. Don't think about winning against USA, if you don't have at least 30 most modern carriers (2x CTFs) and be prepared for heavy losses.

DOW SOV, when GER is at Moscow and fight not only on far east, but in Siberia, too. Bring up about 100 units. You can push in from Afganistan deeply. Use MTNs in winter, but except losses from tanks in summer. SOV is quite helpless in far east.

 

[midget_roxx]

In war against USA you need (at least for the first 6 months) only naval force, but a very strong naval force. Don't think about winning against USA, if you don't have at least 30 most modern carriers (2x CTFs) and be prepared for heavy losses.

Rubbish. I did it quite easily with 12CV's (including the shitty, orginal lvl1s and 2s) and a decent airforce (4 CAS, 6 TACs, 8 NAVs). Use the airforce to spot then your navy to pounce on it. If it's too big (10+ Cv's) then leave it alone for the aircraft

 

[Mossco]

The best course of action would be to DOW the Allies, without going to war with the US, since without them, the other allies pose no real threat. The Dutch East Indies should fall relatively easily, as will Australia and NZ once you take out heir navies. As for India and Burma, try and conquer Sinkiang or ally with them so you could attack on two fronts. Infantry, Cav, and Mountaineers are great for fighting on this front. Once you conquer India, use any forces lent to you by your allies to garrison the shorelines, and station a good deal of forces on your border with Persia, as it will eventually fall.

The Soviets will almost never attack you unless the Germans have been defeated, though the Americans will once your belligerence is high enough. In the game I'm playing through right now, I got up to 1947 without the US DOW me. The only problem was that in 1943, the US had DOW the Soviets, and controlled all of Siberia which meant that I had a very large border to guard. Things weren't helped by the fact the the German AI, which had conquered all of Russia up to the Urals, The entire Middle East (Including Turkey) and most of North Africa, didn't bother going to war with the US, meaning that they could focus all their forces on me. So as long as the US doesn't have a foothold on the mainland, you should be relatively safe, as long as you have a good navy.

Another good strategy is to invade Oman and Yemen, and use the Arabian ports, isolated from the allies by Saudi Arabia, to attack any ships passing through the Suez canal and the Red Sea, effectively cutting the Pacific off from British reinforcements. You should also focus on taking away Allied ports before anything else, so as to make sure they have no bases where they can station their naval forces.

 

[Agenor]

The moment you go to war with US, the Pearl Harbour event will trigger. Regardless if you carry out the attacks or not, US will join the allies

I'm not sure this is true. I'm playing as Japan, declared war on the Philippines six months ago and am now at war with the Philippines and US, but at peace with the British Empire. Heck, British Dominions are even offering me trade deals!

I made a mistake in my current campaign (well, several mistakes actually) by focussing too much on building battleships and not enough on CVs. My super-heavy battleship has spent most of the war in port getting repaired after it was almost sunk (it seems to have been the prime target as part of a BB fleet). What a waste of money. Also, all my old screens are largely useless because they don't have the 3000 km range you need to really get your troops to where you need them, so I've been sending troop transports escorted by unscreened capital ships. I should have built far more modern destroyers. Ah well, it's my first naval campaign. Live and learn.

 

[unmerged(164544)]

In my current Japan (36) game im at war with the Sovs and the allies including the US. I took out China in under a year and did my best to build IC (for the TC boost) and Navy until 41. I attacked the allies and US in late 41 and managed to get Haiwaii before "The US Recovers" event.

The US kept one small island in the Hawaii chain which the reinforced to 21 divisions and dropped all the pacific fleet in that port which allowed me to eventually destroy about 13 US carriers and pick off maybe a hundred smaller ships in the Mendelson Seamont.

In the east I took India, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia quickly. I screwed up and left Rabaul which has become a bleeding sore on my southern flank. I took Persia, puppeted Iraq and advanced to Suez.

When the tide started to turn against the Germans I attacked the Sovs from Persia, Sinkiang and Inner Mongolia and now in late 44 I am in the position to release the Caucasus states and the 'stans right before bitter peace hits. Better be soon because my TC is 900/600.

Next is Australia and then the US.

Personally, I think you have to help out the Germans or the Sovs will eventually come knocking at your door.