Looking for a TFH Japan detailled guide

[Vanslyke]

Hello everyone,

I’m a long time player, spend quite a bit of time on the forums but i rarely post.
Like the title said, i’m looking for a well detailled guide for Japan. A lot like the very well made Germany take 2 from Misterbean.
If such a guide exists, i would appreciate alot if someone could either post a link, or direct me toward it.

I have seen a few YouTube videos but in them, the player go at it, but they never explain the reasons behind their decisions, something i really enjoyed in Misterbean’s guide.

So thank you in advance.

 

[j_k_k]

I don't think such a thing precisely exists, but I've played Japan that way with some success. My belief is that Japan needs an army reorganization (a good argument to be made for INF/INF/ART/AA), followed by a full-dress war to conquer China. Significant infrastructural effort is needed, plus placement of garrison divisions (GAR/POL). Carriers are the way: need four groups of 3 CV/6 CL, like Misterbean's. Obsolete vessels become picket boat equivalents, patrolling back waters and making penetration problematic. Getting into India is possible; Australia and NZ and all the Pacific islands should be targets. I love land-based naval bombers for the areas they can cover. If you're like me and hate seeing the low-infra backwater areas in the NEI and some other places, you can always build infra to connect them up on some minimal basis.

Really, the big question is what you do once you have the Pacific under control. You can probably do India/Indian Ocean, Soviet Far East, or western US, but probably not two of the three.

 

[Kovax]

I recently did a tutorial AAR based on Nat. China, so that covers part of the campaign from the opposing point of view. I never got far with Japan, not as a matter of difficulty, but because I simply don't enjoy dealing with the widely scattered islands and overseas conquests, rather than a neatly contained land-based war. For some other players, that's apparently fun.

As said, Japan's OOB needs a drastic overhaul, because it doesn't utilize some of the intermediate level HQs, giving up a lot of the game's bonuses for maintaining command cohesion.

 

[j_k_k]

As said, Japan's OOB needs a drastic overhaul, because it doesn't utilize some of the intermediate level HQs, giving up a lot of the game's bonuses for maintaining command cohesion.

Yep. They don't have corps HQs at start, so that's a whole missing level of command.

Another thing one will discover about Japan is that many of the ground leaders develop slowly and cap out very low in terms of skill. I don't remember there being that many 5s. I do remember about half my leaders capped out. With GER, one can afford to be kind of snooty about not using Old Guards, sending some Log Wizards to divisional command to build up more skill; it's the military leadership version of a gourmet buffet. With Japan, you've got who you've got and will have to do the best you can. The density of skilled naval leaders is better, and they'll get in plenty of action for obvious reasons.

 

[Kovax]

On the bright side for Japan, the early war against China pits your weak commander pool against China's weak commander pool, so you're not at a disadvantage.....until later if/when you face the Allies. There's more than sufficient opportunity for long, drawn-out slugfests against China's stacks of Militia and badly led Infantry for your commanders to develop at least passable command skills, particularly if you "game the system" by building combat-capable Corps HQ divisions (by deploying INF brigades directly to the HQ). Obviously the low caps prevent Japan from milking the conflict to create a bumper crop of awesome generals.

 

[Vanslyke]

I don't think such a thing precisely exists, but I've played Japan that way with some success. My belief is that Japan needs an army reorganization (a good argument to be made for INF/INF/ART/AA), followed by a full-dress war to conquer China. Significant infrastructural effort is needed, plus placement of garrison divisions (GAR/POL). Carriers are the way: need four groups of 3 CV/6 CL, like Misterbean's. Obsolete vessels become picket boat equivalents, patrolling back waters and making penetration problematic. Getting into India is possible; Australia and NZ and all the Pacific islands should be targets. I love land-based naval bombers for the areas they can cover. If you're like me and hate seeing the low-infra backwater areas in the NEI and some other places, you can always build infra to connect them up on some minimal basis.

Really, the big question is what you do once you have the Pacific under control. You can probably do India/Indian Ocean, Soviet Far East, or western US, but probably not two of the three.

Thank you for your response,
i appreciatethe tips you bring. It’s not exactly what i was looking for, but they should be handy on my next games. Why do you include AA in your division composition, China don’t have that many planes. It might be good later on though.
Overall, your comments make sense and they are apreciated.

 

[Vanslyke]

I recently did a tutorial AAR based on Nat. China, so that covers part of the campaign from the opposing point of view. I never got far with Japan, not as a matter of difficulty, but because I simply don't enjoy dealing with the widely scattered islands and overseas conquests, rather than a neatly contained land-based war. For some other players, that's apparently fun.

As said, Japan's OOB needs a drastic overhaul, because it doesn't utilize some of the intermediate level HQs, giving up a lot of the game's bonuses for maintaining command cohesion.

Comments from a Field Marshall are always taken with the outmost respect... thank you for taking the time.
I might look at your AAR in the future.
Thanks Kovax.

 

[Vanslyke]

Thank you all for the anwers to my question, i apreciate your comments.
I will keep digging to try to find more infos.
I will ask for answers on more specific questions as they come.

See you.

 

[50shadesofgreen]

Hi. I’m another long time player/lurker and only very recently a poster. Have you read the Wiki Japan Strategy guide? Here’s some detail on what I do (FTM sorry). Some of this will be considered gamey?



Two important dates are the China war start in July ’37 and the Europe war start in Sept ’39. That’s 18 months to prep for war and two years to wait for war number 2. Historically the Japanese was still at war with China when their war number 2 started. I make sure I also stay at war, in order to keep the best laws, so I keep the last China warlord campaign (Sinkiang) going with a modest corps force. Note that the prolonged war will keep threat rising so make USA likely to go Allies.

You will have plenty of manpower. Careful planning means you will have enough research and leadership. Biggest issues are lack of supply, fuel and IC. Start off with a round of 6 airfield builds ( new or existing expansions) and a port somewhere. This will kickstart the poor construction practical. Thereafter try to parallel build 2, raising later to 4+, IC builds. These builds raise your practical so you can later produce Infra and Airfields quicker. An added bonus is that the larger IC slowly raises your homemade fuel.

Although Infra builds in China would improve supply, I find that by the time I need them, they take so long to build that the need has passed once actually constructed. Your later campaign moves inland against fewer foes so your numbers of troops engaged drop as does supply usages. I do like to drop airfields as I advance. In places where I think the air conflict will endure, like Malaya I will drop an airfield over a port and also add infra there. Infra speeds up the org recovery level of units based there ( airfield size does not).

At start I bring everything home to Tokyo, apart from a 3 corps build around Beiping. Those troops in Manchuria are some of your most experienced guys. I slowly build militia divisions to replace them. Make sure almost everything is under a proper OOB to reduce supply usage. I also build a few reserve divs of 3 brigades to get good infantry practicals. Once I have the Tech, I start slowly converting the best exp regular Garrison into Marines or Mountaineers. No hurry as they become more useful as the China campaign wears on.

Use spies to clear enemy spies then raise threat on someone to lower your consumer goods. An easy (gamey) foe is Mongolia as they have little defence and will somehow threaten the entire world (why?). Useful spy foe is France because they are also vulnerable to spies, plus once you are done with threat, you can switch those experienced spies to lowering French National Unity. Helps the Germans defeat them earlier and relieves the Japanese of the French naval menace in Asia ( mainly annoying subs). Raising the threat of France also speeds up the entry of Italy into the Axis. Join the Axis early too for the extra benefit of doing so (Strategic Effect), but do so knowing that will raise your threat to the world ( more and stronger enemies = harder game).

Once clear of enemy domestic spies, switch your home efforts to raising your National Unity. You want that past 80 to trigger the Heavy Industry law in a few years – it takes years so start early.

 

[50shadesofgreen]

Research the best industry techs, supply manufacture and education from start. Once spies are set, add in the extra research. I tend to keep the industry research going, even though well ahead of time because that research practical is useful later. You won’t gain much in IC, sorry.

You need to be strict about what you research and build. You will not need armour, AA or AT brigades, artillery or engineers. Your regular infantry will not need AT weapons and your militia and garrison will not need any extra levels of research. Do not research anything Battlecruiser or Heavy Cruiser or submarine. Don’t research heavy aircraft as you won’t be able to build them with limited IC. Same with paratroops. You start with no combat experience in land, sea or air so forget the three doctrine tabs unless you have spare research capacity. Possible exception being the land doctrine that reduces attack delay. Some research on supply/first aid techs can give you that land exp before the war, which gives you a cue to start the land doctrines going. You will gain sea and air combat exp during the China war, at which point their doctrine research will be much cheaper.

Leadership. Smaller army and restricting research means you can put a little extra into Officers and have or be near to that nice 140 ratio at war start. This reduces combat delay and boosts unit org levels (and thus org regain).

Production. Your starting army is pretty much all that is needed to defeat China. Drop to lowest level of training to speed up the build of that old destroyer in the production queue and add parallel build of 2 transports. This gives you the magic number of 100 ships for that first easy Strat Effect. Build a reserve basic reserve inf div, another destroyer, a light cruiser, a CVL, a light aircraft ( interceptor or divebomber), a medium ( nav or Tac) – these are all for the practicals. Also two militia divs to replace the guys you robbed from Manchuria. When I build CAGs, I try and make 3 for every 2 that I actually need, for spares. I won’t build CAGs until I have reduced the time to build cost with practicals and industry efficiencies.

Upgrades. Keep Upgrade and reinforcements at zero. Keep any new militia builds with upgrades and reinforcement ticked off. Make a separate fleet with all your level one DD,CL,CA and BB and uncheck their upgrades and repairs too. Even if they get used and damaged they will remain this way unless I have spare capacity to repair and upgrade.

War. About 2 months before the China war make the upgrade of your frontline China troops a priority. This makes them harder hitting. NO naval upgrades. Air units CAN upgrade while at war. The day the war starts select all the juicy better laws including the best training one. Now you can adjust the sliders to include replacements with the extra IC. Now’s a good time to start those runs of CV, BB and CAGs for later, but take care to stagger them so that the ones following the first get the practical boost from them. As IC builds increase the number of DD, medium bombers and factories in your queue. Convert more of those good Gar into Marines and mountaineers. Constant 2 runs of convoy builds from now until forever.

Land Strategy. Use those regular corps left in China to take those northernmost two cities, including a nice airbase and a port, thank you very much! Next amphibious landings around Quindou to try and cut off a few divs in the peninsular and open up that main supply port. Then drive west from there behind the Chinese masses facing your Beiping front. Meanwhile a mountain/cavalry corps from that front circle around to the westof that line. These two thrusts envelop the Chinese front and take out the VPs for Shanxi. With Shanxi fallen, destroy the pocket and push south generally. I also use my navy to take those Chinese ports in the south that make up the second strategic event. As well as the research buff and supply throughput, I also now tie up a large number of Chinese units who try and stop me breaking out. Take your time and push south, as supply permits. Once NatChi has fallen, prevent a supply collapse by removing all your good land units to Japan and instead eliminate the smaller warlords with reduced sized spearheads. Research all those supply techs.

 

[50shadesofgreen]

Garrisons. I annex the lot and only eventually puppet the westernmost warlord, usually on sept 2nd 1939! I will make a few 2 brigade garrison divisions and place on a few key ports, VPs or airbases. The rest gets policed by cavalry units who rush around squashing any uprisings.

Gaming. I move my leaders about and try to max up their leadership. Get Yamashita up to level 7 and he’s then set as my spearhead Army Group commander with terrific supply savings. Also Nishio is a good logistic wizard to try and max up. I split my air units into individual units to give every available leader some exp ( Ozawa). My air experience gets to about 40 and my ability to research those doctrines skyrockets. My oldest navy units never leave Tokyo. I make a few battleship bombardment units to catch the enemy navy and support the army. I put my best admirals (spotters) in charge of small groups set on convoy attacks, purely for the exp gains and the naval combat exp level. Leave some Chinese ports open, just for the convoy raiding sport. I have a chosen admiral in charge of a carrier group. They find out which port the Chinese navy is in and wait outside to catch it ( sometimes my army chases it out). They also send their CAGs to bomb the enemy army. This gains exp in many ways, but also gives the admiral a slow boost too.

After that. At some point I will take out Thailand before war with the west. I think I could have it as an easy puppet after the French collapse and an invasion increases my threat and will mean the USA hate me. I intend to take Singapore and Burma. If I own Thailand I can build in it, and I like to have airbases (each with extra infra) down the neck of it. I intend to have radar listening posts in Thailand too. This enables me to watch for and chase enemy subs coming through the straits. A large airbase and radar station up there in northern Thailand will give me an overview west towards Rangoon, so I can watch what is coming landward or seaward from that direction.

The moment I have radar available, I obviously research all those naval radar and ASW techs. I’ve used electric theory research to speed radar and these others up ( those DD and CL practicals help too). Make sure you start aa upgrades early enough that your best ships (CV/CL groups) are fit for carrier engagments by the time you want the next war to start.

When I decide to war on the western powers, I go all out. USA has embargoed me anyway. Take out Phillipines, Hong Kong and Indochina (another strategic effect) and then Java, Singapore, followed by all remaining Dutch VPs. Germany finishes the Netherlands VP total and they surrender. I have the DEI as a wargoal, but in order for the dutch surrender to fire properly I had to momentarily “tag” switch to GER sometime before their fall and make sure that Germany had the “conquer” wargoal set ( I think that’s now substantially different in TFH?) I’m now set for oil and rares. I take Guam and Wake early. I don’t garrison any islands because it means convoys (sub attacks!). I pause in Malaya/Burma and rest/repair while some units head south and puppet Australia and NZ. I’m pretty much using one full Army on these offensives while having the other in reserve in Tokyo. My reserve army includes a few light armour, armoured cars and motorised units that spent the China war sitting still out of fuel in various places. Older reserve fleet there too, intent on saving fuel.

Enemy subs are biggest pain. Search them out and don’t forget to port strike them whenever you can. I use my few subs well ahead on convoy raids and also keep an eye on what is in enemy ports. I switch to auto create convoys for a short while myself, then player control and turn off any going to stupid or vulnerable places. Those spare divebombers are on naval strikes around key ports looking for subs. Spare CAGs are resting so that they can replace worn out groups on my carriers.

 

[Kovax]

My take on it is somewhat different from 50shadesofgreen's post, but he does make a number of solid points. Since it's been several (many?) years since I tried Japan in an earlier expansion, much has changed. I fired up HOI3 last night and selected Japan.

First observation was that Japan is critically low on almost every resource. To solve that, I sold 20 units of Supplies to the USA, and another 10 to the Soviet Union. That should improve Relations by 15 points, and make purchases cheaper in the future, while bringing in cash with them paying at a higher rate due to the lower starting Relations. After the new diplomats arrive (in 7-8 days), I can make a couple of small purchases to raise Relations further, before making bigger deals to solve the shortages.

For the moment, I pumped 5 points into Officer Training, 2 into Diplomacy, 5+ into Espionage, and the remaining 8-ish points into Research. You'll want to bring up the Officer Ratio to well above 100, with 140 being the cutoff point where it provides no further benefit (other than replacing officer casualties). I may raise that slightly later, if the Officer Ratio is still lacking by late in the year. Diplomacy can be lowered to a fraction of a point, once you've stabilized the Resource situation, but for now I need the diplomats. Building up 10 domestic spies ASAP to clear out any foreign agents, and then to place 10 spies in each target country, should take about a month or so, and then I can drop the Leadership allocation to less than a point.

Contrary to what 50shadesofgreen says, researching a couple of critical land doctrines can pay off in a big way, particularly Infantry Warfare, which raises the Organization of your INF brigades, allowing them to remain in combat a lot longer before breaking. Mass Assault is already researched for 1936, so you won't need to worry about that for another 2 years. As pointed out, researching the doctrine to reduce Attack Delay in the bottom group is also important, otherwise your troops will often sit there for the better part of a week before they can make another attack. I also began researching Pilot Training and Ground Attack, both of which will become increasingly important as the campaign advances, and they take a long time, so starting early makes sense. One slot was dedicated to Infantry Weapons, because what's not to like about better guns? I also started researching one of the capital ship engine techs, since "speed is life" for ships. Since ships take longer than forever to build, the sooner I can start constructing the next tech level of ship, the better.

 

[Vanslyke]

Garrisons. I annex the lot and only eventually puppet the westernmost warlord, usually on sept 2nd 1939! I will make a few 2 brigade garrison divisions and place on a few key ports, VPs or airbases. The rest gets policed by cavalry units who rush around squashing any uprisings.

Gaming. I move my leaders about and try to max up their leadership. Get Yamashita up to level 7 and he’s then set as my spearhead Army Group commander with terrific supply savings. Also Nishio is a good logistic wizard to try and max up. I split my air units into individual units to give every available leader some exp ( Ozawa). My air experience gets to about 40 and my ability to research those doctrines skyrockets. My oldest navy units never leave Tokyo. I make a few battleship bombardment units to catch the enemy navy and support the army. I put my best admirals (spotters) in charge of small groups set on convoy attacks, purely for the exp gains and the naval combat exp level. Leave some Chinese ports open, just for the convoy raiding sport. I have a chosen admiral in charge of a carrier group. They find out which port the Chinese navy is in and wait outside to catch it ( sometimes my army chases it out). They also send their CAGs to bomb the enemy army. This gains exp in many ways, but also gives the admiral a slow boost too.

After that. At some point I will take out Thailand before war with the west. I think I could have it as an easy puppet after the French collapse and an invasion increases my threat and will mean the USA hate me. I intend to take Singapore and Burma. If I own Thailand I can build in it, and I like to have airbases (each with extra infra) down the neck of it. I intend to have radar listening posts in Thailand too. This enables me to watch for and chase enemy subs coming through the straits. A large airbase and radar station up there in northern Thailand will give me an overview west towards Rangoon, so I can watch what is coming landward or seaward from that direction.

The moment I have radar available, I obviously research all those naval radar and ASW techs. I’ve used electric theory research to speed radar and these others up ( those DD and CL practicals help too). Make sure you start aa upgrades early enough that your best ships (CV/CL groups) are fit for carrier engagments by the time you want the next war to start.

When I decide to war on the western powers, I go all out. USA has embargoed me anyway. Take out Phillipines, Hong Kong and Indochina (another strategic effect) and then Java, Singapore, followed by all remaining Dutch VPs. Germany finishes the Netherlands VP total and they surrender. I have the DEI as a wargoal, but in order for the dutch surrender to fire properly I had to momentarily “tag” switch to GER sometime before their fall and make sure that Germany had the “conquer” wargoal set ( I think that’s now substantially different in TFH?) I’m now set for oil and rares. I take Guam and Wake early. I don’t garrison any islands because it means convoys (sub attacks!). I pause in Malaya/Burma and rest/repair while some units head south and puppet Australia and NZ. I’m pretty much using one full Army on these offensives while having the other in reserve in Tokyo. My reserve army includes a few light armour, armoured cars and motorised units that spent the China war sitting still out of fuel in various places. Older reserve fleet there too, intent on saving fuel.

Enemy subs are biggest pain. Search them out and don’t forget to port strike them whenever you can. I use my few subs well ahead on convoy raids and also keep an eye on what is in enemy ports. I switch to auto create convoys for a short while myself, then player control and turn off any going to stupid or vulnerable places. Those spare divebombers are on naval strikes around key ports looking for subs. Spare CAGs are resting so that they can replace worn out groups on my carriers.

Thank you for this,

I didn't expected something that elaborate, so greatly appreciated.
Yes i read the Wiki Japan strategy guide, in fact, i printed it years ago. It’ a bit outdated, but some content is still interesting.

I won’t elaborate on all of the elements that you bring. Some of them i already knew, but a lot of ideas were unknown to me. I would need some time to reflect on them.

This is exactly what i wanted in the first place; strategies and the reasoning behind them. So thank you very much. Feel free to bring more of your good insights, the are always welcome.

Vanslyke

 

[50shadesofgreen]

Your welcome. I kind of started with a few points then got.......carried away!

I need to make one amendment on those 4 initial Industry techs. I did the whole thing from memory without referring to the game. I now see the first ones are Industrial Production, Efficiency, Supply Production and Agriculture (not Education which is a 1938 tech). I don't really need the extra manpower that Agriculture needs but it gives another boost to Mech Engineering which helps when I repeat those first two ahead of time (1938 techs second time around).

I would do Education early. Perhaps in the second wave of research? Civil Defence is also a 1936 tech and would complete at the same time. Both of these would then boost the land warfare research.

When I moved onto the Land Warfare doctrines, I picked one from each tier, just to boost the green tech in each, before starting another. Now I've looked again, even though Infantry Warfare started with the benefit of 5.0 in Grand Battleplan Doctrine, I see that In the tier below Operational Warfare has zero in Human Wave but only takes 11 more days. Thanks Kovax for making me check.

My land warfare starts at 2 and would be between 3 and 4 once Education and Civil Defence finish. I presumed that as the blue tech had 70% impact, then it would pay to wait on more land doctrines until after this point is reached. Having not done the maths or trials, I could well be completely off!!

 

[50shadesofgreen]

Kovax, I'm not sure if I follow you on the battleship engine research. I would certainly want to build better big ships early, but would wait on the new builds until I had all the magic three research in each level under my belt before building the new class (Engine +Armour +Armament). I would expect my next two BBs to sail together and thought it was important not to mix up main gun calibres as that impacted on postioning? i.e. the longer ranged one might fire but the older one might be out if range?

It should not be a surprise that you agree with most of my points. Most of what I know is thanks to years of posts from guys like yourself.

 

[Palmerdale]

About the only thing I do differently from 50shades or Kovax is that I decide to go with either militia OR Infantry with Japan. That saves a whole lot of research, on both the individual units and the Land Doctrines. Good Doctrine tech can really make a difference in a game. (It does seem unnatural the first few times you try to ignore all Infantry techs, but it can be done).

The only idea I would oppose is building GAR+MP for garrisons. I've played a lot with MP in order to reduce revolt risks. It just doesn't pay off. The MP unit is just too expensive to build, and even with the improved security tech, doesn't stop the revolt risk. I use 2xGAR on each VP/Port with a MOT+ACAR (or Cav+ACAR) as a reactiion force. I rarely need use more than 2 reaction units in China and 1 more in each major country (Vietnam, Thailand, Burma). Australia probably needs 2 or 3 reaction units, depending on how active the UK is.

 

[Kovax]

I can picture going MIL with China, not with Japan. MIL won't stand up well against Allied units later on, and it's considerably slower. As said, only using one or the other saves research both in equipment and doctrines. That applies to Destroyers and Light Cruisers as well, and to Battlecruisers and Battleships, where there's little point in sinking scarce Leadership into both, so you normally choose one or the other. Subs have their uses, although you can probably license-build German subs when the better ones become available in 1939 and just research the doctrines.

 

[50shadesofgreen]

I also don't research mil/gar. I implied that when I was speaking about unchecking their upgrade box. They are left that way, and I should have been clearer on that matter. I would add that as the Japanese start with large numbers of inf and some mot, and that I later want marines and mountain, then the infantry upgrades are the obvious path here.

Someone said recently (and I can't find it to credit you, sorry) that the only cavalry upgrade needed is small arms, as the rest reduce the unit speed. Rebels and Chinese don't have tanks.

My use of both destroyers and cruisers is indeed a little luxury and I perhaps should stick with one. Problem is that CL seem better at AA and bigger so seem better AA screens for my carriers. DD are (very) slightly cheaper, but faster, use less fuel and have significantly better sub detection and attack values. Those Allied subs are annoying!!!!!!

Kovax raises an important point on licence builds. I found Italy much more willing to sell a licence than Germany. V probably lower tech? Also an ideal route to get those transport planes and Paras that I didn't want to research?

 

[50shadesofgreen]

One reason that I ended up being so thorough with my extensive earlier list was that lurking for so long and not asking questions, that it's quite possible that I actually do many things the wrong way. I did some things badly wrong in my latest game and some if this wishlist was things I would rather have done in hindsight.

Palmerdale seems to annex Australia and patrol it. I recommended puppet Aus and NZ. I am not entirely sure I am right on Aus, but firm on NZ. I'm explaining my reasons because this discussion made me check again, and to see if I have everything right?

Once you puppet you obviously lose any IC, leadership, resources and manpower. Australia keeps it's army and I was careful to push it back rather than destroy my future Allies. It's actually at truce with UK etc. I obviously gained not being at war with them. I BELIEVED from now on, I gained surplus resources they had. Turns out (in FTM and possibly still in TFH) that the promised surplus resources DO NOT make their way to Japan. I just tag-switched and tested.

What's the benefit of occupation? I gain nil leadership and 13 Available IC. That's actually a better number than I had anticipated for an overseas continent. There's a downside though. Palmerdale suggested policing these with a pair of divs, each of a brigade of A/C and a brigade of cavalry. Cost to build these units is .......the very same13 IC over 5 months. It's not profit only after those builds because I now have the commitment of providing those units with supply and fuel. Oh and guess who builds the convoys to transport these? Worse still is the length, size and vulnerability of these convoys that I need to protect.

Overall I'd say it's there is no clear choice and will ultimately come down to a personal preference on whether to cover the world in your flag or whether you like lots of buddies. New Zealand is a no brainer as controlling them only gains you 2 IC. I mean it's a lovely country and they have penguins, Big Ben pies, and everything, but.....

 

[Vanslyke]

Your welcome. I kind of started with a few points then got.......carried away!

I need to make one amendment on those 4 initial Industry techs. I did the whole thing from memory without referring to the game. I now see the first ones are Industrial Production, Efficiency, Supply Production and Agriculture (not Education which is a 1938 tech). I don't really need the extra manpower that Agriculture needs but it gives another boost to Mech Engineering which helps when I repeat those first two ahead of time (1938 techs second time around).

I would do Education early. Perhaps in the second wave of research? Civil Defence is also a 1936 tech and would complete at the same time. Both of these would then boost the land warfare research.

When I moved onto the Land Warfare doctrines, I picked one from each tier, just to boost the green tech in each, before starting another. Now I've looked again, even though Infantry Warfare started with the benefit of 5.0 in Grand Battleplan Doctrine, I see that In the tier below Operational Warfare has zero in Human Wave but only takes 11 more days. Thanks Kovax for making me check.

My land warfare starts at 2 and would be between 3 and 4 once Education and Civil Defence finish. I presumed that as the blue tech had 70% impact, then it would pay to wait on more land doctrines until after this point is reached. Having not done the maths or trials, I could well be completely off!!

There is absolutely nothing wrong about being carried away, on the contrary. It is quite elaborate i like it a lot. My only problem, if i can call it that, is that there is a lot of informations that i probably will have to print it, so i can sort it out and have it on hand the next time i play Japan. So keep it coming you are very welcome.