Manchukuo - Empire of China

[Akasi]

Hello. I want to form Empire of China, so at some point war with Japan is mandatory. So far I tried 3 times and everytime I got crushed. I even waited for Japan to be at war with China but altough we managed to kick him out of mainland then China ate me because we were at war. I also tried to befriend Soviets but don't want me in Comintern cos im neutral and i dont know how to flip to commie because there is no advisor....
So...do you have some advice, strategy...anything?

 

[Surimi]

Yeah, Manchuko is probably the hardest of all the Chinas.

Are you playing with historical focuses on? It might be slightly easier if Japan takes one of the ahistorical routes, as either you will break free during the Japanese civil war, or Japan will never end up at war with China meaning you can knock them out one by one.

For wars, the only advice I can think of is to build big, bulky infantry divisions and focus on defence initially. Neither China or Japan have much to worry about in manpower terms, but losing equipment will be quite bad for them.

 

[ZivDero]

You don't have to go to war with China though...
Assertiveness gives you a puppet level that lets you decline Japan's CTA, just make sure not to "raise" your autonomy and loose all the things you get from the focus.

 

[Akasi]

Last time I tried Ahistorical and Japan went Shogunate then Empire Non Aligned. The problem was that he didnt go to war with anyone, just build a lot of stuff. Also, he took some focuses that lowered my autonomy.
I dont know what to do, if he goes againts china then i cannot get free and he will be bigger after the victory. If he just sits then he can build a lot faster than I do so that's not good either...
I can't make my own wars and cannot switch to commie to get some soviet support...

 

[Ryousan2k]

You don't have to go to war with China though...
Assertiveness gives you a puppet level that lets you decline Japan's CTA, just make sure not to "raise" your autonomy and loose all the things you get from the focus.

How you do that? every time the War starts Im immediatly called to arms

 

[Reman]

Manchukuo isn't that difficult if you know their focus tree. Here are some tips:

• Japan doesn't respond in the normal way to the focus that starts the independence war. Since you're a subject, they don't rush to fortify their border when you start taking the focus. This allows you to take most of their land without opposition. It's very easy to take almost the entire Korean peninsula with this trick, putting them in a very precarious position.
• Japan will almost always beat the Chinese. It's happened in 5 out of 5 games I've played so far. From the above tip, it also happens that Japan is the easier of the two enemies for you to fight. Hence, you'll want to wait until Japan has advanced deep into Chinese territory before you strike to make things easier on yourself.
• When I got the peace deal with Japan after expelling them from the mainland, I also got a peace deal with China. I'm not sure if this happens all the time, but you can use the pause to build up.
• Manchukuo has a very important focus that sends an offer of subjugation to the 5 warlords (but not to Communist/Nationalist China). I didn't use this in my game but I highly recommend you do so. There's a 50% chance for each warlord to accept and it can make your job significantly easier. In my first game I had to slog against the entire Chinese United Front until 1945. In my second game I won the civil war in a few months when 3 warlords became my puppet through the focus . Just annex the warlords after the civil war is over to get the Mandate.

 

[Ryousan2k]

When I got the peace deal with Japan after expelling them from the mainland, I also got a peace deal with China. I'm not sure if this happens all the time, but you can use the pause to build up.

It turned out it is true. You can avoid War with CHina altogether by not raising your autonomy level beyond Imperial Subject

 

[ZivDero]

How you do that? every time the War starts Im immediatly called to arms

The Assertiveness focus gives you a special autonomy level that lets you decline your overlord's CTA. Just make sure not to get rid of it by "increasing" your autonomy via the usual button.

 

[TromleTromle]

Hello. I want to form Empire of China, so at some point war with Japan is mandatory. So far I tried 3 times and everytime I got crushed. I even waited for Japan to be at war with China but altough we managed to kick him out of mainland then China ate me because we were at war. I also tried to befriend Soviets but don't want me in Comintern cos im neutral and i dont know how to flip to commie because there is no advisor....
So...do you have some advice, strategy...anything?

Timing Timing & Timing !!!!

Go "Assertiveness" and do not form the manchu guards.
Focus on Inf. equipment - no need for anything else.
Build up 2x24INF armies with 5-7 bat in eaach - no arty or support needed.
Have 1x12 Cavalry army ready (expand your starting one)
as well as an 1x24INF (reserve) with 3 bat in each.
Plus you will get your 1x12 units from the the focus below white russians advisors.
I went with Mass Mob (right side) land doctrine.

Join JAP war against china - BUT dont do any combat.
have 1 army on Korea (it is self-sustainable)
have your reserve army on Menkukao (it is also self-sustainable)
have your events/focus units guards army guard ports (VIP) and take Dalian.
And have your last main army + cav push beijing and south.

THE KEY: MAKE YOUR INDEPENDENCE WAR FOCUS TRIGGER WITH JAP TWO (2) FIELDS away from Chongqing...
- since you be at war with CHI+JAP - you want them embroiled as much as possible - but you don't want the Chinese out either.
- so simply follow the war and join at the critical time.

Korea: You should overrun 2/3 of it easily - and the you need clever mismanagement to take Busan,
Meng: Your forces here are going to take the COM CHI mountains - micromangement
China: 1st phase - get beijing, 2nd phase, push to Qingdao and the river & regroup - try to do encirclements with your CAV all along 3rd phase, at some point the two-front war will break the JAP and you should enter Nanjing - then the rest is mop-up (because JAP & CHI spent each other - they both had 400k in field left, and losses of 2,5 and 0,8 m)

In my game - went to action summer 1939. Won china spring 1941. Ate Tokyo autumn 1944.

And yes - You are simultaneous taking out CHINA - as they are a spent force, you have cores on their provinces (with the focus above mandate of heaven), and because you envelop envelopments!

 

[Akasi]

I finally managed to reclaim almost everything, beat japan and so on.
The problem is that i can't pick now the mandate of heaven focus. I dont understand how to take it. It asks me to take some chinese states owned by western powers and when i took them through war, still cant take the focus

 

[Patriot]

You need to go down the shared china tree and begin re-negotiating the unequal treaties.

 

[Akasi]

I researched everything now...I don't know maybe I did something wrong. Probably I need to start again. The whole point was to declare myself Empire of Qing China

 

[loksunl]

I finally managed to reclaim almost everything, beat japan and so on.
The problem is that i can't pick now the mandate of heaven focus. I dont understand how to take it. It asks me to take some chinese states owned by western powers and when i took them through war, still cant take the focus

you need all core province and some of the exception like Hong Kong is named in the focus.

 

[loksunl]

Timing Timing & Timing !!!!


THE KEY: MAKE YOUR INDEPENDENCE WAR FOCUS TRIGGER WITH JAP TWO (2) FIELDS away from Chongqing...
- since you be at war with CHI+JAP - you want them embroiled as much as possible - but you don't want the Chinese out either.
- so simply follow the war and join at the critical time.

Korea: You should overrun 2/3 of it easily - and the you need clever mismanagement to take Busan,
Meng: Your forces here are going to take the COM CHI mountains - micromangement
China: 1st phase - get beijing, 2nd phase, push to Qingdao and the river & regroup - try to do encirclements with your CAV all along 3rd phase, at some point the two-front war will break the JAP and you should enter Nanjing - then the rest is mop-up (because JAP & CHI spent each other - they both had 400k in field left, and losses of 2,5 and 0,8 m)

In my game - went to action summer 1939. Won china spring 1941. Ate Tokyo autumn 1944.

And yes - You are simultaneous taking out CHINA - as they are a spent force, you have cores on their provinces (with the focus above mandate of heaven), and because you envelop envelopments!

Your advice better than mine and save my time for typing

wish i did thought into details like you. my backstab was too safe, all attack from my territory,

Here my take for rebuild the Qing ...but soviet union was just too strong... almost 5 time strong as me