Aurorus
Posts: 1314
Joined: 5/26/2014 Status: offline
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The problem with trying to use China as a primary center for VP accumulation is the supply cost per VP gained. That is the point that I am making. In a full-scale offensive in China with large numbers engaged over extended periods, either in big stacks or at numerous points along a line, you will have to ship approximately 1K to 1.5K supply per day into China from Honshu. Limiting China to native supplies only, those produced in Korea and China, will still give you enough for some limited actions in China and free up approximately 1/2 million supply through 1942 for other theaters. How does this relate to VPs? To illustrate the point in a grossly oversimplified manner. Flying 3 fighters on CAP uses 1 supply point. If those 3 fighters shoot down an allied level bomber, that is a 1 supply point for 2 VP. You could never hope to achieve anything like that in China. In order to achieve auto-victory, let us say on January 1, 1944, you will have to accumlate 3 to 1 VPs to the allies. So, for the purposes of auto-victory, actually you must destroy 6 times as many devices in China as you lose. If you destroy Australian units, however, you need only destroy 1.5 times as many devices as you lose (since 3 Australian devices count for 1 VP and 6 Japanese devices count for 1 VP). The supply cost for attacking Australian units and Chinese units is of course the same. From a strategic perspective, I think China is less important than most Japanese players believe. Supply flowing into China is limited by the supply capacity of the bases in Burma, which is further limited by any allied units drawing supply from these bases and by the Monsoon season. Moreover, the supply path is rather long, so what surplus of the limited supply that draws from Burma bases will be further reduced. The real trick is to keep the allies either out of Burma for as long as possible, or drawing supply from the limited capacity Burma bases for as long as possible. Once the allies are able to draw supply from Rangoon and the port bases in Thailand, however, the gig is up, supply will begin to move into China in some quantity, and the Chinese army will begin to "awake." Until this point in time, (until Rangoon falls), strategic bombing from China should be a frustrating proposition for the allies. If the allies do decide to strategically bomb from Chungking, the will use the supply needed to "wake up" the Chinese army. Hence, from a strategic point-of-view, China is completely useless to the allies so long as Burma is yours or the allies have a large army drawing supply from bases in Burma. After this point in time, the allies must make a decision: either strategically bomb from Chungking or rebuild the Chinese army to start an offensive. They will probably not be able to do both effectively. The allies have nearly unlimited access to supply everywhere on the map, except China. That is why China is not as strategically important as most Japanese players believe, in my opinion.
< Message edited by Aurorus -- 8/9/2017 7:09:29 AM >
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