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Riva Ridge -> What I have Learned as Japanese Player (1/6/2007 9:54:34 PM)
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Relatively newer player compared to folks here and am in two PBMs, one Japanese and one Allied against good players. Here is what I have learned as a Japanese Player in the early war months...
1. Relax and play the game. Don't get overly frustrated (it is okay to get a little frustrated). Don't advertise that you can do dozen turns a week when 3-5 is what you can really swing. If you find yourself getting burned out, take a break for a day or two. Don't quit on a player (I have not but I started two PBMs where players quit in the first couple of weeks without a word).
2. Singapore is the most dangerous point on the map. It is the most important military objective for the Japanese. It needs to be neutralized through massed air-raids immediately or else your opponet will build it in a near unstoppable air strong-point. Get your forces down the Malay Pensiula quickly and reinforce the drive until complete. May it the focus of your air-ground forces.
3. Critical to taking Singapore is taking Kuching. It allows you to dominate the southern approach to Singapore and bomb the Palemberg air-fields which will be used against your troops on their final approach to Singapore.
4. Don't attack into Burma right off the bat!!! Unless your opponent is negligent, he will be able build forces quicker than what you can commit. If he is motivated, he will accept sea losses and he can rapidly build 50-80,000 troops vicinity of Rangoon and Moulmein. You are better served committing those troops to the Singapore drive. The exception is taking Tavoy. It makes a nice place to put a squadron of Nells which which will pick ships off trying to reinforce Rangoon. Once Singapore and Manilla are secured, you will have more than enough troops to make a drive into Burma if that is what you want to do.
5. Don't be in a rush in the Phillipines. You are going to win. The only real variable is time. Opponents are gong to eventually hole up in Manilla or Bataan and then you can spend a couple of months bombarding them with artillery and LBAs and eat their supplies where they will fall easily enough. Don't waste your momentum on your drive into DEI or taking Singapore to hasten the fall of Manilla.
6. Don't land at Legaspi with anything less than a Division if you are going to land there at all. Allied player can get enough force down there to kick you out in the first week or two of the war.
7. Your opponent may attempt to evacuate his aircraft from Phillipines and the logical route for most is down to Davao or Cagayan and then out one of the DEI airfields. If you are quick in your drive into the DEI, you will reduce the ability to evacuate any of his short-range aircraft.
8. Allied opponents start off with lots of ships at sea that are vulnerable. Hit what you can but don't bother hunting down every one of them with your naval units. LBAs in the right locations will do wonders.
9. Allieds start with lots of ships in ports in Manilla and Singapore. Once air-defenses are suitably surpressed, hit his ports which will have a dramatic effect on any early game sub offensive that he may try to embark upon. Also, a surface task force posted near Manilla in the very begininng of the game will kill alot of allied shipping.
10. Pearl Harbor strike? Yes. A second strike will cause more damage to your squadrons but is still good idea. But afterwards, keeping the KB in the Pearl area will really hamper his ability to evacuate ships or attempt to reinforce positions in the Central Pacific. If you opponent is not paying attention, you can definitely cause some damage in subsequent turns if he tries to get ships to/from Pearl.
11. In the Central Pacific, the most critical piece of terrain is Canton Island. Taking Canton Island early is imperative and will add weeks onto any transit time from Pearl to Australia. The Allied Player will eventually take Canton Island away at some point but I am convinced that for every month in 1942 that you hold Canton Island, you are adding an extra month on to the game absent some truly momentous event elsewhere.
12. The most critical points in Ambonia in the early game are Mandoro, Kendari, Ambonia, Brunei. I suscribe that those need to be taken before any other objective in the DEI because this will hamper any efforts to reinforce the DEI and give you a commanding position to take the other objectives you need to take.
13. China. Nanchang is your most vulnerable position to begin with but you should be able to defend it. Don't get fixated on Changsa or Yenan in the beginning. There are other points that are vulnerable that won't require you having to fight through the teeth of Chinese defenses in the very beginning.
14. Aircraft, replace your dive bombers with Sonias as soon as possible. They are far more survivable than the other pre-war Japanese dive bombers and your Dive Bomber losses will be much less if you do this. Get the best fighters possible as quickly as possible. Replace Claudes with Zeroes as soon as possible. Replace front-line squadrons with Oscars as quickly as possible though Nates are fine for secondary theaters (China, Manchuria). Replace Nells with Betties and Sallys with Helens as soon as possible but choose carefully as your LBAs are one of your most precious weapons.
15. Besides Carriers, the three ship classes that need to be paid attention too are your CAs, DDs, and APs. Your heavy cruisers are your most potent all-around warship and will maul allied CAs in one-on-one fights in the early months of the war. Your DDs are INCREDIBLY precious and you will absolutely need them as the sub-war heats up. It is easy to lose track of losses in your Destroyers but you will miss them. Large APs are very important for troop transports and as you transition to the Defense, they will be what you need to rapidly move forces around to reinforce points on the line.
16. Your CVs are far more vulnerable than the Allied CVs and they cannot withstand a serious pelting by aircraft...but don't be too conservative with them either. They are your most powerful mobile asset and there effects are magnified in the first six months of the war. Use them to support your drive.
Anyrate, these points I believe are important and I state them because I violated near everyone of these and learned them the hard way. I wish I had known these going into my first games. I think I will be better opponent my next PBM by having failed miserably and learning these lessons.
C
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