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marty01 -> Random Thoughts on Japanese Oil Supply (11/23/2021 4:04:53 PM)
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Played through this strategy in a recent 41-campaign. I played the Allies -- Japan was the AI. I found I could crowd Java, Sumatra and Borneo with a hodgepodge of Indian, American and Australian Troops within a few turns of the Campaign Starting. The AI could not adapt to the situation and the result was the Japan was never able to secure its strategic oil production.
What was interesting is that the lack of Sumatra and Borneo oil seemed to have only minor impacts on the AI's ability to move ships or aircraft during the course of the campaign. Or at least that was my perspective from the "other side of the hill" -- so to speak. This is in contrast to what happens when I play the Japanese vs the AI and dont secure the Borneo and Sumatra oil field very early in the 1941 campaign. I run out of oil by around Feb of 1942. No ship or air movement is possible after that. So its sort of a two edged question. Where on the map is the Japanese AI getting its oil when it fails to secure the East Indies? And, should the availability of Allied transports be scaled back to curtail unrealistic concentrations of Allied ground units in Java, Sumatra and Borneo early in the game?
A corollary to the above: The early availability Allied naval transports allows the Allied Player to crowd the Solomon Islands with Australian and American units. This makes it nearly impossible for the AI to occupy Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Bougainville, etc. It also results the Allies gaining very important airbases within the Solomon Islands fairly early in 1942. Granted this is hindsight stuff for me after fiddling with the 41-Campaign multiple times and realizing the potential provided by early availability of Allied Transports and the ability to secure fairly key terrain at no real cost.
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