Possibile routes of Attack for Japanese and American offensives

[Falcon02]

Here are some maps I made up for potential Japanese and American offensives. I tried to have most attacks on cities be launched from a mount. or hill, and not have our forces ever attack across a river. I welcome any feedback you are willing to give, even if it's "I don't like it, here's a better proposal." I just ask that any criticism be productive.

I felt like it would be a simple matter to take out Buffalo and St. Louis after we finish this offensive, so I didn't include them since they would be just cleanup.

The Yellow circle denotes an Iron resource which I feel should be taken from the Japanese before continuing to take the western cities.

 

[Bill_in_PDX]

Excellent plans Herr General.

I wonder if in an attack on Japan, we would not also look to put forces into the mountains just outside Hakodate, to facilitate a quick strike on Kyoto itself?

A move against Hakodate - Kyoto - Osaka would be daring, and carry some risk as the eastern Japanese cities would not be the priority, but when successful, it would cripple the Japanese war effort, and split the nation in two.

If conducted in conjunction with a Russian alliance, it would ensure that the majority of Japanese cities are encircled in our territory for future liberation.

 

[Octavian X]

An excellent plan. My only concern comes from from the fact that any expedition we send into either nation would be there for an extended period. Any attack would have to be put off until we have a considerably larger force.

 

[Cyc]

Good plan for the Japanese, General (my first prefered target). If I were to suggest any changes it would be to let some of our late arriving troops take out Izumo. Take Sapporo, by your entry method as our first strike, and then head straight for the heartland. Hit Satsuma and then Kyoto, and then Osaka and the iron. Hakodate can wait for the reinforcements like Izumo. As we may be using mostly Horseman for the assault, we should stick to the grasslands. The rivers will slow us up enough.

 

[FortyJ]

I agree that the Japanese plan is the preferred plan of action. I also agree that we should explore the possibility of moving some troops into the Gem Mountains to facilitate a quick strike towards the Japanese capitol and source of iron.

Also, they may not have Samurai yet, but it would be foolish to assume that they do not have Swordsmen already in the field. I think that we should not attempt this assault unless we can get an ally before the start or shortly after the initial assault.

 

[Almightyjosh]

I think heading straight to the capital and the iron is a good move, it will effectively cripple the Japanese. If we attack straight from our territory (ie without pre-placing troops) and just work from the outside in, we give them too much time to prepare. One of the main strengths of our army currently is offensive strength, not so much defence, so we want to reduce their ability to counter attack as much as possible!

With the Americans, I think the plan is good, but remember that it is sometimes good to delay taking the capital (as it causes a new capital with greater defensive strength, but you knew that).

I'm gonna attempt 20/20 again...

 

[Fier Canadien]

I see a little problem with the Japanese expedition:
The main force will probably be too slow to arrive in Osaka to prevent them
to build samuraï. There should be a small expedition passing south of Tokyo
directly to the Iron source, leaving all battles to the main force, even with
an alliance withi Russia or Bab.
So:

That's what my idea looks like.

 

[Lecky]

I pretty much like Falc's Japan plan. Just a few ideas.

F.Can.'s interdiction force idea is brilliant, but it will need high mobility as well as high defensive capabilities if it is to hold out until the main force arrives. If we go ahead with this, we must think carefully about how to compose this force (ie. which units)so that it can actually reach its destination, and once there have a decent chance of survival for at least a meaningful number of turns. Anyway, if we can work this out, it will be an excellent denial force and give the enemy a major distraction from our main thrust - even if it can just reach its objective and hold out for a few turns.

Otherwise, and if numbers will permit, I think we should consider splitting the main assault after capturing Saporo and attack Hakodate and Satsuma separately and (if possible) simultaneously. The forces should then rejoin for a combined assault on the capital, Kyoto.

 

[FortyJ]

I agree that the pre-emptive strike towards the iron deposit is a good idea. Keep in mind that a stack of horsemen would require 13 turns to reach the Japanese borders from New Falcon's Nest. If we are going to do this, we should begin immediately.

 

[naervod]

I agree that we should have a pre-emptive strike at the iron. An idea that worked in one of my games as Russia: I used my main fighting force (Cossacks, Cannons) to attack from several directions while I sent a few Cossacks with 3 speed to hit the iron resources the Germans were using to build their Knights(They were in a bad location so they didn't have any saltpeter). I cut off the resources and all they could use against me were a few leftover Knights, Longbowmen, Horsemen and city defense with leftover Pikemen but mostly Spearman.

I believe we should set a force up northwest of Kyoto and drive down to Kyoto and Hakodate, then send 2 Horsemen to pillage the road around the Iron and maybe take Osaka.

 

[Fier Canadien]

I forgot to mention that it should be done QUICK.

 

[Octavian X]

That's rather obvious. If we are to use horsemen, it would be likely they could be destroyed by anything in Japanese territory, or an archer escorting a settler in that Gem Mountian territory. For such an interdiction, I would use a large stack to ensure it reaches the area, or either horses of swords.

 

[Falcon02]

if we take a stack of horsemen to that tile east of Tokyo, which is outside their borders we could declare war AFTER these units are in place, this would prevent the Japs from attempting to attack the stack before it reaches that point, increasing it's chances of success.

I think the stack would have to be entirely horsemen and probobly about 5-10 units. After we take the Iron we could start taking cities from the west to the east and work on merging the two forces, and hopefully doing more damage.

 

[Bill_in_PDX]

I think that is a good approach General Falcon, however we had best move quickly on that strategy for it will not be too long before culture seals those gaps.

 

[Octavian X]

Another concern. This is something we should consider before our attack.

Also, are we sure that the Japanese didn't build a city directly on the iron, as we did?

 

[Falcon02]

Octavian, I'm sure, the only city built on a resource is Edo, and that has game.

Thanks to your question I just checked the tiles of every Japanese city to verify that fact.

 

[Cyc]

That would put their Iron city awfully close to Osaka.

Ya know, it's just a thought, but if we brought that stack in to the mountains from Valhalla or Kuhkaff, it might be a quicker route. I'll check it out.

EDIT: Yeah, bringing horses in from Morgana across the northern route through Valhalla or Kuhkaff (both the same), straight across the mountains to the grass lands East of tokyo would get them there 9 turns sooner than the southern route. Horses from Bavaria would get there with a 10 turn gap. At least that's what I see.

 

[Falcon02]

I just thought of something else, there's a patch on the southern route which is closer to Osaka. I think it would take about 13 turns (from Octavinium) to get to that mountian. We'd also be able to attack Osaka in 3 turns from the gathering point, assuming their borders don't expand on us.

Since I can't post a screenshot just now, it's the mountian about 4 tiles south (1 tile SW of the plains tile the 4 tile S get's you) of Osaka, the lower of those two adjacent mountians down there.

 

[Cyc]

To help explain my post above about a Northern Route, I've put together a little map. This plan assumes that Bavaria and Morgana will remain our main stables for the production of Horsemen. With this in mind, the 11 and 12 turn moves by Horsemen using the Northern Route would place them 3 turns away from the Iron. The 11 and 12 turn moves by Horsemen using the Southern Route would place them 15 turns away from the Iron.

This being the case, we may even want to use this Northern Route for our main strike force. We could use the Southern Route for the SE Japanese cities. I guess my plan of attacking up river wasn't such a good plan after all. Although placing cities on the riverbanks has merit.

 

[Falcon02]

Cyc, keep in mind the objective of the expidtionary force is the Iron near Osaka, not the NE cities, that's why I'm thinking of the southern route, we won't have to FIGHT THROUGH as far, which could potentially take less turns.