War is Inevitable: AoI 4.0 Japan

[Tani Coyote]

===1911: WW2 Pt X (Weeks 1, 5, 9, 13, 17)===

Spoiler :

Week 1, the Turks take Malta from the British, though they lose Tripoli to the French. We dispatch 2000 gold to the Turks to help them in their struggle.

The week is uneventful; while blows are dealt to Cyprus and troops are landed in Hispaniola, no territory is seized.

Week 5, the Boers take Durban thanks to our assistance, granting them a port. It is no surprise the Japanese begin to view the Boers as a client state of Japan.

We seize control of Haiti, thus putting us in position to evict the Americans from the Caribbean once and for all.

Week 9, France and Spain go to war. We move artillery into position to guard the entrance to Barcelona and thus prevent a rapid attack. Spain is at war with Germany and Austria as well, but we doubt there will be much territorial change given how utter crap our rivals are at sieges.

We take Cyprus from the Brits. While we debate bombarding Gibraltar, there are so many units in the city (mostly naval) we reason it would do little good.

In the Pacific, we maintain our siege of Midway Island, killing eight Colonial Sentry Brigades. With more units showing up that are redlined or at least yellow, it becomes apparent we can in fact gradually wear down the defenses.

Week 13, Germany and Austria declare war on France. Western Europe is officially a free for all. The Boers join in on the fun and declare war on France as well.

Midway continues to be stubborn, but unlike the AI, we know how to use a doomstack, and our human wave tactics combined with massive artillery barrages have done well in reducing the number of troops on the island.

Santo Domingo falls, and America goes from 22 Battleships and 4 smaller vessels to 7 battleships and 2 smaller vessels. Half their transport fleet is wiped out as well. Don’t put all your fleets in one basket!

With Santo Domingo taken, all airships are sent to Villahermosa, where they can safely bomb Jamaica and Belize without fear of reprisal. Once our units have recovered, we will launch an invasion of Jamaica.

The destruction of the Midway Garrison is a huge blow to American morale. The United States military maintains dozens of units in Alaska, but alas, they are of little use when they can’t even ship them anywhere. With only two turns left in our pact against the Americans, we decide to not pursue control of Alaska; it is much too poor and much too isolated to be of strategic use. America has been defeated either way, and with Naval Infantry en route to American Samoa, we will ensure they are reduced to a city-state.

The Australian campaign continues to stall due to lack of sufficient land-based artillery, but with each passing month we’re gaining more and more Mountain Guns.

 

[Tani Coyote]

===1911: WW2 Pt XI (Weeks 21, 25, 29, 33)===

Spoiler :

The fall of Canberra comes at long last. While the Canberran garrison did an excellent job of holding back the flow of Japanese troops for months, even they could not turn the tide of the war. An Australian invasion force has used the stalemate at Canberra to slip through, but they will be dealt with shortly. For now, all Infantry and artillery are upgraded in the capital of Australia.

Only a week after Canberra comes Melbourne, the city having been an easy target due to constant bombing by the Japanese navy. While an invasion of Tasmanian is considered, it is decided that the Japanese Empire shall finish off Australia first, then swing eastward to take Tasmanian before sailing onward to New Zealand.

Week 25, we acquire Kingston, ending the British rule over Jamaica. No sooner has it fallen that with rapid speed, the artillery posted there are deployed outside Belize, where they rendezvous with some forces from the former United States.

The loss of Adelaide and three Australian Cavalry further erodes Britain’s authority in Australia. The Westralians have more or less declared independence, but Japan will have none of that – their cities are sparsely-populated and ripe for Japanese settlement.

Our conquest of Pago Pago expels the Americans from Samoa; they are left only with Alaska. As the city has 22 Colonial Sentries, 22 Volunteer Cavalry, 7 Volunteer Infantry and more, we are not inclined to try and take it. Our alliances have expired, and America has forever been banished to mediocrity.

The Treaty of Yokohama humiliates America, the choice of location specifically meant to be ironic: it is signed in the same city where the United States forcibly opened Japan to trade many decades ago. The Treaty’s most important provisions are the United States paying an indemnity of more than ten percent of their annual GDP for the next year and a half, while also stripping them of all their former territory and requiring the United States be dissolved in favor of the “United Republic of Alaska.”

The Alaskans are then asked to end the war similar to how it began: by declaring war on Britain and the Lowlands.

The Americans were spared the destruction of their country, even if just barely. For Britain and the Lowlands, however, the High Command desires no fate other than complete obliteration.

We seize Belize, evicting the British from the North American continent at long last. More importantly, it gives us a forward base to use against the Central Americans; the Japanese government desires to eliminate the diplomatic liability of Central America, while also gradually rolling down the continent towards Panama. Only with Panama’s acquisition can Japan hope to truly manage world politics.

Week 33, Portugal declares war on Spain.

But even better, we acquire Perth as a new place to send Japanese settlers. Perth will soon join Darwin, Brisbane, and Melbourne as majority-Japanese settlements. All forces converge on Port Hedland to evict Britain from Australia completely.

 

[MTB4884]

Another great update, SonicTH! Good work!

Does the Japanese victory mean that Sarah Palin can become the new President of Alaska?

 

[Tani Coyote]

Another great update, SonicTH! Good work!

Does the Japanese victory mean that Sarah Palin can become the new President of Alaska?

Why thank you!

In all likelihood, given that I can only presume the Unitary State of Alaska is going to be a hypernationalist, archconservative regime in the coming century.

If I decide not to blow it up, anyway.

 

[Tani Coyote]

==1911: WW2 Pt XII (Weeks 37, 41, 45, 49)===

Spoiler :

Just like Perth, Australia’s last major settlement puts up no resistance. Much of Britain’s Civil Engineer Corps are killed outside the city; Britain only has 1 Civil Engineer left in the whole empire, with his work constantly being frustrated by bombers outside London. With only 1 Colonial Conscript Worker group as well, Britain is rather screwed from an infrastructure perspective.

Week 45, Italy declares war on France, while the Turks declare war on Russia. The Mahdists declare war on both France and the Boers.

The Solomon Islands are captured, while troops land in Bismarck-Archipel to reclaim the isle from the British. With Australia and America both a non-issue, Britain’s minor Pacific territories are now up for grabs.

Tasmania falls with no losses shortly afterward; the populace do not even bother to resist, welcoming Japan as a liberator. The British only maintain Bismarck-Archipel and New Zealand. Transports set out for New Zealand with troops.

Week 49, Portugal declares war on France, while Russia goes to war with Spain.

We seize Bismarck Archipel, leaving Britain with only New Zealand in the Pacific. World War II has raged for two and a half years, and has seen a radical restructuring of the global order, with Japan owning 28% of the world’s land and 27% of its population.

We take Wellington, taking the Dominion of New Zealand’s capital, which grants us a free Civil Engineer every 20 turns. We will use any such engineers to carve up New Zealand’s irrigation for mines, a few million starving civilians be damned.

 

[Redman]

Nice AoI4-story Sonic!

 

[Tani Coyote]

Thank you! All comments are appreciated.

==1912: WW2 Pt XIII (Weeks 1-29)==

Spoiler :

We take Dunedin, kicking the British out of New Zealand and the entire Pacific. The Brits continue to cling to their large Southern African holdings and a few scattered Atlantic territories, but they are clearly in their death throes. Already, most of Japan’s 184 Airships have been dispatched to Amsterdam and tasked with bombing London into oblivion in preparation for a punitive expedition.

London is starting to look worse for wear, and we haven’t even started to make use of our naval vessels that have just reached the Channel yet… With more airships flying into Amsterdam by the day, it is only a matter of time before our Naval Infantry can begin to regularly pick off British soldiers.

Week 13, we take Coquilhatville, driving the Dutch to their last city of Elizabethville. The Congo has been torn between French, Brazilian, and now Japanese forces, with the Dutch generously “donating” their lands to these powers.

Week 21, the British deploy much of the London garrison westward towards Plymouth to try and repel a Portuguese invasion of the Land’s End. This works to our advantage – we redline the defenders of London and slaughter its machinegunners and City Guard with our Naval Infantry. Analysts suggest that, if the British don’t recall their forces, it may in fact be possible to seize the city amphibiously within the next month. London has declined, once a center of commerce with 60 million people in its metropolitan area, but now it is a mere 6 million.

Week 25, the Blitz continues to decimate Britain’s capital. The British military has gone northward this time around, presumably to fend off a German invasion of Middlesborough. Doing so has left London vulnerable – Naval Infantry kill 10 of their divisions. Battleships have also torn the Irish Iron deposits apart, thus eliminating the flow of new British ships for good.

Week 29, the German Alliance makes peace with both France and Spain.

But more importantly, London falls. The Naval Infantry do their job well, clearing the way for a huge influx of Japanese troops into the capital of what was once the world’s greatest empire. The British are humiliated, their sole consolation being the escape of the Government to the Falklands, an island fortress.

It is perfect timing that the British had just completed roadways to their local Coal and Iron deposits, thus allowing the city to be repurposed for industrial usage right off the bat. However, that is long-term; in the short term, holding onto London is the key detail. With a swarm of British forces not too far away and the Germans in the area too few to dent them, all airships and naval vessels are ordered to participate in a purge of British forces by shelling the crap out of them.

While the Brits are numerous, they are no match for the sheer size of the Japanese air force. The aftermath of the bombings sees the destruction of 15 British divisions with the loss of 1 Cavalry.

 

[Redman]

Incredible that you've conquered USA and now London!

 

[dragonprobably]

Brilliant story, Sonic!

 

[Redman]

Update?

 

[Tani Coyote]

Thank you all!

Ask and you shall receive.

===1912: WW2 Pt XIV (Weeks 33-49)==

Spoiler :

Week 33, we take Elizabethville, our Corps making all the difference when we have so little artillery. With the city, the Dutch Empire ceases to exist, the Japanese Empire having established itself as a major player in Europe. Troops are ordered to keep pushing south into British Africa, with the goal being the seizure of British coal supplies so as to supply Japan’s African territory with steel for railways.

It is also apparent the French menace has replaced the British one, with the Germans and Portuguese both losing territory to the French.

The people of Plymouth do not bother to resist in Week 37. The Land’s End is due to become a major center of Japanese settlement, to such an extent that all occupied territories in the United Kingdom have been rechristened “New Japan.” Civil Engineers have already completed a road into Plymouth by the time it falls, thus keeping supply lines strong; another group of engineers is doing the same for Liverpool.

Week 41, we take Liverpool without resistance. The Welsh people have been almost completely wiped out, but at least it makes for large tracts of land for Japanese settlers to occupy. Engineers travelling with the military soon build roads into Liverpool.

This allows for the quick seizure of Middlesborough. While its people resist, there is little that can be done – there are less than one million Englishmen left in the entire world thanks to Japan’s thorough ethnic cleansing of the British Isles. London holds about 500,000 of them. In this context, Parliament’s open debates of declaring the whites of South Africa full English citizens makes plenty of sense.

Week 45, we see a British fleet that has left Bermuda heading towards Cuba. They have not deployed troops, but just to be safe, we sink it with our naval artillery.

Better yet, Glasgow is taken (albeit at the loss of a regular Infantry unit), beginning the push into Scotland and eliminating the British coal industry. Our German allies are working to take Scapa, but as we have ships in the area…

We take it first. Captured relatively intact, Scotland is granted independence in personal union with the Japanese Empire, while England and Wales are completely annexed into said Empire, given that the English are the minority in every major city.

Plans are made to invade Ireland, but for now, the Empire basks in victory over the British, having driven them from the island for which they are named while also having made it nearly impossible to take the Isles back.

In South Africa, we charge Broken Hill’s defenses with our Corps units, softening them up enough to make artillery more effective; to keep casualties low in an area where reinforcements are scarce (courtesy of the French being jackasses and blocking all available routes with raw materials), we do not press the attack further after killing a few of their divisions.

Week 49, while the Turks have been doing a fantastic job in conquering Persia, they are attacked by Austria-Hungary. A European war will surely tie them up… thus leaving more of Persia for us.

The French, meanwhile, lose three Cavalry charging Broken Hill in a poor attempt to steal it from us.

1912 concludes with the fall of Broken Hill, opening the gates of British Africa to our forces. Money is to be poured into rushing units in the area so we may have a better invasion force; lack of reliable communications back to Egypt means that the forces fighting in the Congo and further south are effectively on their own.

A world map. Note the Turkish and French expansion.

 

[dragonprobably]

All this Japan on Britain action reminds me of Not Now John by Pink Floyd.

 

[Redman]

Hmmm, quiet here..

 

[Tani Coyote]

Someone called for another Japanese-administered asswhoopin'?

===1913: WW2 Pt XV (Weeks 1-25)===

Spoiler :

We receive word that the Persians have been eliminated by the Turks. If nothing else that is one less diplomatic loose end. The unification of the Shi’ites with the Sunni under Ottoman rule is a cause of much joy by the Ottoman Caliphate.

An amphibious assault takes Cork, penetrating Ireland’s defenses and allowing for the rapid transportation of troops onto the Emerald Isle from Plymouth.

Dublin is also seized mere days after we have stormed the beaches. The loss of a Cavalry force stings us, but nowhere near as bad as Britain’s being driven from all industrial territory does them.

Or was it? We discover they have seized the Portuguese Madeira Islands. This couldn’t be more perfect – taking the Islands would give us a place to put our airships so that they could bomb Gibraltar until all the British ships within are sent to the bottom. All ships relieved of bombing Ireland proceed due south to begin the lengthy process of ending Britain’s Mediterranean presence. In the meantime, all airships are relocated to Africa – they will give the troops there much needed artillery support.

The conquest of Abercorn puts us one step closer to our goal: the Coal of Kalomo.

Week 9, China and France go to war… we are hopeful that the Chinese hordes will eat away at Indochina. As part of French containment, we send 2500 to China and 1500 to Germany.

With Kalomo, we finally acquire some coal in Africa, which can be paired with the Iron outside Cairo to make steel for railroads. With an ever expanding… ahem, “volunteer” labor force in Africa, we will hopefully be able to build railways stretching across the Sudan so as to allow for easy shuffling of troops between Egypt and our growing African Empire. With the arrival of hundreds of airships from Europe, the African Theater suddenly looks all the more grave for the British; once they lose control of the Cape Colony and its surroundings, they are restricted to scattered island outposts.

Apparently having a deathwish, the Chinese declare war on the Ottoman Empire. It is assumed that all of Chinese India will soon be either French or Turkish.

Bulawayo is taken, giving us a direct communications line with the Boer Republics. The Boers hold several strategic positions in southern Africa, which will enable us to strike practically anywhere.

Week 17, the Balkans declare war on the Ottomans.

Mafeking’s seizure puts us in range of the coastline, where a large fleet stands ready to shell the crap out of Britain’s coastal positions.

Our steady move across South Africa continues with the fall of Kimberley. The Colonial Rifle Brigades have a mere attack of 6, but that’s more than ample enough to take out enemies when they’re redlined. We now have a clear shot at the coastline.

Week 25, we see a British flotilla with a Steam Transport en route to Scotland; we sink all but the Steam Transport, dealing a blow to the British fleet by sinking two more of their Battleships. While we presume the Transport will land in Scotland, we have enough troops in the British Isles to massacre whatever they can muster. We also show them how a REAL landing is done by landing a Corps and two supporting units in the Madeira Islands; once the African campaign is a wrap, we can deploy all Airships to Madeira to destroy the British fleet at Gibraltar.

The fall of Port Nollith cuts British South Africa in half, with the former German Southwest Africa now separated from British headquarters at Cape Town.

Luderitz shortly follows thanks to a Corps that has yet to recover its full strength. This allows all naval vessels to converge on Cape Town – the British Empire retains only three cities in South Africa.

 

[Redman]

Nice update Sonic. A lot of raw materials in Africa just sitting there! Have you secured them?

 

[Tani Coyote]

Most of them are under the control of other powers I'm at peace with, so I've just left them there. I've started using my own raw materials to block the route between my cities since the AI keeps blocking my path across the whole continent.

Personally I disdain the AI's preference to secure units abroad, then ship them home - means entire stacks of raw materials sitting around doing nothing until I go to war with the owner.

 

[Redman]

I understand, the AI is not smart enough..

Another question: how much artillery do you need now and in the beginning to win battles?

 

[Tani Coyote]

I always bring a few dozen in the beginning simply because they're fairly poor with accuracy and damage. Later battles are more manageable, but I still bring two dozen or so unless a city is lightly-defended.

 

[Redman]

The A/D-values of the attacking troops increases also ofcourse.

Do we get an update soon by the way?

 

[Tani Coyote]

The Second World War continues with the Royal Navy being of little use besides target practice for the superior Japanese fleet.

===1913: WW2 Pt XVI (Weeks 29-49)===

Spoiler :

Week 29, France declares war on the Balkan Alliance. Just as we think the Ottomans have a pact with the French, the Ottomans declare war on France, turning all of South Asia upside down except for the Japanese territories. Refugees flock to us, so we can get down with this three-way war.

Argentina declares war on Uruguay in the meantime, while the Balkans make peace with Italy.

The British land a single cavalry in Scotland; those poor bastards are soon ground into hamburger by the German forces on the island.

Bermuda is seized, ending the British threat to North America. The media outlets are saddened by the loss of a bogeyman. Over in Madeira, we lack the sheer numbers to take the island, but we come close and decimate the British forces there regardless; spare troops head towards Freetown to start buttering it up. They only have 13 major cities with the fall of Bermuda, enough of a testament to how far they have fallen.

The taking of De Aar puts Cape Town in the crosshairs. Due to the Boers and French blocking all routes to Windhoek, the city has been ignored.

Week 33, Africa heats up, with the Boers declaring war on the French. The Brits meanwhile, lose Iceland to the Germans and Ethiopia to the French.

Despite a last-ditch effort by the Brits to reinforce it, we take Madeira. The Portuguese citizens welcome us, and we deploy over 150 Airships to the city from Alexandria. With the Brits having lost Freetown to the French, all ships that were being sent south are free to head north to shell Gibraltar. A fleet of dozens of ships combined with over a hundred airships will hopefully be able to bring an end to the British fleet.

We also seize Cape Town, more or less destroying British Africa due to the taking of their last port. The Brits retain Windhoek, but it is surrounded by Boer, German and French forces and in ruins from aerial bombardment.

Week 37, the Spanish claim victory over the British in the Caribbean by seizing Bridgetown, while the French declare war on Italy.

…it also becomes apparent no British ships are hiding in Gibraltar any more, indicating they have relocated to elsewhere… none of them being in port.

Given that we’re loaded, we steal the British plans and find out that all their ships are en route to the Falklands. Our own ships heading there, we will be able to intercept several of their ships and sink them. We also have several ships off the coast of Chile – they are all ordered to go through Tierra del Fuego to intercept.

The taking of Gibraltar establishes Japan as a Mediterranean power, controlling both entrances to the wider oceans. Once the Naval Infantry force that took the city is back to full health, they will be assigned to seize Sardinia from the British.

Week 41, the French seize Windhoek, banishing the British from continental Africa; the Brits maintain Zanzibar.

The Italians of Cagliari welcome the Japanese Empire despite Italian forces being mobilized to seize the city. The British retain control of only the Falklands, Zanzibar, and central Madagascar. Sardinia and Gibraltar both establish a permanent Japanese naval presence in the Mediterranean.