Rocoteh said:
I_batman,
Looking forward to read your comments on the playtest.
For sure Japan is not easy to play.
Rocoteh
I am at turn 152 now, and have found it relatively easy so far.
Both China's fell easily, though it was a long process getting to the cities in the western, mountainous sections.
I captured all of India except for the island of Colombo from the Brits by approx turn 140. Once again, this was a tedious, but fairly simple exercise.
I have built nothing but 20.10.2 SNLF's, since they are by far the most superior land unit the Japanses have. Their tank's in 1.8 are really a waste of time to build.
The British AI could not or would not build Matilda II's in India, so it was a matter of taking heavy losses to wipe out the typical one tank in each Indian city, then crush the weaker infantry.
The only Civ so far to launch a land based offensive is the USSR, when they attacked near Srinagar with two stacks each of between 25 and 30 tanks and infantry,
I had a large contigent of Kate's and DVals which hammered them, and mopped up with alot of SNLF's. The SNLF losses were heavy, but the Russians lost everything.
The only reason I was involved with the Russians was because Germany attacked them, and Japan got dragged in with the MPP.
As a sidenote, the German AI has a real hankering for Dublin. I have no idea why, since they razed the other Irish city.
Meantime, I have lost track how many times Dublin has changed hands between the British and Germans.
But the German juggernaut is now in full flight against Russia.
Have a look at "german carnage.jpeg" for some idea of the razing going on.
I have counted at least 9 Russian cities that the Germans have destroyed, let alone the ones they have kept.
The U.S. AI has been disappointing of late. After I wiped out the original Pacific fleet, the U.S. started a vigorous rebuild, and constan sorties against the Japanese mainland, and they managed to capture Truk.
But starting with approx turn 120, the U.S. started sending only the occasional lightly escorted or unescorted carrier or transport.
Since turn 145, I have seen NO U.S. ships, even though I know they have 9 Iowa class battleships.
Where they are operating, I do not know.
Currently, the Japanese are invading the Dutch cities, one at a time, and they have only 4 left.
That has been a particularly slow go, since I have not risked transports and used only two paratroop planes.
The reason for that is I found out that while at war with Russia, I could not access the resources to build paratroop planes.
When at war with Russia, the Japanese main island has no access to rubber, and the Japanese occupied mainland Asia has no access to oil.
This really limits some build potential, and slows invasion plans down substantially.
But now that the peace has been declared with Russia, for about the 3rd time, I am building all the necessary transports and planes to mass an attack for Australia.
I have the troops (200 plus SNLF's), but not enough transports in the far south to move them.
I doubt the peace will last long since Germany seem intent on capturing or destroying Moscow.
I am likely 10-12 turns away before I am ready, assuming peace does hold.
A couple comments:
1. I just managed to build my first Betty (that rubber and oil issue).
Was this plane historically able to be carrier based? I want to use it soley as it was historically.
2. I see that the Judy is fairly similiar to the Kate, but has attacks 6 times vs 3. That being said, I think the Kate is a superior plane the way the stats are right now, since it has superior range, defence, and the ability to recon.
Is that historically accurate. I think right now I would prefer a carrier full of Kate's than Judy's when it comes to attacking an US carrier fleet. (Not that I think the AI will build one).
4. I have stated before that the human should have a lot of disadvantages against the AI, but I am starting to wonder if tech is too badly skewed in the AI's favour.
I have been trying to max my tech research vs my money, and have only been able to run around 30-40% tech. The result is I am looking at getting Land 1941 in week 43, 1942. Meanwhile, the Brit's has 1943 infantry defending in 1941.
That being said, still very interesting game right now.
I will update again when I start the Australian campaign.
I think I will also try to capture Honolulu as well, to see if I can stir up the U.S.
