The Campaign AS The Allies. How To Start Question

[Gunhawk]

My knowledge of WW II in the Pacific is more of an outline than anything else, so I'm not sure what to do with my troops at the outset. Is there any book or source of info that I can use to help me with a strategy for each area of the struggle? Do I move what few troop that I have in Southeast Asia to safety? Do I fight and lose them all? Is it wise to attack with the Chinese? And a lot of other questions.

Thanks.

[Bill101]

Hi Gunhawk

My recommendation is to stand and fight in Burma for as long as possible, and carry out a fighting retreat into India. The terrain and supply is really bad in Burma, and that will help to slow the Japanese advance while buying you time to build some more British Indian units to deploy here.

Elsewhere in the Pacific it is mainly a question of fighting where you stand with your land units, but if you can get some key units to safety (e.g. any air units in the Philippines, and as many naval units as possible) then do so.

Good places for naval battles early on are around the Dutch East Indies and in the Coral Sea. But watch out that you don't leave Hawaii unguarded...

My favourite books are General Slim's Defeat into Victory, and just about anything by H.P. Wilmott. Both authors were a big influence on designing this campaign.

Have fun!

[jon_j_rambo]

It's worthwhile to at least try a defense in Burma. The value of it, the connection to China's backside, etc. Plus, with the rain, hopefully the Japs airpower will be stalled, forced the Japs to use more ground forces. India should be no problem to defend. Just stay back, build up, then kick ass later in the game.

[Didz]

A few things I learnt just from the Demo.

1) Don't place the Royal Navy in a mainland port, anywhere near a Japanese Army. (Boom and the fleet is gone)

2) The Road to Mandalay runs from Rangoon north into China, lose the port and you lose the road. That might seem stupid, but whilst I've heard of the song, I had no idea what the Road to Manalay was till I lost it to the Japanese.

3) Singapore can hold out for quite a while if you keep reinforcing its units, however, don't dither about getting British land forces deployed in India, make sure the sacrifices in Singapore are worth it in the long term.

4) The Chinese can pretty much hold their own in the early years of the war as long as you don't squander them in mass attacks. Once Stillwell turns up you can begin making selective attacks on the weakest and most demoralised Japanese Armies. The only doubts I have about being too successful in China is that I've read elsewhere that allowing the Japanese to advance into China actually triggers even more Chinese warlords to rise up against them.

Thats about as much as I gleaned from last nights 'all-nighter' on SCPT - Operation Z. Unfortunately, you can't save the demo so there is a limit to how far you can get before sleep demands some attention.

I actually came on here to order the game and see if I could find a player strategy guide.

Ok! Ordered....bit expensive for us chaps in Europe $70 all told with the shipping, thank god for the exchange rate.

Hmm! Bit worrying the download just triggerred a major threat warning, and I've had to send the file off for analysis, might have to wait for the CD after all. Yep! tried to download again same problem reported. The threat is described as W32/statik

Win32/Statik is a trojan that can disable security-related process on the compromised computer making it more vulnerable for threats and virus infections.

http://www.precisesecurity.com/blogs/2009/04/01/win32_statik/

According to the security forum if I allow this onto my computer I'm going to get constant hassle everytime I turn my computer on as it will constantly trigger threat warnings, whether or not its actually a threat.

Unless, I can find an alternative download site, I guess I'm waiting for the CD. In the meantime I'd better report this just in case its a problem at Battlefronts end.

[Big Al]

Read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. His wisdom applies to almost all strategic situations.

Strategically plan your builds to accomplish your goals.

Defend key positions and let go of unimportant ones.

Figure out your path as the allies when you are ready to strike back.

Send everything you got down that path to destroy the Japanese.

[LampCord]

My basic strategy as the Allies is as follows:

1) Withdraw all units that will not disappear when the country they are defending is conquered. This means any Brits, Aussies or American units that are helping defend one of the minors. The minor units should stay and fight.

2) I operationally move all available air to the area west of Burma to help hold off the Japs untill more troops can arrive.

3) In China, I try to defend in mountains and behind rivers. Make the Japs pay as much as possible to advance without allowing your units to get surrounded or destroyed. Arty is very usefull on defense and should be protected.

4) In Burma, rush all units you can to its defense and hold the coast at all costs. Make the Japs go inland to get around you where the terrain is slow and supply is difficult.

5) The US should make sure to occupy Hawaii well enough to not get invaded. I don't bother to fight for anything else at the start. Once the US ramps up to full production it is an unstoppable juggernaught.

6) The Aussie's should defend Port Moresby. Its a very usefull defensive position.

7) I like to consolidate my navies early into 3 groups. One around Hawaii, one between Moresby and Australia and one off the coast of India. Early in the game always keep your navies within the protection of land based air as you are massively outclassed and outnumbered by the Japs.

In general, consolidate, build and survive untill the mass of Western production allows you to start to advance on all fronts. Give up ground grudgingly but don't pay too heavy a price. Burma is the most important place to make a stand, IMO. Everything else lost can be retaken in the end.

Operationally move your aircraft to wherever you need the most help. This allows you to keep the Jap navy at bay a bit since losing a naval unit is huge compared to an air.

Finally, I like to make a lot of subs as the allies and go capital ship hunting. Sinking even a single CV with your subs can make a huge impact.

Hope that helps!

[arado234]

For the Regular SC P.T.O.if the Allies dont make any serioius mistakes(like I did but still came pretty close to winning)Japan has no hope.American industrial might is just to massive(this doesnt even represent their true industrial might).

All you have to do is Tech.out America(America can spend 1800mpps) and go pound Japan into submission.The Atomic bombs just make it even worse for them(as they should).

One devestating thing to do is tech out and build all your American(even the Brits can help out alittle)heavy bombers and blowup all his oil wells and ports and the Japs.get prettywell no mpps and are done.Its a slow but sure doom for Japan.

[Didz]

My basic strategy as the Allies is as follows:......Hope that helps!

Yep! that looks really helpful. I think I may be in trouble in Burma though based on your advice.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1159556&postcount=9

[LampCord]

Yep! that looks really helpful. I think I may be in trouble in Burma though based on your advice.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1159556&postcount=9

China looks solid.

In Burma you're still OK if you can hold those cities west of Rangoon. Eventually you can start to drive back.

When MacArthur arrives, I like to take him and at least one Marine and land Behind the Japs to threaten their supply forcing them to take units out of the main assault to deal with me.

One really good spot is that port just south of Kota Bharu.From there you can drive north OR south depending on where the resistance is least. Do some recon first by sending a sub there or bombing the city.

Just make sure you don't lose the port because if things go bad you want an easy way out. If you hold that port you can transport back to where the Brits are with cover from the Brit navy.

Also, I see you still have Port Blair. A bomber there can hammer the Japs on dry days and be a threat to any Jap naval units that get too close.

[Didz]

When MacArthur arrives, I like to take him and at least one Marine and land Behind the Japs to threaten their supply forcing them to take units out of the main assault to deal with me.

Sounds risky but it would certainly give the Japs some problems if it works.

I assume the port you are referring to is Kaula Lumpur, getting a Corps or two ashore there would certainly give the Japanese a headache.

Also, I see you still have Port Blair. A bomber there can hammer the Japs on dry days and be a threat to any Jap naval units that get too close.

Yes, I'm surprised the Japs haven't taken it yet, and I can see how a bomber force operating from there would give the Japs something to worry about. All I need now are some bombers.

One thing I'm missing so far are the search planes. The old Catalina's used to be really useful at spotting enemy convoys and task forces, but as far as I can tell the best thing I've got in this game are the Carriers with a naval spotting range of 4 hexes. Not very far when the naval units can move so far each turn.

[SeaMonkey]

If you want to stop the Japs cold in Burma, park a US HQ within 4 tiles SW of Lanchow on the road, it'll have supply 8.

Next get your LR upgrades and Heavy bomber tech up while building all the US bombers, start the bombers build cycle first.

Now operate those bombers to proximity(supply 6) of that Lanchow HQ and have at the Japanese supply lines and especially target their HQs. Game over for any Nippon designs on India. When it rains down south you can take the same luxury with Japan's Chinese incursion.

Of course a good human Japanese player(I don't know about the AI) will research AAA right away, but with the UK ftrs and TAC and later the Eighth Army, they really don't stand a chance.