Fighting on an oil budget

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    • Fighting on an oil budget

      In a World at War game I'm currently playing as Japan, I have a severe shortage of oil. As an island nation I need a large navy to deter others, who are known to have navies. Containing among other things 14 battleships, my navy is currently consuming 50% of my daily oil production. Most of the rest is involved in building industry and factories. Oil is only being offered for exorbitant prices on the market, and Britain and my allies don't have much spare either.

      Having deliberately only captured islands such as Hawaii, the East Indies, and Australia, I am starting a major continental war on land; I have established beachheads on the coast at the Korean peninsula, and several cities. However, my expeditionary force is quite small and I'm going to need to build a large land army to capture the interior.

      My enemies are known to have motorised and mechanised infantry, with some light tanks and tank destroyers, so presumably lots of oil. They lack aircraft at present. I have more than adequate food, goods, and rare materials. How can I raise an effective field army that uses as little oil as possible and can still fight a large, mechanised army?
      Kneel before the might of Bangladesh

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Lord Crayfish ().

    • Go for a mix of Infantry/Miltia (depends if you prefer stealth or speed, since Inf is faster), ATs, Artillery, AA, and a couple of ACs for scouting. Consider to deal with light armour like Light Tanks and such. Let the TDs run into your AT, they will deal with them easily. Since you have a large enough navy, focus on developing industry for oil.
      Have an amazing rest of your day ^^

      "Everything is impermanent. The only thing that is permanent it impermanence itself."

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    • _Pyth0n_ wrote:

      Go for a mix of Infantry/Miltia (depends if you prefer stealth or speed, since Inf is faster), ATs, Artillery, AA, and a couple of ACs for scouting. Consider to deal with light armour like Light Tanks and such. Let the TDs run into your AT, they will deal with them easily. Since you have a large enough navy, focus on developing industry for oil.
      Seems like a plan.
      Would you say that, for oil value, aeroplanes, SP artillery, motorised infantry, or tank tech branch are most worthwhile?
      Kneel before the might of Bangladesh
    • Lord Crayfish wrote:

      _Pyth0n_ wrote:

      Go for a mix of Infantry/Miltia (depends if you prefer stealth or speed, since Inf is faster), ATs, Artillery, AA, and a couple of ACs for scouting. Consider to deal with light armour like Light Tanks and such. Let the TDs run into your AT, they will deal with them easily. Since you have a large enough navy, focus on developing industry for oil.
      Seems like a plan.Would you say that, for oil value, aeroplanes, SP artillery, motorised infantry, or tank tech branch are most worthwhile?
      Assuming this is Pan-Asian:

      SP artillery: no
      Motorised infantry: late-game for very high speeds, I suppose, but in your situation, no
      Airplanes: 1000% yes :thumbsup: . Pretty much all the planes in Pan-Asian are good.
      Tanks: ACs definitely, LTs maybe to help ACs deal with other light armour, all other tanks are irrelevant
      Have an amazing rest of your day ^^

      "Everything is impermanent. The only thing that is permanent it impermanence itself."

      Need support? ---> Send a ticket here!

      dxter's CoW Battle Calculator ---> Use it here!

      :tumbleweed:

      o7
    • _Pyth0n_ wrote:

      Go for a mix of Infantry/Miltia (depends if you prefer stealth or speed, since Inf is faster), ATs, Artillery, AA, and a couple of ACs for scouting. Consider to deal with light armour like Light Tanks and such. Let the TDs run into your AT, they will deal with them easily. Since you have a large enough navy, focus on developing industry for oil.
      This is good advice. Pan Asian is one of my favorite doctrines to play. You have the speed advantage so don’t need to spring for motorized/SP units as much as other doctrines.

      I am fairly picky about country selection and for Pan Asian, if there is any resources I’d prefer to have one less of at the providence level, it’s oil.

      The only thing I would add is to consider giving research priority to your slower units like AT and AA. Remember your grouped units will only move as fast as the slowest one in the group.
    • 6thDragon wrote:

      I am fairly picky about country selection and for Pan Asian, if there is any resources I’d prefer to have one less of at the providence level, it’s oil.
      Pan Asian is one of my favorite doctrines to play.
      I prefer Allies personally, followed by Pan-Asian. I know this sounds strange, but having had experience on all the doctrines it's my favourite; it heavily favours SP arty and tacs, both of which are central to my fighting style. The reason I'm playing as Japan is I wanted to reenact the Russo-Japanese War with my mate Russia, but he went inactive.
      Kneel before the might of Bangladesh
    • - Build Rockets and Militia

      - Expend some forces on an all out attack, across ocean. This can also scout.

      - Make attack bombers, yep, upgrades as well.

      - Make spies on best Oil producing cities.
      Cape Town, Mogadishu, Basra, Obock, Copenhagen, Gwelo, Leopoldville,.... Chances are that if these cities are taken over, they might not have counter spies. Even if they are taken, they will produce adequate oil.


      - Sabotage enemy rare metals. Only this spy cost, continuously make this happen
      It may force the enemy to sell oil as they might rely on rare metals to keep their market balanced.

      Make submarines, no need to upgrade, just produce and sprinkle these across coastlines to scout and also to make them suicide units. Use any oil units as suicide units also, so as to regain economy and make rockets.


      Japan is a good nation for rockets and militia and submarines... Just make sure you got some oil for the tanks.

      If your doing well, then make Cruisers... and upgrade destroyers.

      Lastly, to make rockets work, have Cappuccino WITH at least two sugar and stay awake an extra 2-4 hours per evening so as to ensure these are as effective as possible.
    • bigboss_ironfist wrote:

      - Build Rockets and Militia

      - Expend some forces on an all out attack, across ocean. This can also scout.

      - Make attack bombers, yep, upgrades as well.

      - Make spies on best Oil producing cities.
      Cape Town, Mogadishu, Basra, Obock, Copenhagen, Gwelo, Leopoldville,.... Chances are that if these cities are taken over, they might not have counter spies. Even if they are taken, they will produce adequate oil.


      - Sabotage enemy rare metals. Only this spy cost, continuously make this happen
      It may force the enemy to sell oil as they might rely on rare metals to keep their market balanced.

      Make submarines, no need to upgrade, just produce and sprinkle these across coastlines to scout and also to make them suicide units. Use any oil units as suicide units also, so as to regain economy and make rockets.


      Japan is a good nation for rockets and militia and submarines... Just make sure you got some oil for the tanks.

      If your doing well, then make Cruisers... and upgrade destroyers.

      Lastly, to make rockets work, have Cappuccino WITH at least two sugar and stay awake an extra 2-4 hours per evening so as to ensure these are as effective as possible.
      I have more than enough navy, and will expend my submarines.
      Kneel before the might of Bangladesh
    • Rockets don't make a lot of sense, if you're low on oil. Rockets use quite a bit of oil, to research and produce.

      Pan Asian has such excellent infantry and artillery, you don't need a lot of armor. I only build armored cars and light tanks. Pan Asian light tanks at level 3 and 4 can hold their own against medium tanks, especially if you leverage terrain to your advantage. This goes for Pan Asian generally, use your scouting and speed to ensure you're fighting on YOUR terms. Only fight when you have a local terrain and strength advantage. Run around your enemies. I've literally run through Allied players cores with my hyper-speed light armor. I move faster through THEIR terrain than they do, with their slow-as-molasses Allied troops. You can do a lot of hit-and-run attacks, and even large battles where you collect forces, overwhelm the enemy, and then retreat and disperse to defend again. No other doctrine plays the same.

      Definitely stay away from medium and heavy tanks, as well as rockets and the "special" tree in general.
    • z00mz00m wrote:

      Rockets don't make a lot of sense, if you're low on oil. Rockets use quite a bit of oil, to research and produce.

      Pan Asian has such excellent infantry and artillery, you don't need a lot of armor. I only build armored cars and light tanks. Pan Asian light tanks at level 3 and 4 can hold their own against medium tanks, especially if you leverage terrain to your advantage. This goes for Pan Asian generally, use your scouting and speed to ensure you're fighting on YOUR terms. Only fight when you have a local terrain and strength advantage. Run around your enemies. I've literally run through Allied players cores with my hyper-speed light armor. I move faster through THEIR terrain than they do, with their slow-as-molasses Allied troops. You can do a lot of hit-and-run attacks, and even large battles where you collect forces, overwhelm the enemy, and then retreat and disperse to defend again. No other doctrine plays the same.

      Definitely stay away from medium and heavy tanks, as well as rockets and the "special" tree in general.
      I would suggest considering rocket arty, but otherwise, I agree with you completely. I only ever get rocket arty up to level two with Pan Asian. Late game, I'm singularly focused on upgrading air power with cruisers, destroyers, ATs and regular arty receiving research priority too, of course.

      However, I know plenty of good Pan Asian players who swear off rocket arty because of the unarmored boost Pan Asian gets to regular arty.
    • Lord Crayfish wrote:

      z00mz00m wrote:

      Rockets don't make a lot of sense, if you're low on oil. Rockets use quite a bit of oil, to research and produce.
      That's why I never use them. A battleship is a better asset, as is a tank.

      This is almost always true. The only exception is when you have high-level rockets and you can position them and time the attack to take out refueling bombers. This can be a back-breaking move against even a skilled player. But in terms of raw damage output per resources spent, rockets are the worst units to build. They should only be used against "soft" targets like refueling planes or rockets on the ground.