Thundax's Pan-Asian Rapid Conquest Guide!

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    • Thundax's Pan-Asian Rapid Conquest Guide!

      "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success." - Admiral Yamamoto

      The Pan-Asian Doctrine is the most unique doctrine in my opinion, and it requires a unique style to play well. It has been my favorite since my first World at War map. Axis Power, Comintern Quantity, and Allied high Tech all beat you in a straight up fight, but Pan-Asian relies on speed and surprise.

      Sitting here on a World at War map on day 8, opposition has been lackluster and the only question that remains is do I get to solo victory on day 11 or day 12? So the solution is to write a guide because that is an infinitely more interesting way to spend the next 2 hours rather than actively steering the mop up job on the world map in Europe and Oceania...

      I will chop the guide up day by day, and post by day to keep it in manageable portions.

      Pan-Asian doctrine tries to win the battle before it is fought by catching the enemy by "Surprise" before they are ready to defend. Speed is essential. Surprise is your greatest weapon. The best defense is a good offense, and defense is at best a temporary maneuver to set yourself up for your next attack. The first 6 to 12 hours (Day 1) are critical to your success or failure, moreso than with any other doctrine. This guide focuses on mainland starts. Island starts are mostly the same but involve battleships more (with destroyers quickly too lest your BBs go ByeBye), and artillery less.

      Disclaimer: "All warfare is based on deception." - Sun Tzu
      Due to the reliance on surprise, Pan-Asian doctrine isn't for everyone. Your units will lose in a straight up fight with all the other doctrines, especially after the first few days. Surprise involves some degree of deception. To achieve success, your goal must be to surprise the enemy and attack them when they do not expect an attack. Some people do not want to play this way and that is fine. You can be deceptive without being a jerk, and as always, be respectful and friendly with your opponents, even while they get upset because you just conquered their capital overnight.

      Be careful what promises you make. There is a reason you don't see Pan-Asian doctrine on the beginner maps ;)
      You don't want to win big battles, you want to win without having to fight big battles in the first place.

      "In a fair fight, I'd kill you. Jack Sparrow : 'That's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?' "


      Day 1:

      Day 1 is by far the most important. If you can strike before the enemy is ready to defend you can win the battle before it starts. There is only 1 tech you need to research on the first 2-3 days, anything extra is fluff that slows you down.

      Artillery. Pan-Asian artillery is cheaper, faster, has better terrain bonuses and does more damage to most of the units everyone has the first few days (unarmored). Best unit in the game if you ask me in terms of being a critical workhorse central to a winning strategy. It allows you to conquer without casualties as well, which is critical if you want to conquer lots of countries with limited resources. After the nerfs to rocket artillery, Pan-Asian artillery is King.


      I recommend 2 ordnance factories, preferably on opposite edges of your nation, ideally pointed at the countries you want to attack first. As soon as the Artillery tech finishes, you need to pump out 6-10 artillery. Make no units besides artillery the first day or two.


      Economy: You need goods, as well as everything else. Because the only unit you care about requires food and goods and only a little steel, use the rest, steel oil rares, on building industry, local industry and in your cities, especially Goods provinces. What level you build up to depends on the resource. More for goods, less for oil and rares. Recruitment centers will come after you get your artillery assembly line going at high speed because they require the same resources artillery does.

      You need to attack and attack early. Group your starting units into 2 strike forces, attack 2 nations at once generally, sometimes 1 sometimes 3. If you are reasonably active, keep your artillery units separate from your infantry. Armored cars are for scouting defenses and taking undefended cities. Artillery does the actual work of killing defenders, and the infantry takes key enemy cities that you need quickly, especially a capital.

      High command is preferred, and I personally am happy to support the game creators by subscribing to it. The Offensive Fire setting with artillery is essential to success, especially so you can make progress while sleeping, but not absolutely necessary if you are active enough.


      Deciding who to attack:

      Look at the profiles of your neighbors. Click on their flag, check their info ("i" button). Look at kill ratio, level, and maybe even what units they have the lowest K/D ratio for specifically, because they use those units more. What clues can you find about when they might be sleeping (pop culture references)

      Message all your neighbors at a minimum, maybe more nations nearby. Start conversations, ask about their plans, Inquire about coalitions. Try not to join a coalition early, and whatever you do, don't ally with a neighbor if you can avoid it. Is English their first language? Don't make promises, but just be friendly. Be vague and act as if you want to work with them and be a good neighbor (spoiler alert: you don't). Skip this part if you like optionally, or if you want to be less successful.

      Use your border units, especially armored cars to see who has moves units. Click on their cities to see if they built any buildings. Use your interceptor to scout to see if they built anything.

      Who responded to your messages, who hasn't? Ideal early targets don'[t respond to messages and are inactive. You have 1 to 3 hours to make a decision, while your artillery produce and move up to the front. Ideally wait till you have 2 or 3 artillery before you start shooting.

      Opening attack:

      Tora! Tora! Tora!

      Call of War battles happen in one of four circumstances, while you are both online, while you are both offline, while you're on and your opponent is off, and while you're off but your opponent is on. The ideal attack occurs while your are online and the opponent is offline. Investigating your neighbors and planning your day 1 schedule is all in hopes of finding and exploiting an sizeable chunk of time where these ideal conditions occur. I recommend sending a message that would likely get a response if they are online about 15 minutes before your attack hits, and if you don't hear anything go for it, if they are actually online, maybe pivot to another target or wait an hour or two for another round of artillery to come out and/or arrive at the front.

      You want to find hills provinces (or mountains in a pinch) leading into the enemy territory that you can fire from and hit their units. Pan-Asian artillery has +70% terrain bonus from hills and mountains. that's nearly twice as effective, so don't ignore this terrain bonus when selecting a target and your route of attack. Mountains mean you go SLOW and that is a dirty word when playing Pan-Asian doctrine. But a nation like Tibet that has close by targets to the south could work out.

      Make hay while the sun shines (or doesn't ideally if your target is asleep), don't be afraid to use an occasional force march. Gun down those units and capture key cities. The capital is the ultimate prize as it raises the morale of your provinces universally! Get it done quickly. Your units are faster than other doctrines, use that advantage to its fullest. Keep integrating reinforcing artillery units into the battle. Use the offensive fire setting and way points to capture as many cities and enemy provinces as possible fast. Try to keep some or most of your infantry from taking significant damage, on day 3 or day 6 you will be glad you did.

      Before you finish up and log off for a while, set way points for your Artillery on Offensive Fire mode to clear through many key provinces of the enemy. If you choose a good target, and don't get unlucky, you will wake up with minimal losses and lots of new territory. Takes practice has some slight risk, but the payoff is big. When your opponent returns to a mostly conquered country ideally they give up and you don't have to deal with them counterattacking because you have destroyed the most important target: the enemy's will to fight.

      Use those captured resources immediately, first to build more artillery, second to build industry for later. The market is your friend to balance out your needs. Place buy offers and wait a bit for them to be filled, try not to buy the overpriced stuff from people placing sell offers. Day 2 will come soon, as will part 2 of my guide :)

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

    • Allied and Pan-Asian being my gos-to I'd have to agree with a lot of this. Experience, and all guides, seem to as well.

      Thundaxe wrote:

      Due to the reliance on surprise, Pan-Asian doctrine isn't for everyone. Your units will lose in a straight up fight with all the other doctrines
      Though I think this isn't true for battleships, as their 10% hitpoint buff and their increased damage are sufficient to destroy other battleships of all other doctrines.
      I've heard that the three pillars of the pan-Asian army are light tanks, gun artillery, and regular (or motorised) infantry. What do you think? You appear not to have suffered many light tank casualties, so maybe have built few? What are your thoughts on Pan-Asian light tanks and their buffs? I always use them in Pan-Asian, but should I stop doing so?

      Thundaxe wrote:

      Where to start? I personally like inland starting nations. I don't have to worry about a coast line and I can successfully avoid spending resources on the Naval Tech Tab for days! Coastal nations are fine too but you have to keep an eye out for disembarking enemies, especially on a revenge mission because you plundered their core cities the day before. Mountains on a border means better sleep. Goods production is important, especially if you can find a nation with 2 rural goods producing provinces.
      Curious as to the logic of choosing land-locked for protection. The Ma-clique, for instance, could be simultaneously invaded by four nations at once if they are active. In contrast, Korea may be a target for Japan after 6 hours, but at least only has one real border yet could invade Mukden, then Manchukuo. It appears to be high risk & reward, but how is it more protective?
      Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
      — Marshal Foch

      A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
      — Lord Kitchener, on tanks
    • Lord Crayfish wrote:

      Curious as to the logic of choosing land-locked for protection. The Ma-clique, for instance, could be simultaneously invaded by four nations at once if they are active. In contrast, Korea may be a target for Japan after 6 hours, but at least only has one real border yet could invade Mukden, then Manchukuo. It appears to be high risk & reward, but how is it more protective?
      It is like i always say: "A navy can be your best friend, and your downfall"
      But landlocked countries are the worst to pick especially for Pan-Asian, if a country decides to full out invade you, you will lose day 1 there is nothing pan-asian can do against Comintern's greater numbers early on, nothing it can do against the better production of the Allies, and it has nothing on Axis, no need to explain why Axis would beat Pan-Asian.
      "I have not failed, i have just found 10,000 ways that wont work." - Thomas Edison

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    • No, if you have two players of equal skill, and one is Pan Asian defending their homeland and the other is one of the other three doctrines attacking on Day 1, the defending Pan Asian player should win (and win by quite a bit, I'd think). Homeland defense bonus, for one, plus individual unit buffs, plus the ability to concentrate defense in favorable terrain, plus the fact that early game units are stronger in defense than in attack. Axis would be a challenge but the Pan Asian defender should still be favored.

      I prefer starting with landlocked countries for similar reasons to OP.
    • jubjub bird wrote:

      More generally, I think there are good recommendations there, but putting "use 30k-50k gold on day 1" into a guide like this is pretty hilarious. Of course that's going to make things go a bit easier :)
      In all the games I've played, I might have used more than 30k gold on an entire game just one time, and that was after free gold from ads became a thing. I just wanted to make the point that gold use on day 1 hour 1 is exponentially more effective than even a few days into the game, especially with Pan-Asian doctrine. It doesn't cost anything if you get the 2750 gold a day from ads.

      I'd rather have a honest and accurate guide that tells the truth about how powerful using that free gold early can be, than to pretend spending a 10-12k of that free gold on day 1 doesn't happen as much as it does.

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Thundaxe ().

    • Lord Crayfish wrote:

      Though I think this isn't true for battleships, as their 10% hitpoint buff and their increased damage are sufficient to destroy other battleships of all other doctrines.I've heard that the three pillars of the pan-Asian army are light tanks, gun artillery, and regular (or motorised) infantry. What do you think? You appear not to have suffered many light tank casualties, so maybe have built few? What are your thoughts on Pan-Asian light tanks and their buffs? I always use them in Pan-Asian, but should I stop doing so?




      Curious as to the logic of choosing land-locked for protection. The Ma-clique, for instance, could be simultaneously invaded by four nations at once if they are active. In contrast, Korea may be a target for Japan after 6 hours, but at least only has one real border yet could invade Mukden, then Manchukuo. It appears to be high risk & reward, but how is it more protective?

      I prefer Armored cars for sure, but to be completely honest I haven't experimented with Light tanks very much, maybe I should sometime!

      Battleships are big expensive liabilities half the time. Forever to research and build, poor sub defense, poor air defense. You can't hide them in a bunker or in your central core provinces. They did get a small buff somewhat recently at least. It's like buying an expensive new sports car. You need the gap insurance, your collision insurance goes up, you are constantly worried about where you park it...

      Regular infantry is often the only Infantry Tab tech I touch when playing Pan-Asian. Motorized take too long to make and to research, and are weaker at air defense. A stack of Upgraded Pan Asian infantry in Forest or Urban will take a chunk out of even TAC bombers trying to bomb them. Who needs anti air? Armored Car use means you already have a scout unit as well, making Motorized Infantry redundant in that regard.

      Armored cars are better at many of the things central to Pan-Asian success, which are scouting/view range and slightly higher speed. Light tanks are certainly better at attacking during close combat, but if you find yourself in close combat early on as Pan-Asian you did something wrong, outside of using a stack of infantry to force a capital capture early or something. Armored cars are scouts, which mean all those cute little invisible Militia aren't invisible to you. Better air defense and the huge view range are important.

      Also this early game Pan-Asian style is allergic to research early on. You have to research Armored Cars to get Light Tanks, but all you need for Armored Cars is just the one tech.


      Land-locked bliss: This is better answered with a Walter White quote.

      The more neighbors, the closer they are, the better! Protection is something that you get from conquering your neighbors to have a buffer of non cores between you and farther neighbors. This is why you don't want to ally your neighbors at the start.

      The post was edited 4 times, last by Thundaxe ().

    • I put my some thoughts on Starting position separately here, that top post got really long after an edit.

      Start:

      Where to start? I personally like inland starting nations. I don't have to worry about a coast line and I can successfully avoid spending resources on the Naval Tech Tab for days! Coastal nations are fine too but you have to keep an eye out for disembarking enemies, especially on a revenge mission because you plundered their core cities the day before. I want lots of borders with small provinces that can be attacked quickly. The more neighbors the faster you can grow. Mountains on a border means better sleep. Goods production is important, especially if you can find a nation with 2 rural goods producing provinces. Islands are blech. I suppose you can get Battleships but if you do you are obligated to get destroyers and/or naval bombers to protect them. Then you need cruisers so naval bombers can't sink your whole fleet. It is difficult to afford all that nonsense early on. I suppose it could work with a quick Battle ship only strategy if the enemy islands don't have inland provinces where enemies can hide.

      Examples of what I think are great starting nations on the World at War Map: Nationalist China, Sichuan, Ma Clique, or South China. Larger nations like Xinjiang are a little too big with big neighbors and their oversized provinces taking forever to get across and capture. Burma and Indochina have too much Coastline to defend. The first few days, I want to make more and more artillery and eventually maybe some Armored cars and Infantry. To get a navy I have to pay for the naval tech then I have to pay for the naval base then I have pay for the unit and wait for it to build that only maybe stops an invasion. The naval bomber (very fast level 1 research, costs resources) is my 3rd favorite coastal defense options. My 2nd favorite is friendly noncommittal diplomacy (for free) with potential coastal invaders, and ultimate favorite is of course having no coastline to begin with (failsafe).

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Thundaxe ().

    • I'm not going to comment on gold use. It's a fraught topic. The third rail of CoW discussions, of you will.

      Regarding starting locations with more/less/no coastline. There's something to be said for keeping your core away from the sea. You don't have to stress about coastal patrols as much. This does result in better sleep.

      One of my favorite games was with Bolivia, starting in the mountains, away from the coast. Any landing could be taken care of with artillery, with the invader bleeding out while crawling through mountain terrain. I didn't bother with a navy or with naval bombers for a long time.

      The counterpoint to the peace and quiet of starting landlocked are cruisers. Even after the recent nerf, they are still the best, most well-rounded navy unit. You can produce them quickly in a level 1 harbor. The research is quick. You can level them up to 3 reasonably soon. They do adequate damage to land targets, without taking damage in return. They are resistant to air attack. They don't suck all the goods out of your economy. A stack of 10 cruisers and 1 destroyer, leveled up, will be useful for the whole game.
    • 6thDragon wrote:

      jubjub bird wrote:

      More generally, I think there are good recommendations there, but putting "use 30k-50k gold on day 1" into a guide like this is pretty hilarious. Of course that's going to make things go a bit easier :)
      Yeah, how do you expect other players to take you seriously when you essentially say your strategy is to outspend your opponent?
      I spent a whole 4 minutes on ads for 2750 gold the other day, and the day after too. Those suckers not spending more than 2 minutes watching ads are missing out!

      ZoomZoom is right, someone people don't want to have a rational conversation about gold so I'll avoid the topic now.
      I'll take my nine lashings for mentioning gold in anything but shameful light. :saint:

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Thundaxe ().

    • z00mz00m wrote:




      Regarding starting locations with more/less/no coastline. There's something to be said for keeping your core away from the sea. You don't have to stress about coastal patrols as much. This does result in better sleep.

      One of my favorite games was with Bolivia, starting in the mountains, away from the coast. Any landing could be taken care of with artillery, with the invader bleeding out while crawling through mountain terrain. I didn't bother with a navy or with naval bombers for a long time.

      The counterpoint to the peace and quiet of starting landlocked are cruisers. Even after the recent nerf, they are still the best, most well-rounded navy unit. You can produce them quickly in a level 1 harbor. The research is quick. You can level them up to 3 reasonably soon. They do adequate damage to land targets, without taking damage in return. They are resistant to air attack. They don't suck all the goods out of your economy. A stack of 10 cruisers and 1 destroyer, leveled up, will be useful for the whole game.
      That's a valid question regarding starting land locked or coastal. I'm certainly guilty of overthinking starting country selection. I like playing the naval side of the game too much to start land locked.

      My favorite is to start with a country that you can control access to your coast through naval chokepoints. A good example with Pan Asian would be Korea. Once you have control of Japan, you can easily use ships and/or naval bombers to create chokepoints.

      I often check in on the game several times in the middle of the night and certainly do sleep better when I don't have a coast as a vulnerability.
    • The naval part of the game is fun and I wish it weren't so expensive. I often build carriers dreaming of battle fleets with lots of planes but I always get caught up in the land war and never find time to get the 5-6 carriers I build into action.

      I do like the cruiser idea, and whenever I play Comintern I go for Navy somewhat early, cruisers are pretty strong and don't cost that much for them.

      Quit with all these interesting replies! Too many interesting points to talk about instead of finishing Episode 2 of the guide :P

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

    • Thundaxe wrote:

      The naval part of the game is fun and I wish it weren't so expensive. I often build carriers dreaming of battle fleets with lots of planes but I always get caught up in the land war and never find time to get the 5-6 carriers I build into action.
      Can agree about the navy.
      That's why I love Japan in HWW. Easier to expand navy due to more research, facilities, and resources. But fun especially when China is nice and skilled.
      Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
      — Marshal Foch

      A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
      — Lord Kitchener, on tanks
    • Lord Crayfish wrote:

      Thundaxe wrote:

      The naval part of the game is fun and I wish it weren't so expensive. I often build carriers dreaming of battle fleets with lots of planes but I always get caught up in the land war and never find time to get the 5-6 carriers I build into action.
      Can agree about the navy.That's why I love Japan in HWW. Easier to expand navy due to more research, facilities, and resources. But fun especially when China is nice and skilled.
      Still, Pan-asian navy is considerably weaker than Axis vessels. Also consider that Pan-asian high level destroyers and cruisers are available 2-3 days later than Axis ones.
      “A battle fought without determination is a battle lost.” - Josip Broz Tito
    • Brando Dilla wrote:

      Still, Pan-asian navy is considerably weaker than Axis vessels. Also consider that Pan-asian high level destroyers and cruisers are available 2-3 days later than Axis ones.

      This is like saying bears are stronger than wolves.
      It's a true statement but it's not helpful to compare bears to wolves.
      We are not running a cage fight.

      Pan Asian units cost less and build faster. There will be more of them. Simple cost math.

      Pan Asian units move faster. They can group as needed, battle, and move to the next battle. This gives the Pan Asian player more "effective" units in the same place, at the same time. Other doctrines (especially Allies) can't be as effective.

      Pan Asian units have better visibility. They can detect enemies from far away, giving you more time to decide what to do. If it's a fight you don't want, simply run away. If it's a fight you like, the enemy can't run away. This gives you a tactical advantage in every battle, if you know how to use it.

      Pan Asian units have better terrain bonuses. Not helpful for the navy, but very helpful on land. Your infantry are even BETTER in forests, your armor is even BETTER in plains, your artillery is even BETTER in hills. A big tactical advantage, and if you use it well, it more than compensates for the HP deficit.

      In the hands of a skilled, active player, Pan Asian wins most of the time. It's a pack of wolves ambushing a bear while he's taking a nap. The bear is big and strong, but the wolves are in control the entire time.
    • I usually say that a fleet can be both your best friend and your worst enemy. Landlocked nations are the worst to choose in cod mobile, particularly for Pan-Asian; if a nation decides to invade you fully, you will lose on day one.

      Pan-Asian has no chance against the Comin tern's early superior numbers, no chance against the Allies' superior production, and it has no chance against the Axis; there is therefore no need to explain why the Axis would triumph over Pan-Asian.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by A_Zonia: some information ().

    • A_Zonia wrote:

      I usually say that a fleet can be both your best friend and your worst enemy.
      Landlocked nations are the worst to choose, particularly for Pan-Asian; if a nation decides to invade you fully, you will lose on day one.

      Pan-Asian has no chance against the Comintern's early superior numbers, no chance against the Allies' superior production, and it has no chance against the Axis; there is therefore no need to explain why the Axis would triumph over Pan-Asian.
      Pan Asian speed mismatch against allies is overwhelming, if you know how to use it. Pan Asian doesn't border axis anywhere on the 100 player map, therefore early game comparisons are a fool's errand. Pan Asian terrain bonuses compared to Commies damage nerf can be worth exploiting and commies need a day or few to fully take advantage of the reduced build cost anyway.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by 6thDragon ().