Hey all! Posting this a bit late, so I'm sure there will be mistakes. I'll come back and check through everything later on - for now I just wanted to get it out there! Please do reply and tell me what you think, and if you managed to get through the whole thing then well done and thank you!

Note: I might've tried to roleplay it a bit more if I'd tried, but I was super tired today, so apologies I couldn't really. I added in a couple of things - perhaps in future I'll come back to this and tweak some sections so it's more 'RP-like'. For now this is what you get!
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Day 1

Phase 1: Assessing Starting Units, Economy, & Research

Starting Units: 83


I have a very advanced navy, with level 3 upgraded of all capital ships, as well as level 2 submarines and level 1 aircraft carriers. I have many destroyers, quite a few cruisers, and a reasonable amount of battleships. I am not happy with the 3 subs I start with. The infantry force is good, and the starting air force is reasonable, with reasonable research upgrades – I have eight level 3 interceptors, but two or fewer of attack bombers and tactical bombers and strategic bombers, as well as zero naval bombers, despite research of the latter having been already completed. I am extremely limited in terms of secret, tanks, and ordnance. There are no secret units, just two artillery & 1 anti-tank division, and only one armoured car as well as a light tank. We can see that it is primarily a defensive army, with 21 defensive infantry and 3 defensive militia, in contrast with just one level 1 offensive motorised infantry.

From this I decided that instead of investing in offensive land units, for the moment I will upgrade the existing defensive land units, namely infantry and armoured cars, and have them supported by a strong air force and navy. Speaking of the air force, it is reasonable, but also defensive, with 8 interceptors, 2 tactical bombers, a strategic bomber, an attack bomber, and 0 naval bombers (despite level 3 being researched).

I decided to invest in higher levelled armoured cars due to their speed, as well as the individual boost that the Pan-Asian doctrine gives them. Infantry I decided to upgrade because they have an individual Pan-Asian boost, and I also start with many infantry divisions.




Phase 2: Diplomacy

So far, around half an hour into the game, my plan is to make a pretence to make friends with everyone – then invade them. Starting with Nationalist China. I send him a nice message, letting him know my peaceful intentions – all the while plotting against him in order to expand the Kingdom of Japan. As of around three hours into the game, I have not received a response.

At that very moment, I received a message from the Soviet Union, urging me to attack Nationalist China. I know not why – all I know is that I have encountered an opportunity. I offer to agree to his demands – if he pays me a set amount. Little does he know I was planning to do this anyway!

Quickly, the USSR responds, agreeing to pay me 4,000 food, 4,000 metal, and 4,000 oil in return for attacking China and vague promises of military support in future. This is ideal – the USSR could have been a thorn in my side, and as the world’s most powerful economic force, he is a powerful ally.

A few minutes later, things take a slight turn in relations with the USSR – he wants me to attack China immediately, to ensure he remains active. He will apparently hold me responsible if China becomes inactive. Furthermore, for some reason he thinks I’ll accept a Share Map to Right of Way trade, as if I’m his puppet! Of course, I refuse, offering a mutual Right of Way trade instead. Thankfully, he accepts, and also accepts that he’ll have to wait 24 hours before I attack China. I breathe a sigh of relief. The USSR may be tricky to deal with diplomatically – I’ll bear that in mind for the future.

Following these correspondences, I message the UK, who has Hong Kong and a significant fleet outside of it. I give him my assurance his colonial territory is safe from me, and urge him not to attack me. This time, the offer is genuine – I have no wish for war with the UK yet! As of three hours into the game, he has not responded.

Then, suddenly, I have a potential protégé! The Netherlands messages me, asking for an alliance, and then advice in future – I advise him immediately to offer Germany taxes in return for not invading him. So far, Germany hasn’t responded. He also, on my advice, messaged France and the UK requesting to be allies – France apparently replied with a short, sharp, ‘ok’, and the UK ignored him (much like me). Unfortunately it may be that we have an inactive UK on this map. I also advised the Netherlands to evacuate to his lands in Oceania if Germany turns out to invade. I am interested in seeing how this player develop over the course of the game, although I sadly believe he, like most people, will end up being inactive. Oh well. I now have good relations with the Netherlands and the USSR.


My message to Nationalist China:


My message to the UK:


Making an alliance with, and protégé of, the Netherlands:


Messages with the USSR:

Phase 3: Battle Plans!

‘Finally!’ I hear you cry. Time for war!

As I have already said, I plan to invade Nationalist China as my first point of interest. This will require a majority of the armed forces, and so mobilisation must start immediately.

The invasion will consist of around 30 divisions surrounding Nationalist China. There will be approximately 10 units to the South, East, and North of China, all ready to invade at a moment’s notice, ready for the turn of the day. This will primarily be made up of infantry, but will also consist of very small divisions of armoured cars, light tanks, artillery, and militia. Supporting these ground units will be my powerful navy, alongside my air force, which will primarily be used for scouting out enemy positions, rather than direct attacks.

One of the keys for this will be the Imperial Navy. Chinese destroyers have already been spotted off the south-east coast of Chinese (soon-to-be Japanese) land – these will be neutralised by my 32^nd Battleship Flotilla, stationed just outside the Japanese rural province of Foochow.

That will suffice for the invasion of Nationalist China – there are relatively few coastal Chinese cities, so my ground forces will have to be enough. I am confident of victory, however.

As for the incoming invasion of the rebel puppet of Manchukuo, I assemble the 42^nd Battleship Flotilla! This fleet will be based off the coast of Manchukuo’s only coastal city, Yingkow. It is designed to put deliberate pressure on Manchukuo – I will not be in correspondence with the leaders of Manchukuo, as this ‘country’ is the rightful puppet of Japan, which rebelled against its rulers. It will pay the price – I will show no mercy to Manchukuo after I take Nationalist China.


Finally, protection of Japanese interests in the Atlantic must not be ignored. A final fleet is assembled, due to be moved to the island of Saipan. This move is designed deliberately to expand Japan’s influence over several countries in the area, including the Netherlands, Australia, and the USA. Furthermore, the aircraft carrier included in it will give the interceptors stationed in Saipan an opportunity to serve the Imperial Air Force in more than such a minor capacity as a lowly outpost in the Atlantic Ocean. They will be part of one of the major Imperial Fleets!



This map shows the current movement of naval troops, as well as key strategic positions:

Key:
Red arrows: 32^nd Battleship Flotilla, assembled off the coast of China, just outside the Japanese rural province of Foochow.
Yellow arrows: 2^nd Battleship Flotilla, heading for the coast of the Isle of Saipan.
Blue arrows: 42^nd Battleship Flotilla, assembled for the coast of Manchukuo, outside the city of Yingkow.
Note that this is primarily a naval map, so the arrows just show naval fleets being assembled. However, all units, including land and air, are shown as the white diamonds, and my three main land divisions are labelled. Also note that this diagram is crude, and not exhaustive. Strategic positions and key cities are labelled.

Here, the width of the arrows show the amount of troops being moved – the thicker the arrow, the more ships are being mobilised along that particular route. The colour of the arrows indicate the particular fleet being assembled, and the direct of the arrows show where the fleet is going. Where smaller arrow lead into larger ones, this is indicating the smaller fleets merging into larger ones – they will all go too the same end point, indicated by the largest arrow of that colour.

Furthermore, note land units mentioned in the main battle plans above are being sent, as described.

Phase 4: Unit Production (& reflection)

Finally, an hour and a half into the game, I can start producing units. I notice that I am woefully short on submarines, so start producing level 2 subs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Next, I see that I have very few (not sure how many but certainly fewer than 3) naval bombers, despite having researched level 3. I immediately use this opportunity to commence the production of level 3 naval bombers in Tokyo and Keijo. I would like to build a level 2 aircraft factory in the latter, but I lack rare materials, which are expensive in the market.

After a short break, I take a glance at ordnance foundries – I see no strategical or tactical advantage at the moment which would help me in building anything ordance-based. I’m sure this will change in future, however for now I am primarily an island nation and kingdom, so will be reliant on my navy, air force, and core units of infantry and armoured cars for liberation. Based upon this, I start producing one armoured car division in Shanghai, at the same time building a level 2 tank plant in that city. I use around 200 gold to complete this, as I am a little short of rare materials. In this game I wont balk at using gold, but I won’t be paying money to use exorbitant amounts of gold, or spamming when I think I’m losing, or anything like that. I will document all uses of gold in this playthrough. I also start training one armoured car division in Beijing.

At this point I have a large surplus of food and goods, over 10,000 of each to be exact. I also have a reasonable amount of steel, at 2,400. However, I am very low on both oil and rare materials, which I have less than 500 of. I predict that I will need quite a lot of food in future, as well as steel, so I wont sell these. However, I see no future need for goods, especially as it is the material I produce the most of, at over 11,500 per day. Therefore, I will utilise the market to my advantage, selling off my surplus goods at a higher price, and attempting to buy oil and rare materials on the cheap. As the market is still very expensive at the moment, I won’t buy or sell current orders, instead I will place my own. The 10% trade fee can be taken up by my current stock of cash, which is just under 40,000 at the moment.

As a final touch, I go through every city, and realise I haven’t started training any infantry! So of course, I start building level 2 barracks, as well as training level 2 infantry, in the cities of Taiyuan, Sharamuren, and Tsingtao, all three being in the area between Manchukuo and Nationalist China. At this point, initial diplomatic relations have been established, all of the 5 main cities have been industrialised further, and infrastructure is being put in place for troops to be trained (upgrading barracks etc). Furthermore, research is being done into the higher-levelled units to ensure specialisation of the army and advancement of military knowledge, as well as battle plans being drawn up for the invasion of Nationalist China, and first blueprints and thoughts on the final occupation of the rebel puppet Manchukuo.

Day 2

Hey guys. Today’s report will be less detailed than yesterday’s, partly because I’m busy, but also partly because there was less to talk about! Mostly, it's updates via images (which I didn't bother to edit at all or draw up battle plans because I'm feeling lazy today), with some text to explain what's happening.

I'm going to try to post daily updates, even if they're just short ones like today. Enjoy!

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Early Army Updates
This is the army stationed to the north of Nationalist China. It is the only army with units upgraded to the latest research level (level 4 infantry and level 3 armoured cars):


East Army. Has default upgrade levels:


South army. Default levels:


Here I am 2 hours into Day 2. I am using my reasonably-sized air force to scout out Nationalist China’s forces. It looks like he is pretty weak – his capital is completely undefended! I will definitely be going straight for that, then. The northwest is relatively empty – useful for me with my super upgraded units! They will be able to steamroll through everything even more easily.


Research & Economy
Researching level 4 naval bomber. My resources are limited for other research due to the upgrade of my 14^th armoured car division (nicknamed the North Army).


This is my economy soon into day 2. I would like to increase this much more than it is! I'm struggling for resources at the moment.


Diplomacy & International Relations
The Netherlands wants to attack Portugal. I wish him luck – but where is he going to attack? Portugal has about 3 provinces in Asia. Oh well.


The USSR accepted my oil trade, so I have enough oil for now, but he hasn’t accepted the food or steel trades yet, as he is still ‘industrialising’, or possibly ‘upgrading’.

Update: He accepted the food trade, but still not steel. Well, it’s free resources, eh?



Not many wars going on at the moment, sadly… unfortunately even Germany is inactive. I am in communication with the USSR, and I believe the USA is active, but the other great powers aren’t.

Note: after I wrote this France declared war on the Netherlands, so I suppose there’s that. There’s no major conflicts though! In great danger of being boring...


I severely need to industrialise –I am lagging behind every great power. One good bit of news – I’m very popular! I’m sure this’ll change when I take over nationalist China and Manchukuo…


France suddenly attacked the Netherlands, so the Netherlands is fleeing to Asia via the USSR, who he has Right of Way with. Looks like the USSR is keen to make friends with everyone.

War - Stage One of the invasion of China
The initial attacks on China seem to be a complete success. My 25^th Battleship Flotilla (renamed from the 32^nd Battleship Flotilla due to the addition of a Destroyer) completely wiped out an unsuspecting Chinese destroyer without a single casualty. Furthermore, the naval bomber wing of this battleship flotilla, having been produced over the last day, is reaping the rewards – it has discovered a second Chinese destroyer, with no anti air protection whatsoever. Casualties: Japan, none. China, 910.

Update: Japan has around 600 casualties, compared to China’s 6,000. Two cities have been taken, and no significant opposition has been met yet. My naval bombers are scouting for further Chinese ships, and my land army is advancing steadily through China.


This is the current state of Nationalist China. Labels are very crude today.

Circled in red is the North Army, moving to take the capital, Chengdu, then move round to the east to also take Chongqing, a key oil production centre.

Circled and labelled in blue is the South Army, which split into two parts. Seven divisions went to the northwest, en route to take two cities on the way to explore the more western parts of Nationalist China. Whilst these are being sent, an artillery division was sent to bombard Guilin and the militia stationed there, consisting of one division of artillery, one division of infantry, and one division of militia.

In black and labelled is the East Army, which, as you can see, has taken two cities already. It is now being sent back to the East to take another city there, and then straight northwards to take a fourth city, Xuzhou, which has the largest garrison I've scouted, including four divisions of level 2 militia. I am confident that the 1st armoured car division (shown above) is capable of dealing with this, with some minor losses.

Finally, circled and labelled in white is the famed 25th Battleships Flotilla, which is strategically positioned to prevent any escaped Chinese military vehicles or armies. Naval bomber are patrolling the area, and I am confident that no Chinese armies will be able to escape by sea.


That'll be it folks! Out of resources, used them for my research. Hope you enjoyed, and see y'all for the next one

Throughout the play through I’ll be going for a strong navy and airforce, supported by high levelled infantry and armoured cars.

Yes I’ll probably do light tanks once I’ve done everything else. For now I’m focusing on armoured cars for the view range. Besides, they’re already level 2.

Unfortunately, I was too busy to continue this playthrough. In short, I was around 400 VPs from winning with a coalition, then went AI because I had so much going on in my life. Didn't go on that game for maybe 30 days, and I looked at it recently to see it was day 54 ish, and there was a 2 or 3 day timer! I managed to get into the coalition with the only two other players active, and we all won once the timer counted down. An anticlimatic ending, I know. I am attempting to make up for my failure to maintain this playthrough with my Ukraine 10-day speedrun attempt!