ORIGINAL: obvert
ORIGINAL: Alfred
ORIGINAL: obvert
...I do need more troops on Formosa, but I'll have to take them from Honshu to do that, which is risky too. There are, as you know, just too many places to cover effectively. Daito and the little islands to the North could be easily taken, and those would provide close-in fighter support for strat bombing as well as limiting any further transport to the Home Islands. I'm flooding units to North Honshu and to Kyushu to get a mobile reserve ready close to anything. I'll move something to every pile of rock around, but I can't put a division everywhere just yet.
Tsushima is a massive fort, but I'd not even though of it as a target. I can drop a brigade there and fly in more quickly if he moves that way.
Do not weaken the Home Islands defences. Japan remains well on track to achieving a significant game victory. The Allies have less than 5 months to get to a 2:1 auto victory ratio. Their only hope of getting anywhere near that is by capturing Home Island bases combined with strategic bombing.
Based on developments to date in this game I very much doubt the Allies will even achieve a 1.26:1 ratio by the end of August 1945. That only places them in marginal Allied victory territory which is of course very far short of the historical outcome which in keeping with the game design victory conditions means crowing rights to Japan.
Unless that Allied auto victory is gained by 31 August 1945, the end game auto victory level adjustment mechanism will see the worst outcome for Japan being a draw, with a Japanese marginal victory being the most likely adjusted outcome.
Alfred
I'm trying to keep this in mind, and really do want to focus on VP ratio in all of my choices right now. This is also why I'm playing too conservatively regarding all-out naval strikes and kamis.
With the influx of new China, Manchurian and Home Island restricted units I can probably afford a few units moving from China and Manchuria to the inner islands around Kyushu and down to Daito, and some of the smaller infantry units from naval guard to regiment size installing in those spots. For Formosa I'll bring a few from farther South to add in, and at least cover all of the bases plus have noe stack that might hold for a bit.
The Allies have shown they can move a mass of troops quickly and have them drop in a day, ready to strike. I can't let any base be hit in this way without immediate response, so the forts have all been building beyond level 6 in any clear hex and often to level 8. Non-clear hexes are 6-7 for the most part now, with some Western Honshu and Kyushu bases still catching up.
I am moving some units from Hokkaido back to Honshu as well since he's pulling units from Kushiro and Wakkanai for whatever the next op will be.
Glad your forts are moving in clear terrain. IJA units can work wonders in x3 terrain with level 3 or 4 forts, but they need the bigger forts for x2 and clear terrain.
Food for thought: Okinawa is worth about the same (if not slightly more) base VP's to the Allies as Formosa. It's also much easier to defend and much more relevant to the Home Islands defence. On top of that, I consider Formosa indefensible due to terrain (bar two hexs, it's all clear terrain), while Okinawa is x2 and x3 terrain.
Regarding China, Shanghai and Peiping are the really big ticket VP items. The real VP haul for the Allies comes from destroying large numbers of surrounded IJA units. To that end, I think it's important to know when to bug out of China so that the Soviets don't get to cut off your armies in South-East Asia.
I think the best way to play the VP game in China/Manchuria is to throw expendable units into the big cities to deny VP's, then bug everyone out to Keijo and the two hexes east of it. It surrenders a fair bit of territory, but the cost of losing units facing the Soviets head on will be far greater. This also had the added advantage of giving you the ability to consolidate units and develop a strategic reserve in Korea to deploy where needed. I've don't know the maths for your game, but I reckon that army VP's make up a significant portion of IJ VP's left on the game board at this point. More food for thought.
I think it's the only way of putting a dent in the Soviet juggernaut - they shotgun into Manchuria and find nothing all the way to Korea.