My Initial Setup for Japan | HOI4 Guide

The latest version of this guide is now available at this link: • Japan Dominates The Wo...
For all of my guides I also always make dedicated spreadsheets which include, in addition to focuses and researches, a list of all the steps required in order to succeed.
These spreadsheets are exclusive to the members (Colonel rank) of the channel, in addition to several other perks!
Becoming a member is mainly a way to show your support to the channel and to help keeping it alive and active.
If you are interested, or if you wish to help the channel, you can become a member and get access to all perks through this link:
/ @machiavellianstrategist
For even more exclusive content, make sure to join our:
Discord server: / discord
Instagram: / machiavellianstrategist
USEFUL LINKS
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My latest templates & designs: • HOI4: Templates & Designs
All of my country guides: • HOI4: Country Guides
Research Priority:
Usual + range imp
Mechanical computing
Surv studies
Disp 1
Support w1
Radio
dispersed 2-const 2-tools2
Interwar-artillery
Radio Detection
Anti-air
Basic Engine
Howitzer Art
Medium Tank
Anti-tank
Logistics comp
Deciradar
Computing machine
Infantry Upgrades x2
Eng3
Small air (100% disc)
Air Guns x2
Improved guns
Eng comp 2
Fuel refining
Cons-Tools-Disp3
Exca 3
Anti Tank UP
Logistics 2
Anti Tank UP
Landing Craft
Fuel refining
Improved radar
Improved art
Anti air up
Infrantry equip up X2
Computing machine
Howitzer UP
Improved tank
Armor 1
Centi Radar
Art UPS
Mecha 1
Disp3-cons3-tools3
Arti UPS +
Maintenance comp 1
Arti UPS
Free
Focus Priority:
Purge the K
Guide the Z
National Mobilize
War industry
National Defense
National Research
Liaison Conference
Greater co-prosperity
Marco Polo
New Naval esti
Fighter modern
Agility focus
Army Exp
Small arms
Spiritual mob
Supremacy of tech
Modern Artillery
Coal Liq
Armored divisions
Tripartite pact
Strike south
Non aggression soviet
Range Focus
Bomber Modern
Strategic Bomber Eff
Jet Proto
Free
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
03:30 Recruitment & construction
04:07 Military & naval production
04:51 Trade
05:06 Researches & Focuses
05:37 Early diplomacy & political power decisions
06:34 Civil War in Spain
07:49 Justify on Siam & navy management
09:18 Early Fighters & CAS
10:21 Invasion of Siam & next set of focuses
11:51 More buildings & adjusting templates
13:17 Justify on The Netherlands & production/advisors
13:35 Preparations for China
15:10 Navy setup to invade The Netherlands
16:23 War on China/air & army spirits/spy agency
17:24 Invading The Netherlands & military constructions
19:27 Naval production (superiority design)
21:53 Naval invasion of China
22:12 Doctrines & Tanks
23:10 Final Preparations
24:52 Outro
Hi, I am (a) Machiavellian Strategist, on my channel you will regularly find new videos on a variety of games. As you may have guessed, I like strategy oriented games the most, but my only rule is to play something I enjoy and I am passionate about.
I am not a pro, but I hope I will be able to share my passion for videogames with you!
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Please show your support by liking/commenting/sharing and subscribing!
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Subscribe and check more content now: www.youtube.com/@Machiavellia...
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#heartsofiron4 #hoi4 #History #bybloodalone #japan

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

The latest version of this guide is now available at this link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/maSQm595lK6toqM For all of my guides I also always make dedicated spreadsheets which include, in addition to focuses and researches, a list of all the steps required in order to succeed. These spreadsheets are exclusive to the members (Colonel rank) of the channel, in addition to several other perks! Becoming a member is mainly a way to show your support to the channel and to help keeping it alive and active. If you are interested, or if you wish to help the channel, you can become a member and get access to all perks through this link: kzbin.info/door/1c01Sz-D_aNEUEbUBxwUJQjoin For even more exclusive content, make sure to join our: Discord server: discord.gg/e5WQFf5qDr Instagram: instagram.com/machiavellianstrategist USEFUL LINKS --------------------------------------------------- My latest templates & designs: kzbin.info/aero/PLY4d0TUsYg8KCFGQl9nYPjFnXN0N5ERze All of my country guides: kzbin.info/aero/PLY4d0TUsYg8LQ6kW3_94GhRJaHn3ZlalP

[@ultimatestuff7111]

I know you are Italian and pronounce English differently, but I have to point out it us oretty funny when you say ‘focuses’ because it sounds like fuckeses

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@ultimatestuff7111 hahaha at least it's a funny mistake! Thank you for telling me though, I'll try to work on that!

[@MrJahka]

Honestly you have the best actual strategy among the HOI4 KZbinrs I’ve seen. Keep the up the great work!

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you!! More content will be coming soon!

[@Bylov6812]

Absolutely fantastic! I love the improvements you have made! I think more and more beginners will lean in for your guides! Thank you for your dedication 🙏

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you for the very kind comment!

[@kyletaylor3860]

@@MachiavellianStrategist I love your guides, it's the only one that goes step by step and doesn't skip over the small things like research, production, etc... Really good stuff

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@kyletaylor3860 thank you! I'll make more as soon as I have some time! Countries guides are fun but do take a lot of time to get the right setup...

[@jackstevens8071]

This guides really great. I cant emphasize enough how important the interservice decisions are for Japan and how many people will miss out on great boosts for the cheap cost.

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! It took a few weeks of preparation and suggestions from the community, so I'm really glad people are enjoying it!

[@thereisonlyallah5177]

Thanks for this video, i enjoy it! 💪🏻

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

That's great to hear, thank you! More guides will be coming very soon!

[@ImperatordiegoI]

Great guide of Japan, I will use it when I upgrade my pc

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! I have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade my pc myself, hopefully soon hehe!

[@KaMil-gw2qr]

I may or may not be a pothead but I had to play the video at 0.75 speed a few times to actually keep up with this guy lol. Great video!

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! I try to keep the videos as short and compact as possible but sometimes the pace is a bit too fast hehe, sorry about that!

[@patrickthoma5320]

Thank you!

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

You are welcome, let me know how it goes with Japan!

[@justprime2000]

Take one shot everytime he says ehm

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Ehm

[@muzzy5914]

Good stuff. Could I suggest that you put all the research and focus moves in an excel spresd sheet, easier to print out and follow. Thanks.

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! Your suggestion is good indeed, however, the spreadsheets are a perk for the membership to the channel. I know that can be annoying, but I thought it would be one of the best things to offer in return for the membership without punishing regular subscribers (you still have access to all focuses and researches). I might change this in future if I come up with some better ideas on how to reward members hehe

[@kasai5006]

nice tutorial! Some extra stuff u may want. - You can buy 45* (i think) steel from your puppet for a single Civ, instead buying from Soviet - For china instead of bunkers, you can set your def div there to grind the Rengar/Hills and more, also you can naval invade 2-3 more provinces to just camp them rushing you to grind faster multiple generals disclaimer: when you declare war to china, naval invade those few provinces, and just put 6-8 divs there per naval invaded territories, and grind the traits for the generals. The AI will constantly rushing you, killing themselves and get you those traits insanely fast, you can reach under 50k jap casualties vs 1mil chinese casulties if you pay little attention, but you can leave them be - You can min/max the navy for extra results if you want, but overall your tut is nice

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! And thank you for the valuable advices, I will include them in my next tutorial about Japan!

[@nocommentarygameplay3798]

Very good

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you!!

[@ericbalestra4542]

Nice japan guide

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! I will make a new dedicated video for Japan soon to test the strategy in Arms Against Tyranny and possibly implement some improvements!

[@NSJL_Tonyoc]

Un guide très clair, même pour un français nul en anglais. Merci!

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Merci beaucoup, mon ami!

[@TENK4_gaming]

Hi ty fot that really nice video! Wich version do you play? I'm new and i don't have docking rights in the diplomacy as option for example. Or do i need a dlc? No "send air volonteirs option" neither and few other things that i don't have. i have the lastest version of the vinilla game with free dlc. ty :)

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Hi and thank you! I have the latest version with all dlcs. But I really thought those options were available for everyone. I'll double check as soon as possible and I will let you know!

[@TENK4_gaming]

I was missing dlc that's why. ty for your answer@@MachiavellianStrategist

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@TENK4_gaming you are welcome!

[@BohoSalmon]

how do you prevent your volunteers from being recalled from span during the war with Thailand

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

I don't, I just send them again right after it.

[@DthScythe01]

Honestly a pretty good guide. Why do you decide most of the time to puppet?

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Thank you! I actually made I guide on it, you can easily find it from my homepage. But in short: puppets with resource rights and war reparation give you much more than any annexed territory would ever give you, from all points of view. Moreover, unless you call them into a war they won't be attacked or invaded by your enemies but can't still be freely used to setup naval invasions!

[@DthScythe01]

@@MachiavellianStrategist Makes some sense. I have some suggestions Naval wise for you. I am always a big proponent of refitting the ships that the game starts you with. A ship out in water is worth twice a ship being built. The problem is that Japan clearly needs refits to their ships to make them function well. Here is what I found works best for me. Destroyers Japan starts off with 4 types of destroyers: Fubuki, Mutsuki, Momi, and Katsuriki. The Momi destroyer is really bare bones, so I leave them in my main fleet to act as fodder. The Fubuki and Mutsuki destroyers are great for anti sub warfare (ASW). When you get the research for sonar done, place sonar on these and refit them. They already have a depth charge on them, and just placing a sonar on them takes like 5-6 days per ship. I take these and use them to patrol for subs. The Katsuriki is a minelaying boat and is kind of terrible. Minelaying is useless. Fortunately you only start with 3. You can refit them to ASW or put them in your main fleet. I like to use Admiral Soemu Toyoda as my ASW admiral. Subs Japan starts with three classes of subs. They are: Kadai III, Ro-26, I-121. Both the I-121 and Ro-26 are both missing a torpedo tube module lol. Reship them to Kaidai III. The refit takes about 5 days per ship. Put your subs under command of Admiral Tadashige Daigo. Light Cruiser Japan starts off with a lot of light cruisers. I like to repurpose the 1936 hulls into scouts by putting a catapult launcher on them. If you can, putting a sonar helps with detecting subs, but not their primary role. The best ships I like to refit into this role are the Sendai, Tenryu, and Yubari. The ships I repurpose is the Chikuma and the Kuma/Nagara. I take both of these and put a lot of light guns on all of them. This refit takes longer maybe about 1-2 months per ships, but you already had some time investment to put engines and armor plates on them. Make them useful. Once I refit them all and when your carriers get built. The main fleet is pretty hard to actually stop. You will have naval supremacy wherever you go pretty much. The main fleet (everything not a sub or an ASW ship) should be under Admiral Yamamato. If and when you conquer another major power with a substantial fleet, I then use Jisaburo Ozawa. After you upgrade these you can move onto refitting the larger ships, but I find the time investment becomes less useful. Generally you should only be losing small ships in fights. The basic principle that I go by is to look at the fit the game gives you and find the role that it can fill the easiest and then refit for that. When I take other navies from primarily England and the US, I like to look at their ship designs and do the same. I think it also helps to puppet atleast part of them so then you can take their patterns. Then you can say build 1940 submarines without having researched them if the US already did. A couple other things you may want to do. Upgrade the Ryujo to a Soryu carrier. The Aoba is missing guns. May be worth it to refit this. The Hosho is kind of a bad carrier. I would only make sure to put air superiority fighters and not bombers on it. The reason is carriers have a penalty when you stack more in a task force beyond 4, but only for naval bombers. Basically the more carriers you have with naval bombers the less and less of those naval bombers actually fly (kind of dumb), but this penalty doesnt seem to affect air superiority fighters.

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@DthScythe01 thank you for the suggestions, fleets are definitely one of my weak spots so any advice is always welcome!

[@SchnickVideoChannel]

I'm trying your run but there is something I don't get is how you get 20 mil at the start where I'm capped at 19. Where am I missing one :) ?

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

It might just be a matter of a few weeks for the building to be completed, not much else comes to mind. But if it is only 1 military factory, it should not have any impact on the overall strategy don't worry! Let me know how the rest of the run goes!

[@SchnickVideoChannel]

Thanks for your answer@@MachiavellianStrategist

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@SchnickVideoChannel no problem! Let me know if you need any help!

[@mohammadbayazid5064]

it's not a japan guide if you don't forget to escalate the war in china, also you can launch the naval invasion from germany after getting the dockyard rights, so no need to sail the world while worrying about naval superiority, transport the troops before declaring war an attack from germany in one short hop

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Hahaha that decision is so easy to miss! About invading from Germany, I'll tear it again but I'm pretty sure docking rights are not enough to start a naval invasion from German soil. Have you tried?

[@mohammadbayazid5064]

@@MachiavellianStrategist I remember doing it a few years ago, didn't try it recently, so they might have changed it?

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@mohammadbayazid5064 I'll test it when I can and I'll let you know!

[@Reconder]

what is Tech Support w1?

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

I forgot the exact name but I believe it is something like "support infantry equipment" or the other one right next to it. I'm currently not home so I cannot check, I will answer more precisely later today.

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

After double-checking, the tech's name should be "Support Weapons I"

[@alexander_winston]

Hello…. Can not find anything called “support weapons”. 🤔

[@Davin64]

I've got green seas from Siam to the Netherlands, all along the path of the invasion but it insists I don't. Won't launch the invasion. I keep reloading it something I missed? No. Every sea area covered. Everything shows green. Invasion won't go. AHA...when I set the invasion, 0 divisions are in it. Don't ask me why. Restarting it again. This is why this game frustrates me so much.

[@Davin64]

Now I've got to change it because I don't have enough fuel to keep the fleet at sea. So I need to deploy the fleet to its starting position, then wait for the naval invasion to FINALLY be ready. Because the entire fleet is going to head back to Japan on its own.

[@Davin64]

Yes. I did it right. Your entire fleet is on Invasion Support. I sent the same task forces to the same sea regions as you did, with the same ship types, all on Invasion Support. They all immediately return to Japan. I assumed it was because they were out of fuel, so I went way back and ordered 32 oil from the US to make sure I had plenty. Still it doesn't work. The only thing I can imagine is that the developers caught on to it and gumbied up the game again rather than allow the players to enjoy this as a possibility. BEFORE GAINING SUPERIORITY, EVEN THOUGH ALL SEA ZONES SHOW GREEN, THE ENTIRE FLEET RETURNS TO JAPAN and the game will NOT allow me to launch the invasion. I also tried patrols and strike forces. I even divided the fleet in such a manner that each task force patrolled one area only. The invasion WILL NOT start. No matter what I've done, and we're talking something like 22 attempts now.

[@Davin64]

I finally decided to give up. I just could NOT get that naval invasion to launch. Okay I'll try one more try. AND it launched. *shrug* It's on its way now.

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Hahaha I feel you, you would not believe how many times I had my army assigned somewhere and I forgot to remove the previous order before planning the naval invasion... All I can say is: do not give up! When it eventually works it is very satisfying! Also save the game often so that you don't lose too much on restarts. Feel free to ask if you need any help!

[@nocommentarygameplay3798]

I spawn viewed the video

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

hahaha you were even faster than me!

[@ImperatordiegoI]

Nice

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@ImperatordiegoI Thank you!

[@Davin64]

I just can't get military access to the Reich.

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

Yep, they won't give you military access but they should give you docking rights, which is enough for what we need. Italy, one the other hand, should give you both. In either case, docking rights are all we need for our invasion!

[@Davin64]

@@MachiavellianStrategist So I do have military access to their ports?

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@Davin64 with docking rights you do, which means you will have the required range for your naval invasion. The soldiers will actually leave from Japan. It's only for the navy that we require the extra range given by Italy and Germany!

[@Davin64]

@@MachiavellianStrategist Oh I see. Launch the invasion from Siam

[@MachiavellianStrategist]

@@Davin64 yes! Let me know how it goes!