ハーツ オブ アイアン IV – How to Defeat China Using Japan

序章

This guide is for people who struggle to conquer China as Japan in HoI4 historical play through. The guide will cover basics on how to successfully manage the conquest and will cover basics such as templates, focuses, 研究, 等. 最も重要なこと, the guide covers the actual conquest steps and the strategy that will cover the war. Using this I was able to finish the war in China by 1940 which gives plenty of time to handle the next steps: southern expansion, war with USSR and the strike against the US.

It is still solid, but I feel certain updates were needed to reflect the changes in the game itself.

This guide assumes the 1936 始める.

ついに, this guide requires the DLCs to be present, especially La Résistance, but also Waking the Tiger, Man the Guns, 等.

ついに, this guide is noob-friendly and will give information on future steps for Japan besides the war in China. It was tested in games where Chinese united front was formed, and in games where it actually wasn’t for some reason. Worked well each time.

With this guide it would be relatively easy to get “Tojo shot first” 成果. Not sure about “Sunset invasion”, guess it could be done if you’re quick enough.

The start – 1 1月, 1936

簡単です, newbie friendly guide to initial steps right after the game loads.

研究:

Basic machine tools, 建設i, Electronic Mechanical Engineering, Maintenance Company I. We will go down the dispersed industry path in industry research, focus on finishing research boosts from electronics tabs and everything in industrial before doing anything else.

工事:

shift+click CIVs on all 80% 州 (Kyushu, 中国, Kansai, Kanto, 東海)

生産:

MILs: 1 on train, 1 on truck, 1 each on airplanes: ファイター, naval bomber, CAS, bomber, carrier fighter, carrier naval bomber, 1 on supp, 1 on arty, 5 on infantry equipment

Dockyards: cancel Zuiho, cancel all submarines. 彼らは’re all garbage. Let other stuff complete. ドン’t forget to fill all slots with gray dockyards. Add convoys with only one (preferably gray) dockyard on it. Once a notification pops that there are free dockyards, 私たちは’ll add new ships with new designs.

Focuses:

• Purge the Kodoha Faction
• Guide the Zaibatsus
• National Mobilization Law
• National Research Policy
• Nationalize War Industry
• Coal Liquification
• Liaison Conference
• The Manchurian Project
• Expand Showa Steel Works
• Expand Manchurian Railways
• Light Industry Development
• Heavy Industry Development

Stall finishing the “Create East-Asian Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere” national focus since this will unite the Chinese front. Doing the Marco Polo will give us war goal against China. We’ll do these once we set-up everything. In the meantime try to get as many from the list as possible. Focus is on building our factories and getting that 5th research slot.

Decisions:

Enter decisions, disable all notifications by clicking the green buttons at the brown heading for decision groups.

Divisions:

Shift+click the red divisions notification at the top of the screen. Click the green plus at the bottom, create an army group. From the list, double click the horse, change the division template to Chuton-chi Shidan. Do the same for trucks. Double click all tanks, create a new army group. Do the same for marines. Double click all Hohei Shidan divisions, create a new army group from 6 彼らのうちの. Convert the rest into Chuton-chi Shidan. You should now have 50 Chuton-chi Shidan in one army group, 3 tanks in second army group, 1 marines in third army group, と 6 Hohei Shidan in 4th army group. から 50, halve them into 2 new army groups at full strength (24 division), and make a new army group from the remaining two. We will start filling this to create a new full-strength army group soon. させて’s give them some generals too. First full army should get someone strong, since they will be doing a lot of heavy lifting when the war starts, so give them Tomoyuki Yamashita. The second army will have an important role to play but at a later time, so give them Shizuichi Tanaka. These two are also our best generals at the moment. For the army of the six Hohei Shidan, give them someone who will go to Spain to learn a bit and sharpen his skills. Rikichi Ando, Toshizo Nishio, Naruhiko Higashikuni all seem like a good choice. Japan does not start with a tank commander general so give the tanks to someone with the next best thing: cavalry officer skill. Otozo Yamada fits the bill nicely, plus he has a cool attack score of 3. ついに, give the sole marine control to Hitoshi Imamura. Give the last remaining army of 2 to any other decent general.

One thing to note here is that all army colors generate by the Japanese Imperial Army are dark in color and look very similar on the world map which makes front line management a hell so change the colors to those that will make it easy to differentiate armies from one to the other. I normally pick the bright versions of the same color, from dark red to bright red, 等.

ついに, select all the armies and give them a field commander. We have only 2 そして彼らは’re ok for now, so any will do.

Time to place the armies. Army led by Yamashita should be placed on the only direct border with China we have, starting from Beijing to the sea. The whole army should be placed on only these 3 provinces. Put marines at Dalian, order naval invasion to the very tip of Shandong peninsula.

Place the Shizuichi army on home islands, preferably closest to Shizuichi, with the area defense order with a focus on guarding naval bases. Kyushu sounds fine. Dump the rest wherever, they will come into play once the war with China starts.

Click the field marshal, shift+click the train order. Let them all do some pushups.

Airforce

:

Place all airplanes in one airfield. Delete all naval variants which are up for some reason (naval fighter, naval bomber, naval CAS). Once you get some in storage you can use them in normal airwing role on the ground but the “普通” versions of these planes are superior. Just remember to keep your carriers well stocked. Switch the supergroup operations to “normal operations” から “no retreat”. No idea why this is on by default when creating new airwings.sd

海軍

:

Put all ships together into one big super group, give them Yamamoto as admiral. Take out all subs, create a new fleet, give them Tadashige Daigo as admiral, the only dude with Sea Wolf trait. At this point I would suggest removing all naval CAS from your ships. These have a much lower range than regular CAS, and don’t really do anything better than what naval bombers do, plus you need to park your ships next to a coast to support ground or invasion troops which costs fuel. One or two carriers with naval CAS in a naval invasion support role might sound fine, but you also need to manually enter flight zones etc. which is a bit of hassle. Your call, but adjust production accordingly if you plan on using them. Notice that a lot of carriers currently in the zones lack planes completely. Add what you can and don’t forget about them once more are produced. Shift-click admirals to train the navy up a bit, we need the navy exp.

Notice the oil drain? それ’s a good moment to check up on our trade. We are buying oil from the US, giving them two CIVs. They are bound to be our enemy, so stop that. Give the factories to someone friendlier, Venezuela seems nice enough.

This should be it for the initial start, time to let the time roll.

Occupied territories

By default territory management rule is set to “military governor” which does not help raise compliance. Best set it to “civilian oversight” and keep it at it as long as the measure of resistance is in single digits.

As soon as it raises above it, switch to “Local Police Force” for the occupied country. If it goes above 15% switch to “Secret Police”, 等. Increase or decrease the severeness of management as required, the goal is to have the resistance as close to 0% and compliance to 100% as possible. It is annoying to keep coming back to this screen, but oh well.

Changing these will drain more manpower and more equipment for our stock, どれが悪いですか, since we need these for our army that we’re trying to build up for China. Horses are best for police duty until we get enough armored cars. Once our research gets going, it would prove useful to research Military Police I support company and add them to the horses.

Which reminds me…

Spanish civil war

Once the civil war in Spain kicks off (summer of 1936) it is time to go and farm some army experience.

Select the army with 6 Hohei Shidan divisions, transfer 2 to someone else, our maximum number of volunteer divisions is 4 現時点で. Right click Nationalist Spain, offer our volunteers, send the army with the 4 Hohei Shidan divisions, don’t forget to click the “Send air volunteers” button at the top of the window, send them away. We can send only 2 air wings, make sure to send 2 CAS air wings, we need experience on them. Once they arrive to Galicia, give the army a field marshal to, no reason to let the other guy get some experience as well.

Enjoy the war, during it try to cut the enemy groups off as much as possible. Find weak spots, close pockets, focus on their supply lines (railroads and supply depots). Try to cut these off as much as possible. Make sure that your CAS operates in zones where your army fights.

覚えて, we do this war to gather army experience, improve levels of the Hohei Shidan divisions and improve the CAS.

Spy missions against China

打った瞬間に 20 civilian factories, it is time to start the Japanese spy agency. The moment you get 150 political power, spend it on Mitsumasa Yonai, the silent workhorse, to improve the PP gain. Next 150PP should go on Yahachi Osumi, the illusive gentleman, if the spy agency was completed before that. そうでない場合, then get Takuo Godo, the war industrialist. いかなる場合でも, some of the first PP investment should go to the illusive gentleman.

Once the first spy is recruited from the agency start, I would recommend Yoshiko Kawashima since she can infiltrate Chinese regions well due to her multiple citizenships. 採用されたら, immediately get her to start building her spy network somewhere in China, the best bet is next to your own army in the north so you get some intel on enemy troops as well.

When the agency is done, start on 5 agency upgrades. My recommended upgrades are:

• Suicide pills
• Commando training
• Form department
• Radio interception group 2x
• Government cypher school 2x

As soon as you’re able to do the “Prepare Collaboration Government” spy mission in China. This will make it much easier to capitulate China, while also save you major headache later on when you need to subjugate it

When you get the third spy, keep one spy constantly building the spy network, while the other two will come and help as long as they are not doing the “Prepare Collaboration Government” ミッション. 覚えて, you can do the mission 3 合計回数, and being that it takes ages to finish, you want them being done literally one after the other. That’s why the third spy will keep the spy network at 100% so the other two can jump in immediately and start the new round.

These missions will hurt your productivity and will cost quite a lot of infantry and support equipment. You should just take it on the chin and remember to give operations high priority in Recruit & Deploy screen.

Once you complete the 3 missions in China, start a new one in Guangxi Clique. By that point the war will be well on, from the middle point of it start doing the same missions in Raj and then Dutch East Indies.

もちろん, the first cypher mission should go on China, to be able to get a nice attack bonus in time of need. Once China codes are deciphered, continue by doing it to all the other warlords.

Division templates and final preparations for war

Once the war in Spain is completed, we’re back on administrative duties. There are important steps to complete before the start of the war.

テンプレート:

初めに, templates need to be set-up correctly. After the Spanish civil war there should be a ton of army experience available, more than enough to set-up our armies. For this we will need three main types of infantry: heavy infantry, basic infantry, and the marines.

Heavy infantry: Hohei Shidan

The guys we used in Spain. I go up to 30 幅, no need to go overboard since the supply in China is hell. Basically just add a couple of arty battalions, with support art and maintenance company as support.

Once production kicks in and more military factories become available, add anti-air support company.Basic infantry: Chuton-chi Shidan

These guys do their job and don’t strangle the supply lines. 20 幅 10 infantry is a pretty basic and a pretty solid division template that should carry the war easily. また, give them shovels, wrenches and arties in support.

Once production kicks in and more military factories become available, add anti-air support company. Do note that this would kick up the demand for it for quite a bit so do it for these guys lastMarines:

また, pretty basic, 20w marines with some shovels and supply arty on the support. Give them support anti-air as soon as you got some in storage. Consider giving them scout tanks if any light tanks are available in reserve.

These three templates should take priority. These three will be doing a lot of heavy lifting and most of army experience collected should go to creating this or something similar. Bear in mind the supply situation in China and your own production. そういえば, once these three are saved, your own supply situation will be in shambles being that there will be a huge lack of infantry equipment, support equipment, and arty.

Infrastructure:

2-level airport in East Hebei

2-level airport in Dalian

2-level airport in South Korea

Get railroads in East Hebei to level 5

Get the port in East Hebei to at level 4

Improve roads in other states where you have a bunch of resources, focus on steel, 油, アルミニウム. After at least 40 civilian factories start building refineries and military factories. It is also important to build a few fuel silos since we need to fill them up before the war. Fuel is a major problem of Japan, but you need to manage it carefully. 最も重要なこと, don’t overuse the navy!

海軍:

Select a few capital ships such as cruisers, 戦艦, light cruisers and destroyers. No need for carriers if you don’t have CAS on them. その周り 50 ships total should be fine. Put them in a separate fleet, give them an admiral, and select Yellow sea, East China sea and South China sea zones. Give this fleet the Naval invasion support mission. Do the same for subs, put them on convoy raiding missions. 必要なのは 30-40 subs on this mission, so separate them into 3 または 4 groups and give only half of those the mission, others should sit in their bases. That way you will save a lot of fuel and should it start to go way down, import more from Venezuela. さらに, carefully manage your airforce, また, no need to include all of them once the war starts – China really has no navy or airforce to threaten your position.

Advisers:

As said, first three should be the political ones: silent workhorse, illusive gentleman, war industrialist. For military advisor, depending whether you have the No Step Back DLC or not, focus on army supply, air support, army attack, regrouping, 等. These will be the things that will help the most.

Soon the Chinese nationalists will start conducting operations in Manchuria, damaging infrastructure, factories and manpower. Take the war support and stability hits until your stockpiles in logistics tab get in green, especially the infantry equipment and support equipment. To speed it up, cancel any troops being trained to release their equipment and only start retraining once you actually have supply for new troops.

Once the logistics stockpile situation improves and starts getting closer to green, start on the national focuses:

• Liaison Conference
• Greater East-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
• Marco Polo Bridge Incident (unless it kicks off by itself)

いかなる場合でも, once your supply is well on its way, airports and infrastructure is built and all troops have been retrained after the huge changes in their templates, use one of the China provocation incidents to mobilize and get the war goals against China and Communist China. 準備ができたら, declare on China.

The war in China

Initial:

Very important: once you declare, do not invite your allies Manchukuo or Mengkukuo. Request Garrison support from them, それはいいです. Any troops they send as expeditions you can disband to get some equipment to your stockpile. Don’t worry about the border with USSR, they won’t attack on historical. You’ll sign a treaty with them anyway.

Once the war starts, the army bordering China (Army 1) will be almost immediately under attack. Give them air support from the new airports (not too much, watch the oil closely!), and provide them with supply by increasing the motorization level on supply hubs and the port.

China will send airplanes it got from the US and the UK against you. These are weak, so use the new airports to defend the waters and the home islands. Once the war starts take the “Prioritize Steel for Guns” decision to get new military factories. さらに, を取る “Escalate the war in China” decision as soon as it pops up. Do not take the Ichi Go decision. Once the Marco Polo Incident national spirit is gone, you can stop with these decisions, we don’t want an angry USA.

The reason we added the maintenance company in support of all land armies will become obvious soon. All Chinese attacks repelled by your forces will result in capture of (いくつかの) of their own equipment. Being that there is a need to supply the horses handling occupied territories, new armies being trained, as well as our own armies in the field fighting, there will soon mount a huge pressure to get infantry and support equipment. さらに, China will be supplied through Burma by the Allies. In the long run, this is ruinous to Japan. 幸いなことに, this support company will help us get those supplies for ourselves.

Shandong peninsula:

Remember the marines we had target the very tip of the peninsula? It is time to use them. Get them to take the harbor there, together with the small fleet in support. Once it is done. Move the heavy infantry 6 divisions squad there. China will keep trying to take this and will send a lot of armies, but these guys should be able to keep them at bay. Once they arrive, move the marines back to Dalian, and have them naval invade Qingdao. また, with navy support, they should be able to clear it. As soon as they land, select a few and send them to the province directly to the north of Quingdao. さらに, send a second basic infantry army (Army 2) here to help the marines control Qingdao. Once these guys land, push with heavy infantry from the tip towards Quingdao to crush all Chinese division left in the pocket. Move the marines out, and have them target (but not yet invade!) Hangzhou from Okinawa. Once cleared, create a fallback line for Army 2 on two provinces: Quingdao – the one directly above it. Push with heavy infantry to the province directly left from Quingdao:

Once done wait for China to fill the line with as many troops as possible. Once they seem to be standing in place, send the heavy infantry army to attack to the province north-west of their position towards the coast. Once defeated Chinese pull back, this will leave a lot of their troops pocketed for quick annihilation.

Pull back the heavy infantry back to their position left of Quingdao, すすぎを繰り返す. You will notice that Army 1 will face less and less divisions as China keeps pulling troops back to Quingdao. Continue doing this to thin their numbers as much as possible. Once they thin out, it is time for phase 2.

北京

It is time for Army 1 to see some action. Draw an attack plan towards the river and get offensive with the army with the goal of taking Beijing, Tianjin and the airport between them. While their armies are in disarray, quickly move your troops across the river. Attacking across the river sucks, and if they dig in on the other side it’s going to be much harder to punch through.

Attack the airport tile first, then quickly move some troops into the forest across the river behind the airport. If you’re fast enough you can envelop the army in Tianjin if you push towards the sea behind it. Your subs are controlling the waters so even if they evacuate it, subs will get the convoys. さらに, Turning quickly towards your neutral ally Mengkukuo could even yield the troops defending Beijing.

Once your troops regroup and take new lines beyond the river, it is time for phase 3.

Jinan

We start this phase with an attack by Army 1 in the north, pushing south towards border with Shanxi in order to grab control of the supply hub there. これが完了したら, improve motorization on it to ensure all troops are well supplied (probably wait a few days after taking it for it to ‘reconnect’ to your supply network) and then push slowly down the eastern railway (closer to the coast) by your Army 1. I say slowly, since we want enemy troops to get into position so we can trap as many as we can. Army 1 should push only along the railway towards Jinan. 一方で, you must push from the south-east with Army 2 今, spearheaded by heavy infantry. Delete the fallback line for Army 2, and give them the front line. Wait for them to get into space and slowly advance with heavy infantry towards Jinan. ついに, attack it with both armies from two sides and you should have a nice pocket with trapped Chinese troops.

Once the pocket is closed, it is time to bring in a third army and open a second front. また, improve the railways towards Jinan to level 2 at least in order to keep your troops well supplied. Push the construction to the top of the priority list, rails build quickly.

Nanjing

Now is the time for the big blow and to bring in the rest of our troops into China. Let the marines invade Hangzhou, and once they drop immediately draw the front line for the third army. Army 3 should start pouring in, but use the moment to send your marines on capture spree while the cities are empty before Chinese reinforcements arrive. Try to capture Suzhou quickly and see if it is possible to maybe even catch Nanjing empty. Once Army 3 troops arrive, creep along the coast to Ningbo. You have the river on north to use as a defence against the pouring Chinese troops, but if resistance is poor, get at least one unit across. Hefei is the obvious next target. Suzhou airport should be stocked by our aircraft, especially CAS. Once the frontlines consolidate, move marines out and have them target (but not yet invade) Fuzhou in the south from Okinawa. Bring in the tanks as well, since here there are flat areas, perfect for quick breakthroughs. That peninsula above Suzhou looks fun.

Next phase is pretty straightforward. Push north from Hefei and follow the train tracks, and push south from Jinan, again with your heavy infantry in the lead. Meet halfway to create yet another huge pocket to the east, towards the coast.

Once the lines consolidate, take a look at the war report. By now China should be dangerously close to capitulation. Whether they created their defensive pact with all the other warlords or not, it should matter little. Thanks to all the spy operations completed, the collaboration should be showing its terrible effects by now. All that is left now is to grab Fuzhou by marines, and once they land, send the heavy infantry there to protect. The supply lines on the 3-armies front are under stress now, so removing them will help others. また, don’t forget to upgrade railway lines up to level 2, to improve mechanization levels from all supply depots, and to spread out troops.

Chinese defeat and future steps

Once the large front combines China should be on its last legs. Naval invade Fuzhou and Xiamen. Your heavy infantry + troops given by your allies and fresh recruits should hold the four provinces between the two cities. ついに, let the three armies slowly, methodically advance towards Chinese heartland, namely Huangshan, Wuhan, Nanchag, Changsha and Changde. Capture them methodically, ensuring that troops are constantly in supply. Follow the rail lines, if some are missing build them, improve their level to at least 2, 等.

Once China capitulates, all other allies will as well. 万歳, you just won a land war in Asia. Only thing left is to prepare for the war with the Allies.

初めに, ask Siam to join your faction through the national focus. After that go down the Southern push focus tree, bypassing the Philippines. There is no need to get into war with the USA, まだ. Construct a railways all the way to Siam, レベル 5, build a depot right on the border with the Raj. Station Army 1 ここ. Do the same on the northern border with the Raj, building a long level 5 railroad right across China. また, build a supply depot on the border. Spread Army 2 on the border here. Target Singapore with your marines, prepare the heavy infantry to land right after them. Build another group of marines to help with all the islands around here, south of Philippines.

Once you get the war goals against the British Malaya and Dutch East Indies it is go time. These two hold massive rubber reserves and pretty large oil reserves. 同時に, let your two armies punch through Raj. Give them air support where possible and make sure to connect your railway to their network to plug any holes in supply. また, focus on taking out airports and supply depots first, make sure railroads you capture stay safe, and try to cut their railroads as much as possible. 同時に, start biting off pieces of British Malaya and Dutch East Indies with constant naval invasions and support from your fleet and subs. Most of these islands will be empty anyway, even though Australia and New Zealand troops will come in to try and help as much as possible.

Once Raj folds and you take over the world supply of rubber, only the US will remain to contest you. Develop nukes and enjoy.

もちろん, when Germany breaks Molotov-Ribbentrop and declares on USSR, this is your chance to actually have both push South and push North. Put one army in Manchukuo, develop the supply situation by building a supply depot north-east and building the railorads, and let it push northward. Take Vladivostok and push north and west until USSR folds. In peace talks ensure that all USSR regions are taken so they do not re-spawn in a miniature form and grab the pacific coast for yourself. It’s the least you deserve.

結論

Winning in China seems like a daunting task due to their massive manpower and the fact that if given enough time China will steamroll you, and will crush anyone else. Their faction is scary if created so winning there is a must for a Japan player. AI plays the way AI plays, and even though this strategy may seem cheesy, I find it enjoyable enough.

それで, in short:

• Use spies to complete 3 provisional government missions in China
• Add maintenance company to all invading troops to ensure a steady stream of captured equipment
• Use the killing fields above the Quingdao peninsula to your advantage
• Be careful not to over extend and focus on cutting train lines and capturing supply depots
• Improve captured raillines to ensure steady supply stream from your capitol
• Use CAS to help your troops wherever possible, China has almost no airforce to compete
• Methodically naval invade to capture key points along the coast which can then be used to connect one army to another and encircle large number of enemies
• Do not forget to think of the future: create collab government in Raj, prepare your navy, construct a lot of refineries to help supply your navy, develop your navy by researching the modules for it, 等.
• Be careful not to outrun your fuel supplies, use only what you need in terms of airplanes and navy

Thanks for reading this long-ass guide, and I hope you get success with it.