I thought there werent enough japan (laming) guides on HG, more people should lame japan imo since its a really fun civ. They are rather easy to play since you dont have to worry about hunts /idle vills.
+ OP units
+ Very strong boom
+ Good turtle (since no need to hunt, all resources are closeby)
+ Able to send shipments twice
+ Daymio's are a drop off point, give an attack boost and can train units
-Slow ageup time
-Vulnerable to early rushes
-Artillery
Japan has some very decent units which are often called "lame". General speaking all japanese units are better then their euro counterparts so you will be able to win battles even when you are slightly outmassed. The most general units are:
Somehow ES thouhgt it would be funny to make a musketeer type unit which has 4,5 speed intstead of 4 speed and a high attack which can benefit from many upgrades. In the latest RE 1.02 patch they nerfed the base damage from 26 to 24 atk. This made the pure ashi spams (1.01a) less viable and now japan is sometimes forced to make other OP units. But ashi still beat units they arent supposed to beat (xbows) cause of their higher speed it is impossible to hit and run ashi. While they are in range superior to a normal musketeer they fail a bit in hand attack and arent the best anticav.
The yumi is such a sick unit which is better then all there european counterparts in every way. With a high base attack and the possibility of many upgrades this unit can get sick stats in colonial (26 atk yumi own everything they even do fairly well vs cav). They have 18 range so you can and should hit and run xbows and musketeer unit types.
An age 2 lancer type which is a real ranged infantry killer with their 1,5 multiplier vs RI. Worse then normal cav in cav battles
fast good anticav unit with decent siege, they can be trained per 1 from consulate so try to use that feature every time you have some export left
stealth archer unit with high speed
My personal favourites unit combos are:
Yumi + Naginata + Clubs or Ashi + Naginata + Shinobi/Clubs
This is my general land deck, i have a second land deck with the 300 w card instead of 2 vills and a water deck with 3 boats and some warships shipments. Remember the left atk card is for yumi and the right atk card is for ashi.
In general japan is a colonial turtle/boom civ and according to what your opponent is doing you should decide to boom more or less. You have to play a bit with the shipments (send 4 vills or 5 yumi/ashi) to find the correct balance. Remember japan has the strongest boom of the game so you will never get outboomed (if things dont go wrong ^^).
When there are berry's task 3 vills via tc to the berry's and 3 unpack crates, else split all civs in groups of 2 and task them on food crates, build the orchards asap and then change 5 of the 6 to food. Queue 1st vill asap (smahs vill button continually
Try to avoid your explorers getting killed early game. The explorers have a chance to do a divine strike when a unit has low hitpoints, so they are better vs weak treasure guardians then strong guardians.For example the treasure with 5 coyotes for a free vill is rather easy with 2 explorers and stun ability while the treasures with 2 polar bears or those 2 dudes for 95 wood are harder to get. Use both explorers for big treasure while small treasures can easily be taken by 1. When things go wrong use the ability to get back to your town center before it gets killed. Dont fight with other explorers since they are all stronger then yours
Japan has many options for their first card. Often the first card is also really strat deciding. In general the possibilities are:
Japan can ally with the dutch, ports, spain and japans isolation
Most used is japans isolation which gives a 5 % boost to all units attack and has the ability to get:
Ports gives a 15 % decrease in all buildings costs (best for shrine booming). With a 300 w start you can choose to chop 6 wood and make a discovery consulate and ally with the ports to make shrines 106 wood and reduce your ageup costs to 680 f. Best is to break the alliances later on and switch to japanese isolation. ( vs rushes break it up inmediately when you have started aging else you can profit some time from the cheaper shrines / cheaper barracks options). Plan ahead since ending relations takes a long time.
Lategame its a good idea to switch to the dutch for some techs they have like a bank/arsenal and church
Toshuga shrine gives 20 population space, boosts shrine gather rate with 50 % and gives 200 export (which is great combined with the early consulate). Alternatives are torri gates which gives a free barracks + samurai + boosts xp rate with 50% or the golden pavillion which boosts units attack with 15 % and gives 3 yumi
Best and most used is to age with the toshugu shrine to age2 and use the golden pavillion to reach age3. Wonders should be build with 1,2,3 or 4 vills depending on how fast you want to age
Japan is a counter civ,like all civs u need to scout what the opponent is doing and pick the right counter strat. In transition try to use 1 explorer for scouting and 1 for building shrines. The most typical things you will face when playing japan and the counterstrats:
This are the hardest matchups for japan, you can use the consulate club rush in a defensive way to get out enough units early on:
-First card: 300 w
-Age with 13 vills
-Build 1 or 2 shrines with the starting wood
During transition:
-2 vills on wonder (toshuga shrine) maybe even more if you started late
-collect the wood when you started aging and make shrine + consulate
-6 vills on food rest on wood, shrines also on wood, tc waypoint to wood
-Don't forget to keep making vills
-Plan to have 200 wood on arrival in age2 with as many shrines as possible
Age2:
-Build a barracks asap
-Ship 300 exp
-Ally with japan at the consulate and queue clubs
-Leave shrines + 4/5 vills on wood and put the rest on food
-Try to get out as many yumi as possible
-Ship yumi and make more clubs
Notes
-This build order is easily replaced with an Ashi/Shinobi strat when you replace clubs with shinobi, replace the wood vills with gold vills and make / ship ashi instead of yumi
-This can also be used as an aggressive rush
(alternative age2)
other possibility is to skip the export shipment and ship yumi while you make ashi and get some clubs out of consulate for anticav
Age2:
-Build a barracks asap
-Ship 5 yumi
-Ally with japan at the consulate and queue as many clubs as possible
-Put shrines + 4/5 vills on gold and put the rest on food
-Try to get out as many ashi as possible from the barracks
-Next Shipment is 5 yumi
Use the mm from tc when the pressure gets too high. Later (if you survived the rush ^^) ship 600 w for market + shrines, get the free stable for 100 export from the consulate and add some naginata to your army, your eco will slowly grow and eventually (if you didnt got harmed too much with the first strike) you should win it. Try to use town center fire and time the arrvial of shipments with mm (both 75 g/75 f) coming out.
Rec showing both consulate strats in a mirror with Sami doing ashi/shinobi and me doing yumi/clubs
thx for the rec sami
This are somewhat hard matchups for japan but quite doable and you should be able to win it with good gameplay
-First card: 2 vills / 3 boats (always send boats on water maps)
-Age with 15/16 vills
-Use starting wood to make shrines
During transition:
-1 vill on wonder (toshuga shrine)
-6 vills on food rest on wood, shrines also on wood, tc waypoint to wood
-Don't forget to keep making vills
-When you have 200 wood start making a consulate
-Make 1 or 2 shrines during transition (depends on wood treasures and starting wood)
-Plan to have 200 wood on arrival in age2 with as many shrines as possible
Age2:
-Build a barracks asap
-Ship 600 w
-Ally with japan at the consulate and queue 3 clubs + 1 free rax + stable (it depends a bit on how soon you suspect cav will arrive on battle ground if you queue first a the clubs or the military building, vs germany you should go clubs first and vs a double rax france or a brit you can go for the military building first safely).
-Leave shrines + 4/5 vills on wood and put the rest on food, when you have a stable put some vills on gold to get some naginata's (100 f + 100 g)
-Try to get out as many yumi as possible
-The 600 w is for a market + ups + some shrines
-Next Shipments are either 4 vills or 5 yumi (depends a bit on how aggresive the opponent is normally i send 600 w >
-Later on send yumi attack , 2 orchards and daymio
How this game develops depends a bit on how you are attacked, some people focus on your shrines and go shrine hunting all over the map, some people dont care about the shrines and will attack you in your base killing vills / sieging military buildings. If possible be alert and try to defend your shrines since they cost 125 wood, try to hit and run a bit with yumi (18 range ^^) and pick some units off. Other options is to go straight for their fb when they are busy killing shrines elsewhere on the map. Try to rebuild shrines elsewhere on the map if you loose too many. The reason why you should go for an stable from consulate rather fast is to prevent him from attacking with his bows in your base and his pikes killing shrines somewhere else on the map. With some early naginata you force him to keep his pikes behind his bows so your shrines are safe. The idea is that you send yumi attack at some point of the game + the daymio which gives yumi OP stats. Together with naginata and some clubs this combo gets almost unbeatable in colonial, dont let your resources float and try to divide them correctly to get the units you want. Mostly you will have most vills on food and some on gold/wood and the shrines on wood. Dont panic when he sends some cav at your yumi, focus fire with them on the cav and they should die rather quickly
Easiest for japan since an ff will give japan the time to do where its best at, booming
If you know (you have to know it for sure) the opponent is doing an ff , from scouting or checking deck go for a full boom. best possible boom is achieved with heavenly kami (the cheaper shrine card) as first card and followed with 600 w >
relatively hard but doable with the right strat
-First card: 2 vills / 3 boats (always send boats on water maps)
-Age with 15/16 vills
-Use starting wood to make shrines
During transition:
-1 vill on wonder (toshuga shrine) , 2 vills if you suspect he is going for fast rush
-6 vills on food rest on wood, shrines also on wood, tc waypoint to wood
-Don't forget to keep making vills
-When you have 200 wood, start making a consulate
-Make 1 or 2 shrines during transition (depends on wood treasures and starting wood)
-Plan to have 200 wood on arrival in age2 with as many shrines as possible
Age2:
-Build a stable asap
-Ship 600 w (if they went 17 vill ageup) or 5 ashi (vs 14 vill)
-Ally with japan at the consulate and queue shinobi/clubs (depends if he has mainly cossack or musks or strelets) + 1 free rax
-Put shrines + 4/5 vills on gold and put the rest on food
-Try to get out as many naginata as possible
-Next Shipment is 5 ashi (depends a bit on how aggresive the opponent is)
-Use the free barracks to make ashi and keep making naginata from stable.
If you didnt ship 600 wood first ship it later for shrines + market, else you will be housed. Russia cant handle age2 naginata since they rape strelets, their musks and cossacks are easily countere by ashi, if neccessary call mm. Eventually you should win this
Rec of anti russia strat
In mirrors you can go for a full shrine boom
-First card heavenly kami
-Age with 13 vills
-Use starting wood to make shrines when you have 300 wood go for a consulate and ally with the ports
During transition:
-1 vill on wonder (toshuga shrine)
-6 vills on food rest on wood, shrines also on wood, tc waypoint to wood
-Don't forget to keep making vills
-Spam shrines all over the map, everytime you have enough wood shift click a shrine with your explorer somewhere on the map
Age2:
-Make a market and research the food/wood upgrades
-Ship 600 w
-When 600 w arrives, make 2 barracks + 1 consulate, stop spamming shrines now (you should be around 150 pop cap now)
-Ally with japan at the consulate and queue 5 clubs, later on get the free barrack/stable and bushido
-Put shrines + 4/5 vills on wood and put the rest on food
-Next shipments are 4 vills twice
-Spam yumi from 2 barracks
-Use the free barracks/stable to make a stable and add naginata to your army
-Later on send yumi atk, 2 orchards, daymio (which order depends on the amount xp and food left on orchards)
Note
this boom can also be followed with an ashi spam instead of an yumi spam, switch shrines + some vills to gold instead of wood.
Happy laming
SUNIL IS NUB!!!
Battle.net:Bart (227)
ESO:Bart331
[This message has been edited by Bart331 (edited 11-30-2009 @ 01:59 PM).]