JAP - Gameplay changes

[Plasmis34]

Quick questions HOI4 version: 1.8.1 Kaiserreich version: 0.10.1

Back at it again, just have a couple gameplay oriented changes I would suggest to Japans gameplay, mostly focus tree focused

Currently Japans focus tree is pretty generic. Political, industry, army, navy, foreign policy, altho industry is linked to political which makes it bit more unique, it just makes it harder for Japan to do much, since it has to wait till mid 37 just to get a extra research slot and then begin getting any semblence of industry, and it comes at a huge cost of ignoring its foreign policy tree, which also has an issue of over bloat.

My first suggestion would be to consolidate focuses, especially on the foreign tree, the two Osaka focuses, the one that leads to an alliance and one that leads to an economic sphere, could just be unified as it just serves to waste time, I'd say the hawaii claim focus before demanding hawaii could also be cut and claims should just be generated at nanshin ron focus in exchange for increasing the focus times from 35 to 56, giving more ample warning to players, I would also make a suggestion about changing the positioning of Japans industry tree, or changing it, currently, theres no real good reason for the three paths, the zaibatsu path is the strongest now with the removal of oil from the bureaucratic economy path, and nationalizing is a big trap, I'd instead suggest integrating the vanilla system where the industry focuses are properly integrated into the political tree, maybe have elements of the three trees integrated into the political paths, replacing a focus or two that have minor buffs e.g. Democratics cultural golden age, and the others many foci that just add an extra 5 percent to a existing buff, with an industry focus that focuses on that paths specific ideas of industry policy, removing focus bloat and improving gameplay for both player and AI, with the end point being the land reform focus that then leads to colonisation.

Another suggestion is focused on the naval focus tree, while ok, it could be alot more flavourful and gameplay oriented, as its currently super spaced out with its focuses, especially its carrier focus, again, I recommend utilising vanilla's choice of battleships or carriers but with a twist, the tree should start with the decision and the respective choices should have different effects, E.g. picking the battleship focus gives you a research buff to battleships and a fully upgraded template of the super heavy battleship, not a ship spawned, but the template. Currently Japans SH's aren't even fully module'd, so having a template without having to waste alot of fuel and time for xp helps alot, but also, a decision is unlocked that should decrease the cost of conversion of SH's by a fucktonne, I mean like 50 percent for like 3-4 months, so to allow for the upgraded templated ships to be rolled out around 38-39, as without that buff, it would probs take about 40-41 for it to be fully converted due to the module difference. However that decision should also come with a massive industry debuff, as a we are focusing all our efforts on this shit, we know we can't do it long term, but if we do a monumental amount of effort at the beginning, we can then go back to normal development and get it done faster.

For the carrier focus, its a little more trickier, Japans improved carrier template is already completely modern but retains the same deck space as the other previous ship designs of 60, the only one trumping that is the SH carrier which has a deck space of around 100, and going backwards because gameplay wise they have the best deck space is a little weird, instead carrier focus should give a research buff, and maybe just a slight buff to their construction speed to allow you to modernise your fleet alot quicker, as you have one fully kitted improved carrier, one half kitted improved carrier and alot of older carriers. Where the carrier buff really shines is a following focus that either unlocks carrier fighter 2's or maybe its an event where you choose fighter 2's or Naval bomber 2's instead. to further differentiate them, you could perhaps have a difference in screens, with carriers focusing on cruisers for their longer range, and battleships focusing on destroyers instead for numbers to protect them. You could also have a buff/debuff system where picking the battleships decrease the cost for battleships, SH battleships and destroyers, where as they raise the cost of cruisers, carriers and such, with the opposite being the case for if you pick carriers.

For the army, I'll be honest, I actually never pick those focuses when I play Japan, I just don't have time, and I really just wait till I want to do tanks to go down the mobile warfare tree while actually doing Superior firepower for doctrine. I don't really know how to approach the army tree but you could attempt to do a style similar to the yan xishan thought, where you take all the non research buffs and make them a line of mutual exclusives, so conscription bonus or division attack, movement or planning. Then have some research buffs at the end, tank, arty, equipment something like that or have your researches be gained from events by choosing which mutual exclusive you've picked, rather than the mutual exclusives forcing down a doctrine path currently.

The air tree is currently decent, but if choosing to take the fighters into the navy tree, perhaps make it more focused on a difference between CAS or Tac/strat bombers, maybe keep the bonuses the same as they are all relatively good tbh.

Foreign policy I talked about with the crunch, but China needs more agency, a focus to actually solidify working with Zhang for stability and an increased mantetsu buff or choosing to try and coup him for a puppet state at the cost of stability, pp and maybe a mantetsu debuff in exchange could be an option, as the coup events are there, but rely on what Feng does, meaning Japan is entirely reactionary to China. Make Ichigo give a wargoal which from what I read it is supposed to its just bugged atm, give a reason to choose between Zhang and divide the warloads, because currently, theres no real good reason for you to support Zhang, even with the non core manpower vs 10 division attack and 20 ground support buff its not a contest. the only thing that stops you doing it is that you have other shit to do. Also change war mobilisation act to total mob rather than war economy, makes it more worthwhile.

Edit: Forgot to add in the army navy rivalry, its currently trash and I would say to make it a decision based tree with buffs and debuffs to navy or army ala vanilla to diversify gameplay or just have it be a background kind of thing thats just lore and flavour rather than impacting gameplay as currently its awful with just straight debuffs for nothing gained, and punishing you for going down your focus tree

So there was a bunch of suggestions, hopefully its understandable.

[Zankoas]

Thanks for the suggestions, made a note of them again and added to the planned changes. Thanks for the detailed write up, it is very much appreciated.