JAPAN in WW2: PACIFIC EXPANSE by Joni Nuutinen
LINKS:
⊕ Play Store
⊕ Amazon
⊕ free
⊕ local apk
As the leader of Japan's WW2 expansion strategy, you must navigate the complexities of war, industry, and diplomacy. Objectives are clear: secure vital resources, expand your empire, and defend against powerful adversaries. The Imperial Navy offers formidable strength, but sustaining prolonged conflict requires careful resource management and production planning. Japan's lack of natural resources presents a critical challenge. The oil-rich Dutch East Indies could fuel your war machine, but such an aggressive move risks provoking overwhelming retaliation. The British, Americans, and Soviets each present huge threats, requiring calculated maneuvers to avoid overextension. Success demands a masterful balance?controlling territory while managing logistics, naval supremacy, and industrial output. Will you carve a path to dominance, or will the combined might of your enemies bring your empire to its knees?
⊕ Taking place from: 1937-0
⊕ Map size: 2000 = 50 x 40 hexagons
⊕ Specials: Multiple landings by both sides. Multi-country politics. Production and Natural resources: Oil Fields and Iron-Coal mines. Mainland China plays as regular land warfare game, while 7 bigger islands/edges-of-continents play like mini-games.
⊕ Released: 2025-03
WELCOME:
Japan in WW2: Pacific Expanse is a turn based strategy game set on the Pacific theater during the Second World War. You are in charge of the Japanese expansion strategy in WWII - the fate of the Pacific hangs in the balance. As the architect of Japan's imperial ambitions, the choices are yours to make: Declare war on mighty empires, command the production of industries, deploy the Imperial Navy's awe-inspiring fleets - battleships that cut through the waves like blades, and aircraft carriers bristling with dive bombers ready to rain fire from the skies. But beware: the clock is ticking. Japan's almost total lack of natural resources is a sword of Damocles hanging over your strategy. The oil fields of the Dutch East Indies glisten like forbidden fruit, ripe for the taking. Yet, seizing them will not go unnoticed. The British Empire, with its far-reaching naval dominance, the industrial might of the United States, and the relentless Soviet war machine will not stand idly by. One misstep, and the wrath of the world will descend upon you. Can you outmaneuver the impossible? Can you dance on the razor's edge, balancing the demands of land and sea warfare, production and natural resources, to emerge as the undisputed master of the Pacific? Will you rise to the challenge, or will your empire crumble beneath the weight of its own ambition? The stage is set. The pieces are in place. The Pacific awaits its ruler.
QUICK TIPS: Settings: You can change hexagon size, city icons, unit icons, and many other aspects from settings, or via the four round buttons in the upper-left corner of the gaming view. Unit markings: Lower left corner shows HPs (Hit Points), upper left corner shows the number of MPs (move points), right side has several type of markings: warnings on red, attached resources on white, ground information (what's under unit icon) is marked on green. Zooms buttons (Z) are located on upper-left corner. Combat core concepts: adjacent units support each other in battle: encircling is often more efficient than using brute-force direct attacks.
CAMPAIGN NOTES:
Victory Conditions: Control over 300 Victory Points (VPs), which are gained from the cities. Exceptionally the game ends either when you have lost control of all 4 cities located on the Japanese Home Islands (called 'Japan') or when Victory Points (VPs) drop below zero. Both winning and losing scores (zero VP or lost control of Home Islands) are included in the Hall of Fame (HOF). Surrender: After 40 turns, the 'End Game' (abandon game) button changes to a 'Surrender' button, which saves the current score to the Hall of Fame (HOF).
You can speed up turns a lot by turning ON 'Planes in Carriers/Bases done' which automatically marks dive bomber units on carriers done for the turn.
Tensions and Countries: The map has been split into generic 'countries' that have their own war-vs-Japan status that ranges from 0 (peace) to 99 (high tensions), and once tension with one country goes over 99 they declare war at the player: 1) JAPAN: Player controls Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Formosa, Kuril island. 2) CHINA is in active war state immediately, covering all provinces named 'China' or 'Coast'. China also contains special MANPOWER hexagon, controlling it gives much more replacements. 3) FRENCH Indochina that contains special RUBBER hexagon, control of which gives the player move extra MPs. 4) DUTCH East Indies contains a lot of oil. 5) USA, that in addition of the continental USA, also include a lot of islands plus Alaska and Aleutian Islands in the north. 6) UK, covering everything from Australia to India, Burma, etc.). 7) USSR, also islands of Sakhalin and Kamchatka. Entering any other country than CHINA will be considered a declaration of war. Each capture of a new city, or naval bombardment, or seizing oil fields, will increase tensions with a random country, and make the war more likely. After a new war has been started, the player gets an extra surprise combat bonus for the duration of that turn.
Randomness of tensions: As Japan advanced into China, the United States repeatedly and almost continuously issued diplomatic warnings and condemnations. Actions such as the Stimson Doctrine, participation in treaty conferences like the Nine-Power Treaty, and formal protests following major bombings (especially those witnessed by foreign press) were common. The U.S. also escalated pressure through measures like the Hull Note, gradually tightened embargoes and sanctions, and sporadically announced the non-renewal of trade agreements. This incremental but persistent opposition mirrored real-world tensions between 1930 and 1941, where Japan's expansion into China provoked increasing U.S. diplomatic and economic resistance.
The basic plot the player is supposed to follow is this: Expand into China and then French Indochina to get resources. The ever-lowering fuel reserves mean that you must strike south to seize Dutch oil fields there. HOWEVER, if you do not neutralize US fleets at the Philippines and Pearl Harbor, they will both strike you. Declaring war the the US removes (between turns) the slowdown zones west of the Philippines that hamper Japanese movement.
Supply logic. All ground units need a route to either an own supply city or a supply depot (both sides use supply depots). Generals require a route to supply source, but in case they use a supply depot (not a city), they do not consume supplies from that depot. Dugouts are in supply half of the time. All AI cities are supply sources for the AI. Only the key cities in Japan, Korea, Formosa, and Manchu supply Japanese units. Naval units, from battleships to (dive-bomber) bases, are always in supply (they have fuel to consider to be operational). However, NEW RULE, when ground combat units like infantry, tanks, generals are on water hexagon, they then require a supply route to own supply ship (at max 20 hexagons away), and they will consume supplies from ships directly (except generals that only need the route to supplies be okay). So, when you decide to launch (put on water) a fleet of units to carry out a landing, you need to supply the ground forces of that landing fleet DURING the travel to the intended target land area. After landing, both sides, unless seizing a city that provides supplies, must bring their own land supply depot (=grounded supply ship). If either side captures a supply depot, it will now be used by that side. Generals can carry out LOOT action to create a new supply depot (cost 7 MPs plus tensions go up and rebel events are more likely).
What's difference vs other games aside the supply (mentioned above): Enemy submarines can dive and disappear, while Destroyers on the player-side can drop naval mines (which can sometimes even consume HPs).
Slowdown zones on water. If there is no war against the US there will be two US SLOWDOWN zones in water west of Philippines. In addition, due to condensing the Pacific Ocean to make processing the map tolerable, there are OCEAN SLOWDOWN zone between the continental USA and the pacific to better reflect the huge distances involved (that are not now visible due to the map scale variations). And the most dangerous coral reefs are also marked as slowdown-zones.
Iron And Coal (merged into one resource number sometimes shown as I&C if there is limited space): There are 15 locations production Iron-Coal, 6 in the US, the rest spread among USSR-Australia belt. All income from Iron-Coal mines you control will automatically go into the generic pool of this particular resource, so there is no need to transport Iron and Coal around. When you set an industry location to produce something, that start-consumption-cost will be automatically taken from the overall pool. Similarly, some actions by Generals cost iron-coal too and is consumed instantly.
Fuel required by certain actions and production is firstly taken from oil fields (inland oil fields first), secondly from tankers (starting from the closest to where the action happens), and thirdly from dive-bomber bases (closest first).
Oil fields: There are 15 oil fields: 6 in the US, 3 in British (coming from the Middle East), 3 in Dutch East Indies (Sumatra, Borneo, Java), and 3 in USSR. As oil fields produce oil, it is kept IN the oil field, until production consumes it or fuel tanker or fuel truck transports it elsewhere. Oil is fuel, mostly the word 'fuel' will be used, except for the oil fields themselves. Any fuel needing unit can directly 'bump' into the oilfield hexagon (not move into that hexagon) and receive fuel if there is any left in that particular oilfield. In addition, Fuel Trucks and Fuel Tankers can transport fuel around and deliver fuel to other units that need fuel. Producing thing requires fuel, as do some actions by Generals.
Synthetic Fuel [SF]. There is a facility to make a synthetic fuel in the northern Japan. By tapping this button you can make fuel, which will be added to the closest tanker (if that fails, then to the closest battleship, etc.). The cost is Iron-Coal resource, and the price goes up the more you use this action during the turn. Between turns, the price slowly lowers towards the base-cost, that is 3 Iron-Coal resources per 1 fuel made.
Industry (production): There are locations that allow you build various things from battleships to infantry armies. Each product costs different amounts of fuel and iron-coal. WARNING: Once you click a certain product to make it, that cost of oil and iron and coal will be consumed instantly (if there is enough of them to start the production). The consumption will favor inland oil fields first if any under player's control, and then other oilfields, and then tankers. The order of each of those sources is roughly distance from the location of the action that requires fuel to be consumed.
There are some special locations on the map, marked with colored circle. Controlling Rubber (RU) hexagon, located in French Indochina, gives extra move points. Ruling over the Manpower (MA) spot in China, frees up move men as replacements. Selecting an aircraft carrier (CA), moving it next to the Carrier hexagon (South of Japanese Home Islands) and 'bumping' against that hexagon, purchases one more dive bomber unit, if there are enough resources and the carrier has less than 2 planes on it previously. There are also four Naval Recon Seaplane locations (SP). Controlling each of these hexagons, gives a chance to carry out recon missions (cost around 10 fuel) over the nearby ocean, revealing both water hexagons and identifying some units in those hexagons.
Technology level (Research & Development). Generals can use their MPs to prioritize scientific research, each action can fail or succeed at improving the level of science. As your level of science progresses, various things improve. The bomber wings can bombard/relocate long distances, tank units have more strength, fuel needing units can carry a bit more fuel. Plus, oil fields and Iron-Coal mines are likely to produce a bit more, you can embark more units per turn from the cities, and radar resources work better. Not to mention that tankers that are out of fuel are a bit more likely to get one fuel and mp between turns. Also, AA fire from Battleships will have a long range, plus some slowdown zone markers will be removed (except those west of the Philippines). After roughly 20 levels, most aspects will no longer increase, as it would start to break the game engine.
Embark: In this scenario, ground units can embark (move from land to water) either by moving from a city hexagon to a water hexagon or by moving from a land hexagon to a harbor (anchor-symbol) water hexagon. The number of units that can embark per turn is limited by the level of technology, which can be improved via an action by generals. Due to their small size, embarking generals does not count toward the per-turn limitation. Emergency Embark: Moving a unit from land to water WITHOUT a city or harbor is considered an emergency embark. Units performing this action will likely lose several HPs, MPs, and possibly fuel.
Shipping Lane [SL]: With each Technology Level improvement, you gain Shipping Lane resources. These can be placed on safe water hexagons that you clearly control. When one of your units moves into a hex with a Shipping Lane, there is a 50% chance it won't lose Movement Points (MP) and a 50% chance it won't consume fuel, if the unit requires fuel to move.
BUMP action. Land units like Tanks and Fuel Trucks can 'bump' (try to move to) into a water hexagon where a tanker or a base is located. This attempt will NOT move the unit but trigger a refuel action. Similarly, battleships, destroyers, tankers, and carriers can 'bump' oil field located in land to refuel from it (if that particular oil field has fuel in it). The unit doing the 'bump', gets fuel and resets MPs to zero, but the unit WILL NOT move into the hexagon it 'bumped' towards. This same logic also applies to trying to move into a at-peace country. The game will ask if you want to declare war, and if you do, war beings, but the unit does not move into this at-peace-with hexagon at this time. Now that the state of war exists, the unit can freely move into the target hexagon.
NAVAL RECON WITH SEAPLANES. These SeaPlane locations (purple circle) allow carrying out reconnaissance missions of enemy controlled sea hexagons. Tap controlled hexagon to activate. Cost: 10 oil. One reconnaissance mission per turn. There are 4 SeaPlane hexagons on the map in total: Formosa, Indonesia/Sulawesi, Rabaul, Wake.
Since the player has the ability to declare war at will, this makes naming AI warships, commanders difficult. As to be accurate, the year and country, and overall situation would affect these a lot. Sadly, I do not have a decade to fine-tune every possible what-if in this complex Pacific world. So, it is possible that at times some names enter play way too early or late, depending on the wider circumstances and the strategy the player chooses to chase.
Yes, the starting point in Manchuria facing China is over-filled and might leave the airforce unit without airfield, so you'll need to use the engineer unit immediately. And similarly, the Japanese tank forces are only 2/3 fit, so it's up to you whether to deploy them immediate to get those crucial early gains, or to rest and refit that tank unit before going all-in against China.
Why not attack the U.S. first and early? Well, you could hit the U.S. early on, when American industrial capacity is not yet fully mobilized and it cannot instantly launch countermeasures at a crushing level. However, such an attack would drastically reduce your access to trade oil (you would still get some from the USSR). If you focus your naval forces against the U.S., you are less likely to secure any or all of the oil from the Dutch East Indies. A few years later, when American warships and landing fleets start to advance toward you from multiple directions, you will desperately need enough fuel to operate a large navy to counter that threat in the long term.
There is no option to turn OFF fuel or naval elements, as both are at the center of the game play and logic on top of which the entire scenario has been built on. The entire TMP system (Tactical Move Points and Tactical Movement Routes between hexagons) has been removed due to the physical and time scale of the scenario.
Railway Network: Engineer units can build railways, but only on hexagons that are clear or contain a hospital or airfield. If a railway network falls into enemy hands, there is a small chance it will be destroyed. Moving from one hexagon to another, both of which have a railway line, may grant free movement (not consuming Movement Points, or MPs). Several factors influence this, including: How much of the nearby area is controlled by the enemy, Other units on the target hexagon, How many free railway movements the unit has already received during this turn, How many free railway movements all units have received during this turn, Unit type, etc. As a result, it is a good strategy to move the most important unit first, as it has the best chance of receiving free railway movement. Additionally, fuel-consuming units like tanks and fuel trucks are more likely to conserve their fuel usage when using railways. If a solo railway is build on a hexagon that is not adjacent to other railway hexagons, that hexagon is marked with 'rail' text.
Engineer unit can build various things locally like railway network, hospital, airfield, dugout, minefields, fuel truck. With higher MP cost, engineers can also build global build hospital or build airfield resource. Weak in combat due to the smaller size of the unit. HP limitations: 0 HP unit cannot carry out any of these actions, while 1 HP unit can but it pays extra MP cost. If disbanded, any possible freed-up HPs will be available as Navy Infantry replacements.
What if you never launch a surprise attack against the U.S.? Well, if you do not use carriers to seriously damage the large number of battleships, the U.S. will eventually declare war, and all those intact battleships will steam toward Japan. Taking on, by then, a dozen battleships at once will be, let's just say, 'difficult' at best.
If you are desperate enough, you you can rescue some fuel by disbanding a unit that is holding fuel. Note only one disband-action per turn is permitted (you can disband by pressing RELIEVE button for over 5-seconds)
Why no Player/Japanese submarines? It comes down to two main factors: During testing, one of the most common issues was 'too many units to move around', which hardly would have been helped by adding more units. Secondly, the game is already processing a mad amount of data, and adding one more unit type that could occur in numbers would have made this worse. Also, the game already had a crushing amount of moving elements: having to worry about how to handle the player's submarine trying to move via a narrow channel packed with AI surface ships was too much.
It goes without saying that the map has been twisted and bend two make it sense for the flow of the game and for the AI (the poor thing struggled to get its fleets through the narrow windy waterways). Plus some of the most fragmented areas has been merged into one block of land because otherwise so much of the 'land' would be just scattered singular hexagons. Having any sort of battles featuring maneuvering with just one or two hexagons is silly. Usually scenarios in this game series use names of cities, but in this particular campaign city-names have been replaced with the names of the bigger islands or countries or 'logical' areas. For example: Okinawa, Guam, AUS E (Australia E), Coast N (Northern Chinese Coast). While most bigger islands are grouped under one name, 'Philippines W' turned out to be too long name for the older budget phones, so the Philippines is represented with various shorter names of the main islands. Manchu is shortened for similar reasons.
Thailand is a semi-neutral slash pro-Japan area and reaching it quickly enough offers some no-combat advance.
The 'Manhattan Project weapon' is out of the scope of this game due to multiple reasons: Most players do not like sudden 'end game' conditions that come out of nowhere, plus this topic is obviously very sensitive one, and the whole air warfare element is hard to model in any good way on a flat board game set up.
It goes without saying that trying to keep names of commanders and battleships historically accurate is an attempt in insanity, as the player can declare the wars in wrong order, instantly ruining any chance of keeping anything historically accurate.
Scenario Specific documentation that includes links to more generic documentation on how the game series and the underlying game engine works.
To get a feel play the free turn-limited demo version (sideload or Amazon App Store), while screenshots are available on the app stores.
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-- Developer Log: tidbits about military history and scenario updates
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