Ideas for Japan

[krankiss]

i want to play japan and try unify asia, but need which ideas for better expansion?

[Findus]

I have no idea how to play as japan or a daiymo so my idea choices wont care for those. As a rapidly expanding nation anywhere you probably want the religious ideas first though, since you get a quick and automatic good CB on everyone bordering you with religious. Or humanist so you can completely ignore conquered religions and get reduced separatism, as a humanist you probably want espionage for quicker fabrication however. You also want administration ideas for cheaper core costs.

After that you want good military ideas to be able to beat the snot out of other countries easier, offensive and quality are good for almost all countries. Quantity is a good third.

After that perhaps expansion/exploration to get colonists?

[Raven Frostborn]

Originally posted by Krankiss:

i want to play japan and try unify asia, but need which ideas for better expansion?

I'd suggest Religious, Offensive/Defensive, Quality, Innovative, and Exploration as your first five. The order depends on your goals of course.

Religious is great for Japan because you're the only Shinto nation in the world, and this gives you a Casus Beli for several hundred years against everyone. The increased missionary strength is fantastic too.

Offensive is great for any nation, as it has no bad bonuses and the military boost is really good. The policies are great too. The same goes for Defensive.

Quality is great for Japan as it'll make your already superior armies better, and with Innovative you can get OP policies.

Innovative isn't really that great by itself, although the war exhaustion decrease is very good. The main reason to get it is the OP policies I mentioned, (+10 Siege ability and +1 Leader Siege, +20% Infantry Combat Ability).

Exploration is good for Japan since you're so close to the New World and Siberia, but it's not really a necessity unless you want to block the West.

[shakespeare_101]

Hello, I would not go religious ideas at all. Japan is Shinto which helps you stay unified as a side benefit of the faith. They mix very well. I would go exploration as you are surrounded by untapped colonial wealth. Step one would be getting exploration first and work on keeping Korea and Ming off balance. Ally with Manchuria initially and snap up the small artic countries. This would also open up Alaska as an area to expand. Then after you absorb the northern artic countries you colonize in that area to give you your Asian foothold. Wait for Manchuria to get distracted and pounce....absorb them...and try the same for Korea. If Ming splits your sitting pretty good and can ally with Wu against Manchuria and then Yue or Shun against Wu. Keep your navy up in trade to help you corner Nippon Node. Never colonize more than two colonies at a time...I would also recommend getting Tenate and Tidore as vassels as early as possible. They both have colonial ideas themselves and can help expand your empire quickly and more cheaply then colonizing the additional territories yourself. Brunei's another good target to corner trade if you can pull it off. I'd move from Tidore to the surrounding small states of Buton and Makassar and then try and get a foothold on Brunei. Grab Influence after exploration as you will need it to offset coring costs. I also like innovative and humanist for the tech and idea bonus. I then go for quality and the combo of 20% infantry bonus with innovative and quality. As Japan you are also going to have discipline and moral Shinto bonus. This sounds like a pretty good run at WC the more I think about it....Haven't tried it myself - still trying Ryukyu and not pulling it off in time, but Japan might have a better start then Ryukyu at the attempt.
Good luck

[krankiss]

thank lot for the info, i will try add religious and military ideas for start

[Raven Frostborn]

Originally posted by Krankiss:

thank lot for the info, i will try add religious and military ideas for start

No problem, glad to help! For military I'd suggest Offensive first as it works better for Japan than Defensive.

[Lord Touch Me]

For me, I would grab Economics as one of the first Idea. Japan isn't that rich by himself, and will need to develop some province to get the first Insitution (Renaissance and Printing Press will not spread that fast in far East) and the -20% Devlopment cost will help a lot. Religious is also quite mandatory: You are the only Shinto nation in the world, making it a frees CB against anybody. Also, you will need it to convert province/ switch to Catho and convert those heretics.

[Sader]

I've just started a Japan game myself. I developed Kai(Gold) enough to get the Renaissance early + need that gold.
First idea is Exploration though, in an attempt to get Colonialism Institution to really unbalance the Europeans.

After that, I haven't decided. Normally I'd go a military idea either first if not second, but with Japan's terrible economy (that gold mine is something like 60% of my income) I may grab one of the money-maker in the admin group instead.
Definitely get Quality+Innovative at some stage, Offensive too.