Hojo Tokimune’s Japan is a civilization of patience, precision, and explosive potential. Centered around the Meiji Restoration, which rewards tight, efficient city planning, and the Bushido ability, ensuring units fight at full strength even when damaged, Japan excels at building a strong, resilient core. Its unique military advantage, Divine Wind, grants a +5 Combat Strength bonus to land units on coastal tiles and naval units in shallow water. This makes Japan a defensive powerhouse, a coastal fortress that is exceedingly difficult to assail. But what if the Divine Wind blew outwards? What if Hojo’s units received that combat bonus not for defending their shores, but for invading others?
This single, fundamental change would transform Japan from a flexible, defensive-leaning civilization into one of the most terrifying aggressive powers in the game. The entire strategic calculus would shift, turning every neighbor into a potential target and every era into a new chapter of conquest. Analysis on strategy forums consistently places Japan in a high tier, but this hypothetical adjustment would catapult it into the realm of premier domination-focused leaders like Gran Colombia, the Ottomans, or Scythia. Let’s break down the profound strategic implications of an offensively oriented Hojo Tokimune.
Recalibrating the Foundation: Understanding the Core Shift
To fully grasp the magnitude of this change, it’s essential to understand the new synergy at play. The current Divine Wind encourages a “turtling” strategy, where a player builds up a strong economy and infrastructure behind an unbreachable coastal wall. An offensive bonus fundamentally inverts this.
The New Hypothetical Ability: “Imperial Expedition”
Let’s imagine the Divine Wind ability is replaced with a new one, which we can call “Imperial Expedition”: All units gain +5 Combat Strength when fighting in territory not owned by Japan.
This bonus would synergize explosively with Japan’s other unique ability, Bushido. Bushido states that all units fight at 100% of their strength, regardless of how much damage they have sustained. In a standard game, this is a powerful defensive tool, allowing wounded units to still trade effectively with healthy attackers.
When combined with an offensive bonus, Bushido becomes a relentless engine of war. A common issue with offensive campaigns is that your units inevitably take damage, reducing their combat effectiveness and forcing you to halt your advance to heal. With this new combination, a Japanese army could push forward continuously. A wounded Japanese Swordsman would still attack with its full base strength plus the +5 bonus, allowing it to overwhelm and destroy enemy units even when on the verge of defeat itself. According to the player community, this would create a “steamroller” effect that few civilizations could withstand.
The Early Game: From Cautious Builder to Apex Predator
The first 100 turns of a Civilization 6 game are critical, and this hypothetical change would completely rewrite Japan’s opening strategy.
Era 1-2: Unrelenting Aggression
Normally, Hojo’s opening moves involve settling a few core cities, carefully planning districts for maximum adjacency bonuses, and building just enough military to fend off barbarians and opportunistic neighbors.
With the “Imperial Expedition” bonus, the optimal strategy becomes immediate and overwhelming aggression.
- Warrior Rush Supremacy: A starting Warrior has a base Combat Strength of 20. With the +5 bonus, it attacks with 25 strength the moment it steps outside your borders. This is the same strength as a base Swordsman, a unit from the next era. A group of two or three Japanese Warriors could descend on a neighboring capital before it has a chance to produce many units or build walls, crippling a rival from the outset.
- Barbarian Annihilation: Barbarian camps, often a nuisance, would become a primary source of income and Era Score. A Japanese Slinger or Warrior could confidently engage and destroy barbarian units, clearing camps with unparalleled efficiency and safety. This accelerates Japan’s economy and helps secure an early Golden Age.
- City-State Conquest: Many professional gamers suggest that the most reliable way to expand in the early game is by conquering city-states. For the new Japan, this would be trivial. A small force could capture a nearby city-state, adding a fully-formed city to the empire without the cost of a Settler. This allows Japan to “go wide” far faster than its infrastructure-focused vanilla version.
The strategic focus shifts from internal development to external conquest. The goal is no longer just to build a perfect industrial core but to use an early military advantage to secure more land, more cities, and a decisive lead before other civilizations can establish themselves.
The Mid-Game Power Spike: The Unstoppable Samurai
If the early game is defined by relentless pressure, the mid-game is where this hypothetical Japan would become truly terrifying. The arrival of the Samurai, Japan’s unique Medieval Era unit, would signal a major power spike that could decide the game.
The Samurai Becomes a Juggernaut
The Samurai replaces the Man-at-Arms. It has the same base Combat Strength (45) but comes with two enormous advantages: it doesn’t lose combat strength as it takes damage (the Bushido ability, which is redundant here but part of the unit’s identity), and it generates Great General points upon kills.
Now, add the “Imperial Expedition” bonus. A Japanese Samurai attacking in enemy territory would have 50 Combat Strength. This is on par with a Musketman, a Renaissance Era unit. Furthermore, thanks to Bushido, it maintains this 50 strength even when heavily wounded.
- Example: Imagine a Japanese Samurai at 10 HP attacking a full-health enemy Knight (48 CS) in enemy territory. The Knight is a formidable unit. However, the Japanese Samurai attacks with 50 CS. It would likely win this engagement, or at the very least, inflict devastating damage. A standard Man-at-Arms at 10 HP would have its strength so heavily penalized it would barely scratch the Knight. This is the Bushido and Imperial Expedition synergy in action: it ensures your units trade favorably and efficiently, even when on the back foot.
A Wave of Conquest
Analysis on forums shows that the most effective military pushes are “timing attacks,” where a player leverages a unique unit or technological advantage to overwhelm an opponent. This new Japan would have one of the most potent timing attacks in the game. An army of Samurai, supported by Crossbowmen and siege units (all of which also get the +5 bonus), would be a nearly unstoppable force.
The strategy would be to beeline the Feudalism and Apprenticeship technologies, upgrade your existing units to Men-at-Arms (and then Samurai), and immediately launch a major invasion. The goal would be to conquer at least one or two entire civilizations during this window of opportunity. The Great General points generated by the Samurai would further enhance this, adding even more combat strength and movement to an already formidable army.
Late-Game Strategy: Projecting Global Power
As the game transitions into the late-game, the +5 Combat Strength bonus remains incredibly relevant, shifting Japan’s role into that of a global military superpower.
Dominating Land, Sea, and Air
- Modern Armies: While +5 CS is less impactful when units have 70 or 80 base strength, it is still a significant edge. It’s equivalent to a free promotion or the bonus from a Great General. A Japanese Tank army would consistently outperform an equal-tech enemy army, making a late-game Domination Victory a highly viable path. The Bushido ability continues to be a major factor, allowing wounded tank corps to fight at full offensive potential.
- Naval Supremacy: Japan’s production-focused city-building, powered by the Meiji Restoration, allows it to build powerful industrial zones and harbors. This translates to a strong navy. With the “Imperial Expedition” bonus, Japanese Battleships and Carriers operating in neutral or enemy waters would be unmatched. A Japanese Carrier group could project power across the globe, its naval aircraft also benefiting from the bonus when attacking, securing control of the seas and enabling amphibious assaults on any continent.
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- Air Force Dominance: A popular strategy is to base fighters and bombers in captured enemy cities or on carriers to extend their range. For this Japan, any aircraft striking from a forward base would receive the +5 bonus, making their air raids more devastating and effective at clearing enemy units and defenses.
Synergies with Policies and Wonders
This aggressive posture would be further amplified by specific government policies and wonders.
- Optimal Governments: An Oligarchy in the early game, with its +4 combat bonus for melee units, would stack with the +5, giving Japanese Warriors an incredible 29 CS. In the mid-to-late game, Fascism, with its +5 combat bonus for all units, would result in a staggering +10 Combat Strength for all Japanese units fighting abroad.
- Must-Have Wonders: Wonders that grant military advantages become top priority. The Terracotta Army would give every single one of your units a free promotion. The Alhambra provides an extra military policy slot and a Great General. The Brandenburg Gate grants another Great General and a massive experience boost to units trained in its city. These wonders, combined with Japan’s innate abilities, would create an army of unparalleled quality.
- Religious Synergy: While not the primary focus, a religion could be tailored to support conquest. The Crusade belief, which grants +10 Combat Strength when fighting in a foreign city that follows your religion, would stack with the +5 bonus, creating a +15 CS swing. Spreading your religion ahead of your armies would make them utterly unstoppable.
Countering the “Imperial Expedition”
Facing this hypothetical Japan would be a daunting task, requiring a complete reversal of standard strategic thinking.
- The Defensive Stance: The most direct counter is to force Japan to fight on its own turf, where its bonus disappears. This means adopting a highly defensive posture. Building walls, stationing archers in your cities, and using terrain to your advantage would be critical. A popular strategy is to use your own territory as a “kill box,” luring the aggressive Japanese army in and then surrounding and destroying it.
- Technological Superiority: The +5 CS bonus is powerful, but it cannot overcome a significant technological gap. Rushing to key defensive or offensive technologies like Crossbowmen, Knights, or Field Cannons before Japan can overwhelm you would be essential. If you can field units that are an entire era ahead, you can negate Japan’s advantage.
- Guerilla Warfare and Pillaging: Since the Japanese army would be constantly on the offensive, its home territory might be vulnerable. Using fast-moving cavalry units to raid and pillage their districts could disrupt their economy, slowing down their production and forcing them to pull units back to defend.
- Diplomatic Unity: In a multiplayer setting, the only reliable counter would be to form a global coalition against Japan. A military emergency or a series of defensive pacts could bring enough force to bear to halt the Japanese war machine. The player community agrees that facing such a power alone would be a near-impossible task.
A New Identity Forged in Conquest
Shifting Hojo Tokimune’s combat bonus from a defensive, coastal buff to a general offensive one would be more than a minor tweak; it would be a fundamental re-forging of the civilization’s identity. Japan would transform from a patient, infrastructure-focused nation that is difficult to attack into a relentless, expansionist empire that is terrifying to have as a neighbor. The synergy between a constant +5 Combat Strength bonus on foreign soil and the Bushido ability to fight at full strength regardless of damage would create a military juggernaut in every era of the game.
This hypothetical Japan would demand a proactive, aggressive playstyle from the very first turn, rewarding early conquest and mid-game timing attacks. The path to a Domination Victory would not just be an option; it would be the central, defining strategy. While it would lose its identity as a defensive coastal bastion, it would gain a new and fearsome reputation as the game’s most persistent and resilient aggressor, a true testament to the power of a Divine Wind blowing ever outwards.