I don't mind the concept of Auto-vic, to be honest. It gives the Japanese player something tangible to work towards rather than just expanding until '43 and then consolidating until the Allied side whacks him into submission. But that's exactly the thing I was saying: A Japanese player needs to know from the outset exactly what he is going to do and must be able to stick to it whilst remaining flexible enough to deal with anything the Allies through at him. Although the Allies should have a solid plan to work against too, they have the flexibility to modify strategy on the fly and adapt to the tactical situation better than the Japanese can.
I agree that all those far flung bases that give up a handful of points need to be ignored by the Japanese player unless they provide some form of security. even in an auto-vic game, the primary reason for taking real estate should always be what a certain base can provide to your strategy, not how many points it can provide. Luckily enough, those bases that are going to be your primary targets are going to be the ones most likely to provide the most points anyway. It's not a very elegant system, but i think the game would be worse off without it.
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