Tried WWII in the Pacific and was the Commonwealth (really Sid, that should be the Aussies! ) but I can't seem to win it as there's not enough time.  Played on past the scoring due date and knocked over the Japanese but nothing happened.

Has anyone had a go at this and won?  Which country were you?

p.s. The medieval Japan scenario is huge and it's very hard to work out which group is which?

I find some scenarios harder than others. For some reason I found the Japan one quite easy, not sure why and I enjoyed it. It was quite some time ago when I did it so my memory may not be exact but I seem to remember the speed of research is very slow to start with, but gets faster as you build improvements and complete wonders.

Watch out for the Middle Ages Scenario (when played as a conquests campaign), the one where you have to conquer Jerusalem.  Although I haven't seen a reference to it here, it is actually unplayable due to the fact that there are too many tribes in it - the game slows down to unplayable after a number of moves.

So play this one as a Scenario found in Civ content folder rather than as a Conquest campaign. It has fewer tribes and runs much faster.

1) Be very agressive.  There is no time to wait to secure your defenses.  Strike whenever you have enough strength to win, and don't worry about any counter-attacks.

2) Use the draft.  Those conscript infantry come in very handy.

3) Build lots of Marines.  They have one of the best attack strengths in the game, and being amphibious helps a lot.

4) Use destroyer fleets to transport small army taskforces.  Remember that destroyers can transport one unit.  I remember taking 10 destroyers and using them to transport enough marines to take over much of Indo-china (they had to ferry back and forth, of course).

5) You don't need carriers for offense unless you're the US.  There are enough small islands out there to serve as airbases for bombers.  You need carriers for defense against enemy bombers.  Be sure your most trafficed transport routes are covered by air-superiority fighters whenever they are anywhere near enemy territory.

6) Hit the Jap "where he ain't".  Aim for Victory point locations first and foremost, and bypass islands that are strongly held or un-important.  Only go after those if the city is needed becuase its size will get you more VP.  Indo China has a huge number of VP locations, but as the US I barely got there in time.  As Australia it should be easier.

The Australians start with Hong Kong but gets knocked off straight away and I found having Singapore and heavily defending it I could get a good airbase on mainland Asia.  Problem is you can't air transport tanks like normal Civ which is a pain.

Might have a crack as the US but I want to win as an Australian for obvious reasons.  Australia has loads of resources too - just like real life but I didn't know we had wine in Queensland (local joke)?

The map scale, units etc are all superb, and playing Japan is a fascinating challenge in three theatres: maintaining naval control on the high seas; avoiding an attritional land war in eastern Asia; and using combined arms and amphibious warfare in islands of the East Indies.

Does anyone know of a CivIII equivalent for the European theatre, esp. the eastern front.

US - Save what you can from the Pearl Harbour disaster, and start churning out the marines and tanks and transporting them to southeast Asia fast. You need a good solid strike force to secure the Philippines and make some kind of mainland landing near Hong Kong. Once you have this, switch over to aircraft and flatten the Japanese befroe they can reach you over land. If you hold a beachhead long enough, the Japanese forces will dwindle to a trickle of new units, and you can start reconquering Vietnam and Manchuria, and even consider a landing in southern Japan.

China -- this is one of the hardest choices. Japanese bombers will destroy most of your good units almost immediately, if you're not careful. Try to destroy the Japanese air force at Formose, and then hit Manchuria as hard as you can while defending southern China. If you can secure a safer northern border, hit Vietnam and Thailand. Don't bother with a navy - the Allies will do a fair job of keeping your coast clear, and opening a path for transports if there's offshore slands you want to pick up.

Australia (Cwlth) - you're never be seriously attacked at home, but your real problem is you start with no military and it takes forever to lift production and build one. Concentrate your navy to clear the waters northwest, then transport anything you have to Malaya and push up north to relieve China and retake southeast Asia. You'll really need the VP's your alies bring -- there's now ay the Commonwealth can build a big enough force to win this on its own.