If you're here because your autistic shrieking is the best you can muster rather than bothering to learn the difficulty curve of this game, then this guide is perfect for you. The American team is NOT overpowered. The flamethrowers are NOT a gamebreaker. You CAN kill with the bolt-action rifle. The only very reason why you are losing either strategically or tactically is because you don't realize that unlike Red Orchestra 2, Rising Storm has a much higher degree of asymmetricality - you're hoping to win through conventional warfare and that is why 9/10 times you are losing. If you want to win, you have to think like an insurgent, you have to have cunning. It's much harder, sure, but that's why the Japanese team is the hardest team to play and learn as in this game. However when used effectively, the Japanese team is every attacker's wet dream/choice. In this guide, I will try to go through the problems that are only inherent to the Japanese.

The Japanese faction, unlike any faction immediately starts with bayonets for rifles. If the hint isn't even obvious enough, there are a multitude of odd weapons that can mount bayonets as well like the Type 100 Sub-Machine Gun and the Type 99 Light Machine Gun. In order to win, you must avoid a situation of organized resistance. The best way to do that is to blitz from the start of the match to the end of the match, from one objective to another. This will deny the enemy time to defend, optimize their defenses or get their support infantry into position. Of course, I don't mean holding down your middle mouse button from the start of the game to the end of the game. Banzai charge into objectives and pause if there is about 1-2 minutes left before the next artillery is available and wait for the commander to drop it BEHIND THE CAP. Communication is key to Japanese victory; commanders should let the team know how long till the next arty/recon so the entire team can pace themselves. Not to mention that the more people there are banzai'ing together, the greater the suppression penalty it applies to the enemy and unrealistically gives users a significant damage resistance (considering they are in proximity of each other).

Perhaps the biggest thing that people ♥♥♥♥♥ and moan about in this game. Most factions have an equipment/weapon that is the envy of other factions. The Soviets have the PPsH-41, the Germans have the MG-42, the Americans obviously the M2 Flamethrower and the Japanese the Type 89 Knee Mortar. Yes, you heard me right, the Type 89 Knee Mortar. Most people don't realize this but the Type 89 Knee Mortar is the BEST counter to the American M2 Flamethrower. The Knee Mortar has a direct fire mode that is perfect for this. You don't even have to SEE the enemy flamethrower in order to kill him. You can be halfway across the map and still kill him. The moment you see the flamethrower's signature flame, aim your mortar and fire away. It irritates and infuriates flamethrowers because you can kill them before they even get close, they can't hide their flames and battlefield presence for long, so they will be counting down the clock waiting to get killed by a mortar shell that they can't see/way out of their range. You have 6x 50mm shells, if you can't make those rounds count, I recommend practicing your aiming skills before hopping on. Most of the time, the Japanese team losses because mortarmen are so occupied with killing enemy riflemen that they forget they are essential to killing enemy flamethrowers. With the knee mortar and with direct fire, think of yourself as Zeus - you have a single chance to kill a single enemy personnel on the field (or several if you're lucky/experienced) with a bolt from the blue, so always choose and prioritize the enemy flamethrower. Your team mates will also love you for that.

1. You're just an average mortarmen and oh no! You spot this long trail of fire sweeping from the left side of the battlefield to the right. What's the super-sleuths' verdict? There's a flamethrower on the field murdering your comrades, and it's your job to find and kill him. It's no one else's job, but yours.

2. Finally you spot him (in red). You have to take account that he is moving from left to right (in yellow). You can also see on your killfeed that his name is 'Kimchi' (in blue), and he should be your target.

3. Fire away.

4. Job complete (in red). Remember, the knee mortar is the ONLY class that can do splash damage on the Japanese side, and the flamethrower is the ONLY class that can do splash damage on the American side. So negate each other. With sufficient practice, you will find the knee mortar superior to the flamethrower.

No, you're stupid. Alright, I'll stop with the immaturity. As I mentioned before, the Japanese team is dependent on teamwork and communication. The first thing you might notice about the knee mortar is your own guts after you fire into the branch right above you. And then when you respawn, you realize you only have 6x HE shells. To many that seems miniscule. But normally the Japanese team gets 4-5 light knee mortars in a game. See where I'm going with this? You and the rest of the mortarmen can quickly rain 30 mortar rounds onto a point. This is a weapon that does not care about cover, this is a weapon that does not care about spawn protections, this is a weapon that has the ability to wipe out a ridiculous amount of players all at once.

I have often played entire games just holding out the knee mortar and getting 20-30 kills (often at the top of the leaderboards) and that's how you should play the game. If you're using the knee mortar role, you shouldn't even touch your rifle. It's the Japanese's answer to clearing out bunkers, chokepoints and corridors. A flamethrower sitting in a corner? Just chuck a shell even remotely near him to kill him. Miss? Just move closer. Enemy fire? Go prone, you can still fire. It's an intuitive weapon, as soon as you get the first few kills with it in direct fire, you'll see where I'm coming from. And don't think that the range of the direct fire is weak; the arc is easy to learn and you can actually shoot as far or even beyond indirect fire.

In my opinion, this is the best weapon in the game and in some ways ridiculously overpowered. This is a weapon that does not care about cover. This is a weapon that has area damage. This is a weapon that does not care about spawn protection. This is a weapon that can clear out buildings and rooms at 100 to over 100m away. This is an area denial weapon that can turn an area into a meatgrinder.

Indirect fire is less useful to me I find, but there are some and many people that effectively use it through pressing T, spotting or just guesstimation. As the knee mortar is a very simple construct, it does not care that much about elevation. So if you're aiming at an enemy 50m away, but there is some or even slight elevation, it can throw off your shells by 10-20m, to my ire. I prefer to find a good position to watch the enemy, go prone, hide and fire away. At least that way I don't need a spotter and I can have battle damage assessment.

When the whole mortar team starts laying their fire on one area.

These guys thought they were safe behind the defilade (in red).

1. Got a bunch of Americans in a bunker (in red)? Flush them out (in green)!

2. The bloody aftermath.

1. Enemies giving their positions away (in red). So I suspect that an enemy squad leader is spawning them in this building corner (in green).

2. With practice you can put shells anywhere. Even as a beginner, you don't really have to aim too hard. As long as you hit a surface (wall/floor) that impacts the shell's explosive towards enemy combatants.

3. Pure. Destructive. Power.

Using direct fire and indirect fire. Direct fire is more accurate. Indirect fire has a certain element of luck.

People often complain about how semi-automatic rifles are superior to bolt-action rifles. But then again I refute that each have their strengths and weaknesses. If you want to win, keep playing on their weaknesses. M1 Garands have very poor ironsights meaning their target acquisition is poor compared to the Arisaka-class rifles. As I emphasize in my first point, speed speed speed. Move as fast as you can through flanks, banzai charges and moving fast. This will make the M1 Garands horrible against that situation. If you're going to stand against the M1 Garands at 50-100m in front of them, you're going to lose at least 70% of the time. Another thing is M1 Garands have to get a little bit closer to the Japanese in order to be effective. If you're on the Japanese side during a defense, you should try to keep them at range. Signal if you're in trouble or you need some heavy support at your position (machine guns or mortars). If you know that there's an American in the next room from you and you KNOW that he's watching the door, you normally have more luck banzai'ing through the door because of his poorer target acquisition.

M1 Garand ironsights. Note: This picture does not belong to me. As you can see, the ironsights are more obtrusive.

versus

Type 38 ironsights. Note: This picture does not belong to me. As you can see, the ironsights are less obtrusive.