______ _______ / \ / \ /____ \___________________/ ___\ / ADVANCE WARS 2 / ___/ ___________________ /____ \ / BLACK HOLE RISING \ / \______/ \______/ Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising Advanced Tactics Guide v2.0 Author: Jax Omen email: jax-omen@vincesmc.com AIM: Jax Omen Copyright 2003 Jax Omen TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1) Updates 2) Legal Stuff 3) Introduction 4) Basics 5) General Tactics 6) Fog of War Tactics 7) Playing Versus Other Humans 8a) In-Depth CO Information 8b) CO Rants 9) Advanced Unit Tactics 10) Exploiting the AI 11) Campaign Tips 12) Strategies For Good Scores 13) Damage Chart 14) Created COs 15) Completion 16) Closing 17) Thanks 1) UPDATES ---------- v1.0 7/5/03 First version complete. v1.1 7/16/03 Added Advanced Unit Tactics Section Added CO-Specific Tips Added info on CO Power Charging (Thanks Psychotic Guy!) Added lots of Unit Info (Kudos to ShadowFF6) Added my crappy ASCII art. If anyone has better, please send it in! Added a section on how to exploit the AI for your own benefit! v1.2 7/19/03 Added "War of Attrition" strategy to Advanced Tactics Added www.awbunker.com to the list of sites allowed to post this faq Content Additions v1.3 7/23/03 Added CO Rant section Added Campaign Tips section Reorganized some strategies so they are in the correct section v1.4 7/26/03 Finally got Hachi! Added Info on last two campaign missions in Hard Added In-Depth CO Section Started to reorganize guide Added CO recommendations for tactics Removed a few bits of redundant information v1.5 8/8/03 Started Damage Chart Begun Reorganization Fixed name of Final GE mission (I had mistakenly called it The Hunt's End) v1.6 8/22/03 Reorganized guide Fixed spelling/grammar errors in submitted tips Added the Flying Kirby Pub to my list of allowed sites. Added Keys to Tactic and CO sections Removed all of the redundant/stupid submissions (sorry!) v1.7 9/25/03 Added LOTS more CO quotes Added a Created CO section Added some advice on Indirect and Direct unit usage Spelling/grammatical fixes Remembered to ACTUALLY FIX the name listed for the last GE mission...(I can't believe I posted that I fixed it when I didn't fix it...) Added Section on VS mode. v1.8 10/1/03 MORE Spelling/Grammar/Formatting fixes Added Damage Formula Added a tip for Multiplay Added section on Scoring v1.9 11/24/03 Changed email address. I still check the old one, but send new mail to jax-omen@vincesmc.com now, please. Fixed stats on several COs, added attack/defense boosts on COP/SCO. v2.0 12/22/03 Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Whatever to everyone! MASSIVE update to the "Fog of War Tactics" section. MAJOR Kudos to Lindsay40K for all her contributions. Significant update to CO information. Thanks again to Lindsay40K! Added another Create-A-CO v2.1 5/6/04 Added lots of people's create-a-COs. Possibly some other minor grammar fixes and the like that I forgot I made... >_< 2) LEGAL STUFF -------------- The only sites allowed to post this faq is: www.gamefaqs.com www.awbunker.com fkp.cjb.net If you see this faq anywhere else, please let me know. Also, I will not allow any "general tips" sites (other than GameFaqs) to host my guide. If you are a site devoted specifically to Advance Wars, then you may ask me, but it is a waste of your time to ask me if you are a more general site. This means my guide should never be on ign.com or gamewinners.com or neoseeker.com, for example. SO PLEASE STOP ASKING! Please don't copy this faq and pawn it off as your own work. I worked very hard on putting together this guide. Respect the copyright laws. 3) INTRODUCTION --------------- Hi, I'm Jax Omen. Some of you may know me from the GameFaqs message boards. Anyway, I figured that there were alot of people who would be interested in a compilation of the various advanced tactics there are in Advance Wars 2. Please note that this guide is not yet a comprehensive list. Many of these tactics are carried over from the first Advance Wars. Also, this is my first faq, so if you have any comments about the format or content, PLEASE, let me know! I welcome your feedback. However, I do not tolerate flame mail. If you flame me, not only will I ignore your email, but I will probably block your address. If you really want to flame me, I do accept flames at this email address: Imajerk@canutell.com Finally, it should be noted that I primarily play Fog of War. I don't have many tactics that work outside of FOW, so any submissions would be greatly appreciated. 4) BASICS --------- Choke point: Location on the map that restricts the travel of ground units. Hiding: Placing a land unit into a "forest" tile to hide its location from the enemy. Also applies to naval units in reefs, and submerged submarines. Capture Victory: Victory that is won by capturing the enemy HQ. CO Power: Power that a CO can use when all the little stars in their CO Power Guage are filled. Sturm has no CO Power. SCO Power: Stronger CO power that can only be used when all stars are filled. 5) GENERAL TACTICS ------------------ ___________________________________ /___________________________________\ | KEY | | --- | | Tactic Name: Description | | Counter: Description | | | | Best COs to use: | | 1: CO (explanation, if necessary) | | 2: CO (explanation, if necessary) | | 3: CO (explanation, if necessary) | | | | Do Not Use: | | 1: CO (explanation, if necessary) | | etc. | \___________________________________/ Mech Flood: This isn't really an advanced technique, but it is an effective strategy for Sami, Sensei, Kanbei, Nell, Hawke, Lash, and Sturm. You simply build as many mechs as possible every turn and attack relentlessly. Don't forget to build AA units if air units are available on the map, and make sure that if you have extra funds to buy other things. JUST Mechs usually do not win the battle. This strategy relies more on the mechs to be the main force of your attack, while other unit types take on a mop-up role. DO NOT use this strategy in war room or campaign because your rank WILL suffer. Counter: Bombers are best, but look below for a good counter-strategy. Best: 1: Sensei 2: Sami 3: Lash (Mountains give +40% attack, Cities give +30%) Worst: 1: Jess (weak infantry) 2: Colin (weak infantry) From: Japanese Cows Rule Counter Mech Rush The easiest way I have found to beat a mech rush is to build infantry out of all your bases that are not already building something, eg. you have 4 bases and 10,000G. Instead of getting a tank and saving the rest up, get a tank and 3 infantry. If you always have all your bases working on something you won't get swarmed past so easily in a mech flood. also infantry from Nell will cost effectively destroy Sensei's or Sami's mechs Jax: This also should not be done in Campaign or War Room, for the same reason as a Mech Flood: your rank WILL suffer. Best: 1: Any Worst: 1: Jess (weak infantry) 2: Colin (weak infantry) Blitzkrieg: This is like a mech flood, but done with tanks. A very effective way to clear Spann Island (the first war room map) is to do a blitzkrieg. Just keep producing them and crush Andy. Cost prohibiting on some maps though. Counter: Bombers, B-Copters, Md Tanks, and Neotanks will easily thwart a blitzkrieg. Artillery, rockets, and Battleships work well too. Best: 1: Max 2: Hachi (mega tank deployment, SCO) 3: Jess Honorable Mention: Eagle (Lightning Strike) Worst: 1: Grit 2: Sami 3: Sensei Blocking: This one is easy to overlook, but it can increase the effectiveness of a siege by as much as 60%. Blocking is simply placing your units on top of enemy bases/airports/seaports. This prevents them from building more units at these locations, giving you the advantage. ALWAYS block your enemy, it will save you time and energy. Counter: Kill the units on your bases/airports/seaports. Then you can build there again. DON'T do what the CPU does and just build mechs in this situation, or you WILL die. Best: 1: Hachi (extra deployment with SCO helps to block) 2: Colin (cheap units = more units to block with) 3: Andy (can heal blocking units when attacked) Honorable Mention: Kanbei (blocking units are harder to kill) Worst: 1: None Stealing: This usually means capturing enemy territory when they have no units nearby to stop you. Sami, however, can simply waltz right in and steal whatever she wants, using her SCO power. The effectiveness of stealing, even if the enemy takes their property back, is that for a few days, you get some extra cash, while they get LESS cash. Very effective. Also, if you ever see their HQ undefended, STEAL IT! Counter: Always keep at least a recon around your properties to discourage theft. Against Sami, though, you have to keep her from getting near your properties, unless she is nowhere near her SCO power. Best: 1: Sami 2: Sonja (more likely see whether enemies can attack capturing infantry) 3: Kanbei (capturing infantry take less than normal damage) Worst: 1: Jess (weaker infantry units) 2: Colin (weaker infantry units) War of Attrition: The key to a war of attrition is to spend less than your opponent for the same results. If you get the same amount of cash as your foe, you can stockpile money while playing a defensive game. Save up all your money, only buying like artillery or something (as long as you have MD tanks blocking the enemy), until you get a TON of money. When you have enough (preferably 100000+), buy Neotanks. They own MD Tanks for 3 reasons: 1) They clobber MD Tanks in combat (they deal like 30% more damage to MD Tanks than other MD Tanks do) 2) They are more likely to one-hit-kill units than a MD Tank 3) They have 6 move, not 5 With tons of Neotanks (preferably like 4 to start plus the cash to keep making them), advance on your enemy with your Neotank/Artillery storm. Their defenses will usually fold if you do it right (SCO helps if you know what you are doing), which gives you free reign into their territory. now, this is MOST IMPORTANT: Once you are in enemy territory, BLOCK the enemy to stop up their production (blocking is covered above). With their production at a standstill, continue to construct more units (doesn't matter what anymore), and mop up the remaining resistors. Counter: The best counter for this tactic is to be aggressive. If you push the fight into enemy territory, you can block and capture enemy towns, thus defeating the war or attrition, or as I like to call it, the "Turtle Game" Best: 1: Hachi/Colin (can build more units) 2: Lash/Grit (strongest Indirect Combat, which lets them survive longer) 3: Eagle/Drake (Eagle can Lightning Strike when attack commences, Drake can damage and drop fuel on enemies while turtling) Honorable Mentions: Andy (can heal while defending) Worst: 1: Max (has hard time staying alive in WOA) 2: Kanbei (expensive units make WOA difficult) 6) FOG OF WAR TACTICS --------------------- Siege: This tactic is simple: Just get as many long range units within firing distance of your enemies bases (ideally in forests/reefs) and cripple everything they build. Make sure to bring in other units to mop up the weakened troops (Md Tanks are best for this). Counter: Hide recon units in forests near your base. When the indirect units try to hide, they will be trapped and vulnerable instead. Countering with a Mech/Infantry Flood can root out indirect fire units. Anti Air, Infantry and Recon guards are therefore useful. (Thanks, Lindsay40K!) Best: 1: Grit (super Indirect Combat) 2: Sonja (high vision means targets are easier to aquire) 3: Eagle (can Lightning Strike to move into forests, and attack in one turn) Honorable Mentions: Kanbei (Strong Indirect, but expensive) Lash (very strong Indirect, since Indirect are usually on forests or better) Worst: 1: Max (crap Indirect Combat) 2: Sensei (weak Indirect Combat) 3: Colin (weak Indirect Combat) Rush: This tactic is similar to the "rush" in real-time strategy games. However, you cannot "rush" your opponent expecting to simply overwhelm them before they can get going. You WILL lose if you try this. A Rush in Advance Wars is simply rushing your infantry units out and grabbing bases, airports, and seaports near your opponent before they can get them. This prevents them from getting them, as it is difficult to steal back a base early on. It also extends your borders, meaning that while your opponent is trying to steal the property you just rushed, you are conquering the whole map between them. This tactic is definitely more effective in 1v1 games. Works well with the Recon tactic, below. Counter: Build recons as soon as possible and send them out to nearby bases. Or, alternately, you can rush your opponent, forcing him to abandon the rushing infantry in order to stop your rush. Best: 1: Sami 2: Sensei 3: Sonja (can see enemy forces easier during rushes) Worst: 1: Jess (weak infantry, but she is very good at counter-rushing) 2: Colin (weak infanty) Recon: In the early game, try to get as many recon units hiding in forests as possible. It is not uncommon to have a recon or two hiding INSIDE the enemy base, if you know what you are doing. The key to effective reconnaisance is to NEVER stop a recon outside of a forest, not even to stop an infantry from nabbing property. If you do, your recon will surely die, and you will lose the valuable intel on your opponent. Counter: Well, this tactic is difficult to counter. In a link game, you can see the recon movement if they move through your field of view. But, in a VS game, this is not the case. The best way to counter a recon-happy player is to do some reconnaisance yourself. After all, what goes around comes around... Best: 1: Sonja (obvious why) 2: Sturm (recon movement not hindered by forests/plains) 3: Lash (CO/SCO remove movement penalty) Honorable Mention: Olaf (Snow greatly aids counter-recon) Worst: 1: Drake (rain lowers vision, but it does go both ways) Flanking: This tactic is invaluable when you make that big push into enemy territory. It is also one of the hardest tactics to effectively pull off. A flanking maneuver is simply attacking from two or more fronts simultaneously. This forces your opponent to divide their troops between your forces, lessening the enemy's total effectiveness. A better way to flank the enemy, however, is when you attack from one direction as a diversion to get troops by on another route. Say, for example, the enemy has a Neotank stationed by a bridge that you want to get across. A solution to this would be to attack the enemy from another spot, preferably within the Neotank's movement range. This will usually lure the tank away, giving entry to your other forces. Counter: Play offensively. Seriously. The best way to protect yourself is to attack the enemy constantly. They can't flank you while they are running away (but they can lure you into a trap, see below). Best: 1: Any Worst: 1: None Ambushing: This tactic is tricky to pull off against a human opponent, but is one of the most rewarding maneuvers in the game. An ambush, as you might expect, is when you surprise the enemy with a first strike. There are three main types of ambushes: Choke Point, Pre-set and lure. Choke Point Ambushes: This is when you get to a major choke point in the map, and you place a Md Tank (or Neotank) at the end of it, with LOTS of indirect fire units behind it. When enemies approach the choke point, they are blown away by indirect fire. Pre-Set Ambushes: This tactic does not require a choke point, but the concept is similar. In a Pre-Set Ambush, you place lots of indirect fire units in forests around a main path through the map. When enemy units venture into the range of your Indirect units, lay them to waste. Lure Ambushes: These sorts of ambushes are extremely difficult to do. They involve luring (hence the name) enemy troops in range of your indirect fire units. Effective lures are usually capturing infantry, because the enemy WILL try to stop the infantry units. Against the CPU, any unit will work as a lure. Counter: Well, reconnaisance is the most effective way to prevent ambushes (duh!). Reconnaisance allows you to spot the ambushing units and ambush them instead! Also, infantry/mech floods can be good for rooting out the offending ambushers. (kudos to Lindsay40K) Best: 1: Grit (best range) 2: Sonja (also the best at countering ambushes) 3: Colin (can get more Indirect units to ambush with) Honorable Mentions: Lash (indirect hiding in forests get +20% attack) Kanbei (very strong indirect, but expensive) Worst: 1: Max (crap Indirect Combat) 2: Sensei (weak Indirect Combat) EXTRA NOTE: Ambushes do NOT have to be done with indirect combat. They can be effectively done with direct combat units as well. As a matter of fact the BEST ambushes will use both Direct AND Indirect combat. Here's how the different units break down in ambushes: Direct: generally less damage, and is visible to enemy after attacking (usually) Indirect: generally more damage, and is NOT visible to enemy after attacking (usually) however using just indirect units means that the enemy will generally go after the indirect units. And with the low defense inherent with indirect combat, they will die quickly, ending the ambush. Put direct combat in the mix as well, however, and the enemy will usually try to kill the tanks, leaving your indirect free to take another shot or two. Or they will ignore the tanks and try to find your indirects anyways (human only, CPU generally won;t do this...), which lets you take another shot with your direct combat. As you can see, the best ambushes use both types of combat, although the direct combat is generally a decoy force not a powerhouse. Reserves: This is used to bolster most other techniques, especially those that involve attacking or defending over numerous fronts. Have a couple of units behind your main force, able to take the place of any units that are destroyed. Whilst your attack is slightly weakened by these units not being present, it is far easier to maintain momentum and react to counters (or even pre-emptive strikes) if you have fresh units to send in. They should be able to get into combat within two turns, if any weather conditions may crop up in this time assume that they will, otherwise your reserves could be left stranded and rendered useless. Artillery, Tanks, APCs with Mech, Anti-Air and NeoTanks are the best ground units here due to their movement distance. Fighters, Bombers and Cruisers are also useful, as Air or Sea detachments away from land tend to require assistance from these units more than any other. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: Air units are able to outflank the enemy and cripple his reserves. Use of Recon units allows you to scout for reserves before committing yourself to an attack. Best: 1: Sturm (able to ignore terrain when moving) 2: Lash (ignores terrain when using Powers) 3: Adder (extra movement when using Powers) Honourable mentions: Olaf (reserves won't be delayed by slow, and can delay enemy reserves with Powers), Eagle (extra turn with SCO). Worst: 1: Kanbei (buying a second force can be prohibitively expensive) 2: Andy (why bother when you can repair anything?) 3: Hawke (likewise) Fake Reserves: After successfully capturing an objective, you can take advantage fo your opponent's disruption to sweep through and continue to another objective. This is usually a bad idea, since your own reserves are probably exhausted and their SCO power probably ready for use. However, by sending forward a fake attack, consisting of survivors of the battle for the objective in question and installing an occupying detachment in the captured objective, you can buy time for your occupying forces to settle in and your opponent will probably over compensate for your blitz as he believes your occupiers to be reserves for another attack. This is especially important when the objective has no deployment bases and your occupiers need to be self sufficient; also make sure you provide reserves for your occupying force as soon as possible. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: Hide some Rockets, Recons, Missiles and B-ships nearby valuable objectives. You can make life hell for an occupying force and stage a recapture after battering their detachment or forcing it to split up on hunting missions. Best: 1: Andy (SCO power allows you to form a terrifying fake attack with heavily damaged units left from an attacking force) 2: Hawke (able to heal as above and also damage 'pestering' units used as a counter) 3: Sonja (occupiers can settle quicker and fake attack appears more of a threat with good capturing skills) Honourable mentions: Olaf and Drake (able to slow enemy counter attacks and damage pestering forces with Powers) Worst: 1: Colin (poor units make independant detachments vulnerable and fake attacks less intimidating) 2: Grit (poor direct combat makes fake attacks less effective) Detachments: If you arrange your forces into detachments whilst you are deploying them, you will find it a lot easier to co-ordinate movement and attacking. A detachment is a self-sufficient group of units that is capable of destroying any enemy unit, refuelling itself and capturing properties. Air and Sea detachments generally need an attached APC for refuelling, deploying this in a forest or on an island helps keep it safe from enemy attacks. Try to have at least one direct and one indirect combat unit in each detachment. Indirect units must be able to fire at any enemy units that attack any member of the detachment. Also, give the dtachment some means of hunting for pestering attacks from hidden indirect combat unbits wthout slowing it's advance, Tanks are good for this. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: Killing a detachment's APCs can leave it crippled, making ground forces reliant on cities (thus sacrificing their mobility) and air and sea forces have to either wait for a new APC or return to base. Additionally, a suicidal attack that takes out all AA or indirect units can leave a detachment horribly vulnerable to 'vultures'. A dedicated detachment of Fighters, Bombers, Subs, Battleships, Anti Air or Tanks/NeoTanks can wreak havoc on a general purpose detachment, but is very vulnerable to other specialist detachments. Best: 1: Hachi (SCO Power makes reinforcing damaged detachments a breeze) 2: Jess (Powers render APCs redundant, except to carry troops) 3: Kanbei (high defence makes supply vehicles less vulnerable) Honourable mention: Olaf (powers disrupt enemy detachments, ability to move in snow helps own detachments) Worst: 1: Sensei (specialised forces make most units vulnerable) 2: Grit (reliance on Missiles to take out Air units slows his detachments) 3: Colin (weak units make supply vehicles vulnerable unless you 'double up') Picket Line: When marching on the enemy, any unit that has two exposed sides is likely to attract twice the number of direct combat units. Avoid this by forming a picket line; keep your forces advancing side-by-side to expose them as little as possible to attack. Especially useful in Fog of War situations. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: use indirect combat units to punch a hole in the line, then use direct combat units to widen the breach or wreak havoc amongst supporting units. Best: 1: Kanbei (makes a great wall) 2: Sturm (good defence) 3: Andy (can repair his wall on the go) Honourable Mention: Sonja (good counter attacks) Worst: 1: Colin (easily broken wall) 2: Grit (poor direct combat units make wall fragile) Top That: When your opponent relies on a few powerful indirect combat units to keep you at bay, move a superior number of units into range to attack them next turn. They will be forced to either retreat to safer ground or fire on some of your units, losing their expensive unit in the process. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: Defend your indirect combat units. Have some tanks nearby, or set up a Net. If you are close to friendly bases, you can try to counter with even more units but beware of escalation to an expensive arms race. Best: 1: Sturm (can march through cover to get at enemy units, and deploy Rocket units quickly in forests and plains) 2: Lash (her Powers let her leap through cover and her SCO Power makes units very difficult to weed out of cover) 3: Grit (his extra range lets his indirect combat units make mincemeat of the enemy equivalents) Honourable Mention: Andy, Hawke (can heal units should the enemy choose to stay) Worst: 1: Colin (weak units are poorly suited to this) 2: Sami (poor direct combat units, average ranged units) Forget the Cost: Don't be too concerned with trying to make sure your opponent loses more resources than you. Sure, in the short term the side that inflicts heavier casualties will appear to be winning, but taking out a couple of Rockets at the cost of a group of Neotanks can prevent further casualties and allow you to capture objectives more easily. Mountain ranges, forests, shoals and bases are all worth maiking a few sacrifices for, even if you spend more on the fight for them than an entrenched opponent. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: Make your opponent pay a blood price for every inch of ground you give, an overwhelming force expects opposition to retreat and it comes as a surprise when a cornered rabbit fights to the death. If you are defending a base or suchlike, ignore the tempting Bombers and Neotanks that attack you and concentrate on taking out the Infantry your opponent will need to complete his objective. Also, try setting up dummy objectives; set up a few indirect units in some cities with Rockets, Missiles and B-ships in position to fire on the swarm of enemy units that descend to steal what looks like an important part of your forces. Best: 1: Hachi (any city is a potential objective thanks to his SCO Power and both his Powers make it a cinch to replace casualties) 2: Sami (tough infantry can take a pounding and as soon as the opportunity presents itself Victory March into an exposed objective) 3: Andy (SCO allows a damaged but successful force to recover instantly) Worst: 1: Colin (takes horrendous casualties) Control the Chaos: When fighting multiple opponents, it's important that you do not let one particular enemy become too strong. If you let this happen, they are likely to gather a huge amount of momentum and massacre everyone, yourself included. To this end, you have to be able to assist any player should they get into trouble. The dealiest technique is to let a player take a heavy beating, say from three Neotanks rampaging through their base, and then save them at the last minute. This way, the victim's forces are still beaten for you, but the aggressor is unable to capitalise on their victory properly and will not pose a threat to you. If you are assisting against CPU player, try to make you own units less inviting targets than your ally as there's no point taking hits for them, just break the invading forces and leave. (Credit goes to Lindsay40K) Counter: When attacking an enemy base, protect your flanks and rear from unexpected attacks by other armies. A Md Tank, being slow, is well suited to a rearguard action whether you're attacking or retreating, and serves as a useful reserve if your attack is successful. Best: 1: Sturm (able to reach enemy bases easily) 2: Sonja (adept at gathering intel on enemy fights) 3: Lash (good at reaching enemy bases) Worst: 1: Colin (poor attacks makes it difficult to force a Neotank out of a base) Skirmish Screen: When a detachment enters unknown territory, such as when a scouting Recon is not an option, or the enemy are believed to be using forests, a solid barrier of Infantry (with a few reserves to plug and gaps that appear) can sweep the area clean. Often, your opponent's ambushing Artillery will fire on this screen, leaving them within range of the main force. A screen that takes the form of a straight line is slightly more robust as enemy units cannot team up in direct combat. DO NOT use this strategy in war room or campaign because your rank WILL suffer. Counter: Use Recons to provide advanced warning of skirmishers, and send out your own screen to bog the enemy down. DO NOT use this strategy in war room or campaign because your rank WILL suffer. Anti-Air units can wade through like Combine Harvesters, try to take out any Mech or Tank units with your own indirect fire and avoid getting your lawnmowers surrounded otherwise you'll still get mobbed. Best: 1: Sensei (free skirmish screen that is immediately deployed) 2: Hachi (SCO Power second best to Sensei for this) 3: Lash (able to take a lot of punishment during enemy turn when you get Trapped in forests) Honourable Mention: Hawke, Olaf, Drake (soften up enemy skirmish screens with damaging powers), Colin (cheap and expendable infantry) Worst: 1: Sonja (pointless due to Enhanced Vision) 2: Kanbei (units too expensive to waste) 7) PLAYING VERSUS OTHER HUMANS ------------------------------ Playing a game of Advance Wars against another human opponent varies quite a bit from taking on the CPU. While the same tactics generally work, Human opponents have different weaknesses and strengths. Those will be discussed here, as well as how to take advantage of those human traits, much to the dismay of your opponent. Keep in mind that these are ALL generalizations, and human opponents may or may not actually display all of these traits. They do, however, tend to display SOME of these traits. Even I display many of these traits from time to time... Strengths of Human Opponents: Human opponents are unpredictable. Humans do not follow any set build pattern. Humans usually don't move their units in a specific, easily defined order. Humans often SAVE their COP/SCO for when they feel it is most useful. Humans also tend to vary their armies more than a computer. They will often save their money and buy a single more expensive unit. Most importantly, humans have an annoying tendency to NOT do whatever you were expecting them to do. Never rely on your human opponent's behavior to be consistent. Weaknesses of Human Opponents: Human opponents are also predictable. Humans tend to build LOTS of whatever their strongest units are (for example, Eagle players tend to mass copters and bombers). Humans tend to expect their opponent to behave the same way every time. Humans are dismayed when they lose an attack force. Humans tend to use the brunt of their forces in one big attack, leaving themselves vulnerable should their attack fail. Human players generally stick to one tactic that they find to be particularly effective. What all this means is, you should do exactly what your opponent DOES NOT expect you to do. This means, if you are Eagle, maybe consider IGNORING your air force, and maybe creating a small navy to support your land forces. This often makes it so that your opponent, who expects an Eagle player to use air units, suddenly has lots of AA with nothing for them to do. In the same vein, build a moderate air force with Drake or Jess. Build indirect units with Max. Mix it up a bit, and your opponent will soon be sent reeling from a few units he had no preparations for. Just don't do this multiple times, as human opponents also LEARN. Make sure to change your strategy every game. Also, use your opponent's intelligence against them. Place a juicy target, like a Lander or a rocket/missile, within the enemy's vision distance. Cover the unit with indirect fire just outside the enemy's vision. Rip the foe's direct units apart. The Mind Game: Human opponents are subject to trickery. By mixing up your units, you can often hide your true numbers. Move recons from forest to forest every turn. Fake attacks from one area, then crush the enemy's units from another. Sometimes, do stupid random stuff for no apparent reason (making sure your enemy can SEE the stupid random stuff) just to throw your opponent off. Build a bomber just to force your opponent to build AA guns, then kill his AA with tanks. Or if he decided NOT to build AA, bomb his base. The most important thing to remember when playing mind games with a human opponent, is that humans trust what they see more than anything, but humans are always curious. Sometimes, just move a unit into the enemy's vision, then right back out (or just move through their vision on a link game). The enemy will often go look at what you have over there, distracting their forces and allowing you to take the first strike. Also, keep in mind that human opponents tend to build according to what they feel will counter the enemy's units best. For example, if you attack with a wave of bombers, the enemy is likely to mass produce AA or Fighters. Let your opponent see SOME of your forces, for example make your Air Force visible, so that they think that is your main force. They will build units to counter what they see. Build units that counter THEIR counters, and you are all set. Most importantly, plan your own moves AND your opponent's moves several turns ahead. The ability to manipulate your opponent is what differentiates between an AW novice and an AW master. A Final Note: Make sure to take your turns quickly. Nothing aggravates a friend more than having to wait a long time for their turn. Also, since most people don't have 2 hours to spend at one time playing AW2, turn off animations. ALL animations. This usually cuts down the amount of time the game takes by a factor of four. 8) COs ------ 8a) IN-DEPTH CO INFORMATION --------------------------- From: psychotic guy "CO power stars: -Each star is worth 9000 G. Getting attacked charges the bar by the amount of damage caused in money, and attacking charges it by half that amount. Example: Rocket does 5 damage to a neotank. Neotank CO's power meter will charge by 11000 G (22000 X 5/10 = 11000), and rocket CO's meter will charge 5500 G -Every time a CO or SCO power is used, the stars increase by 2000 G. -CO power stars are shown rounded down to the nearest half-star. -When using CO powers, the stars left over are converted into the bar next turn as cash, not stars. Example: Player using Adder has 5 stars and hasn't use any powers yet, so the stars are still 9000 G each. Sideslip is used. The next turn, the power bar will have the 27000 G left over from the previous bar. Since the stars are now 11000 G each, Adder will have less than 3 stars." *NOTE* Unlike the first AW, in AW2 the CO Powers (and SCO Powers) DO NOT add the 10% attack bonus unless it is actually part of the power. For example Sonja gets no attack bonus from her CO Power. The 10% defense bonus still applies, however (i.e. _ALL_ CO Powers give at least a 10% defense bonus). NOTE: These are all the opinions of myself and my contributors. These are NOT fact, although they are often very reliable information. From: atro city "The day after a CO uses his/her power, the CO Bar will NOT fill up, regardless of how much damage you cause. So take that advantage and pound the crap out of your opponent right after he/she uses the CO/SCO power. (works well against Adder, Olaf, Eagle, and Flak, mediocre against Max, Sturm, and any other CO with a powerup factor, and horribly vs Sonja, Lash, and Kanbei)" The "Counters" are simple the characters the CO fares well against. It does not in any way guarantee victory to either side. This varies somewhat depending on map (for example, on a land-only map Sami crushes Sensei, but whenever air units come into play, Sensei has the advantage). Also, note that even though some COs are listed as not countering anyone or not being countered by anyone, that does not necessarily make them better or worse. It simple means there is no particular CO that they generally stomp and/or there is no CO that generally stomps them. ________________________________________________________ /________________________________________________________\ | KEY | | | | CO Name | | --- | | Strengths: description | | Weaknesses: description | | | | Strategies that work well | | how to use CO effectively | | Counters: COs that this character fares well against. | | Is Countered By: Characters this CO struggles against. | | | | CO Powers: | | CO: description | | SCO: description | | Advice on when to use CO/SCO | | Quote: "" | \________________________________________________________/ Andy --- Strengths: none Weaknesses: none Strategies: Any Andy can attack on any front, which means he can fail on any front. He is a good choice for long matches, because he can heal if necassarry. He should have a good mix of units, since he can use any type effectively, which means going from infantry to B-Ships. He should flank any retreating units, since they often can cause problems later. (From NinjaofDarkness) Counters: Olaf, Drake, Hawke, Sturm Is Countered By: Hachi, Nell, Sonja, Lash CO Powers: Hyper Repair: Heals all units by 2hp. Hyper Upgrade: Heals all units by 5hp. Provides +1 movement and a +20% attack bonus. Tips: Use Andy's powers at the beginning of the turn to power up and heal your units before an assault. Alternately, use it at the end of the turn to heal the counterattack damage you have suffered. DO NOT USE Andy's powers if your units are healthy! Quote: "This is how I do battle!" "It's time for a tune-up!" Max --- Strengths: Direct Combat units +20% attack Weaknesses: Indirect Combat units -10% attack Indirect Combat units -1 range Strategies: Blitzkrieg Specific tactics w/o FoW: Max should focus on advancing on enemy ranks with a decent mix of AA/tanks. both are relatively cheap, and can mow down anything in their way. in maps with lots of forests, max should play devensivley, because he will advacne very slowly, due to the treads. space your units about 2-3 spaces apart, that way they can defend eachother in need of help, and also arent sitting ducks for the same rocket. if anytihng, leave 2-3 AA to defend your base if you do advance on the enemy, to take care of any infantry or air that invades your base. in maps with ports, after you accumulate enough funds, make a lander to land 2 tanks(MD or other wise) to wreak havoc on the enemy base. they will probably withdraw any attack(or parts) to defend yourr base. (From NinjaofDarkness) Counters: Adder, Sami Is Countered By: Grit, Eagle CO Powers: Max Force: Provides +20% firepower boost and +1 movement to all direct combat units Max Blast: Provides +40% firepower boost and +2 movement to all direct combat units Tips: His CO Powers are best used against Md Tanks or Neotanks. This is because he cannot normally kill these units in one hit. He usually can kill any other land unit in one hit with his super strong direct combat. In an Air/Sea battle, the only advantage of his power is having B-Copters kill B-Copters in one hit, and damaging enemy fighters severely with your own. Naval units really don't get much better from his powers. His powers are also very useful when you need an extra point or two of movement. Quote: "That's enough. Get outta the road!!!" "I'm no show-off!" Sami --- Strengths: Infantry units +30% attack Infantry units capture 1.5 times faster Transport units +1 move Weaknesses: Direct Combat units -10% attack Strategies: Mech Flood, Stealing, Rush, Recon (inf on mountains) Capturing cities: Seems simple? Yes, it is, only one thing. Cities far away should be captured first. A lot of times the first 2 or 3 turns are capturing turns, so you are usually safe. If you capture closest first then when capture time is over you can't get to those farther away cities easy. Noticable on spann island, where the Enemy CO will attack your infantry with a recon if you take to long. (From TheEvilCubivore) Counters: N/A Is Countered By: Max CO Powers: Double Time: Provides +20% power boost and +1 movement to infantry/mechs (unlike AW1, move cost remains normal) Victory March: Provides +50% power boost and +2 movement to infantry/mechs. Also allows 1 day captures, regardless of unit health. (unlike AW1, move cost remains normal) Tips: Don't use her CO Power, it sucks. Instead, save for her SCO Power and steal property from the enemy! Quote: "You're not bad! Now it's my turn!" "In a test of skill, I'm unbeatable!" Nell --- Strengths: Lucky units, all are normal otherwise. (Luck allows her attack to vary from 100% to 110%) Weaknesses: none Strategies: Any Nell can attack on any front, which means she can fail on any front. She should have a good mix of units, since she can use any type effectively, which means going from infantry to B-Ships. She should flank any retreating units, since they often can cause problems later. (From NinjaofDarkness) NOTE: I copied this from NinjaofDarkness' Andy advice, since the same thing holds true for Nell. Counters: Andy, Adder, Flak, Kanbei Is Countered By: N/A CO Powers: Lucky Star: All units become extremely lucky (they deal up to +6 damage) Lady Luck: All units become unbelievably lucky (they deal up to +9 damage) Tips: Use her powers whenever you have lots of opportunities to attack enemy troops. This increases the number of times you can get "lucky hits". Quote: "Luck IS a skill!" "Pretty good offense! I'm not too bad myself!" "Hmm... Time to get serious!" Hachi --- Strengths: Deployments Costs 90% of normal Weaknesses: none Strategies: Any, but best with Blitzkrieg and War of Attrition Hachi may be used in the same manner as Andy during normal combat, except that he spends slightly less money. Try to save up money for his powers!!! Counters: Kanbei, Andy Is Countered By: Colin CO Powers: Barter: Reduces deployment costs to 50% (of normal) Merchant Union: Reduces deployment costs to 50% (of normal). Also allows production of land units on cities. Hachi: Use his SCO Power when you have lots of cash, so you can make the most of the extra unit creation abilities. His CO Power is more of a "Only use as a last resort" kind of power. MAKE SURE to use his powers BEFORE you buy anything (on that turn). Also, this is so cool that I just had to mention it: You can also use his powers to make money. Buy two identical units at half price, then let one of them take MINOR (1 or 2 hp) damage. After one is hurt, combine the two units. Since the merger is based on the cost of the units NORMALLY, you will get enough money back to pay for the one remaining unit and then some. It's not enough to base your whole strategy around, but its fun nonetheless... Quote: "You can call me Hachi, the best CO there ever was!" Olaf --- Strengths: All units unnafected by snow Weaknesses: All units affected by rain like other COs are affected by snow Strategies: Any Olaf can attack on any front, which means he can fail on any front. He should have a good mix of units, since he can use any type effectively, which means going from infantry to B-Ships. He should flank any retreating units, since they often can cause problems later. (From NinjaofDarkness) NOTE: I copied this from NinjaofDarkness' Andy advice, since the same thing holds true for Olaf. Counters: Sturm Is Countered By: Drake, Andy, Hawke CO Powers: Blizzard: Makes it snow for one turn. Winter Fury: Deals 2HP damage to all enemy units. Makes it snow for one turn. Tips: Don't use his CO Power, it sucks really bad. The only time to use it is if you are against Sturm, because he sucks in snow. His SCO Power deals damage though, so use it when you can make the most of it: when your enemies have lots of troops. Olaf's power is useless. However, the blizzard effect in his super should not be neglected. Take advantage of the situation by moving up units such as rockets, artillery, and bombers, which would normally be in danger's way, but since your opponent cannot move to get the first strike, then they are forced to retreat and lose ground. (From Mr Balsawood) Looks good so far. One thing I'd add, though, is another use for Blizzard: aiding in an HQ capture! The enemy can't counter the capture quickly, so you'll have an extra turn. There's still the matter of freshly built troops, though... (From CO Cheddar) Olaf Stradegy: Olaf was known for his (in everyone's opinion) crappy CO power in AW1. Now he has a better SCO power, Winter Fury. There are times when you just can't save up for Winter Fury and need some extra ground over your foe. This is when Blizzard comes into play. Use Blizzard when: *Your enemy is retreating and you need to finish him off. *When you need to retreat and regroup. *When you are regrouping and need to slow down enemy units(especially air units). *Your are capturing an unguarded HQ, so they wont be back in time(does not work in some cases, but especially works in predeployed maps). *If you are against Olaf, who is teamed with another guy, use it when an above condition is met. The enemy Olaf's power might be filled(check with menu) and he will usually waste it. (Jax: Only applies to CPU Olaf) Do NOT use Blizzard when: *You are playing with an ally who is not Olaf. This will slow them down too. *You are only playing against another Olaf, it will be useless! When you have Winter Fury charged. Use Winter Fury when: *At the beginning of the turn if you want to weaken them so you can attack. *At the end of the turn if you want to further weaken them from your attack. Don't use it when: *Your enemy has all 1 HP units(hey, it could happen!). *Your enemy is Andy/Hawke and has their powers charged, use yours after THEY use theirs. Olaf is good against Sturm, because he can exploit his only weakness. Olaf should not be in a match with Drake(ally or enemy) because it will rain a lot more when Drake is around." (From LurkerHunter) Grit --- Strengths: Indirect Combat units +20% attack Indirect Combat units +1 range Weaknesses: Direct Combat units -20% attack Strategies: Siege, Ambush With Grit in command the game changes drastically. First of all, Grit does not rely on tank swarms to destroy his foes. Grit relies very heavily on artillery. Not rockets, but artillery. Artillery, especially for Grit, are far more cost- effective than rockets. Get an army that has a fair number of tanks (to soak up damage), closely followed by a swarm of artillery and rockets. Use all other units for support. Make sure to get AA and Missiles if playing with airports. Counters: Max Is Countered By: Eagle, Adder, Jess (Sometimes Lash and Sturm, depends on map) CO Powers: Snipe Attack: Provides +30% firepower bonus and +1 firing range to indirect Super Snipe: Provides +30% firepower bonus and +2 firing range to indirect Tips: Use his powers when you really need that extra point of range, or if you need to one-hit-kill a Md Tank/Neotank. Colin --- Strengths: Deployment Costs 80% of normal Weaknesses: All units -10% attack Strategies: War of Attrition Colin: Colin loves maps with lots of bases because of his production abilities. He also (normally) has the cheapest naval units in the game, so keep that in mind. Anyway, try to stay 1 step above your opponent in unit production. For example, you can usually build tanks much easier than the other guy can, so do it. Also, Colin is one of the only two COs that can use a lot of Neotanks, so deploy some whenever you can. Another good thing to do is to get any and all spare bases on the map; extra deployment is a good thing. And one final note; don't save up for Power of Money. I found that Gold Rush is a much more efficient Power, allowing Colin to produce an early Neotank or Bomber. I'm not a Colin expert, but I hope that these help. (From CO Cheddar) Counters: Hachi Is Countered By: Kanbei (Despite the massive price difference, Colin deals approximately HALF the damage to Kanbei than Kanbei deals to Colin, hence, he is countered by Kanbei) CO Powers: Gold Rush: Multiplies current G by 1.5 Power of Money: Adds firepower based on cash. It gives +3% power per 1000G. Tips: Use his CO Power when you need more cash, preferably when you already have lots. His SCO Power is ONLY to be used when you have over 30,000G, or you will waste it. MAKE SURE, when using either of his powers, to use them BEFORE you buy anything... Quote: "Let me show you the power of money!" "Don't underestimate me because I'm new!" Eagle --- Strengths: Air Units +15% attack Air Units +10% defense Air Units use less fuel per turn (0 for helicopters and 3 for planes) Weaknesses: Naval Units -30% attack Strategies: any of the aggressive tactics (except Mech Flood) and War of Attrition Eagle is the consummate pilot. Despite the fact that Max, Kanbei, and Sturm all have him beat in the firepower department, and Kanbei and Sturm have more defense, Eagle > All when it comes to aerial combat. This is partially because his air force uses less fuel per turn (0 fuel per turn for copters, 3 for planes). This allows his air force to outlast many of his foes fleets. Counters: Grit, Max Is Countered By: N/A CO Powers: Lightning Drive: Boosts air units attack and defense to 130% for one turn. Lightning Strike: Boosts air units attack and defense to 130% for one turn. Allows all non-infantry units to take a second turn. (unlike AW1, does not drop attack or defense...) Tips: ONLY USE HIS SCO POWER AT THE END OF YOUR TURN!!! It is completely wasted if you use it earlier. His CO Power is usually not worth using, it only boosts air units. However, his SCO Power allows ALL non-infantry units to move again. This includes units that have just been built. Use his SCO Power to finish off a weakened enemy force before they can regroup. Quote: "Speed is the lifeblood of battle!" "The eagle soars above you!" Drake --- Strengths: Naval Units +10% defense Naval Units +1 movement Weaknesses: Air Units -30% attack Strategies: War of Attrition, but any work well. Drake is the undisputed master of the seas. In addition to the fuel bonuses and extra defense, Drake gets +1 movement on all his naval units. This puts them in another league from the other characters with strong navies, since he can advance further on them faster, and, if need be, can retreat faster than the enemy can advance. A master of wars of attrition, since both his powers damage AND drop fuel for enemies. Counters: Olaf Is Countered By: Andy, Hawke CO Powers: Tsunami: Deals 1 damage to all enemy units. Cuts enemy fuel in half. Typhoon: Deals 2 damage to all enemy units. Cuts enemy fuel in half. Forces weather to rain for one turn. Tips: Either power is worth using for him. They are both best used when your enemy has lots of units, or if the enemy has submarines that are giving you heck: the fuel drop will force subs to retreat or die. Quote: "Wave goodbye to your troops!" Jess --- Strengths: Ground Vehicles +10% attack Weaknesses: All other units -10% attack Strategies: Blitzkrieg, with long range support Jess controls land combat. Her direct AND indirect land units are more powerful than normal. Unfortunately, there are several other COs who completely eclipse her in normal combat. She still holds her own well, however, and she does easily have the best movement bonus style CO powers. Fuel/ammo recovery ROCKS! Use less APCs with Jess, since their ressuply is no longer necessary. Counters: N/A Is Countered By: Lash CO Powers: Turbo Charge: Provides +20% firepower boost and +1 movement to land vehicles. Refills fuel and ammo for all units. Overdrive: Provides +40% firepower boost and +2 movement to land vehicles. Refills fuel and ammo for all units. Tips: Use her powers when you need a movement bonus. The firepower bonus is small and not the main draw to using her powers. It should also be noted that both of her powers refuel and resupply Jess' troops. Don't overlook this feature. Kanbei --- Strengths: All units +30% attack/defense Weaknesses: Deployment Costs 120% of normal Strategies: Siege, Ambush, and Blitzkrieg. Kanbei relies on his aggressiveness. To survive with Kanbei you must continually kill enemy units, to reduce their advantage of numbers. Avoid using Kanbei on very small maps, because he needs enough property to actually afford his units. Counters: Colin (Despite the massive price difference, Colin deals approximately HALF the damage to Kanbei than Kanbei deals to Colin, hence, Kanbei counters him well) Is Countered By: Hachi CO Powers: Morale Boost: Provides an extra +20% attack and +10% defense bonus. Samurai Spirit: Provides an extra +20% offense and +30% defense bonus. Counterattack power is amplified to 1.5 times normal strength. Tips: Use his power like Nell's: it is most effective when you have lots of opportunities to attack. Also, Samurai Spirit generally prevents the enemy from attacking you, except with indirects, because they don't want to eat that massive counterattack damage. Quote: "I do not worry about what MIGHT happen!" Sonja --- Strengths: All units +1 vision HP hidden from enemies 150% Counterattack strength Weaknesses: Bad Luck (Attack power varies from 95% to 100%) Strategies: Recon, Ambush, Flank Sonja is like the opposite of Kanbei. Whereas Kanbei relies on attacking blindly and overwhelming the enemy with strength, Sonja takes the more strategic approach. Sonja's specialty is getting the first strike in FOW, due to her large vision. Recons and tanks are the staples of her army, since they have so much vision. Take advantage of the hidden HP when playing vs a human: mix up your units after each turn! They will often attack, thinking that they are hitting a 4hp tank, when they are really attacking a full HP tank! Also, her advantage is amplified when you deliberately target the enemy's recons. Don't let them know anything they don't have to know! Counters: Practically Everyone Is Countered By: Grit and Lash fare the best... CO Powers: Enhanced Vision: Provides +1 vision and treats forests/reefs as normal terrain for one turn (enemy cannot hide in forests for one turn). Counter Break: Provides +1 vision and treats forests/reefs as normal terrain for one turn (enemy cannot hide in forests for one turn). Also allows her counterattacks to take place before the attack that she is countering (although the animation does not reflect this) Tips: Use her CO Power whenever you need to see what is hiding in that forest/reef. Her SCO power lets her hit FIRST when she is attacked, like if she had attacked, in addition to the same effects as Enhanced Vision. Sensei --- Strengths: Infantry units +40% attack B-Copters +50% attack Transport units +1 movement Weaknesses: All ground (except infantry) and naval units -10% attack Strategies: Blitzkrieg with B-copters (instead of tanks), Mech Flood and Counter Mech Flood Sensei is an oddball. He gets bigger infantry bonuses than Sami, and he has very strong B-copters. Almost everything else, however, is weaker than normal. The best thing to do with him is attack with a combination of Mechs (to kill AA, among other things...), B-Copters (to kill tanks/copters/navy), and Fighters (to kill fighters/bombers). Note that except for B-copters, his Air force is as strong as Andy's. Counters: N/A Is Countered By: N/A (Everyone if Air is not available) CO Powers: Copter Command: Boosts copter power. Creates 9HP infantry units on all of Sensei's cities. 9HP infantry units can move on this turn. Airborne Assault: Boosts copter power. Creates 9HP mech units on all of Sensei's cities. 9HP mech units can move on this turn. Tips: Save up for his SCO Power, because Mechs are way better than Infantry. There are two reasons to use his SCO Power: 1) You need cash. Combining the 9HP Mechs can net you quite a bit of G. 2) You need cannon fodder. The 9HP Mechs make good decoys for enemy troops, giving you time to regroup. Also, they can take down small vehicles easily. Flak --- Strengths: Can deal up to +10% extra damage. Wears cool red goggles. Weaknesses: ...But can also deal up to 10% LESS damage. The goggles, they do nothing! Strategies: I recommend not using him. Flak sucks. At its BEST his luck is no better than Nell's, and the worst is much worse than Sonja. Also, both of his CO powers have DOWNSIDES, in that they deal LESS damage when they hit for bad luck than he normally does. Easily the worst CO in the game. Counters: No one Is Countered By: Everyone CO Powers: Brute Force: All units can deal between -2 and +4 damage. Barbaric Blow: All units can deal between -3 and +7 damage. Tips: Use his powers when you can attack the enemy. Or don't, because they also lower his accuracy, meaning you have a chance of doing LESS damage than you would without his power, instead of more. Generally though, you will hit harder than normal... Quote: "Why think when you can fight?" Adder --- Strengths: Charges CO Power quickly Weaknesses: none Strategies: Any Adder is the most average CO in the game. Yes, moreso than Andy even. All the other "average" COs have some specialty, at least in their CO powers. Adder doesn't even have that. Can be used in the same way as Andy, just without healing. Counters: Grit Is Countered By: Max, Jess, Eagle, Lash CO Powers: Sideslip: +1 movement. Sidewinder (called "Snakebite" in the European version): +2 movement. Tips: Use his powers whenever they come up, really. They only give you a movement bonus. Not very good. Lash --- Strengths: Gains +10% attack per defense star Weaknesses: none Strategies: Lash is generally one of the better COs for any tactic, but almost never the best. Lash is my favorite CO. Keep that in mind. She gets an attack bonus for taking better defensive terrain. Since any intelligent player will take the best terrain offered to them anyway, Lash fits in very well with any playstyle. She has some of the best indirect combat units, since those units generally hide in forests or sit on cities. Her SCO also allows her units in forests or better to become practically invincible for one turn. Her CO power is crap though... Mostly, I like Lash because she rewards the player for what they do anyway... Counters: Andy, Grit, Sonja, and Adder Is Countered By: Maps without much terrain cover CO Powers: Terrain Tactics: Provides 1 movement cost over all terrain (like Sturm) Prime Tactics: Provides 1 move cost over all terrain. Terrain bonuses (attack AND defense) are doubled for one turn. Tips: Don't use her CO Power, it doesn't really do much. Her SCO power, however, is another story. It is best used when you can access cities/bases/ airports/seaports to attack from, so that you get 6 defense stars and +60% attack!!! Mountains and HQs are bettter, but less viable. Forests are good too. Hawke --- Strengths: All units +10% attack Weaknesses: none Strategies: Any Hawke is like Andy on steroids. Hawke has a small attack bonus to all units, and his powers damage the enemy AND heal Hawke. They just aren't nearly as much healing as Andy gets. Hawke is kind of the Jack-of-all-trades in AW2: He can heal, deal damage to the enemy, and has attack power to boot. Unfortunately he is not the best at any of those things, but the combination of them all makes him very formidable. Counters: Drake, Olaf, Sturm Is Countered By: Andy, Lash CO Powers: Black Wave: Deals 1HP damage to all enemies. Heals 1HP to all Hawke's units. Black Storm: Deals 2HP damage to all enemies. Heals 2HP to all Hawke's units. Tips: His powers can be used in much the same ways as Andy's and Drake's powers: Use them at the beginning of your turn to soften up the enemy and recover your troops, or if your troops are healthy already, use them after your turn to recover the damage they suffered from counterattacks, and weaken your foe even further. Quote: "This is the end." "I give you credit for pushing me this far." Sturm --- Strengths: All units +20% attack/defense All units have 1 move cost over all terrain (does NOT allow passage across normally unpassable terrain) Weaknesses: Snow negates movement cost advantage No CO Power SCO Power takes LONG time to charge SCO Power not worth 10 stars (Meteor has limited usefulness, power boost only equivalent to Morale Boost otherwise) Friends will hate you if you use him against them (I got nitpicky with Sturm. I was trying to show all the disadvantages to playing as the cheapo. Sturm is still overwhelmingly powerful and unbalancing. I recommend that you do not play as Sturm in VS mode, or your friends will get mad at you :) Strategies: Any Sturm is cheap. Period. He is almost (but not quite) as strong as Kanbei, without the high deployment cost. Just don't rely on your SCO very much when against a human player... Counters: Everyone except... Is Countered By: Olaf SCO Power: Meteor Strike: Drops a meteor on the battlefield, dealing 8HP damage to all units in the blast zone (includes Sturm's units). Powers up Sturm's attack by +20% and defense by +30% for one turn. Tips: Use his SCO Power when the enemy has lots of troops clumped together. Be aware that he does not have a CO Power, and you cannot aim his SCO Power manually. Quote: "Such power, I regret crushing it." "BURNING EARTH!!!" Jax: Sturm's CO power targets based on units VALUE (i.e. cost in G), not on the number of units. So therefore you would have to have 16 infantry to get it to target them instead of a single MD Tank. And, while you build up those 16 infantry, you will not have the other units you need to weather Sturm's assault. In short, you will die. DON'T try to decoy the meteor with infantry. COUNTERING THE METEOR: The best way to counter the meteor is to build a group of at least 4 Md Tanks, and put them on your cities near your HQ. This is ALMOST always enough to direct the meteor towards them. Also, they can act as good HQ defense in the meantime, and they heal after the meteor hits, meaning that they will surely be back at full health by the time that Sturm charges his meter again! Also, MasterPoker reminded me of something important: Several CO Powers can be used to locate enemy units in FOW (or dived subs): Olaf (SCO only) Drake (Both) Hawke (Both, reveals Hawke's units to enemy as well) Sturm (The meteor will target the highest value enemy cluster. Pay attention) 8b) CO RANTS ------------ ANDY --- Andy is no longer a loser. This is an important fact to remember. ANDY NO LONGER SUCKS. This is mostly because the other COs are more balanced now, and Andy has one of the BEST SCO Powers in the game: Hyper Upgrade. Andy can weather a massive assault when his units suddenly regain five health! Plus they get stronger attacks and a movement bonus too! Andy rules! SONJA --- Sonja has this stigma of being a bad CO. LOTS of people don't like her because she has no combat boosts. As a matter of fact, she has slightly weaker units than Andy, because she has slightly bad luck (although its only really noticable when she deals 105% damage and the enemy survives with one HP). Her real strength, of course, lies in FOW. Her CO and SCO Powers grant her the AWESOME ability to see hiding units without encountering them. Due to this, she has some of the best long range units in the game, and she is the best at countering reconaissance-heavy players, since they must rely on forests to hide their recons/missiles/tanks. Also, strange as it sounds, Sonja has some of the better Md Tanks and Neotanks in FOW. While they are not very powerful, she is the only CO who can still see her targets when her recons are destroyed. This means her heavy tanks are not killed by indirect combat units just outside their vision range quite as much. Not to mention the fact that under Counter Break, she will waste anything that attacks her. Sonja is my 3rd favorite CO. LASH --- Lash is misunderstood. Many people seem to think that Lash sucks, because she is only as strong as Andy. Also, many people misunderstand her CO powers to mean that they decrease movement to 1. Her powers decrease movement COST to 1 (just like Sturm does naturally). I THINK (not sure) that this is all her CO power does, but her SCO Power also doubles terrain stars for that turn. Also, Lash can be HORRIBLY powerful, when used properly. Any of Lash's units sitting in a forest have +20% defense AND attack. This means one of her units in a forest is as strong as a like unit of Sturm's sitting on a road. This also means that units on cities become equal to Kanbei's units (and if you are smart, you already have your units on enemy bases to block their construction...). This also makes it much harder to stop her capturing Infantry/Mechs, because they get a damage bonus in their counterattack (especially true for HQs, because they offer a 40% attack/defense bonus). This also means that Lash has a really powerful Mech Flood. Since Mech Floods usually work best on mountainous terrain (bigger advantages over vehicles) like Banker Hills, Lash's Mechs often have +40% attack during a Flood. Plus, her SCO Power makes Mechs on mountains practically invincible (a full health Mech on a mountain with Lash's SCO power takes about 8% damage from a full health rocket)! Plus, Lash is simply fun to play as, and she has AWESOME music. Easily my favorite CO. HACHI --- Holy crap this guy is cheap! His units cost 90% of normal, with no weakness. But, more importantly, Hachi has the most evil CO powers in the game. First of all, they both drop deployment costs to HALF normal deployment costs. Very nice. In addition to that, his SCO lets you build ground troops from any CITY. I like it. But thats not all! Also, since he gets units at half price, you can actually use his CO Powers to BUILD HIS GUAGE FOR CHEAP! For example: a Fighter normally costs Hachi 18000G, but he gets to buy it for 9000G with his powers. He then LOSES the fighter. He has just gained 18000G worth of CO Power for 9000G!!!! Plus, he can deploy TONS of neotanks with his SCO. Just save up your money for it, so you can make the most of the increased production and the lowered costs. You can also use his powers to make money. Buy two identical units at half price, then let one of them take MINOR (1 or 2 hp) damage. After one is hurt, combine the two units. Since the merger is based on the cost of the units NORMALLY, you will get enough money back to pay for the one remaining unit and then some. MY TOP 10 FAVORITE COS --- 1: Lash 2: Eagle 3: Sonja 4: Andy 5: Hachi 6: Grit 7: Sami 8: Olaf 9: Sensei 10: Colin MY MOST HATED CO --- Adder. What good is he? No strengths, a weak CO power, butt ugly, lame music... What does Adder have going for him? Many people say "at least he is better than Flak", but I disagree. At least Flak has some strength going for him. Flak is a bad CO, but even he is more interesting than Adder. Plus, I have seen Flak kill a 5HP Md tank with an Infantry unit, using his SCO. Can Adder do anything like that? I didn't think so... I also hate Sturm, because he is so powerful that he is no fun to play as. I don't care about him being UBER for the campaign (but why doesn't he have the weak 4hp meteor strike for a normal CO Power?), but they should have nerfed him SOME for VS. mode. Granted, he was nerfed TOO MUCH in AW1, but they could have made him like the Sturm you fight in The Final Battle on AW1, I would have been very happy having +20% attack -20% defense. Sturm could have been a fun CO to use. As it stands, he is just too powerful. At least his CO Power sucks for 10 stars, since that is really his only weakness (snow does not actually affect him more than anyone else, it simply affects him the same as Andy, etc. He is reduced to double NORMAL movement costs under snow). From: ShadowFF6 "On Eagle: (Note: AA refers to Anti Air as well as Missiles, Fighters, and Cruisers. Anti Air refers to the specific unit) Eagle's SCO is the main crux of his abilities, done well nothing can recover from it. In my opinion Eagle should be using his Air units for almost all activities. Ground and Sea units are primarily for taking out AA, refueling (APC) and indirect fire, although let them have fun once they are done with these various tasks ^_^. Once enough damage has been done, and you have a few Bombers (As well as a Fighter or Two, depending on the enemies army composition), fire off that SCO. Your Bombers will be able to take out anything that is dangerous to them in the two turns they get. Focus on AA, then Indirect, then various ground/sea units starting with the most powerful. Remember getting rid of AA is important, as they are the only thing that can stop your powerful Bombers. When using your Lightning Strike, however, it's a good idea to leave Cruisers and Anti-Air until after using the power, as the power boost will leave less damage to be dealt to you in counter attack. Once all established AA units are gone, it is relatively easy to keep them in check while you rain death upon your opponent, just have some Tanks ready to take out approaching Anti-Air units, and Fighters to keep the other Fighters in check. Although Bombers are the main point of Eagle's attack force there should always be a few Tanks, Copters, and Anti Air, to protect the Bombers and do some mop up. As for using Eagle at the start of a mission, I find it useful to start sending B Copters at the enemy early on, after you don't need the money for Soldiers and Transports. B Copters can be very annoying if they get to the enemy soon enough, though this works better on computers and Island maps, as your Friend is likely to build some Anti Air or Copters himself early on too, but the Island maps they will be all alone ^_^. One more thing, APCs are invaluable as Air units use lots of fuel, just to stay up, and also because their move range allows faster consumption. And if done right your Bombers will last until they are out of either ammo or fuel. This can also apply to other COs, particularly Grit, to make sure his Indirect Units remain refueled, or any other CO who uses Fuel or Ammo intensive units that tends to last a long time. Even if it doesn't though, an APC or two can be useful." 9) ADVANCED UNIT TACTICS ------------------------ On using Indirect Units effectively: Whenever using Indirect units, try to protect them. The ONLY indirect unit with any defense whatsoever is the Battleship, and for 28000G you won't be buying them in bulk. Artillery can usually weather one hit from a tank/mech without becoming USELESS, but Rockets and Missiles can be crippled to uselessness for something that costs far less than half their cost. Whenever using Indirect units, make sure to protect them with infantry, tanks, and/or Md Tanks. Neotanks are usually unecessary, since the MD tank can't be one hit killed under most circumstances, and the MD tank can always stay ahead of the indirect. Infantry are cheap and effective for slow moving indirects, such as when they are traveling through forests. Tanks are good because they are inexpensive, and cannot USUALLY be one hit killed (although it does happen often enough...). The exception to this, of course, is when you are using your indirect units to lure the enemy into an ambush. This can be very effective, since if the enemy units are in range of your indirects, they will have to attack or pull back, which MOST human players will choose to attack it, opening themselves up for massive retribution. Just don't overuse this tactic or your opponent will begin to figure it out... Another important note for indirects is to use them when your opponent least expects it. Just because Max is the worst at indirect combat doesn't mean you shouldn't use them. On the contrary, sometimes against a human opponent you can win simply by building lots of indirects while you are a CO that specializes in direct combat (this describes most COs, but Max, Kanbei, Adder, Jess, and Eagle are probably the most prominent direct combat characters, due to their movement bonuses, unit type bonus, and in Kanbei's case, extreme power). I have won matches simply because my opponent didn't expect Max to build 6 rockets to back up his Md Tanks. It was fun, and he cursed me out afterwards!!! On using Direct Units effectively: Whenever using Direct Combat, use the unit with the highest vision to attack first. This open up more of the battlefield to your view, allowing your lower vision units (Md/NeoTanks and Bombers, generally) to smash with impunity. Of course, if the high vision unit is spotting for anything, the unit that is being spotted for should take the shot first, before the vision is lost (most important in forest combat). From: ShadowFF6 "Transport Copters can be very nice for blockades after they are done transporting Soldiers. They can often attract attention away from other units (Especially with an infantry in them, if you are willing to spare the extra cash ^_^) and can serve pretty well to just stand in front of more valuable units, though they are weak they can only take up to about 50% from any units other than Anti Air and Fighters (B Copters can do well against T Copters but whether they are destroyed depends on the situation) And that extra turn for your MD Tank, or Rocket can mean a lot. Rockets are great but remember they move very slowly against non-paved terrain, When the base is far away from the action just send an Artillery, if you don't need the extra two range. Rockets move across plains at a rate of 2, and forests at a rate of 3, very slow. (If you have Sturm, who moves across all terrain at a rate of 1, or Lash, whose CO powers do the same thing, than you can negate this penalty) Sturm and Lash's abilities to move across all terrain at a rate of one might not seem like much but notice the following. You can outrun most units by going into a forest, as the enemy can't move as far as you can, so even if you were right next to them they can't give chase. Also the Recon has the second largest move range, but the worst movement type (Range 8 Type Wheels) but with no movement penalty you have a unit that can move 8 spaces anywhere, an enormous range for something only $4000. When you have multiple units available for the same task, always make sure to think what order to use them in. Example: You have 2 MD Tanks, one right behind the other. There is Recon blocking movement 2 spaces in front of the front MD Tank (There is a gap between them) and a Rocket 6 spaces in front of the MD Tank. If you have the front tank attack the recon you will not be able to reach the rocket. But if you have the back MD Tank attack, the front one can then go and destroy (Or at least cripple) the Rocket. This is a simple example but it is always something to keep in mind. Always send the farthest back units to attack the front line, so that the units nearest the enemy can get farther in. This may seem obvious but when sending multiple units to attack a single enemy, start with the one that is most resistant against the target, whether it is because of armor, or because it can move to a space with better terrain cover. i.e. When attacking a Bomber, use the Fighter first, and then the Anti Air. When using two Tanks vs. another Tank, use the one that can do it from one of your cities first." Jax: Those last two tips are easily overlooked... "The way I see it, battles have two phases. The base establishing, and the Combat. The first phase is when you send out all your Soldiers carried by APCs and/or T Copters. Here is the way I see the Base Establishing Phase. If you can spare the money, Soldiers that go into transport units should be Mechs, as they can handle themselves much better after they are done capturing and you start the Combat Phase. During the early game you are assured the cities and bases right near your HQ. Send a few cheap infantry that you can't spare a Transport for to capture these. But any units that can be transported should go as far as they can, and reasonably expect to grab Cities and Bases further ahead. Any City you get close to where most of the fighting will go on is another repair point, and every base is another way to respond quickly to changes in the enemy's army. If you have to wait 2 or 3 turns to get a Soldier up to a Base or Airport (Sea units are expensive so getting them early on isn't as important, but they generally rank ahead of cities, unless you really need the Repair and Restock) then do it. A base can produce some more Soldiers to capture more territory, or perhaps Tanks and Recons for protection. Airports can make some B Copters to protect your newly acquired territories. The first units to get to you will be easily taken out by B Copters. But once the Combat phase begins, anything behind the front line is yours to capture, so don't worry about those territories as much. In Combat phase, those furthest away properties you have determine where the front line is. Not to mention they allow you to react faster. Artillery or MD/Neo Tanks? Build a Rocket, with some cover those units should fall quickly. An Artillery unit can work fairly well too, if you don't need to worry as much about enemy indirect, and are, pound for Gold, more powerful than Rockets, but Rockets tend to scare the enemy from advancing certain units more effectively. B Copters are great for taking out those indirect units as well, and for softening up those Tanks first. Bombers, while expensive can also take out Anti Air units that threaten them, and do more than just support your tanks, as they destroy or heavily cripple anything they hit. Subs are always good against those Battleships, and those Landers transporting some re-enforcements. Cruisers are good for protecting you Battleships from subs and Bombers, and are just generally good when the enemy Airports lie across the Sea from the front lines. As you push the enemy back always try to capture enemy property that is unguarded. Drop an artillery or tank over bases/airports/ports until a Soldier can get to it. Once it is captured, you get the extra cash, and a new deployment point closer to the action, and the enemy loses both of these. If you destroy the enemy unit standing on the property, and then start to capture, you already have a defense from one side, but put units on all sides until the enemy can't attack, as both humans and AI don't want you touching their property. The capturing of Deployment points should always be at the head of your worries. That APC that runs around restocking your troops should carry a soldier for just this. If not it will always act as a magnet to prevent your more valuable units from being attacked (A bit cruel but... meh :P)" Keep in mind that this general strategy only works when you and the enemy start of more or less equal. If the enemy starts off with a Md Tank or two, or if they have enough money to initiate the combat phase immediately, then you will have to do things a bit different. "Hmm... A bit more then, now I'll try giving my beliefs on individual units, but just ground units for now, I'm not paid enough to keep typing all this crap ^_^ Soldiers: -Infantry: Infantry should be used when your are sending them to capture property on foot, or when you don't have the money to spare for a Mech to do something they are better suited for. -Mech: When transporting Soldier a Mech is a better choice if you have the money, as its movement range doesn't hurt when something else is lugging it. They are great vs. lesser vehicles if they get the first attack, and can take great advantage of mountains, allowing them to counterattack well too. -General: When done with capturing keep them just behind the front lines, so that they can capture properties, or be used to guard other units, or to clear that 1 or 2 HP unit away. Tanks: -Tanks: Tanks work well vs. all ground units save Md/Neo Tanks and Mechs, the Tanks which annihilate them, and the Mechs often times do to much return damage to warrant the damage done to them. They are also weaker Vs. B Copters. Their cheap price and good move range makes them good for taking out indirect units or just acting as shields and mop up units. -MD Tanks: These do well vs. the units that can normally destroy tanks, though they still take some damage. B Copters and Mechs can do some damage, but Mechs take a lot in return (the Mechs do more damage money wise than they take however) B Copters still don't take too much damage, but should be taken out early as they can provide a severe annoyance. MD/Neo Tanks can do well against these if they attack first. -Neo Tanks: These should be used along the lines of a more powerful MD Tank with more move range, they aren't too differently used than MD Tanks. -General: All tanks are destroyed by Indirect units or Bombers, and put up no struggle in return. Other indirect units can keep the enemies indirect units from advancing, and Anti Air and Fighters stop those Bombers, always have some of these units to help. Indirect: -Artillery: Good to get to the action fast and cheap, unlike the other Indirect they use Treads which means they move faster on plains and forests. The damage difference between Artilleries and Rockets is not to significant as most units that are hit by one of them are crippled to uselessness. -Rockets: Better range and attack power over the artillery, at the cost of an extra $9000, the use of wheels (2 over plains, 3 over forest, when using its move range) and a bigger blind spot. The blind spot is harder to protect and easier to exploit by the enemy, but works well across natural barriers (Mountains, Sea, Rivers) and scares away some Artillery that won't get near the front lines in fear of being blown up before they get a chance to attack. -Missiles: In many cases not as useful as Anti Air, as they must either attack or move, and, unlike rockets, their targets can fly around your units and reach them easily. Not to mention Anti Air can take hits from B Copters easily too. But a Missile that has range over an Airport is a good threat to anything the enemy deploys from there. Grit's Missiles can be respectable however. And a net of several Missiles can work fairly well too, if you set it up so that its impossible to bomb a missile without putting yourself in range of another one. -General: These are what your Soldiers are going to want to guard. With your Rockets and Artillery raining death upon the enemy they are usually the first thing to be destroyed when the enemy gets the chance. Soldiers on 2 or 3 sides are usually enough to get the unit an extra turn to be protected and used. Also they are good for scaring away enemy indirect as the enemy won't move any indirect in your range, as they will be wasted money. All indirects can be used in the net manner I mentioned in the Missile description, but this is generally expensive, and usually not worth the money, but if the enemy is using a few powerful units, this will force them to build several weaker units before they can advance. Miscellaneous: -APC: Very good for moving your Soldiers to capture those far away bases to give you an advantage right away. Once they are done with this they are still good to keep some Soldiers on the front lines to be able to capture enemy property. However T Copters cost the same and transport better. The good point of APCs is their ability to refuel, which is essential for Submerged Subs and those Bombers you protect well enough so that they start to run low on fuel or ammo. A single APC on the front lines can help a lot, and an APC with a Soldier in it draws fire fairly well. "As far as APC advice goes here is another little tip. If you are trying to get an APC to an infantry put it six spaces in front of it. Since getting the infantry into the APC after it has moved is useless, you can get an extra 3 spaces out of this. Just put the APC Six spaces in front and move the infantry forward to it three spaces. On the next turn load up the infantry and get moving. Of course this doesn't always help but it is pretty obvious when you do and don't want to use it." -Recon: Great for early games when you have plenty of roads. After making your capturing force send out a Recon or two to slow down the enemies capturing progress. With a range of 8 they can reach the enemy very fast, as long as there are plenty of roads. After this though they aren't too useful outside of FOW. In the evil Fog, then it is a good idea to keep a Recon or Two with all masses of units, as well as the occasional Recon in a few forest all over the map. -Anti Air: Anti Air are great for covering your Tanks from Bombers. Cheaper (and Deployed from bases) than Fighters they do well against all air units, and only fall to a battle initiated by the Bomber. They are also more versatile than Missiles, which are also taken down by B Copters easily, they can destroy all manner of Soldiers, though they do take respectable damage from first striking Mechs, and don't fare well against Tanks, though they can do around 3 damage to them at full health (Don't even think about attacking Md/Neo Tanks though) Helicopters: -Transport Copter: The best way to transport Soldiers, range of 5 and it flies. Of course that is about all it does, however being able to move 5 spaces unhindered by terrain is very nice. Keep in mind that the copter itself can't be over the sea to release its cargo. The transport copter has poor defense though and can be taken down fairly easily by MD/Neo Tanks which do around 50% and of course any self-respecting AA (Again AA means any unit adept at combating air units, not just Anti Air units, which are addressed specifically as Anti Air) can destroy it in one hit. -Battle Copters: These have slightly more armor (MD/Neo Tanks do around 25%) though any AA Unit that doesn't kill it reduces it to Join or blockade fodder (i.e. 1 to 3 HP). Battle Copters are great for use against any ground unit other than Anti Air, which they will do about 20% damage to before being reduced to falling bits of metal. They do around 50% to lightly armored vehicles (i.e. not Heavy (Md/Neo) tanks) and around 1 to 3 damage to Heavy Tanks, varying on the COs and luck. They also do 6 to 7 damage to infantry and usually take no damage from them if they attack first, and 1 damage if the unit is well defended or if it attacks first. Against other Battle Copters the end result is usually 7 HP for the attacker and 5 for the defender. B Copters can also do some respectable damage to Cruisers, around 5, but that 5 HP Cruiser can still knock a good chunk of health off of your Battle Copter -General: With good range and flight, Helicopters are quick responders, however their armor leaves something to be desired when compared to planes. They can be taken down by the fairly cheap Anti Air, and can't defend against them. Though they can outrun them if needed, however. And while they don't fall to them, a few Heavy Tanks can knock a Battle Copter down to useless health levels, while taking mostly negligible damage themselves, or destroy a Transport Copter. And of course Fighters just chuckle to themselves as they blow any copter away with no effort. As a result always have a few Battle Copters when attacking Heavy Tanks, and always bring support with your Transport Copters. Other than that though they do fairly well against ground troops, and though they do small damage they can be good for harassing sea units at around 20-30%. However once Fighters arrive, be prepared to knock them down or don't even bother with copters. Planes: -Fighter: Fighters don't do minor damage. They either dish out massive amounts or take massive amounts, with some exceptions when vs. other fighters. Fighters are superb for downing Bombers and Battle Copters, crippling Bombers to the point of uselessness and destroying Copters, including that Mech or Infantry T Copters may be carrying. Against other Fighters, they do around 5 damage, 7 if they have a CO boost. After this nice power though, Fighters are destroyed easily by AA units. Anti Air units do good damage and take no retaliatory strike. Same with Cruisers and Missiles (though indirect are never involved in counter attacks ^_^). There is usually no such thing as a 6 or 7 HP Fighter. It's either Annihilated or limping back for repairs or to Join, or totally destroying its Target. -Bombers: Ah sweet Bombers. Maybe it's because I use Eagle all the time but I love these, I will try to remain objective though ^_^. Bombers do massive damage to all they hit, usually no less than 7 under normal circumstances. (Unusual circumstances too?) Even the Air killing Anti Air and Cruisers don't have much left to retaliate with. Anything the Bomber attacks can never give an adequate counter attack. Of course this rule works both ways, as the Bomber itself can never give adequate counters. Any AA units destroy or cripple Bombers. Bombers are great for taking out those annoying Indirects behind the front line or for helping out with Heavy Tanks. Unfortunately when taking out those Indirects, any intelligent player will have some AA unit on standby. Bring a Fighter, or go for the Anti Air or Missiles first to handle this. -General: Enormous move range, and completely unhindered by terrain (And completely unprotected) nothing responds faster than planes, and nothing can rule the Sky like a Fighter, and nothing destroys ground and sea units like a bomber. As always though keep in mind that no Air unit can take a hit, a single Fighter, Anti Air, or Cruiser can end your 20,000 or 22,000 gold investments killing spree very easy. Always make sure to take out any AA units first or you won't be doing much. Fighters and Anti Air before Neo Tanks and Rockets is your strategy if you are sending in Air units alone." Lander: The only transport unit capable of moving your non-infantry ground units around. Invaluable on Island maps, when you attack large islands. Air Units and Battleships, should clear the shore first as your unloaded units will be set out undefended, and one of them will most likely be on the Beach with no cover. Landers have good armor against all but Bombers, Subs, and Indirect units, all of which will either destroy or severely weaken a Lander when at full health. Always make sure that your Landers are safe when sending them out, as two attacks from the aforementioned units will always down them, and in some cases you get single hit kills. And losing a $12000 Lander with whatever its carrying (Two Neo Tanks can mean up to $56,000 damage, more if you are Kanbei, and that is not mere pocket change, even if you bought them with Hachi's CO Power) Not sure of exact damage numbers as I protect them fairly well. However they are still great units as no matter how good you are with your Air Units, you can always use some Tanks and Indirect units. Cruiser: The usefulness of Cruisers can vary depending on the mission, so its hard to get a good average on them. Cruisers can destroy Air units and Subs, as well as transport up to 2 copters, adding another 6 spaces of sea to their movement range, to sacrifice their attack, and they also get refueled. Cruisers are nice for protecting your Landers and Battleships from Subs and Bombers. Although the submerged Sub has to be next to one of your units to be seen, so often times it is too late to stop major damage. T Copters can help here, just move them at random with out telling them to wait, over the sea. Other units can work too but T Copters are cheap and this is a good extra job for them not to mention *traps* negate the attack of combat units for the turn. Cruisers are nice near small islands where there is little room for the Air Units to hide. It's not easy to say when they will have the chance to attack air units. But you always need them for Submerged Subs. Keep in mind that they can't take Bomber damage too well, and Battle Copters can do respectable damage, so try to avoid taking the first hit. Subs: Capable of easily destroying Battleships and Landers (and can do fair damage against Cruisers if they get the first attack) and are the only unit capable of hiding in non FOW. This makes them great for attack Battleships and Landers, if your opponent forgets that it is there and tries to send across a Lander stocked with Heavy Tanks, start laughing. And Battleships will have to limp back to port if they want to be of any use. Unfortunately they can only remain submerged for a short period of time. They use five fuel per day just to stay down there. Moving about down there they can only likely last around 6 turns. And if your enemy is Drake? well I'd just stick with Bombers. Their ability to hide can also make them great point blockers in the few points where this happens on the Sea. You can just use them to surround a Battleship or Lander to protect them. Jax: "This is Drake's real strength. His submarines use less fuel when submerged (3 fuel per turn I think), so they last ALOT longer underwater than anyone else's subs." Battleships: Ah, no matter what I love these like I love my Bombers. Range of Six makes up for their limit of staying on the Sea, and more importantly, allows them to take out Rockets without putting themselves in danger (Unless they are Grit or you are Max) And though they are limited to the sea, they travel that sea fairly well, moving at a rate of 5, slowed only by reefs (Stopped by land but?) Capable of doing plenty of damage, not susceptible to Tank attacks, and with too great a range to worry about indirect, they only need fear Bombers and Subs, which is why a Battleship (or a fleet of them) should have a Cruiser to stand guard. Or at least make sure that Sub or Bomber doesn't do that again. There really isn't much to say for these guys. Just Position them and rain death, or position them just outside of Rocket Range and watch them scurry, or attack your other units and then get blown away. All Ships have armor than is resistant to Tank fire. Other than that it is similar to Md/Neo tank armor. Only Landers can go on beaches, and Ships can only receive cover from Reefs, which they require 2 movement points to get on." All Ships have armor than is resistant to Tank fire. Other than that it is similar to Md/Neo tank armor. Only Landers can go on beachs, and Ships can only recieve cover from Reefs, which they require 2 movement points to get on." Jax: Thanks for all the unit advice ShadowFF6! From: psychotic guy "APC's move 6/7 spaces a turn. That means it's possible to have 2 infantry use the same APC without lowering its speed. Just load up infantry #1, move the APC full-speed and drop, and move infantry #2. On the next turn, infantry #2 should be able to reach the APC. This allows the whole pattern to repeat endlessly." 10) EXPLOITING THE AI -------------------- Thanks to pi314159 for some corrections in this section. It is fairly well known that the AI in the first Advance Wars was faulty. With a little know-how, you could complete missions where your enemy had 3 or 4 times as many units as you did in far less time than the "perfect speed score", simply using some basic exploits. This is not quite as true for the sequel. AW exploits that have been fixed: Transports are no longer top-priority targets for CPU players (in the first AW the CPU would attack an APC instead of the Infantry that was capturing their HQ!). Instead they are assessed with the same priorities as any other unit. Infantry are now prioritized correctly. The AI seems to run through their units again, which lessens the "forgotten unit" problems of AW1. This priority assessment consists of: Value of damage that will be dealt (cash value) Value of damage taken (cash value) Threat value of target (IE capturing Infantry rate higher than missiles for ground troops) The most important factors are the value of damage dealt vs the value of damage taken. The CPU will rarely initiate an attack when this value is <= 0 (the exception being for capturing infantry, which will be attacked regardless of the "risk" calculated in this manner). This means, the most effective way to "decoy" the CPU in AW2 is to send infantry to capture stuff. It doesn't seem to matter what they capture. I have killed Neotanks by trying to capture a city. When I started to capture, the Neotank came in and smashed my infantry. I proceeded to crush it with rockets and artillery. I repeat: THE CPU PLAYERS WILL ALMOST ALWAYS ATTACK AN INFANTRY UNIT (THAT IS IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING) OVER ANY OTHER UNIT. Use this to your advantage. Another important factor in tricking the computer player is recognizing the order in which they move their units. The CPU will always attack with terrain weapons first (IE the black cannon), then comes the CO Power check. The CPU decides to use a CO Power based on the following criteria: Is the SCO Power ready? Yes? Use SCO Power. No? Is CO Power ready? No? End CO Power check. Yes? How far has guage progressed past CO Power level? Less than 10% Probably will use CO Power. More than 10% Probably will save up for SCO Power. After the CO Power check (regardless of whether one was used), the computer moves infantry units to capture (if possible). After Infantry, the CPU attacks with Indirect units. After the indirect, the CPU will bring in their Direct Combat troops to fight. Then the CPU will build units and perform anther CO Power Check (This check applies only to Andy, Hawke, Drake, Olaf, and Eagle, and only uses Eagles SCO Power, it will not use his CO Power at this time). After the final check the CPU will end its turn. Here's a simple list of the computer player's move order: 1: Fire cannons/deathray/lasers. 2: Check for CO/SCO. Use if applicable (see above) 3: Move infantry/mech to capture. 4: Fire with indirect units. 5a: Move and/or attack with direct units (higher movement range always goes first). 5b: Attack/move with infantry, then mech. (They act like direct combat units, but have the smallest ranges.) 6: Move with indirects 7: Move transports 8: Build units 9: Use CO/SCO power (if applicable) UPDATE: I have found that Olaf does not always use his SCO, if the weather is already snowing. This is a massive improvement from the first AW, where he ALWAYS used Blizzard the turn it came up, regardless of the current weather. I do not know if Olaf ever uses his powers when the weather is already snow, since I have only had this situation happen a couple times. More info on this as I find out. Also, I think Sturm can use his SCO during the middle/end of his turn. Not sure though. 11) CAMPAIGN TIPS ----------------- From: Big Bob "During Campaign Mode or the War Room, you have to deal with "Technique" to determine your rank. Technique is how many of your units were destroyed. When two units are joined together, the extra life is turned into funds. Now, if there is a damaged unit with around 1-3 HP left, you can build another unit of the same type, then join the undamaged unit with the damaged one. The extra will become funds, you don't have to waste money repairing the unit, and the opponent has one less target to destroy, setting up for a high technique rating." Dealing with "Terrain Units" --- "Terrain Units" are units such as the Black Cannons and Minicannons. The easiest way to kill them for anyone with powered-up air units (Max, Eagle, and Kanbei naturally, and Andy and Colin with their SCO Powers) to bomb them. They should deal over 100% damage and kill them instantly. If that option is not available, rockets are a good way to nail them without taking return fire. Dealing with the Volcano --- The Volcano has two set patterns it drops the lava in. Watch this pattern and make sure not to place your units in the way. If you are good, you can lure the enemy units into the line of fire (lol that was a bad pun). Managing Multiple COs --- This is only really an issue in the last three Campaign Missions, The Great Sea Battle, Hot Pursuit and Final Front. In other missions with multiple COs, one is the main CO, and one provides support. That is made very clear at the beginning, so managing multiple COs is not an issue there. However, on the last three missions, you get to pick 3 COs to fight with, and they all get substantial bases. The problem is that you must then plan your battle three steps in advance, instead of only one or two. You now must concern yourself with questions like "if I put this unit here will it block Max's Neotank on his turn?". You also must build APC units for multiple COs, because you are not allowed to refuel your allies' units. On The Great Sea Battle, I recommend Picking Eagle, Max, and Kanbei. Here's why: 1: Eagle is easily the best GE CO. 2: Max owns the ground, and the second CO chosen is in a good ground force position. 3: Kanbei has powerful everything, and won't really contribute to the battle until later. Basically just advance with Max and Eagle, capturing everything on the way. Have Eagle Bomb the Black Cannon and press your advance. Kanbei, on the other hand, needs to land at the bottom right island and take it over, then land near the other Black Cannon. If you are smart, you will see that the city by the pipe is five spaces away from the seam. Blow it away with Kanbei's Rockets. You win. If you did it quickly with minimal losses, and you were aggressive with Max and Eagle, you should get a good rank (A or S). This tactic has been tested and DOES work in Advance Campaign (I refuse to call it hard campaign, I think Advance Campaign is a better name) On Hot Pursuit and Final Front (Normal Campaign), I recommend this team: 1: Olaf (snow slows Sturm, damage dealing SCO) 2: Eagle (He rules) (maybe change this to Drake in HC) 3: Max (for sheer power) This team should get you by. Also, on Final Front, if you can't seem to beat Sturm back with your forces in the 30 day limit, here is an underhanded but effective tactic: Put eagle on the left, dont care about the others, they are there to absorb the hits. Send middle CO's units over to protect Eagle. Eagle gets Bombers whenever possible (capture first to enhance cash flow, of course), and moves them north. When coast is clear (IE no AA guns/missiles/fighters), Bomb the Pipe and go through. Continue to bomb pipes unit you reach the deathray. Bomb the deathray (with full health bomber) to win. The key here is to get Sturm to advance on your other two COs. If done properly he will stop producing units in the top middle area of the map, instead opting to build closer to his enemy. This leaves the deathray open to attack, so all you have to do is kill any AA or Fighters that come near the Bombers. Also note that this strategy will get you a CRAPPY score (I got a B-rank, because I didn't lose many units, but I didn't kill many either). *NOTE* This strategy does not work in Advance Campaign, because the map has been changed and you can no longer just "sneak in". 12) STRATEGIES FOR GOOD SCORES ------------------------------ Having trouble getting an S-rank on a mission? Here's some advice on how to maximize your scores in AW2. SPEED --- Make sure that you build as efficiently as possible. Make sure that you maximize the damage dealt by allowing the units that are FURTHEST back attack before the ones near the front. This allows you to destroy the enemy force easier. Also, play the level multiple times. After a play-through or two, the basic layout of the battle will become more familiar to you, and you are likely to see ways to defeat the same size of a force in less time. POWER --- This one is simple. Power is based soley on how many units you kill in ONE DAY. Therefore, the easiest way to get a high power score is, near the end of a match, when victory looms near, make sure to DAMAGE as many units as possible, to the point that they can be killed in one shot the next turn, but do NOT damage them so badly that the computer decides to merge them. Then, the next turn, crush the weakened forces and watch your power score rise through the roof. A perfect power score is killing 10% of the total number of enemies built in a single day. TECHNIQUE --- Technique is very poorly documented. Technique is simply based on the number of units killed as opposed to the number of units created. In a war room game a perfect technique score is when you lose 10% or less (rounded down) of the units you've made. This number is 20% in campaign mode. This means that if you make 10 units in a war room game, you may lose 1. 50 units, you may lose five. This also appears to mean that if you lose more than five units, it is impossible to have a perfect technique score. However, keep in mind that joined units contribute to the units BUILT, but are not considered lost. Therefore to maintain perfect technique, you must join your units together until you have built a sufficient amount of units to grant you that coveted S-Rank. Also, a good tactic for keeping your technique up on smaller maps where you are unlikely to ever hit 50 units, is to simply build as many infantry as possible after your victory is assured (ie after you have overwhelmed the enemy defenses and they cannot build enough to stay alive much longer), because those infantry are cheap to build and each one built adds to the total units deployed. So, if you lost 4 out of 34 units built, you would NOT have perfect technique. However, if you had spent the last several turns pumping out waves of infantry, your number of units deployed would have risen enough to allow 4 deaths in a perfect technique score. 13) DAMAGE CHART ---------------- (Pipe refers to all terrain objects, including the Black Cannon, Minicannons, etc. They all take the exact same amount of damage) The damage formula for AW2 is: Damage = Attack Power * (200% - Defense Power - Terrain Bonus) This explains why, for example, Kanbei deals less than normal damage to another Kanbei, when they are both on roads: Damage = 130% * (200% - 130%) = 130% * 70% = 91% damage. And now, without further ado, here is the damage chart: /-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Land | Inf | Mech | Recon | Tank | Md | Neo | Art | Rocket | AA | Missile | |------+-----+------+-------+------+------+-----+-----+--------+----+---------| |Inf | 55% | 65% | 70% | 75% | 105% | 125%| 90% | 95% |105%| | |Mech | 45% | 55% | 65% | 70% | 95% | 115%| 85% | 90% |105%| | |Recon | 12% | 85% | 35% | 85% | 105% | 125%| 80% | 90% |60% | | |Tank | 5% | 55% | 6% | 55% | 85% | 105%| 70% | 80% |25% | | |Md | 1% | 15% | 1% | 15% | 55% | 75% | 45% | 55% |10% | | |Neo | 1% | 15% | 1% | 15% | 45% | 55% | 40% | 50% |5% | | |Art | 12% | 70% | 45% | 70% | 105% | 115%| 75% | 80% |50% | | |Rock | 25% | 85% | 55% | 85% | 105% | 125%| 80% | 85% |55% | | |AA | 5% | 65% | 4% | 65% | 105% | 115%| 75% | 85% |45% | | |Miss | 25% | 85% | 28% | 85% | 105% | 125%| 80% | 90% |55% | | |APC | 14% | 75% | 45% | 75% | 105% | 125%| 70% | 80% |50% | | |TCopt | 30% | 35% | 35% | 40% | 45% | 55% | | |120%| 120% | |BCopt | 7% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 22% | | |120%| 120% | |Fight | | | | | | | | |65% | 100% | |Bomb | | | | | | | | |75% | 100% | |Land | | | | 10% | 35% | 40% | 55% | 60% | | | |Cruis | | | | 5% | 45% | 50% | 65% | 85% | | | |BShip | | | | 1% | 10% | 15% | 40% | 55% | | | |Sub | | | | 1% | 10% | 15% | 60% | 85% | | | |Pipe | 1% | 15% | 1% | 15% | 55% | 75% | 45% | 55% |10% | | \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ /----------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Air/Sea | B-Copter | Bomber | Fighter | Cruiser | Submarine | Battle Ship | |----------+----------+--------+---------+---------+-----------+-------------| |Infantry | 75% | 110% | | | | 95% | |Mech | 75% | 110% | | | | 90% | |Recon | 55% | 105% | | | | 90% | |Tank | 55% | 105% | | | | 80% | |Md Tank | 25% | 95% | | | | 55% | |NeoTank | 20% | 90% | | | | 50% | |Artillery | 65% | 105% | | | | 80% | |Rocket | 65% | 105% | | | | 85% | |Anti-Air | 25% | 95% | | | | 85% | |Missile | 65% | 105% | | | | 90% | |APC | 60% | 105% | | | | 80% | |T-Copter | 95% | | 100% | 115% | | | |B-Copter | 65% | | 100% | 115% | | | |Fighter | | | 55% | 55% | | | |Bomber | | | 100% | 65% | | | |Lander | 25% | 95% | | | 95% | 95% | |Cruiser | 55% | 85% | | | 25% | 95% | |B Ship | 25% | 75% | | | 55% | 50% | |Sub | 25% | 95% | | 90% | 55% | 95% | |Pipe | 25% | 95% | | | | 55% | \----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ Secondary Weapon Damage Several units, such as the mechs and tanks, have secondary weapons, always machine guns, that are used when the main weapon runs out of ammo. Here's how much damage these units can do when out of ammo. (Yes, I was extremely bored and decided to find this stuff out) /-------------------------------------------------------\ | M Guns | Mech | Tank | Md Tank | NeoTank | B-Copter | |----------+------+------+---------+---------+----------| |Infantry | 65% | 75% | 105% | 125% | 75% | |Mech | 55% | 70% | 95% | 115% | 75% | |Recon | 18% | 40% | 45% | 65% | 30% | |Tank | 6% | 6% | 8% | 10% | 6% | |Md Tank | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | |NeoTank | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | |Artillery | 32% | 45% | 45% | 65% | 25% | |Rocket | 35% | 55% | 55% | 75% | 35% | |Anti-Air | 6% | 5% | 7% | 17% | 6% | |Missile | 35% | 30% | 35% | 55% | 35% | |APC | 20% | 45% | 45% | 65% | 20% | |T-Copter | 35% | 40% | 45% | 55% | 95% | |B-Copter | 9% | 10% | 12% | 22% | 65% | |Pipe | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | \-------------------------------------------------------/ 14) CREATED COS --------------- Here is where I will showcase the COs that I have designed, or GOOD COs that have been created by others. These ARE NOT and will probably never be real COs that can be used in game. ***First of all, my persona as an AW2 CO:*** Jax Omen Age: 18 Army: Black Hole Description: Lash's boyfriend. Also excels at using terrain to his advantage. Hobbies include Video Games, Anime, Lash, and Food. Hit: Lash, Video Games, Anime, Food Miss: Sports, Exercise Victory Quote: "That CO sucks in the manner of a hoover vacuum." "j00 r pwned!" Strengths: Deals full damage to enemy units regardless of enemy terrain. Weaknesses: Gets 2 stars less defense from terrain. Can be negative. ****OOOOOO CO Power: Siege Tactics: Doubles defensive terrain effects for all allied COs (including Jax, and doubling comes before star loss) (does NOT stack with Prime Tactics). SCO Power: Unbreakable Siege: Doubles Terrain bonus for all allied players (including Jax, and doubling comes before star loss)(stacks with Prime Tactics). Makes enemy terrain bonuses negative. Quote: "Someone set up us the bomb!" "If you wish to taste the ground, feel free to attack me!" "Even forever must come to an end." Then: my other COs i've made ^_^ ***Yellow Comet CO: Entrepreneur*** A japanese business man who has experience with mergers. Hit: Stock rising Miss: Black Tuesday Victory Quote: "You should have invested better!" Strengths: gets double money when units join. joined units gain +2 health extra from merger (+2 does not convert to funds). Gets extra cash from cities (and only cities) based on number of cities owned (50 G per city, so 10 cities would get 1500 G per day, EACH) Weaknesses: since he is a businessman and not a warrior, all units have -20% attack/defense. **OOOO CO Power: Monopoly Description: Enemies cannot build units for one turn (does not affect allies) SCO Power: Corporate Politics Description: Enemies cannot build units for one turn. Steals 750G from each enemy player for every city they own (so if an enemy has 10 cities it steals 7500G from them). Quote: "Yes, I'll buy that. What does it do?" Name: Zakas Gender: Male Age: ?? (appears to be in early twenties) Element: Shadow Description: Little is known about this ninja. What is known about him is that he has no known enemies. No data on abilities, or previous missions. Subject is enigmatic, and has left signs of his prescence in few habitations. Subject's whereabouts are currently unknown. Weapon of Choice: Unknown, but assumed to be the blade Kisagi, which was stolen at the only recorded sighting of Zakas. Risk Rating: A+ Strengths: Any of his units on any of his properties hide, just like they would in forests, whether or not FOW is enabled. (well, he is a ninja) Weakness: Units on roads can be seen in FOW regardless of enemy vision. COP Guage: ****OOO COP: Village of Mist: All units count as "hidden" for this turn, regardless of what terrain they are on, unless on roads, in which case they are visible regardless. SCO: Shinobi's Honor: All units count as "hidden" for this turn, regardless of what terrain they are on. Anytime an enemy unit is "trapped", Zakas' unit shoots it, with no counter attack. (if possible, obviously. We can't have bombers shooting fighters or something stupid like that ^_^) Quotes: "Time flows like a river, and history repeats" "The path of a Shinobi is fraught with peril. Do not take me lightly." Name: Damaskas Age: 19 Gender: Male Country: Blue Moon Bio: Left to die at a young age by his parents, Damaskas soon learned to live in the wild. He learned that the best defense is a good offense. Survival in the snowy wastes of Blue Moon required him to hunt for food. When he was 17, he was found by Olaf, who recognized potential in him, and took him in. After a year of military training, Damaskas became a fully-fledged CO. However, he still lives by his mantra of good offense. He doesn't get along well with Grit, because of Grit's laid-back personality. Hit: Olaf, Violence, Chess Miss: Grit, Defense Quote: "Defense? Ha! I don't need defense!" Strength: All units deal +1 damage (meaning an infantry deals 1hp to a Md Tank, guaranteed, for example)(Does not apply to counterattacks) Weakness: All units TAKE +1 damage (does not apply to counterattacks) ***OOO COP: All units deal an additional +1 damage. SCO: All units deal an additional +2 damage. COP/SCO Quote: "I won't give you a chance to attack!" ***From: Feel The Burn*** Aaron Army: Orange Star Description: Formerly of White Nova. Joined Orange Star to get away from his past. Hates the sky and believes that man was not meant to fly. Seems to have a grudge against Eagle, who he is a distant cousin of. AA units are frighteningly strong. Hit: Cloudy Days Miss: Beautiful Weather Victory Quote: "One day, mankind will realize that the sky is not their territory." "You've been grounded!" Strengths: All AA units (Fighters, Missiles, Cruisers, A-Airs) get 20% boost in attack and defense. Weaknesses: The rest of his air force and any units that cannot fire on either planes or copters (Subs, Battleships, Rockets, Artillery) gets 10% decrease in both attack and defense. ***OOOOO CO Power: Grounding All units that can fire on planes or copters (except AA) get 10% increase in firepower and all air units (including his own) take 1 HP of damage. SCO Power: Air Disrupter All units that can fire on planes or copters (including AA) get 20% increase in firepower and all air units (except his own) cannot take orders in the next turn. CO Power Quotes: "I will make the sky fall upon you!" "Hear that? That's the sound of your planes hurtling out of the sky!" Calvin Army: Blue Moon Description: An expert on explosives. He spends time in his workshop desiging cannons with extreme firepower. All of his units with cannon weapons are stronger. Hit: Bombs Miss: Guns Victory Quote: "Ya look like ya hate da taste o' my cannons!" "I've just blasted ya over the horizon!" Strengths: All non-air units with "cannon" weapons (Tanks, Md Tanks, Neotanks, Battleships) and "explosive" weapons (Rockets, Missiles, Mechs) get 10% power increase (ONLY when using the primary weapons, in this case). Also, all units with "cannon" and "explosive" weapons will do 40% more damage on pipes. Weaknesses: Counterattacks are extremely weak. Also, if firing upon a unit that is the same as the one you are using to fire (ex. Md Tank vs. Md Tank), the damage will be calculated w/o power bonus (except when CO or SCO powers are used). ****OO CO Power: Cannonball All "cannon" units (listed above) receive 10% increase in power, and the power bonus is calculated into the damage. SCO Power: Blast Barrage All "cannon" AND "explosive" units get 20% power boost and movement for these units is increased by 1. Counterattacks return to normal strength for the duration of the use of the power. CO Power Quotes: "Can you take this blast?" "You'll be engulfed in my cannon fire!" ***From: Joshua Soedjono (I don't know gamefaqs name)*** Joshua Soedjono Age: 14 Army: Green Earth Description: He could have the powers of a random Green Earth CO(except himself) for a day. Hit: Video Games Miss: Black Hole Victory Quote: You are not a good CO. Strengths: They can vary. Weaknesses: They can vary. *****OOOOOOO CO Power: Power of Green Earth Description: He can use a random Green Earth CO Power. SCO Power: Power of Wars World Description: He can use a random CO power. Quote: "I, Joshua, shall knock you all down". ***From: Ababy*** Black Hole Co: Daedalus A brilliant scientist, architect, and soldier. He is devoted to new things, upgrading old toys (i.e. soldiers, weapons, cities) into giant monsters. Seems to hate Lash and Hawke. Hit: getting cities to tinker with. Miss: his commander-in-chief (Hawke), for the taking of his most precious works. Also, having Lash steal all his design plans and claiming that it's hers (he can't complain, her hit is getting what she wants). Pros: his units are all 125/115 Cons: He gains less money from properties than any other CO, getting only 85% of the cities' funds (the rest go to the modifying the cities). Co bar: oooooOOOO CO: He may automatically change two cities that are closest to the front lines into any type (random) of property he wants (i.e. base, airport (only if air units are usable on the map), seaport (only if the city is touching the sea), or a city :p) for two turns. SCO: He may change three cities instead of two, along with a 20/20 power up. Black Hole CO: The Rahn Sturm's first prototypes in making robot COs, the Rahn were very reliable. They were the ones that hlped Sturm conquer enough land to finance and invasion. But once Sturm built robot Andy, they were descarded. They were renewed by Hawke's command, and are now extremely loyal to him, though now their power fluctuates due to prolonged inactivity. Hit: None Miss: None Pros and Cons: This is one of those math based COs again. This one's power is based on the equation y = 30(sin300x). If you get what stats he will get, then good for you. If not, it means they have around +25% attack for two turns, turns to zero for one turn, drops to -25% attack for the next two turns, returns to 0 in the next turn...you get the picture, it repeats. Co Power bar: oooooOO COP: Unwavering Loyalty All units gain +20 attack and all opponents' units take 1 damage. SCOP: Sturm's fist Creates a 5x5 fist of Sturm and oes 4 damage to any it hits. Also turns the equation y = 30(sin300x) into y = -30(sin300x). Quote: "damage at critical mass...Power...initiate" "No...humans...have ever beaten us...initiate" Victory Quote: "....." ***From: Terragent*** Name: Ray Faction: Blue Moon A solar-powered wonder! Ideally he should be wearing dark glasses and a Hawaiian shirt, and he should be with Blue Moon so that Grit can call him 'Sunshine'. (ie, the way he calls Olaf 'Frosty'.) Hit: Sunblock cream Miss: Dark skies Quote: 'Rejoice in the beauty of daylight!' Advantages: All non-infantry units get +10% firepower whenever weather is 'clear'. Disadvantages: All non-infantry units get -10% firepower and -1 movement whenever weather is snow or rain. ***OOOO CO Power: Heatwave - Weather is set to clear. All non-infantry units get +1 movement. SCO Power: Sunstroke - Weather is set to clear. All non-infantry units get +1 movement. All enemy and allied units (but not his own) get -10% firepower and defense and -1 movement. Power quote: 'Live with the heat - it's here to stay!' Win quote: 'Looks like another fine day!' ***From: King9999*** Murdock – Nature-lover Strength: 80/100 Skills: Murdock’s units aren’t affected by terrain or weather effects. Units get +1 star on all terrain except man-made terrain (properties, roads, etc.). CO Power: Force of Nature Depending on the terrain the enemy units are standing on, different effects occur for 1 day: Plains: Grass suddenly becomes taller. Movement cost is increased by 2 Trees: Non-aircraft units are trapped by vegetation and cannot move or attack. Mountains: Non-aircraft units are killed by falling rocks. Sea: Sea units are thrown off course, and sent to a random direction when the player tries to move them. All other terrain: stays the same Super CO Power: Nature’s Assistance For 1 day, Murdock’s units are strengthened depending on the terrain they’re standing on: Trees: Units are given 3HP Mountains: +50% offense to non-air units Sea: Powerful waves give +2 Move to all sea units Plains: Grass becomes very tall, making units harder to target; all non- aircraft units get 5-star defense. River: Vehicles can cross them. If a unit ends its turn on a River, then it’s immediately destroyed. Hit: Nature Miss: Destruction of nature Quote: “Why am I in the army when I love nature? That’s a good question.” ***From: Lord Lizard*** MEL & MAY BIO: The two princes of White Quasar, they have quite opposed personalities. The serious Mel is always quiet and thoughtful, while the active May likes to rush into battle destroying everything in her path. The twins like to be independent and to take part in the battles, much to their father's discomfort. When in battle, they both fight as one. DESC: They both are blonde and wear militar clothing. Not much to be said, because they don't wear anything out of the usual... Ok. This CO is different from the others, because they are like two COs in one. The player starts playing with Mel, but you can switch to May using their CO Powers. PROS: -Mel has got +20% defense and gets a +1 range for indirect units. -May gets +20% attack and +1 movement range. CONS: -Mel gets -20% attack and -1 movement range. -May gets -20% defense and -1 range for indirect units. CO Power metter: ooOOOO CO POWER: Charge Switch Their units are now 120/120 units. No change is made about the movement or attack range. If Mel was in charge, he switches to May, who starts playing in the next turn, and vice-versa. SCO POWER: Twin Attack Their units are now 140/140. They also have +1 movement and +1 range for indirects. Mel & May also switch in this Power. Hit: Having fun Miss: Homework "Two against one isn't fair... Too bad!" (Mel starts the quote, May ends it. This is what they usually do, except when they start to speak the exact same thing at the same time, which makes they look like freaks :P). ***From: Incubus*** CO: Spider Bio: An expert at deception, Spider uses terrain to obscure his units and set up ambushes. He relies on the element of surprise to do as much damage as possible to the opponent. Hit: Ambushes Miss: Open spaces Abilities: Spider excels at close-quarters fighting. His units are concealed in FoW while they are in cities/ports/bases/HQs/mountains in addition to Reefs and forests. His units are 110/110 when located in those terrain types and the opponent cannot see their health. He is weak in open combat and his units are 80/80 when they are in plains, shoals, roads, rivers, or open sea. Indirects have -1 range when in open terrain. CO stars: OOOOOooo CO Power: Conceal- Units in concealable terrain cannot be revealed by enemy units adjacent to them; they can only reveal the unit if they get 'ambushed'. This also applies to submerged submarines. CO Super Power: Ambush- Same as CO power but any unit that gets 'ambushed' automatically loses 3 HP (doesn't destroy units though). Name: Smiley Quote: Be there in a jiffy! Ability: Smiley is a transport expert. His transports (APC, Lander, Cruiser, T-Copter) are 100/120 and have +1 movement, and can carry 1 additional type of unit. So a T-copter/APC can carry 2 infantry, a cruiser can carry 3 helicopters, and a lander can carry 3 land units. Non-transport units have -1 movement. CO Bar: ooOOO CO Power: Leapfrog- All transports get an additional +1 movement and +20% defense. CO Super power: Amphibious Assault- All transports get an additional +2 movement and +30% defense. In addition, any units that started the turn in a transport may take their full action after disembarking (a B-copter coming out of a cruiser may move and attackon the same turn during the SCO power. Infantry can disembark from an APC and capture a city.) The idea behind this CO is on a map with islands or just a lot of open space, Smiley can rapidly move infantry around, and they are protected by his high defense transports.On island maps, Smiley can use his CO power to emulate a D-day style invasion by being able to move a tremendous amount of units on an island and attack the defenders on the same turn, making it hard for them to do anything beyond blocking. His transports have such high defense bonuses that even Kanbei would have trouble sinking them. ***From: axiomnightmare*** Kyle Army: Green Earth Description: Kyle is an expert transporter that is skilled at moving objects. However, he is not physically strong. He is dressed in a postal workers uniform and is holding a clipboard. Pros: All of Kyle's transport units get +1 movement range and +20% defense. In addition, if one of his transport units is destroyed, the unit inside will take the transport units place if possible. Cons: All of Kyle's non-transport units get -10% attack. CO meter ***XXXXX CO power:Express Delivery: All of Kyle's transport units that have already been deployed can move again. SCO power:Lightning Shipping: All of Kyle's transports and all units that can be transported that have been deployed can move again. Strategies: With Kyle, you have to get off to a good early start and capture as much as you can with your infantry with your improved transports. You should save up for his SCO power as all ground units and copters basically get a second turn. Remember, cruisers also count as transports, so they are super powerful and can be exploited. "Hurry up! These have to arrive right away." "I'll make sure these get there on time." ***From: Evil Demon Creature*** Name: Andrew Country: Yellow Comet Description: A recent engeneering graduate, he uses this skill to make the most of his army, Unfortunatley, with his skill at making things simple, he has trouble handling large numbers though. Hit: Chess Miss; Trading Card Games Stregnths: He is able to "join" units that are at full health. When they join, the joined unit has 120/120 stregnth, and the rest is converted into funds (70% cash) *units joined this way can't join this way again* Weakness: If his army is bigger than the opponents, (more units) then his units get a -10/-10 penalty (normal units are 90/90, joined units are 110/110) COP: **** Split Focus: His army gets +200/+200 divided evenly, among each of his units. (ex, if there are 10 units, they are 120/120 each, if there are 20, they are 110/110 each)+ SCOP: ****000 Logic Matrix: His army gets +400/+400 divided evenly, among each of his units. (if he has 8 units, they become 150/150, if there are 40 units, they each become 110/110)+ +theese examples are used for units not "joined",(100/100 default) joined units would get be the same bonus, but with the +20/+20 "joined" bonus tacked on. Quotes: "You have my attention," "It's not as complicated as it looks" "This situation is too complex, let me simplify..." Win "It's as simple as that!" Loss "You just HAD to compicate things..." Name: Evil Demon Creature Description: A very mysterious man who wraps himself up in sheets and hides behind a mask. His outlook on life is odd to say the least, and some say it is projected on the battlefield. Hit: Chaos Miss: Conventionalists Stregnths: When he uses the "delete" command on a unit, he gets half the units "worth" back in cash, the other half will go towards his COP meter. (Example, if he deletes a 10 hp mech, he'll get 1500$, if he deletes a 4 hp infantry, he'll only get 200$) Weakness: None ( I mean really! Do you think such a lame ability constitutes for a weakness to balance it out?) COP: **** Dimensional Rift: Half of his unit's damage gets converted into cash, and when he deletes units, he gets 100% of their worth. (Ex, a neotank kills one of his infantry, he'll gain 500$ from it) SCOP: ****000 Reality Break: Same as dimentional rift, except each of his land units work like a base, each of his sea units work like a port, and each of his air units work like an airport. (How it works: After he moves a unit, the fire/wait screen shows up like normal, except the build screen is right below it You scroll down past wait to pick a unit to build. When you do, the old unit is destroyed in favor of the new unit (you gain cash as if you used the "delete" command on the old unit) Quotes "......" "Can you belive it? You shouldn't" "Hah! HaH! HAh! hAH! HaH! hAh! HAH!" "I make them more valuable, yet make them easier to kill... Ironic..." ***From: TealTerror*** Name: Alex Country: Black Hole? (seems to be, but there's something about him...) Description: Modest-looking man who looks to be in his 20s. Short black hair, with an aqua T-shirt and white pants. Blue eyes. History: Rose up in the ranks of Orange Star quickly, but then betrayed her (in reference to Orange Star) for Black Hole. Other than that, he's a mystery. Personality: A scientist well above the current level. He has actually managed to invent killer lasers. However, he's not a warrior, so his units have less attack than normal. Advantages: CO and SCO power have few stars for what they do. Disadvantages: Units have -10% attack and defense. COP: Laser Storm - Deals 1 damage to all enemy units. SCOP: Laser Grid - Deals 2 damage to all enemy units and, for every 3 spaces they move, they take an additional 1 damage. Power Gauge: xxXXXX CO Power Quotes: -Behold the wonders of technology! -The technology of the future, now! -(CO power only) An artificial storm is more powerful than a real one. -(SCO power only) Let's hope you don't like to move...hehe... Victory Quote: And science wins again! Defeat Quote: I seem to have miscalculated... Hit: Technology Miss: Battle Quote: "Lasers are the next level of technology" ***From: GAMEingperson*** Aaron Country: The U5 of 4 Bio: Grew up on a far off continent unknown to current geography of Cosmo Land. He and his friends took over the primary ruling body of their land at the prodigal age of 15, after really, really not wanting to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning for high school. Despite his constant cries of "I ****ing hate you all!" to his friends, he remains begrudgingly compassionate with a conscience that "is going to kill me one of these days". Looks: After "l33tinizing" the ruling body of his world, he got himself a camo vest and camo pants. He cut his hair short and had himself a custom-made Buster Sword, much to the protest of everyone willing to sue on the behalf of Final Fantasy. He carries himself with a tone of being unable to accomplish something, but gets pumped when he can pull it off. He is caucasion, and has dark brown hair. No one has ever admitted to seeing his eyes through his dark sunglasses. Hit: Puzzles Miss: Slow internet "God, I hate you guys..." Skills: Aaron's unit strengths are based on the Power and Technique scores that you have. As he does well, he gains confidence he usually doesn't get with his friends. If he isn't doing well, he thinks is friends are right and gets weakened. At the beginning of the game, strength is 100%/100%. If Power is perfect, Aaron has 120%/120% stats. If power is 99 to 80, all units are at 110%/110%. 79 to 60%, units are normal. 59 to 40, units are 90%/90%. Under that, they're 80%. Technique scores give a "luck factor". With perfect technique, Aaron has a chance of doing +2 points of damage. With 99 to 80 Technique, he can do +1. At 79 to 60, he has the chance of doing +1 OR a chance of -1 (basically Flak). At 59 to 40, units are normal. At 39 and under, units have a chance to do -2 points of damage. **OOOO CO Power: Keep on Rolling All of Aarons units are considered to have perfect power and technique for this turn. For those of you too lazy to look up, it results in all units having 120%/120% stats and a possibility to do an additional +2. SCO Power: Ready to Rumble. Triples all bonuses AND penalties for Power and Technique. This can result in units having 160%/160% stats and the possibility to do an extra +6 points of damage. Or, it can result in your units being pathetically weak at 40%/40% with a chance for -6 points. Use with caution. CO quotes: "Gotta keep on rolling..." "LLLLEEEEEEEEEEET'S GET READY TO RRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!" "Remind me why I'm doing this again?" "I can do this! Watch!" "I'm a lousy listener anyway. Let's boogie!" "Ugh, I hate you guys. I'm stepping in." Victory Quote: "That's it. Hail to the king, baby." 15) COMPLETION -------------- Need quotes for most of the COs Need more CO rants Need more Created COs Need more advice for VS games Input? What do you think of my guide? 16) CLOSING ----------- I probably have lots of spelling errors in here to fix... Anyway, email comments, questions, or input to me at jax-omen@vincesmc.com. Please put "AW2 Tactics" in the subject line, so I know what you are talking about. Also, please note that spelling errors in anything labeled as being from anyone else ARE NOT MY FAULT. Those errors were created by the people who sent in the information. The only thing I did to those messages is format them to the 79 character per line limit for Gamefaqs. Of course, any errors outside the quotes (or labeled with "Jax:") are mine. So I'm not perfect. Oh well... Oh, if anyone has any ASCII art for the top of the guide, I would appreciate it. You will, of course, be credited. My ASCII art sucks really bad... 17) THANKS ---------- Thanks to CjayC for running the best gaming site ever, GameFaqs! Thanks to Intelligent Systems for making AW2! Thanks to Nintendo for publishing this great game! Kudos to ShadowFF6 for great unit and CO tactics, and most of the damage chart info! Thanks to Psychotic Guy for his tip to "leapfrog" APCs, and finding out how much G each star is worth in the CO Power guage! Good luck, and have fun playing AW2!!!