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FANSean posted:What's the deal with the rank system anyways? If I recall, AW1 is the only one to use it. Yeah it got kicked in the head for AW2 sadly. The awesome metallic swish goes with the Mission Start! sting and the YEAAAAAAAH! like scream when you win a mission to make Advance Wars 1's "You're Awesome" musical trifecta. A way I found to dealing with this quite well is to get a rocket or 2 up close using an APC decoy. Lightens the load of the tanks to deal with Grit's tanks (or vice versa, tanks can go after the rockets while your rockets destroy Grit's tanks) and can speed up the final moments provided you keep them defended. Another trick to jamming Grit's rockets is to damage both of them to 5-6hp. They'll waste a turn joining together, you have one less rocket to deal with and the now unharmed rocket hasn't moved and can't fire. Little AI exploits like this are golden to a bad strategist such as myself.
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Feb 19, 2012 04:31
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njsykora posted:Another trick to jamming Grit's rockets is to damage both of them to 5-6hp. They'll waste a turn joining together, you have one less rocket to deal with and the now unharmed rocket hasn't moved and can't fire. Little AI exploits like this are golden to a bad strategist such as myself. That's really not bad strategy at all. Anything you can do to reduce the overall amount of damage he can put out at range is golden: even if he doesn't join them, that's two half-strength rockets firing off instead of two fully-loaded ones. That said, the AI does have something of an obsession with having full-strength units; damaging them enough to force a join onto the AI becomes actually pretty critical to succeeding when the missions start getting tougher.
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Feb 19, 2012 04:35
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njsykora posted:Yeah it got kicked in the head for AW2 sadly. The awesome metallic swish goes with the Mission Start! sting and the YEAAAAAAAH! like scream when you win a mission to make Advance Wars 1's "You're Awesome" musical trifecta. I'm also not fully into "exploit the AI's burning hatred of APCs" mode yet. Bits of my brain probably still think I'm playing AW2. Oh well. Thanks for the tips.
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Feb 19, 2012 09:22
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With the more subdued CO Powers in this game Grit got quite lucky with that +2 range. You'd almost expect it to be +1, but that's Intelligent Systems for you. I got this messed up map by deliberately screwing around with saving a battle in Design Maps mode via the Design Maps glitch: this puts the save into the Field Training slot. The result: http://i.imgur.com/JYeAH.png
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Feb 19, 2012 10:36
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ultimateluigi987 posted:With the more subdued CO Powers in this game Grit got quite lucky with that +2 range. You'd almost expect it to be +1, but that's Intelligent Systems for you. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 11:22 on Feb 19, 2012 |
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Feb 19, 2012 11:16
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Field Training Missions 4 to 6 (or "I've got a 10-year-old ghost to exorcise") My favourite Field Training mission today (although it isn't this one).   But all of our commanders are caught up in other campaigns. So there's no one available to lead the Orange Star Army against him.   Let me brief you on the current mission. Our troops en route to the Lost Fortress have been waylaid by Olaf.It's up to you to join up with them, beat back Olaf and secure the area. We need the Lost Fortress! Move out!How lost can it be if we know where it is? Oh well, whatever.  Day 1  It looks like he understands the importance of holding this area. Almost all of our units heading for Lost Fortress have been eliminated. There are only two tank units left of the original contingent. We must repair them in order to have any hopes of winning here. So first, let's pull those two units back here and patch them up. To repair a unit, just move it to an allied city or a secure base. This tank unit can make it to this city. Please move it here. Sounds like a plan.  This tank unit will now recover two HP for every turn it stays here. Okay. Now, let's withdraw this tank unit, too. Would you select it, please? its movement range. There's nothing we can do about that. Let's get it as close to a city as possible and begin repairs next turn. Would you move it here, please? But we can't stop there, can we? The unit's still vulnerable to attack from the enemy's tank unit. Place the cursor on a unit and press the B Button to check its attack range. The area it can Fire upon will appear in red. Well, what to do now? How about giving it a little assistance? Let's deploy other units around it to prevent it from being attacked. This tactic is called building a defensive wall. Most Advance Wars players call it "meatshielding". But hey, tomayto, tomahto. Our available units are... Move it here to create a defensive wall. Sorry lad, you've drawn the short straw.  Enemy units can't cross allied lines and vice-versa. You can see why a defensive wall is such an effective strategic tool. This mech unit will come under fire, but it should be able to hold a turn. Since we have two mech units, we should be OK for two days. So, move the mech units up, and then deploy the infantry as you like. Press End when you're finished. This looks pretty good to me. Let's end turn.   It looks like the group that's been giving me such trouble, too. But... they don't even have one decent tank unit with them! I've nothing to fear from these ragged fools. Prepare to be routed!Uh, yeah, no.  Mind you, fair play, that attack packed a punch. Glad I avoided those tanks in the previous Field Training mission. Day 2  "It's your turn." Count: 3. The enemy is closing in, but... the tanks need more time for repairs. Even regaining two HP per day, we're not going to be ready in time. It looks like we'll have to Join these two units together.   Putting two units on the same square? This is madness!  No. This is science.   My creation lives! ... but seriously, I already showed this one off a couple of Field Training missions before Nell demonstrates it here. Still, useful advice. When two units Join, they combine their HP. Of course, now there's only one unit, but... I know that two units may seem better than one at most times, but running around with low HP is very risky. I recommend using Join when you feel it's necessary. I'm going to leave the rest of this mission to you. Sure, why not. The tank unit will have full HP and be ready to go on the next turn. First, use your mech and tank units to destroy the enemy tanks. If your mech units take too much damage, use Join to merge them. If you can just get rid of Olaf's tank units, you'll surely win. As long as you keep your HQ from being seized, you can't lose. You can also win by Capturing the enemy's HQ, but it'll be faster to defeat all of the enemy units. Good luck! All right, then. First of all, that mech unit is looking worse for wear.  Let's retreat it and bring up the other mech to take its place, doing some nice damage to one of Olaf's tanks in the process.  Infantry move up to prevent my mech being flanked by Olaf's infantry.  And the other guys spread out and get into cover. Day 3  Well, we all just learned a valuable lesson about retreating damaged units from the frontlines and cycling in fresh ones, but it seems like someone wasn't paying attention.  What are we gonna do with you, Olaf?  After my mech takes out the 2HP tank, my own fully healed tank bursts through and engages Olaf's second tank.  Again, gotta be alert to prevent that mech from flanking me at the bridge. One of my infantry units moves up and gives it what for. Meanwhile my two southern infantry take out Olaf's attempt to sneak around the back to my HQ.  4HP mech heads back to get some health, and my other infantry unit moves up to the front lines.  Olaf attacks me, but he looks pretty petrified as his 4HP tank takes on my infantry. Not sure why really, it wasn't that bad of a move. Day 4  Apparently capturing cities is more important to the AI than trying to land a few hits on the enemy. Which, okay, that'd make sense on a map with bases where your economy actually matters. No bases here though.  Tank and mech work through Olaf's damaged units.  Slightly risky shot as I take on one of Olaf's city infantry: he's certainly got the defensive edge. But time and tide wait for no man, and we need to get a move on.  An arrow-o-vision view of that as my other infantry move up. Day 5  Olaf again elects not to attack.  Mechs take on mech. Again, it's something of a war of attrition as I try to clear out Olaf's cities. But at least I have unit count on my side.  Tank and infantry have more joy taking out Olaf's infantry, though.  Closing in for the kill. Day 6  Olaf just sits there doing repairs.  Tank knocks the mech down to 1HP.  And I finish the job from the river.   Capturing this area was vital to our strategy. You did a great job! Keep up the good work. Nell? So, she does have her hand in this! That explains why this little group has been such unexpected trouble. This is unforgivable! Next time, I will give them a display of true might! Mark my words!Keep dreaming, Olaf.  Once again, lagging behind a bit on speed. Oh well, let's see what the next mission has to offer:  A bunch of new commands, apparently.  Glad to see my work here's getting recognised. I'm also happy to say that the enemy troops aren't deployed ahead of us. Look at this! An artillery unit has been assigned to your command! Used correctly, this unit'll strengthen your battalion. No doubt about it. But, it sounds like it's seen a lot of action on the front lines, and... Well, I guess we'll get a look at it when we reach the battle-field. Oh, and I've received one more bit of information. You've also been given an APC unit to use. This one is fresh from the factory, so don't worry about its condition. OK, let's get moving!Okay, you know what? I apologise. Olaf doesn't always get everything before us. He tends to get brute force stuff first, and we tend to get clever stuff first. Sensible way to handle it, really.  Day 1 Well, it's good to see that we have an artillery unit, but... And it's almost out of fuel, too. It can't Fire without ammo, and it can't move without fuel. In this condition, it's useless. But don't worry, I think we'll manage just fine. We just need to supply the unit using a transport unit. When you Supply a unit, you fill its ammo and fuel to the maximum level. For intel on a specific unit, select the unit and press the R Button.  Select that command, please. Supply, like G did! Great! Now we've given the unit both ammo and fuel. This is how transport units supply allied units in adjacent spaces. This time, we gave supplies to only one unit, but transport units can also provide supplies simultaneously to any unit adjacent to it. Oh, yes. You can also Supply units by placing them in allied bases. And, as I explained before, in addition to supplies, bases also provide HP. So, use bases when you can. But when you can't, use transport units.Nell's telling a lie here. APCs can resupply other units, but the other transports, T-Copters and Landers, cannot. On the other hand, they have their own strengths that APCs don't, as we'll see in a few updates' time.  Would you select it, please?  But... but I'm not standing next to anything...   WITCHCRAFT! (Well, okay, no. But that's what it felt like back in 2002  ) This is why we have artillery units: Indirect Fire! Indirect Fire is the term used for a long-distance attack on the enemy. This technique allows units to Fire without fear of counterfire. Now that that's clear, go ahead and deploy the rest of your troops. attacks these allied bases. Let's see what we can do to protect them. I think a single tank unit might barely suffice. Please move the unit here. be a little tough. The enemy also has tank units nearby, and... I think it would be wise to move a mech unit up as close as possible. Please move this mech unit to this point. It's going to take that mech a while to get there at this rate. But I assume Nell has a plan. The remaining units are yours to deploy as you see fit. Would you like some strategic advice?May as well. There are neutral cities below us, right? It would be serious trouble if they were captured, so let's send these infantry units down there. I think we can Capture the cities and engage the enemy at the same time. But watch out for the enemy artillery. If you don't deploy your troops carefully, the enemy will attack them. Oh, I almost forgot. Wouldn't you like to know how far your units can Fire? Do you remember how we checked an enemy unit's attack range? Check your own troops' attack range the same way. Place the cursor on a unit, then press and hold down the B Button. The area displayed in red indicates the unit's attack range. OK. When you've finished deploying all of your units, select End. Actually, I forgot to show you guys any attack ranges last turn. Whoops. Here's one, now: you can see that my artillery can hit stuff two or three squares away from it, but not things directly next to it. Same for Olaf's. Different for Grit in that mission we just did, though.  My infantry head on down to those southern cities Nell mentioned.  Looks like you're bound and determined to get in my way! I'll have my troops swat you like a fly!Day 2  "It's your turn." Count: 4. This doesn't look good. Enemy units are closing in, and our mech unit won't arrive in time to help. But don't panic! There's a way for us to help that mech unit move a bit faster and farther. Please select this mech unit.   Please select that command.Oh well, I guess we're used to the idea of having two units on the same square by now.  Transport units can carry both mech and infantry units. This effectively increases the movement range for these units. You won't go wrong using transport units to carry troops. Let's move this unit. Would you select it, please?   Please select this command. After selecting Drop, you'll need to choose where you want to unload. Use the + Control Pad to select the drop point.Okay, then.  Unloading ends the turn for both the transport and the unloaded unit. This is a much faster way to reach distant objectives, right?Yeah, seems pretty handy. Could be a logistical nightmare if I'm trying to handle infantry en masse, though. But should help a lot with HQ captures and the like. So, transport units can Supply all units as well as carry infantry and mech units. But there is one thing you need to remember. Transport units carry no weapons, which means they cannot Fire. For more intel on transport units, place the cursor on one and press the R Button. From this point on, the army is yours to command. Would you like any strategic advice?Two strategic advice sections in one mission? You're on fire today, Nell. First of all, you need to protect these two cities. You should deploy a tank unit to this city in front of the bridge. Next, I would advise moving this artillery unit near here.Got it. Oh, and there's one more thing about artillery units I need to tell you. Artillery units are powerful long-range weapons, but they're weak in direct combat. They also can't move and Fire in the same turn. Anyway, once you take care of the enemy tank units, you shouldn't have any problems winning this battle. To win, seize the enemy HQ or wipe out all the enemy troops. It's up to you. Do your best, and good luck!Yeah, that's artillery for you. More powerful than a tank (cheaper, too: 6000G vs. 7000G), but they lack the flexibility that a tank has. Both units are central to AW play though (although they both bow at the altar of infantry, which are the mainstay unit).  Like Nell said, this city by the bridge is an excellent place to park my tank. Only attackable from one direction (by Olaf's tanks, at least), good defensive cover, and heals up 2HP per turn.  Plus I can get an attack in straight away.  And moving the artillery up next to it won't hurt either. Indirect units and "defensive walls"/meatshields are a natural combination, as the indirects can fire straight over the top of the meatshield without worry. Right now we have a pretty classic chokepoint situation here, and Olaf has serious problems.  Finishing up by moving infantry around.  Olaf decides to go on the attack with his damaged tank. You can tell from the look on his face how well that went. Day 3  You know, Olaf, you could've attacked with your full-health tank. It would have achieved something at least.  Instead the full health tank is just sitting in artillery range. Mmm, juicy.  Artillery: pretty darn effective.  Meanwhile my tank takes down the 1HP tank, and my mech fends off the infantry creeping over the river.  Now then, about Olaf's artillery. Well, he's got that city covered, but the squares around it are fair game.  So let's send some infantry in.  And move up and capture. I had a half-baked scheme to try and pick that mech up with my APC, but it didn't really pan out. No harm done though. Day 4  Better try and clear these infantry out.  I leave the full-health one alone for a simple reason, though: it's less likely to retreat, and if it does retreat it won't get very far. Last thing we need is to waste time chasing after some crippled tank.  Capturing infantry down.  And Olaf's mech is reduced to 1HP.  My APC heads back east again. Just a bit of indecision on my part, really. Oh well. Day 5  Olaf retreated his 1HP mech.  Time to take a risk and head off after it.  Since I'm moving into artillery range anyway, might as well go the whole hog and send some other units in. The artillery can only fire at one of them - and if the mech doesn't get hit, then it can deliver some decent damage next turn.  Artillery and mech take care of business in the north, and I send my tank down to make sure I have enough troops to take out the arty.  Owch. I guess that move did cost me. Still surprised that Olaf was able to one-shot me there, though: he must have got lucky. Day 6  Yeah. First unit loss of Field Training there, I think  . But at least we can finish it off this turn.  Boom.  You're doing well. Now get going, and keep up the good work. Grrr... Next time, blast it! Next time!You know, I think we're starting to get to Olaf.  Hey, got maximum score for speed this time. I did lose a unit, but that wasn't enough to dent my technique (Is this game trying to teach me a lesson about sacrficing lives to make wars end sooner?) But now, on to my favourite field training mission:  Ready as I'll ever be.  The Coral Fortress is surrounded by mountains, so it's hard to imagine that there are many enemy units there. Still, an entire company is gone, so... The point is, we can't afford to lose that territory. Time to get going! Hmm... wonder what could have happened to those units? Day 1  Ohhh, poo poo. That explains what happened to the recon units that vanished... Even with your units, I don't know if we can win.I just love the way Nell's building up that medium tank as an unstoppable killing machine. Both because it's kind of funny in hindsight, and genuinely tense if this is your first time playing. You don't win battles with just a show of force, though. You know that by now, right? I'm going to leave this one up to you. Do you want any strategic hints?Sure. Gotta find a way to deal with that medium tank, after all. For the time being, you can ignore the medium tanks. Just be sure you don't move into their attack range. Do you remember how to check a unit's attack range? Move the cursor onto the unit and hold the B Button. Now for your strategy... Try to make the most of your tanks, mech units, and artillery. Now, send some infantry to secure the neutral cities below you. The river will protect you from all but the enemy's infantry, so don't worry. Good luck! All right, well, better get this ball rolling.  APC loads up with a mech and follows the tank forward, dropping its passenger off on a city.  Infantry move up, keeping their square formation because I dunno, may as well.  ... we were just talking about them, Olaf. At least try to get your facts right when you taunt. You'll soon tremble before the power of the mightiest ground forces ever!I'm pretty sure there are some more powerful units in the pre-Western Nintendo Wars games. There certainly are in later games. But oh well, whatever.  The AI's APC fetish at work again. Day 2  Olaf, I... Olaf. Artillery do not work that way.  Here, let me show you how it's done.  While that's going on, I retreat my APC to heal up. May as well load a mech into it while I'm back here.  Mech finishes off artillery, tank finishes off tank. I could have attacked from the forest rather than the road with my tank, but I wanted to keep my artillery safe. That arty's going to be vital here.  Finishing up the day by having my infantry move and capture. Day 3  My tank pays for being left on the road rather than in the forest. But at least the artillery is safe.  Tank retreats, APC advances and drops off its passenger.  Time to give that tank what for!  Two infantry finish capturing, the other two wade into the river.  This time I did leave a gap in my defenses through which Olaf could reach my artillery. But at least he couldn't do much damage this time. He even seems somewhat worried about it. Day 4  That tank gets finished off by one of my mechs, while the other attacks Olaf's river mech.  Artillery and infantry take down an infantry.  And I get a hit in on Olaf's remaining infantry unit. Day 5  A fairly quiet turn from Olaf.  I take out his remaining units between the rivers.  And get some capturing done. Day 6  A fairly quiet day, this one.  I capture a city and bunch my units up around the second bridge, while my artillery retreats to heal. Day 7  Once more Olaf decides to move his infantry up but not attack.  More meat for the meat grinder.  Okay, there's the medium tank's attack range. We don't want to enter that just yet, although to win we're going to have to. Advance Wars units have different AI settings: units that have been given a defensive mindset won't move unless there's something for them to attack. That medium tank is one such unit.  APC and tank set up at the cities down below. Didn't Nell say something about capturing these?  Moving units up. In particular, getting my fixed-up artillery upfield. Day 8  Olaf basically just sits there.  Sending more dudes into capture, using my APC to help extend their move range.  Finishing off Olaf's last mech from the river. Didn't want to attack from the city because I want my tank to heal up there.  And there we go. Day 9  All right, we're capturing these cities now. Let's see what Nell has to say.  Now, I'll give you some advice for the future. It's not impossible to stop medium tanks with artillery, but it's tough.Artillery, hmm? Artillery... Instead, try to stop the medium tanks from crossing the river. Then try to Capture the enemy HQ. If the tanks do get across... Well, like I said, concentrate on the enemy HQ. Capture the HQ or defeat all enemy troops to win! Good luck! Okay, for now I'm just going to set up just outside the middie's attack range - with one of my mechs using the rivers to get in close. Next turn we move in. Day 10  All right, let's do this.  My tank moves onto the bridge - it's got the strongest armour of all my units, and should survive a hit from the middie. Not going to attack just yet though - hahaha no. My artillery moves into position behind it.  Okay, that's the medium tank trapped in place.  I'd better set up to capture the HQ as well just in case this all goes to pot.  Capturing and moving. That 8HP mech is getting ready for a flanking move.  Well then. That tank just took 9HP of damage. Probably somewhat lucky, but it makes the point: medium tanks do not joke around. But at least the tank survived. Day 11  Okay, so what now?  Well, now we counterattack.  4HP of damage isn't a huge amount, but it's a solid hit and anything that can do reasonable damage to these guys is welcomed. Throughout the Advance Wars series, artillery are your go-to solution for a cheap way of dealing with medium tanks and their bigger tanky brethren the Neotank (AW2) and Megatank (AWDS, although arties don't do that much damage to Megatanks). They do solid damage and they don't get counterattacked. The upshot is a lot of artillery in high-level play and very few medium or heavier tanks. But then, with very few medium tanks that makes artillery less useful, and light tanks become a decent counter to artillery. There's been a fair bit of evolution of the AW metagame over the years.  My crippled tank retreats, and one of my infantry moves up to take its place. At least with the medium tank down to 60% of its attack power, the infantry unit should survive this. I also get capturing that HQ, again, just in case.  Yeah, the infantry survived. Really not sure why Olaf is worried in this screenshot. Day 12  I could just finish this with capturing...  ... but I've got a 10-year-old ghost to exorcise. Solid hit from that artillery, taking Olaf down to 1HP.  And my mech looks like it can finish the job.  Catharsis!  Whew. Sadly there isn't any unique dialogue for routing the medium tank. Kind of wish there was, though. But now that Olaf has Md tanks, our current tactics won't suffice. I'll have to ask central command to send us some, too. Keep up the good work! What?!? Even my medium tanks are defeated??? THAT NELL!!! Hmm... But it doesn't look like she has any medium tanks ready to use... Ha ha ha! I'm sure I'll enjoy our next encounter!Hmm... ominous. But after getting through that, I'm pretty sure we can survive whatever Olaf has to throw at us.  Slow again, but still A-Ranking even though I took quite a bit of a hit on speed. Totally worth it to take out the medium tank, though. But now it's time to stop pretending that a single medium tank unit is an unstoppable threat to my progress. For now we must encounter...  ... this man of mystery. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Sep 19, 2013 |
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Feb 19, 2012 18:48
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The mission with the MD Tank is hilarious given how easy it'd been for Olaf to pull back his artillery behind said tank and annihilate you soon after. Of course it's a training mission though so that'd be counterproductive. Still I share your sentiment on the hilarity of MD Tanks being the be all end all of tanks. Neotanks are far more terrifying. Megatanks can be horrible too but they move like slugs.
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Feb 19, 2012 20:39
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SkySteak posted:Neotanks are far more terrifying. Megatanks can be horrible too but they move like slugs. Megatanks are basically the ultimate meatshield unit. Slap one in the middle of a chokepoint and goddamn NOTHING is getting through unless they pelt it with rockets and arty for a few turns. Neotanks, on the other hand, are near-perfect blitzer units. Fast enough to reach the front quickly, powerful enough to plaster standard tanks or arty in one salvo, and tough enough to take hits from middies if it comes to it. I love them dearly, they're basically the go-to arty hunter unit. Agent Interrobang fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 00:46
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Agent Interrobang posted:Megatanks are basically the ultimate meatshield unit. Slap one in the middle of a chokepoint and goddamn NOTHING is getting through unless they pelt it with rockets and arty for a few turns. But then you have that megatank deployed on a city holding that chokepoint and you are rachel. IE: megatank going  to all comers.
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Feb 20, 2012 01:01
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Are you going to tackle the extra mission on both difficulties?
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Feb 20, 2012 01:03
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Paul.Power posted:Advance Wars 1, wherein the COs are engaged in a "who has the scariest face?" competition. With this in mind, Nell's smugface is starting to freak me right the gently caress out. What the hell does she know that i don't. It's making me think of the kate beaton ambassador.
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Feb 20, 2012 01:04
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I love how happy Nell is that her infantry squad just lost over half its men. The AW COs are horrible monster.
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Feb 20, 2012 01:08
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Something I learnt the hard way doing the second mission, if you have an artillery out in the open watch the hell out for Recons. While a lot of people dismiss them as a weak unit they will gently caress indirects up. I lost 6hp off a Rocket when I ignored a stray recon assuming my Mechs could take care of it.
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Feb 20, 2012 03:37
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njsykora posted:Something I learnt the hard way doing the second mission, if you have an artillery out in the open watch the hell out for Recons. While a lot of people dismiss them as a weak unit they will gently caress indirects up. I lost 6hp off a Rocket when I ignored a stray recon assuming my Mechs could take care of it. Recons are actually surprisingly powerful in all the games. They only have little MGs, but they can do a nasty amount of damage to indirect units (including Anti-Tanks in DoR), other Recons and even, to a lesser degree, APCs. If the map has good roads it can be worth building one to do your best to run over early infantry or to run past the front lines with their high move to hit some juicy indirect units.
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Feb 20, 2012 03:40
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AtomikKrab posted:But then you have that megatank deployed on a city holding that chokepoint and you are rachel. IE: megatank going There was a mission like this in the survival mode in Dual Strike: Rachel had a lone Megatank parked in a maze filled with cities and you had to spend as little money as possible destroying it with indirect units. VERY frustrating.
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Feb 20, 2012 03:50
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Tulip posted:With this in mind, Nell's smugface is starting to freak me right the gently caress out. What the hell does she know that i don't. In line with your link, "You'll see.  "
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Feb 20, 2012 04:08
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Alkydere posted:Recons are actually surprisingly powerful in all the games. They only have little MGs, but they can do a nasty amount of damage to indirect units (including Anti-Tanks in DoR), other Recons and even, to a lesser degree, APCs. If the map has good roads it can be worth building one to do your best to run over early infantry or to run past the front lines with their high move to hit some juicy indirect units. Recons are great. Having a recon or two to do an end run on the enemy line and cripple an artillery or a rocket is invaluable. Decent chance you'll lose the recon, but the difference between a full strength artillery and a 5 HP artillery is the difference between "i can just punch straight through the enemy line" and "i'm going to have to wait for my own artillery to line up their shots." This tactic is one of many, many reasons max is my favorite for AW1. KataraniSword posted:In line with your link, "You'll see. 
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Feb 20, 2012 04:15
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Tulip posted:Recons are great. Having a recon or two to do an end run on the enemy line and cripple an artillery or a rocket is invaluable. Decent chance you'll lose the recon, but the difference between a full strength artillery and a 5 HP artillery is the difference between "i can just punch straight through the enemy line" and "i'm going to have to wait for my own artillery to line up their shots." This tactic is one of many, many reasons max is my favorite for AW1. Recons are also pretty much anti-infantry to the max, I think there's only one unit that's better than them at being a dedicated anti-infantry weapon. Have a few of those around your HQ and provided you keep the larger battle at bay you'll be able to deal with any infantry or mechs sneaking in over mountains or rivers.
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Feb 20, 2012 04:35
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njsykora posted:Recons are also pretty much anti-infantry to the max, I think there's only one unit that's better than them at being a dedicated anti-infantry weapon. Have a few of those around your HQ and provided you keep the larger battle at bay you'll be able to deal with any infantry or mechs sneaking in over mountains or rivers. AA are better, but are also much more expensive and frankly usually have better things to do than baby sitting your HQ.
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Feb 20, 2012 04:37
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Tulip posted:AA are better, but are also much more expensive and frankly usually have better things to do than baby sitting your HQ. Yeah, plus there's the fact that they die pretty fast if mechs get a first strike; as pricey as they are, it is NOT a good cost-to-effect investment just to have them be honor guards for your base.
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Feb 20, 2012 04:41
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Cryohazard posted:Are you going to tackle the extra mission on both difficulties? As for both difficulties... well, like I say in the OP, I've never even tried Advance Campaign. I'd like to have a go at it once I'm done with NC, but I'd be doing it blind so there's no guarantee of me even beating "It's War!" AC, let alone "Rivals!" AC. Sorry. e: Saying that, what I maybe should do with AC is have a go at it on my DS first in preparation for an emulator run. I lose the blindness aspect, but at least it'd tell me whether I can beat "It's War!" AC or not. And arguably it's better LPing that way. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 04:55
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Zen Guy posted:There was a mission like this in the survival mode in Dual Strike: Rachel had a lone Megatank parked in a maze filled with cities and you had to spend as little money as possible destroying it with indirect units. VERY frustrating.  I remember that misson.
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Feb 20, 2012 05:19
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Tulip posted:AA are better, but are also much more expensive and frankly usually have better things to do than baby sitting your HQ. Hell even a Mech can work wonders on an HQ.
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Feb 20, 2012 14:25
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Paul.Power posted:Which one? I count at least two, arguably five. Although I suspect you mean "Rivals!". I do want to do it on Normal Campaign, certainly, although depending on what COs people pick for The Final Battle I might have to go and beat that twice. Best advice I can give you is abuse the AI's irrational hatred of APCs. It's pretty much a turn-by-turn specific strategy to beat most of the levels- it's the worst kind of bullshit and you should totally suffer through it to show it all off.
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Feb 20, 2012 15:08
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Mission 3: Air Ace! (or "They gave their lives so that we might cheese the mission with an HQ capture")  Orange Star forces, if I'm not mistaken. And, of course, I never am.Well, this guy seems pretty full of himself. I had heard that the Blue Moon Army ruined them, but... How interesting. I think I'll entertain them for a while. Well, it's not an airport. But it's close...  Day 1  Hmm, I must've missed that memo, Andy. Still, makes a change for you to be paying more attention to Nell than me. Even if it turns out she was wrong this time. Paul! Andy! Come in! Do you copy? Nell! There are hostile forces here! So it seems. But those... those aren't Blue Moon troops. I'll see what I can find out. Hold your positions! We have some bases you can use here as a last resort. Paul! Watch over Andy, OK? Well hey, this time we're fighting against some green guys instead of some blue ones. Makes a nice change. There's another new thing we're fighting, too: air units. Let's find out a bit about them:  Battle Helicopter or B-Copter (9000G). The light tanks of the skies, and even more versatile: they can get over awkward terrain easily, making them invaluable flankers on maps with chokepoints. They're decent attackers against most surface units, and take little damage back as tanks can't use their main cannons on them. They have a few massive weaknesses, though: they get taken apart easily by anti-airs and fighters. Transport Helicopter or T-Copter (5000G). If B-Copters are flying tanks, then T-Copters are flying APCs, able to transport one footsoldier at a time. Because they can fly, they can reach places that APCs can't - to make up for this, they can't supply units the way that APCs can. Bomber (22000G). The game's most powerful attacking unit, capable of one-shotting many surface units and not being far off at killing medium tanks and battleships, either. Even anti-airs can only beat them if they get the first shot in. Bombers are helpless against fighters, though. Fighter (20000G). The kings of the skies, fighters are how you gain and hold air superiority in Advance Wars. They're devastating attackers against Bombers, B-Copters and T-Copters - and to add insult to injury, those three units can't even attack Fighters. They also have the largest movement range of any unit in the game. They can't do anything against surface units, though.This mission also introduces the final land unit:  Missile Launcher (12000G). Essentially rockets with a focus on surface-to-air rather than surface-to-surface. They're powerful: under normal conditions, a full health missile launcher can one-hit kill any air unit. So on paper, that sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, they have a lot of weaknesses: they're slow, heavily specialised, and it's very easy for B-Copters and Bombers to just fly into their range shadow and take them out. So they're somewhat situational. They have a few uses though, like rendering enemy airports useless by setting up within range of them. As for strategy, well, that HQ there's looking very vulnerable over there, and we've got the unit to exploit that vulnerability in the T-Copter. Capturing it should be fairly straightforward: the tricky part will be getting past all those fighters. The T-Copter's going to need an escort, in short. It's a fun quirk of Advance Wars that the inability to cross enemy lines extends to air units: surface units block air units, air units block surface units. We're going to stop those fighters reaching our T-Copter by surrounding it with tanks! There's a base up there that our mystery opponent is going to capture, but we don't need to worry too much about it: hopefully we'll have this wrapped up by the time it starts doing something useful.  Let's get the ball rolling by taking out this conveniently placed B-Copter. Hmm... anti-airs normally do 120% damage to B-Copters (talk about overkill!). This one's only doing 108% damage. Looks like our foe gets a boost to his air defence.   Oh well, still a one-hit-kill. These green B-Copters look a little bit like Hinds...   ... while our own Orange Star B-Copters are reminiscent of Apaches. I think I've already noted this, but the differentiation between the units of the different armies is just one of many great little things about the art of AW1 and 2.  Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I took out the two units that started out near my forces.  Let's also get these transports loaded up with mechs. The T-Copter is, as I've noted, essential here. The APC less so, but it might make a useful decoy. And I guess capturing that base up ahead won't hurt.  The rest of my anti-aircraft units take up position on the bridge...  And the "not very useful units given the composition of the enemy's forces" units fit into the gaps. Day 2  Here come the air units. One of the fighters decided to position itself annoyingly over the sea and out of missile range, but I'm okay with that because the other one is invitingly placed.  Even missile launchers aren't doing the full 120% damage whack to these B-Copters. Hmm.  Oh well, whatever.  My AAs follow that up by taking out the fighter I can reach. It takes two shots from an AA to bring down planes, compared with the one shot it takes them to bring down copters, or the one shot it takes missiles to bring down planes. Still pretty effective, though.  T-Copter moves up so it's protected from the north and east by AAs, and the medium and light tanks roll up behind it to protect it from the south and west.  Now then, dealing with that fighter. Well, it's time to do something rather cruel. I'm leaving my B-Copter out in the open as bait - the fighter will almost certainly move in to attack it... and when it does, it'll be nicely in range of my missile launcher.  Speaking of missile launchers, might as well deploy a second one (this is not something you'll see me write often).  Finishing off the unit moving this turn.   Yeah, there goes my B-Copter. Expected, but still sad. My medium tank also takes a hit from the enemy B-Copter. B-Copters are the second-most cost-effective solution to a medium tank problem after artillery, although obviously you're not always going to get the chance to deploy them. Day 3  They gave their lives so that we might cheese the mission with an HQ capture.  Only 90% damage for a missile launcher attacking a fighter? That defence boost is starting to get really annoying.  The fighter clings grimly on for dear life.  Not that it matters much with AAs around to handle cleanup.  With the fighters out of the way, there's nothing to stop my T-Copter advancing on the HQ.   There is one other thing to deal with, though: that bomber. It's been sitting back there keeping goal for these green guys, and if we just deploy our mech willy-nilly on that rather castle-ish HQ that bomber will go OM NOM NOM. Dealing with it is going to take another unit sacrifice. So I move out a tank to bring it out of hiding. This'll also help us to demonstrate our opponent's CO power.  FASCINATING!Oi you, get back to your own game. In hindsight I could have parked that tank in the forest for some defensive cover which might just have saved it, but too late now. No use crying over spilt... yeah.  Finishing moving everyone up...  Here comes the bomber   And here comes the CO Power.  Wait, hold on! That bomber had already moved. But now it can move again?   Welcome to Lightning Strike, folks. As usual, the APC gets it in the neck. But it manages to survive somehow, despite being out in the open road. Day 4  you've encountered! Those are Green Earth troops!The units coloured green are Green Earth troops. And it took you four days to work that out. Okay. Rumor has it that there's an independent battalion roaming about. I believe you've found them. Watch out for their air units. They're supposed to be brutal! You're too late, Nell. What? Does that mean you're already under attack? Well... Um... Good luck! Nell left us! She ran away...Don't worry, Andy, I've got this. Anyway, time to stop pretending I don't know who this guy is: Paul.Power's CO Notes: Eagle  Eagle's ThemeEagle is the air unit specialist CO (although one could easily argue that there's a certain other CO with considerably better air units): his air units have increased attack and defence (I think 115% and 110% respectively?) and also consume less fuel per turn (with planes that use up 3 fuel units per turn instead of 5, and copters that use no fuel per turn instead of 2 - more on this in the next round of Field Training). His ships, however, are weaker, with only 90% attack (not too bad really, considering what Grit got hit with). Eagle's CO Power is Lightning Strike, which lets his non-footsoldier units have a second turn (although with greatly reduced attack and defence values, making him vulnerable to counterattacks). Background/Personality: The Green Earth COs in general play off European history and stereotypes, and Eagle is Germany - with a powerful airforce reminiscent of the Luftwaffe and Lightning Strike being a dead ringer for the tactic of Blitzkrieg. Green Earth as a whole has a somewhat Germanic feel (well, Hind helicopters aside), but the COs are a bit more varied. Anyway, Eagle has a big ego and a burning hatred of Andy. Why? Well, we don't know yet. Can't spoil everything for you. He can also be somewhat uptight. But again, he's not a bad person at heart (I'll think I'll be saying that a lot in these dossiers).   Anyway, back to the action. Now my AA's doing more damage than average because of how much Lightning Strike wrecks Eagle's defence in Advance Wars 1. It's still one of the more effective CO Powers, but you have to be very wary of your opponent coming in for the counter attack after using it.  Finishing that bomber off. It's a good job we took out Eagle's fighters before lightning struck. That could've been nasty.  And the T-Copter drops my mech off on Eagle's HQ, using itself to shield the mech from his tank.  General moving and capturing, and oh hey I forgot about my own CO power.  There isn't that much to heal up, but may as well use it.  There we go. My APC's now slightly further from the brink of death, and my medium tank's almost back to full health.  Eagle attacks my T-Copter with his tank, but it should hold out. Day 5  In case you're curious what Eagle's been doing with that base, well he's built a medium tank.  I'd be worried but, y'know, I'm capturing his HQ. I also finish off capturing that base this turn. May as well. I've been spamming a few infantry to help with my technique score (I did lose two units, after all) and a second base means double the infantry spam.  While I'm here, let's kill some infantry. It's something to do - this is a pretty short mission if you pull it off correctly.  General unit movement.  Eagle attacks my T-Copter again, and it successfully holds out. Day 6  Tech-spamming a couple of infantry...  ... and finishing the job off. Let's see what Eagle has to say on the subject:   Huh? It's you! Andy! Yeah, but... who are you? Don't play dumb with me, boy! I'll never forget what you've done!Wait, hang on, what? Huh? So, continuing to feign ignorance, eh?Andy doesn't need to feign ignorance, he's a natural. Very well, but the next time we meet will be our last! Hey! Wait up! He's gone. What was that all about?You may have noticed this already, but we've got a pretty terrible track record when it comes to securing prisoners of war. But yeah, good question, Andy: what on earth was Eagle going on about then?   Well, Andy, I've already told you it's Eagle, but... eh. You'll find out eventually. Anyway, luckily our sacrificed units didn't cost us any technique score (in fact, we got top marks across the board!), although there are now a few more distraught simulated spouses out there explaining to their kids why daddy won't be coming home for Christmas. No rank up this time, though: maybe after the next mission. Speaking of which, next mission we get a new CO: Max, a direct combat specialist who's basically the opposite of Grit (and the most powerful CO in AW1). We also get a choice:   The path branches here, and there are a few unique missions on each path before the two paths join up again at the arrival of our third CO, Sami. So the question is: do we take the Andy path, or the Max path? Once we're done with one path I'll go back and do the other, so don't worry about missing anything. And for AW veterans, don't worry about which CO we're going to end up using in The Final Battle: once we're done with these Blue Moon splitting paths, I'll let everyone decide which path they want to "keep". But we need to work out which one we're going to do first. So I'd like votes please for the Andy path or the Max path. Of course, before we do either of those, we've got another set of Field Training missions to do. After all, now we've found out about air units, what better thing to do than...  ... find out about air units? Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Feb 20, 2012 20:00
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Might as well introduce Max now that he's here.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:11
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Keep Andy, so that you can keep up the pretense that Andy is only the figurehead in charge of the army while Paul is the actual CO.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:23
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I dunno, I'm torn. On one hand I want to enjoy some more Andy silliness, on the other hand I want to see AW's Max. Eh, I guess I'll leave it to the thread. Also, that horrible track record for capturing POWs continues on through all of the English translated Advance/Famicom Wars games. The only time enemy COs are captured happens in Days of Ruin, and even then it's pretty much the exception to the rule in the game.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:27
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its a bit strange how the enemy have Hinds, but use A-10's as fighters. I guess they did not want to make it look like you where Not-America fighting Not-Russia, and just mixed it up a bit.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:30
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Alkydere posted:I dunno, I'm torn. On one hand I want to enjoy some more Andy silliness, on the other hand I want to see AW's Max. Eh, I guess I'll leave it to the thread. IIRC there's still Andy silliness if you pick Max.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:30
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Let's check out Max.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:46
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ScotchDK posted:its a bit strange how the enemy have Hinds, but use A-10's as fighters. I guess they did not want to make it look like you where Not-America fighting Not-Russia, and just mixed it up a bit. Which is kind of weird, because Blue Moon is the Not-Russia. Green Earth is Not-Europe, yeah, but it's mostly Germanic, British, and Spanish. On the other hand, Blue Moon is the land of large men with beards, constant snowstorms, and cheap communist labor. A vote for Max is a vote for killdozerin'. So it's my vote.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:48
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Let's check out those guns. (Max)
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Feb 20, 2012 20:53
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Another vote for Max.
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Feb 20, 2012 20:59
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Voting for Max since stupidly overpowered is the best kind of overpowered. Also this thread has inspired me so I bring you, The Legend of Nell: 
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Feb 20, 2012 21:09
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So, AW:DS has Sweet Jake and Hella Rachel, this thread has The Legend of Nell, I wonder what Days of Ruin will get.  And since people say there'll still be Andy moments in Max's path, let's go with Max.
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Feb 20, 2012 21:15
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SupSuper posted:Voting for Max since stupidly overpowered is the best kind of overpowered.  Thanks. I'll go put it in the second post.
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Feb 20, 2012 21:39
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AW1 Max, he is a sight to behold and wont ever so amazing after AW1.
SkySteak fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 22:02
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AW Max was the best Max. We must use the best Max.
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Feb 20, 2012 22:06
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I'm gonna go ahead and vote Max as well. I know it probably doesn't matter for the next mission, but do his abilities affect his air units? I know they do in the sequels but I never bothered to use planes as Max in AW1, preferring to spam Tanks and Md Tanks instead, filling my ranks with like 10 Tanks and 4-5 middies and leading them forward in a death march that annihilated anything that wasn't chokepoint hell.
Unknown Quantity fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 22:09
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