Advance Wars: Critical Character Comparison guide (v. 1.3) by Uiru (uiru@cephiro.com) Created 10/31/01 The purpose of this guide is to clarify the vauge differences between the individual Commanding Officers' (CO's) abilities. For example, Sami has the best infantry, Grit is the master marksman and Kanbei is good at everything. How do they stack up? Sami and Kanbei's soldiers are actually the same strength, and Kanbei's long-range attacks are superior to Grit's. However, then you get into the details, like how Grit's CO Power cranks his shooter units far past anything Kanbei could ever hope to accomplish. If you have not gone through the Campaign Mode at least once, I suggest you do so before reading, as there are many game and story spoilers ahead. (Please note that at this time, I do not have access to Eagle, Sturm or Nell, so information on these characters will not be as indepth as the others.) Table of Contents: 1. Updates 2. General Information 3. Commanding Officers i. Andy ii. Max iii. Sami iv. Olaf v. Grit vi. Kanbei vii. Sonja viii. Eagle ix. Drake x. Sturm xi. Nell 4. Other Information i. Terrain Defence ii. Hiring COs iii. Movement/Vision/Attack Range list iv. Weather Effects v. Health and Damage 5. Credits, legal ~1. Updates~ Nov. 4, 2001- Fixed descriptions of Tsunami and Double Time. Begun adding defencive stats. Added information on HP and effects of weather on movement range. Nov. 1, 2001- Added a few tidbits on Drake. Begun game again; will have Eagle shortly. Oct. 31, 2001- Began guide. Gathered a ton of information while shelling out candy. ~2. General Information~ There are a few things you should know about how Advance Wars operates before we get into the CO's. First of all, all units can be classified into one of three classes- Soldier, Direct, or Long. By land, by air or by sea, everything falls into these comprehensive categories. Soldier class contains Infantry and Mech. Direct is anything that can attack immediately after moving; Tanks, Cruisers, Fighters, etc. Long is anything that has an attack range. Battleships, Missiles, and Artillery are all Long class. Each character has a certain ranking in these three areas. All of Max's Long units, for example, are weak, while all of his Direct units are extremely strong. Though the game gives the impression that it only affects tanks, Max's superior strength affects his Subs and Bombers and everything else just as much as his Mid Tanks. This is because they are all Direct. To keep things simple, the rankings will be given as percentages, with Andy's ratings being 1. Sami's Soldiers are 1.21, meaning they'll do 121% of the damage Andy's corresponding Soldiers will do. Meanwhile, her Direct units are 0.89. They'll only do 89% of the damage Andy's units can do. This will allow you to easily compare the differing abilities of the CO's. However, the CO's CO Power Bonuses are based off their own rankings. Unit attributes is another issue. Though several CO's units all move the same way, there are a few differences. Drake's ships can all move one space farther than all other CO's ships. Grit's Long class units can shoot an extra space. These differences will be noted with the characters and the general list will be included at the end of this guide. ~3. Commanding Officers~ ~i. Andy~ Orange Star CO Soldier Strengh: 1.00 Direct Strength: 1.00 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Hyper Repair" Hyper Repair restores two HP to every unit under Andy's command. Note that the units' HP will not rise above ten. Hyper Repair is one of the more useful powers, as it not only increases the longetivity of Andy's units, but indirectly increases their power as well, as higher HP means more damage done. Soldier Bonus: 1.08 Direct Bonus: 1.09 Long Bonus: 1.09 PROS: Andy has no real cons. CONS: He's a dork and I hate the sight of him. ~ii. Max~ Orange Star CO Soldier Strength: 1.00 Direct Strength: 1.50 Long Strength: 0.89 CO POWER: "Max Force" Max Force greatly increases the power of Max's Direct units, and gives them an extra movement space. Soldier Bonus: 1.08 Direct Bonus: 1.24 Long Bonus: 1.09 PROS: Max is a brute and his Direct units can usually blow away everything in their path, even without benefit of Max Force. Get that on the go and let the tanks roll where they will. CONS: Max's Long units leave much to be desired. Not only are they weak, but their range is shorter than all other Long units. His Artillery is pretty much useless as it can only attack units that are exactly two spaces away. On top of all that, his longrange units have a -1 defence rating. On a Forest that has two stars, his longranges take damage like it was only one star. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Max's Artillery, Rockets, Missiles, and Battleships all have -1 on the outer value of their range. All of Max's Direct units gain +1 movement during Max Force. ~iii. Sami~ Orange Star CO Soldier Strength: 1.21 Direct Strength: 0.89 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Double Time" Double Time gives Sami's Soldier units a movement cost of 1 over any kind of terrain (except Sea) and in any kind of weather, and also increases their movement range by 1. Their strength is also increased. Soldier Bonus: 1.28 Direct Bonus: 1.09 Long Bonus: 1.09 PROS: On top of being cute, Sami's Infantry and Mech units capture bases 50% faster than any other CO's. Sami is the only CO who can capture a property in two turns with less than perfect Health. Her transport units can move an extra space. Her Soldier units are also stronger defencively; the easiest way to describe it is to add one unit of Terrain Defence to her soldiers at all times. CONS: Sami's Direct unit strength is a little poor. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Sami's APC, Lander and Transport Copter units can move an extra space. Her Infantry and Mech can move another space under Double Time. Her Cruisers are not affected, even though they can carry helicopters. ~iv. Olaf~ Blue Moon CO Soldier Strength: 1.00 Direct Strength: 1.00 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Blizzard" Olaf makes it snow for a turn. This is not a popular ability; it's really only useful for slowing your opponents down for one turn. Soldier Bonus: 1.08 Direct Bonus: 1.09 Long Bonus: 1.09 PROS: Olaf is not affected by snow, which increases the movement cost for all other units by 1. It doesn't sound like much, but several units, especially those on treads and tires, will be practically immobilized by snow. And like Andy, he doesn't have any offencive weaknesses. CONS: Olaf is affected by rain moreso than the other CO's. However, rain only affects his Infantry (not Mechs), ships, and planes. Everything else is slowed down only as much as everything else is slowed down. I also find his music to be especially annoying. ~v. Grit~ Blue Moon CO Soldier Strength: 0.79 Direct Strength: 0.79 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Snipe Attack" Snipe Attack increases the power and range of his Long class units to disgusting levels. Soldier Bonus: 1.10 Direct Bonus: 1.09 Long Bonus: 1.64 PROS: Grit's longrange units have an extended range. When his CO Power gets going, anything within range of his cannons is going down. He also looks like an armed Newfoundland fisherman- he gets major points for that. CONS: Grit requires his CO Power to be truly effective. Both his soldiers and his direct offencives are the weakest in the game. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Grit's Artillery, Rockets, Missiles, and Battleships have an extra attack space. They gain two more spaces during Snipe Attack. ~vi. Kanbei~ Yellow Comet CO Soldier Strength: 1.20 Direct Strength: 1.20 Long Strength: 1.20 CO POWER: "Morale Boost" Morale Boost is like Max Force, only it works for everything. Does this guy have a flaw?! Soldier Bonus: 1.15 Direct Bonus: 1.16 Long Strength: 1.16 PROS: Great at everything. Morale Boost gives every single one of his troops yet another boost. Kanbei is also quite strong defencively; assume that his units start with a defence rating of two. (See 'Terrain Defence'.) CONS: Interestingly enough, his units are 20% stronger than normal units, and they cost 20% more as well. Infantry go for 1200, Mechs for 3600, etc. This can get pricey. ~vii. Sonja~ Yellow Comet CO Soldier Strength: 1.00 Direct Strength: 1.00 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Enhanced Vision" All of Sonja's units can see farther in Fog of War. Units hidden in forests and reefs can be seen. Soldier Bonus: 1.08 Direct Bonus: 1.09 Long Bonus: 1.09 PROS: *swoon* I love Sonja! She's cute, sweet, smart, shy, a bit of a nerd, and deadly lethal. What more do you want? Sonja has the interesting ability to keep her units' HP hidden from her opponents at all times. Though you can count the number of units remaining during the animations (which I usually have turned off) you'll still be left guessing. The HP of a unit can be extremely important, as a Mech can finish off an Anti-Aircraft Gun, but if it's at high health, the Mech will be slaughtered. Her units also have larger vision ranges. And her music is so elegant and refined! CONS: Sonja suffers from chronic bad luck. What this means is that although Sonja's attack ratings are equal with those of Andy and Olaf and the like, they will usually do less damage than the game says. There are some cases where 103% isn't enough to finish off an Infantry, for example. A good rule of thumb is to always round down, and playing to the worst-case scenario means knocking 10% off the value the game gives you. Sonja's CO Power and abilities are also 100% useless on maps without Fog of War. All it can do for you is the very slight attack bonuses. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Every single one of Sonja's units has +1 vision range. It is increased by 2 more with Enhanced Vision. ~viii. Eagle~ Green Earth CO CO POWER: "Lightning Strike" This is evil. All of Eagle's non-Soldier class units that have moved or been ordered to Wait can move again. Though they'll have slightly lower attack ratings, you're still cleaning out the map. PROS: Eagle (presumably) has stronger aircraft that can move farther than normal. CONS: Eagle's naval power is weaker. In the turn after Lightning Strike, his units' defencive ratings go down. (Thanks Dee.) ~ix. Drake~ Green Earth CO Soldier Strength: 1.00 Direct Strength: 1.00 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Tsunami" All enemy units take 1 HP damage. This is fine for weakening tough units, but it can be sort of useless against Andy or Sami in property race missions. I have tested it and it cannot destroy units, only weaken them. The good news is that your units' CO Power Bonuses will be boosted a little bit more by the fact that your opponent is 1 HP weaker. When you've only got ten, one can mean all the difference. Tsunami can also be used as a very crude radar in Fog of War, as it will (very quickly) point out the location of every unit on the map. Soldier Bonus: 1.08 Direct Bonus: 1.09 Long Bonus: 1.09 PROS: Not affected at all by rain, which happens frequently when Drake is around. Also not affected any worse than any other CO in the snow. His ships can move farther than your average CO's, and have an automatic defence rating of two stars. CONS: Drake's planes are 20% weaker than normal planes. To look at it another way, assume that the enemy unit has an additional two defence rating stars. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Battleships, Cruisers, Landers and Submarines all have +1 movement range. ~x. Sturm~ Black Hole CO Please note that Sturm's abilities seem to vary greatly between Campaign Mode and VS Mode. I have heard Meteor Strike does 4 damage instead of 8 and does hurt his own units, among many other things. Until I can test him for sure, this section will contain notes on the Campaign Mode version. Thanks to everyone who's written in. CO POWER: "Meteor Strike" All units in a 5x5 cross are reduced to 2 HP. If a unit is at 2 HP already, is reduced to 1 HP. Meteor Strike will not hurt Sturm's units, but it also cannot be used to destroy things. It only reduces HP. PROS: All units always have movement ranges of 1 over any kind of terrain (that it could traverse in the first place- we aren't talking Gold Chocobo style Mid Tanks running up mountains here). Is more than likely unaffected by weather. CONS: His units are, on the whole, a little bit weaker offencively and defencively. You probably didn't notice during Campaign Mode as he has so many of them. He's also fairly stupid-looking. And what's with the sissy pink smoke? ~xi. Nell~ Orange Star CO I have heard very little about Nell, and I'm not even sure if she's really available for hire. It is said that you have to finish Advance Campaign to be allowed to use her. Considering I took one look at Advance Campaign and decided to sweep the regular game with all S ranks before going back, it'll be a while before I know for sure. (Incidentally, I've gotten S ranks with Andy on every single level, except for the last two against Sturm. I'm gonna sweep with Sami next, and most likely pick up Eagle on the way.) PROS: Nell is said to be extremely lucky; as in, her units will do more damage than what the game says. She's also cute when she's angry. CONS: If you have to finish freaking Advance Campaign to get her, Nell better not have any cons worth talking about. :) ~4. Other Information~ ~i. Terrain Defence~ Plains, forests, bases, etc. all bestow certain levels of cover for your units. More cover means they take less damage when attacked, and can then deal back more damage (if applicible). Though more research in this area is needed, it seems that for each defence level, the damage done falls by about 10% of the original value. Examples are good. Assume that a regular, full health Infantry unit is standing on the road, which has no stars (and thus, no defence bonus) and a regular, full health Mid Tank comes up and blows the snot out of it. 105%. (Beaches and bridges also offer no defencive bonuses.) If that same Infantry unit had been standing on a plain, it would have taken 94% damage instead (and stand a fair chance of surviving the attack, albeit just barely). Plains and reefs have one star. Forests have two stars. Infantry 'only' take 84% damage here. Cities and bases have three, so it'd take 73% from that mean old Mid Tank. And lastly, Headquarters and mountains have four stars, so here, the unit would take 63% damage. Another example that supports my 10% theory is Mid Tanks. The progression from no stars to four stars when attacking a regular Mid Tank with a regular Mid Tank is: 55%, 49%, 44%, 38%, 33%. (By 'regular' I mean 'not Max, not Kanbei, but Andy VS Andy'. Andy is always used as the 'other' guy when testing units.) This is what that stuff about Sami and Kanbei's units means. Sami's Soldier units act like they have one star plus the terrain defence rating, and all of Kanbei's units act like they have two. Other COs may have defencive bonuses/penalties, as well. This section needs research. ~ii. Hiring COs~ It seems you can hire Kanbei simply by finishing Campaign Mode. Drake or Eagle can be hired by using Andy or Sami (respectively) for the four Green Earth missions. Getting Grit is as simple as using Max on Mission 4. And Sturm apparently appears after unlocking everyone else. I hope he'll show up when I get Eagle. :) (Thanks to robtracy@mediaone.net for this intel.) Meanwhile, Sonja can only be hired if you unlock her secret missions during Campaign Mode. You have to score at least A on all three of Kanbei's levels to do it. Beat the first in 8 days, the second in 10 and the third in 12 and you should be whisked off to the cutie's testing ground. (Thanks to 'me budday' Fergo for the dates.) ~iii. Movement Ranges, Vision Ranges, Attack Ranges~ For reference, here is the basic data for all types of units in the game. Name / Movement / Vision / Attack Infantry: 3 2 Mech: 2 2 Mid Tank: 5 1 Tank: 6 3 Recon: 8 5 APC: 6 1 Artil'ry: 5 1 (2~3) Rockets: 5 1 (3~5) Anti-Air: 6 2 Missiles: 4 5 (3~5) Fighter: 9 2 Bomber: 7 2 B Copter: 6 3 T Copter: 6 2 Btl.ship: 5 2 (2~6) Cruiser: 6 3 Lander: 6 1 Sub: 5 5 ~iv. Weather Effects~ These are the movement ranges over all terrain types, and how weather affects them. For each column, the first number is Clear, the second Rain and the third Snow. Terrain / Clear / Rain / Snow Inf Mch Tir Ted Tra Air Shp Water - - - - 112 112 112 Reef - - - - 222 112 222 Port 111 111 111 111 112 112 112 Shoal 111 111 111 111 111 112 - Bridge 111 111 111 111 - 112 - Road 111 111 111 111 - 112 - Plain 112 111 233 122 - 112 - Forest 112 111 344 233 - 112 - Cities, Bases, Airports, HQ 111 111 111 111 - 112 - Mountain 224 112 - - - 112 - ~v. Health and Damage~ Up until now, all the percentages quoted in this guide have assumed that the attacker is at full HP. But what happens if a unit is damaged when it goes up against something? Interestingly enough, the damage done falls in 10% increments as your HP goes down just as the damage you do falls by 10% as the defence rating goes up. On roads, a full health Mid Tank will do 55% damage to another Mid Tank. At 8 HP, it will do 44%. 4 HP, 22%. 2 HP, 11%. See the pattern? The damage done drops by 5.5% for each HP lost, which is 10% of the original damage. But keep in mind that the remaining HP of your opponent makes absolutely no difference in how much damage you do to it. The tank at 2 HP will do 11% damage to every Mid Tank it finds on the roads, whether it's at 10 or 2 HP. However, the remaining HP WILL have a factor in how much damage your unit takes back. If you use a full health Mid Tank to knock a full health Mid Tank to 4 HP, it'll do 4 HP's worth of damage back- 22%. The attacker always goes first, so if it can destroy its target entirely, it'll get off scot free. This is why it's always a good idea to attack from the best defence point possible. If you can run a Mech up a mountain to fire on a Tank, the Mech will take much less damage than it would on the ground. The Tank will take the same amount of damage no matter what, but your Mech will be in much better shape. ~5. Credits/Legal~ Advance Wars is owned by Nintendo. You know that. I know that. They know that. This is a waste of space. This guide, on the other hand, is copyright 2001 Uindamu Uiru. Touch it and you will be fed to a thousand angry Dunsparce. All data in this guide has been collected by myself, with the sole exception of, well, everything in the Hiring CO's section (which contains the credit). You may not steal it; if you must steal it, at least provide me with your home address so that I may hunt you down and break your knees. This guide may be posted on your site only if it is 100% unaltered, and if proper credit is given to me (Uiru, uiru@cephiro.com). I would appreciate being informed first.