_____ .___ / _ \ __| _/__ _______ ____ ____ ____ / /_\ \ / __ |\ \/ /\__ \ / \_/ ___\/ __ \ / | \/ /_/ | \ / / __ \| | \ \__\ ___/ \____|__ /\____ | \_/ (____ /___| /\___ >___ > \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ __ __ / \ / \_____ _______ ______ \ \/\/ /\__ \\_ __ \/ ___/ \ / / __ \| | \/\___ \ \__/\ / (____ /__| /____ > \/ \/ \/ ________ \_____ \ / \ / ____/ / \ \_______ \ \/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Advance Wars 2 For the Game Boy Advance | | By: Ben Semisch (Happybuddha311) | | Last Update: None. | | Version: 1.0 | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Thank you for choosing to read my guide, I hope you find it helpful. In this guide I will give you strategies for beating the general campaign as well as other strategies, to help you beat all the maps in the war room, as well as owning your friends in this game. Because of the randomness of the Artificial Intelligence (what controls the enemy), there is no way I can give you a set number of steps that will guarantee victory. Instead I will give you some strategies and ideas that have helped me beat the game. This guide will also provide strategies for using the COs and their units. My goal is to try and make this guide as easy for you to read and use, and as helpful as possible, if you can think of anything that would help this guide fulfill that goal, then send it to me at Happybuddha311(at)Aol(dot)com. Make sure you include two things in the subject line "Your Advance wars 2 FAQ" and what site you are reading the guide from. That way I can tell that it isn't spam, and if you ask a question already found in the guide that either the host hasn't updated or you're a lazy, stupid pile. If you are a webmaster looking to host this guide, don't. The only two sites that are allowed to have this guide are Gamefaqs.com and Ign.com. If you are reading this guide anywhere else, please inform me, so the parties involved can be dealt with in a courtroom setting. With all that said, let's get to the part of the guide you came to read, or so I'm hoping. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- i) Faq heading and general info. 1) Intro ~(You just read it, or skipped over it) 2) Table of Contents 3) Modes of play 4) The Troops - Land - Air - Sea 5) The COs, and how to unlock them 6) Strategic Formations 7) The Walkthrough 8) The War Room 9) Coming Updates 10) About the Author -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- M O D E S O F P L A Y -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- In this section I will tell you about the modes of play, or rather everything you can do in the game. In Advance wars there is plenty of stuff to do, you can even play with a human, the best part is, they don't need to have Aw2 or even a link cable. There is also many different forms of game where you play the computer, which is more likely to give you a better fight then a human opponent who doesn't have AW2. =============================================================================== C A M P A I G N =============================================================================== In this you can either begin a new campaign or continue an existing one. This is the part of the game with the story, and where you unlock the different COs, and earn points to buy maps. In the last game you had to do "Basic Training" to get to this mode, now the entire Orange star campaign is Basic Training, which kinda pisses me off, you can't do a campaign without replaying it. BLARGH! =============================================================================== V S. M O D E =============================================================================== The mode where you can play on the maps you created, or against your friends and/or the computer. You earn no coins in this mode though. *Note*: You don't need two (or more) Game Boy Advances to play multi-player. Such a beautiful thing. =============================================================================== L I N K M O D E =============================================================================== Here is where you link up to play Head to head, this mode is unnecessary because you can play with one GBA but hey, to each his own. You don't earn coins in this mode, though I think it would have been a good idea if you could wager coins, that'd make the game pretty interesting. =============================================================================== D E S I G N M O D E =============================================================================== Here is where you can create your own maps to play in VS. Mode. The editor is pretty simple, so you shouldn't have much trouble using it, they problem is coming up with a good map. I don't think I've ever made a really good map in this mode, it takes some real practice and skill. There is more on this later in the guide. You can also change CO colors here, which is pretty weird. =============================================================================== B A T T L E M A P S =============================================================================== This is where you spend your points you won in the war room and the campaign to buy COs and Maps. It's best to try and buy all of the war room maps first, because they are the ones that get you coins. Of course you'll buy COs if you have the chance first, as they'll often help you clear the war room maps with higher ranks. =============================================================================== W A R R O O M =============================================================================== Basically this is a battle simulator or a campaign mode without a plot. This and Campaign mode are the only modes you can earn coins in. In the War room you'll hone your skills as a warrior, something that takes a good deal of practice and intelligence. In the War room maps, there's too main ways to play the maps: The first way is to play the map. This means using any terrain advantages, as well as design advantages to your full advantage, while not giving the enemy too many, if any at all. This means using ambushes at choke points, and using forests and reefs, when attacking enemies, or at least not being on the road. The second way is to play agains the CO. This means using any of your opposing COs weak points to your advantage, while not letting your opponent exploit your weak points. So if you're fighting against max, you'll want to use Grit, and forget about direct combat whenever possible. Playing either of these ways should help you win the maps, but that Isn't enough. If you want to S and A rank the war room maps, you'll need to play both. Putting Grits Rockets in the forest and his battle ships in the reefs to attack Max's supply of Neo tanks and Subs is essential to wipe the floor with him. If you can do both of these you should always come out ahead. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T H E U N I T S -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- In this section I will explain to you all of the different units, their *Basic* stats (some stats change with different COs), and some strategies for them, as well as the best units to use against them. Be sure to note, by ammo, I mean ammo of the best weapon, most units have machine guns to fall back on. =============================================================================== L A N D U N I T S =============================================================================== Most of the units are land units, so this will be the biggest section for units. I will go in order of how they are listed, in the factory menu. Note that when Land units run out of gas, they just sit there until an APC refills them or they are destroyed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Infantry ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 1,000 Movement: 3 Vision: 2 Ammo: Infinite Gas: 99 Description: The infantry unit is one of the more important units in the game, they are used for capturing, and well that's about it. Though capturing is a big part of the game, these troops are also good at support fighting, and sneaking over mountains to flank an opponents long distance fighters, forcing them to retreat or take damage. Best unit use against Infantry: Anti-Airs, they are the only vehicle that can use their weapon (The Vulcan Guns) against them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mech ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 3,000 Movement: 2 Vision: 2 Ammo: 3 Gas: 70 Description: Besides the Infantry unit, this is the only unit that can capture bases, making it a very worth while unit to have. While it has a lower movement, it has a heavier gun, and less moving penalties (not being able to move as far because of certain terrain). This unit is good for taking out Tanks, and infantry. Best unit to use against Mechs: Md. Tanks, because they can take the damage from the Mechs and dish it back out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 4,000 Movement: 8 Vision: 5 Ammo: Infinite Gas: 80 Description: This unit can see a long ass ways, so it is good for recon in maps with Fog of War. This unit also has use outside fog of war maps. It's good for taking out Infantry, but not mechs, as well as long distance troops because you can zoom in from outside of their range, to right next to them in firing position where they can't fight back. Best unit to use against Recons: Tanks, they tear Recon units to shreds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tank ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 7,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 3 Ammo: 9 Gas: 70 Description: The Tank, or "Light Tank" as I call it, is your basic fighter, it can take out a lot of units and can play multiple roles. Because it has speed, good armor and, a decent weapon it is good for taking out long distance units. This weapon should also be your bread and butter weapon. Just don't try throwing these things at a Md. Tank, or you'll get sliced. Best unit against Tanks: Md. Tanks, Imagine that, the Md. Tank rips another piece of metal to shreds again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Md. Tank ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 16,000 Movement: 5 Vision: 1 Ammo: 8 Gas: 50 Description: It doesn't move as quick as the Tank, doesn't have as much ammo or gas as a tank, but it sure as hell could teach the Tank a lesson or two about ass whoopin. This unit destroys everything it comes in contact with, though it runs out of everything quickly, so make sure you have an APC, or a city to supply the tank at or you could be looking at a stranded tank relying solely on it's machine gun. This unit is probably your best ground unit, and my favorite. Best unit to use against a Md. Tank: Rockets, they have the distance to fire on them without taking return fire. Also, if you have a unit to block for the rockets, then they can get two or three shots at a Md. Tank, which should be enough to take out the tank, or at least greatly reduce it's threat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NeoTank ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 22,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 1 Ammo: 9 Gas: 99 Description: This thing is basically a Md. Tank on steroids. It literally just blows any ground unit away. It moves fast, and is quite un-stoppable, it's a draw between this and the bomber as to the most powerful unit. In the hands of Max and Kanbei, this thing is death on treads. Best Unit to use against a Neotank: Another Neotank, or a well protected rocket unit. Anything else is just a nuisance to the mighty tank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- APC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 5,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 1 Ammo: None, it has no weapons Gas: 70 Description: The APC, or Armored Personnel Carrier, moves troops faster than they can move themselves, though it's often the first to be hit in a convoy. This is a very good unit for those maps with few cities and a long way between fights, because they can zip infantry and mech units to the battle, as well as re-supply every ally troop it touches. This is a must have if you are using a good deal of Md. Tanks and/or Rockets and artillery in a convoy type strategy. Best unit to use against an APC: Anything with a gun, this unit is a pushover. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Artillery ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 6,000 Movement: 5 Vision: 1 Ammo: 9 Gas: 50 Range: 2-3 Description: This is the first Long distance weapon you come across, hence the range. It can attack things that are two or three squares away, but not any closer. This unit is good for woody areas, because it has treads, which give it less moving penalties. This weapon like all long distance weapons, will require a spotter to maximize it's effectiveness in fog of war. A spotter is simply a unit that has a vision long enough to see what you are shooting at. Recon units are good spotters. Best unit to use against Artillery: Recon, they can zip in fast and get into the "No fire zone" of the artillery. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 15,000 Movement: 5 Vision: 1 Ammo: 6 Gas: 50 Range: 3-5 Description: Another long distance unit, Rockets have a higher range, and a lower everything else. They pack more damage than an Artillery unit, but because of their low ammo, you should keep an APC with more than 2 Rocket units. This weapon like all long distance weapons, will require a spotter to maximize it's effectiveness in fog of war. A spotter is simply a unit that has a vision long enough to see what you are shooting at. Recon units are good spotters. Best unit to use against Rockets: Recon, because it can zip into position without being hit by the rockets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A-Airs (Anti-Airs) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 8,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 2 Ammo: 9 Gas: 60 Description: This weapon is best against Air units as the name would apply, however, this unit is also good against Infantry, mechs and Recon units, making it a decent investment in the early stages of a game. Best unit to use against Anti-Airs: Md. Tanks and Tanks, both can take it's Vulcan gun like it was a water gun and thrash it with their cannons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Missiles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 12,000 Movement: 4 Vision: 5 Ammo: Missiles Gas: 50 Range: 3-5 Description: This is basically what artillery is to tanks, only for bombers. This is the best weapon to use against those pesky air units, you don't even need a spotter because this unit can see as far as it shoots. One draw back is that you'll need an Anti-air in case one of the planes zooms in next to it where it becomes helpless. Also any ground or sea unit with a gun could easily molest this unit if it is left unguarded. So the only practical use for this unit is in large convoys and base defending where there is other defenders. Best unit against Missiles: 2 Md. Tank (if guarded, if not anything will do), even if it does have guards one Md. Tank can take care of most of the guards while the other one takes out the missiles. Then you can bring in the planes to finish off the guards. =============================================================================== A I R U N I T S =============================================================================== With all of the air units, you want to watch out for Anti-Airs and Missiles as well as cruisers, if you can try to take out those units with ground or sea troops you should be good. Also watch out for enemy fighters which can pull your men out of the sky quickly. You should try to reserve building Fighters and Bombers until you have ample supplies, and can build at least one each turn. Other wise a cheap multi-role Anti-air could ruin your investment. One good thing about Air units that makes them worth the money is their lack of moving penalties, no matter what type of terrain they cross, they have no penalty. They do get moving penalties in weather though, like all troops. Unlike Ground units, If an air unit runs out of fuel, it plummets to it's fiery death to the ground, watch for your fuel, as you want to protect your investment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fighters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 20,000 Movement: 9 Vision: 2 Ammo: 9 Gas: 99 Description: this unit only has missiles so as soon as you run out, run back to an airport or an APC to re-supply. These units only have one purpose to take out other air units, so don't buy these until you see your opponent with air troops or, until you are confident he is planning on building them. Even then don't go crazy building them, a good strategist can use two or three to take out all the air units he needs. Best unit to use against Fighters: Missiles, they have the range and can take you out of the air before you can say "FUCK, THAT BEEOTCH JUST SHOT ME OUT OF THE AIR!". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bomber ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 22,000 Movement: 7 Vision: 2 Ammo: 9 Gas: 99 Description: These babies can ruin any picnic they attend, they can thrash most units in one hit, even if they don't kill them they will have taken out the threat the enemy even posed, allowing for a ground troop to come in and finish them off. These puppies are expensive and sitting or rather flying ducks for the fighters because they can't fight back. Make sure to protect your investment in these with a fighter or two. Best unit to use against Bombers: Fighters, the bomber can't shoot back, making that 22,000 all for nothing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B Cptr (Battle Copter) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 9,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 3 Ammo: 6 Gas: 99 Description: This unit is good for taking out every land unit except the Anti- air, because it forces the units to use their Machine guns, while it can use it's missiles to take them out. Just watch out for the support troops that they may have hiding. Best unit to use against B Cptrs: Anti-Airs, they can use the Vulcan guns to take down you quick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- T Cptr (Troop Copter) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 5,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 2 Ammo: None, no weapons Gas: 99 Description: This is just like the APC only its Airborne instead of ground based. Unfortunately this unit can't re-supply units, but it doesn't have the same moving penalties as an APC, which makes up for it. Best Weapon to use Against T Cptrs: Anti-Airs, Missiles, and Fighters, all of which can take out T Cptrs in one hit if they are fully stocked. =============================================================================== S E A U N I T S =============================================================================== This is the last section of the units, and one of the least important sets. You will probably use Sea troops less than you do Air and land troops, but that doesn't make them unimportant. Most Sea troops are vulnerable to air troops so make sure you have your own air troops or at least a cruiser or two to take out the air threat. For some reason, if a ship runs out of fuel, it sinks. I'm not sure why beyond the fact that if it's out in sea there is no way to refuel it, so it just sits there. So I guess that function serves a purpose. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B Ship (Battle Ship) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 28,000 Movement: 5 Vision: 2 Ammo: 9 Range: 2-6 Gas: 99 Description: This is the best distance unit in the game, because unless he has sea or air troops he can't touch you. As with most of the distance weapons you'll need a spotter for the use of this weapon. This weapon is best used as a support for a land based assault, just don't rely to heavily on it, because it can be easily taken out by an air unit. Best unit to use against B Ships: Bombers, the Battle ship can't fight back, but watch out for cruisers, which can easily take you out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cruiser ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 18,000 Movement: 6 Ammo: 9 Gas:99 Description: This is the support unit for the B Ships or landers. It can only fire on air troops and subs, so more than two of these ships is most likely overkill. Best unit to use against Cruisers: a B Ship, because the cruiser can't fight back. If you have the chance a distance unit from the shore will also work in a pinch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lander ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 12,000 Movement: 6 Vision: 1 Ammo: No weapons Gas: 99 Description: Landers are used for the sole purpose of getting troops from point A to point B over water terrain. This unit can only land on shores, which are placed on most places you'd want to land. The best way to use this unit is to flank an enemy, or to attack his back, or flank. Make sure you have support units with a lander, or you could lose your lander, and Md. Tanks can't swim. Best unit to use against Landers: Dived Subs work well, because they can pop-up hit the lander than leave before a cruiser can get to them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sub ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 20,000 Movement: 5 Vision: 5 Ammo: 6 Gas: 60 Description: This unit is good for guerilla tactics, because you can see everything you need to, and when dived the only way an enemy can see you is if they are next to you, making surprise attacks simple. One thing to take note is that when dived you use more gas, and your weapons do less damage. So if you get a chance to, pop out of the water to hit your enemy. Best unit to use against Subs: Cruisers, they can sink a sub like it wasn't there. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T H E C O M M A N D I N G O F F I C E R S (COs) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- In this section I will tell you all about the commanding officers, what modes they can be used in, their CO powers, what advantages and disadvantages they have, as well as various strategies that you may not have thought of. If you have any strategies that work well for a CO and you don't see it here, E-mail it to me, and if it's good enough I may just put it in the guide (with credit of course). Make a note that "how to unlock" is for Versus and War room modes only. Please note that the CO power descriptions is an adaptation from the info found in the game, as well as the fact that this does not cover the secret characters, only those you fight with or against in campaign mode. =============================================================================== Orange Star =============================================================================== The Orange star COs are quite possibly the most elite of all the teams, as so, they are one of the most balanced factions in the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andy is one of the COs that is well rounded. None of his troops have any weaknesses, but none of them have any outstanding strengths either. Andy is useful for pretty much any situation, but really shines when facing up against COs that prey on the weakness of the opponent, or when you have a pre-set deployed amount of units (no factories in the map) as Andy can repair his units when they aren't on an allied building. Andy is unlocked by Default. Andy's CO Powers are quite impressive, with "Hyper Repair", all of his units regain two Hit points, up to ten. It'd be cool if it went over ten. His troops also get a small offensive and defensive bonus during the turn. As for his super power, "Hyper Upgrade", all of his troops regain up to 5 hit points, though it can't exceed ten, they can a bigger offensive bonus and they have an extra movement square. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Max ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Max is a big dumb animal. But he and his units are strong as an Ox. Basically all of Max's Direct fire Units gain a 50% attack bonus, however his units are too dumb to target Distance weapons well, and because they'd prefer to get up close and personal, they don't bother to learn. So they get a Slight deduction in attack and distance they are able to fire. Like Andy, Max is unlocked at the start of the game. Keeping with the theme of being a big dumb animal, Max's Co Powers are quite useful. "Max Force", Increases the firepower of all of Max's direct fire units and they can move one extra space. His Super power, "Max Blast", however, is just uber-power. His direct fire units get an amazing amount of firepower and can move two extra spaces. Nifty to say the least. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sami ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sami is the infantry specialist. All of her infantry units are Uber Powerful, and they can capture building with amazing speed. With Sami you'll want to build tons and tons of infantry and Mechs to outnumber the enemy. Plus if the enemy ambushes, you can always retreat through terrain like mountains and the such, so the tanks can't get you. However Sami's direct fire units suffer a bit, but the infantry has a bit better usage in my opinion. Like the last 2 orange star COs, sami is available for use right at the beginning of the game. Sami's Co Powers are kinda meh, and WHOA. Fo' Sure'. "Double Time", Makes Infantry and mech units a movement bonus of one with stronger firepower. I know, it's like throwing rocks at tanks, however her Super Power will knock your socks off. "Victory March", Gives your mech and Infantry units two extra movement spaces, beefed up firepower, and the ability to capture buildings at 2000% speed. In other words, you can be at one health and capture the enemy HQ that turn, with that unit. It's cooler than Vanilla Ice, oh wait he just sucked. =============================================================================== Blue Moon =============================================================================== The Blue moon COs are more of a guerilla group, Grit, likes to stay hidden and fight. Olaf attacks best in the snow, and Colin can quickly raise an army. Blue moon is probably one of the best groups to have if you get a choice of support COs, as they complement others well, EX: Grit and Max, or Colin and Kanbei. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Olaf ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Olaf is the general of the Blue moon military. His units do real well in snow but they do awful in the rain, besides that Olaf has no weaknesses. So what you'll want to do with Olaf is use his opponents weakness to win. Provided you can use the terrain well, Olaf should be a good addition to your ability to kick some ass. Olaf's CO Powers can control the weather. The regular power, "Blizzard" Just causes snow for the round and hurts your opponents movement and attack abilities. His Super Co Power, "Winter Furry", does the same as blizzard, only it does 2 damage to each opposing unit as well. Olaf's Power charge pretty quick, so use them often. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grit is the Sniper of the Blue moon faction. With grit you'll want to stay behind mountains or in trees, especially in fog of war maps. Then shell the crap out of your opponents. With his long range it's also a good idea to get one square past the range of your enemies artillery/rockets and blast them. His CO powers only help blast away far units. If you are playing fog of war maps, make sure you know how to use spotters to your advantage to spot far away enemies. Grit's Co powers will have you laughing at your opponent, from squares and squares away. His regular Co Power, "Snipe Attack", Increases the range of his distance fire units by 1 and increases their firepower considerably. His Super Co Power, "Super Snipe", brings up your range by 2 and they receive an even greater firepower bonus. Allows you do some real good damage if you have your units in good places. Now when you use Grit's Co Powers, always start with the units furthest from the front lines, you never know when there is an enemy in your sights because of it. This way you won't waste up that unit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colin is that spoiled little rich kid that always has the best stuff. You know you know someone like this, everybody does. Colin has a way of lowering costs for units, basically it involves cutting training short. As such his units are often weaker then others units, you get what you pay for. The best strategy to use with Colin is to build up massive amounts of the best troops to try and even the playing field. Don't even waste your time with tanks, go straight for the Md. Tanks and Neo Tanks. Colin's Co Powers revolve around money, apparently he hasn't heard that money is the root of all evil. His regular Co Power, "Gold Rush", will up your funds by 1.5 times. Make sure you use it at the beginning of a turn to maximize the effect. Colin's Super Co Power, "Power of Money", Increases your firepower based on how much money you have. So if you're on one of those maps where you can't build anything, but you still gain funds, use this near the end and you can completely wipe out your enemy with extreme prejudice. That's it for the Blue Moon boys, onto... =============================================================================== Yellow Comet =============================================================================== The yellow comet has some very conflicting views about strategy. Kanbei is a "Win at all Costs with Elite troops" kind of guy, and Sonja is more of a "Tactics and positioning over ability". Needless to say you'll have to use their strategies if you want to win with them. Sensei on the other hand is one of those great COs that allows the use of any nearly any philosophy on troops, as long as he wins. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kanbei ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kanbei is the General of the Yellow Comet faction. He beliefs in elite troops with superior training programs. His units cost a bit more, but that extra training pays off really well. With Kanbei if you focus on his opponents weakness you can really show off Kanbei's skill as a CO. You will need to make sure to capture as many properties as you can, so the beginning of any battle is going to be really important for Kanbei. Kanbei's Co Powers are probably the most simplistic of all powers. His regular CO Power, "Moral Boost", simply increases the firepower of all of your units. Kanbei's Super CO power, "Samurai Spirit", strengthens your offensive and defensive capabilities considerably, any damage your units do when counter- attacking is multiplied by 15. That's a spicy meatball! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonja ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonja believes in strategy and playing by the numbers. Her units health can't be seen by opponents, which really doesn't play that big of a role as they are all of a lower quality. Sonja's troops have been updated in this version, so that they are like that of Andy and Olaf, in that they are even. In last game, all of her units sucked and fighting against Sonja was all too easy. All of Sonja's units have a better range of sight, and that really helps on maps with fog of war, Sonja's units also have a better counterattack then most COs. Sonja's Co Powers are nothing to really write home about. Her regular power, "Enhanced Vision", increases the vision of your troops by space and allows them to see through reefs and woods as if there was a unit next to it. Sonja's Super co Power, "Counter Break", does the exact same has enhanced vision, but it also beefs up counter attacks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sensei ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sensei is like Sami, his infantry is superior, however, Sensei's helicopters are also superior. His infantry doesn't have upped capturing skills like Sami, but they do fight well. One other group of units that benefits from having Sensei command it is the transport units. They all have extra space of movement. The problem is, all of his other ground units suffer from this, like Sami's. Sensei's Co powers seem to scream that the Infantry/Mech swarm needs to be done. "Copter Command", raises all of the attack copters firepower, and infantry units with 9 health will appear in all allied cities, ready to go. His super power, "Airborne Assault", will increase Copter firepower even more and mech units with 9 health will appear at all allied cities, ready to roll out. =============================================================================== Green Earth =============================================================================== The Green earth COs are well known for being the group who knows their terrain, Eagle is the air commander, Drake takes the Naval side of things, and a new comer, Jess, Takes the ground campaign. In the Green Earth campaign expect to see several Mostly Air and Mostly Sea missions because of this. In my opinion Eagle is the best, I personally have always believed that air superiority will almost always win the fight, fighting against a good air force and ground force takes some real skill, but orchestrating an assault involving both isn't as hard as it seems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eagle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eagle is your go-to guy for anything air borne. His Air force is unmatchable by any other CO but his navy leaves something to be desired. The Prove of his Air force's greatness is he's developed technology that allows his units to stay up while using less gas. You'd think he'd share his secret with the other two COs, but no. Meh, perhaps he's paranoid of a revolution, or maybe he's just an elitist ass. Eagle's CO Powers are some of the best in the game. "Lightning Drive" increase the offensive and defensive abilities of your units quite noticeably, which is good but I recommend saving for the super power. "Lightning Strike" will allow all non-infantry units another turn to move, as well as increased offensive and defensive abilities to air units. This is better than last time where you took a offensive and defensive deduction when using his CO Power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drake ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like eagle, drake is a go-to guy, this time for anything that floats. Drake's learned how to keep his ships afloat longer and faster (1 square faster infact) then his competition, which allows his units to focus more on fighting, giving him a serious advantage on water. His Naval units are second to none, and he knows that. Drake also has one of the best CO powers in the entire game. His CO Power "Tsunami" attacks with a tidal wave and does 1 hp of damage to any enemy unit as well as reduces their fuel by 50%! On the other hand, his super power "Typhoon" will cause a tidal wave, deal 2 HP of damage to each enemy unit reduce their fuel by 50% and cause them to lose some movement. A Perfect counter to Hawke's Black Sturm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jess ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jess is the new-comer in this faction. Her turf is anything that rolls, all of her ground units are supped up real well. If the terrain calls for mostly land with few airports Jess is most likely your girl. One of her big weaknesses is sea and air, she doesn't stand a chance, so don't even bother taking that route. For some reason her infantry also suffer deficiencies in attack power. Jess's CO Powers are decent and quite effective, letting you leave the APC's at H.Q. "Turbo Charge" allows all vehicles to move 1 space further then they normally would with slightly increased firepower, as well as increases their fuel and ammo supplies to the fullest amount possible. "Overdrive" on the other hand, Allows them to move 2 spaces further, have a significantly higher fire rate and refuels and restocks their munitions, quite handy. =============================================================================== Black Hole =============================================================================== Here's the bad guys in the game, almost all of them have powerful units and they use them well. How do you expect they took over war-world any other way? Black hole is a bit different this time around, for starters they have installations now that are real pains in the ass. These Include: Laser Turrets, Black Cannons, Mini Cannons, Huge Missiles and Fortresses, as well as huge factories that can allow movement of up to three units on the same turn they are produced. There is no way to capture any of these things which is a real pity, it could really add a good strategic element to the game. Several of the Black hole troops resemble those of other armies troops, whither this was for rivalry or because the developers simply ran out of ideas, we may never know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sturm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sturm relies on one principle: "A strong Offense is the best defense". Because of this all of his units have a increased attack rating, but a decreased defense rating. So if you're playing as Sturm you'll definitely want to attack first. Sturm's troops can move over terrain very easily as though it wasn't there at all (except for mountains and Sea) Sturm sucks at fighting in the winter, so Olaf has a good chance to whoop on sturm with his CO Powers. Sturm only has one CO Power, that being his Super CO power which is much more powerful then before. "Meteor Strike" Brings down a meteor apprx 5X5 square range that deals 8 HP damage to ANY unit in it's path. He'll always aim for high concentrations of troops or the best units, so make sure if you don't want a surprise bombing run foiled, bunch up a bunch of troops to "Take one(or rather 8) for the team". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hawke ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hawke is much more powerful than Sturm as you'll see the first time you fight him. His units all have amazing firepower and suffer no weaknesses. Hawke's only real "weakness" is that his awesome CO Powers take awhile to charge. "Good things come to those who wait" is a phrase that is so true when talking about Hawke's killer CO Powers. "Black Wave" Will damage all allied troops (good guys) for 1 HP and all of his troops will gain 1 HP. "Black Storm" will do the same, only with double the damage and reward (You lose 2 HP, he Gains 2 HP). His CO Power is best countered with Drake's "Typhoon" or Andy's "Hyper Upgrade". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adder ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adder isn't anything too special all of his troops are quite average and balanced like andy, and chances are good if you use his CO Power as often as possible you'll be ahead of the game. Adder has the quickest CO power available, or rather it charges faster, but it's kind of weak. "Sideslip" increases movement of all troops by one and "Sidewinder" increases movement of all troops by 2. His CO powers charge quickly so use it every time it's fully charged, well when it benefits all units that is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lash ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lash is quite a skilled tactician like Sonja of Yellow Comet. Her specialty is taking advantage of terrain features and turning them into firepower bonuses. Quite nifty if you're fighting in rugged terrain, like the rest of the Black Hole COs her troops are balanced in everyway. Her CO Powers leave something to be desired though, "Terrain Tactics" just lowers the cost of moving to one fuel point. Which doesn't really do shit if you have an APC around to refuel everyone. "Prime Tactics" doubles attack bonuses from terrain and drops the cost of moving to one fuel, which is kind of okay, but is still a pretty shitty CO Power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flak ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flak has a higher rate of fire then most, but he's too stupid to grasp the fact that techniques is more important then attack, so his sloppy shots sometimes do less damage then they should. This makes most of his troops more or less pretty evened out, though more weak then strong. His CO Powers are like max are kinda stupid, "Brute Force" increases the chance of a Super strong hit, and also increases the chance of Flak's guy fucking up the shot, doing lower then average damage. His Super CO Power "Barbaric Blow" increases the fire power of his troops for sure, but it lowers the defense that they usually have, meaning, if you use this attack, make sure your enemy can't fight back. =============================================================================== WTF!?? I don's see these COs you're talking about, are you on crack or something? =============================================================================== Here's how to unlock all of those COs I talked about above: CO Grit: Beat Blue Moon Campaign CO Lash: Beat Blue Moon Campaign CO Olaf: Beat Blue Moon Campaign CO Hawke: Beat Campaign Mode once CO Adder: Beat Campaign Mode once CO Drake: Beat Green Earth Campaign CO Eagle: Beat Green Earth Campaign CO Hachi: Beat Hard Campaign Mode CO Sonja: Beat Yellow Comet Campaign CO Kanbei: Beat Yellow Comet Campaign CO Jess: Buy Drake or Eagle CO Colin: Buy Grit or Olaf CO Sensei: Buy Kanbei or Sonja CO Nell: Get an overall rank of A in Campaign Mode CO Sturm: Get an overall rank of S in Campaign Mode Source: Gamefaqs "Cheats Section" Thank you to all of the hard-working code contributors. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- S T R A T E G I C F O R M A T I O N S -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- In this section I will go over special strategic formations that I will use in the walkthrough, some of these are pretty basic so if you've ever played a strategic game you can probably just skip over this section. If you have any other formations that I did not include here, feel free to send them to me (Happybuddha311(at)aol(dot)com). I will also include a list of general formations from Sun Bin's "The Lost Art Of War". I will relate his strategies to this game, using examples of units to use. =============================================================================== Master Sun, on Strategic Formations =============================================================================== "Generally speaking, there are ten kinds of battle formations. These are square formations, round formations, sparse formations, dense formations, pointed formations, formations like a flock of geese, hook like formations, confusing formations, fire formations and water formations. Each of these has it's uses. Square formations are for cutting off; round formations are for massing solidly. Sparse formations are for bristling (giving the illusion of being bigger and stronger than one really is); dense formations are for being impossible to take. Pointed formations are for cutting through, formations like goose flocks are for handling barrages. Hook like formations make it possible to adapt and change plans, confusing formations are for deceiving armies and muddling them. Fire formations are used for rapid destruction, water formations are used for both offense and defense." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Square Formations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The rule for square formations is to make the center thin and the sides thick, with the main line at the back. The sparse array in the center is used for bristling." Basically, you will want to use this formation for cutting off an enemies advance or escape. The front should be made up of light units, like tanks and mechs, while the sides of tanks and Md. Tanks. The back should be made up of neotanks and Md. Tanks, whilst the middle is made up of artillery and rockets. The reasoning for this is because light units usually lead the pack for recon, and the heavy units follow. The units on the side need to be tough to stop the enemy from trying to dodge the block. The neotanks are in the back as the last line of defense, if the enemy does punch through, it will be to waiting neotanks, and the enemy should be already weak, meaning they don't have much of a chance. In using this, if the enemy has an airport, or you think he has planes, throw in a few anti-airs and missiles for a safety measure. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sparse Formations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The rule for sparse formations is to for added strength and firmness in cases where there is little armor and few people. The warrior's technique is to set up banners and flags to give the appearance that there are people there. Therefore they are arrayed sparsely, with space in between, increasing the banners and insignia, with sharpened blades ready at the flanks. They should be at sufficient distance to avoid stumbling over each other, yet arrayed densely enough that they cannot be surrounded; this is a matter for caution. The chariots are not to gallop, the foot soldiers are not to run. The general rule for sparse formations is in making numerous small groups, which may advance or retreat, may strike or defend, may intimidate enemies or may ambush them when they wear down. In this way a sparse formation can successfully take an elite corps." The use of sparse formations only works in maps with fog of war. Because otherwise the enemy can see you are unprepared. So what you want to do is set- up a bunch of small groups of units, or convoys (see my strategic formations), spaced far apart, that can scare the enemy into thinking you have more troops than you really do. If he thinks this, then he will produce more troops, buying you time to build more troops and gain a better position. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dense formations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The rule for a dense formation is not to space the troops too far apart; have them travel at close quarters, massing the blades yet giving enough room to wield them freely, front and rear protecting each other. . . If the troops are frightened, settle them down. Do not pursue opponents in flight, do not try to stop them from coming either strike them on a circuitous route, or break down their elite troops. Make your formation tightly woven, so there are no gaps; when you withdraw, do so under cover. In this way, a dense formation cannot be broken down." The reason for dense formations is to be un-stoppable. This is a way to win a good deal of maps, and my convoy formation is loosely based on this formation. The reason for this formation is to destroy the enemies' elite troops, (IE their Neotanks, Md. Tanks and Rockets). To perform this formation you should have strong units around the front and rear, neotanks and Md. Tanks, then artillery, rockets, another tier of artillery, then the rear. Somewhere in this group (near the middle of it) should be an APC or two, with infantry units. They will re-supply your troops as they run out of ammo and gas, and the infantry can be used to capture any enemy buildings you pass. If you need to retreat in this formation you want to make sure you have support fire from your distance units, blast all the close units then make a run for it the next turn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pointed formations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A pointed formation is like a sword: if the tip is not sharp, it will not penetrate; if the edge is not thin, it will not cut; if the base is not thick, it cannot be deployed on the battle front. Therefore the tip must be sharp, the edge must be thin, and the main body must be thick; then a pointed formation can be used for cutting through." The pointed formations are for cutting through an enemy defense. You need a sharp blade to cut through, the tip of this blade should be a strong unit like a neotank or a Md. Tank. The edge should be light support units like Tanks, Artillery, and Anti-airs the main body should be more Md. Tanks, and Neotanks, while the base should be rockets and missiles. Again my Convoy formation is loosly based off this formation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hooked formation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "In a hooked formation, the front lines should be straight, while the left and right flanks are hooked, With gongs, drums, and pipes at the ready, and flags prepared, the troops should know there own signal and flag . . ." This is basically saying when two armies are going toe to toe, curve the ends of your formation so the enemy can't flank you easily. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amphibious warfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The rule for amphibious warfare is to have a lot of infantry and few chariots. Have them fully equipped so that they can keep up when advancing and do not bunch up when withdrawing. To avoid bunching up, go with the current: make the enemy soldiers into targets." Basically this says to use infantry and mechs in maps with lots of rivers. That way you won't have to worry about finding a crossing for your tanks, and you can retreat easier, because you can cross a river so the enemy will have to pursue with infantry. This leaves them open for an ambush. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Water Warfare ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The rule for warfare on the water is to use light boats to guide the way, use speedboats for messengers. If the enemy retreats, pursue; if the enemy approaches close in. Be careful about advancing and withdrawing in an orderly manner, according to what is prudent under prevailing conditions. Be on the alert as they shift positions attack them as they set up a front, split them up as they organize. As the soldiers have a variety of weapons and chariots, and have both mounted troops and infantry, it is essential to find out their quantities. Attack their boats, blockade the fords, and inform your people when the troops are coming. These are the rules of amphibious combat." What this is saying is, hold your ground... errr . . . water? Attack them when they move to attack you, or they are trying to set up. Then block off their ship yards, so they can't fight in the water. This will allow you to move in your troops in landers for a ground assault. While the enemy defends against this attack, use a pincers movement to flank them. If timing is good and the enemy does not see the flank, victory shall be yours. The rest of the formations (confusion and fire) do not apply to the game very well, so they where not included. If you would still like to read upon them look for "The Art of War; Complete Texts and Commentaries" by Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary. Anything found in quotes from the previous section is copyright Thomas Cleary, 1988, 1989, 1996 and 2000. =============================================================================== Happybuddha's Game specific formations =============================================================================== After reading one of the greatest generals ever talk about the battle formations these feel kind of lame. But they get the job done, and they do it well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Convoy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This formation is an adaptation of many different basic formations described by Sun Bin. It is practical for nearly any task. In a convoy, the goal is to get a platoon of units together so they have no weakness, only strength. This is best accomplished with a Neo Tank (Md. Tanks work too), recon (for fog of war only) APC and Mech unit (The mech is inside the APC), Rockets and a Anti-Air unit. In the formation the Neo Tank will go first, followed by the recon, that way the tank can defend everything, while the recon can scout ahead (in fog of war maps). Next should come the Anti-Air, followed by the Rockets with the APC with the mech unit inside bringing up the rear. The Rocket is used to weaken enemy attacks, while the APC and Mech are used for refueling and supplying as well as capturing bases. The Anti-air is there to defend against an air attack (obviously). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mech/Infantry Onslaught Assault ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now this tactic won't get you many S ranks, but it will more than likely get the job done. This will only work if you have as many or more bases then the enemies do. In this formation you just build Infantry units with all bases every turn, and money permitting Mech units. The goal is to out number opponents, 3 or 4 Mech units can take out a Md. Tank, and they only cost 9,000-12,000, while a Md. Tank costs 16,000. Who gets the better end of the deal? There is also the benefit Infantry and Mech units can cross mountainous terrain, making it easy to get in and out of places, regardless of terrain. This tactic works best with Sami and Sensei as they have Mech and Infantry bonuses. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T H E C A M P A I G N -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- In this section I will be helping you through the campaign part of the game, unlike other guides, you're going to have to do a little bit of thinking for yourself, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. As you read through the guide, you will start to understand the reasons for certain movements, and soon you'll be able to play through the game with an all S-Rank and the grasshopper will become the master. An important thing to remember is that because the AI acts differently each time, there is no way I can give you a solution to a map that will work every single time. So please don't e-mail me saying, "I can't do it" because I won't be able to help you much more than what I've already written here. The missions have been organized by what country they are in first, then in the order they appear. There will be a note near the title if the map to the Neotank lab is found in said map. =============================================================================== Orange star =============================================================================== Did you hate the field training last time? Well you're really going to hate it this time, because you have to do all of them, and the orange star missions are where it's at. These are pretty easy, but it's annoying to have Nell pop in and give her two cents on EVERYTHING. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cleanup ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Andy Enemy: Flak This mission is EEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSYYYYY. Flak has two Infantry, you have three, take on the first infantry two on one, then use you're remaining infantry to take his second (if you can reach it). Then finish off the second infantry unit next turn. BAM your first S-Rank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Border Skirmish ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Sami Enemy: Flak The first thing you'll want to do is park your tank on the city right before the bridge, after dealing with the enemy on your side of the bridge. Move the artillery next to it. Now let the enemy come to you and blow them away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Orange Dawn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Max Enemy: Flak In this mission you'll want to use your new unit, the battle copters, to take on flak's. You have two, he has one, so take it out. Next take all of your units and block the bridge. Now use the helicopters to flank Flak and his tanks, while defeating them on the ground. You could also flank flak with the copters while using your Transport Copter and an infantry unit and capturing his H.Q. You'll get a better speed and technique rating this way. Don't worry, not all the missions will be this easy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flak Attack ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Max Enemy: Flak *The Map to the Neotank lab is in this map, it's in the city north of the HQ* This mission is almost like a siege battle, you'll lure the enemy in and destroy them with your anti-airs and missiles. Then finish off all of the loose troops, and you're down with another easy mission. Don't forget to capture the city north of the map, or Orange star won't get Neotanks, this could make later missions really hard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Test of Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Andy Enemy: Flak The goal of this mission is to capture the enemy lab before they can destroy the plans for Neotanks. So what you need to do is move FAST and capture the lab with-in 7 days. Keep an anti-air parked at HQ otherwise Flak will take the HQ and you will lose. Next take all of your other troops across the first bridge, there is an enemy rocket unit at the very north of the map, you will incur some casualties from this, but keep crossing the bridge. When you get to the other side, there is another rocket unit this time in the southeast corner by the lab, in a forest. Take him out and capture the Lab. Congratulations you now have Neotanks at your disposal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lash Out ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Sami Enemy: Lash First things, first, take the Transport Copter out of the "Danger zone" because you'll need it. Next try to take the factory in the northwest corner. At the very least block it so lash can't build any units, now take out the sub. Next use the battle ship to destroy the Anti-airs, and use whatever ground troops you have to support the ship. After they have been taken out, take the transport Copter and one troop and capture the HQ before the time limit runs out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andy's Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Andy Enemy: Flak The only way to finish this mission is to destroy the black cannon. This can be done two ways, the first is with flak's troops bugging you. The second is without them at all. The latter is much easier. To do this, you'll need to use Blitzkrieg; a technique the Nazi's used to their advantage to take most of Europe, those who play chess should know this term (it is used in "Fool's Mate"). Basically it means Lightning fast furious attack. To do this, Keep making recon units and send them up to destroy any infantry Flak makes. He only has 2,000 in funds a day, so that's all he can build, make sure he doesn't capture any territories or you could screw this up. Now when you have about 4-5 recon up there, and an infantry unit, take the factory by force. Then mop up the remaining infantry before they can take another factory. Then take your time using distance units to take out the black cannon. Just be careful when positioning the units for attack or the black cannon will take off 5 points from them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liberation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Your choice (I picked max) Enemy: Flak The goal of this mission is to take out the pipe leading to the factory, destroy the seam for completion of this mission, with max it should only take one hit from a bomber and then it should be down for the count. What you'll want to do is first, build an APC and Infantry unit and take the airport in the middle of the map. After that you'll want to build a tank and get it to protect the airport, next you'll want to buy a bomber. Before you take the bomber to bomb the pipe, or even build it for that matter, make sure any Anti-air or missiles that can get to the bomber at the airport are taken down. Then buy the bomber, and blow away the pipe next turn. If the Airport is taken, you might as well start over, Flak has much more resources and factories and he'll quickly overwhelm you with them. =============================================================================== Blue Moon =============================================================================== The Blue moon missions are quite different from the last game, this time you get to use Blue moon COs to do all of the missions. As opposed to only having to use Orange star the whole time. Now these maps are pretty easy. So let's go at it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reclamation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Co: Colin Enemy: Lash This mission is sooooo easy. What you'll want to do is use an APC or two to capture the buildings that are somewhat far from your starting base, then build up a helicopter squadron, make sure you build some tanks any size will do really. Then give lash the ol' One-two Land/Air Attack. Provided you have more resources, you'll win this one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toy Box ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Co: Olaf Enemy: Lash This Map contains the Neo-tank lab map, it's on the island in the center of the bottom. This map is best settled with Blitzkrieg. Build recon and light tanks ASAP, then take the factory in the middle, as long as you control more factories than Lash, she'll be Totally Shit outta luck. The best way to take this map is in a counter-clock wise fashion, just sweep through, make sure to grab the map, then capture Lash's HQ, she shouldn't put up much of a fight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NeoTanks!? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Co: Your Choice of the Blue Moon COs, I picked Grit Enemy: Lash In this mission you must capture the lab in the upper right hand corner of the map before the 15 days end. There's two really important pieces to winning this map. The first is the Air port, try to capture that, and you should be real well off. The next is the factory on the other side of the bridge, if you capture this you'll have access to close re-inforcements. You can use the missile silos to attack lash's lab area, then sweep in with light tanks, artillery and infantry in APCs, and you should be able to take the map. Now, you may be asking why waste resources on the Air port, an obvious lost cause? Well it's strategy, if you get the air port you can wipe the floor with lash, so she'll do anything to prevent that, even go as far as directing most of her troops and efforts to that zone. Which allows you to only have to fight two md. Tanks and a rocket unit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TANKS! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Grit Enemy: Adder In this map, you have to take out a convoy of enemy Md.Tanks. You have some indirect firing weapons, a few recon units and an infantry or two. What you'll want to do is use "Spotters" IE, put the Recon units and infantry in positions where they can see the enemy units, but the enemy units can't see them, or fire at them. For the Recon, the woods is a good place, and the infantry should go up on the mountains. The tanks usually go north, so take the south recon to the east and use the missiles to slow down the tanks. Then mop up adders recon and infantry units. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- T Minus 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Olaf and Andy Enemy: Flak In this mission you'll need to take out the eight cities that surround the missile silo. Not that difficult of a task. Basically what you want to do, is sacrifice the troops in the bottom section. Flak's troops won't try to cross the pipe, and the only thing they can do is use indirect fire on you, which shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Use andy to flank flak and you should be good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nature walk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Grit Enemy: Lash This mission isn't timed but you'll certainly want to hurry up. To win this mission, I believe you must get a unit to your HQ, before the enemy captures it. Destroying the Black cannons is also part of the equation, but the mission didn't clear until I got a unit to the H.Q. Now that we have the mission requirements out of the way, let's get into the actual mission. There is fog of war, so you'll want to keep all of your units hidden in trees. The black cannons have a huge range, and they knock off 5 points of health if they hit. So Tree hop, and use Grit's Long distance units to knock out the black cannons. Make sure you clear the way with your direct fire units. Another good thing to do, is while you finish with the cannons, get a tank or two up to the tree by the H.Q. in case the enemy starts to capture it, so you can stop him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two Week Test ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Colin Enemy: Lash In this mission you'll need to hold out for 14 days. This isn't too hard of a mission, as lash doesn't really start throwing troops at you until day 7 or so. There is two ways to beat this mission, the first is to block out the choke point that leads to your HQ with neo tanks. The other way, which is easier, but will give you a lower score, is to just simply mass produce infantry and clog up every square around the HQ. The enemy will not have a sufficient amount of time to clear a path and clear you out. Though this will shoot your technique rating down to almost nothing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Factory Blues ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Your Choice, Grit and Max work best. Enemy: Lash The goal in this mission is to destroy the seam in the pipe. Sounds easier then it really is. Before you start this mission make sure that you have Neo- tanks or you'll never be able to get them for blue moon, and that will put you in a serious disadvantage later. Now, what you'll want to do is use max for close fighting and Grit to use his long distance. With that, you'll want max to focus on the right side of the map, going down that way. The enemy will shift his main focus that way. Now, save up for a bomber, capture the air port, and use Max's high direct fire rating to blast the pipe in one shot. Congratulations, you've just liberated Blue moon. The next step is to go to Green Earth, or Yellow Comet, Yellow Comet is easier, so let's cover that first. =============================================================================== Yellow Comet =============================================================================== The yellow comet missions are a pretty big step up in difficulty from the Blue moon missions. This is where the game starts to get kinda tough. Don't worry young minds, for The Happy Buddha is here to help you out through all the tough and scary maps you can't defeat. Let's go at it shall we? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sensei's Return ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Sensei (duh) Enemy: Adder Here we are at the first Yellow comet map, it's a pretty easy one, the goal is to capture the enemy HQ or defeat all of his units. There is fog of war, but that shouldn't be too much of a restriction on your units, as there is low amounts of tree cover. The key to this map is the factory and airport to the north of your H.Q. if you can capture and hold these you should have no problem at all with this map. Just remember that Sensei uses Battle Copters and Infantry units best. Watch out for Adder's Anti Air defense which he's sure to pull if you knock on his door with a few squadrons of Copters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Show Stopper ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Sonja Enemy: Adder *Note* The map toward the Neo Tank lab is in this mission, it's located in the south-western most neutral city. The goal of this mission is to take out the fortress, however there is an alternative, Capture the enemy H.Q. (I presume this means you can kill all of adder's units). The best thing to do is the fortress, as it's easier. To successfully defeat this map make sure Adder doesn't capture any of the factories and you should be good. Adder has air units and that's a rather unpleasant surprise so build some Anti-Airs or missiles to insure a victory. Destroy his remaining units then wipe out the cannons and you've defeated this easy map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sea of Hope ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLARGH! I didn't grab the map from the last mission, I spaced it off, but this mission is pretty hard which left me with a problem. Luckily a friend of mine Brian Sulpher, has given me permission to use his description on the level. So this comes from his guide, and by the looks of it, he describes it much better then I ever could have, anyway enjoy. Yellow Comet CO: Kanbei OR Sensei OR Sonja Allied CO : Sami Enemy CO : Adder ___________________________________ Key | | - Plains | # - City With A Map | * - Black Hole Installation | | - Pipe Seam | - - Pipe Seam | A - Airport | B - Base | C - City | D - Laboratory | E - Enemy Headquarters | F - Forest | H - Headquarters | L - Missile Silo | M - Mountains | P - Port | R - Road | S - Shoal | V - Volcano | W - Water | w - River | X - Reef | ___________________________________| --------------- |XXWWWWWWWWWWWXW| |XWXWWWC C WWWWW| |WWWWWP D CWW| |WXWWWWC C WRWW| |WXXWWWWWWWWWRWW| |WWXXXWWWWWWWRWX| |WWWWWXWWXWWWRWX| |WWWWWWWWWXXWRWW| |XXWF SWWWWWW FF| |WXW C RRR C | |WWWF A SWWWWWW| |WWWSF C SWWWWWW| |XWWWWS SWWWXWWW| |XWXWWWRWWWWWWWW| |WXWWWS CWWWWWWW| |WWWWWSC RRR CW| |WXWXWWWWWWWWWRW| |WWWWWWWWWWWWWRW| |WXWWWWWWP WWWRW| |WWXXWWWW AWWWRW| |XXWWWWXWWRWWWRW| |WWWWWWWWWRWWWRW| |WWWWWWWWWRWWWRW| |WWWWWWWWWRWWSRW| |WWSSSSSSSRSSFBF| |SSFF FF FFFC C| | A C B A FF A | | H B C C C | --------------- Choose your Yellow Comet CO wisely here. Sonja will not be of any help here due to a lack of Fog Of War to take advantage of. So you will need to choose between Kanbei or Sensei to have a reasonable chance of succeeding. Strategies for both will be outlined in the following walkthrough. ------ Kanbei ------ Kanbei's Strategy revolves around using Sami's Battleships to clear the islands between him and Adder so he can get his T Copters and Infantry to take these properties. Kanbei will need to have one or two Tanks and possibly an Artillery for his land attacks, which will be drawing the enemy away from his main attack with B Copters and Bombers. Although his units are expensive to deploy, they pack a powerful punch, making for the need for few units. When you assault Adder's Lab island (the latest you can start the actual attack is with 5 Days left), you need to draw his units out. Start your Tanks and Artillery towards the bridge to his island, which will bring his Anti-Air, Tank, Md Tank, and Artillery to meet you. On the same turn, position a T Copter within the range if the remaining Cruiser (to sacrifice it), and then position your B Copters and Bombers JUST out of the range of the Missile battery. Start the attack by removing all threats of Air units (this includes Missiles, Cruisers, Anti-Air), followed by anything else that threatens ground units. Also bring your T Copter with the Infantry inside once it is safe (DO NOT drop the Infantry yet unless you can guarantee it will not be attacked). The next turn is finishing off the enemy forces on the island, which then allows the capturing of the Enemy Lab! However, Kanbei has so much power to his attacks, you can also go on an extermination mission with his troops and just wipe the area clean of Adder's Black Hole forces instead. ------ Sensei ------ Sensei's Strategy revolves around using Sami's Battleships to clear the islands between him and Adder so he can get his T Copters and Infantry to take these properties (especially the Airport located there for quicker engagement of the enemy, which means more units in the fight). Sensei will need to have one Tank and possibly an Artillery for his land attacks, which will be drawing the enemy away from his main attack with B Copters and Bombers. Sensei rules with B Copters, so he needs to use them to rid of himself of near everything he sees. When you assault Adder's Lab island (the latest you can start the actual attack is with 5 Days left), you need to draw his units out. Start your Tanks and Artillery towards the bridge to his island, which will bring his Anti-Air, Tank, Md Tank, and Artillery to meet you. On the same turn, position a T Copter within the range if the remaining Cruiser (to sacrifice it), and then position your B Copters and Bombers JUST out of the range of the Missile battery. Start the attack by removing all threats of Air units (this includes Missiles, Cruisers, Anti-Air), followed by anything else that threatens ground units. Also bring your T Copter with the Infantry inside once it is safe (DO NOT drop the Infantry yet unless you can guarantee it will not be attacked). The next turn is finishing off the enemy forces on the island, which then allows the capturing of the Enemy Lab! Totaling annihilating the enemy requires some good use of the Bombers on Cruisers and careful clearing of the Enemy Lab island. However, he too can achieve this feat. Either way you go, Neotanks now belong to the Yellow Comet! Thank you Brian, you're a real Life saver. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silo Scramble ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Kanbei Enemy: Flak Finally a map without fog of war. This map is pretty easy, basically whoever gets to the middle of the map is definitely going to kick the other guys ass. So don't let flak get to those missiles first. Get there, kick the snot out of any units he has there, and block his entrance. Then use that as a start point for an offensive drive supported by your missile silos, you can also use some battle ships, or landers to flank if you wish, if you do, you'll get a higher technique score, but you might get a lower speed score. Make sure that you are capturing cities and the sea ports while your Infantry in an APC is heading toward the island. Kanbei will need a lot of funds to pull off a decent strike. This missions should be an easy perfect score. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Mirror Darkly ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Co: Sonja Enemy: Lash The goal in this mission is to stop Lash from getting any one unit on your H.Q. The main battle will be done with long distance weapons. This is a fog of war map so strategy will be heavy. As such, this is probably the first actually challenging maps in the game. The key to winning this map is to use your infantry and recon units to spot for enemy units, then blast them with your rockets. It's not that simple though, what you need to do is to take out high priority units. First Neo-tanks, then Md. Tanks, then Tanks. Everything else should be ignored unless you have no shot, and you can't move the unit into a better position for the next turn. If you have a shot between a Md. Tank with 4 HP and one with Full, always shoot the full one, as 3 tanks and a rocket unit can take the 4 hp Md. Tank, but they may not fair so well against the full health tank, just something to keep in mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Foul Play ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Sensei Enemy: Adder This mission is going to be a long one. What you'll want to do is first clear out the pipe, and put something strong there, like a neo-tank, then you'll want to put distance units behind the strong unit. Use your planes to clear the other side of the pipe and help you out. Then just fight, he doesn't have that much for resources and he only has one factory, so just keep fighting all of his units off, and destroy the black cannons, long but pretty easy. It's easier to circle around to destroy the black cannons, but it doesn't really matter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Honor and Duty ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Kanbei Enemy: Adder Honor and duty is a fitting name for this map, then enemy has lured you into a trap, you can let your cities be taken or you can risk death to save the citizens of yellow comet. As the name suggests we're going to fight to save lives. What you'll want to do is ignore the lasers, you can stop and heal at bases on the way, send all of your tanks straight up to the cities. Let the rockets/artillery and mechs take care of the two lasers. Try and time the lasers so you'll suffer the least amount of casualties possible. They fire every 3 days, and make sure you know where they hit, because it's easy to overlook that in the heat of combat. As soon as you get the tanks up there, make sure you put a tank on an allied city so the enemy can't capture it, get the mechs up there to recapture bases, then mop up adder's remaining troops. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hunt's End ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Any Yellow Comet CO, and a CO from Blue moon or Orange star. I picked Kanbei and Max Enemy: Adder The goal in this mission is to destroy the seam in the pipe. To do this you'll need to clear out 3 cannons. If you look near the center of the map you'll see 4 cannons all pointed in different directions, you'll want to take out the two northern ones. Then the one in front of the pipe seam. To do this you'll want to use bombers and Neo-tanks from max. Kanbei should distract the enemy, putting up a strong ground fight as well as a sea fight to keep the enemies focus off of max. All you need is a bomber with full health, and a "MAX BLAST!" to clear the pipe. Which makes it relatively easy to clear this map. Hell, you don't even need to deploy any Neo-tanks (for Kanbei anyway) Congratulations, you've just liberated Yellow comet, one final country to liberate... =============================================================================== Green Earth =============================================================================== Green earth is where the missions start to get INSANELY difficult. I'd be impressed if you can beat them on the first try without any prior planing or use of an FAQ. The missions are going to get really tough here, if you don't think you're up for it yet, try honing your skills in the war room a bit first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sea Fortress ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Eagle Enemy: Hawke In this mission you have a pre-deployed squadron of fighters, Bombers and B- Copters. The goal in this mission is to take out all 8 of the mini cannons, which is easier said then done. Don't try and split up your troops or you'll lose you need all your units to work together to pass this mission. First take out the fighters that approach using a 2 to 1 tactic, then the next 2 fighters in the next turns. Use your remaining fighters to take out the Copters that come bother you. Use the bombers to take out the cruisers and then time to attack the cannons. Make sure you have a lightning strike, it could make a big difference, anyway, take out the first cannon with bombers and copters as well as the missiles and the far black cannon. Ignore the Anti-airs they're too strong fighting them is a lost cause. Now, you'll want to circle around back clearing the Cannons and the missiles on the other side. Casualties are un-avoidable in this level, I finished with just 1 bomber that only had only 1 fuel left. If your bombers or copters are running low on fuel or health, join them together, preferably a low fuel one with a high fuel one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drake's Dilemma ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Drake, Kanbei Enemy: Hawke The goal here is to take out those two black cannons. To do this you'll need to have Drake's Battle ships in decent shape. So what you do is quickly hide all the ships in reefs. Next use Kanbei to clear out the middle narrow river to the side of the black cannons, as soon as drake's cannons are through to the other side all you have to do is smash at them and dodge random enemy fire. You can also capture the seaport in the middle of said river, and use it to ferry Kanbei's Troops across for an even swifter victory. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sinking feeling ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Jess Enemy: Lash *Note*: The Map to the Neo-tank lab is in this mission, it's on the southern most city on the island north-west of your H.Q. In this mission you have 17 days to destroy 9 battleships. There's a few ways to do this, the first is to use Battle ships of your own, which with jess isn't the best of ideas. The second is to build up artillery and rockets and go attack with those. Attacking with direct fire ground troops is ineffective. Lash will join the units together if they take enough damage, so try and focus on lowering the HP so they'll join and lose some HP in the process. Taking the factory in the south-east corner of the map is a good idea, the island north of the H.Q. is a bad idea, but the neo-tanks are on that island so you must. Make sure you take out the mini-cannons before you start to attack the battle ships. They could really cause you some trouble. One other strategy, that may/may not work, is to IMMEDAIATLY build two Landers, send the first one with two Anti-airs ASAP! and the second one with 2 infantry troops, if you get there fast enough you'll beat Lash's deployment of Bombers. Take them out and capture the airport and build a few bombers. These should help out with the destruction of the Battle ships if done fast enough. Plus you'll encounter virtually no resistance because all lash will have is the ground units on the main land and the cannons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Danger X9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Any Green Earth CO Enemy: Hawke This is the level where you get neo-tanks for Green earth, it's not that important of a unit to have as you'll only be using it in a few missions. So if you can't beat this level, don't beat yourself up, just skip it. Here is how to beat it from the brilliant guide of Brain P. Sulpher's (Yes he gave me permission, and yes I know I'm an idiot because I missed this mission), so without further ado here you go: ========== Danger X 9 ========== Green Earth CO: Eagle OR Drake OR Jess Allied CO : None Enemy CO : Hawke ___________________________________ Key | | - Plains | # - City With A Map | * - Black Hole Installation | | - Pipe Seam | - - Pipe Seam | A - Airport | B - Base | C - City | D - Laboratory | E - Enemy Headquarters | F - Forest | H - Headquarters | L - Missile Silo | M - Mountains | P - Port | R - Road | S - Shoal | V - Volcano | W - Water | w - River | X - Reef | ___________________________________| ----------------- |WWWWWWWWWWW* *CMM| |WWWWWWWWWWW* * LM| |WWWWWWWWWWW* *C | |WXWWWWWWWWW* *** | |WWXWXWSSSSS* | |WWWWWSFF M**C | |WWWWFF F-FF | |WWWW *** *FF* | | P F*F** **** | |FRA B ** * | | RRC MFF* *|* C M| |FFR MF* * F| |FFR C -B *F FF| | RR **A * C | | RC C C * *F FM| |FRRRRR M* *F MM| |FRCRHRC M*CC*MBMM| ----------------- Fog Of War is your treat here as you have nine days to either wipe the enemy out OR capture the Enemy Lab. Choose between Jess, Eagle, or Drake for this mission, but Jess will have the easiest time due to the ground fightng involved in the scenario. Day one brings the Purchasing of an Infantry for the two east-most bases (one in the pipes and the other on far side of pipes) as well as a Tank in your remaining Base. Now move your land units north as far as you can and shift your sea units northeast. Day Two has your Infantry in the pipes to start capturing the Airport, the Infantry in the far east to move east into the mountains, and then purchase a Md Tank at that base. Now go to the western group of units to move a Recon to park between two Woods patches beside the pipe to reveal a hiding Mech, so attack it with your Anti-Air unit. Now use your Cruiser to attack the visible B Copter (attack from the visible square), and then use your Battleship on the Tank. Use your Md Tank to finish the Tank, have your Recon move north, and then have your Tank cripple the enemy Recon. Day Three will dawn with your Cruiser attacking a B Copter, your Battleship moving east, and then move your Recons forward and have your Md Tank finish the Recon unit. Capture the Airport, attack the Md Tank you see, and then purchase a Tank at that Base as well as a Tank at the western base. Day Four has your hurt Md Tank finish the enemy Md Tank, move your other Tank up to the Woods on the right, and then buy another Tank. Now attack with your Battleship to hit an enemy and use the Md tank to hit another unit. Buy a Tank at the western Base. Day Five will follow a Super CO Power hit, so use your stronger Md Tank to attack the Md Tank, combine your weaker Md Tank into that one, and then take down the last B Copter with your Anti-Air. Bring your Tank to attack their Tank, Battleship will hit the Anti-Air, and then have a Recon attack the same Anti-Air unit. Buy a Rocket for the centre base. Day Six onwards will concentrate on your Battleship busting the pipe seam along with a Md Tank, your Tanks moving down to engage the enemy, and your southern Md Tanks and Tanks pouring north to attack the cornered enemy and destroying them. Capturing the enemy base is a much more difficult task that requires the killing of the enemy through Day Three and then busting the Pipe Seam to allow the APC with the Infantry through to capture the Lab on Day Nine. Just be sure to stick to the Woods as you travel as much as possible or risk losing your APC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rain of Fire ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Jess Enemy: Hawke *Note*: Heh, the name reminds me of the Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire".. This mission is easy, In fact, I got a perfect S rank in it. Forget about the "great intel" you'll spend too much time figuring out where the lava falls. Instead just go capture more cities then Hawke. If you have more resources you'll have better units, and you'll have more of them. Simple as that. Come in from both sides towards his H.Q. and take him out. Make sure you start by taking any poorly defended factories and cities he has, a good example is in the south eastern corner at the start of the game, a Md. Tank, a tank and an infantry is all you need to take that from him. I fell in to your burin ring of fire, and it burns, burns, burns, burns, that ring of fire, that ring of fire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Navy vs. Sea ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Drake Enemy: Hawke This is a fairly easy mission, Air Vs. Sea, though most of the battle takes place on the ground in the little area east of your H.Q. The best way to take this map is to get to the two factories in the center of the land easy of your H.Q. and start cranking out units. Then back track and get all the cities. Try to capture the Airport north of this, and build 4 or 5 fighters, to fly from hot spot to hot spot, whenever enemy air troops are involved. Then just ferry troops from you H.Q. island to the island you're fighting on, combine that with a battle ship or two for support fire and the fighters taking care of Hawke's air support this mission should be a breeze for you. Also, try to use your CO power after Hawkes, that way both teams lose 1 HP to all units, but Hawke's lose supplies as well (if you used the super power). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To The Rescue ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Eagle, Sami Enemy: Adder This mission is a real dozy. The goal is to rescue the orange star forces and destroy the lasers that fire everyday. So what to do is simple, with eagle's troops attack the lasers and any units that get in the way. First you'll want to send most of the air-force to the top, except for one fighter and Battle copter. Those you will send to the left (A group of planes will try to take out your base). Now, try and take out the first two cannons (the ones closest to the bottom of the map. The one on the right should be no problem, but the one on the left will need a well timed "LIGHTING STRIKE" to take it out without losing the bomber. While you do this with the Green Earth troops you'll want to use the flee using the orange star troops, make sure they don't walk into the laser. BTW: You'll probably only escape with the mechs, so use the rest to fight off the waves to save the lifes of the mechs. Capture the airport right outside and build some things to help out Green earth depending on what you need (Fighters or Bombers) and a Transport Copter. Use the T-Copter to take one troop back to the Green Earth H.Q. (If you lose all orange star troops the mission is lost). Now just keep fighting, trying to time lighting strikes to double the range of the bombers to take out the last two cannons. Use Sami if you need her assistance. Also, make sure you have a decent force at the Green Earth H.Q. because they will eventually come in with a small ground force if you aren't protected and they'll capture everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great Sea Battle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: Any Green Earth, Orange Star and Yellow Comet COs (I Picked Eagle, andy, Sensei). Enemy: Hawke There is only one goal of this mission: Destroy the pipe. That of course is easier said then done, there is two Black cannons and 10 mini-cannons. The Black cannons are a big priority as they will hinder your movement. Use max to take out one (he'll pass it on the way), and Sensei to take out the other. The Mini-cannons (if you so choose) will be taken out by eagle. Now, To develop the teams, Andy will want to form neotanks and rockets right on that bridge to the enemy base. Make sure to add in some missiles as Hawke will attack with some air units. Andy's goal is just to keep hawke busy as much as possible. Eagle will take to the skies and stay there. The key for eagle is to take out any and all of the air-units hawke builds to molest max, so you better have fighters on top of fighters. Don't waste your time with helicopters, they won't help shit. Be aware of the black cannons firing range, because when you're moving that much with the planes you'll be likely to fly into one or two of them. Sensei will want to build up both battle copters and Battle Ships. Sensei at first will focus on taking out all of the cannons so movement can be made easier. Then he will want to use his forces to support the ground campaign of Max's. Use the Battle ships to take out the mini-cannons from far away, and try to get on the opposite side of the firing to prevent getting slammed with damage. Also, build one or two fighters or cruisers because when hawke notices you taking out all of the cannons, chances are good he'll come after you. Now after hawke has "Come after you" and you've rightfully kicked his ass, capture the factory right under the big factory, build some missiles and take down the pipe from that point. Make sure you stay guarded, as the mini-cannon will try to slow down the process of killing your rockets. =============================================================================== Black Hole =============================================================================== The Black hole missions are pretty easy, and really easy, the guys in the map department really dropped the ball on these two maps. There is only two, and you don't have to worry about the other Black Hole COs anymore but now, you have to worry about Sturm, the Head CO of Black Hole. Thankfully he's a little weaker then Hawke. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hot Pursuit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO(s): 1 Orange Star, 1 Blue moon, 1 Yellow Comet and 1 Green Earth CO, only 3 COs though (Andy, Grit, Eagle). Enemy: Sturm. At first this mission looks really intimidating, the goal is to destroy the three black cannons but there's all those units in the way, plus the pipes, lasers and mini-cannons. Then you think for a second, "What idiot designed this map?" The enemy units won't attack the pipes, so you have to worry about the ships and the units that are inside the first set of pipes. Anything else can be ignored. Why? Because it can't kill you. The Black Cannons, Mini- cannons and Lasers can only take you down to 1 hit point. Who cares? It'll just take longer to succeed. However the one down-side is that you won't get any power points if you don't attack the troops in the second pipes, but who cares? Skip a hard fight and just use rockets to take out the black cannons. *Note*: If you don't take out the lasers the units in the first pipe won't attack you. (I think, on one side they're blocked off, I dunno about the other). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Front ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CO: 1 Orange Star, 1 Blue moon, 1 Green Earth, 1 Yellow Comet (only 3 COs) (Sami, Colin, Eagle) *The Order you pick the COs in is important, and must be this way to decide who goes where.* Enemy: Sturm The goal of this mission is to take out the Death-ray in 30 days or less. The Death ray will fire once every 7 days and can only fire straight. So what should that tell you? Attack from the sides with a decoy force in the front. This mission is really easy after a few tries, look at the deployment of sturm's troops, heavy on the west and moderate in the center with only a few in on the east. So, you'll want eagle there, and Sami and Colin on the west and center starts. Now, Sami will want to build up as many infantry units as possible and just keep throwing them out there, Colin will also want to build as many units as possible, but because of his cheap deployment costs, make sure they are good units. Now, eagle will want to get some bases and save up for two bombers. As soon as you get the first bomber send it straight north of eagle's H.Q. to bomb that pipe right there. You do this so as to avoid taking damage from the black cannons. Next, snake up to the two seams that are right next to each other leading into the base, at this point you should bomb the first one, and hopefully have your second bomber on it's way up. Bomb the second seam and go into the base, the reason for two is that he won't catch both of them, and you MUST spread them out so they can't get hit by a meteor yet still both be able to hit the deathray. One shot will blow that big hunk to smithereens. Good job you just Ruined Sturm's shit. Watch the ending f00 you deserve it!!!! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T H E W A R R O O M -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The war room is more or less the same as last time, it even has all of the old maps, plus a few new ones. What fun. Even if you don't have the Neotanks for a certain country, you can still build them. A few other notes, are if the cost says "Default" it means you get that map right off the bat. Also, by CO of Choice, I mean the CO I used to beat the level. Before I get into the War room, I feel I need to discuss some things on a general strategic level. There's two ways to play the maps, one way is playing the map, this means using the map to your advantage (if possible). Things like the terrain bonuses and choke points, if you use these correctly you can win a good deal of maps. The other way is to play the CO. This means using the COs disadvantages against them, and avoiding their advantages. An Example of this would be Using Grit against max, and only using Long range fighting. If you can utilize both of these strategies then you will begin to get more S and A ranks, as you learn what works against who and where. Waiting until you clear the campaign mode is a good idea, that way you can buy all the COs and help clear all the maps. I personally like to use Eagle and Sensei a lot, but what are you gonna do? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spann Island ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Max Enemy CO: Andy The key to winning this map is to get the buildings on the southeast island of the map. If you control these you should win, as you'll have more resources. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Moji Island ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Grit Enemy CO: Adder The Key to this map, is to use Grits distance to suppress Adders troops from across the water. Also capture the factory on the east side of the map in the trees as well as all the properties on the west side of the map. To do this, get an APC and an infantry to the factory ASAP, then capture the factory, blocking the bridge, then capture all the properties. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duo Falls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Max Enemy CO: Max This map takes some skill, but isn't too difficult. What you'll want to do is capture as much property as possible, use transport copters to get to the base in the middle of the map. Then build a fighter, to take care of the Battle copters max will attack with, then neo-tanks and large tanks, set them up in a blocking formation, then use your CO power and BLAM! Blast through Max's troops and capture all of the properties as you go. If your units need healing, swap them out, and heal them and let them get back into action. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sole Harbor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Max Enemy CO: Drake Stay out of the sea and Drake will do the same. Just build up some strong ass units and you should have no problem dispensing with drake on the land. If he does build some sea units to support his troops then take them out with submarines, with Max's direct firepower bonus he won't stand a chance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pivot Isle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Eagle Enemy CO: Eagle This is a pretty difficult map. The key to winning is to capture the island to the east of the starting point. If you get that and build a bomber and bomb the shit out of everything then you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Just make sure to watch for anti-air units and fighters. Heh, that's one strategy that's easier said then done >_>. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Land's End ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Eagle Enemy CO: Lash There is two choke points in this map, both quite close to each other, the first is right where the two strips of land connect, the other is the rocks right outside the enemies start point. To dodge these completely just hold the point and build up bombers. Then skip the choke points and head over the sea to erase lash's existence from the planet. Try flanking the choke points to let your ground units in on the action to speed up the fragging. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kita Straight ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Grit Enemy CO: Sami Another "Easier said than done" strategy. If you don't allow Sami to get any bases on your island you'll win. Use Grit to place rockets at the shore and fight off any transport units. Then bring in battleships to weaken the defenses, lastly come in with landers full of tanks and finish the job. You may need to fight Sami off your island at the beginning of the level, but if you get there fast enough you can avoid this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Point Stormy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Grit Enemy CO: Olaf Grit is the master of Choke points with his far reaching guns, he has no problem in busting through. Two important things to do are avoid using air and sea units. Otherwise you'll provoke Olaf to use these units and he'll kick your ass because he has more airports and seaports available to him. Just fight him off with the rockets slowly advancing until you get to his base. Make sure to build some missiles because he will use air-units but he'll concentrate most of his force to the ground. But hey, it doesn't hurt to be prepared now does it? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ridge Island ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Sami Enemy CO: Grit Uh-Oh, two choke points in this map, against the king of Choke Points. Too bad they are blocked off by mountains and Mechs can go over mountains. Just swarm him with mechs he can't hit them all and you'll quickly rush over his good distance units and his direct fire units will drop like flies at your attacks. Wow this mission is easy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mial's Hope ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Eagle Enemy CO: Sensei The amount of Airports in this levels should make eagle the obvious choice. Focus on keeping sensei on the ground with fighters and Anti-airs then ruining his shit with bombers. If you can act quick enough you can contain him in a semi-choke point which is a good point for holding. Though you won't be able to hold his air-units which will inevitably just go around your block, by then you should have a fighter to shoot them down. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bounty River ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Grit Enemy CO: Flak This map is too easy. All you need to do is set up a distance base defense of rockets along your coast, then suppress your enemy while you advance with Transport boats filled with neotanks. Then as your neo tanks clear a landing, take some rockets and continue to blow through flak's defenses with the Neotank/Rocket 1-2 combo. It may take a couple of days to put the rockets in place though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toil Ferry ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Eagle Enemy CO: Hawke The goal in this map is to capture all of the Air ports. With Eagles Air- superiority, Hawke won't stand a chance. The key is to also bomb the crap out of his Cruisers, but not with bombers, with rockets and Battle Ships. Attack his infantry that try to capture bases as well as anything protecting the bases with the bombers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twin Isle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Sami Enemy CO: Jess This mission is a real pain in the ass. You probably could use max to fight this mission, but Sami's Mech swarm produces the best results. Just keep the mechs coming and you should gain victory after a long drawn out battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dire Range ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Max Enemy CO: Colin Use Max's direct firepower bonus to take Colin's men out of the sky, then blast him on the ground with tanks. If you can take the Air-port to the south-west of Colin's H.Q. and you should gain a big advantage as Bombers and Fighters also gain Max's direct firepower bonus, making his even stronger than eagles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Egg Island ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Drake Enemy CO: Kanbei Using Drakes awesome navy, you'll want to stay on the out-skirts of the island and use Battle ships to weaken Kanbei up for a nice landing. Then BAMO attack full force with Battleships and tanks and Kanbei will be swept up in the confusion. Keep bombarding him with landers and shelling the crap out of him and he won't know right from left allowing you to capture his cities and finally his H.Q. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terra Maw ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Sami Enemy CO: Sonja The key to this map is to use Sami's speed to get up to the top of the map where Sonja has a little army to capture with, before it turns into a big army to capture with. From there blast her with bombs and battle ships as well as a neo tank based ground assault and you should have no trouble with this one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stamp Islands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Dake or Eagle Enemy COs: Drake and Eagle In this map you'll want to choose between sea or air. If you pick air, go with eagle, and take out the other eagle quickly. If you go with sea, use drake and take out the other drake quickly. With one out of the way, you'll gain all his property and funds, which should give you enough money to blast the crap out of the CO that was left. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rivers Four ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Max Enemy COs: Sonja and Lash The goal of this map is to quickly eliminate one then take out the other with more resources and units. I suggest taking out Sonja first as she's more of a "Push-over" if you will, concentrate all fire on her then as soon as her H.Q. is taken, force all of your units on Lash. With all your resources and man power she won't stand a chance in hell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ring Islands ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Drake Enemy COs: Olaf and Grit The man who controls the sea will control this map for sure. You could also use Grit for his range, but Drake will do. Make sure to build up subs and Battleships as well as a healthy ground force to attack a bunkered in team. Because that's all Grit and Olaf will do if they can't spread their sea legs a bit (Bunker in, making it hard for you to get in a kill the bastards). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last Mission ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: Default Co of Choice: Sami Enemy COs: Andy and Nell Believe it or not, this mission is really easy. What you have to do is build a transport helicopter and an infantry unit and when the time is right, fly it and capture Nell's HQ. Then when you do capture it, you'll gain all of her properties and her money, so you can just walk all over Andy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pay Dirt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Sami, Max, Grit. Enemy CO: Colin This begins the new war room maps, that is the ones that weren't in Advance Wars 1. For this map I have three different strategies for, all of which should provide successful for you. Using Sami: Colin will produce many troops but they are weak. Sounds like the perfect victim of a "Mech Swarm" Just build mechs on top of mechs (and a fighter or two to take care of the fly boys he'll build). Sami's awesome capture rate also make for some good surprise captures, sneak in with a transport and capture an airport or base held by the enemy, and fight to protect it. With all the extra money you have from just building infantry/Mechs you should be able to spawn a bomber ASAP and do some real damage. Using Max: All of Colin's troops are weak, but they are many, using a NeoTank of Max's you could plow through a marching onslaught of Colin's. Just make sure you have your bases covered in the air too or Colin could catch you off- guard. Also make sure after you penetrate his side of the map to capture all the properties you can, if he has no many, his CO powers aren't worth shit. Using Grit: Colin has weak troops, and so does grit, except grit has far superior distance units so while the front lines will be an even fight as soon as you get your rockets into place he won't stand a chance. Just hammer away and don't forget to build a few missiles to avoid air-strikes from his copters and bombers. I think I covered that one well, what do you think? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long Road ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Grit Enemy CO: Jessie The title of this map makes me think of the misfits song "American Nightmare" "This highway never fucking ends, American Nightmare runnin Scarred" This map is pretty easy using grits far reaching attacks to decimate Jess's units before they even get a chance to get close, just leap-frog and fire at different spots and this mission should be easy. Make sure to capture bases along the way and take along some APCs you'll need them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nest Egg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Andy or any other balanced CO Enemy CO: Sensei Any Balanced CO will do good for this mission as it's close range combat with a good edge to whoever can use Distance weapons efficiently. Send in some tanks, Md. Tanks and Neotanks with some rockets behind them and exterminate the whole fucking place. Forget about the missiles by the time you crack the shell Sensei will be breathing down your neck with some powerful units. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Trident ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Grit or Andy Enemy CO: Nell I'm sure you noticed this the first time you looked at the map, but the map pretty much consists of ONE HUGE choke point and several other choke points. So clog the small points and send all your troops through the small points (This where using andy would be best) while you assault the main point with Neotanks followed by rockets and missiles, this is where Grit's range comes in handy. This should be an easy mission. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Banker Hills ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Sami Enemy CO: Haichi As soon as all the missiles are fired, a quick mech swarm will easy get you this mission. Near the end a victory march will clench it for you if you have enough mechs deployed in Haichi's side of the map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Missile Plains ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Max Enemy CO: Sturm As soon as you start this mission build infantry units for every base you have. Second turn target the neo-tanks with two missiles each. This should weaken them up pretty good for you to take down slowly. After you take out the neotank threat Sturm will go down like a little kid goes down for a nap, he just won't have the bases to keep up with your production of troops and resources. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lost Basin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 points Co of Choice: Max Enemy COs: Sami and Sonja Does this remind you of another map? (COUGHLASTMISSIONCOUGHCOUGH). Well the strategy is pretty much the same, use max to eliminate one of the enemy COs and then eradicate the other. I Suggest taking out Sami first as her quick captures could be a real pain in the ass if she sneaks by any blocks you put up. Overall, this is a pretty easy mission. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Risky Vale ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost:500 Co of Choice:Sami Enemy COs: Max and Kanbei Max and Kanbei have no HQs making this mission a bit difficult. Though it's still do-able. Your goal is to take the factories and cities from them with quick capture abilities, taking away their resources forcing them to use infantry troops. Since Sami's infantry are the best in the game you'll have the easy advantage. Try to attack max first, as Kanbei will struggle more with no funds as his deployment costs are in the stratosphere. Just take them both down with some mechs and BAM-O this mission is a walk in the park. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ring ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 Co of Choice: Andy or any balanced CO. Enemy COs: Eagle, Drake, Jess This mission is pretty easy as soon as you find out how to beat it. Which is why I'm here! The key to this map is defense, the defense is so minimal you just build up a huge force and wipe the green earth troops off the face of the earth. To defend, put a big unit, like a NeoTank in the ground entrance to the base. Next, but a unit on all the beaches and seaports, this should stop drake. Now put a AA near the north opening in the base, and a missile behind the pipe near eagle's base for good measure. With these security guards in place, you're free to build up a large army then take out the enemy with extreme prejudice. I usually take out Drake, then Eagle then Jess. Don't worry about the pipes as the enemy won't shoot at them for some strange reason. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Strong Land ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cost: 500 Co of Choice: Max, Grit or Kanbei Enemy COs: Flak, Lash and Adder This level is easy. The goal is to take flak out quickly, then pile up Neotanks at choke points. Be sure to take all the building in the lower right corner of the map, as those will be a big aid. The Missiles can't hurt either. If you choose to use grit you'll want to make sure your neo-tanks can withstand the pounding they'll take from the stronger enemy tanks. Well that's it! Thank you for reading my guide, what follows is information about the author, A Thank you section and some legal stuff in case you're curious about any of the subjects. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- T H A N K Y O U S A N D A S S K I S S I N G S B Y H B 3 1 1 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I'd like to thank the following people for various Stuff. CjayC and The Boys at IGN - For hosting this guide. Brian p. Sulpher - For helping me out with some missions (the Yellow Comet and green earth Neo tanks levels) and pushing me to finally finish this guide several months after it was started. You can view his awesome guide here: http://faqs.ign.com//articles/425/425456p1.html' *Mine's Still better, he doesn't even cover the War rooms* Yes Brian I'm talking to you punk! BTB - For helping me create the format I currently use, as well as being an awesome dude. Your Mother - For the Grade A sex she gave me last night >_> You - For reading this Colin Moriarty and Zoop Nova - For convincing me to send my stuff to IGN, as well as being two really cool guys. Burning Fox - For Being a cool girl and helping me with little decisions I have trouble making on my own. Sun Tzu - For that awesome strategic mind of his, and Thomas Cleary for translating that text. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A B O U T T H E A U T H O R -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- (Correct as of January 20th,2004) Hello, thank you for reading this guide. If you cared enough to read this far, I might as well entertain you. I'm a 17 year old Virgo and I am a senior (at Millard North High School). In my free time I am usually on the Gamefaqs or WhiteFyre(www.WhiteFyre.com/boards) message boards (Current events, The FAQ contributors Social Board, or the punk board), or playing my Xbox, Ps2, or my NES. With whatever time is left, I sell tacos in a little shack by the side of the road for little more than minimum wage, which is slowly taking over my life with it's "OMG WE GIVE j00 more hours than j00 wantz0rz Benny FWARG!" attitude. I also now work at an Ice rink here in Omaha. Then I use my time machine to travel back in time, and fit playing hockey into my schedule. This will be my Twelfth FAQ/Walkthrough, and I feel that writing walkthroughs has really given me something better to do than watch some of the crap on television now days. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Stuff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ is for personal use only. You can print it or parts of it for that reason only. Do not copy any part of this document and claim it as your own or you will be guilty of plagiarism, which is punishable by law. If you post it on your site without giving me full credit, publish it, use it in any kind of promotional way, or use it in any way for personal gain (i.e. a pay only site), civil and/or criminal charges can and will be pressed against you. The newest version of this FAQ can always be found at www.GameFAQs.com and Ign.com and if you see this anywhere without credit to me please let me know. This document is (c)Ben Semisch AKA Happybuddha311; 2003 - 2004 (Thanks to Laura (L621) for letting me borrow her copyright info) ******************************************************************************* If you would like to host this guide, just give up, there is no way I'm going to let you host it. If you steal it, that is theft and I will pursue you in the court of law. It'd be real nice to have a new car, so if you think I'm joking, go ahead and try posting this guide on your site without my permission.