Advance Wars: Critical Character Comparison guide (v. 1.8) by Uiru (uiru@cephiro.com) Created 10/31/01 The purpose of this guide is to clarify the vauge differences between the individual Commanding Officers' (CO's) abilities. For example, Sami has the best infantry, Grit is the master marksman and Kanbei is good at everything. How do they stack up? Sami and Kanbei's soldiers are actually the same strength, and Kanbei's long-range attacks are superior to Grit's. However, then you get into the details, like how Grit's CO Power cranks his shooter units far past anything Kanbei could ever hope to accomplish. If you have not gone through the Campaign Mode at least once, I suggest you do so before reading, as there are many game and story spoilers ahead. (I do not have access to Nell, so information on her will not be as indepth as the others.) Table of Contents: 1. Updates 2. General Information i. Hiring COs ii. Activating CO Powers iii. Terrain Defence iv. Hire Sturm VS Campaign Sturm 3. Commanding Officers i. Andy ii. Max iii. Sami iv. Olaf v. Grit vi. Kanbei vii. Sonja viii. Eagle ix. Drake x. Sturm xi. Nell 4. Unit Information i. Soldier class ii. Direct class iii. Long class iv. Transports v. Movement/Vision/Attack Range list vi. Weather Effects 5. Other Information i. Health and Damage ii. Damage Chart iii. Calculating Damage 6. Credits, legal ~1. Updates~ Dec. 13, 2001- Eagle and Sturm added. Unit information added. Guide 'cleaned up', some sections rearranged. Dec. 8, 2001- Been a while. Changes have been made to unit class rankings. A 'Battle Chart' has been added, as well as information about determining the damage done while considering a number of different variables. Nov. 4, 2001- Fixed descriptions of Tsunami and Double Time. Begun adding defencive stats. Added information on HP and effects of weather on movement range. Nov. 1, 2001- Added a few tidbits on Drake. Begun game again; will have Eagle shortly. Oct. 31, 2001- Began guide. Gathered a ton of information while shelling out candy. ~2. General Information~ There are a few things you should know about how Advance Wars operates before we get into the CO's. First of all, all units can be classified into one of three classes- Soldier, Direct, or Long. By land, by air or by sea, everything falls into these comprehensive categories. Soldier class contains Infantry and Mech. Direct is anything that can attack immediately after moving; Tanks, Cruisers, Fighters, etc. Long is anything that has an attack range. Battleships, Missiles, and Artillery are all Long class. Each character has a certain ranking in these three areas. All of Max's Long units, for example, are weak, while all of his Direct units are extremely strong. Though the game gives the impression that it only affects tanks, Max's superior strength affects his Subs and Bombers and everything else just as much as his Mid Tanks. This is because they are all Direct. To keep things simple, the rankings will be given as percentages, with Andy's ratings being 100%. Sami's Soldiers are 120%, meaning they'll do 20% more damage than Andy's corresponding Soldiers will do. Meanwhile, her Direct units are 90%. They'll only do 90% of the damage Andy's units can do. This will allow you to easily compare the differing abilities of the CO's. However, the CO's CO Power Bonuses are based off their own rankings. Max's +24% is a 24% increase on 150%, for 186% the damage Andy's tanks could do. Unit attributes is another issue. Though several CO's units all move the same way, there are a few differences. Drake's ships can all move one space farther than all other CO's ships. Grit's Long class units can shoot an extra space. These differences will be noted with the characters and the general list will be included at the end of this guide. ~i. Hiring COs~ It seems you can hire Kanbei simply by finishing Campaign Mode. Drake or Eagle can be hired by using Andy or Sami (respectively) for the four Green Earth missions. Getting Grit is as simple as using Max on Mission 4. And Sturm appears after purchasing everyone else (you don't need to go through Campaign Mode again just for him). (Thanks to robtracy@mediaone.net for this intel.) Meanwhile, Sonja can only be hired if you unlock her secret missions during Campaign Mode. You have to score at least A on all three of Kanbei's levels to do it. Beat the first in 8 days, the second in 10 and the third in 12 and you should be whisked off to the cutie's testing ground. (Thanks to 'me budday' Fergo for the dates.) ~ii. Activating CO Powers~ Your CO Power Bar fills up as your units deal and take damage. It appears that taking damage fills it up much faster than dealing it. In addition, losing some units fills it up faster than others. Grit, for example, has to lose ~150 HP worth of Infantry to trigger Snipe Attack, but only ~20 HP worth of Mid Tank. The HP is what counts- losing twenty 1 HP Mid Tanks will fill up the bar the same as two full health Mid Tanks. Lastly, CO Power Bars will NOT fill at all following the activation of a CO Power. If Eagle's Bomber fleet gets the pus blown out of it after Lightning Strike, his bar will stay at zero until the effects of his CO Power wear off. (This section clearly needs research and will be added to shortly.) ~iii. Terrain Defence~ This guide frequently makes reference to 'Defence levels' or 'ratings'. A particular unit's defence at any particular time is determined by two things; the terrain its standing on and the CO it belongs to. Terrain, as you should have noticed by now, ranges from zero to four stars in the game. Shoals and roads have none, forests have two, mountains four, etc. Each star means the unit takes 10% less damage than it normally would. Examples are good. Assume that a regular, full health Infantry unit is standing on the road, which has no stars (and thus, no defence bonus) and a regular, full health Mid Tank comes up and blows the snot out of it. 105%. (Beaches and bridges also offer no defencive bonuses.) If that same Infantry unit had been standing on a plain, it would have taken 94% damage instead (and stand a fair chance of surviving the attack, albeit just barely). Plains and reefs have one star. Forests have two stars. Infantry 'only' take 84% damage here. Cities and bases have three, so it'd take 73% from that mean old Mid Tank. And lastly, Headquarters and mountains have four stars, so here, the unit would take 63% damage. Another example is Mid Tanks. The progression from no stars to four stars when attacking a regular Mid Tank with a regular Mid Tank is: 55%, 49%, 44%, 38%, 33%. (By 'regular' I mean 'not Max, not Kanbei, but Andy VS Andy'. Andy is always used as the 'other' guy when testing units.) Occasionally in this guide, you will see reference to 'automatic defence levels'. Max has a -1 defence level on all his Indirect units, so attacking one of his Rockets in a forest is just like attacking one of Andy's Rockets on a plain. One or two defence levels either way equals one or two stars that you don't see in the game, but they do count when determining damage. ~iv. Hire Sturm VS Campaign Sturm~ While Sturm is available to be played in War Room and VS matches, his abilities are staggeringly different. The Campaign Mode Sturm does 8 damage with Meteor Strike, and has +20% Offence and -20% Defence- the reverse of Hire Sturm. Could Hire Sturm be a modified clone of the real Sturm? Or is Campaign Sturm the clone? ~3. Commanding Officers~ ~i. Andy~ Orange Star CO Soldier Strengh: 100% Direct Strength: 100% Long Strength: 100% CO POWER: "Hyper Repair" Hyper Repair restores two HP to every unit under Andy's command. Note that the units' HP will not rise above ten. Hyper Repair is one of the more useful powers, as it not only increases the longetivity of Andy's units, but indirectly increases their power as well, as higher HP means more damage done. Soldier Bonus: +10% Direct Bonus: +10% Long Bonus: +10% PROS: Andy has no real cons. CONS: He's a dork and I hate the sight of him. ~ii. Max~ Orange Star CO Soldier Strength: 100% Direct Strength: 150% Long Strength: 90% CO POWER: "Max Force" Max Force greatly increases the power of Max's Direct units, and gives them an extra movement space. Soldier Bonus: +10% Direct Bonus: +24% Long Bonus: +10% PROS: Max is a brute and his Direct units can usually blow away everything in their path, even without benefit of Max Force. Get that on the go and let the tanks roll where they will. CONS: Max's Long units leave much to be desired. Not only are they weak, but their range is shorter than all other Long units. His Artillery is pretty much useless as it can only attack units that are exactly two spaces away. On top of all that, his longrange units have a -1 defence rating. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Max's Artillery, Rockets, Missiles, and Battleships all have -1 on the outer value of their range. All of Max's Direct units gain +1 movement during Max Force. ~iii. Sami~ Orange Star CO Soldier Strength: 120% Direct Strength: 90% Long Strength: 100% CO POWER: "Double Time" Double Time gives Sami's Soldier units a movement cost of 1 over any kind of terrain (except Sea) and in any kind of weather, and also increases their movement range by 1. Their strength is also increased. Soldier Bonus: +28% Direct Bonus: +10% Long Bonus: +10% PROS: On top of being cute, Sami's Infantry and Mech units capture bases 50% faster than any other CO's. Sami is the only CO who can capture a property in two turns with less than perfect Health. Her transport units can move an extra space. Her Soldier units also have an automatic defence level of one. CONS: Sami's Direct unit strength is a little poor. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Sami's APC, Lander and Transport Copter units can move an extra space. Her Infantry and Mech can move another space under Double Time. Her Cruisers are not affected, even though they can carry helicopters. ~iv. Olaf~ Blue Moon CO Soldier Strength: 1.00 Direct Strength: 1.00 Long Strength: 1.00 CO POWER: "Blizzard" Olaf makes it snow for a turn. This is not a popular ability; it's really only useful for slowing your opponents down for one turn. It will also hinder any of Olaf's teammates in VS or War Room battles. Soldier Bonus: +10% Direct Bonus: +10% Long Bonus: +10% PROS: Olaf is not affected by snow, which increases the movement cost for all other units by 1. It doesn't sound like much, but several units, especially those on treads and tires, will be practically immobilized by snow. And like Andy, he doesn't have any offencive weaknesses. CONS: Olaf is affected by rain moreso than the other CO's. However, rain only affects his Infantry (not Mechs), ships, and planes. Everything else is slowed down only as much as everything else is slowed down. I also find his music to be especially annoying. ~v. Grit~ Blue Moon CO Soldier Strength: 80% Direct Strength: 80% Long Strength: 100% CO POWER: "Snipe Attack" Snipe Attack increases the power and range of his Long class units to disgusting levels. Soldier Bonus: +10% Direct Bonus: +10% Long Bonus: +64% PROS: Grit's longrange units have an extended range. When his CO Power gets going, anything within range of his cannons is going down. He also looks like an armed Newfoundland fisherman- he gets major points for that. CONS: Grit requires his CO Power to be truly effective. Both his soldiers and his direct offencives are among the weakest in the game. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Grit's Artillery, Rockets, Missiles, and Battleships have an extra attack space. They gain two more spaces during Snipe Attack. ~vi. Kanbei~ Yellow Comet CO Soldier Strength: 120% Direct Strength: 120% Long Strength: 120% CO POWER: "Morale Boost" Morale Boost is like Max Force, only it works for everything. Does this guy have a flaw?! Soldier Bonus: +17% Direct Bonus: +17% Long Strength: +17% PROS: Great at everything. Morale Boost gives every single one of his troops yet another boost. Kanbei is also quite strong defencively; assume that his units start with a defence rating of two. CONS: Interestingly enough, his units are 20% stronger than normal units, and they cost 20% more as well. Infantry go for 1200, Mechs for 3600, etc. This can get pricey. ~vii. Sonja~ Yellow Comet CO Soldier Strength: 100% Direct Strength: 100% Long Strength: 100% CO POWER: "Enhanced Vision" All of Sonja's units can see farther in Fog of War. Units hidden in forests and reefs can be seen. Soldier Bonus: +10% Direct Bonus: +10% Long Bonus: +10% PROS: *swoon* I love Sonja! She's cute, sweet, smart, shy, a bit of a nerd, and deadly lethal. What more do you want? Sonja has the interesting ability to keep her units' HP hidden from her opponents at all times. Though you can count the number of units remaining during the animations (which I usually have turned off) you'll still be left guessing. The HP of a unit can be extremely important, as a Mech can finish off an Anti-Aircraft Gun, but if it's at high health, the Mech will be slaughtered. Her units also have larger vision ranges. And her music is so elegant and refined! CONS: Sonja suffers from chronic bad luck. What this means is that although Sonja's attack ratings are equal with those of Andy and Olaf and the like, they will usually do less damage than the game says. There are some cases where 103% isn't enough to finish off an Infantry, for example. A good rule of thumb is to always round down, and playing to the worst-case scenario means knocking 10% off the value the game gives you. Sonja's CO Power and abilities are also 100% useless on maps without Fog of War. All it can do for you is the very slight attack bonuses. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Every single one of Sonja's units has +1 vision range. It is increased by 2 more with Enhanced Vision. ~viii. Eagle~ Green Earth CO Soldier Strength: 100% Direct Strength: 100% Long Strength: 100% CO POWER: "Lightning Strike" This is evil. All of Eagle's non-Soldier class units that have moved, attacked, or been ordered to Wait can move again. This includes units that have just been produced in factories. Soldier Bonus: -20% Direct Bonus: -20% Long Bonus: -20% PROS: Eagle's aircraft are 15% stronger than normal aircraft, and they consume much less fuel than normal. His Fighters and Bombers use 3 units a day instead of 5 and his helicopters don't use any (they normally use 2). They also have an automatic defence rating of one star. CONS: Eagle's ships do 20% less damage. During the turn after Lightning Strike, Eagle's units take 30% more damage than usual. ~ix. Drake~ Green Earth CO Soldier Strength: 100% Direct Strength: 100% Long Strength: 100% CO POWER: "Tsunami" All enemy units take 1 HP damage, but will not destroy units already at 1 HP. In Fog of War, Tsunami will show you the location of everything on the map, although your units will still need intel to be able to fire on them. Soldier Bonus: +10% Direct Bonus: +10% Long Bonus: +10% PROS: Not affected at all by rain, which happens frequently when Drake is around. Also not affected any worse than any other CO in the snow. His ships can move farther than your average CO's, and have an automatic defence rating of two stars. CONS: Drake's planes are 20% weaker than normal planes. To look at it another way, assume that the enemy unit has an additional two defence rating stars when using his planes. You're probably better off keeping to the seas. ATTRIBUTE DATA: Battleships, Cruisers, Landers and Submarines all have +1 movement range. ~x. Sturm~ Black Hole CO Soldier Strength: 80% Direct Strength: 80% Long Strength: 80% CO POWER: "Meteor Strike" All units in a 5x5 cross lose 4 HP. Meteor Strike cannot be aimed and will damage Sturm's own units. It seems to go after the highest concentration of enemy forces, seeking to do the most damage it can. Meteor Strike will not destroy units. Soldier Bonus: +12% Direct Bonus: +12% Long Bonus: +12% PROS: All units always have movement ranges of 1 over any kind of terrain (that it could traverse in the first place- we aren't talking Gold Chocobo style Mid Tanks running up mountains here). Is not affected at all by rain, but is slowed down by snow just like other COs. Every one of his units has an automatic defence rating of two; just like Kanbei's. CONS: VS and War Room Sturm requires much more strategy to be effective than Campaign Mode Sturm would have. You cannot aim Meteor Strike, meaning your opponent could try to divert it with a block of useless Infantry just like you do in Campaign Mode. ~xi. Nell~ Orange Star CO I have heard very little about Nell, and I'm not even sure if she's really available for hire. It is said that you have to finish Advance Campaign to be allowed to use her. Considering I took one look at Advance Campaign and decided to sweep the regular game with all S ranks before going back, it'll be a while before I know for sure. (Incidentally, I've gotten S ranks with Andy on every single level, except for the last two against Sturm. I'm gonna sweep with Sami next, and most likely pick up Eagle on the way.) PROS: Nell is said to be extremely lucky; as in, her units will do more damage than what the game says. She's also cute when she's angry. CONS: If you have to finish freaking Advance Campaign to get her, Nell better not have any cons worth talking about. :) ~3. Unit Information~ This is the data on each of the 18 unit types in the game. NAME Cost: How much the unit costs to deploy. Unit Type: Vehicles, Planes, Helicopters, Submarines, etc. Traverses: Where it moves. Movement Type: How it moves. Tires, Treads, etc. Movement Range: How many spaces it can move in one turn. Vision Range: How far it can see in Fog of War. Attack Range: For indirects only. How far the unit can shoot. Fuel: The maximum capacity of fuel the unit holds. Main Weapon: The main weapon. All main weapons have limited rounds. Sub Weapon: Sub Weapons are limitless. Description: A short description. ~i. Soldier Class~ INFANTRY Cost: 1000 Unit Type: Inf Traverses: Land Movement Type: Inf Movement Range: 3 Vision Range: 2 Fuel: 99 [Fuel (well, rations in this case) is consumed at a rate of one unit per space. Land-based units do not use fuel when they aren't moving.] Main Weapon: None Sub Weapon: Machine Gun Description: Cheap but almost useless in battle. Enough of them could stop a Transport Copter or an indirect-attack unit, but their only real purpose in life is to capture the HQ and divert Mid Tank fire. MECH Cost: 3000 Unit Type: Inf Traverses: Land Movement Type: Mch Movement Range: 2 Vision Range: 2 Fuel: 70 Main Weapon: Bazooka (3 rounds) Sub Weapon: Machine Gun Description: Effective against most land-based units. Can also capture bases, but works best with an APC. ~ii. Direct Class~ MID TANK Cost: 16000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Trd Movement Range: 5 Vision Range: 1 Fuel: 50 Main Weapon: Cannon (8 rounds) Sub Weapon: Machine Gun Description: The strongest land-based unit. Mid Tanks can take a ton of damage and keep dishing it out. Their only real concern is indirect fire. TANK Cost: 7000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Trd Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 3 Fuel: 70 Main Weapon: Cannon (9 rounds) Sub Weapon: Machine Gun Description: Cheaper and easier to move around than the Mid Tank, but not as powerful. Still tough against bullets. RECON Cost: 4000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Tyr Movement Range: 8 Vision Range: 5 Fuel: 80 Main Weapon: None Sub Weapon: Machine Gun Description: Very weak. Good only for recon during Fog of War, and for attacking indirect fire units. They do a fair amount of damage and have the ability to slip in under their attack ranges (most of the time). AA GUN Cost: 8000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Trd Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 2 Fuel: 60 Main Weapon: Vulcan (9 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: AA Guns do heavy damage against Soldier and Long class units, as well as aircraft. However, their weapons are just about useless on tanks. FIGHTER Cost: 20000 Unit Type: Plane Traverses: Air Movement Type: Air Movement Range: 9 Vision Range: 2 Fuel: 99 [In addition to using one unit of fuel per space moved, Fighters and Bombers use 5 per turn, even if they stay still. All other air and ocean units use two per turn.] Main Weapon: Missiles (9 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: Used to eliminate other air units. They're quite good at this, but once the air units are gone, their only use is as roadblocks. BOMBER Cost: 22000 Unit Type: Plane Traverses: Air Movement Type: Air Movement Range: 7 Vision Range: 2 Fuel: 99 Main Weapon: Bombs (9 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: Bombers are like Mid Tanks in that they annihilate pretty much anything that gets in their way. The only thing that can stop them from the ground is AA guns and Missile units, and neither of these can take a shot from a healthy Bomber. Helpless against Fighters, though. BATTLE COPTER Cost: 9000 Unit Type: Cptr Traverses: Air Movement Type: Air Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 3 Fuel: 99 Main Weapon: Missiles (6 rounds) Sub Weapon: Machine Gun Description: While not lethal against anything in particular, Battle Copters can attack any unit type other than Planes and aren't as expensive as some other units. CRUISER Cost: 18000 Unit Type: Ship Traverses: Ocean Movement Type: Shp Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 3 Fuel: 99 Main Weapon: Missiles Sub Weapon: AA Machine Gun Description: A modified Machine Gun allows Cruiser units to destroy Copter units, as well as damage Planes. Crusiers can only fire on Submarines, but they are the only units other than Subs that can fire on them while they are submerged. Cruisers can also carry two Copter type units. SUBMARINE Cost: 20000 Unit Type: Sub Traverses: Ocean Movement Type: Shp Movement Range: 5 Vision Range: 5 Fuel: 60 [Subs use 5 units of fuel while submerged. They can't dive or rise on the same turn that they attack. If a sub is underwater when another sub tries to join with it, both will rise.] Main Weapon: Torpedoes Sub Weapon: None Description: Can only fire on Ships and Subs, but their large vision range and ability to hide underwater make them useful and difficult to eliminate. ~iii. Long Class~ ARTILLERY Cost: 6000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Trd Movement Range: 5 Vision Range: 1 Attack Range: 2-3 Fuel: 50 Main Weapon: Cannon (9 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: While not as powerful as Rockets and with less range, Artillery are easier to move and cheaper to produce. ROCKETS Cost: 15000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Tyr Movement Range: 5 Vision Range: 1 Attack Range: 3-5 Fuel: 50 Main Weapon: Cannon (6 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: Rockets do much more damage to naval units than Artillery can. They are tough to move off road. MISSILES Cost: 12000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Tyr Movement Range: 4 Vision Range: 5 Attack Range: 3-5 Fuel: 50 Main Weapon: Missiles (6 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: Will severely weaken or destroy all air units, however, they can't fire on anything else. Their Vision Range is unusually high for a Long class unit. BATTLESHIP Cost: 28000 Unit Type: Ship Traverses: Ocean Movement Type: Shp Movement Range: 5 Vision Range: 2 Attack Range: 2-6 Fuel: 99 Main Weapon: Cannon (9 rounds) Sub Weapon: None Description: The most powerful Long range unit is also the most expensive, however, its worth it. It boasts good movement, the largest attack range in the game, and the maximum alloted fuel supply. As a ship, it is also very difficult to deal with sans Subs or Bombers. It can fire on Land or Ocean units, and anything it hits won't be happy about it. ~iv. Transports~ APC Cost: 5000 Unit Type: Veh Traverses: Land Movement Type: Trd Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 1 Fuel: 70 Description: APCs do not engage other units. Instead, they are used supportively. Their applications are threefold: one, they draw enemy fire like you wouldn't believe. Two, they transport Soldier class units to the HQ easily, and help take the heat off them by drawing fire and blocking the way. Three, they have an endless supply of fuel and ammo- any unit located next to an APC will get its fuel and ammo reloaded. TRANSPORT COPTER Cost: 5000 Unit Type: Cptr Traverses: Air Movement Type: Air Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 2 Fuel: 99 Description: Can carry one Soldier class unit. LANDER Cost: 12000 Unit Type: Ship Traverses: Ocean Movement Type: Trn Movement Range: 6 Vision Range: 1 Fuel: 99 Description: Can carry two of any land-based unit. ~v. Movement Ranges, Vision Ranges, Attack Ranges~ For reference, here is the basic data for all types of units in the game. Refer to the CO Data to see if there are any differences. Name / Movement / Vision / Attack Infantry: 3 2 Mech: 2 2 Mid Tank: 5 1 Tank: 6 3 Recon: 8 5 APC: 6 1 Artil'ry: 5 1 (2-3) Rockets: 5 1 (3-5) Anti-Air: 6 2 Missiles: 4 5 (3-5) Fighter: 9 2 Bomber: 7 2 B Copter: 6 3 T Copter: 6 2 Btl.ship: 5 2 (2-6) Cruiser: 6 3 Lander: 6 1 Sub: 5 5 ~vi. Weather Effects~ These are the movement ranges over all terrain types, and how weather affects them. For each column, the first number is Clear, the second Rain and the third Snow. Terrain / Clear / Rain / Snow Inf Mch Tyr Trd Trn Shp Air Sea - - - - 112 112 112 Reef - - - - 222 222 112 River 222 111 - - - - 112 Mt. 224 112 - - - - 112 Road 111 111 111 111 - - 112 Brdg 111 111 111 111 - - 112 Plain 112 111 233 122 - - 112 Wood 112 111 344 233 - - 112 Airport, Base, City, Headquarters 111 111 111 111 - - 111 Shoal 111 111 111 111 111 - 112 Port 111 111 111 111 112 112 112 ~4. Other Information~ ~i. Health and Damage~ Up until now, all the percentages quoted in this guide have assumed that the attacker is at full HP. But what happens if a unit is damaged when it goes up against something? Interestingly enough, the damage done falls in 10% increments as your HP goes down just as the damage you do falls by 10% as the defence rating goes up. On roads, a full health Mid Tank will do 55% damage to another Mid Tank. At 8 HP, it will do 44%. 4 HP, 22%. 2 HP, 11%. See the pattern? The damage done drops by 5.5% for each HP lost, which is 10% of the original damage. But keep in mind that the remaining HP of your opponent makes absolutely no difference in how much damage you do to it. The tank at 2 HP will do 11% damage to every Mid Tank it finds on the roads, whether it's at 10 or 2 HP. However, the remaining HP WILL have a factor in how much damage your unit takes back. If you use a full health Mid Tank to knock a full health Mid Tank to 4 HP, it'll do 4 HP's worth of damage back- 22%. The attacker always goes first, so if it can destroy its target entirely, it'll get off scot free. This is why it's always a good idea to attack from the best defence point possible. If you can run a Mech up a mountain to fire on a Tank, the Mech will take much less damage than it would on the ground. The Tank will take the same amount of damage no matter what, but your Mech will be in much better shape. ii. Damage Chart This will give you an idea of how much damage your units will do. It was done Andy VS Andy and on roads (no Defence Terrian bonus). Remember that all damages are relative- as you can see, Andy's Mid Tank does 105% to an Infantry. Max's Mid Tank would do 150% that value, or 157%. Grit's Mid Tank would do 80%- 84%. You get the idea. INFT MECH MTNK TANK RCON APC* ARTL RCKT AAGN INFT 55% 45% 1% 5% 12% 14% 15% 25% 5% MECH 65% 55% 15% 55% 85% 75% 70% 85% 65% MTNK 105% 95% 55% 85% 105% 105% 105% 105% 105% TANK 75% 70% 15% 55% 85% 75% 70% 85% 65% RCON 70% 65% 1% 6% 35% 45% 45% 55% 4% APC* X X X X X X X X X ARTL 90% 85% 45% 70% 80% 70% 75% 80% 75% ROKT 95% 90% 55% 80% 90% 80% 80% 85% 85% AAGN 105% 105% 10% 25% 60% 50% 50% 55% 45% MISL X X X X X X X X X FIGT X X X X X X X X X BMBR 110% 110% 95% 105% 105% 105% 105% 105% 95% BCPR 75% 75% 25% 55% 55% 60% 65% 65% 25% TCPR X X X X X X X X X BSHP 95% 90% 55% 80% 90% 80% 80% 85% 85% CRSR X X X X X X X X X LNDR X X X X X X X X X SUBM X X X X X X X X X MISL FIGT BMBR BCPR TCPR BSHP CRSR LADR SUBM INFT 25% X X 7% 30% X X X X MECH 85% X X 9% 35% X X X X MTNK 105% X X 12% 45% 10% 55% 35% 10% TANK 85% X X 10% 40% 1% 5% 10% 1% RCON 28% X X 10% 40% X X X X APC* X X X X X X X X X ARTL 80% X X X X 40% 65% 55% 60% RCKT 90% X X X X 55% 85% 60% 85% AAGN 55% 65% 75% 120% 120% X X X X MISL X 100% 100% 120% 120% X X X X FIGT X 55% 100% 100% 100% X X X X BMBR 105% X X X X 75% 85% 95% 95% BCPR 65% X X 65% 95% 25% 55% 25% 25% TCPR X X X X X X X X X BSHP 90% X X X X 50% 95% 95% 95% CRSR X 55% 65% 115% 115% X X X 90% LNDR X X X X X X X X X SUBM X X X X X 55% 25% 95% 55% iii. Calculating Damage It's time to bring it all together. The first thing you have to do is arrange everything you've got into two numbers: Offence and Defence. Offence is things like Max's natural power boost and CO Power Bonus, which are positive, and the number of HP the unit has lost, which is negative. Defence is the defence of the other unit. Kanbei would have his natural unit's defence ratings as well as that of the terrain the unit is on. An example. Max's half health Mid Tank opens fire on Kanbei's Rocket unit parked in a forest. Find the value on the Damage Chart and you'll see that the 'base' value is 105%. +50% for Max's attack boost: 157%. Now, subtract 20% because the unit is Kanbei's (and has +20% Defence) and then take off another 20% because the unit is in Woods. Now, cut the value in half because your Mid Tank is at half health. This will give you 49% damage. (If you ran the numbers, you'd find that the value should be 50%, however, the game doesn't seem to round numbers the way it should.) Remember, you must subtract the second 20% from the new value, and factor in the unit's Health last. ~5. Credits/Legal~ Advance Wars is owned by Nintendo. You know that. I know that. They know that. This is a waste of space. This guide, on the other hand, is copyright 2001 Uindamu Uiru. Touch it and you will be fed to a thousand angry Dunsparce. All data in this guide has been collected by myself (with the sole exception of, well, everything with a credit). You may not steal it; if you must steal it, at least provide me with your home address so that I may hunt you down and break your knees. This guide may be posted on your site only if it is 100% unaltered, and if proper credit is given to me (Uiru, uiru@cephiro.com). I would appreciate being informed first.