-Talk is boring-
If you'd like to skip all the incessant talking of the COs,
use the Start button instead of the A button.
-Don't know your CO's strengths and weaknesses? Find out!-
Instead of using the in-game menu for solely saving and ending your
turn, check out the "CO" and "Intel" options. The "CO" option
specifically explains the statuses of units, powers, and
personailities for both allied and enemy CO's during a mission.
Additionally, if you're unsure as to which units have been upgraded
or degraded (in relation to firepower, movement range, and attack
range), scroll all the way down, past the CO description, to find
a chart detailing each unit's penalties and bonuses for the chosen CO.
-Finding lab maps grants access to missions that, upon
completion, will allow deployment of neotanks-
Careful attention to game dialogue will often reveal missions
in which specific cities can be captured, allowing access
to lab maps and, in consequence, hidden missions.
Lab Map Missions:
Orange Star - Flak Attack (Campaign)/Andy's Time
(Hard Campaign)
Blue Moon - Toy Box
Yellow Comet - Show Stopper
Green Earth - Sinking Feeling
Specific locations have not been listed to ensure enjoyment
and fustration of a hunt. Nevertheless, information on the
specific locations can be found elsewhere. Additionally,
failure to capture the specific city in "Flak Attack" is
overlooked by the Campaign - the lab map and hidden mission
will be granted upon completion of "Flak Attack."
-Keep units from damage in direct combat by placing them
next to enemy units that cannot effectively attack-
This technique is useful in blocking the AI's advance through
"choke points," such as bridges or passes between mountains.
Once a direct-combat enemy unit is adjacent to an allied unit,
it will attack. However, the AI is unwilling to lose or
severely damage a unit in a skirmish that heavily favors the
player. Therefore, if an enemy unit cannot attack without
taking severe damage, has more than 2HP, and cannot join with
another unit, the AI will command it to wait, prohibiting a
stronger enemy unit from taking its place and attacking. Use
this to you advantage to halt the AI's advance while amassing
a force to win the battle. Be wary, however, of long-range
unit movements.
-Limit enemy deployment by sending crippled enemy units
packing home-
As an alternative to using your own allied units for prohibiting
deployment from bases and other deployment structures, let enemy
units that have relatively low offense and defense capacities
(such as infantry) with less than 3HP return to repair and supply
at deployment structures. Of course, enemy cities provide an
alternative to bases for enemy land units, so try to limit the
enemy's access to his own cities. Additionally, discern which
types of units (air, land, or sea) can be repaired. If there's an
enemy transport copter but no enemy airport to limit deployment
from, go ahead and finish it off when it's beneficial or convenient!
-Prohibit deployment of expensive enemy land units by cutting
down enemy infantry-
The AI strives to have a minimum of 5 infantry-class units.
Therefore, if the total of enemy infantry and mech units combined
is less 5, enemy bases will be used to deploy infantry-class units.
Exploit this by eliminating enemy infantry with spare firepower to
greatly decrease the strength of the opposing army and the
difficulty of the mission. If possible, attack while the enemy
army is still developing for greater potential. (This is the
underlying basis for the so-called "mech flood" that players often
experience when attempting to rout the AI in deployment maps.)
-Perfect S-Rank Scoring-
The following, unfortunately, may become somewhat technical due
to the calculations for the power, technique, and speed aspects.
The speed aspect is detailed last as calculations for it are the
most complex and the required information is usually unknown to
the player.
Power:
Minimum ratio - 10% or 1:10 (*:**)
* Maximum number of enemy units destroyed in a
single day
** Net total of enemy units deployed on day of completion
(Important note: The "Net total..." (**) is solely denoted by the
figure representing enemy "Units" displayed by the "Status" chart,
under the "Intel" menu. Destruction of enemy units does not deduct
from the net total.)
If the perfect power ratio of 1:10 is not met, then the floor
percentage multiplied by 10 is taken to represent the power score.
A 1:15 ratio (approx. 6.67%) becomes a power score of 66 points.
On maps with enemy deployment structures (bases, ports, airports,
and factories), the power aspect potentially becomes more difficult
to obtain, as the enemy can theoretically keep increasing the net
total by deploying additional units. Thus, speed can become a
determining factor for power difficulty in deployment maps.
Additionally, perfect power can be achieved on any day - not
neccessarily the day of completion. However, to maintain perfect
power throughout the final day, the enemy net total must not
exceed 10 times the maximum amount of enemy units destroyed in a
single day. If a maximum of 3 enemy units destroyed in one day
was performed, the net total of enemy units deployed must not
exceed 30 units upon the day of completion.
For closing clarification, although the enemy is limited to 50
units on the map at a specific time, the AI is capable of
deploying more than 50 units during the course of the mission.
Therefore, if the figure representing enemy "Units" reaches 94
(notwithstanding any destroyed units listed under enemy "Lost")
by the day of completion, a maximum of 10 enemy units must have
been destroyed in a single day sometime during the course of
the mission in order to acheive perfect power. Consequently,
the mere action of routing the AI does not necessarily
guarantee pefect power - dependence lies on how the enemy was
routed.
Technique:
Maximum ratio - 20% or 2:10 (*:**)
[Campaign/Hard Campaign] || 10% or 1:10 (*:**) [War Room]
* Total number of allied units destroyed
** Net total of allied units deployed on day of
completion
If the perfect technique ratio is surpassed, then the floor
percentage deducted from 120 (for Campaign modes) or 110 (for
War Room) is taken to represent the technique score. A 2:7
ratio (approx. 28.5%) becomes a technique score of 92 points
for Campaign and 82 points for War Room. The "Status" chart
contains both totals for allied units for quick reference
("Lost":"Units").
Problems with technique can be countered by deploying additional
units using non-essential deployment structures and extras funds
during the course of the mission or on the day of completion in
order to raise the net total.
A joined unit, if destroyed, will count as only a single addition
to "Lost" while, towards the net total, it will still count as
however many units were used to comprise the joined unit. This
makes it possible to rout or be routed with the "Lost" total less
than the "Units" total for the same army.
As a final note on power and technique, the allied army that is
given the first move on any specific day will be the army that
determines these two aspects.
Speed:
Maximum Limit - Mission dependent
If the perfect speed limit is exceeded for a specific mission,
deductions from the speed score are dependent on the speed limit
for that mission and the total number of days over the limit.
The 'base deduction value' for any mission will always be 100
divided by 3 times the speed limit. To calculate a speed score
of less than 100 for a mission, multiply the total number of
days exceeding the limit by the 'base deduction value' for that
mission and then take the floor of that product and deduct it
from 100. Completing the mission on or later than 4 times its
speed limit will result in a speed score of 0.
If the mission "Cleanup" (with a limit of 8 days and a 'base
deduction value' of approx. 4.167) is completed on Day 15, the
attempt will result in a speed score of 71. If completed on Day
32 or later, the attempt will yield 0 points for the speed score.
The speed calculations are next to useless as the 'base deduction
value' cannot be determined without information of the maximum
limit or multiple trials for a specific mission. Therefore, there
is ideally no other way to improve speed scores than to improve
in skill and strategy.
Finally, Advance Wars 2 has done away with any mission rank below
a C-Rank. The following details the new rank stratifications.
Mission Rank Strata:
S-Rank - {280-300} points
A-Rank - {250-279} points
B-Rank - {200-249} points
C-Rank - {001-199} point(s)
