Topic: Advanced Wars Series of Games

[KDR_11k]

Quote
Originally posted by: Chozo Ghost
Those 1 and 2 hp units are good to use as a sacrifice to draw the enemy's fire and/or buy you time. You can usually evacuate them and let them heal, but when they're so low in strength its probably more cost effective to just build a new one (although I've never really checked up on that to be sure). Sometimes they hold out longer than you expect and maybe even defeat another low hp unit before finally succumbing, so that's cool.

I dunno about AWDC but in AW1 repairing cost just as much as building new, i.e. every 10% HP cost 10% of the unit's cost.

Also sometimes I wished I could see both digits of the HP value, not just the tens.

[bosshogx]

Repairing still holds true in AW:DR, but saving a stronger unit on the front line is still a viable strategy.  It always did strike me as a little odd that they show a 1-10hp marker on the unit, but all damage has displayed as a percent.  That only really affected some of the older CO's like Nell and Sonja with their good/bad luck factors.

*Warning: Long winded post to follow*

Speaking of CO's, how come they still can't get them all balanced properly?  This is the 4th game in the series and you would think it would have happened by now.  Don't get me wrong, the game is far more balanced than it's ever been before, but some of the CO's just needed to be tweaked a bit more.  Namely Will, Waylon, Lin, Tasha, and Gage.

Will and Gage are both practically useless because of Isabella.  She has both of their abilities for her CO power and a CO zone that is basically a wash with what the other two offer.  They should have changed the other two to be more powerful in what the do, direct attacks for Will/indirect for Gage, or changed her all together.

Lin's power of vision is a non-factor on maps without fog of war.  They should have given her Sonja's powers from AWDS to reduce her opponents terrain defense and the "Counter Break" first strike during her CO power.  That would have made her useful on maps with or without fog.

Waylon and Tasha are meant to be the offense/defense of the air.  The problem is that the two things that Tasha is good at, increasing air attack and move range, are the very things that air units don't need.  They can already move further than all ground units and they all strike hard, except for the Duster.  I mean really, does a Bomber need to go from 90% damage to 140%?  What's the point?  100% is dead no matter how you slice it.  Maybe they could have given her units the ability to cloak for two turns or make her air units able to fire indirectly like a Battleship.  Something, anything better than what she got.

On the other hand, Waylon's CO power causes his units to gain over 200% to their defense, something air units desperately need.  Watch in amazement as your Bombers, Copters, Dusters, and Fighters pummel the enemy on one turn and take next to no damage on your opponents turn.  No really, I've attacked the CPU with a Bomber destroying a unit, then on his turn he wheeled up a Anti Air only to do 20% damage.  The counter attack alone did 50% of his life.  His power is almost as good as Eagles double strike ability.  Oh yeah, did I mention his CO zone is 2 squares, while Tasha's is only 1?  So, his units not only have better defense than hers, but they get it over a larger area.  They could have switched that around or made her CO zone larger.

Anyways, the game is out already and there is nothing left to be done, so I'll stop complaining.  I just wonder why things like this slip through the cracks.  People are playtesting these games, right?  There were only 12 CO's to focus on, 11 if you remove Caulder from the mix.  This may be the most balanced AW to date, but with just a bit more tweaking, it would have been perfect.  Oh well, maybe next game.

[Chozo Ghost]

That's true that some of them are unbalanced, but why should that really matter? If they suck then you just don't use them.  Isabella is better than Will and Gage for a very important reason: she is a clone who has superhuman powers. It would make no sense if her powers were balanced with everyone elses'. So again, some are worse than others, but that's how commanders are in real life as well.

In experienced hands, the CO means almost nothing, as a good player can beat a better CO if he knows what he is doing. Even with Lin on an unfogged map you can still win against Isabella if you're good at what you do.

[KDR_11k]

That's true that some of them are unbalanced, but why should that really matter? If they suck then you just don't use them.  Isabella is better than Will and Gage for a very important reason: she is a clone who has superhuman powers. It would make no sense if her powers were balanced with everyone elses'. So again, some are worse than others, but that's how commanders are in real life as well.

In experienced hands, the CO means almost nothing, as a good player can beat a better CO if he knows what he is doing. Even with Lin on an unfogged map you can still win against Isabella if you're good at what you do.

In a multiplayer game that is NOT an excuse. If there's a choice that's always better than another then everyone will use it. Of course you can beat a player who has better equipment if you are better than him but at equal skill levels you get creamed if you have worse stuff than the enemy.

[Chozo Ghost]

n a multiplayer game that is NOT an excuse. If there's a choice that's always better than another then everyone will use it. Of course you can beat a player who has better equipment if you are better than him but at equal skill levels you get creamed if you have worse stuff than the enemy.

That is true; but you can see who the other player is choosing at the CO selection screen and you can respond accordingly. Or if he is a friend you know, then you both can agree on the details beforehand.

[Shecky]

The first four are not that imbalanced IMO.  Isabella has a single star defense boost.  If she survives long enough to trigger her power its your own fault (only offensive damage counts towards the meter remember).

Also, half the time I don't even use the powers... it's better off to get whatever boost to offense/defense in an increased zone.

I think Gage needed a 3/1 star ratio, but he's not bad as is.  The thing with those boosts is that weakened units can still cause a good amount of damage.  (Recon doing 20% to a tank)  Those added perks don't show up on the damage helper by the way, at least I didn't notice them.  For instance in the case I described earlier the recon listed 5% as the damage to deal.

Waylon really is Eagle with his defense boost.  Nothing will be able to touch planes... not even missiles which will hardly scratch them.  So his air units essentially get a freebie turn.  There is a huge trial map that forces you to put that to use.

Tabitha and Caulder are the ones that stick out as cheap.

That all said, I do think Isabella's set is the most versatile when you don't know the conditions, which is why I use her online.

[Chozo Ghost]

I like to use Forsythe as my CO because he doesn't have any CO powers, and that's good for me because often I forget to use them anyway, plus his CO zone covers a whopping 5 spaces.

Wouldn't it have been funny if they included some joke COs in the game just for fun? I'm thinking of Dr. Morris and that Mayor guy. As for Dr. Morris, I guess he wouldn't be too bad if his power was healing or something of that nature, but the mayor would be terrible in every way but he'd be a good choice for people who wanted to play with a handicapped CO just for a challenge. And "The Beast" guy who you defeat early on, why wasn't he a CO?

[bosshogx]

Player skill will ultimately decide the outcome of any match, but I was hoping for better balance in the CO's, so it's not the same old, same old every time.  I'd hoped that they could have gotten the CO's tiered a lot closer this time around, which they did, but Intelligent Systems was only a few tweaks away from having it just right.  Outside of Caulder, if they had just toned down Waylon's CO power, boosted Tabitha's power/zone, and changed Isabella's power to something else completely, the game would have been a whole lot better.

The way I see it now is that most people online are going to play Isabella, Waylon (if airports are involved), or Tabitha.  The thing is that people who know how to handle Tabitha are going to have a field day against her, as she has no CO range to increase her CO bar.  Once she gets it going though, she is a handful and a half to deal with.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.  The best way to play this game is with a friend to avoid all of the random online mode garbage anyway.  So, who's down for a game?  Chozo?  Shecky?  KDR?  Get me some friends codes!

[KDR_11k]

I don't even have the game, I got AWDS and that's already more AW than I can take (it was so cheap and the DS was lacking games, should've known better after AW1).

[Shecky]

Outside of Caulder, if they had just toned down Waylon's CO power, boosted Tabitha's power/zone, and changed Isabella's power to something else completely, the game would have been a whole lot better.

The way I see it now is that most people online are going to play Isabella, Waylon (if airports are involved), or Tabitha.  The thing is that people who know how to handle Tabitha are going to have a field day against her, as she has no CO range to increase her CO bar.  Once she gets it going though, she is a handful and a half to deal with.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.  The best way to play this game is with a friend to avoid all of the random online mode garbage anyway.  So, who's down for a game?  Chozo?  Shecky?  KDR?  Get me some friends codes!

Wait, you want to make Tabitha stronger??  She's overpowered as it is.  Also, for online battles you don't know what the conditions are going to be, that's why Isabella or Forthsite are good choices.

[bosshogx]

Wait, you want to make Tabitha stronger??  She's overpowered as it is.  Also, for online battles you don't know what the conditions are going to be, that's why Isabella or Forthsite are good choices.

Oops!  I meant Tasha not Tabitha.  My bad.  I don't think that Tabitha is overpowered though.  Her unit in and of itself is, getting a total of 180% strength/180% defense, but her CO zone is 0.  Therefore, she has to stick her neck out and fight on her own to increase her power/range.  She also has the natural weakness of her unit to overcome.  To maximize her usefulness, she really needs to be in a direct attacking unit as indirect units require a lot more set up.  If you concentrate units on taking her out the moment she hits the field, you shouldn't have much to worry about.  Let her get her CO zone maxed and you may as well surrender to her units superior firepower.

Of course, that's just me talking from my own personal experiences.  As time goes on people will think about new strategies and CO's will go up and down the tiers.  For online battles, I totally agree with Isabella and Forsythe as general "all purpose" CO choices.  I think that Brenner is a good choice as well, as you can never have enough extra defense and a 3-5 square CO zone.

PM me and we can set up a game or two.  I gotta get my AW fix man.

[blazecon0]

i love the AI system. it knows what to build depending on the units you use against it so fleet of the same thing almost never works in either attack or defense