[Toasty]

I noticed that there's a few AW topics, but no "official" topic. Just a few scattered topics lying around in the dust.

Anyway, I like this game quite a bit as some of you have figured out. I'm currently replaying AW:DS on hard. I'm at the lab for the piperunners. I just got there last night before I went to bed, so I havn't tested it yet. I'll probably choose Colin and Grimm with Colins skills as: sale price, fire sale, gold rush, and either star power or brawler. Grimms will be: snipe guard, snipe shield, star power, and slam shield since I'll be facing a lot of long range weapons, and a few direct attack units. I chose these because Colin is the perfect candidate for any deployment map, and Grimm makes up for Colin's low fire power.

Anyone have suggestions for any other ways to handle this?

[Hotshot101]

Mr.T, on Oct 26 2006, 07:01 PM, said:

I noticed that there's a few AW topics, but no "official" topic. Just a few scattered topics lying around in the dust.

Anyway, I like this game quite a bit as some of you have figured out. I'm currently replaying AW:DS on hard. I'm at the lab for the piperunners. I just got there last night before I went to bed, so I havn't tested it yet. I'll probably choose Colin and Grimm with Colins skills as: sale price, fire sale, gold rush, and either star power or brawler. Grimms will be: snipe guard, snipe shield, star power, and slam shield since I'll be facing a lot of long range weapons, and a few direct attack units. I chose these because Colin is the perfect candidate for any deployment map, and Grimm makes up for Colin's low fire power.

Anyone have suggestions for any other ways to handle this?

well its a pretty good strategy but have you looked at the map? Grim is best in enclosed areas with not a lot of room for direct attacks. I don't know anything about the star powers or that but i do know how to use COs properly. I will give you credit in a double team with deployment colin would be a very good start off and he may have small decrease in fire power he can make up for it with his CO power that increases his units power by how much money he has. Grim if you are facing units in an area that is way enclosed is a good choice. I don't know what the real battle conditions are and what co's you can choose from so i would help out more if i knew that.

[Toasty]

Yeah, it's pretty inclosed, and he's good for that because there's less opportunities for him to be attacked. I chose the long range defensive skills since there's five piperunners and an artillery, and in this position, if he doesn't have a good defense against long range attacks, he'll be screwed. I've used this combo so many times it should be illegal, but it works like a charm most of the time. :)

[Nemphtis]

I do like the Advance Wars franchise and I played it to death. Although I'm ashamed to admit I haven't completed the first game yet let alone the second. The reason for this is that I always just play Skirmish/Deathmath on strategy games, I never bother following the story. But it's worth pointing out that I'm close to the end now and I'm going to try and complete the second one and the DS version afterwards. Advance Wars and Golden Sun are the first games that come to my mind when someone mentions a GameBoy Advance.

[Toasty]

Same here. I beat AW:2, but only because I used cheats on the last level. It was so dang hard!
I play AW:DS now, I can barely keep playing AW, let alone AW:2 because DS is way better.
On a side note, if you put in AW, or AW:2 in the GBA slot on your DS and start up AW:DS, you can get special maps and wallpaper, and they're all only cost one point.

[Caael]

I want this pre-owned. Its meant to be a great game, and it has had no negative opinions that I have heard.

[Formina]

I have Advance Wars 2 for GBA. ^^

Finished the game, and gotten most of the CO's. I have to say, Grit, and that yellow CO (with the expensive, but powerful guys) are my two favourites ^^

[Split Infinity]

Mr.T, on Oct 31 2006, 08:05 PM, said:

Same here. I beat AW:2, but only because I used cheats on the last level. It was so dang hard!

That mission was EASY. Just use Colin and have him send up a couple of bombers, and you'll have Sturm regurgitating those 300 points in no time.

I still haven't beaten hard campaign. I'm too busy trying to get S ranks on the normal campaign and finish off the War Room maps so I can get that elusive gold text.

[Toasty]

What elusive gold text? I have heard of no such gold text.
And Formina, you're talking about Kenbei. I use to use him along with Colin, until I noticed how powerful Grimm really is. You'd have to capture three com towers just to match up to his strength! I now use Grimm and Colin together on any production map (a map with factories, airports, or seaports). They make the perfect team if you match them up with the right skills.

[isaac rules]

the elusive gold text is when you beat every war room mission, but you have to beat it. it doesn't matter if you rank though. eh, i used ar for hard campaign, didn't have enough patients to play it through.
im assuming grimm is from aw:ds? i haven't played that since im not buying a ds.

[Toasty]

Yeah, he is. I just did the first three missions over and over in hard mode to get more money in AW:2. I'm actually going through the whole hard mode thing in DS.

[Split Infinity]

Guess all those S-ranks paid off. Now I've got Sturm, and I'm busy blowing through the rest of the War Room missions. He doesn't get very good scores, but meh!

If that works out, I'll try the Hard Campaign again to get Haichi and those last gallery pictures...and then I'm going to beg for a DS.

[Toasty]

I didn't know you could get Hachi in AW:2.
But I beat AW:DS on hard, and got Von Bolt as a playable character. The only thing I hate, is that the last mission is one of the easiest. That is of course, if you have the best strategy. :)
*SPOILER*
The best strategy on the last level is to have Grimm on the top screen with +2 Repair, Slam Guard, Snipe Guard, and either Gold Rush, or preferably Star Power. Colin should be on the touch screen and have Sale Price, Fire Sale, Gold Rush, and Slam Guard. Make sure Grimm is set to the offensive posture before beginning.
First, have Colin make one copter, and as many infantry as possible. Don't worry about the mechs or oozium, just send the copter to the bottom of the screen to stop the enemy's infantry from capturing any cities. You'll be in for a lot of trouble if you don't.
After your opponent's turn is over, Grimm will attack on the top screen. After he does, he'll probably have his ass kicked by Kindle. Switch him to defensive mode and keep him there.
It should be Colin's trun again now. Ignore the mechs and have the infantry from the bottom capture the left base, and as many cities as possible. Make another copter and as many infantry as you can.
Von Bolt will attack you with the mechs, and the oozium should be at your doorstep now.
Grimm shouldn't be doing much attacking, and he should still be having a rough time. At the first chance you get, send him a Mega Tank.
By now, the mechs should be upon you. Just swarm them with your infantry, capturing cities is secondary now, until you get rid of the mechs, but continue to capture any buildings that you were already capturing and combine new troops with injured ones that were already capturing buildings. Swarm any oozium with your infantry. This method for oozium extermination is by far the most cost effective and least risky way to dispose of the animated jell-o.
Create more infantry and another copter, and send four infantry to the bottom to capture the cities.
From there, just capture cities and take out the enemy's units. And be sure to send three or more Mega Tanks to Grimm, or he'll be screwed.
Once Grimm has at least two healthy Mega tanks on the top screen, switch him to assult.
*END SPOILER*
This method works well for both hard, and easy modes, but you won't have to deal with the mechs. You still need to send Meag Tanks to Grimm though.

[Split Infinity]

Hachi sells himself and his colours to you after you beat Hard Campaign and after you've nought everything from his store.

EDIT] Obvious spelling mistake in there.

[Toasty]

For some reason, that sounds really disturbing. But ANYWAY, if I were you I'd keep AW:2 if you buy a DS, because you can use it along with AW:DS to get a special map in the DS version.

[Split Infinity]

Cool, and would I be right in believing that Grimm is the new baddie?

[Toasty]

I thought that too at first, given his name and appearence. But actually, he's the new yellow commet CO. The baddies on the last level are Kindle and Von Bolt (the new Sturm). Grimm is arguably the best yellow commet CO. He works best if you give him defensive skills to counter his lack of defense. He works so well with Colin on deploy maps, because if you wire Colin with deployment skills (sale price, fire sale, and gold rush [yeah, it's a skill too]) then Colin can produce super powerful units, and once you've got enough of them, switch to Grimm and you can dish out a whole lot of damage very easily. You just have to make sure you can make your units beforre the enemy can get to you. I've played the DS version for a total of 300 hours, and this is still the best combo I can find. Now if it's a non deployment map, use Kanbei and Grimm, and give Kanbei more offensive skills. Or if the units are mostly indirect attackers, then switch either one of them with Grit.

[Split Infinity]

I wouldn't know, I don't own the darn game. But Von Bolt sounds like he should be in Green Earth. Allow me to demonstrate:

Orange Star = North America

Blue Moon = Russia

Yellow Comet = Japan

Green Earth = Germany

Black Hole = Aliens

[Toasty]

That's about what I thought. Though I didn't quite consider green earth to be German, but it fits.

Anyway, Von Bolt is with the Black Hole army. He's really old, and his super CO power is very similar to Sturms. It's also better than his too.

[Split Infinity]

Don't spoil the surprise. Green Earth can be compared the Nazi Germany in terms of their clothing, especially Eagle's flying goggles.

Since you're the local AW freak, can you give me any tips on beating the infernal Risky Vale map? It's the last War Room map and it's driving me crazy. Don't link me to some website, I want your personal strategy. If you have managed to beat it, that is.

[Toasty]

(Revive'd)

So. Seeing as there's a new Advanced Wars game (AW: Days of Ruin) comming out January 21st, 2008, I figured it was about time this got bumped. Possible spoilers.

Personally, I'm both happy and dissapointed with this one. Looking at the map editor screens and reading the reviews, it seems as though they now only have four different armies. And it's possible that, like in the first AW, it's all vs. all. Except in maybe a few situations. It's not quite clear yet.

This new addition to the series is pretty much a fresh start from all the others. Everything about the series except for it's core has been stripped and rebuilt. This time, it looks pretty gloomy, a lot more 'mature' than the past games. Not quite sure what the storyline is past "Meteors hit earth killing 90% of the population" (holy crap), but I'm still looking around trying to scrounge up as much info as I can. As for now, I don't think we'll be getting any of the old CO's back.

From the videos and artwork I've seen, it looks a lot more realistic, and there's definately a difference in drawing style as far as the sprites go. Also, there's a few new units, includeing infantry riding motrcycles who are able to capture buildings. There's also a few changes in the units names. From what I know, the Md (medium) tank is now called the 'Heavy' tank (correct me if I'm wrong). But, get this. We get a crop duster XD. It's kind of like a helicopter, in the sense that it flies lower than the jets, but instead of only attacking ground units and other copters/dusters, it can attack both air and ground units. I'm still not sure who it can attack though.

Unfortunately, some units got axe'd as well. And the CO Powers have been made far less "lethal," i.e., they no longer can decide the outcome of a match. This will change the strategies used in previous games dramatically, but who knows, it could be a good thing.

The best feature so far though, in my opinion, has to be the online play. Finally, I'll be able to have some worthy opponents. :D I'M CALLIN' YOU OUT MAX!....and PS, and possibly WD, and maybe even Split too. Maybe. :silence:

As for screens, videos, information in general just google 'Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin'. It worked for me. :D

Can't wait for this game. :)

[Toasty]

Wow. You all seem so enthusiastic. :P

Am I the only one here who wants this game?

[EDIT]Forgot to mention one more thing: I'll finally be able to test my skillz against all those really smart Asian kids. :D

[Ironsight]

I have no DS. So while I am excited about the new game, I cant get that excited :P

[Laharl]

not really interested in this new offering, Dual Strike was pretty lame, majorly lacking in the innovation, it was just a rehash of AW2. Loved the first two games though, my favourite (non-rpg) stratagey games ever

[gsninja]

Since this is a series for handhelds only, this topic will be moved to the Handheld Gaming forum. :(

~MOVED~

[Toasty]

Yeah, it was in the consoles section origionally, because Batallion Wars was origionally going to be called AW: Under Fire. But, since thename changed, this fits much better.

[Someone Else]

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was expected to be T rated, but it ended up being E10+ :P

I'm glad they took Dual Strikes out. They made the last game a bit easy.

[Ironsight]

I read somewhere that Toasty was doing a mini site. Is he still working on it?

[Split Infinity]

Extremely slowly if at all.

[Toasty]

Meh. I stopped working on it a while ago. Mainly because there's an assload of content to put in there, and I wasn't very experienced with PHP, and could use improvement on CSS. Heck, I still don't know PHP. I intend to pick it up again some day.
possibly this comeing summer, but I wouldn't count on it.

But yeah, Dualstrikes made things easy. The whole game was easier than the previous ones. I didn't even need to cheat to beat the last level!....<.< On top of that, the final level wasn't even the hardest, and the hardest level was only a slight challenge.

But, it did get me more interested in strategy games. I'll give it that.

[Someone Else]

Yeah, I was a little underwhelmed by the last level of AW:DS. IIRC in the last couple of missions you could mostly just rush the enemy and send units on suicide missions. Since the objective on the last few was destroying a target with a certain amount of HP, all you had to do was just send your doods in and blow them up fast. You probably wouldn't get higher than a C ranking, but...

[Toasty]

I think I got a C rank on one mission. Maybe. All you have to do is stay back away form the enemy a bit, build up your forces, and charge 'em. Works best on the map that has all those crystals you have to destroy, and they're surrounded by a bunch of strong units with only 1HP.

[Someone Else]

That's too much of a generalization. If you stand back and build your forces the enemy will capture all the towns and out-fund and therefore overwhelm you...

[Toasty]

I'm talking about the last two or so missions. At first, produce as many infantry. Do this until you've captured enough towns to produce three, four, five, whatever Mechs. Repeat until youve got a number of decent units. Then stockpile Except for on that one level. Take out a bunch of those damaged units, then fall back on the third turn or so and stockpile. They won't attack.

[Someone Else]

I remember I tried that on the last mission... but you really can't give the enemy the opportunity to get the towns at the south of the map. If you let the enemy capture too many towns at the south, you'll pay for it later because you'll have to defend your base from enemy attack instead of actually trying to kill the big Oozium.

[Toasty]

Yeah. I found out that the most effective way to take out oozium is to use infantry. FAR cheaper, and it usually nly takes four or five attacks. As for the buildings to the south, I sent three infantry and a mech, and he only got one or two before I took out his infantry. And Colin+Grimm=The best team EVER. You can beat anything with them.

[Split Infinity]

I'm still working on the Hard Campaign of AW2... >.>

[Toasty]

Split, you are a sad, sad little man. I finished it in less than....8 to 12 hours of actual playing time? Maybe not even that. And I'm not bragging. They really could've made this game harder. Hopefully Days of Ruin will be harder.

[Split Infinity]

It's because I'm trying to finish as many missions as possible rather than speedrunning through. I'm almost finished anyway, just need to beat the GE factory and then the Macro Land missions.

[Toasty]

Wait.....Sorry. Thought we were still talking about AW:DS. It took me a few days (and uh...*coughcheatscough*) to finish AW2.

[Kuchiyose]

Only part I found hardest on AW2 was the level where you have only air units and you have to destroy those minicannons and if all your bombers and copters were destroyed, your buggered! And Green Earth factory pipe, it takes ages to do! But fun game XD I like Grit, I like using artillery and rockets XD

[Split Infinity]

Dude of Wind, on Dec 30 2007, 11:03 AM, said:

Wait.....Sorry. Thought we were still talking about AW:DS. It took me a few days (and uh...*coughcheatscough*) to finish AW2.

Your insult just became invalid.

[Toasty]

Way to go, sir pointouttheobviousalot!

[Toasty]

Sorry for the double post, but this had to be bumped.

Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin comes out in 5 days! YES!

[Someone Else]

Awesome, I had no idea it would come out so soon. I know what I'm asking for for my Bday.

[Toasty]

Actually, it's out on the 23rd. I'll probably pick it up some time during the following weekend.

http://www.advancewars.com/

[Split Infinity]

How much is a DS these days, $200?

[Drizzy Drake]

That's almsot the prie of the Wii and the PSP, I doubt it's that expensive.

[Split Infinity]

It is in Australian dollars. A Wii is about $350 here. Both the DS and the Wii were $50 more expensive when they first came out.

[Toasty]

It's $100USD used, $130USD new. Don't know about AUD though. And even thoguh AW:DS was easy, it was still a good game in my eyes. I'd get it first.

[Split Infinity]

Of course. Wouldn't want to get the new game and be overwhelmed by the twice as many new features.

And I checked, the DS is about $180AUD it seems.

[Toasty]

They actually took away features. But, they did add a few new one's back. AW:DoR is nearly entirely different from AW:DS and before. CO Powers are dumbed down so they no longer entirely dictate the outcome of a battle. The CO's don't send out dozens of troops to be injured and/or die, and then go and celebrate a victory/mourne the losses over rootbeer floats. AW:DoR relies a lot more on the user's strategic skill in placeing and maneuvering units than luck, or the skills of the CO you're useing. This time, it really IS an advanced version of chess. Just a lot less boring.

Or at least, that's what they claim. Hopefully it's true.

[Split Infinity]

Thank God, I'm tired of getting owned by Hawke spamming his CO Powers.

[Toasty]

Now he'll only spam you with his superior strategy skills. :D Actually, he won;t even do that. NONE of the old CO's, not one, will be returning. Completely new cast this time.

[Split Infinity]

Is this new game canon?

Anyway, I still haven't beaten the Hard Campaign. Like I said, Hawke is killing me with his Black Storms. I need a walkthrough for the GE factory.

[Toasty]

What's the name of the level? If I had a screenshot of the map, that'd help too.

[Split Infinity]

I just told you, the Green Earth factory. And I thought you were supposed to be making the maps anyway. Remember the minisite?

[Toasty]

You mean that's the actual title? Dang, I can't remember. Can you describe the map? Like is two of the factory doors over water? Is the pipe going straight out of the back? Is there an airport on the left or right side of the map?

[EDIT] Found the map. That level was troublesome for me.

Alright, first off, make sure Yellow commet gets the buildings in the bottom right corner. They'll take out the megacannon and the two minicannons on the right side of the screen. A good way to take out the minicannon and get the buildings in the top right (just below the pipes) is to just run in and start capturing the city with infantry. Have two others out of range that are ready to combine with the one that's capturing so that he's not taken out before he can capture. Then, get a rocket on the captured citiy and attack the minicannon. It might cost a bit, but YC will probably have spare change to throw around since BH will most likely focus on OS and GE first. The city will continue to heal the rocket, so you don;t have to worry about it getting axed. HOWEVER. BH will most likely try to kill you with one or two artillery and possibly one rocket on their two bottom right located cities. To counter this, repeat the process of capturing the city, but instead capture the base. Put an artillery or Rocket there. Also have another rocket located out of range of the cannon, but in range of the enemy artillery/rockets.
Getting rid of that pesky minicannon in the top right will make that space REALLY valuable. YC will be able to slaughter the enemy units with artillery/rockets witht the two bases and two cities located nera by.

Green Earth should take out the four minicannons in the center of the map first (take out the two on the right side first, as they'll keep you from getting the airports otherwise) with one or two battlships. After that, get both of the airports, as they'll be the key to keeping BH from overrunning you. Second priority is to take out the other minicannon cluster.

Orange Star's FIRST priority is takeing out the Megacannon at the top. For the first three turns, just crank out infantry. Orange star only gets the top three cities that are on the left, since GE needs the money for producing bombers, B Copters, and fighters. Once you have enough money, you should get a rocket and one or two artillery in range, and take out the megacannon. But, make sure you have some kind of defense set up to keep BH at bay, otherwise OS will be the first to be wiped out. Second priority is takeing out the minicannon cluster. It'll cause problems if it stay thoguh, so get rid of it quickly.

Once the enemy's cannon's are destroyed, Orange Star will clear the path for Green Earth to go in and destroy the pipe. Yellow Commet will injure/destroy the enemy with long range attacks from the other side of the pipe wall. First priority for Yellow Commet in this section of the fight is to take out missles, and THEN long range units that could kill YC units and units that could kill OS units. The missles will prevent you from getting to the pipe sucessfully. Once you get the chance, block the factory doors with a unit. This will obvously keep Hawke from prodcuing units.

To keep your units from being killed by Hawke's CO power, just try to keep them on your properties when you can.

Property Allocation Map
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1440/gefactorygg9.png

[Split Infinity]

I doubt you'd be able to help me if I just described it...

[Toasty]

Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin comes out TOMORROW. =D

....and my DS is still missing. Which sucks. But I've been playing AW 2 on my SP lately.

[Ironsight]

Cool for me, my brother got a DS for christmas. So I CAN GET IT!

[Toasty]

Yeah, I've been looking on ebay for a DS Lite. Almost got one for new for $80.

[Wiflewood]

Got DOR today (well, its DC in England)

Pretty impressed so far, I like the 'darker' feel to it, and the new units as well. Story isn't that good but its not an RPG I guess. I'm up to about mission 10 and so far pretty much every mission has been "ZOMG bandits attacking!!" *cough*fireemblem*cough*

I like the way your units become more powerful when they defeat enemy units tho. For each unit you defeat the unit that killed it goes up a level, level 1, level 2 and Ace is the maximum. They get more powerful when they level up.

CO powers etc pretty non existent tho, I did a free battle with one of my design room maps (design room is much cooler in this one, lots of stuff you couldn't do before and you can upload maps onto wfc for other people to use!)

Basically you can deploy your CO with a certain unit, it automatically upgrades it to ace, and they CO ability (as it would have been in the last game, e.g Grit's Indirect fire +1) is projected onto the surrounding units. Its a pretty small area but I think it depends on the CO.

Although I've not been able to deploy any COs in story mode so far.

[My Best Wishes]

Do you need to play the first 3 AW games for it to make sense?

[Toasty]

Though I haven't had the chance to play it yet, I can't imagine that it would. It's supposed to be entirely different form the other AW's. Besides, the AW storylines never really connected, besides CO's from AW1/2 joining in throughout the AW:DS storyline.

[Someone Else]

IGN gave DOR an 8.6/10. I personally don't really care about videogame reviews much anymore (since the ass-kissing of Halo 3), but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Ironsight]

Whats with all the brown? Is that supposed to make it seem more dark or something?

[Someone Else]

Haven't you heard? Real is brown!

[Ironsight]

Technology sure is impressive.

[Toasty]

DarkSword, on Jan 24 2008, 09:53 PM, said:

Whats with all the brown? Is that supposed to make it seem more dark or something?

The earth was just struck with numerous asteroids. 90% of the human population is dead. Do you think you'd still be able to look outside and see a single blade of green grass?

Wind Dude, on Jan 24 2008, 09:56 PM, said:

Haven't you heard? Real is brown!

SHAZAM!

[Ironsight]

Well, I kinda forgot about the meteor thing. Seriosly though, I did like the colorful environments in the last game.

[Toasty]

They have a copy at the GameStop in town, but I don't have a DS. D:

To ebay!

[Someone Else]

I'm getting this for my birthday. Can't wait.

Also getting Battalion Wars 2 for my birthday. It's funny if you think about it.

[Ironsight]

I was l l close to convincing my brother into getting it. But then he decided that Assasins Creed for the DS would somehow be better D:<

[Someone Else]

Smack your brother across the face...

[Toasty]

Shove a 6 inch rod up his ass and use him as a mace to decimate his room. He has mental issues.

And point out to him that the DS's CPU runs a like, 60Mhz, vs. a 360 or PS3's 2+ Ghz. Then tell him that Nintendo is going to make it 2D. That 'oughta fix the problem.

[Ironsight]

Too late, he bought it on the spot >_< It's arriving next week.

[Toasty]

CURSE HIM!

Intercept the package and burn it! It'll be considered lost in the mail, and he'll get a refund! Plus, you'll be purgeing the world of the filth that is Assasin's Creed DS!

[Someone Else]

This game's pretty cool. They made subtle changes to some things which actually changes strategy a lot. Like Infantry costs 1500 monies rather than 1000. That means you won't be able to buy infantry straight away like you could before.

Also, Tank/Vehicle armor isn't as powerful now so Mechs are actually USEFUL now.

Music's a bit more interesting too. Will's theme is absolutely great even if it's short, loops a lot, and doesn't quite fit into the gritty war post-apocalyptic theme, it's wonderful.

[Toasty]

The mechs were overpowered in AW:DS, or the tanks armor was nerfed, because you could easily take out a Neotank with 5 or 6 Mechs. In AW2 though, only Kanbei's Mechs are useful, because they're the only ones that can take out a Medium Tank with 5 or 6 units.

But what're the CO powers like? Are they as useful as they were before, or did they actually get nerfed like the descriptions have stated?

[Someone Else]

Toasty, on Feb 1 2008, 07:31 PM, said:

The mechs were overpowered in AW:DS, or the tanks armor was nerfed, because you could easily take out a Neotank with 5 or 6 Mechs. In AW2 though, only Kanbei's Mechs are useful, because they're the only ones that can take out a Medium Tank with 5 or 6 units.

But what're the CO powers like? Are they as useful as they were before, or did they actually get nerfed like the descriptions have stated?

5 or 6 mechs = 10000-12000 monies in AW:DS... I'd rather get a couple tanks for that much.

I don't even think there are CO powers in this one. And honestly, I don't mind.

Gah, one of the trial maps has me stumped. I think it's the third one, the one with the Fog of War and the river split down the middle with that makes an island with a mountain in the center. I am no good in Fog of War maps, and with with the river in the middle it makes you and the AI want to make indirect units, and I'm worse with those. x.x Wifle, HELP

[Toasty]

River in the middle and fog of war, huh? Since there's a mountain, then the designers want you to make mechs and infantry. Get one on the mountain quick and build up some mechs for defense. A recon wouldn't hurt either. The mechs may not be able to get past the enemy artillery (if they have any, which they usually do) undetected since they're GOING to have a recon or two. You'll want two artillery at least. Always assume that the enemy's artillery are right at the border where the land meets the river (unless you're sure that they're not there), and position your recon and artillery accordingly.

You're first priority is to get an infantry unit on that mountain though.

[Someone Else]

The island with the mountain in the river is a target. There's about five cities surrounding the mountain, and the rivers on the east and west sides have one bridge on them so tanks can go through. And this isn't AW:DS, this is AW:DoR. There's a new unit called the Flare now. It can fire a flare across a wide range, about five square units, which does no damage but reveals a part of the Fog of War so Rockets and Artillery units can absolutely wreck anything in there.

So far my strategy is to capture everything I can as fast as I can with Bikes, and just swarm the map myself with lots of weak units, which actually worked for a while, but then they just annihilate me with a few indirect units in forests. Are you seeing a theme here? I hate fog of war. ^_^

[Toasty]

What's the name of the map? It'd be easier to make a strategy if I had the map.

Also, is this a production map, or do you start out with units? If there are units already deployed, what are they?

[Someone Else]

You have to create units at start. I think the beginning handout is 7000 funds.

Infantry cost 1500, Mechs and Bikes cost 2500. Bike movement range is 4 IIRC, they are bascically the same as normal infantry other than that in that their armor and "tires" are the same as a standard infantry unit.

There are ways past the island on the top and on the bottom by bridge. There are some forests surrounding it, so when I play again I think I'll distract the enemy with a constant stream of cheap units through the island and sneak an ambush to the enemy using the forests at said top and bottom of the map with stronger units.

[Toasty]

The CPU will always attack the strongest unit in it's sights (unless DoR is different in that aspect as well), so that might not work. Your best bet is to locate the recon units and destroy them first. Spam the map with infantry to look into the forests so you can find out where the enemy is located. Build up forces that you know are out of range of the artillery, and when you know where to hit, go in for the kill. Spam the island with infantry though, since you'll want the cities.

I can't say if that will work or not since I don't know the exact layout of the map. Are you sure you don't know it's name?

[EDIT] I found a place where I can buy DS Lites in bulk for $80USD. HOwever, you have to have $400USD of merchandise in your cart to check out. I could easily sell the other 4 on ebay for at the LEAST $125. That's the cheapest I've seen a brand new DS Lite go for on ebay. They range betwen $125 and $155 USD.

Anyway, I also found DoR for $25 at another site, so I may just be able to play this game. I'll hopeuflly order a new DS within the next 2 weeks.

[Someone Else]

I just beat two other Trial Maps, one finished in an A ranking, the other with a (surprising) S ranking. Whoo! I think I'll just forget the other one. :D

[Wiflewood]

They made mechs too overpowered in this game. I've played a few competitive games online with people from AWnet, and all of them have requested a 'No mech spam/no gunboat spam' rule.

[Someone Else]

Take back what I said before, there are CO Powers in this game. Your CO can be placed on a unit (preferable on a powerful one) which draws a radius around him called a CO Zone. Attack and Defense are raised in here for your units. In this zone, your CO Meter fills as you do damage to other units like it would in the other AW games. As your CO Meter fills, your CO Zone spreads. CO Powers can be done at half filled or fully filled IIRC. When you use the CO Power the CO Meter goes back to zero and your CO Zone will be puny once more.

So far the CO Power I've been able to use has been a bit lame and I'd rather have the CO Zone benefit. You get movement +2. Whee. Really a stupid power, particularly when it was a Fog of War map where being able to move far could just put you into a trap.

[Toasty]

Wiflewood, on Feb 9 2008, 05:23 AM, said:

They made mechs too overpowered in this game. I've played a few competitive games online with people from AWnet, and all of them have requested a 'No mech spam/no gunboat spam' rule.

Well that's retarded. I've got quite a few strategies that I've used in AW2 and AW: DS that revolve around using many mechs. Though some of those strategies don't require that I just spam with mechs the whole time.

I can't wait until I can get a new DS and play this. I'm looking foreward to the online multiplayer a lot. :D

[Nemphtis]

I've been playing Dark Conflict lately and the new units are pretty cool. I feel the game is much more balanced now, but I'm not digging the new visual style. It sounds good on paper, but the battle animations look lame and blocky when compared to the pixel perfect anime style visuals of the previous games. Worst of all, they're hardly that much more realistic to be honest, and the plot isn't all that gritty either. Every thing's still very shallow, but I'm glad the gameplay is much more balanced with an addition of online play.

[Someone Else]

Well you've got to admit, the story is a step up from the previous Advance Wars games. Not a big one, but a step up nevertheless. I think the story would have been better if

Spoiler

they just kept it as humanity fighting amongst itself rather than bringing the Black Hole IDS into the story.

[Nemphtis]

Yes, it's a step up. No, it's not good enough.

The only reason I'm not pissed is because they actually tried to simplify and balance the units out more this time. The motorbike troops are a great example of this, along with the cheaper than usual planes you can now purchase.

The online mode is also very welcome like I said, though unfortunately I haven't played it since my Windows Vista doesn't support the ****ing USB WiFi device I have. It's the simple fact this gameplay is still fun that I'm not too bothered, but the new visuals and story haven't grown on me at all.

[Ironsight]

My youngest brother got this a little while ago, but he's being an *** bout letting me play it. So far I've only gotten to mission 4 I think.

[Zeypher]

I have Dual Strike for the DS...I was thinking about getting Days of Ruin.

[Split Infinity]

You think about getting a lot of things...

[Zeypher]

Split Infinity, on Apr 24 2008, 06:01 PM, said:

You think about getting a lot of things...

I do...I'm short on cash for Video Games at the moment so I'm trying to see whats the best game I should get...y'know.

[Split Infinity]

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8246/powerofmoneykn8.jpg

HOLY--

:P I beat Hard Campaign a few days ago, which means all my menu icons are gold. Thought I'd never finish it. I have a sudden urge to go out and buy AW1 now.

[Ironsight]

I finaly got my bro to let me play his copy. But his DS was out of power and we couldn't find the god damn charger. I was pissed.

[Toasty]

http://www.goldensun-syndicate.net/forum/public/style_images/gssv3/snapback.png' alt='View Post' />Split Infinity, on Jul 2 2008, 06:04 AM, said:

HOLY--

:( I beat Hard Campaign a few days ago, which means all my menu icons are gold. Thought I'd never finish it. I have a sudden urge to go out and buy AW1 now.

Were you using Colin?

[Split Infinity]

Nope, but the person who took the screenshot was. You can tell he's cheating though because of the fact that half his units are capturing forests. :/

I tried it myself though by making a custom map with tons of cities and with funds set to 9500. After Power of Money, I could easily do 999% on all enemy units. Pwnt.

[Split Infinity]

I've been playing Dual Strike for a good half month and I've enjoyed it a fair bit. The CO skills and Tag powers, while wildly unbalanced, do add a bit of fun to the game and help to keep battles from dragging on. The difficulty drop is rather noticeable though; the campaign didn't exactly make me feel smarter than a 5th grader, and the final mission was a joke, to be honest.

The other game modes are still a good challenge. The War Room and Versus options give the game near-infinite replay value, and Survival is probably the most tactical mode in the whole game. Combat mode is a fun diversion every now and then, though I was a little disappointed that it was just a shallow minigame instead of the real-time Advance Wars that I thought it would be (which could have been amazing).

The music is still brilliant as ever, particularly the themes for Rachel and Sasha. Bolt's theme is epic to say the least, way better than Sturm's. Who you can't play as any more because Hawke killed his ass in the last game. >_>

---

Anyway, Nintendo has made public their release schedule for the new year, and I came here to post so I could tell you that a certain 'Famicom Wars DS2' is apparently being released in Japan, but now I've realised it's just a tentative name for the Japanese version of DoR. Oh well. =(

[Toasty]

DoR came out in Japan a long ass time ago. I imagine it's something else. Maybe a sequel.

[Split Infinity]

Nope, says it right there on Wiki. There's no JPN release date listed either.

http://en.wikipedia....s:_Days_of_Ruin

[Toasty]

WUT

HOW IN GOD'S NAME IS THAT POSSIBLE?

[Toasty]

O hai. I iz in ur topiks postan sturfs.


Got DoR for Christmas (along with a DSi so I could play it! =O!). Anyway, I have to say, I'm loving the sound track. I just wish the sound was better quality. Also, the game is hella' balanced now. It requires a ton more strategy than AW:DS. Though I still find AW:DS to be fun to play (and the endurance modes actually require a good amount of strategy).

Back to DoR though, I really appreciate how CO powers play a less significant role, and how the units are now more balanced and priced more strategically. The storyline, while still a bit cliche, is absolutely a step up from the "kiddies sending army men off to fight and die as they sip root beer. " storyline that DS had.

Anyway, just thought I'd post my opinions having come late to the party and all. :O

[Saturos S.]

Heh, just noticed that "Days of Ruin" is called "Dark Conflict" in the European version. It's a fun game to play though, I'm exactly great at it (still trying to finish the storyline with S-ranks) but it's still good fun.

I'm kind of glad they ditched the old CO's though, not sure who my favourite new CO is because they do play a much smaller part in DoR/DC. I normally go for Trak or Carter though and if fog is on, Lin.

[Golden Legacy]

Been playing Advance Wars: Dual Strike the past few days, and I am blown away by it. Creative level design, if somewhat easier than AW2. The soundtrack has this nice punk/metal feel (the "1, 2, 3, 4!" when you beat a mission is always so catchy). I am not too fond of Jake as a CO, but he's grown on me.

Tag CO powers are horrendously overpowered, however. Overall though, I'm loving Dual Strike.

[Toasty]

I basically have the same opinion of the game. I picked it up for the first time in years about a couple weeks ago, and just started listening to tracks in the sound room. Pretty good stuff.

Though I'm actually quite impressed with the soundtrack in DoR as well.

[Someone Else]

Dual Strike was awesome. I probably put 50 hours into it, which is impressive for a handheld game that's not Pokemon. Yeah it was pretty easy, just uber rape with the hilariously imbalanced CO powers, but uber rape can be fun! ;D

I remember Jake being a decent CO in maps with a lot plains terrain (which, lets face it, will be most of them) so I used him a lot. His theme was also fun to listen to.

[Zeypher]

I loved Dual Strike but could never really get into Dawn of Ruin for some reason.

[Toasty]

I put in over 300 hours.....

[Golden Legacy]

Speaking of which, would anyone like to play Dual Strike over WiFi sometime?

[Toasty]

Dual Strike doesn't have WiFi. DoR does, though. But yes, I would be happy to hand your posterior to you on a silver platter sometime. :D