A more serious Advance Wars?

[Shakai]

Ah, I see now, Midnight. I can see how that would be annoying to have used against you.
_________________
The time is come. Bid farewell to your bloodstained past.
Forsake the darkness you once embraced, or the light will find no hold.
Vanquish the dark knight! You and he are one no more!

[DanSidney]

[Unknown Neo]

But for reference, the 360/PS3 version would have been good. It's in the code that says it's supposed to have been good.
Thanks, I'm done.

[DanSidney]

Well I'm not really a fan of the series, but all the people I know that are into it, loved the cartoony looks of the series. And now this didn't really make them happy.

Brown, Dark, Bloom. Oh the realism.
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SPOILER:
Our princess is in another castle.

[Shakai]

It's out in less than a week... I got the email from nintendo today I believe. http://www.advancewars.com/
_________________
The time is come. Bid farewell to your bloodstained past.
Forsake the darkness you once embraced, or the light will find no hold.
Vanquish the dark knight! You and he are one no more!

[Midnight]

Not to mention the ads for the game that I've seen floating around the airwaves as well.

Nevertheless, despite my initial reservations about the game, I am looking forward to it.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

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[Viewtiful Starman]

For those interested, we now have stats for all of the characters.

Will
CO Zone
Range: 2-4
Power: 20% Attack boost to direct attack land units.
CO Power
Rally Cry: Direct attack land units get +2 Movement.

Brenner
CO Zone
Range: 3-5
Power: 20% Defense boost to all unit types.
CO Power
Reinforce: Heals all units by 3.

Lin
CO Zone
Range: 1-3
Power: 20% Attack and Defense boost to land units.
CO Power
Scout: All land units get +2 vision and can see through hiding spots.

Isabella
CO Zone
Range: 2-4
Power: 10% Attack and Defense boost to all unit types.
CO Power
Deep Strike: All units get +2 movement and all indirect units get +2 Range.

Tasha (Goggled girl)
CO Zone
Range: 1-3
Power: 40% Attack bonus and 20% Defense boost to air units.
CO Power
Sonic Boom: Air units get +2 movement.

Gage (Blue haired sniper)
CO Zone
Range: 2-4
Power: 20% Attack boost and 10% Defense boost to Indirect and Naval units.
CO Power
Longshot: Indirect units get +2 range.

Forsythe (Old guy with hat)
CO Zone
Range: 5-7
Power: 10% Attack and Defense boost to all unit types.
CO Power
Doesn't have one.

Waylon
CO Zone
Range: 2-4
Power: 20% Attack boost and 30% Defense boost to air units.
CO Power
Wingman: All air units get a Defense boost.

Greyfield (Angry looking general guy)
CO Zone
Range: 3-5
Power: 10% Attack boost and 40% Defense boost to naval units, Seaplanes and Copters.
CO Power
Supply Chain: Refills all units' fuel, ammo and materials.

Tabitha (Older looking twin)
CO Zone
Range: 0-2
Power: 50% Attack and Defense boost to all unit types.
CO Power
Firestorm: Damages units in a wide area.

Penny (Younger looking twin)
CO Zone
Range: 3-5
Power: Units aren't affected by weather.
CO Power
Stormfront: Random weather change.

Caulder (mad scientist)
CO Zone
Range: 3-5
Power: 50% Attack and Defense boost to all unit types. Units inside CO Zone recover HP every day.
CO Power
Doesn't have one.

And as far as armies go...

Brenner's Wolves (Main characters, new Orange Star)
Brenner (leader)
Will
Lin
Isabella

Rubinelle (Bigger army that Brenner's Wolves belong to, new Yellow Comet)
Greyfield (leader)
Waylon

Lazuria (Rubinelle's enemies, new Blue Moon)
Forsythe (leader)
Tasha
Gage

Intelligent Reseach Systems (Main villains, new Black Hole)
Caulder (leader)
Tabitha
Penny

Although you do fight them, Beast and Davis (the mechanic guy) are not playable and don't have their own stats.

Materials are a new type of resource used by Rigs to build temporary bases and by Carriers to build Seaplanes. May not be possible to replenish outside of Greyfield.

CO Zones have replaced day to day bonuses.

As opposed to what we heard before, units inside of your CO Zone can also build up your CO Meter.

When your CO Bar is halfway full, you get a +1 bonus to CO Zone range. When it's completely full, you get a +2 bonus.

All credit for this goes to various people on Advance Wars Net.

[HeatShadow]

So...wait, only units inside your CO Zone are affected by CO bonuses? That's a bit of a step back, isn't it? I could understand removing the Tag powers and general Tag aspect, but... o_O
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Stuck In The Middle With You; a Metroid and Halo crossover
Devil May Cry: Renegades

[Viewtiful Starman]

Some more new info on the system:

All CO Zones give a 10% Attack and Defense boost to all unit types by default in addition to their powers.

At max level, a unit gets a 20% Attack and Defense boost.

CO Meters are made up of 12 "bars" this time around. You get one bar for injuring a unit, and two bars for killing a unit at full HP. Doesn't matter what type of units you kill any more, it's all the same.

When you activate your CO Power, your CO Zone spreads across the entire map.

There's a new damage formula, and while I have no specifics on that apparently it makes some of the boosts (hi Tabitha) a LITTLE less insane than they appear.

[NotJim]

[HeatShadow]

[Viewtiful Starman]

I think they just plain didn't include a Green Earth equivalent. Same thing happened with Batallion Wars.

[HeatShadow]

[X]

Short end of dialog stick, meet europe.

the european version of the game has its dialog tweaked, so that most conversations are a lot less dark and gritty and.....well.....fun.

Yay europe. I should have just imported the damn game.

X.
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[insert witty stuff here]

[Midnight]

So. Two weeks after I've gotten the game, and I'm close to done.

My general impressions--

The story is kinda...meh. I mean, it was good that they decided to make the story more 'gritty' and realistic, but from what I've seen, it is pretty much wholly resolved at the end, and doesn't leave that much room for a continuation to the story, which leads us to wonder how the next Advance Wars game will pan out.

As for mechanics, the game is still tactically sharp, but overall the general pace of the game is considerably slower. I'm finding that I can finish most of the missions over an average of 30 turns, while in the previous games the average was closer to twenty. I suppose it makes sense, since it seems by the recalculation of the unit prices that the early game is slowed in comparison with the previous games in the series, while the middle and endgames are have been accelerated a bit. Nothing in the factory costs more than 16,000 now, as opposed to the monster of a tank in AWDS that cost nearly double this amount (and that seemed to never really be built). The prices of units have pretty much been left the same in the airport and the port, with naval units slightly cheaper.

It also seems that indirect combat is a lot more prevalent in this game as opposed to the previous ones. With the change from the day-to-day bonus system to the CO Zone system, there is going to be a lot more clumping of units, especially around championed units, so frontal assaults are less likely to work than they did in the previous games. I'm finding that I'm building antitanks, rockets, and missiles a lot more than I have in previous games. Perhaps that's also due to my improving sense of strategy, but I think it's mostly the new system.

Specs on newer units:

Flare: An extra thousand over the Recon is worth it. At first, I thought it was merely a tech unit (with its ability to reveal areas in Fog of War--similar to that of a Comsat Sweep in Starcraft), but since it also seems to fight as a recon, it's a welcome addition in any Fog map.

Antitank: Wow. Just...wow. Completely superior to an Artillery in almost every way. It lacks a minimum range, which is quite impressive for a ranged unit, and also packs a wallop for those who want to mess with it directly. It's certainly a very versatile weapon that I need to pay more attention to.

Md Tank: Dropped in price to 12K. Yay more bashing?

War Tank: Dropped in price from a Megatank to 16K. Useful if it is championed.

Battleships: The ability to move *and* fire in the same turn makes them all the more lethal. A definite cornerstone of offensive strategy when available.

Gunboats: A cheap variant of black boats that can only carry one infantry, but can attack any ship, which is useful in its own right.

Carriers: Loss of ranged capability hurts them a tad, but they can build seaplanes for 15,000, which remind me much of the Starcraft unit of the same name. I haven't experimented with them much, but they seem to e quite useful where normal ground combat is hampered or otherwise prevented.

Dusters: Umm...yeah. Sure they can attack any air or ground unit, but they do so quite poorly. Attacking tanks is close to useless, and the only use I've found for them is attacking infantry. If I wanted that, I could make a damn B-copter. The only thing I can see this used for is against fighters if friendly fighters or other anti-air equipment is unavailable at the time.

So far, so good, I guess. The maps I admit are quite creative.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

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[Shakai]

Hmm....What do you mean by "Championed"?
_________________
The time is come. Bid farewell to your bloodstained past.
Forsake the darkness you once embraced, or the light will find no hold.
Vanquish the dark knight! You and he are one no more!

[Midnight]

"Champion" is a term I borrowed from Lorwyn in MtG to describe the action of putting a CO into a unit.

At any time in combat, if you have built a unit and it lies on a factory or port, you may choose to put your CO into the unit at half the unit's cost (i.e., a War Tank would cost 8,000 to champion and a Bomber 10,000). This immediately elevates the level of the unit to Veteran (+20% (?) attack and defense) and causes the unit to "radiate" a CO field. The radius of the field is dependent on the CO chosen--some have radii of 0 (which restricts it to the unit itself), while others have ranges of 2 or 3. Any other unit in a CO field is also given bonuses based on the CO chosen.

Every time combat is done with a unit within the field, that adds to the CO's meter. At half full, the radius of the field is given +1, and at full, the field is given an additional +1 radius. After the bar is charged, the player may utilize the power, which extends the field to an infinite radius for the turn (applies to all units), and the appropriate power is used.

One other thing--should the championed unit be destroyed, you can champion another unit, but the power bar is wiped clean and must be rebuilt from zero.

Hope this helps.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

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[Shakai]

Oh wow, that sounds awesome!

Can you unchampion a unit?
_________________
The time is come. Bid farewell to your bloodstained past.
Forsake the darkness you once embraced, or the light will find no hold.
Vanquish the dark knight! You and he are one no more!

[Midnight]

No.

The only way you can choose another unit to champion is if your current championed unit kicks the bucket, in which case your CO bar is forfeited.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Shakai]

Ah. Sounds like quite the gamble then.
_________________
The time is come. Bid farewell to your bloodstained past.
Forsake the darkness you once embraced, or the light will find no hold.
Vanquish the dark knight! You and he are one no more!