So, what is Advance Wars: Dual Strike? It is a Turn Based Strategy (TBS) game. In it, you will face your opponents by constructing units to complete a goal. During this process you and your opponent will alternate turns. I will describe how these turns work and give you an idea of game play. To understand the specifics, though, please go to the corresponding sections.
The default goals involve destroying every unit the opponent has or capturing his headquarters. Depending on the mission, other goals may exist.
I guess the best way to describe what happens is to look at how the game progresses turn by turn. First off, turns in Advance Wars are grouped into days. Each player gets one turn per day. At the start of any given turn the weather may change randomly if the Random weather setting is on. Also, if certain effects changed the weather for a set number of days, then the weather will default to normal at the start of that player's turn following the set period of days. One note, unless a map is set to a specific weather condition, it will always start as normal for the first day.
There are four possible weather conditions:
- Normal: The standard and has no special effects.
- Snow: Causes all units to use 2 fuel/movement point spent.
- Rain: Whether FoW is on or off, it is now on and all units have -1 to their vision range but will have at least a vision of 1.
- Sandstorm: All indirects get -1 to their maximum range but will have a maximum range at least equal to their minimum range.
I know I used some terms that may be strange so I will help to explain them.
FoW is a setting in which the only portions of the map you can see are those within a certain range of your units. Each unit has a specific vision range that tells how many squares away they can see in FoW. There are some exceptions. Land units on forests and sea units on reefs can only be seen by adjacent units in FoW, regardless of vision range. Also, properties under a player's control are always visible, even when an enemy is on them.
Almost all units have fuel. Whenever a unit moves it uses its movement points. Depending on what type of terrain the unit is moving over it will use different amounts of movement points/square. Regardless, for every movement point spent the unit uses 1 fuel. Some units also use fuel each day. If these units still have no fuel following the repair/supply phase then they are destroyed.
Indirets are a type of unit that attacks without being next to another unit. Rather, they attack from a distance. They will have a minimum and a maximum range that they can target. However, indirects cannot attack the same turn that they move and cannot counterattack other indirects, even if they can target them.
Along with weather, any effects that last for a given time will where off at this point in the day after the applicable number of turns.
Now that you are all caught up, the next part after the weather involves money. For each property you control you gain money. The standard is 1000 gold per property but can be changed depending on the map. Any property that can be captured will bring in money, this includes an HQ. In a one on one battle, capturing an HQ will typically end the game. However, in larger battles it will usually just eliminate the player whose HQ was captured. In that case, the HQ will become a mere city. Airpots, Bases, Cities, HQs, Ports and Towers can all be captured and thus will bring funds each turn.
Following the money portion of a turn, comes the repair/supply part. At this point all units that can be repaired and supplied will be. Certain units can repair and/or supply other units. Also, certain properties can repair and supply certain units that are on them. Repairs cost money. For every 1 HP repaired, the player pays 1/10 of the total unit cost. Supplies are free, though.
After this, any units taht require fuel/turn will be destroyed if they do not have enough fuel to pay the daily fuel upkeep.
Now the fun begins. You can move units, build units, attack, capture and use powers.
Powers come in certain varieties. You have CO Powers, SCO Powers and Tag Breaks. All of these and their effects are discussed in detail in section 8.
Capturing can only be done by Infantry and Mechs. Properties that can be captured have 20 capture points. To be capture all 20 points must be depleted. When an Infantry/Mech captures a property (which is done by moving on top of it and choosing "Capture") it will deplete the property's capture points by its HP. Thus, a 10 HP Mech will take 10 points of the 20. So, a full life unit will require 2 turns to capture. Certain effects can change the rate or effectiveness of capturing for Infantry/Mechs.
Building units is done on bases, for land units, airports for air units and ports for sea units. Each unit has a price and if the player does not have enough money, then the unit cannot be built. Units cannot take any action the turn they are built.
Moving units is done by selecting the unit and choosing a square within its applicable movement range,which is highlighted, and moving there. Remember how fuel costs and movement points the various movement costs of different terrain affect where a unit can move. Also, if a unit is hidden, either due to being unseen in FoW or hidden, like a Stealth of Sub, and the path the unit is trying to move crosses it, the unit will forcibly stop due to the "trap" and be unable to take any action. Following an accepted movement, the unit will be able to see from its new location. However, it cannot attack units that just now went into its vision range. When a unit is moved, a player can undo the movement before it is accepted and if it was not trapped. If FoW is turned on, all of these unaccepted movements will still cost fuel.
After a unit moves, it can attack if it is not an indirect type unit. Units can also attack without moving, but if they do so they will be unable to move afterwards. When a unit attacks, to determine the damage refer to the damage table in section 6. Various attack and defense bonuses will alter how damage is dealt. First, consider the attack bonuses. If a unit has X% attack, he deals the listed damage times X%. Easy enough. Then consider defense. Subtract the defense of the unit being attacked from 200%. So, 200% - X%. Then multiply the damage calculated after factoring in attack bonuses by this value. You will note that 200% defense makes a unit immune to all damage.
During attacks your CO Gauge and your enemies CO Gauge will fill up. Please see section 8 for more info on that.
And that concludes a basic tutorial on how the game mechanics work. Now read on to learn more!