By the way, I do have to mention that I absolutely love dusters. I feel that they totally speed up air combat and make fighter units (which is what most people tend to call them now; the old fighter units tends to get called an "interceptor") able to do more in combat (to ground forces) other than block chokepoints and hog production property tiles.
Now if only something could be done about b-copters to justify the cost of a extremely vulnerable and expensive air-to-ground unit when it doesn't even do a thorough job and it tends to barely stand toe-to-toe with the superheavy tanks. I think the basic problem is they don't have a well developed role in advance wars: Anti-airs are cheaper than them and will slaughter them even on 1st strike disadvantage, so you can't expect them to really last in a fight. 9000$ is a it expensive for a unit to mass, if that's your solution to the problem and dusters will quickly end that plan even if you have the cash. using them as recons in FOW is ok, but come on, 3 vison? That's mediocre and counter-intuitive; it's a fucking helicopter, you mean it really, really can't see any farther? and as for using them as suicidal one-time-use units in assaults, well... they don't OHKO infantry, (even though that would breath some life into the unit and make airports a solution to meatshield stalemates) and I think against a war tank, they barely break even. The match up goes like 9-8 HP wise if copters get first strike. So what am to use them for? "Raids?" when the enemy can plant anti-airs all over the map and negate their usefulness? The best idea I've come up with is flanking enemy artillery lines, but it's still sending a 9000 unit to kill a 6000 unit and then promptly die against a 7000 unit.
Seriously, in both the new and old games they have the life span of terran dominion marine (which as the more astute readers here may know, is approximately 9 seconds.) It's absurd. At least let them have an option to land in plains or have vision 4 at least, so they aren't completely impotent. It isn't like this is some disposable recon, it's a 9000$ unit. At least make it worth the extra 2000 I could have devoted towards a tank and two infantry (which can get a lot more done, let me tell you.)
I have something of a battlecopter... predilection. They won't last long in an AA-heavy environment or breaking a coastal defense, but then, who says you gotta use 'em in that case? I like to throw a couple out if the enemy has few or no AA units. They take hits better than tanks, due to main tank cannons being unusable on them, and being able to dart all over the terrain is well worth the extra risks. It is really frustrating to build an AA or two to take out enemy B copters, only to have them constantly stay just out of range while still dealing out tank damage. Focus-firing a B copter with your own tanks is a costly proposition, and if the opponent has to resort to that, your other unit types that would have been under fire from the much more dangerous tank cannons are free to act as they please. Keeping your copters healthy is harder than it is tanks, but that's what temp airports are for.
What I'd really like is for copters to not be targettable by anti-tanks, but oh well
I also don't use dusters much, since their air to ground damage is only really noticeable when used against infantry and rockets. Rather two interceptors than three dusters.
Well, different strokes and all.
Well, yeah, copter have higher mobility, but against a clumped wall of infantry and artillery, where, exactly, are these exposed elements that you propose that copters can take advantage of? You talk like a guy is going to have an exposed, spread-out line of tanks, and I know nobody that does that except the AI. The only thing that comes to mind is perhaps killing opposing scout units in FOW, where forests may slow down a AA long enough to stop them from getting into range, but this is double edged sword, since the AA would be out of your sight range anyways. It's just that whenever I use them, it seems very difficult to use them in a way that looks like it won't get them killed.
And it isn't like I don't like the unit; I love building them, but damn, using them a lot really drives home the weaknesses of the unit. I have been experimenting with them in AWBW; my current tactic (being tested on one map) is to build 3-4 in "secret" (in FOW of course) and then launch them as a single sortie they can focus fire, have scout-attack maneuvers (one guy spots, the other fires), and of course, so that AA's can't totally waste everything. Trouble is that my foe decided to do the exact same thing... on the other side of the map. Damn.
Oh, and I also wanted to note that I like the ability of dusters to strafe, not only because of my firm belief in the doctrine of "more dakka", but because it allows them to do stuff when there aren't enemy air units to waste.
You've got a point, there. Always need more dakka.
AWBW uses the advance wars 2/DS systems, where infantry/artillery spam is much more prevalent. DoR's pricing reduces the effectiveness of that strategy by a large margin and brings higher tech into play more often. I don't play on AWBW at all for that reason; if I had my way, infantry and mechs would cost even more than they do now, but that's neither here nor there. Shame IDS has no sense of FTA and poor map design in general, but I'll take their system - you can always make and download better maps, but you can't fix AWBW's pricing.
That song they play when you use your CO power is amazing. Used it my first time with Will and all of a sudden the music made me feel like I could do anything, like I was breaking the game.
That song they play when you use your CO power is amazing. Used it my first time with Will and all of a sudden the music made me feel like I could do anything, like I was breaking the game.
Then I could only move my units an extra 2 spaces
Hey, don't knock Will. He's one of the better COs in the game when played properly, and definitely the best CO for mech/tank rushes.
That song they play when you use your CO power is amazing. Used it my first time with Will and all of a sudden the music made me feel like I could do anything, like I was breaking the game.
Inspired by your achievement (fuck that map), I just finished S-ranking everything. Finally, a complete file of my very own!
What did you do for Web River? My winning strategy involved assembling a ~6x5 block of mechs, using rockets to clear out as many of their squatters as possible, and using Will's CO power in a charge for glory. Then, when I (barely) got that HQ, I just set all my factories to mechs every turn and sent wave after wave of my own men at the last dudes. Got me the S rank in spite of the horrific loss of life.
Congrats! I basically did the same thing by spamming rockets, flares, infantries and mechs. First I tried to mech rush Lin's lone factory before her CO'd war tank could reach me. Before that I CO'd a tank to pick off infantries, recons and flares, building up the CO meter and basically Stim Pack the mechs to take the factory in one fell swoop. Then I cornered Lin's war tank and destroyed it with indirect fire. After that I went on cruise control and destroyed anything in my path to her HQ.
For Isabella, I built a bunch of mechs and a rocket to harass her HQ and to lure her main force to deal with them. Then I tank rushed her HQ when her defenses became wide open. The two ladies weren't too hard to defeat. The problem was Brenner who, like a true soldier he is, built a strong defense, created a bottleneck and used indirect fire to pick off my tanks and mechs to pick off my indirect units. My battle force became a sitting duck and was reduced to a laughable size in matter of days. It wasn't until I captured the blue HQ that I could spam mechs and attack Brenner on all sides, eventually destroying his rockets. He soon capitulated.
Also, I love b-copters. Obviously, you don't want to build many of them, or even one at all, in medium to large maps. In small to medium maps they're great at what they do for 9000 a piece: disrupting economies and countering every ground based unit except a-airs. Not only that but you're forcing them to build a-airs, which are easily countered by your tanks and artillery. Max, Eagle or Sensei, especially Sensei, can greatly abuse b-copters to their advantage. Me being Waylon in the tournament didn't stop me from professing my love for b-copters either. He was a menace on Equal Island, picking off units like nobody's business. Even an anti-air couldn't kill him. He's like the bizarro love child of Kanbei and Eagle.
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You've got a point, there. Always need more dakka.
AWBW uses the advance wars 2/DS systems, where infantry/artillery spam is much more prevalent. DoR's pricing reduces the effectiveness of that strategy by a large margin and brings higher tech into play more often. I don't play on AWBW at all for that reason; if I had my way, infantry and mechs would cost even more than they do now, but that's neither here nor there. Shame IDS has no sense of FTA and poor map design in general, but I'll take their system - you can always make and download better maps, but you can't fix AWBW's pricing.
Then I could only move my units an extra 2 spaces
Hey, don't knock Will. He's one of the better COs in the game when played properly, and definitely the best CO for mech/tank rushes.
Now the AW: DS tag powers, on the other hand...
For Isabella, I built a bunch of mechs and a rocket to harass her HQ and to lure her main force to deal with them. Then I tank rushed her HQ when her defenses became wide open. The two ladies weren't too hard to defeat. The problem was Brenner who, like a true soldier he is, built a strong defense, created a bottleneck and used indirect fire to pick off my tanks and mechs to pick off my indirect units. My battle force became a sitting duck and was reduced to a laughable size in matter of days. It wasn't until I captured the blue HQ that I could spam mechs and attack Brenner on all sides, eventually destroying his rockets. He soon capitulated.
Also, I love b-copters. Obviously, you don't want to build many of them, or even one at all, in medium to large maps. In small to medium maps they're great at what they do for 9000 a piece: disrupting economies and countering every ground based unit except a-airs. Not only that but you're forcing them to build a-airs, which are easily countered by your tanks and artillery. Max, Eagle or Sensei, especially Sensei, can greatly abuse b-copters to their advantage. Me being Waylon in the tournament didn't stop me from professing my love for b-copters either. He was a menace on Equal Island, picking off units like nobody's business. Even an anti-air couldn't kill him. He's like the bizarro love child of Kanbei and Eagle.