Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

[Hawk Thanatos]

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Gameplay (Capturing Bases)
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Gameplay (Recovery)
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Gameplay
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Gameplay (Choose Your Weapon)
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Trailer

From what I can see the Motorbike unit can capture bases but can't cross rivers or mountains like infantry can. There's a few more new units too. One called a Flare which is useful in Fog of War. There's a unit called a Ship Plane which can only be produced by Carriers. There's also something called a Temp. Port, I can't quite read what makes them though (whatever it is it's the bottom right unit that can be built from factories).

Awesome music in the trailer though.

Few name changes:
Bazooka = Mech
Anti Tank = (?)
Hvy. Tank = Md Tank
Mech Gun = Artillery
Battle Heli. = B Copter
Interceptr. = Fighter

[Leb]

The APC is called the Mobile Workshop. Weird (and dumb) change.

[Hawk Thanatos]

[Leb]

What? It's the cost and design of the APC.



5000 to build temporary ports and the like? That would ruin the balance they had in mind when they nerfed S/COPs.

[Hawk Thanatos]

Perhaps it also functions as an APC, I dunno. But if it is it's not really a weird change of name since like I said it can build temporary ports etc.

EDIT: You can see it at 1:01/1:02 in the trailer.

[Leb]

In case anyone cared, the game was renamed again. This time it's being called Advance Wars: Dark Conflict. Meh.

Just call it Advance Wars: Dual Strike 2 already.

[Hawk Thanatos]

[Ujitsuna]

Annoying name changes.

The new artwork looks pretty funky, everyone has strange hair colours though.

[Leb]

[Leb]

Alright, this is on shelves today in North America. Anyone pick it up?

The sprites are all crisp, but the game's darker tone, while noticeable, tends to lighten up when you see the colorful maps. I like the dialogue so far, and all the COs are pretty serious individuals. Will, the main character, comes under attack by rogues after he's been wounded, and Commander Brenner and Lin come to his aid. After giving some harsh words to the rogues ("I'll put you down like the rabid dogs you are."), they go on the offensive.

Honestly, from what I can tell, it's like Fire Emblem with a post-apocalyptic setting.

Protip: The first map is called Days of Ruin.

[Leb]

Okay, fine then! Since it's all quiet here, I thought I'd let some of the older Advance Wars veterans know what's new to the game.

Factions
Gone are the days of Orange Star and Blue Moon, and the post-apocalyptic setting allows for a more complex political atmosphere. Like before, the game has four main military forces in the game, all with different goals.


Protagonist: Will
A cadet in the Rubinelle Army before the meteors hit. Spent days digging out of the rubble he was trapped under, only to spend even longer on a vain search for survivors. Attacked by the Beast, he is rescued by Brenner's patrol.

~~~


12th Battalion - Brenner's Wolves


Leader: Brenner
Captain of the Rubinelle Army's 12th battalion, now commonly known as "Brenner's Wolves." After losing contact with high command, he's taken it upon himself to search for survivors and aid them. Despite being a Rubinelle soldier originally, Brenner does not follow (or trust) the New Rubinelle Army.

Subordinates: Will, Lin, Isabella

~~~


New Rubinelle Army (known as "Ruber" elsewhere)


Leader: Admiral Greyson
The only surviving member of Rubinelle's high command, he has brought together the remnants of the Rubinelle army and various mercenaries to battle the Lazulian Army. Unbeknownst to his followers, his ultimate goal is to rule the world.

Subordinates: Weylon, Davis

~~~


Lazulian Army (known as "Sapphirus" elsewhere)


Leader: Forsythe
A renowned hero and soldier, he leads the remnants of Lazulia's army against Greyson. Despite the smaller size of the Lazulian Army, a mysterious individual has been supplying Forsythe with the necessary equipment to combat New Rubinelle on equal terms.

Subordinates: Tasha, Gage

~~~


Intelligent Defense Systems


Leader: Caulder
Not much is known about this organization or its leader, but its goal seems to be the perpetuation of war.

Subordinates: Tabitha, Penny, Cyrus

~~~

Units
Plenty have been removed, and some have been added. A few returning units have even been tweaked. I'll go over the ones I can remember straight away:

Air: Duster
An aerial unit that can attack any air and ground units, though it's only truly effective against helicopters (won't even scratch the bigger tanks).

Land: Bike
A new form of infantry, they have greater movement than their Infantry and Mech counterparts. Their tradeoff is a movement penalty when traveling through forests, as well as an inability to move through mountains.

Medium Tank, War Tank
New names for the Mid and Neo Tank, respectively. I think the War Tank might have one less movement range than Neo Tanks, but they're still beasts.

Rig
APCs. However, when they're on plains, they can built Temp. Airports, which allow for air units to resupply on fuel and ammo (they can't generate units like a real Airport, though). If on beach terrain, they can built Temp. Ports, which do the same thing for naval units. Vital for keeping your army supplied when operating far from allied cities and bases.

Anti-Tank
Probably the most important change to the formula. Both a direct and indirect attacker (three-square range immediately adjacent to itself), it can pack a punch against most units (tanks in particular, obviously). It also has the peculiar ability of being able to counterattack direct attacks against it. Not as expensive as rockets, but not as long-reaching or as effective against non-tank units.

Naval: Gunship
A small landing craft capable of carrying one Infantry or Mech unit. Unlike Transporters, they have a full missile salvo for protection against other naval units, but there's only enough for one attack/counterattack. Take it back to get resupplied.

Battleship
The "naval rocket unit," as some might recall. This time, however, the Battleship can fire after moving. The tradeoff is that its target range is closer to the ship itself, so having it charge out ahead of the rest of your fleet just to hit one unit is likely to get it destroyed.

Cruiser
The same anti-sub, anti-air naval unit. This time, however, it can fire on Battleships and other Cruisers, as well.

[Hawk Thanatos]

This isn't released for another month here but being an impatient bastard I've ordered it online. I'm just waiting for it to arrive. Looking forward to it too.

[Masa]

I've been playing it for the last few days. The Fire Emblem comparison is pretty good, though I think it goes leaps and bounds beyond Fire Emblem in terms of the serious tone of the story.
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[Demon Eyes Kyo]

I've been playing this game for quite some time, non-stop as well. I love the story compared to last two. I also love how they changed the roles of CO's in the game. In AW : DS, it was just ridiculous! You could turn around the entire battle with the Dual Powers. But one thing I do miss from the last AWDS is Jake's corny ghetto speak. "
Get the plates cuz, you just got served!" :-(


Anyway, is anyone on Mission 21 yet? This one is a pain in the ass! Pre-deployed units and the enemy has a lot of good ones..but adding in Fog of War? Damn the people at IS! *shake fist*
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Return that soul to God.

[Timbo]

I am broke right now, but I am picking this game up as soon as I get some cash. I've read up on all the changes and I want to see how it compares to AW:DS. It sounds like a totally different game now.
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"There is no normal life, there's just life. Now get on with it"