What's an airport, again? Let's play Advance Wars!

I remember that map as Max. I seem to remember a vague dislike, but *shrug*.

Anyway, Andy and capture everything!

Also, you totally could've done that map ignoring boats! Bah!

Err...probably? That battleship would have been trouble, though. Only the B copter (or rockets if you really want to get contrived) can attack it and it's dead meat to the cruiser in the water.

Could've stalled it out of fuel while waiting in the forests.

No, I don't care about ranking, why do you ask?

That Andy map looks too easy. Flip a coin between Max and Sami?

I say fight with Max
Those other maps have too much land and bridges.

Vote Count: Andy 1, Max 1.5, Sami 0.5

I'll plan to end the voting Wednesday or Thursday so I can try not to go over a month between updates again, so if you care which way we go here, vote!

Come on, guys! Only one person contributed to the title quote of this thread!

Sami

Do Sami

Adny.

What's an Andy, again?

A miserable pile of units?

Wow, what a votebomb for Andy. I'll call it there, at 3-1.5-1.5, and start production. I am very happy to be out of fog of war for once!

Drake eh? Make sure to plunder his yodels, ring dings, and devil dogs!

And his coffee cakes.

Today on Let’s Play Advance Wars, we’ve selected Andy to go up against a new opponent as we enter Green Earth territory for the first time. At least Andy won’t be at an information disadvantage relative to the rest of our COs this time, right?

Drake: Blow ye winds o' the mornin'! Blow ye winds hi ho!

Eagle: Drake! What are you doing all the way out here? You've got to get into position!

Drake: Morning, Eagle. Wouldn't you rather just sit and bask in the sun a while?

Eagle: Are you insane? The Orange Star Army is on the move!

Drake: Oh, is that so?

Eagle: Is that so? Drake, are you...

Drake: Be cool - everything's under control. No need to rush. I've got everything set up. Now, doesn't this sun feel good? Oh... He's gone. Ah well. I guess I'd better get under way before Eagle gets his feathers any more ruffled.

Eagle: Drake always finds some way to sidetrack me. He's absolutely peerless in naval combat, but sometimes I wonder...

We see our first sight of Captain Drake! Drake is the other Green Earth CO, along with Eagle, who we’ve met a couple times before. Drake is the calm yet confident one of the pair, similar to Grit with Blue Moon and Sonja with Yellow Comet. Drake also joins Sami in the esteemed company of Advance Wars COs with bare midriffs!



Nell: Bugs! Andy! Can you hear me?

Andy: Is that you, Nell? What is it?

Nell: We have an emergency! The Coral Fortress is being stormed by Drake of Green Earth! We’ve never had trouble with him before, so we didn’t see them coming!

Andy: There are a bunch of bad guys here!

Nell: This point is of vital importance to Orange Star. If the enemy seizes a lot of properties here, we’ll lose control of the area. You have to beat them to it and secure as many cities as possible. Including your bases and HQ, you must secure twelve properties to win.

Andy: Secure as many properties as possible? OK, I got it!

Nell: These bases are yours to use. Bugs, deploy whatever units you see fit. I’m counting on you!

Andy: I’ve got it covered! Um… Hey, Bugs, which units do we use to Capture with, again?

*slack-jawed astonishment*

So Orange Star apparently owned this Coral Fortress place, way far away from Orange Star territory? And Nell didn’t see an attack coming, despite it being in the middle of Green Earth territory? OK!

Let’s take a look at ol’ Captain Drake.



Drake is a naval specialist, fitting nicely with his Green Earth cohort, Eagle, to cover air and sea. As you can see from his design, Drake’s a bit of a silly guy; he’s got your standard naval officer’s costume, right down to the comically large spyglass, but he seems to have trouble finding large enough undershirts. Drake is laid-back and easygoing; like Grit, he’s quite competent beneath that whimsical surface, and no CO can match him at sea. Air units are another story.

Drake’s naval units all get one extra square of movement and an additional two terrain stars, which translates into a 2% defense boost per HP. On the other hand, his air units have only 80% attack, which puts a major damper on their effectiveness. Drake is also unaffected by rain and rain tends to occur more often when Drake is on the battlefield.



Drake’s CO power is simple: it deals 1 HP damage to all enemy units. This is one of the CO powers I least like facing; it’s a 10% reduction to your fighting strength across the board. Aside from the minor erosion of enemy fighting strength, it can help slow down the opponent’s capturing, which seems to be a small factor but can make a large difference in a single battle. Drake also gets the standard 10% attack and defense boost for a turn after using his power.



Drake’s flavor is about as straightforward as you can get. Nothing new to see here.

Overall, Drake’s value really depends on whether there are airports on the map or not. Drake is obviously quite strong at sea; the extra movement helps him get first strike and the defense boost is significant. The problem, however, is that Advance Wars’ naval units are weak compared to air units. In terms of both overall power and ability to project force over land, air units have the advantage, and Drake’s weakness with them is a major drawback.

Even on maps with no air or naval units, Drake fares just fine. His power is still useful and his better performance is rain is a nice plus. Just make sure to keep him away from airports and he’ll be fine.

Here, of course, we have neither air units nor an airport. Here’s the mission map:



The first to own 12 properties wins. There are 5 properties on each army’s home island, 4 in the center, and 2 each in the northeast and southwest corners, meaning that the easiest way to win will be to hold our own 5, the center 4, and 3 of the 4 in the neutral properties. As such, we’ll send forces to the east, southeast, and south simultaneously in order to take all three regions. Our two subs should be plenty to counter Drake’s sub and battleship even with his naval specialty; we’ll just need to make sure to get first strike on his sub. Our top priority at sea will be to eliminate that battleship and prevent it from helping out with any of the three neutral islands.



We start out by sending a force to hold the south island. The Md tank should be able to hold off any encroaching troops while the rocket picks them off. We also send a sub around this way.



We send our tank and artillery over to the east island via our lander. Our other sub completes the pincer movement around the central island by heading east.



Back at our base, we build two infantry for capturing purposes. That’s right, Andy, we use infantry to capture things! These infantry will capture the two cities near our HQ, since our lander will need a turn to return before we can send anything to the center island. That concludes our first turn.



Drake: Now’s the time. I need to know if Orange Star was behind these blackhearted acts. Anchors, away!

Of course, it starts raining on Drake’s turn. Figures. Drake sends some of his force north, toward the east island. Since our sub has dived, his sub can’t see ours unless it’s adjacent to it. Drake dives his to take advantage of that same fact, but…er…parks it right next to ours.

I’ll take it.



Drake sends most of the rest of his force west, to the south island. Huh, I would have expected the battleship to come west too. This is better.



Andy: By the way, what kind of CO is Drake?

Sami: I’ve heard that he’s virtually unstoppable in naval combat. His armada is supposed to be a real powerhouse.

Max: There you go again, Sami! You’re a warehouse of intel.

Sami: But I could swear there was something else… Something big…

She’s a wear! bum ba baaaa da, House!

We start at our base this time, capturing with one infantry, loading an infantry into an APC into a lander, and building another two infantry.



In the east, our sub starts on Drake’s sub. Drake’s improved defense really shows here, as even with first strike, our sub ends up with 8 HP to Drake’s 6. Not quite what you expect from a first strike attack.



We also move our tank and artillery just outside the encroaching tank’s range in the northeast. We’re content to play chicken until we can get some infantry over there.



We set up a blockade in the southeast and keep advancing that sub toward the battleship. It probably would have been wiser to leave that rockets a space back here and avoiding leaving some of its range shadow next to the Md tank. We send things back to Drake.



Drake attacks our sub with his, managing to pull back even, and shuffles the rest of his units around slightly. It’s certainly fine with me if he wants to play cat and mouse now, while he’s got a significant numbers advantage. That won’t always be the case.



Our southern sub can’t reach Drake’s battleship this turn, so it takes an attack of opportunity on one of Drake’s landers. They seem quite content to stay put.



Our northern sub continues its battle of attrition and once again gains the upper hand, 3 HP to 2.



We continue capturing back at our base and our lander drops off an APC and infantry at the center island. They’re both in the battleship’s range; I’m relying on the APC to soak a volley from it without being destroyed.



In the south, our Md tank can’t quite reach Drake’s rockets, and hides in its range shadow. Our own rockets, stripped of its protection, flees with alacrity.

We continue to turtle in the east, though we’re running out of real estate to do it in. Back over to Drake it goes.



It’s raining again. Drake’s battleship did indeed attack our APC without any material harm being done. Unfortunately, his western tank was able to reach and cripple our rockets. Oops.



Drake’s tank also managed to attack ours in the northeast. His sub also attacked our sub again, bringing the total to 2 HP for ours and 1 for his. Getting our rockets attacked is the only real tragedy here.



When we regain control, we start with our northern sub, which is finally able to finish off Drake’s. Pesky naval defense…



Our artillery in the northeast lands a solid hit on Drake’s tank. That’s why we turtled!



We finish off Drake’s tank with our own and start to take on his battleship. Looks like it’ll take longer than usual.



In the northeast, we continue capturing, fruitlessly retreat our rockets to our HQ, and build a tank to take out Drake’s tank and another infantry.



Drake’s units have retreated in the southwest, and our Md tank is forced to hold its ground. It can’t risk being fired on first by either the rockets or Md tank. Back to Drake, who has a surprise in store for us…



…as he’s got his Tsunami ready. Yes you are, Drake, yes you are.



Here’s a poor shot of Tsunami in action. It’s in the process of knocking 1 HP off everything we have.



Here’s the situation after Drake’s turn. We lost our 1 HP rockets on our HQ and our APC in the center. Drake is making a major push toward the southwest island, but is holding off on the northeast island. Q: What’s the best counter to Drake’s Tsunami? A:



This will do nicely.



Our new tank at our base attacks Drake’s, using the HQ as cover.



We send an infantry east across the sea in our lander, but the snow prevents it from reaching the opposite shore this turn. Meanwhile, freed of any immediate threats, our forces on the northeast island advance to prepare to meet the oncoming infantry menace.



We continue our assault on Drake’s battleship…



…but our other sub can’t quite get there to finish it off. Our infantry on the center island just keep on capturing.



In the southwest, our Md tank retreats to stay out of rocket range. Looks like we’ll be needing some reinforcements down there shortly. That one infantry we have coming down the bridge isn’t going to cut it. Back over to Drake we go.



Drake is a meanie and attacks said infantry on the bridge with his retreating tank. Other than that, it’s only slight shuffling of his units.



Our own tank has no trouble coming down to finish off Drake’s. This also helps bring our Md tank some backup…



…which it now needs more than ever.

It does at least find a nice niche to take out an infantry while staying in the rockets’ range shadow.



We finally finish off that pesky battleship. Our subs can take the rest of the mission off, since Drake is determined to make no use of his landers.



On the center island, we start in on Drake’s infantry while finishing off another capture.



In the northeast, our artillery cripples the lead infantry. The enemy artillery prevents our tank from getting in on the action. We also land our infantry on this island shortly after.



Back at home, we build another tank and infantry to conclude our turn. Drake has a particularly unexciting turn with only some unit shuffling, so we’ll resume on our next turn.



Our infantry on the center island take out Drake’s infantry and are now ready to capture the other two properties. We’re now pretty well assured of eventual victory, as Drake won’t be able to capture enough properties to win without routing us, but the length of time that’ll take is up in the air.





Our artillery and tank in the northeast combine to take out the encroaching infantry and our infantry begins capturing the first city. Looks like this front is well in hand.



In the southwest, our Md tank poaches another unit. Can’t have anti-airs rolling around when we’re trying to capture properties, now can we?



We’ll only need one property on this island to win, so our tank and infantry rush up. If we can just nab that north city, we’ll be fine.



We build another tank for reinforcements and send things to Drake. He’s again content with moving units only, so we pick up on our turn again.



Here’s the situation at the start of our turn. Looks like nabbing that one city here will be tougher than it first appeared. Curiously, Drake seems to have given up on the northeast island; that 1 HP infantry peeking out from under Andy’s nameplate is his northernmost unit, and it’s some five or six spaces from the island.



The capturing continues on the central island. For some reason, I brought reinforcements east. Hey, past self -- the fighting’s in the south!



In the southwest, we soften up Drake’s tank and infantry a bit.



Our Md tank blows away Drake’s rockets, which have been a pain in our side for a long time and would have hit our rockets this turn. Unfortunately, that’ll leave our Md tank open to be attacked by Drake’s.



This means we’ll need something that can take out a Md tank; artillery are the most cost-effective solution. Too bad we didn’t realize this a turn or two earlier. We end our turn and wait for Drake to do his worst.



Drake doesn’t do much; in the southwest (which I missed a picture of) he attacked our Md tank and moved up an artillery. He’s bringing some units up toward the northeast, as well, but nothing that threatens our force there.



We finish capturing the central cities and build another round of artillery and infantry. We may end up having to use artillery as walls for other artillery if we can’t stave off that Md tank for a little while.



In the southwest, we make a bid to try to capture the last city we need for victory before Drake’s forces can take out our infantry. To that end, our Md tank finishes off the enemy tank and our tank attacks the infantry. Unfortunately, we can’t quite wipe out the infantry…



…meaning that our own infantry needs to do the job and can’t capture the city. Oh well, it was a good try. Guess we’re waiting for the cavalry now.

On Drake’s turn, his Md tank comes up and finishes off our infantry, which isn’t really that big of a deal.



He’s also sent an infantry and APC on a suicide rush in the northeast. Suffice it to say that we will have no trouble dealing with this; I won’t even bother showing it.



Back at our base, we build a tank and APC. The APC is solely intended to refuel our subs, which are about to sink. Two artilleries ought to be enough to deal with that Md tank.



In the southwest, we set up our troops to lure Drake’s Md tank into artillery range. This should do nicely.



Oh Drake, you cad.



Here’s a better shot of Tsunami in action. All we can do is watch as our forces are – quite literally – decimated.



Drake’s Md tank does take the bait, though he’s brought up another anti-air to complicate things.



Our artillery hits the Md tank and is a lot less effective than I’d like it to be. We bring up our tank to act as a well and take a shot at the anti-air.



We continue building units, though at this point we ought to have enough to finish out the mission. We’re just padding our technique score. Over to Drake.



Drake takes out our blockade once more, but we’ve still got an artillery trained on his Md tank. This time, it ought to be enough.



Once we give it a little help, anyway.



Yep, it’s enough, though just barely.



Our Md tank finishes off the anti-air, and our infantry ends up taking a bite out of the artillery. If it had gone for the city, the enemy artillery and infantry would have taken it apart.



We’re still building things back at out base. Our subs have also come back for a refuel, and it’s just in time for this one. Good thing 0 fuel units don’t sink until the start of the next turn!



Drake’s artillery ends up attacking our own artillery. We should be in good shape to capture once we roust that infantry off the neutral city.



We accomplish that with our tank and infantry. This unfortunately delays capturing by another turn.





Our Md tank and artillery take out the enemy artillery, and our fresh artillery comes up to wall off Drake’s tank from our infantry. We’re finally all set to capture the city.



That proceeds without incident, as Drake can’t break through our blockade.



Drake: A job well done! You’ve beaten me.

Andy: So, you’re Drake?

Drake: That’d be me. I wanted to find some answers here, but all I’ve netted are more questions. I’ll be seeing you again, lad.

Andy: You were so close…

Well, that’s being charitable, Andy.

We were too slow to pull off an S-rank in this mission, but it was still a solid victory. Drake never seems to put his landers to any use here, and it’s hard to understand; if he made us commit forces to all three fronts instead of just infantry on the center island, our job would have been much tougher. I miscalculated a bit, sending too many forces east and not enough south; the S-rank would have been in reach with better balance. Still, not too bad a showing against Drake and his annoying Tsunamis.

Next time, we’ll face Drake again, once again with our choice of COs and missions, and we can’t avoid fog of war! Who will face Drake?





Andy?





Max?





Or Sami?

Sami

Also, go for the rout if you can!

Yeah, go team Sami.

And I guess it's AW2 or Dual Strike where Drake gets a +1 on his battleship attack range, or just me remembering wrong.

That would be Grit, actually.

Though Drake might get that in the sequels, but I doubt it.

Yeah, I know Grit gets it, but I could've sworn that Drake got that bonus (for battleships only) to probably make it so Grit doesn't just obliterate him completely.

Commence the battle of the midrifts. Who's exposed belly button is the best?

I vote for sami

Let's see Sami, and capture as many cities as possible, because that's how she rolls.

Sami!
Battle of Midwayriffs!

Another vote for Sami.

sami

SAMI

All right, all right. Sami it is. I'll get working on it.

I don't think Drake's battleships ever get +1 range, though I can't confirm it for sure. The sources I've found say he just gets the naval defense boost, air attack reduction, and increased chance of range in both 1 and 2.

Where are you Sami?