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

On our turn, we begin by clearing Olaf’s wounded infantry and mech out of the way with our artillery and tank. From here, some of our army will continue along the road and the rest will work on baiting Olaf’s troops away from his HQ.



After retreating our B copter a space to make room, our Md Tank takes up choke point duty, crippling a tank while it’s at it.



We then move our mech up to serve as bait for Olaf’s B copter. It would be better to use an infantry as bait and save our mech to help with Olaf’s Md tank, but oh well. It’s important to remove Olaf’s B copter as soon as possible so that our B copter can harass his units near his HQ.



The rest of our units fill in behind our front lines. Our anti-air is salivating at the prospect of dining on another B copter as we end our turn.



Olaf may be smiling here, but his B copter has taken the bait and is now exposed. He also joins his tanks before calling it a turn.





Our anti-air wastes no time in springing the trap. I even manage a rare action shot! Rest assured that the B copter’s HP number kept going down to 0.



Our Md tank opens a hole in Olaf’s line and our tank charges through to wound his mech. Along this southern road, our units will rush toward Olaf’s HQ while taking potshots at targets of opportunity; we’ll likely need the additional firepower near the HQ to finish in a timely manner.



Our wounded mech has done its job and gets to relax in the city. Our artillery moves up, ready to strike at Olaf’s Md tank if we can lure it in range.



Our B copter moves in to start wearing down Olaf’s artillery. Perhaps fearing another sneaky HQ capture, Olaf won’t budge his artillery from his HQ – meaning that it gets a sizeable defense boost from the HQ’s 4 defensive cover. Coupled with the auto-repair the artillery gets, the defense boost will make wearing it down take more firepower than usual.



We end up using our T copter to bait Olaf’s Md tank. As previously mentioned, the AI loves to attack T copters as much as APCs. When Olaf’s Md tank moves in to attack, our artillery and mech are positioned to capitalize.



Olaf seems pleased with himself for taking a nice chunk out of our T copter on his turn, but we’re ready for him. We begin softening up his Md tank with our artillery.

In the south, our anti-air and Md tank take out Olaf’s infantry and mech as targets of opportunity on their march to his HQ. Our tank moves up in front of them and will arrive at Olaf's HQ next turn to help finish off Olaf’s cowardly artillery.



In the north, our mech and B copter continue whittling down Olaf’s Md tank and artillery. Our T copter retreats out of range of the Md tank, though it could probably survive a hit from the now-weakened Md tank. The hope is that the Md tank will take on our mech or infantry and stay in artillery range.



Despite its reduced HP, Olaf’s Md tank is able to cripple our mech. We’ve still got him where we want him, though.



Our artillery opens up on Olaf’s Md tank and manages to destroy it in spite of the damage estimate.





Our tank and B copter clean things up easily. Look at how afraid Olaf is!

Nell: Well, we've learned that Olaf has readied his bombers and fighters.
The fact that he had no clue about keeping them supplied saved us.
Good luck in the next battle. Keep up the good work!

Olaf: We forgot to refill the fuel tanks? What are you fools thinking???
Is is that hard to refuel an aircraft? Augh!!! Just wait until next
time!



We’re back on the perfect score train (choo choo!), and it seems like we’ve finally managed to shake Olaf’s bravado a bit! We’re over halfway through Field Training now, and we’re amassing more and more units into our army as we go. It feels like things are finally getting rolling a little bit, doesn’t it?

Next Time: Olaf’s Aerial Armada (Or: Olaf Remembers to Refuel His Air Units This Time)!

When we last left off, Olaf promised to meet us with an air force that wouldn’t crash harmlessly into the sea after two turns. Let’s see if he can back up his words with his deeds in Mission 9 of Field Training: Air Defense!



Nell: My superiors have really been dropping the ball lately. The enemy
already has fighters and bombers, but it appears that we don't. But,
I did arrange to have some experimental missiles assigned to you. And
I also got you some rockets. With all you've done, Candidate, it's the
least they could do! It seems that the enemy always has superior
units deployed. I apologize. Anyway, it's time to move out!

These mission briefings really exemplify how Advance Wars treats its story, for the most part: with heavy doses of camp and B-movie humor, but not seriously enough that it comes off as farcical. You get the sense that the game is smirking along with you as Nell warns you of the Next Big Thing that Olaf has and you don’t, even after the fourth or fifth time you catch up to Olaf in technology only to find he’s got a new Next Big Thing. There’s also the Wile E. Coyote impression that Olaf does throughout Field Training: they’re not very difficult missions, and Olaf doesn’t have much of a chance in most of them, but doggone it if he’s not going to keep trying. It’s a great way to add some levity to otherwise straightforward missions.

But I digress. How much trouble are we actually in, here?



Well, we’re certainly at a disadvantage, especially against Olaf’s two bombers. We do have the new missiles and rockets units that Nell mentioned, though; let’s see what they can do.



At Nell’s command, we start with our missiles. Missiles are indirect-combat unit like artillery. Unlike artillery, missiles can only fire on air units. They’ve got a nice range of 3-5 squares with which to do so; here, Olaf’s lead bomber is just in range. Missiles tear apart air units, as shown by that damage estimate. This puts a big dent in Olaf’s advantage in this mission.



Missiles in action! Unlike smaller units, large units like Olaf’s bomber here that are represented by only one unit on the battle screen don’t explode when destroyed; they gradually slow down and sink off the back of the screen. It’s a nice effect that gives a solid sense of achievement when you destroy a bomber. That sucker’s going down.



We take a look at our rockets next. Rockets are also an indirect-combat unit, but like artillery, they fire on ground (and sea) units only. Rockets have better range and firepower than artillery, but have a worse range shadow, defense, movement, and movement type as drawbacks. Rockets are, however, clearly better than artillery when in a good, safe position, as are our rockets here.



They’re able to take quite a chunk out of Olaf’s Md tank, as that HP number kept scrolling past 7 and down to 3.



Olaf’s tank and Md tank near his HQ will remain on HQ defense duty, so we don’t need to send a large force to meet his ground troops. Our Md tank, tank, artillery, and an infantry will suffice.



Looking at Olaf’s bomber’s attack range, we can see that we can’t move our B copter without exposing our rockets to the bomber. This has the unfortunate consequence of leaving our B copter open to attack from one of Olaf’s B copters, but we’ll need our rockets to soften up Olaf’s tank and Md tank at his HQ, so we’ll have to take the hit. We end our turn with our rockets safely protected.

We could load and advance our T copter, but we can’t leave it in range of either of Olaf’s B copters without losing it. We’ll leave it where it is for now.



As expected, Olaf settles for attacking an infantry with his bomber and attacks our B copter with his.



His other B copter and ground forces advance. Olaf’s bomber wiped out our infantry easily, but moving that infantry out of range would have put our rockets in danger instead, so we’ll gladly lose the infantry.



Our missiles have their choice of air targets and elect to take out Olaf’s bomber, as it’s the biggest threat remaining.



Our anti-air follows up by destroying one of Olaf’s B copters.



Our rockets continue softening up Olaf’s defenders, giving his tank a turn under fire.

Back on the ground front, our Md tank takes a chunk out of Olaf’s and our tank plinks away. This also forms an effective wall against Olaf’s ground troops, as his Md tank is too weak to attack but won’t retreat and allow his tank access to our tank.



After moving our artillery, APC, and infantry up behind our tank and Md tank, we make room for one of our mechs to attack Olaf’s B copter. The damage is small, but we’ve got a surfeit of troops and Olaf’s B copter is the only unit that can really hurt us, so we might as well whittle it down some.



In the same spirit, we put our B copter to use against Olaf’s 4 HP tank. This will allow us to wipe out his HQ defenders a turn earlier than we’d otherwise be able to.



On his turn, Olaf’s B copter takes a swipe at our T copter, his defending tank retreats, and his defending Md tank takes a futile potshot at our B copter. His units in the north advance but can’t find room to attack. At this point, we’ve got to decide whether to go for the rout or the capture, and it doesn't seem like much of a decision any more, as we’re at least three turns away from capturing.



We start by using our rockets to take out Olaf’s defending Md tank. His HQ is now unguarded, though his tank would try to repair and reengage if we gave it time.



We’ll also load an infantry into our T copter and fly it to Olaf’s HQ; even though the rout seems faster, it won’t hurt to have a backup plan ready if we can’t quite finish off the rout first.

Can you spot the minor continuity error above? Where did the Md tank go?



The next order of business here is to clean up the southern front, and our anti-air and B copter have no trouble taking care of Olaf’s B copter and tank. The biggest remaining question is whether we can rout Olaf’s troops before we finish capturing his HQ.



We begin with an artillery strike against Olaf’s tank, crippling it but not destroying it. The tank is Olaf’s most powerful unit left, but we may have been better off destroying the Md tank; our biggest hindrance for a rout will be destroying all of Olaf’s units quickly enough.



Our tank and Md tank follow up by finishing off their counterparts on Olaf’s side…



and our infantry follows up. At this point, it’s clear that we should probably have brought more infantry firepower to the northern front, but it’s too late now. We’ll have to make do with what we have.

Olaf’s troops advance on his turn but can’t find anything to attack. Our artillery opens up our turn by softening up the only infantry it can reach.



Our rockets have their choice of targets, choosing to weaken a mech. It doesn’t look like we’ll finish the rout this turn, coming up a little short on firepower. It’s likely that a better strategy could have finished up the mission this turn.



With nothing else to do, our infantry on Olaf’s HQ begins capturing it.



Our B copter strives to reach the front but can’t quite do it. Now that we can’t win on this turn, there’s no need to continue attacking, but we do anyway for kicks. Our infantry and tank clean up some of Olaf’s weakened units and clear a path for our Md tank to attack Olaf’s mech, which has managed to maneuver itself oddly into a river square feeding into the lake.



Our Md tank reaches Olaf’s mech and reduces it to 1 HP, but we have no more units that can attack. We’re forced to end our turn and finish Olaf off on the next one.



Nell: Well done! Keep up the good work!

Olaf: Augh!!! I never had a chance this time! NELL!!! Just wait until next
time!

Looks like there was a little leeway in the speed target for this mission, as we finished a turn slower than we could have but still managed a perfect score. The end-of-mission dialogue is pretty terse here, with just the usual “good job” from Nell and “next time!” from Olaf. It’s almost as if they can tell that their Field Training shtick is getting old and they’re getting antsy for the real Campaign. Still 4 more missions to go, though.



Nell: I wonder how fast can you clear this air and indirect combat unit
section?

Hey! More good news! We've finally got bombers and fighters ready to
go! Three units each! You've only got them for this mission, but... It
seems Olaf's troops have appeared on the far shore. Your job is to get
over there and take them out in one fell swoop! Let's get moving!

Hmm… from the text on the mission select screen and Nell’s briefing, it seems like we may actually have an advantage here! Dare we to dream?



Oh yes, we do. The fighters are the key here; fighters rule the skies, and we’ve got 3 to Olaf’s 2, as well as the first strike advantage. Olaf’s Md tanks may look intimidating, but they’ve got bombers to deal with, and that’s not going to go well for them.

Our first priority here are Olaf’s fighters, followed by his missiles; with them out of the way, our air units will have free rein.



This seems a little generous, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth: Olaf’s fighters are in range of our missiles right off the bat.



Scratch one fighter. Missile attack animations are so cathartic; they almost never fail to wipe out the enemy.





Two fighter attacks later, the other fighter is down and we own the skies.



Our third fighter has its choice of target of opportunity, settling on and destroying Olaf’s lead bomber.

We don’t really need our rockets to do any damage with all the bomber firepower we have kicking around, but they might as well chip in. Here they weaken Olaf’s lead Md tank.



Our new top target is Olaf’s missiles, as they’re the only unit remaining that can hurt most of our air units. Our bomber hurts them badly but can’t finish the job due to that city they’re parked in. They’ll repair themselves to 5 HP next turn, making themselves the only noticeable thorn in our side.



Our other two bombers join in the fun. Neither can reach Olaf’s missiles to finish them off due to his pesky T copters, but they take out a lander and a Md tank, leaving the wounded Md tank behind for our B copters.



Our first B copter opens up on the Md tank and manages to destroy it. We’re getting quite a lot of lucky attacks like this during Field Training!



Our second B copter can’t reach any enemy units to attack, so it stays back out of missile range. We’ve got plenty of firepower on the front lines as it is.



We also fly an infantry over to Olaf’s island with our T copter and drop it out of bomber range before we end our turn. This isn’t necessary with all the air firepower we have here, but it’s good to be in the habit of going for a capture when possible anyway.



Olaf: What's this?!? They found my landing forces? Augh! There's no way
around it! We'll have to make due with what we've got!

On Olaf’s turn, his missiles decide to attack our in-range B copter. Here’s an example of how powerful missiles are; even at half strength, they do 6 damage to our B copter.



Olaf moves up the rest of his units, finishing off our B copter with his north B copter. Losing the B copter is unfortunate, but it’s only enough to dent our forces. In Olaf’s defense, there’s not much he could do here. We’ve really got an overwhelming force this time.



We lead off our turn with our missiles, picking off one of Olaf’s bombers that has wandered into range.





Our fighters take their turns next, crippling a B copter and destroying a B copter and bomber.





Not to be outdone, our bombers take out Olaf’s missiles and two infantry, leaving the battlefield clear of enemy ground units.

Our B copter takes out Olaf’s B copter. I don’t think his T copters are going to put up much of a fight here.



And indeed, they stay in place and accept their fighter-flavored demise. While it seems refreshing at first to have a massive force giving lots of options to attack with, it renders the ultimate victory pretty unsatisfying. “Dogfights” is a misnomer if Olaf’s fighters are all down before he gets a turn.



Nell: What?!? You cleared this map in three days? Incredible! I'm really
impressed that you've developed your skills so much! Keep up the good
work!

Olaf: Augh!!! How could my landing forces be defeated?!? Now I'm in trouble!
Just wait until next time!

I wouldn’t be that impressed, Nell; it’s hard to do much worse here.

If we take longer than three days to complete the map, Nell’s congratulation speech here is replaced with a simple “Good job! Keep up the good work!” This is kind of fitting given how disappointing it would be if we took that long with such a large force.

Of course Olaf chimes in with his requisite “Next time!” Never change, Olaf.

We’ve only got a few units left to be introduced to, and we’ll see them all in the next mission! What’s in store?



Nell: You've got a tough mission on your hands this time. There are two
units that require aid or they'll be destroyed. One of these is a T
copter, which we've discussed before. The other is a lander unit. This
is a naval unit you haven't seen yet. You need to protect these units
and secure the land on the far shore. This is the mission that's been
entrusted to you, Candidate.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any bombers or fighters this time.
But I did arrange for other units I think will be necessary to our
success. I'll explain about these other naval units once we arrive.
Time to get moving!



New units galore! Before we get to them, Nell’s actually not kidding here; we do lose the mission if we lose our T copter or lander, though it’s hard to come up with a good reason why. It’s true that we can’t get an infantry across the ocean without them, but we would still be perfectly capable of destroying all Olaf’s units.

Olaf’s actually got a rather strong force here, but we’ve got a lot of advantages for the sake of tutorial. Those of you who are already well acquainted with Advance Wars will recognize the predicament Olaf’s forces (particularly his naval forces) are in.



Nell’s first tutorial instruction is to get our T copter to safety. The easiest (and only) way to do that here is to move it onto our cruiser and load it onto the cruiser. This shows off possibly the least-used tactic in the Advance Wars series: cruisers can hold up to two copter units and drop them at any time. This is really more of a novelty than anything, as we’ll see as we go through the game: the game really has to try for us to encounter a tactical situation where that’s the right move, as it is here.



Before we continue with Nell’s forced tutorial, let’s examine our new naval units. We’ve already seen the cruiser’s copter-carrying capabilities in action, but it’s also a capable anti-sub and anti-air unit. The cruiser has a few drawbacks in practice, such as difficulty with air units getting first strike and beating it despite the cruiser’s anti-air effectiveness, but it firmly holds a niche as a sub-killer. Cruisers can’t fire on land or non-sub naval units.

Subs are simple ship-killers. They’re highly effective against the two naval units we haven’t gone over yet, landers and battleships, and they can attack other subs well enough. They really struggle with cruisers, though, not even doing enough damage to make a first attack worthwhile. Subs also have the ability to dive, rendering them hidden to the enemy and invisible to attack from any enemy units but subs and cruisers. To compensate, they have issues with fuel that are exacerbated when dived (note the sub’s low fuel capacity compared to the cruiser).



Landers are the APCs of the seas, unable to attack but able to carry two of any ground unit. Their ability to carry any unit makes them indispensable in missions with lots of ocean territory, as they’re the only way to get non-infantry ground troops across oceans. They’re also sturdier than APCs, though they’ll still fall quickly to bombers or subs. Landers are only able to pick up or drop units on shore terrain (the beach-looking squares) or ports (we haven’t seen any yet, but they’re a property like cities).

Last but certainly not least, battleships are an indirect-combat unit with plenty of firepower and the best range of any Advance Wars unit, able to fire on ground or naval units 2-6 spaces away. They’re also the most expensive units in the game; this will be a drawback when we start having to pay for our units. Their biggest weaknesses are dived subs and air units, each of which they have no defense against. Their weaknesses match up well with cruisers’ strengths, making cruisers a natural escort for battleships and further driving up the cost required to field an effective battleship.



Back to the task at hand: Nell’s first tutorial instruction is to show off our cruiser by attacking Olaf’s sub. As you can see, it’s super-effective.



Cruiser vs. sub in action! Cruisers attack subs (and only subs) with their deck-mounted missile launchers. Olaf’s sub fires a torpedo back but does no damage.



The next unit to strut its stuff is our battleship. Conveniently placed so that Olaf’s rocket unit is in range of our battleship but not the reverse, it fires on and cripples the rocket.



Battleships are fittingly intimidating in appearance, with the massive size (ladders for scale!) and conspicuous cannons. They don’t disappoint in firepower.

Next up on Nell’s tutorial tour is our sub. We ping Olaf’s battleship for 6 damage.



Sub attacks are visually underwhelming; they fire their torpedoes underwater so there are no fun explosions like most other units. It’s still nice to see an enemy battleship take so much damage.





And the last tutorial move is using our lander to ship a Md tank and an infantry to the center island. The Md tank will come in handy; the infantry, not so much.





To wrap up our first turn, we bring some of our more useful units up to the front. Most of our ground units are pretty useless over on our starting island, but we’ll get good mileage out of our rockets.



Olaf: So, we've got a naval battle on our hands, eh? If Nell hadn't taken
out my air units, victory would be so much easier... But they can't
use most of their troops, so that puts us on equal footing. To battle!

Well, sure, Olaf, your air units from the previous mission would help you out here, but so would that massive aerial flotilla we had! “Equal footing” is also a pretty poor assessment here with the jump our naval units got on Olaf’s.

Olaf moves some units around but doesn’t attack anything. Silly Olaf, initiative is everything in Advance Wars!



Nell’s still got one bit of naval tutorial in store for us. At her instruction, we dive our sub. This renders it invisible to Olaf unless it’s adjacent to one of his units and makes it so that his only units that can fire on it are his cruiser and sub, both of which are far away in the north.

This action really sticks out to me as a useless one, and it irks me since most other tutorial moves in Field Training are optimal or close to it. Our sub here could attack Olaf’s battleship or lander, and instead we choose to waste fuel by diving it. Sure, it makes it so Olaf’s rockets can’t attack our sub, but look at those rockets’ position. They’re not likely to live long enough to attack much of anything.

By and large, I think that Field Training does an excellent job of teaching how to play Advance Wars while remaining entertaining, but diving the sub here just bugs me. It’s one thing to accept being forced to make moves when they’re pretty obvious; it’s quite another when they’re clearly sub-optimal.

Moving on…



Our cruiser finishes off Olaf’s 1 HP sub. The sub’s never going to do much damage at 1 HP, but it’s the only unit left on the map that our cruiser can attack, so we might as well end it.



After moving our battleship north so that it can assist in an eventual HQ capture, we engage in some rocket-on-rocket aggression and take Olaf’s full-strength rocket down to 2 HP. Good thing it can’t fire on our sub, huh?



Since we left that battleship with 4 HP, it’ll be able to do some damage to our Md tank if we move it into range. Our B copter rectifies that situation. While the B copter can’t finish off the battleship, a 1 HP battleship is not worth worrying about.



Our Md tank moves up and takes out Olaf’s 2 HP rocket.





After shuffling a few units around, we bring our lander back to our home island and loaded it up with a mech-loaded APC and an infantry. Our plan is to deliver the infantry to Olaf’s HQ by sea; the mech and APC will stand by to stop Olaf’s Md tanks from defending. We end our turn in a strong position.

Guess that 1 HP battleship can do some damage after all…



but that’s all the damage Olaf can do on his turn.



First things first: an infantry has wandered into rocket range. This does not end well for it.



Our infantry decides to take advantage of a rare opportunity to damage something on wheels, undoing Olaf’s rockets’ repair from his turn.





Our dived sub finishes off Olaf’s battleship. Finally. Dived subs show up as dived in the battle animation, which is a nice touch.



Instead of advancing and getting dogpiled by Md tanks, our Md tank finishes off Olaf’s last rocket.



In a somewhat pointless maneuver, our B copter wounds one of Olaf’s Md tanks. Of course, there’s not much else it can do at this point.





Our battleship blasts the way clear for our lander by taking out Olaf’s hapless lander. It’ll still take our lander another two turns to reach Olaf’s HQ; those rocky-looking ocean squares are shoals, the only non-vanilla ocean terrain, and cost 2 movement for naval units as well as providing some defensive cover.



We end our turn with the battle well under control. We’ll keep Olaf’s Md tanks busy in the southeast while our lander journeys to his HQ.

Olaf’s Md tanks gang up on our B copter, but can only do a little damage. It’s fine with us as long as they’re not moving north.



Our sub and battleship participate in some gratuitous violence, wiping out Olaf’s southern lander and cruiser. Really, though, the only thing we can do on this turn that matters is…



…to keep our lander moving toward its goal.



A turn later, our lander finishes its journey and disgorges its cargo. We’re home free, though we’ll keep the skirmish with Olaf’s Md tanks going.



Olaf really should be more mindful of our rockets’ range.



A turn later, Olaf shows off one of the game’s less realistic battles: Md tank vs. sub! With the Md tanks facing away from the ocean! Md tank wins by default due to being impervious to torpedoes while on land, but it’s really more of a draw. Oddly enough, though indirect land units do plenty of damage to naval units, direct land units have a tough time even scratching them.



Though there is some residual action left, we’ll fast forward to the end, as Olaf’s Md tanks chose to attack our Md tank and sub rather than defend their HQ. A rout probably wouldn’t have been any slower here if we’d played it right.



Nell: This was a very strategic point for Olaf to attack Orange Star.
Thanks to you, we managed to block his assault! Thank you! Keep up
the good work!

Olaf: I never expected them to make it this far... Augh!!! Just wait until
next time!

Nothing to see here, just your standard Good Work/Next Time banter. Just like Olaf, we’ll have to wait until next time. But first: a choice!

Here’s the starting map for the next mission. Note the partially-obscured battle copter in the southeast.



Bugs is weary of making all the decisions to defeat Olaf by himself. Talking Time, what strategy should we use next time? Send all our units north and around to Olaf’s HQ? The same thing, but east? Split our forces to rout Olaf as quickly as possible? You decide!

Next Time: The Final Push (Or: Finally, No More Tutorials)

Destroy him thoroughly.

I agree with this line of thinking.

I also vote for annihilation.

Is this because of Nell or are you legitimately getting very lucky here?

I'm gonna have to go with kill 'em all.

I'm having a hard time verifying it with other sources, but I'm sure this is because of Nell.

I plan to go more in-depth on COs and on mechanics in later supplementary updates, but, for those who aren't aware, Nell is indeed luckier than other COs. Other COs have a -5% to +5% spread around the damage estimate shown, while Nell's appears to be more like +0% to +15%. That's the only explanation for things we've seen like destroying a 4 HP unit with a 25% damage estimate.

This means that my earlier statement that Nell and Olaf are identical in Field Training isn't true; Nell is definitively better, though it's hard to notice the difference without playing many missions.

this

. . .I'm pretty sure this is going to be how everyone votes on every mission. Even the ones where you're hopelessly outnumbered or at a disadvantage.

It's like, is that even an option? Why wouldn't you ruthlessly crush your opponents?

It's worth noting that the percentage spreads you get in Advance Wars are percentages of the max HP of the unit taking damage, not percentages of the damage. This can make a really big difference in some cases (especially if you'd only be doing scratch damage otherwise).

They're percentages of max HP, and can go higher or lower I think. I think of it as unit having 100 HP, losing effectiveness every 10 HP.

Ba-dum-tish!

These are both accurate. That -5% to +5% that most COs get corresponds to doing 1 HP more or less than the stated damage estimate: a damage estimate of 27% could actually be 22% to 32%, or 2 or 3 HP damage. Nell's +0% to +15% lets a damage estimate of 27% actually be 27% to 42%, or 3 to 4 HP damage. It certainly adds up over time.

The way that Satonakaja suggests looking at damage is probably the most intuitive way to do it.

Ha, thanks.

Welcome back to Let’s Play Advance Wars. Last time, you had the ability to decide our strategy for the next Field Training mission, Climate Status, and the decision was overwhelmingly in favor of Olaf’s obliteration. Let’s make the bearded one pay for invading our territory! (In case you don’t recall, that’s why we’re embarking on this entire Field Training campaign to begin with. It’s hard to blame anyone for forgetting, since the game itself seems to have forgotten.)



Nell: Before we move out, I need to brief you in detail on CO Olaf. Olaf
used to be a CO in the Orange Star Army. In fact, he was my superior.
His strong character and skill with the troops make him an invaluable
CO. This is what brought him to Blue Moon's attention. Not only did he
switch allegiances, but then he attacked Orange Star... He's a
wretch! Just a little more, and the Blue Moon Army will be forced to
retreat! Let's go get 'em!

Ah! Some intrigue at last! No wonder Nell’s been making all those snide comments about Olaf. I’m not sure whether that “strong character and skill with the troops” Nell mentioned translates into battle the way Nell thinks it does, but let’s leave her with her reminisces and continue on.



Nell: I have a bad feeling about this. It looks like Olaf... has been
waiting for us. If we let him use his power, there'll be trouble.
Let's take him out all at once! I'm going to leave this one up to you!
Good luck!

Looks like Nell is on board with the scorched earth approach as well. Fine with Bugs!

Olaf has a respectable force here, headlined by his 4 B copters. We’ll plan to split our forces to the north and east, sending our missiles north and our anti-air east to deal with any B copters that come up to meet us. We’ll try to protect our B copter and Md tank as long as possible so that they can deal with Olaf’s troop concentration at his HQ when we arrive.

Unlike most of the Field Training missions we’ve conquered so far, there are none of Olaf’s units in our range right away, so our first turn consists entirely of positioning. This will become the norm when we graduate from Field Training and move on to the actual campaign.



As we move forward, we need to be aware of Olaf’s B copters’ range, as none of units but our anti-air are capable of moving into a B copter’s range without being crippled in return. Their range demarcates the region we can set up our units in this turn.



To begin, we split our wheeled units into northern and eastern forces. We send our tank and rockets east to assist our anti-air; they’ll end up facing less resistance and the rockets will be able to help out on the northern front as well if necessary. We send our Md tank, artillery, and B copter to the north to support our missiles; they’ve got more firepower than the eastern group, but we’ll be trying to keep our Md tank and B copter’s noses clean, so they’ll have to fight carefully.



We end our turn in a solid defensive position. None of Olaf’s units can reach ours, so we’ll get first strike on everything that moves into our range next turn.



Olaf: Ha ha ha! I've been waiting for you. Now I shall unleash my power!
Heavens, hear my cry! BLIZZARD!!!

On his turn, Olaf does something completely unprecedented! He unleashes his CO power, Blizzard, which…



…bathes the entire battlefield in a coat of fresh snow. It also gives his units a fabulous glowing effect, intimidating the heck out of us.



Nell: It's Olaf's CO Power! This is what he's been waiting for... We've been
caught in his trap! Every CO has his or her own special power -- a CO
Power. When Olaf uses his CO Power, a huge snow storm drops in. It's
devastating! But I can't use my CO Power right now. I'm sorry.

Whose side are you on? Come on, Nell, this is the climax of Field Training! This is not a time to keep your powder dry!

All joking aside, every CO does have a special CO power, as Nell said. There are two ways that COs are differentiated from one another in Advance Wars: basic strengths/weaknesses and CO powers. Basic strengths and weaknesses are modifiers that apply during all turns for a CO; Nell’s luck (her actual damage varies from +0% to +15% above the damage estimate shown, while most other COs’ actual damage caries from -5% to +5%) is an example of a basic strength. CO powers are special effects that can be applied after sustaining and dealing a specific amount of damage and apply for one turn only. Olaf’s, of course, makes it snow.

Nell: There's one more thing... Olaf is very adept in the snow. It's this
power that caught Blue Moon's eye. Snow lowers the movement range of
all units. See this plain, here? Infantry used to move across it at a
cost of one movement unit. In snow, the cost increases to two. Olaf
has a unique advantage here... His troops can move through snow
without any adverse effects.

This has turned into a rough battle. But it should stop snowing after
a few days. Just be patient and try to hold out until then.

Olaf’s CO power greatly limits his opponent’s movement without having any effect on his, as he’s the only CO in Advance Wars who’s not hampered by snow. It’s highly situational, but can certainly be effective. As CO powers go, it tends to be one of the less useful ones.

On this turn, Olaf’s units also enjoy a small defense boost. This boost is common to any CO who uses their CO power.

Nell warns us of an oddity in this battle that makes Olaf’s CO power more effective than usual: it will remain snowing for a few turns, not just the usual one. This is a significant disadvantage that we’ll have to deal with; we’re not going to be able to get first strike on his units as easily as we usually do. Nell wants us to hole up and wait for the snow to clear. Who does she think we are, George McClellan? Bugs strikes while the iron is hot!



Our first priority are Olaf’s B copters, two of which have moved into the range of our missiles and anti-air; especially with our reduced mobility, they’re quite capable of crippling our less robust units. We wipe them out.



In a nice graphical touch, the battle close-ups reflect the weather; here our anti-air is parked in a snowbound city, while Olaf’s B copters occupy gray skies. For a little while, anyway.



Our Md tank attacks Olaf’s anti-air, which, while it poses a danger to our copters, also happens to be the only unit it can reach. It gets one of Nell’s trademark lucky hits, knocking the anti-air down to 1 HP where other COs could only have brought it down to 2 HP; this is important because it sets the anti-air’s AI to “run like a rabbit” and prevents it from putting a dent in our B copter.



As we move our artillery up into a firing position, the effect of snow on our movement becomes evident. Our artillery has a movement of 5 and moves on treads, normally requiring 2 movement for forests and 1 movement for all other passable terrain. Now that everything is blanketed in snow, it takes 3 movement for it to move through a forest and 2 movement for plains, though cities and roads still require only 1 movement (Advance Wars has an excellent snowplow service). This really limits our artillery’s movement to the north, though it has more options to the south because of the city and roads in that direction.



Our rockets can choose between destroying Olaf’s anti-air and weakening his tank; they fire on the tank to help keep our anti-air as close to full-strength as possible. We move our southern mech up into a neutral city and begin capturing while we’re at it.

In the north, we move the rest of our units up. The snow prevents us from attacking many of Olaf’s units, but we’ll keep crawling forward as fast as we can and hope Olaf brings his units to us.



On his turn, Olaf retreats his anti-air, moves his B copter into our range (thanks big guy), and attacks our anti-air with his tank. Thankfully, his weakened tank can only reduce our anti-air to 8 HP and takes as much as it gives.



As our third turn dawns, the action is starting to get heavy along the front lines. Priority targets as we advance are Olaf’s 10 HP tank, B copter, and artillery, as they’re the units that can hurt ours the most.



We begin with a quick one-two from our anti-air and rockets, destroying Olaf’s penultimate B copter and weakening his artillery. This opens up some breathing room for the rest of our troops in the south.



Our southern mech steps up to finish the artillery and the rest of our southern units line up behind. Our tank can’t reach Olaf’s because of the snow, but it can’t hurt us too much at only 3 HP.



On the northern front, our artillery and mech team up to destroy Olaf’s tank. Our mech is left in Md tank range, but that’s acceptable; it’ll lure the Md tank into our range, and it would have a difficult time keeping up with our advance anyway.



Our Md tank finds itself bereft of exciting movement options and settles for savaging Olaf’s capturing infantry. The infantry is more or less irrelevant to the war effort, but the people want total destruction and our Md tank has nothing better to do.



Our B copter joins in the fun by finishing off Olaf’s anti-air. It’s now got free range to go wherever it wants without fear except for Olaf’s final, cowardly B copter.



The rest of our northern units limp forward as best they can, and we conclude our turn.



Olaf’s Md tank goes for the easy pickins and knocks our mech down to 3. Good job staying alive, little men.



Olaf’s first wave of troops has largely evaporated; only a Md tank remains as a significant obstacle before his HQ-defense troops. We’ll focus this turn on destroying the Md tank and preparing to deal with Olaf’s stationary Md tank, rockets, and B copter.

We lead off our fourth turn with our now-traditional rocket attack, this time against a mech.



Our tank and mech take care of some cleanup in the south, wiping out Olaf’s wounded tank and mech. That tank was a thorn in our side, taking our anti-air down to 6 HP on Olaf’s last turn; thankfully, our anti-air’s role in this mission is more or less concluded…



…and we’ll give it a much-deserved rest in the city as we finish arranging our southern force.



In the north, our artillery goes for the higher-value target and weakens Olaf’s mech, showing off some snowy mountain terrain in the process.



We take pity on our mech that took the brunt of Olaf’s Md tank attack, letting him jump on buildings as long as he wants.



Our Md tank and B copter team up to cripple Olaf’s lead Md tank. This clears the way for us to position our units for the final push to Olaf’s HQ…



…and we do so, though the snow really cripples our movement. It looks like we’ll have a tough time dealing with Olaf’s HQ units, as we’ll have a hard time getting first strike without baiting them out, and that rocket unit will hurt us while we take them on.



Olaf: Huh? The snow stopped!!! Augh! I don't have enough time to build up
my power again... But... I must have put fear into their hearts! Go,
my soldiers! Don't give them time to regroup! Defeat them all!

Nell: You held out long enough! The snow has stopped! You'd better watch
out, though... Olaf still has plenty of units. You must regroup!

Our fortunes change on Olaf’s turn, as the snow lets up and is instantly cleared off the entire battlefield! I like to think they’ve got a fleet of super-fast, all-terrain zambonis.

Olaf moves his Md tank back to one of his cities to repair (psssh like we’ll let THAT happen) but otherwise stays pat.



Our units in the south are rapidly running out of targets, and only our rockets have enough firepower to take on Olaf’s Md tank near his HQ, so we hatch a plan: lure Olaf’s Md tank down into rocket range, and finish it off with our mech and tank if possible. To begin, we move our rockets into better firing position and move our tank so that Olaf’s Md tank can attack it (from a forest, not a city, to avoid some defensive cover and auto-repair).



Our southern mech and an infantry team up to clear out Olaf’s last southern infantry, being careful to leave the mech in range to attack Olaf’s Md tank once it moves down to attack our tank.





After consolidating our southern units, our artillery finishes off Olaf’s mech and our infantry and B copter do likewise for Olaf’s infantry and Md tank.

Olaf’s HQ defense units are all that remain. We’ll plan to move our northern units up to just out of range of Olaf’s B copter and rockets.



We do so, making sure that our B copter and Md tank are primed to drive toward Olaf’s HQ.



On Olaf’s turn, his Md tank takes the bait and moves down to attack our tank. It reduces our tank to 4 HP, but we’ll take that in exchange for getting it out of that clump of powerful units in the northeast.



Nell: It started raining! This is a real blessing! Rain slows movement a
little bit. More importantly, rain punishes Olaf. He'll be brought to
a virtual standstill! You have to move now! Take him out in one swift
blow!

And our payoff for surviving long enough arrives at last. Olaf’s advantage is snow is matched by his disadvantage in rain; it’s Olaf’s only drawback that’s not just opportunity cost. In practice, rain is rare (it’s only caused by one other CO’s power), so it usually doesn’t come into play.



Rain doubles Olaf’s B copter’s movement costs, giving us a lot more room to advance on him. Of course, his rockets’ range remains the same, since they don’t move to fire like the B copter does.



Unfortunately, our B copter is just out of range of Olaf’s. We’ll settle for parking it just out of his B copter’s range so that we can have first strike next turn. We move our Md tank up behind it to prepare to attack Olaf’s rockets.





While most of the rest of our northern units putter about uselessly, we airlift an infantry inside Olaf’s rocket range to help damage the rockets next turn. This turns out to be a mistake, as Olaf’s B copter can now attack it while blocking our Md tank from reaching the rockets.





In the south, we spring the trap on Olaf’s Md tank, as our rockets, mech, and tank combine to reduce it to 1 HP. We end our turn in that position.



Olaf: What's this? It's started raining??? Augh!!! Our spirits will have to
carry us!

Olaf’s B copter capitalizes on our folly. This mistake will delay our victory by at least one turn, as we won’t be able to start attacking Olaf’s rockets this turn.



Our B copter leads off by attacking Olaf’s, as it’s the only unit that can take it out without waiting several turns for our missiles and/or anti-air to come to bear.

Our wounded infantry bravely runs away. We leave our T copter in range of Olaf’s B copter in order to lure it out of its position blocking our Md tank from reaching Olaf’s rockets.



In the south, our mech finishes off Olaf’s Md tank.



We have a sudden stroke of inspiration and move our APC into rocket range. Remember how the AI loves to target APCs? That’s still a thing, and the ability of Olaf’s rockets to fire on our APC allows our Md tank to move into range and fire on Olaf’s B copter without fear of reprisal. Our Md tank can only do 1 HP damage to the B copter, but every little bit helps.



Olaf’s rockets don’t fail to deliver. Looks like they’re trying to smoke our APC pilots out of there.



Olaf’s B copter also follows meekly along. Thanks, Olaf!



On our turn, our Md tank leads off by crippling Olaf’s rockets. Another mistake becomes evident here; we should have advanced our tank last turn while the rockets were distracted or moved our capturing mech forward to help with the B copter. That would have allowed us to take out the rockets and B copter this turn; now we’ll have to improvise and hope for the best.



We start off by unconventionally attacking Olaf’s B copter with our infantry. Little man tries his best but can only take the B copter down to 1 HP.



We bite the bullet and take out Olaf’s rockets with our B copter, letting his B copter like another day.



Though we have to wait another day to do it, we can at least finish off Olaf with about as much overkill as possible. It’s the little things that make life worth living.



Nell: Each CO has a unique special ability. In Olaf's case, he works well
in snow, but he's susceptible to rain. Regardless of that, you were
great this time! If you can win the next battle, then I'll have taught
you all I can. I think the next battle will be our last one together.
Keep up the good work!

Olaf: Even my trap didn't work... If... If I don't win soon, they'll get
back all the land I went to the trouble of capturing. Augh!!! Just
wait until next time!

That was a trap, Olaf?

He’s running out of next times, too; there’s only one Field Training mission left! Unfortunately, I don’t have anything you all can vote on, but you can at least look at the map for next mission and wonder what in the world is going on!



Next Time: Fog of War (Or: The Calm Before The Storm)

The hell are you talking about? Olaf clearly has the best CO power.

So you mean it advances to the front lines while dancing?

I'm not sure I understand how that works within this game.

It's definitely the best-looking, I'll give you that; the snow-covered battlefield is certainly pretty. As far as efficacy goes, it may be that I'm just not good enough at setting up a position where I can use Olaf's power effectively, but I find it to be less useful than all but two other COs'.

Ha, I wish that were the case. Just trying to plug that excellent FFT autobattle tournament you're (hopefully still) running.

What I'm trying to get at with that comment is the way the AI handles unit health; given a lone unit, the AI will attack if it has 3-10 HP and a target that won't kill it on the counterattack. If it has 3-10 HP but no good target, it'll stay put and advance. If it has 1-2 HP, it'll run until it reaches an allied city, then stay there until it reaches full health. In situations like the one we faced in Climate Status, making the AI (the anti-air) run away is important because it could have significantly damaged a crucial unit (our B copter) if it had 3 or more HP.