Advance Wars 4

[Novasol]

Originally Posted by Selfish Philanthropic

I'm not sure what the big deal about Tabitha is, though.

For Tabitha, that one unit will get an insane boost. All she has to kill is three infantry to boost her up to +1 range, which now allows her to keep that unit surrounded by tanks (or whatever, really, since it's a universal boost) and utterly punch a hold clean through someone's face. Eventually it'll get to 2 spaces, which means you can bore an even bigger hole through your enemy's defenses while they do very little to your defenses in return.

But what's really shit-your-pants terrifying is her CO power. 8 damage to a wide area of enemies, and ALL of her units gain her ridiculous bonus (I think it's 60%/60%) for a turn. Good luck trying to do anything to her at all after this rape train pulls through the station, and I hope you've got some lube handy.

Gage is almost right up there with her in brokenness, but that's another matter entirely.

[Selfish Philanthropic]

OK, I can see the "Tabitha Issue" (a Meteor Strike clone is rather cheap), but I really don't understand how Gage can be broken. 2 Star Offense/1 Star Defense bonus on indirect combat and naval units with a... 2 range, I think? And a CO power that Isabella has IN ADDITION to a movement bonus? Might as well use Isabella, no?

EDIT: Of course, I'm not a professional strategy gamer in any sense of the word, so my previous statement is probably completely incorrect.

I really don't get why they made Firestorm an area-effect damage power. In defense of Tabitha, though, you could just wipe out her one unit... though that does leave you open to counterattack from her other units... gah. Guess I'm just irked that the two COs I like are apparently completely imbalanced...

EDIT EDIT: Anybody else REALLY like the music in this game? You have rock, orchestral, and even some electronic for the IDS CO's. Cool, cool stuff.

[Tendronai]

No, Isabella is much worse than Gage, in my opinion. Simply because when you use her CO Power, Battleships get both boosts, so they can effectively hit something from fourteen squares away.

Tabitha isn't really broken, I think. Sure, her one unit goes to 160/160 when you add her bonuses and vet boost, but that's only one unit. As such, her CO power charges slower because there's no CO zone outside of that unit. You could always go and kill some infantry with a tank, but I like that because it discourages continuous meatshielding with infantry. And then once she does kill three units, her CO zone only expands to units immediately next to her. It's not like Brenner's huge zone where he can bring up the rear in a Wartank to ensure that he doesn't die, and have tanks run around killing stuff to fill his bar.

Hell, if nothing else, you can just spam and attack her on your turn, since that won't add to her bar. Not really effective, but it does stop her from charging.

Because fuck Meteor Strike, I didn't like getting hit by it when it was Sturm's and I sure as hell don't like it now.

Oh, and on the last guy? Caulder is flat-out banned online, because there's no real way to balance that healing on every turn. It makes it near impossible to stop someone from capturing a property.

[EVILNess]

I'm really liking Will, but I prefer Lin on Fog maps.

Also, Caulder can kiss my ass. I hate that guy.

[Selfish Philanthropic]

Originally Posted by Tendronai

Oh, and on the last guy? Caulder is flat-out banned online, because there's no real way to balance that healing on every turn. It makes it near impossible to stop someone from capturing a property.

Damn, that's pretty crappy. They REALLY should have put a little more effort into balancing. That's one CO who's completely unplayable; waste of time for both the developers and the players.

We should see how this all pans out, though. I doubt human players will sit back and let you charge up your CO power. I'll post my Friend Code as soon as I can find a non-firewall'd-out-the-rear wireless connection. In the meantime, I'm working on my early-game. Gotta perfect the infantry spam...

[Kerensky287]

I'm liking Forsythe, but his lack of a CO power is a bit annoying. I mean, he has a HUGE CO Zone, but his ability isn't great as it is.

Gage is where it's at though.

I'll post my FC in a minute or so, hopefully we can arrange some Wi-Fi battles... or, if there's enough interest, a tournament!

[Tendronai]

Forsythe is fairly balanced - fairly large, albeit minor boost. Just stick him in a bike or something else which is mobile and have him behind the troops you have doing actual work.

Looking over the stats, though, I'd say Isabella's better than Gage. 10% less offense, but you get to boost your direct combat units too. I don't see any reason to use Will or Gage over Isabella - Will exchanges 10% defense for 10% extra offense, but he doesn't get the indirect boost.

[Selfish Philanthropic]

Precisely. Isabella has BOTH Gage and Will's powers and only has 10% less offense. I think her CO Zone Radius is the same, as well. Too bad you can't patch DS games...

I think I'm just gonna use Tabitha as my main CO. She has a very unique gameplay mechanic and a hope-crushingly awesome CO Power. Not to mention a sweet theme.