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Units grid

Every unit available in Advance Wars By Web.

Units are the individual personnel and vehicles that make up any army in Advance Wars, with most being based around similar real-world military contingents such as Infantry and Tanks. In AWBW, all units present in the first three Advance Wars games are featured with the exception of Oozium-238.

Units have a wide variety of inherent statistics including their movement attributes, logistical requirements such as Fuel and Ammunition, and offensive and defensive capabilities. Although there are a wide variety of them, the nature of AWBW competitive battling and the standard metagame means that the overwhelming majority of units seen are cheap and cost-efficient, with more expensive units usually either reserved for a specific use-case or not used at all.

Units may be pre-deployed on a map (see Design Maps) or built in-game at their corresponding properties. Land units are all produced at Bases, air units are produced at Airports, and sea units are produced at Ports.

List of Units[]

Below is a list of all units in AWBW. The chart only gives a summary of the unit but there is detailed information on each unit if you click their names.

Unit Move Ammo Fuel Fuel/Day Vision Range Move Type Cost
GEAnti-Air Anti-Air 6 9 60 0 2 1 Treads 8000
GEAPC APC 6 0 60 0 1 - Treads 5000
GEArtillery Artillery 5 9 50 0 1 2 - 3 Treads 6000
GEB-Copter B-Copter 6 6 99 2 3 1 Air 9000
GEBattleship Battleship 5 9 99 1 2 2 - 6 Sea 28000
GEBlack Boat Black Boat 7 0 50 1 1 - Lander 7500
GEBlack Bomb Black Bomb 9 0 45 5 1 - Air 25000
GEBomber Bomber 7 9 99 5 2 1 Air 22000
GECarrier Carrier 5 9 99 1 4 3 - 8 Sea 30000
GECruiser Cruiser 6 9 99 1 3 1 Sea 18000
GEFighter Fighter 9 9 99 5 2 1 Air 20000
GEInfantry Infantry 3 0 99 0 2 1 Foot 1000
GELander Lander 6 0 99 1 1 - Lander 12000
GEMd. Tank Md. Tank 5 8 50 0 1 1 Treads 16000
GEMech Mech 2 3 70 0 2 1 Boot 3000
GEMega Tank Mega Tank 4 3 50 0 1 1 Treads 28000
GEMissile Missile 4 6 50 0 5 3 - 5 Tires 12000
GENeotank Neotank 6 9 99 0 1 1 Treads 22000
GEPiperunner Piperunner 9 9 99 0 4 2 - 5 Pipe 20000
GERecon Recon 8 0 80 0 5 1 Tires 4000
GERocket Rocket 5 6 50 0 1 3 - 5 Tires 15000
GEStealth Stealth 6 6 60 5 / 8 4 1 Air 24000
GESub Sub 5 6 60 1 / 5 5 1 Sea 20000
GET-Copter T-Copter 6 0 99 2 2 - Air 5000
GETank Tank 6 9 70 0 3 1 Treads 7000

Unit Attributes[]

Weaponry and Defenses[]

Units in Advance Wars do not follow a conventional system of offensive and defensive stats that other games use. Unique weapon types are named and some weapons are shared between units (most commonly the Machine Gun) but this has no direct bearing on damage output. Instead, the calculation relies on matchup-specific base damage tables to which various multipliers and modifiers are applied to determine damage dealt.

For more info on how damage is calculated, see Damage Formula.

Movement[]

Movement Points (MP or Mov/Move) represent the maximum distance a unit can move, ranging from as low as 2 (for Mechs) to as high as 9 (for Black Bombs, Fighters and Piperunners). This does not necessarily mean that a unit will always be able to move this far, however - movement type also plays a big role in unit movement and may decrease the effective MP units have to spend.

A unit's Movement Type (MT) describes the method of locomotion the unit uses to get around. For the purposes of the game, it determines the amount of movement points required to move through most types of terrain, and the two are closely interlinked. For example, units with Tires will be able to move freely across Roads that have a tire movement cost of 1, but will suffer a steep penalty of 3 cost per tile travelling through Woods.

There are 8 movement types in Advance Wars By Web:

  • Foot (used only by GEInfantry Infantry)
  • Boots (used only by GEMech Mechs)
  • Treads (used by all tracked land vehicles)
  • Tires (used by all wheeled land vehicles)
  • Air (used by all air units)
  • Sea (used by most naval vessels)
  • Lander (used by GELander Landers and GEBlack Boat Black Boats)
  • Pipe (used only by GEPiperunner Piperunners)

For more info on movement type and movement cost, see Terrain.

Fuel[]

Every unit built or pre-deployed on a map begins combat with a specific amount of fuel, unique to that unit type. Certain types of units (such as footsoldiers) have nearly limitless fuel, while others may have low fuel capacity and/or high fuel consumption and must be carefully monitored and supported to ensure they do not run out.

Units consume 1 fuel per every movement point spent. If a ground unit runs out of fuel, it will be unable to move until refueled, but will otherwise function as normal. Air and sea units also consume a set amount of fuel at the start of each day in addition to the fuel spent during movement; if the unit hits 0 fuel during the start-of-day check, it will immediately crash or sink and be destroyed. They will not be destroyed if they reach 0 fuel after a movement command, which can allow them to be emergency refueled by an APC.

  • Sea units consume 1 fuel at the start of each day, with submerged Subs consuming an additional 4 fuel for a total of 5 fuel at the start of each day.
  • Copter units consume 2 fuel at the start of each day and plane units consume 5 fuel at the start of each day. Hidden Stealths consume an additional 3 fuel for a total of 8 fuel per day. Eagle's Air units consume 2 less fuel per day, meaning Eagle's copters, planes, and hidden Stealths, consume 0, 3, and 6 fuel daily, respectively.
  • Any unit damaged by Drake's Tsunami or Typhoon will immediately lose half of their fuel, rounded down.

Units that are under half fuel will have a flashing fuel icon on their sprite.

Ammo[]

Similarly to fuel, most units built or pre-deployed begin combat with a pre-determined amount of ammo depending on unit type. Not all unit types have weapons that need ammo, instead opting to use machine guns with unlimited ammo (displayed as 0 ammo in-game). Any unit with both a primary weapon and a machine gun will opt to use their machine guns against footsoldiers and copters, so attacking these units in this case does not consume ammo.

Whenever a unit attacks with its primary weapon, whether on first strike or counterattack, it will consume 1 ammunition. If the primary weapon runs out of ammo, it will be rendered unusable until resupplied - units with secondary weapons will use those instead, usually doing drastically worse damage in the process, while units without secondary weapons will instead be unable to attack or defend themselves until resupplied.

Units that are under half ammo will have a flashing ammo icon on their sprite.

Vision[]

A unit's vision range is the radius of tiles that are revealed by the unit in Fog of War. As vision of a unit is required to attempt any sort of attack, units with high base vision (predominantly the Recon) become considerably more important in fog games for scouting and information gathering. Woods and Reefs tiles can be used to hide ground units from vision of other units unless they are directly adjacent to them, making them excellent positions to occupy in fog - air units are not affected by this and will still be visible.

  • Mountains will increase the vision range of all footsoldiers standing on top of them by 3.
  • Rain reduces the vision range of all units by 1, including Drake who otherwise has no penalty in rain. However, this cannot reduce the vision of units below 1 ie. it cannot reduce vision to 0. This also applies to the vision given by properties.
  • The CO Power and Super CO Power of Sonja will increase vision range for all her units by 1 and 2, respectively, and allow her to see into Woods and Reefs without an adjacent unit.

Range[]

A unit's range is its attacking sphere of influence and can be separated into two categories:

  • Direct-attacking units must be directly next to a unit in order to attack it, effectively meaning they have a minimum and maximum range of 1. While short-ranged, direct units may move and attack in the same turn, making them strong at offensive manoeuvres and gaining ground.
  • Indirect-attacking units do not need to be adjacent to a unit to attack it - in fact, they are the opposite, having minimum ranges that are above 1 so that they cannot attack units directly adjacent to them. These units cannot move and fire in the same turn, and must be within range at the start of the turn to be eligible to fire. Although well-suited to defensive play, indirects can be used offensively as well by being placed to cover other, direct-attacking units and dissuading counter-attacks.

The bulk of units in most armies is made up of direct units due to their greater flexibility in being able to move and shoot at the same time. Indirects, however, can make for cost-efficient counters against certain expensive tech units that are otherwise difficult to combat directly, such as the Md. Tank. Indirects are generally stronger in Fog of War games due to the element of surprise and being able to fire outside of vision range, though their strength is by nature more terrain-dependent as well.

  • Max suffers from -1 range to all indirects.
  • Grit gains +1 range to all indirects. In addition, his CO power increases it by a further +1 and his SCOP increases it by +2, for +2 and +3 total range respectively.
  • Jake gains +1 range to all indirects when using either of his CO powers.

Repairing and Resupplying[]

Units can be repaired and resupplied in a few ways.

  • Any unit on an appropriate resupplying property will be restored by 2HP (3HP with Rachel) and have their fuel and ammo completely refilled at the start of their turn. Land units resupply at Cities, Bases and HQs, while air and sea units resupply at only Airports and Ports, respectively. Units cannot resupply at properties controlled by another player, even ones on the same team.
  • Any unit adjacent to a friendly APC or boarded onto a Cruiser or Carrier at the beginning of the turn will have their fuel and ammo restored.
  • Any unit targeted for repair by a Black Boat will have 1HP and its fuel and ammo restored. This repair is liable for costs - if the player cannot afford the cost to repair the unit, it will only be resupplied and no repairs will be given.
  • The CO Powers of Andy and Hawke will repair all allied units by 1HP, 2HP or 5HP, depending on the power used.
  • All of Jess' units are fully resupplied when she activates her Turbo Charge or Overdrive powers.

Given how important unit count is in competitive Advance Wars, repairs can be a useful way to turn the liquid value of funds into the practical, fixed value of an active combat unit without occupying the turn of a base, which can be especially valuable on Base Light maps with limited base count or Fog of War maps which may have bases placed at substantial distances from the front. Improper use of repairs or bad unit selection though can also disrupt a player's ability to produce urgently needed units not already fielded such as Anti-Airs, as well as reducing combat strength of a flank in the short term if the unit must spend several turns on a friendly property to be repaired up to a usable state.

  • The resupply phase of a turn occurs before the deduction of fuel upkeep for air and sea units. As such, one of these units on 0 fuel can be saved as long as they can make it onto a resupplying property or next to an APC in time.
  • As unit health is actually calculated in increments down to the hundredths and not the tens (see Damage Formula), repairs in AWBW restore up to 20 health each in actuality (10 with the Black Boat). Since visual health is rounded up, this means that a unit at Hitpoints 10 may actually be slightly damaged - this 'hidden' damage is accounted for during repair actions, even though there is no visual indicator that health was restored. However, it can also mean that a repair may not necessarily bring a unit to the threshold it visually appears to be at - for example, a unit at Hitpoints 8 that is repaired on a property is unlikely to actually be at full health, despite lacking any explicit HP value.
    • Repair costs will be deducted for each visual hitpoint recovered during repair, not actual. As visual unit health is indeed rounded up, this means that repairs that restore less than 1 full HP (such as repairing a unit that has taken Infantry chip damage) will not cost funds, and are free.
  • If a unit is not specifically at 9HP, repair costs will be calculated only in increments of 2HP. This can create a fringe scenario where a unit that is at Hitpoints 8 or less with <20% of the unit's full value available (such as an 8HP Fighter on an Airport with less than 4000 funds) will not be repaired, even if a 1HP repair is technically affordable.

Joining Units[]

If a unit is ordered to move onto a tile occupied by a damaged allied unit of the same type, the option to Join the two units will be given. If the join is accepted, the two units will combine, becoming one unit, and collate their HP, fuel, and ammo totals together. Should the combined HP exceed 10, any excess will be converted into funds equivalent to 10% of the unit's price per hitpoint. After the join, the resultant unit may not take another action that turn.

Joining units is an uncommon tactic, but is highly useful in select scenarios, most commonly with Infantry in progress of capturing a critical property, as capture progress is preserved through a join command. This allows commanders to reapply pressure on the capture and force opposing players to spend resources or attacks to interrupt it, potentially at a major cost to their army's positioning. Other uses include joining weakened units together to ensure the stability of a defensive formation by exceeding a potential attack's damage threshold or combining high-health units together for a small funding boost, allowing the purchase of an important unit. These uses come at the natural expense of unit count, and so should be weighed appropriately before combining.

Full HP units may initiate the join with damaged units, but damaged units may not initiate the join with undamaged units. Transport units may also not join unless both transports are empty.

Transports[]

Certain units can be used to transport other units around the battlefield through loading and unloading them. These are:

The first four units are considered dedicated transports, mainly used for their ability to shuttle units. Though they require a substantial early investment, they can be an excellent tool for early capture of certain contested properties which are otherwise too distant from a base to contest normally. Past the capture phase, they are mainly useful for speeding up footsoldier reinforcement and rotation time, particularly that of the Mech whose very low movement speed otherwise limits their strategic viability. Sami and Sensei are especially adept at this, having very powerful footsoldiers coupled with bonus movement to transports to enable their use.

The other two, non-dedicated transports (Cruisers and Carriers) are almost never seen by dint of being naval units with little utility on the overwhelming majority of competitive maps. On larger, more casual maps dominated by sea tiles, their ability to transport and resupply air units can be a niche, but occasionally useful ability for resupplying them away from any friendly airports.

  • Loading and unloading transport units are considered a free action for the transport unit itself and can be done regardless of whether the unit has used its turn or not. This can be exploited to 'boost' units one extra tile by loading a unit at the edge of its movement range and immediately unloading it. This can be done for up to 4 units.
  • Transports must be located on top of a valid tile for the boarded unit in order for them to disembark.
  • Loaded units do not count towards CO powers that calculate unit value, such as Von Bolt's Ex Machina. If a loaded transport unit is destroyed, the units within also do not contribute to power charge gain for either the attacker or the defender.
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