Von Bolt is a Black Hole CO, known for his all-around above average units.
Strategy[]
Von Bolt, like Hawke, trades being more efficient in battle for very long CO power bars. Von Bolt, however, does it to such an extent that he will crush non-broken COs (even the likes of Hawke) if they dare to fight him head-on. However, picking Von Bolt means you're practically playing without CO powers; be careful around COs with strong CO powers like Andy, Eagle, Olaf, Rachel etc. Playing vs Sasha will mean you never get to use Ex Machina in all but the longest games, but never mind that, you'll have the upper hand ~70% of the time, anyway; force her to really outplay you. Like Rachel and Sturm, Von Bolt is weaker on maps with pre-deployed naval units, as their high value makes them good at mis-directing Ex Machina.
Since his Ex Machina takes ~20 days, give or take 3, to charge up, try to gain enough of an advantage to be able to weather whatever CO Powers the enemy might have. Getting into a Tank rush is the easiest way to gain such an advantage, but never discount the possibility of indirect standoffs; Von Bolt does well in such situations: not only do his units deal more damage, his meatshields have increased defense, too.
By the time you have Ex Machina ready, you should be winning vs most COs if they don't have powerful CO powers; hit the nail on the coffin with your own personal laser beam. If you're not, use your Super CO Power, anyway, and:
- Try to destroy units hit by the laser. The easiest and most common approach, as Ex Machina tends to hit the frontlines anyway.
- Try to destroy units not hit by the laser, knowing that enemy counterattack is severely weakened.
- Try to advance (or retreat?) to a better position, the enemy reinforcements will be delayed anyway. This is the worst use scenario, and probably due to smart foes clumping some units far from the frontlines to divert the laser. Avoid by waiting for the foe to disperse the decoy clump.
These above options may or may not have to be random. Kill some units that are not part of the target if it can help "aim" the laser, a la Rachel style. The stun from Ex Machina is most devastating when it base locks your opponent, though this is hard to pull off.
| COs of Advance Wars By Web | ||||
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 Orange Star
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 Blue Moon
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 Green Earth
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 Yellow Comet
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 Black Hole
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