Guide to AtWar

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Here is an AW Tips&Tricks guide, with more information about Finances, Strategies, Battles, Walls, Upgrades, Turnblocking and more. This is just an extension of the FAQ and can be used for more advanced players. If you see incorrect information or if you have any questions, PM me, Google Chrome



Strategies:

None - No bonuses, no nerfs. However: It's not good to chose nothing, because the bonuses are important. It can be an alternative to imperialist though if you have a lot of money.
Naval Commander NC - Powerful Naval presence at the cost of a weaker land presence.
Relentless Attack RA - Most used strategy of AtWar. Powerful offensive units at the cost of weaker defensive units.
Lucky Bastard LB - Gives a critical % boost to all units for a cost increase. Powerful with lots of money.
Master of Stealth MoS - A long range strategy with great mobility, works good on bigger maps. High cost, need high income nations.
Imperialist Imp - Cheap units at the cost of some attack power. Powerful in low income areas with lots of spawn.
Sky Menace SM - High cost, great mobility and very strong bombers. You can move bombers to attack/defend between cities far apart.
Great Combinator GC - High cost, good units. Stacking Tanks and Infantry together will remove some of the danger of movement in open terrain.
Iron Fist IF - High cost, low mobility, but hard to kill. Most powerful defensive/offensive strat.
Guerrilla Warfare GW - Low cost, works very good on small maps or starting points (Balkans in Europe for example), as Guerrilla warfare can create lots of chaos.
Perfect Defense PD - Low cost, deadly defense and mobile. Its weak point is that you need big stacks for a good attack and other units except infantry is useless.
Blitzkrieg Blitz - High cost, very fast movement with high range, weak defense
Hybrid Warfare HW - Cheaper and weaker marines, more attack but less defense for tanks, stronger infantry in defence but useless in attack. This strategy is for highly experienced players and is very rarely used by them, so don't spend your sp to get this upgrade, get this as a last upgrade.
Desert Storm DS - Stronger helicopters with increased range, whose ability to pass any waters makes it perfect for unusual openings. Their extra bonus against Infantry takes full effect when fighting large stacks of it. Marines get extra range. Most powerful in high income areas and a great counter to infantry spam but will struggle against sky menace.
Low cost strategies = low upkeep = more cash = more troops = killing your enemy.
High cost strategies = high upkeep = fewer troops = slower expansion = easy to predict, as they need to go for the big nations = easier to counter = you die.
Unless you can defend and have the good defensive units. GC and IF have that. SM can use bomber stacks to move quickly to danger zones for defense.

Battles:

Who attacks and who defends?
If you attacked and your opponent didn't, during the battle your units will always be attacking, while your opponent's units defending. If both armies attacked each other, units will take turns attacking and defending. This is relevant because some units are better at defending (f.e. Infantry), and other at attacking (Tanks). Units with the best attack in your army will attack first. Units with the best defense will defend first. The amount of units in a certain stack, does not have influence on who attacks or defends first.

Example: Red has 2 infantry in a city, along with 5 tanks and 7 bombers. He's being attacked by blue that has 10 militia and 2 marines. Then the result will be, that the first battle will be between the 2 marines of blue that are attacking and the 2 infantry of red that are defending. If blue wins this battle, the marines will fight against the next strongest defenders, the bombers. If the bombers kill the remaining marines, it will be attacked by the next strongest attacker, the militias. This will continue until one of the players run out of units.

Important to know: If any of your units participating in a battle attacked the opponent, all of your units will be attacking. In your city, however, you will always be defending. For example:
My enemy attacks my city Amsterdam with a certain stack. At that same moment, I am attacking that stack with my units from Brussels. Then my units will move to Amsterdam instead, and defend there. That's also if they don't turnblock the attacking force (more about turnblocking later).

Who gets first move?
All movements are prioritized according to the order of players' actions, so to successfully run away or intercept enemy units, plan this move early during your turn. Basically, you should make your moves in the order of their importance.

Order of movements is not based on time, so if one player made his first move within first 10 seconds, and the other player made his first move at the end of the turn, these will still have the same priority (50/50 chance). Which means: All first moves by all players are calculated first, then all players second moves and so on. Which leads to the notion of turnblocking, which will be explained later.

Your General
You general unit is very weak, but gives a boost to the stack he is in. Not only are there extra upgrades for the general, but also you have standard some extra's like:
- Less upkeep to your units where a general is present.
- Units are stronger in defending and attacking if general is present.
- A better view range for the units.

Try to be very cautious with your general and do not use him for attacking or defending without adding troops. Your general can be very useful when you have important battles.

Battle mechanics
Unit's attack and defense represent the maximum amount of damage you deal to the opponent. Attack and defense are executed simultaneously, so you're guaranteed to deal some damage in a battle. Each unit has Hit points - so damage is applied directly to Hit points, and if the unit runs out of them, it gets destroyed. The remaining damage is then transferred to the next unit.

So, for example, when tank attacks unit and deals 3 damage, infantry has remained 4 HP but infantry defended with 1 roll, that means tank loses 1 HP.

Minimum attack and defense is always 1, maximum is different for each unit

Finances:

Finances play an important part in AtWar. You need to have enough money to afford purchasing better units, and be able to support them afterwards. All units cost a certain amount to purchase, and 10% of your unit cost is upkeep, which means: the higher the cost of the unit, the more you pay for it every turn u have it.

Income is generated by your cities and countries. The initial income is 50% for cities on your territory and 10% on foreign territory. The turn by turn increase is +25% on your territory until 100% and +2% afterwards, up to the total of 150%. The turn by turn increase on foreign territory is +5%, and the maximum is 50%.

Controlling all cities in the country will also bring you bonus income (you can see it in the country info menu or in the Finances menu). The difference between your income and expenses is shown in the bottom toolbar, next to the current funds. For more details, look at the Finances menu.

A big part of playing different maps is to keep your finances in check. Stay clear of high cost units as transports, unless you can afford them or absolutely need them. Make sure you grab the highest income nations in your region.

Here's a map to show which nations have what income in Europe. Knowing where to find that ever elusive cash can be vital, not only for you purse, but also to kill your enemies cash flow.

Walls
Find out more about Walls here

Walls are also an important part in AtWar and are used a lot by experience players. Mostly they are used to defend your own cities. If you wall your cities, the enemy needs at least 2 turns to capture that city. Walling up areas or cities can have more advantages, here are some examples of when to use it:
- To prevent being turnblocked - This will be explained in the 'Turnblocking' section
- To avoid surprise attacks - Marines are units that can't be seen on the map. If your enemy is moving them to your capital which is far away, you will not notice. If you wall up your capital, your enemy needs to destroy the wall first, before he can attack your capital. That will give you at least 1 extra turn, to reinforce your capital, before your enemy can attack. Also, you are better prepared from a attack from behind when you have walled up.
- To prevent the enemy from moving - Walling is not only for defending, but can also be used as a offensive move. When there is a big stack in a enemy city, it can be walled to prevent the enemy to move from there the next turn.
- To the save movement of other troops - If you want to move some troops, but you want to make sure they will not be attacked while moving, you can wall your unit, just like a city; walling does not necessarily has to be for a city.
- To block off a certain area - You can also make bigger walls, for example around Japan, to avoid being attacked anywhere in that area. It's rarely used though, because it costs a lot of units and time to create, while city walling is much more frugal of time and units.

When you capture a city (or when you attack, if possible) always try to build a wall around it. A good tip would be to wall up every city with 5 or more manpower. If you don't know how many reinforcements you get, an easy way is to count number of new militia you have in the city after capping it. That is the number of reinforcements/manpower u get from that particular city/capital. Without walling, you will mostly lose against every decent opponent in AW.

"Can i prevent my enemy from creating a wall?"
Yes. If you want to create a wall, it only works if there are no enemy units close to your wall. For example: My enemy has taken Berlin, and I'm sure he will wall it up next turn. If i move one of my units close to Berlin, the wall will fail to be created. Also, if you attack a wall and you want to make sure the opponent can't rebuild it, then move some other units close to the target you attacked or make the stack big enough it won't be killed after the wall has been destroyed.

Turnblocking
Find out more about Turnblocking here

Turnblocking is ment to prevent your enemy from moving. If you turnblock you can have some advatages over a enemy like:
- It slows down your enemy for one extra turn
- It allows you to expand to more countries without being attacked
- It gives more of your armies a chance to move and saves cities/countries from being conquered
- It gives you a chance to wall up nearby cities.

To know how turnblocking works, its very important to know how 'move priority' works. All movements are prioritized according to the order of players' actions meaning, your first action will move first. So if you want to turnblock an enemy stack, you have the biggest chance if your first move is an attack on his stack. Time does not matter in this case, it only matters with what unit you move first. Cancelled moves don't count.

The turnblocking works like this:
Chance to turnblock = to the difference between you and your enemies troop counts
Chance % = your units count / opponent units count
Example:
You have 3 Militias and your enemy has 10.
3/10 = 30 % Chance
This will work upto a max of 50%. So even if you match or send more troops than your enemy, there is a 50% chance he will avoid.

That is unless your priority is higher than them, because then the chance to turnblock doubles so with the same situation, yet you moving before the enemy does.
In the Example
(3/10)*2 = 60%
This will work upto a max of 100%. So 50% of your stack will block the enemy, so turn priority is still important if you know your enemy has a large stack near to you.

It is important to know that when there is a transport present, the stack will count as 1unit.

Prevent turnblocking:
There are a few ways to avoid being turnblocked. Here are some:
- The best way to avoid being turnblocked, is to wall up your stack or city. This is explained in the 'Walls' part earlier. Walling, gives you 100% security.
- Prioritize moves, for example move your stack which you don't want to get tb-ed first
- Wall up neutral cities, that the enemy will probably take next turn. This will prevent them from moving out of the city next turn.
- Don't move units seperate out a stack, but as a whole. This way, the whole group will move out the city with the highest priority, so your enemy has a max of 50% to block.

Once a turnblock fails there is two possible scenarios.
1) If the unit you attempted to turnblock with has enough range to reach the target of your enemy's stack, that unit will fight your enemy's stack at that target.
2) If it can't reach the target the unit will stay where it originally attempted to intercept.

Upgrades:
Find out more about upgrades here

You can purchase permanent upgrades here, this is found on your profile dashboard. Using your earned SP, you can unlock additional units, strategies, or make a small improvement for your current units.

Here is a list with all upgrades
Strategy - SP costs
General: defense - 50 sp
Submarines - 100 sp
Imperialist - 200 sp
Sentry Plane - 400 sp
Transport Capacity - 700 sp
Marines - 1000 sp
General: Rally The Troops - 1250 SP
Master of Stealth - 1500 sp
Militia - 2000 sp
Faster General - 3000 sp
Guerrilla Warfare - 4000 sp
General: Militia HP - 5000 sp
Air Transport Capacity - 6000 sp
General: Infantry Attack - 6500 sp
Lift the Fog - 7000 sp
Longer defence lines - 7500 SP
General: View Range - 8000 sp
Stronger Anti-Aircraft - 8500 sp
Faster Submarines - 9000 sp
Sky Menace - 10000 sp
Mobile Anti-Aircraft - 10500 sp
General: cost - 11000 sp
Blitzkrieg - 12000 sp
Lucky Ground Main Attack - 12500 SP
Safer Transportation - 13000 sp
General: Tank attack - 14000 sp
Lift the Fog II - 14500 sp
Affordable Recon - 15000 sp
Lucky Militia - 15500 sp
Faster Destroyers - 16000 sp
Submarine Capacity - 17000 sp
Stealth - 18000 sp
Lucky Infantry - 21000 sp
General: Bomber attack -22000 sp
Faster general II - 26000 sp
Air Transport Capacity II - 27000 sp
Faster infantry - 28000 sp
General: movement range - 29000
Expendable Infantry - 30000 sp
Hybrid Warfare - 32000 sp
Helicopter capacity - 32000 SP
Affordable Air Stealth - 34000 SP

What upgrade do i need to buy first?
This mostly depends on the strategy you are using. If you use Perfect Defence for example, its best to go for the infantry upgrades, while marine upgrades can help you with Guerrilla Warfare and Master of Stealth. Here are the strategies and the upgrades you can buy first:
Naval Commander NC - All boats, transports and ships upgrades. Faster destroyers for example, or Transport capacity.
Relentless Attack RA - There are no specific upgrades for this strategy, but you can use general upgrades
Lucky Bastard LB - There are no specific upgrades for this strategy, but you can use general upgrades
Master of Stealth MoS - Of course you need to upgrade Master of Stealth here. After that its very useful to upgrade marines (faster, expendable), stealth and submarines.
Imperialist Imp - You need the imperialist upgrade to use this strategy. General movement and infantry attack, as well as all the infantry upgrades are useful.
Sky Menace SM - You need the Sky Menace upgrade to use this strategy. Furthermore you can add stealth, and upgrade your transport capacity (2upgrades), cheap transportation and the safer transportation, as SM makes a lot use of transport planes.
Great Combinator GC - As infantry is used a lot in this strategy combined with units like tanks, you can get most of the infantry upgrades: Faster, cheaper, Expendable.
Iron Fist IF - Same as the GC upgrade. Infantry is used a lot in this strategy combined with units like tanks, you can get most of the infantry upgrades: Faster, cheaper, Expendable.
Guerrilla Warfare GW - Its very useful to upgrade marines (faster, expendable). Also, GW makes a a lot use of his Militia, also get that upgrade soon.
Perfect Defense PD - As infantry is the best unit in this strategy combined, you can get most of the infantry upgrades: Faster, cheaper, Expendable.
Blitzkrieg Blitz - Of course you need the Blitzkrieg upgrade here. Blitzkrieg does not have a unit specific strategy, so you don't need specific upgrades for a better use of it. However, its a strategy with high costs, so you can get upgrades to reduce these costs.
Desert Storm DC - Marine upgrades and the helicopter upgrades are a absolute must.

Reporting abuse

If you have any troubles during your game, like questions or wanted to report something that is happening against the rules (swearing, farming, etc.) there are a few ways to add this to the Mods.

1) Use 'report' in AW. You can always type something to mods that are present, using the '/report' in the chat. If i write: '/report someone is sp farming' the mods will receive your message like this:

2) If there is not a mod there, take a screenshot and wait until there is a mod online.

3) Send a PM to a Mod.
Here is a list of the active Mods at this moment:
- dinoscout
- Prometheus
- Meester
- Heat Check
- Dr. Trollface


If you have any questions or see incorrect information or spelling, feel free to PM a Mod about it. Also, you can find a lot information in the FAQ.

Created by and thanks to: Arbliterated, TopHat, Pinheiro, Sol, Hugosch, Soldier001, Laochra, Prometheus and Google Chrome.