General Multiplayer
These articles cover the basics and are applicable to any version of the game.
Getting Started
Introduction
Glossary of Short Terms
Naming Philosophy
AW4 mechanics
AW3 to AW4 differences
Mechanics and unit changes
DEF shift
Base damage changes
Competitive Multiplayer
These articles are more in-depth, but more importantly, they assume that players are using the AW4 Balance Patch. This changes the statistics of the commanding officers (COs) and assumes various game settings. As of May 2020, all online competitive play uses the AW4 Balance Patch.
The World of Intelligent Defense
Introduction & How to find games
Standard game settings
Why are sea units not played?
It’s not just about winning
Myths and assumptions debunked
COs
CO Zone Effect Power Brenner 3 110/130 all +3 HP all Caulder 1 130/130 all, +1 HP/day (costs funds) None Gage 2 140/130 indirect, 110/110 other +2 indirect range Greyfield 3 140/120 tech, 110/110 other Supply all units (incl. materials) Forsythe 5 120/130 all None Isabella 2 120/110 all +2 MP all, +2 indirect range Lin 1 130/130 land, 110/110 air +2 vision land, hidden tiles revealed Penny 3 120/120 all Weather change for 3 days Tabitha 0 170/160 all (190/180 COU) 8 HP 2-radius nuke (cost bias) Tasha 1 160/140 air, 110/110 land +2 MP air Waylon 2 130/160 air, 110/110 land +270D air Will 2 130/110 direct land, 110/110 other +2 MP direct land
Units
Soldiers (infantry, bike, mech)
Core (antiair, tank, copter, artillery)
Tech (mdtank, wartank, rockets, bomber, duster)
Niche (recon, flare, antitank, missiles, fighter)
Transport (t-copter, rig)
Theory
Cost efficiency
Direct-fire folly
First turn advantage
Hard and soft counters
Indirect clusters and lines
Material advantage
Tech units
The 1HKO
Unit count
Strategy
Banking
Capturing
Chip damage
City support
CO units
Double teaming
Forced leveling
Joining
Mopping up
Offensive COU push
Parallel formation
Shielding
Turtling
Wall busting
Zone advantage
Zone management
Charts