-------------------- Table of Contents -------------------- 1. Version History 2. Introduction 3. Who is Penny? 4. Weather Basics 5. Damage Basics +++The short calculation+++ +++Damage and Defense modifiers+++ +++Damage Examples+++ 6. Weather Strategies +++Rain+++ +++Snow+++ +++Sandstorm+++ +++ Random+++ +++Clear+++ 7. General Tactics +++Small Maps+++ +++Larger Maps+++ +++Island Maps+++ +++Fog of War+++ 8. Final Evaluation 9. Legal Info 10. Credits 11. Contact Info -------------------- 1. Version History -------------------- 1.0 First version submitted to GFAQs (1/25/08) 1.1 Revised Damage Calculation section for easier understanding -------------------- 2. Introduction -------------------- Welcome to Delta_Angelfire's guide to my favorite CO in the game, Penny! I'm just out to spread the loli-goth and evil-bear love, so if you've thought to yourself: "Self, Don't you think Penny is a waste of a CO? Her power is so lackluster!" ...or something along those lines, let me prove you wrong! I've tested everything in this guide myself, so it should be 100% accurate. Any comments, questions, or criticism, see the e-mail me section. Now without further ado! -------------------- 3. Who is Penny? -------------------- Straight from her in-game profile: Penny is the youngest child of Dr. Caulder. Numerous experiments have left her mind permanently shattered. "Tee hee! Let's go, Mr. Bear!" Mr. Bear doesn't think Penny's mind is shattered, but Mr. Bear has been known to be a liar. Really, Mr. Bear is the true CO here since he is responsible for everything Penny does, so prepare to leave your army in the hands of a stuffed toy! +++CO Zone: 3 +++Boosts: All Units +++Effect: Units are unaffected by weather The in game description is a little misleading. Penny's CO zone is only used for determining the standard CO Zone Boost (+10%/+10% for all units) and for units that will charge her CO power. *** ALL of Penny's units are unaffected by weather *** This holds true to those outside her CO zone, and even if Penny herself is not on the battlefield! She is the only CO that does this. +++CO Power: Stormfront +++Changes the map to a random weather condition. Her CO Power lasts for 3 days. It ends just before your turn starts on the fourth day (on clear maps), so will affect everyone besides you in Multiplayer. -------------------- 4. Weather Basics -------------------- For those of you who can't find them (because the book doesn't have them, and the in-game description is tough to spot) here are the effects of weather - changed a bit from previous Advance Wars - Rain: All unit visibility = 1, activates Fog of War (if not already on) Snow: All units have -1 Mobility Sandstorm: All units have -30% attack -------------------- 5. Damage Basics -------------------- +++The short calculation+++ (HP/10)(Base Damage)(100+total Atk% boost) / (100+total def% boost) If you have 200% (or 2) Defense, you take a reciprocal 50% (or 1/2) damage. 150% attack vs 200% defense = 1.5/2 = 75% Damage +++Damage and Defense modifiers+++ Basic CO Zone Bonus: +10% Atk and Def CO ability: +10% Atk or Def per * (varies acording to CO and unit types affected). Level 1: +5% Atk and Def Level 2: +10% Atk and Def Level 3 (Veteran): +20% Atk and Def Terrain: +10 Def per * Com Towers: +5% Atk and Def per Com tower Sandstorm: -30% Atk Waylon COP Bonus: +270% (on top of his +30 Ability and his +10 Standard CO zone bonus) +++Damage Examples+++ Let's say you're using a Rocket to attack infantry on a road, no bonuses for either unit. The base damage for the attack will be 95%. All the other calculations go from there, consider this number to be 95/100. Displayed: 95% Attack Modifies by a direct percentage. Therefore, a +10% bonus to our Rocket will change the damage to 104/100 (it is actually 104.5, but the game automatically rounds down all fractions). Displayed: 104% Defense modifies again by a percentage, but always off of a base of 100. Taking the last example, let's give infantry a +10% def bonus. this brings the calculation to 104/110. Calculate and round down, and you get - Display: 94% The next example uses a recon as a target for easier calculating. Base damage = 90 A veteran Rocket within a CO zone (that doesn't specifically boost Rockets) attacks a Recon on wasteland. That gives us Atk +30% vs Def +20% 90 atk + 30% = 117 100 def + 20% = 120 117 / 120 gives us Damage: 97% Now let's say Tabitha was in that Recon (+Veteran, +CO Zone, +CO Power) +20 +10 +50 (on top of the original +20). This gives us 117/200, or 58%. Add in 4 Com Towers for 117/220 and you get 53% (an apparent difference of 5% for the math illiterate). As you can see, the effectiveness Defense bonuses is reduced at higher levels. Switch Tabitha to the Rocket (+110 atk) vs the Recon's now paltry +20 Def and you get 189/120. Damage: 157%. Of course, attacks over 100% are kind of pointless. For units with less than full hp, take your final damage and then multiply by the percent of hp remaining. For example, if Tabitha's Recon in the previous example only had 5 hp, it would only do Damage: 78% Reductions (like Sandstorms) are applied together with additions. Therefore a +10% Atk bonus in a Sandstorm (-30%) comes out to -20% (not 1.1 * 0.7, or -23%) There does not seem to be a cap for Atk or Def bonuses. Note that no matter how much your bonus is to attack, an infantry will never take out a full health tank. Even at +400%, your 1% damage only goes up to 5% damage. Also note that defense bonuses were also nerfed since Dual Strike (no more taking 0 Damage with +100% Defense). -------------------- 6. Weather Strategies -------------------- First of all, obviously, weather of any kind is your friend. When playing as Penny, You don't get a boost so much as all your enemies are penalized. Any fixed weather map gives you plenty of strategy options - +++Rain+++ You can spend less on Flares since all your units keep their initial vision range. You also have far less to worry about from enemy ambushes since you will almost always see them before they can see you. If you're on an ocean heavy map, you will once again dominate since you can see where your battleships need to fire while your enemy likely cant. Indirects will win the day for you here. +++Snow+++ With all of your enemies movement Reduced by one, you should be able to dominate quite easily. On a fair map, even against a defensive CO, you could simply copy all the enemies production to keep an equal force. Your capturing units won't be slowed at all while your enemy will be struggling to reach properties. Bikes will be needed regularly and you'll never see a single Mech unit, giving you domination over the early game. Late game, your greater mobility will ensure the first strike is yours. First strike plus your earlier resource advantage = win. +++Sandstorm+++ Not quite as good as it used to be, I'd prefer if it still gave indirects -1 range, but say la vie. Early to Mid game will probably be your biggest advantage. An infantry with +30 Def (like when capturing a city) vs a bike or mech with -30 from the sand will deal you 35%, or -3 hp (-4 if you're unlucky). Your counter attack (assuming they're on a road) will deal 27-31%. You could probably trade off units with each other at that rate, but that also means it's likely you'll capture the city and they can't stop you (10 + 7 + 4). Now if we assume you're using equal units ( Bike vs Bike ) you win hands down. If they are on the same terrain, you still win i.e. - You're both at Defense +30. You'll get hit for 42 (-4) and counter at 29 (-3). Second round - You hit them for 29 again (-6) and they counter at 16 (-6). If you're lucky, you should be able to take the other down in round 6 with your victory (1hp left). The same applies to any unit - you can survive getting first strike by a same type unit, and probably take them down in the process (and of course, then you get first strike advantages next turn with your other unused units). This one will still be a pretty tough battle though. +++ Random+++ Kind of annoying. You lose any advantage in the sunny day of course, so hope for bad weather :-) Sometimes you'll have to plan your tactics around a certain kind of weather popping up at a given time. The problem is that it's so erratic that you can plan and plan and still fail. Your best bet is to hope for Sandstorm when you're ready to go on offense and Rain when you need defense. The occasional snow will give you a bit of an advantage in the beginning (which should accumulate up to the end), since the biggest effect you'll see is in property captures. Your CO power will be of good use to you here. It will inflict a random bad weather AND it will keep it that way for all three days (giving you something you can plan around in the short term). +++Clear+++ Mr. Bear hates the sun. You have no advantage here, and the enemy will laugh at you. Your only chance is to run up you CO gauge as fast as possible and keep spamming weather disasters. Keep a close eye on your CO zone and your gauge. You need to 60 hp worth of damage in your zone to get your power off. Your one redeeming grace is your large CO Zone size, second only to Forsythe (though tied with the defensive COs, Brenner and Greyfield). Use it to fully to your advantage (described later) to fill up your gauge as quickly and often as possible. It'll be a tough fight, but not impossible. -------------------- 7. General Tactics -------------------- If you're on a map with permanent bad weather already, your job is already done. You don't even need Penny on the field and you should be able to win with just some good tactics (and the money saved from not bringing out the CO). The standard CO bonuses are still pretty nice though, as is the auto-veteran status. This is where I'd put penny into direct combat - either in an early recon or AA rush, or a bigger tank or plane closer to mid game. Also as a side note- Any CO in a Carrier will keep it from being OHKO by a single full health sub. Otherwise the thing that will carry you through the tough times (read: the sun) will be your large CO zone. Though not as powerful in boosting your other units, you will still be hurting large groups of enemies without their own CO. The main thing is to get Penny and Mr. Bear out early, and keep them alive. My favorite unit for them to ride in is the Rig. This keeps Penny off the front lines (and alive), and you keep your indirects well fed (when you build them anyway). It's also pretty cheap, resource-wise, and you never have to give up a valuable attack to activate your power. Since you have a large CO Zone, you should never have to fill it up with your COs unit. The good part of the large CO Zone is that it will give a large number (almost double that of most opponents) of your units the 10% standard boost. Even the slightest advantage in power will turn a losing battle into a winning one (especially ones similar to those described under "Sandstorm" weather, see above). and of course, the more units attacking with your boost, the faster your gauge charges. It's fun to be able to have it filled and ready to use again just as you last power use is fading. +++Small Maps+++ After making your first 3 to 4 capturing units, get Penny into that rig (or on a bike if you must). Do your best to stop the enemy from making captures, even if it means foregoing a few captures your self (just don't fall behind). This will also help you charge your gauge quickly. If you can get a good weather effect off before a lot of captures happen, you should be at a decent advantage (especially if you hit Snow). +++Larger Maps+++ Get a few early quick movers out to not fall behind in captures. When you have enough resources, get your CO into her rig and follow her up with a tank or AA. Note, the other good thing about using a rig is your ability to have a Mech with you wherever you go. Take full advantage of this. If you can get off an early game power like above, you're in good shape. Otherwise be prepared for a slow, creeping battle. Mid-game you'll want a couple tanks and indirects, include an AA or two if you know your opponent has air. Use you large aura to your advantage, creeping ahead with your Command Rig then moving all your units up under your umbrella. You wont move very fast, but you should have a sufficient defense. Use your remaining capture units as scouts if dealing with Fog of War. Every time you hit your power, try to act on it to your best advantage: Rain- sneak your units into places where your opponent can't see and harass their forces. Make sure to pull them back before the effect ends. Snow- Try to pick off any units that are away from the main force, since they suddenly won't have as much support as they thought they would. Sandstorm- All out offensive. Hit em while they're weak! +++Island Maps+++ Island maps tend to be larger, and require the use of boats or copters to reach properties and/or the enemy. Basic tactics still apply. A Rig is still probably the best unit for Penny because it will give you the option of placing a strategic Temp Air or Temp Port where you need it most. Duster riding isn't a bad option either, especially in Fog of War. Carrier riding will help also help ensure you stay off the front lines (and stop enemy Sub's OHKO) but is darn expensive. Remember, damaging enemy Gun boats even though you can't kill them is a perfectly good way to charge your CO Power. Your army here will definitely have more of a sea base. Just remember you don't emit an aura if your Command Rig is on a lander, you have to be out in the open air. Once again, Indirects are your biggest friend, especially if they're as big as a Battleship. Air is good too, but it will be hard to keep your CO with them since they'll often be right in the thick of battle (and COs always make tempting targets). +++Fog of War+++ Follow the same strategies as above. If there are a lot of places to hide, focus on more indirects and fewer tanks. Mechs provide decent enough protection when they ambush an enemy tank, and then let the extra rockets or artillery shell them off the map. Make sure you also have at least two flares to paint the enemies for your attacks. They also make decent shields as well. If it's mostly open, you can use fewer flares and rely on more on basic vision. Keep a good number of tanks and something to scout ahead of them so you don't stumble into enemy attack ranges. Recons work well, but a Duster works even better (if there are airports). Cruisers can work too on a map with a lot of water (in which case, don't forget they can hold helicopters. I always forget they can do that). Early exchanges are your friend if they're in your CO zone, since most players tend to use theirs later (after they can afford some more durable units) than you will (not counting Tabitha rush). Feel free to make early exchanges to get your power meter up quickly, just remember once again not to fall too far behind resource-wise. If you do run into an enemy CO, try to fight outside of their CO range. -------------------- 8. Final Evaluation -------------------- If you happen to get a weather map when playing as Penny, go you. Enjoy your soon-to-be victory, hopefully thanks in part to my guide ;-). Just don't get over confident, it only takes one screw up to turn victory into defeat. Otherwise, good luck, it'll be a hard battle, but you should be able to do it. Hit 'em hard and fast while Mr. Bear sits back with a cup of tea. Tea HEE that is! AHhahaHA! I crack myself up. Who knows? Maybe after all this Mr. Bear might even like you! Or at least tolerate you. -------------------- 9. Legal Info -------------------- This document may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission from me only. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Use of any information in this document is entirely at your own risk. Neither the Author, or any site hosting this document is liable for any damage you cause to your DS, PC, Internet connection arising from the use of information provided in this document. You can find the latest version of this FAQ at GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com). All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. -------------------- 10. Credits -------------------- GameFAQs - for hosting FurryRage - for the Damage Chart link JustChillin - for his Tabitha guide, gave me insight into what a character guide should look like Nintendo and Intelligent Systems - for giving me the chance to play an awesome (and somewhat addictive) game. -------------------- 11. Contact Info -------------------- My email is Delta_Angelfire (at) hotmail.com (replace (at) with the @), however your email to me must meet some certain requirements to be read by me, or it goes straight into the trashbin and the sender's address may be blocked in the future. 1. Label the subject accordingly that it is a query, or a statement that relates to this FAQ. 2. Please be specific and try to type with decent grammar for me to understand your question, submition and or suggestion. 3. Do not send attachments in any emails to me unless I requested so. 4. Positive suggestions, such as FAQ corrections and suggestions; spelling errors; credit name errors; strategies and other thoughts are welcomed. Thank you, and Mr. Bear hopes you enjoyed the guide! Stay tuned for more of Mr. Bear's Tactical Tips Show!