War Commander: Some Quick Tactics And Base Tips

Tactics are an important part in any PvP game. Regardless of what you may have in comparison to your opponent, unless against impossible odds (lvl 1 Rifle man vs lvl 10 Mega Tank), its all down to how you play vs that player or AI.

Basics

How units are set: No unit in the game is capable of bringing destruction to everything on the battlefield (Some do so better than others). For example Tanks really tear up ground units, but cannot fire at the skies. In the case of the Gatling and Flak, they only excel in firing air units, but cannot/are not built for attacking ground units. Likewise Air units are very vulnerable to Flak and Bullets from light armored infantry and vehicles, creating a counter. Tanks again tear up these units, so it is a game of rock paper scissors (Air beats Heavy armor beats Light Armor beats Air, as shown in the War Commander Trailer 1). As such no unit is truly overpowered. Mixed Platoons of both Anti-Air and Anti-Ground (EX Gatling Trucks and Paladins) are much harder to destroy for this reason.

Damage Panel: Each unit when brought up in the production or in research (Inf: Barracks and Academy, Vehicles and Air: Tech Center, War Factory, and Air Field) shows what exactly that units is capable of hitting, and the ratio of damage. Dark Green represents that the unit will deal full damage (As listed on the unit {Exception to Hercules, which falls under Infantry in production but has Armor like a Tank}), Light Green unknown (haven't run numbers yet), Yellow is about half, Orange is less than half, and Red means it cannot hit or does tiny damage to that unit. You can use this to create platoons that are ideal for destroying a specific type of unit (EX Snipers and Gatling trucks for infantry, or similar)

Don't be afraid to ask: Most players in the game usually help the new underdog until they can manage themselves. So if you need help feel free to ask anyone in the sector (other than the person you are trying to destroy) about what can be done to improve not only units, but also base design.

Basic Tactics

Attacking Machine Guns (Tank/High range unit): When attacking Machine Guns, most units with a range of 345 and above will suffice to destroy it. If an Anti-Ground unit is nearby and on aggressive, you will either need to end the attack or use the "Bait and Bash" technique stated below.

Attacking Mortar (Controllable Air if there are Machine Guns in the battlefield and/or Hellfires/Mega Tanks): All Air can defeat Mortars, but the problem is when you have a Gatling or Flak Gun nearby. In my case, I usually use my two trusty fast Raptors to destroy the two pesky tank types. However, if you do not have any, you will need to use Hellfires or Mega Tanks and charge in.

Attacking Mortar and Machine Gun Turret (All): This will be trickier. If you have a high level Cobra or at least level 6 Elite/Warhawk, you can take out the Mortar if it is in front of the Gun Turret and easily use land to wipe out the Gun Turret. However, in the case of having a Machine Gun Turret in front of a Mortar, you will either have to use a Hellfire or charge in.

Mine Sweeping: This is by far one of the most common and used tactics in the game. Most of the time this task is accomplished by Attack Dogs because with the AI enabled they find landmines. However because that is an event prize some lower level players may not have it. As such the alternative is to use a group of Riffle Men (Repairs are also MUCH shorter). The object is to take a lone Riffle Man, and move him in a wide path towards the enemy base. If he enters a mines range, he will be killed and the mine will be used. As such some players keep their mines within machinegun range to prevent Sweeping.

Advanced Tactics

Bait and Bash (Powerful Air Unit/High health or Fast Air Unit and Fast Land Unit/Powerful Ground Unit): This tactic works well with the Havoc and Warhawks. However it can work with any air unit if used properly (controllable air excel in this role). The object of this is to lure out any units defending a base in order to take them out. The idea is to try and "bait" the defending (in this case Anti-air) and then destroy them. The advantage of this is that there is less of a chance that you will have to deal with pesky units hiding behind buildings and later damage that you weren't expecting. However repairs could arise if you underestimate the range of the unit. The best option is to send a lone air unit (Havoc if you have it, so if it does get shot it won't be destroyed outright) as close to the anti air unit as possible till it starts moving. Then you lure the unit into supported fire. However this tactic will fail if the units on the base are on Defensive or if there is a mix of Anti-Air and Anti-Ground on Aggresive mode.

Hellfire Sniping: Because Hellfires (and the Elite varient) have the longest range out of any unit in the game (bunkered units excluded) they excel in the art of long range warfare. By sending Hellfires towards any unit that isn't bunkered or most turrets you can expect good results. However, any unit with Bullet style Anti-Air ability (Heavy gunner, Gattling  Truck, Hercules, etc.) and the Stinger can shoot down Hellfire missiles. Remember this when trying this approach. By stacking Hellfires and targeting the lone, stationary turret or unit, it is almost certain it will be destroyed by the massive DPS and splash of the Hellfire. If Hellstorms are present it is possible to overwhelm all defense with sheer number of missiles (Max 12). Watch for destroyed building units as they have the speed and firepower to kill Hellfires if they get too close (Mortar Teams).

Plasma Baiting: Plasma turrets and Laser turrets have massive damage for a legenthy reload time. Laser Turrets have massive DPS while Plasma turrets have massive single shot damage. So confronting these turrrets together must be crazy (Assuming there is Anti-Air) right? In reality the large range difference (410 and 479) means it is possible to kill both with minimal losses. With the introduction of the LVL 10 units and Thorium it is possible to use Laser Tanks for this role. Hellfires are best for this due to having a longer range than one of the turrets, though Hellstorm works as well. Place a few Laser Tanks (preferably 2 just in case one is destroyed) or mass of rifleman (Plasma turret still recharges fully before each shot, regardless of unit health) just within range of the Plasma Turret. Then use Hellfires to destroy it from a distance. It is possible to use tanks if the Bait is in a different direction than the attacking force. Be VERY CAREFUL when doing this as the instant the unit is destroyed the turret aims for the closest target.

Drone Silo Attacking: Drone silos are difficult to attack properly due to the fact most people place them in the center of a mass of defenses. This means that units like the Repear Drone and the Slayer Drone are much better defended, especially when players only deploy ground units that lack AA ability. However once a drone is killed in battle it will not reappear until another battle commences, meaning that having anti-air for a moment can get rid of most pesky drones. Depending on the Anti-Air you bring in the platoon, you should approach with caution and with the right plan.

If Flak Tanks are present, they can easily tear apart anything that comes out of the silo, especially with numbers. Have strong units that can take some damage in front while the Flaks take out the drones one by one or in clusters. Slayers will take more time however due to having better speed values than any other drone.

With Gattling Trucks it is much easier to deal with most drones. You can either en-mass them against the drone silo, or you can do the same method as described above. Priority for the Gats should be the Slayer Drones, as they have the highest health and good damage VS Gats. All others are easy to deal with.

Some War Commander Base Tips

Bases are constructed around 1 principle, keeping your resources safe from attack. There are some usual base designs out there, but this list will help cover some of the more common base designs.

Square base: This is one simple yet effective design so that anyone foolish enough to try and approach it will be destroyed. It invovles placing turrets in a Gun Mortar Gun Mortar style, around the Command Center, 2 Power plants, and the resource buildings. The benefit of this is that it is a universal base, meaning it can hold up to alot of punishment. It is also very hard to prep, as neither air nor ground will get close enough to shoot before they take damage. The downfall of this base is that the Advanced Units have the health and explosive resistence to punch through these bases with ease if supported (EX Behemoth soaks, Hellfires Destroy).

Blitz Base: This design is not common due to most players sticking to "Just protect a few things and leave the rest to dust". However this design works well versus many types of attacks due to mixed unit and type of damage. The idea is to prevent baiting by using long range Hellfires to lure the enemy closer, into hidden Laser tanks or Laser Turrets. The Cryo Cannon also works well with this design due to the fact that the enemy is now slowed, allowing time for the Hellfire Missiles to land. It starts by placing all of the important buildings in the center (Command Center, Storage, PP, and GGB). Surrounding that is a different style of turret layout. First go in 2 Watch Towers, symmetrical to each side. Inside the Watch Towers should be either Heavy Gunners (and lots of them) or Stingers if you have them (no more than 5). This will prevent any air style preps for the outside Mortars (Discussed later) and prevent Kondors from making it across the base. It is also quite effective in killing Hellstorms and shooting down Hellfire Missiles. Then a Stronghold is added south of the watchtower, increasing vehicle damage. These will be filled with Mortar Teams, a Sniper or 2, and two Shock Troopers (again if you have them, if not replace them with Snipers). This will discourage Hellfire Tanks due to damage and range and also slow down blitz attacks because of stun damage. Covering the last gaps in the defensive line will be your turrets, Guns and Mortars specifically. If you have the Cryo Cannon use that sparingly where there are multiple mortars covering that location. Mortars go in front so they can shoot at any Hellfires or long range tanks first. Then behind them the Machine guns should be placed. If you have the Barrage Rockets then swap the Mortars for Rockets, and have the Machine Gun upfront instead (Barrage Rockets can shoot at Hellfires from behind turrets while Mortars cannot). Units recomended for the design are 5 Hellfires, 5 Laser Tanks, 20 Gattling Trucks, and 2 Honeybadgers. If you don't have any of these units replace them as so: 5 Challengers, 10 Razorbacks, 20 Hercules, and 1 Rhino. Gattling Trucks should be just behind the Mortar Towers so they can prevent any air assault, but spread out evenly so that there is 4 Gats shooting at a Hellfire missile from any angle. Hellfires will need to be placed in key positions so that 2 Hellfire missiles are landing in the same location. The Laser Tanks should be just behind the Gattling Trucks or in the same position as the Gattling Trucks so when the enemy units get close they can be blasted into oblivilion. They can also be just in front of the Hellfires, creating a nice "See and Shoot" combination. Landmines should be placed depending on how YOUR layout ends up. However it is recommended to place them in Machine gun range to prevent Sweeping (See above).

Square (Mortars only): The idea of this base is similar to the square base mentioned above. However it uses all Anti-Ground with the turrets and all Anti-Air with units. This design minigates the Behemoth as a bait because there is 5 mortars firing at all times. However the downfall of this is that Raptors can easily splash the Anti-Air units in groups of 2, meaning that for every 7 Raptors sent 12 Gattling trucks (or Hercules, those also go down) will be destroyed, making this base design rather risky as its a gamble if the enemy has Raptors or not. Havoks and Kondors are also a huge threat to this base design, as have the health and splash damage to take out most of the Anti-Air in a single sweep.

Hellfire Prevention: As is siege warfare, the Hellfire was built to batter the enemy into submission from long range. However it is possible to avoid a Hellfire seige if several precautions are taken. Remember this "Prevention is better than treatment."

Mortar, Rocket Barrage, Cryo, Napalm, and the Plasma turret all outrange the Hellfire. Despite this not all are ideal for preventing Hellfires (EX Cryo has poor damage, due to being a support turret not a damage dealer). So to discourage intruders from using Hellfires have some Mortar Towers or Rocket Barrage Towers out so they can damage the intruders. However take caution as there are ways to avoid their fire (Collosus can take the damage from both units, creating a bait. Rocket Barrage turrets do not have the high damage output either, so Megas can stand up to them for a long time. Plasma Turrets can be baited by a lvl 10 Laser Tank, especially if it is timed right).

Bunkers: The max level Shock Trooper and Sniper can hit Hellfires from great range. Most players discourage hitting bunkers with Hellfires for that reason, due to that range. However they will march up to watchtowers, where you lay for them a nasty surprise. Instead of mounting all AA in your watch tower, you leave a few Mortar teams inside the Watchtower. At max level the teams can shoot at Hellfires, creating an unpleasant surprise (Same issues as above apply).

Counter Battery: Hellfires have really high damage at the expense of poor health. So why not use your own Hellfires to prevent them from getting close to gun turrets? Just make sure to have enough AA around the friendly Hellfire so no fire arrives at the target.

Experiment: No greater prevention is experience. Learn how others would approach your base with these siege artillery and find ways to prevent them from getting a shot off.