Post by wc4goat on May 7, 2024 18:23:30 GMT
This will be long, but I'd argue worth the read. I'm retiring. I don't make this claim of being 'the best' lightly, nor purely out of ego. Nor to aggravate and annoy others. I guess I do want some recognition, but my main reason for making this post is I want to kindly share some innovations/new strats I've created for the game, teach how to do previously thought to be impossible feats and share some of the sadness the game has caused me (that is ultimately causing me to retire). Proof for my claims are found later in the post.
I am a PC player. I play the version of the game you can get off the Microsoft Store. I initially started on Mobile, but then switched to PC waaay back when the Mobile and PC versions were still basically identical (minus the inability to see ads in exchange for medals). Mobile sucks for recording and Bluestacks has given me some sound issues. But even if I put up with Bluestacks, I reached a certain point where my save file was too far along, and transferring PC data to Bluestacks just isn't possible. And I didn't want to restart. So I was stuck with the PC version for quite awhile. This would have been fine... except Easytech has provided no support for the PC version in the last 2 years. The update in late 2022 never reached it. And the MASSIVE update earlier this year was similarly not ported to PC. I'd argue the difference between WC4 PC and WC4 Mobile is greater than the difference between WC3 and WC4 (upon release).
I had initially intended to publicly release all of my stuff once I had a 100% save, with all of Frontier completed and all generals upgraded WITHOUT using IAPs. I have never paid a cent for this game, something I am proud of. As far as I know, no one has ever beaten this game without IAPs so I wanted to be the first. The new update makes this goal basically unreachable for me. A 100% save in an outdated version of the game does not count. Restarting the game AGAIN to get these new features just wasn't an option. I had already lost a 7 month save file back in 2019 that demotivated me and made me take a long break from the game. And even if I could update... grinding away at all the new content just seems exasperating. The game has too much stuff. And I just am tired. For these reasons, I've decided to retire. Hearing I am retiring probably doesn't matter to most of you, nor should it. I was never a public player with a following, and I got all my accomplishments in private. But I still wanted to just vent a little. This game has given me a lot of stress.
As for proof of my accomplishments:
I want to start with No Tech runs, a subset of challenge runs that I love to do. We will start with this No tech run of France in 53 turns. Yes no tech. As in a fresh/brand new save file as if I had just installed the game. No generals, no upgrades, just straight to Conquest Mode France 1939. The most difficult 3 star power in any year. At the end of this video I share a screencap of me doing France in 45 turns, but I wasn't recording video when I did my 45 turn run.
The France run was meant to be the start of a much longer series where I beat the game as every country. As far as I know, no one has ever done it before. Certainly no one has done it without IAPs. The full thing was recorded, I beat all countries during an insane 75 day grind I was on an extended vacation. But the sheer upload size was daunting with my internet, so I figured France no tech no generals will suffice. All of the other runs were done with generals and/or tech so the rest of the series would have been downhill anyway compared to this French run tbh. I will note this was the 2nd time I had performed the feat of 'all countries', having done so over a 7 month period back in 2019 before losing my save file. This caused me to lose motivation and I only re-did this (this time recording) in late 2022 and early 2023. Due to this thread written in 2020, I initially believed myself to be the first person to EVER win as Cuba 1950. As I did so in August 2019. But then I found this video. So praise to 헤븐, who did Cuba before anyone else. Luckily I have something to top him.
I can confirm that every 3 star power is beatable in 1939 without tech (Obviously, since France is the hardest the rest should be doable). I have personally tested each one. Canada, Australia and China are also likely possible. But I have not personally confirmed it. Poland may be possible (More on that later).
I am sure many 1943, 1950 and possibly 1980 countries are possible without tech/generals too. But I have not played those eras without tech (for obvious reasons) and even unlocking those eras with no tech would require game modifications or some super OP generals/medals acquired through IAP. But if I had to guess, every single 1943 country can be beaten with no tech/generals (except MAYBE France) and every country in 1950 except MAYBE Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Sweden. And definitely not South Korea, Greece, Turkey, Taiwan and Cuba. As for 1980, USSR is probably possible with no tech and probably no others, but 1980 is my weakest year so I won't theory-craft too much.
I've lurked this forum for awhile and found a thread with some of the prolific top players discussing no tech/no gens challenge runs, as a remote possibility. It the context of Axis Powers, namely Germany. NOT a nation as difficult as France. I unfortunately can't find the thread now (I'd love to reread it, I distrust my memory). Reading through this is what convinced me I was 'the best player'. But there is more to this self appraisal. I eventually got deep into No Generals Runs.
We have this. A no generals run of Cuba 1950. This is the only such run I recorded in full, but at the end of the video there are some screencaps of similar no general runs of the much easier Taiwan and Greece in 1950. These were never fully finished (I was only play-testing to confirm it can be done), but as you can see, I won and it was done with quite a lot of room to spare.
Most importantly, in the above video (at the end), there are screencaps of a no general run of Yugoslavia. By far the most difficult challenge of the game I've done, and I consider this the crowning achievement of my career. I promise Yugoslavia no generals is MUCH harder than Cuba no generals. The strategy is to capture Allied ports ASAP, and evacuate what forces you can to the US. Try to steal US cities attacked by Axis naval forces. LA and SF should be available first. Then try to get NYC, Washington, Alaska and perhaps Miami. Then attack Japanese cities with no air defence. Hope for good RNG where the US navy manages to hold off the Japanese navy fairly well (while still allowing damage to be done to LA/SF of course). You have to capture the port in South Mexico eventually to assist the US with sub spam. And you also want to spam Howitzers into Mexico and South America to give yourself more money. Attack more difficult Japanese cities with Howitzers, heavy tanks and Cruisers. Capture all of Honshu and then some easy to defend cities in Korea, Taiwan and Indochina. Eventually a front line should stabilise in East Asia. Wait till you have missiles and lots of resources before trying to break the stalemate. This entire time you must DEFEND the UK with sub spam. Use every cost saving trick in the book. Sneak cheap infantry into allied 12 gold 'towns'. Sneak into ports. Howitzer spam, etc.
This same basic strategy can be used (to a much easier degree) as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. Norway can win through a more conventional slugfest with Germany. No other country in any era approaches the aforementioned countries in difficulty. I've personally performed no general runs with all 1 star powers to check. Not necessarily to completion (like in the above screencaps of Greece/Taiwan) but to a point where I can safely say I had won. The strategy for Greece 1950 No Gens is DEFENCE. Bunkers help. Eventually you want to escape into Africa and Southern France. Good RNG is required. The strategy for Taiwan is to steal Japanese cities and ports. Get Tokyo ASAP, and put a Financial Centre on it.
With that every country in the game can be beaten no Generals.
Finally you have the scenario modes. I also show a finished Domination Mode at the end. Obviously you can't do a lot of these no generals, but doing the hard mode stuff without IAPs has never been done before to my knowledge. Indeed I've never seen anyone get past the Cold War scenarios (with proof) without IAPs, so here is me beating the final Hard Mode Scenario UN. No IAP generals in sight, and I show my play time stats and all my general specs to show it is doable after grinding daily for many months. In earlier versions of the game this would have counted as '100%' but I lost my save file back in 2019 as I said. By the time I got back to the game they added Frontier Mode.
Though I never recorded Frontier Mode, I got to Scorpion Empire 3-3 at the time I deleted my save file. So about 88% of Frontier mode was done or something like that. It was hell to get to that point.
Poland no tech:
A challenge run I DIDN'T do, but I am fairly certain a no tech run of Poland 1939 (yes Poland) is possible. Here is my guide to help you if you are crazy enough to try. The RNG required would be ridiculous, and I am far too upset at the devs of this game to ever make the attempt. I'm not entirely sure what balance changes they have made to the vanilla conquest mode of the game, so maybe a Poland no tech challenge is easier (or harder) now. It's certainly possible in the current outdated PC version (and whatever the mobile equivalent is). If anyone wants to try it, please do so be my guest. Here is my advice:
The trick is to evacuate all your forces safely and quickly to take over the neutral Middle East Asap. Iran first. There is RNG and some very precise movement involved. Have a paratrooper capture the Ukraine/Turkish port asap. Defend the Black sea with subs. It's a great choke point to destroy lots of enemies. Then hope you get lucky and can sneak into Bangkok and Cairos with paratroopers. Hope for Germany to take over as much of Russia as possible. It's much easier to fight 1 big strong Axis power, than 3-4 medium ones due to how the turn system works. Deliberately target non German units, so they don't steal your cities after the Germans weaken your cities first. Also hope for the UK to hold out for a very very long time.
This is also a strategy for a no generals Poland Run (With max tech). But in that case you'd have a lot more room to breath. There is an alternate max tech/no gens strat, where you beat Germany in a straight slug fest.
I never spedrun the game. This was not an option to me, as I played without IAPs. I could have set up a separate save file with IAPs to speedrun, but besides being a hassle to set up, it just felt... wrong? My whole identity as a player was built around no IAPs. It's mathematically impossible to even get close to tying the existing records unless you are using IAP medals. But I have Speedrun WRs in other gamesof a completely different genre and considering my skill in previously undoable challenge runs and considering that so many people have managed to tie the existing records, I'm obliged to consider I could have easily adjusted to IAP medals, save scumming and the speedrun strats associated with them, in order to tie the WRs. Based off what I shared I hope my appraisal can be considered reasonable. I agree the current records for the fastest overall conquests (any country) in the 4 different years; which is what I would aim for, can't be improved, only tied.
If you don't want to accept my claim of being the best, oh well. At least grant me I am 'damn good. Once more I am not here to aggravate other top players or come off as an egotistical maniac. I just.... am exasperated by some of the updates and lack of PC support and I feel now is the time to retire and finally share my career highlights I've been saving up. If I recorded them I might as well share them. And I hope some of these challenges inspire, teach others some advance techniques (namely continent hopping techniques, retreat/regrouping techniques but other stuff as well) and I really hope someone someday does the Poland challenge I outlined. I'll gladly call anyone who does it 'The GOAT.' As a final tip USE AIRFORCE GENERALS. It's amazing how underrated airfoce skill is, I regularly see players degrade it on this forum. I strongly recommend the community as a whole do a reevaluation of them, because the evaluation metrics currently being used in this forum is VASTLY underselling airfoce gens. Based off thousands of hours of experience, I consider Airforce 2nd only to Tank skill. You can wipe out a lot of cities in a single turn with just Arnold and 1k gold. There is a reason I carry 3 of them (as you can see in my stuff posted above). Indeed 3 of my first 7 generals (in both of my save files) were Airforce Generals.
I am a PC player. I play the version of the game you can get off the Microsoft Store. I initially started on Mobile, but then switched to PC waaay back when the Mobile and PC versions were still basically identical (minus the inability to see ads in exchange for medals). Mobile sucks for recording and Bluestacks has given me some sound issues. But even if I put up with Bluestacks, I reached a certain point where my save file was too far along, and transferring PC data to Bluestacks just isn't possible. And I didn't want to restart. So I was stuck with the PC version for quite awhile. This would have been fine... except Easytech has provided no support for the PC version in the last 2 years. The update in late 2022 never reached it. And the MASSIVE update earlier this year was similarly not ported to PC. I'd argue the difference between WC4 PC and WC4 Mobile is greater than the difference between WC3 and WC4 (upon release).
I had initially intended to publicly release all of my stuff once I had a 100% save, with all of Frontier completed and all generals upgraded WITHOUT using IAPs. I have never paid a cent for this game, something I am proud of. As far as I know, no one has ever beaten this game without IAPs so I wanted to be the first. The new update makes this goal basically unreachable for me. A 100% save in an outdated version of the game does not count. Restarting the game AGAIN to get these new features just wasn't an option. I had already lost a 7 month save file back in 2019 that demotivated me and made me take a long break from the game. And even if I could update... grinding away at all the new content just seems exasperating. The game has too much stuff. And I just am tired. For these reasons, I've decided to retire. Hearing I am retiring probably doesn't matter to most of you, nor should it. I was never a public player with a following, and I got all my accomplishments in private. But I still wanted to just vent a little. This game has given me a lot of stress.
As for proof of my accomplishments:
I want to start with No Tech runs, a subset of challenge runs that I love to do. We will start with this No tech run of France in 53 turns. Yes no tech. As in a fresh/brand new save file as if I had just installed the game. No generals, no upgrades, just straight to Conquest Mode France 1939. The most difficult 3 star power in any year. At the end of this video I share a screencap of me doing France in 45 turns, but I wasn't recording video when I did my 45 turn run.
The France run was meant to be the start of a much longer series where I beat the game as every country. As far as I know, no one has ever done it before. Certainly no one has done it without IAPs. The full thing was recorded, I beat all countries during an insane 75 day grind I was on an extended vacation. But the sheer upload size was daunting with my internet, so I figured France no tech no generals will suffice. All of the other runs were done with generals and/or tech so the rest of the series would have been downhill anyway compared to this French run tbh. I will note this was the 2nd time I had performed the feat of 'all countries', having done so over a 7 month period back in 2019 before losing my save file. This caused me to lose motivation and I only re-did this (this time recording) in late 2022 and early 2023. Due to this thread written in 2020, I initially believed myself to be the first person to EVER win as Cuba 1950. As I did so in August 2019. But then I found this video. So praise to 헤븐, who did Cuba before anyone else. Luckily I have something to top him.
I can confirm that every 3 star power is beatable in 1939 without tech (Obviously, since France is the hardest the rest should be doable). I have personally tested each one. Canada, Australia and China are also likely possible. But I have not personally confirmed it. Poland may be possible (More on that later).
I am sure many 1943, 1950 and possibly 1980 countries are possible without tech/generals too. But I have not played those eras without tech (for obvious reasons) and even unlocking those eras with no tech would require game modifications or some super OP generals/medals acquired through IAP. But if I had to guess, every single 1943 country can be beaten with no tech/generals (except MAYBE France) and every country in 1950 except MAYBE Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Sweden. And definitely not South Korea, Greece, Turkey, Taiwan and Cuba. As for 1980, USSR is probably possible with no tech and probably no others, but 1980 is my weakest year so I won't theory-craft too much.
I've lurked this forum for awhile and found a thread with some of the prolific top players discussing no tech/no gens challenge runs, as a remote possibility. It the context of Axis Powers, namely Germany. NOT a nation as difficult as France. I unfortunately can't find the thread now (I'd love to reread it, I distrust my memory). Reading through this is what convinced me I was 'the best player'. But there is more to this self appraisal. I eventually got deep into No Generals Runs.
We have this. A no generals run of Cuba 1950. This is the only such run I recorded in full, but at the end of the video there are some screencaps of similar no general runs of the much easier Taiwan and Greece in 1950. These were never fully finished (I was only play-testing to confirm it can be done), but as you can see, I won and it was done with quite a lot of room to spare.
Most importantly, in the above video (at the end), there are screencaps of a no general run of Yugoslavia. By far the most difficult challenge of the game I've done, and I consider this the crowning achievement of my career. I promise Yugoslavia no generals is MUCH harder than Cuba no generals. The strategy is to capture Allied ports ASAP, and evacuate what forces you can to the US. Try to steal US cities attacked by Axis naval forces. LA and SF should be available first. Then try to get NYC, Washington, Alaska and perhaps Miami. Then attack Japanese cities with no air defence. Hope for good RNG where the US navy manages to hold off the Japanese navy fairly well (while still allowing damage to be done to LA/SF of course). You have to capture the port in South Mexico eventually to assist the US with sub spam. And you also want to spam Howitzers into Mexico and South America to give yourself more money. Attack more difficult Japanese cities with Howitzers, heavy tanks and Cruisers. Capture all of Honshu and then some easy to defend cities in Korea, Taiwan and Indochina. Eventually a front line should stabilise in East Asia. Wait till you have missiles and lots of resources before trying to break the stalemate. This entire time you must DEFEND the UK with sub spam. Use every cost saving trick in the book. Sneak cheap infantry into allied 12 gold 'towns'. Sneak into ports. Howitzer spam, etc.
This same basic strategy can be used (to a much easier degree) as Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. Norway can win through a more conventional slugfest with Germany. No other country in any era approaches the aforementioned countries in difficulty. I've personally performed no general runs with all 1 star powers to check. Not necessarily to completion (like in the above screencaps of Greece/Taiwan) but to a point where I can safely say I had won. The strategy for Greece 1950 No Gens is DEFENCE. Bunkers help. Eventually you want to escape into Africa and Southern France. Good RNG is required. The strategy for Taiwan is to steal Japanese cities and ports. Get Tokyo ASAP, and put a Financial Centre on it.
With that every country in the game can be beaten no Generals.
Finally you have the scenario modes. I also show a finished Domination Mode at the end. Obviously you can't do a lot of these no generals, but doing the hard mode stuff without IAPs has never been done before to my knowledge. Indeed I've never seen anyone get past the Cold War scenarios (with proof) without IAPs, so here is me beating the final Hard Mode Scenario UN. No IAP generals in sight, and I show my play time stats and all my general specs to show it is doable after grinding daily for many months. In earlier versions of the game this would have counted as '100%' but I lost my save file back in 2019 as I said. By the time I got back to the game they added Frontier Mode.
Though I never recorded Frontier Mode, I got to Scorpion Empire 3-3 at the time I deleted my save file. So about 88% of Frontier mode was done or something like that. It was hell to get to that point.
Poland no tech:
A challenge run I DIDN'T do, but I am fairly certain a no tech run of Poland 1939 (yes Poland) is possible. Here is my guide to help you if you are crazy enough to try. The RNG required would be ridiculous, and I am far too upset at the devs of this game to ever make the attempt. I'm not entirely sure what balance changes they have made to the vanilla conquest mode of the game, so maybe a Poland no tech challenge is easier (or harder) now. It's certainly possible in the current outdated PC version (and whatever the mobile equivalent is). If anyone wants to try it, please do so be my guest. Here is my advice:
The trick is to evacuate all your forces safely and quickly to take over the neutral Middle East Asap. Iran first. There is RNG and some very precise movement involved. Have a paratrooper capture the Ukraine/Turkish port asap. Defend the Black sea with subs. It's a great choke point to destroy lots of enemies. Then hope you get lucky and can sneak into Bangkok and Cairos with paratroopers. Hope for Germany to take over as much of Russia as possible. It's much easier to fight 1 big strong Axis power, than 3-4 medium ones due to how the turn system works. Deliberately target non German units, so they don't steal your cities after the Germans weaken your cities first. Also hope for the UK to hold out for a very very long time.
This is also a strategy for a no generals Poland Run (With max tech). But in that case you'd have a lot more room to breath. There is an alternate max tech/no gens strat, where you beat Germany in a straight slug fest.
I never spedrun the game. This was not an option to me, as I played without IAPs. I could have set up a separate save file with IAPs to speedrun, but besides being a hassle to set up, it just felt... wrong? My whole identity as a player was built around no IAPs. It's mathematically impossible to even get close to tying the existing records unless you are using IAP medals. But I have Speedrun WRs in other games
If you don't want to accept my claim of being the best, oh well. At least grant me I am 'damn good. Once more I am not here to aggravate other top players or come off as an egotistical maniac. I just.... am exasperated by some of the updates and lack of PC support and I feel now is the time to retire and finally share my career highlights I've been saving up. If I recorded them I might as well share them. And I hope some of these challenges inspire, teach others some advance techniques (namely continent hopping techniques, retreat/regrouping techniques but other stuff as well) and I really hope someone someday does the Poland challenge I outlined. I'll gladly call anyone who does it 'The GOAT.' As a final tip USE AIRFORCE GENERALS. It's amazing how underrated airfoce skill is, I regularly see players degrade it on this forum. I strongly recommend the community as a whole do a reevaluation of them, because the evaluation metrics currently being used in this forum is VASTLY underselling airfoce gens. Based off thousands of hours of experience, I consider Airforce 2nd only to Tank skill. You can wipe out a lot of cities in a single turn with just Arnold and 1k gold. There is a reason I carry 3 of them (as you can see in my stuff posted above). Indeed 3 of my first 7 generals (in both of my save files) were Airforce Generals.
I had also planned to make a 'WC4 Iceberg' video at some point... but now... what's the point? I'm burned out and I deleted all my notes for that video. I had a billion glitches, easter eggs, lore about the development of the game, cut content and weird quirks of the game documented. I regret deleting it now, I should have given it to someone else rather then let the knowledge go to waste. If anyone wants to make it, and are serious about it, hmu and I'll share what I remember.
Random note, here is an old account I forgot my password to. Pretty sure I had another account here I posted a few times here at one point, idk. Didn't post anything of note tbh: european-war-4.boards.net/user/14362