Post by George Washington on Sept 8, 2020 19:31:48 GMT
Alright, we're back to making these! This was actually gonna come out last Monday, but unfortunately I forgot to post it before closing the tab. I tried again last night, but apparently forgetting to charge a PC has consequences. Who knew? This is the 3rd time I'm attempting this, and hopefully this makes the cut. Moving on from that, as said in the title, I know absolutely nothing about Henry Duncan Graham Crerar. All I know from playing World Conqueror 3 (which I played after World Conqueror 4 because I've only been into Easytech games for about a year or so now) is that he was apparently a great starter. Now, the real question is: Does Crerar still hold up to that title? Let's find out and jump into it!
1. Skills
Crerar's first skill is Level 1 Infantry Leader, which has an 8% chance to land a fatal blow. Okay, Mechanized Infantry (when untouched, as with all of these calculations just so we can have a common agreement on these numbers) does 43 base damage. Add Crerar's 3 stars and that takes the base damage to 56, as 3 stars in Infantry adds 13 more damage. "Okay sir, but what makes this skill so special?" Well, part of my conscience that asks this because no one else does when making these, that's what we're going to see. Infantry Leader multiplies the damage by 1.2 when it activates, so that takes 56 damage to 67 (rounded from 67.2) damage. If you don't want JUST a 2/25 chance for this to activate, luckily for you, this skill can be upgraded when Crerar is purchased.
Crerar's middle skill is Level 2 Crowd Tactics, which increases the attack of any surrounding unit by 8. This means a general packs a heavier punch if they are near Crerar. Now, seeing as there isn't really any sort of calculations here, we'll end it here. You can also upgrade this one when you purchase Crerar, but if you're willing to pay 350 medals (only 25 medals short of Crerar's price of 375).
Crerar's last skill is Level 1 Entrenchment, which reduces damage from Artillery by 6 percent. We did these calculations before, but seeing as it's been a while since the last analysis, I'll do them again. So, a triple stack Rocket Artillery does 63 damage, and Entrenchment reduces the damage done by 4 (rounded from 3.8, which itself was rounded by 3.78). Taking into account Mechanized Infantry's defense stat of 6, and using the theory of the defense stat of a unit being a percentage, Crerar dodges an extra 4 damage. The initial 63 is then brought down to 55 damage (on a plain tile, value would be lower in a jungle tile). However, this skill cannot be upgraded until WWII Pacific Allies 07 Battle of Iwo Jima Normal.
TL;DR Crerar actually has a decent set of skills
2. Competition
Okay, now a general's skills isn't the only thing making them great. You've also got to take the competition into account. Now, I'll do the same thing I did for the Savings section and cut out the other generals like Messe. We'll be focusing solely on the Infantry generals, and 1 other general I haven't really mentioned because he's a hybrid.
So, we're gonna immediately take out Tito and Tassigny. These guys aren't really competition for Crerar. This leaves Kuribayashi, Bagramyan (the new guy), Heinrici, Nasser, Slim, and Zhu.D (I'll just call the Chinese generals by their last name). Okay, we're also gonna eliminate Bagramyan, as his skills are terrible and his 2 stars in Infantry won't do him any favors. We're also taking out Slim due to his skills, and could very well be considered a hybrid as well.
Kuribayashi is slightly more favorable, as even if he's half health (which reduces a general's attack by 1.4 or so), he'll still do more damage than a Crerar whose Infantry Leader won't activate. I'll do the calculations here for all of these generals. Kuribayashi with full health does 67 base damage, give or take. At half health, he'll do 48 (rounded from 47.8) damage, which would normally suck. However, Level 3 Bayonet Charge will add 15 more damage, taking the 48 to a 63. Kuribayashi is almost back at full base damage that way. Crerar, on the other hand, is stuck doing 40 base damage and only bumps up to 48 when Infantry Leader activates. Point here goes to Kuribayashi. However, both Kuribayashi and Crerar find themselves in a deadlock for Entrenchment, and when it comes to their remaining skill, Crowd Tactics is way better than Elastic Defense. However, the tiebreaker here is the price. Crerar is 375 medals, while Kuribayashi is worth 500 medals more at 875 medals. The winner of this matchup is Crerar.
Round 2 is Crerar vs Heinrici, and this one is really subjective, in my opinion. Both have an ability that reduces damage from a certain unit (Camouflage and Entrenchment), both have Infantry Leader (although Heinrici's Infantry Leader is Level 2), and both have a skill that makes them somewhat good (Rumor and Crowd Tactics). "Okay, but where's the part that's subjective?" It all comes down to price and damage. Heinrici is 480 medals more expensive than Crerar, but upgrading Crerar to his 5th Infantry star will be more expensive. In the end, it's a tie. Okay, who am I kidding, Crerar wins because he can be of more use in Domination.
Crerar vs Nasser seems to be next up on the list, and this one is gonna be good. Skill wise, it seems to go in favor of Crerar. However, Crerar only does 56 damage normally, and 67 damage if Infantry Leader activates. Nasser, however, has Level 2 Raider, which adds an additional 12% damage to the general. This bumps Nasser's 56 damage to 63 damage, an additional 7 damage (rounded from 6.72). Not to mention that 63 damage will only be the base damage on a mountain, city, or jungle. Level 3 Desert Fighting add 15 damage, bumps that 63 to 78 damage. Plain Fighting (which is Level 2) bumps it to 73 damage. Price-wise, Nasser is more expensive, but Nasser is definitely worth those 360 more medals.
Crerar vs Zhu is a little bit easier than the others. Zhu's damage with Level 3 Infantry Leader is 73, can avoid any counterattack damage 24% of the time, and heals up by 3 HP. "This means Zhu is better than Crerar skill-wise? Oh, he's also a M General? Sorry Crerar, but you lost this round." Not quite, as Zhu is 750 medals more expensive than Crerar, and Crerar is still fairly good against Zhu despite lacking in some areas. Besides, you could get some else with those medals, maybe Messe or even Nasser and still have 15 medals left over.
3. Savings
"Hey man, don't you think you should include the other infantry generals?" Don't worry, this section will be fairly short. I won't be doing any calculations in this section, because we all know that when it comes to saving up for a better general or buying a Bronze tier and sticking with it, we all choose saving up. Vasilevsky is 1425 medals more expensive but has an extra skill slot, Peng is 1190 medals more expensive and still with an extra skill slot, and MacArthur is 2050 medals more expensive with 2 extra skill slots. Those are the Infantry generals that are in Silver and Gold that people don't really buy, and they all do more damage (MacArthur and Peng do 80 damage, while Vasilevsky does 88 damage). With Rundstedt, he's cheaper than the other generals and can be used as an air general if he's low health (this is a point Sun Li-jen of the Glorious ROC made once). Yamashita is more expensive, but great mobility and semi-decent skills are some sort of redeeming quality. Mannerheim does more damage than Rundstedt and Yamashita, and definitely more than Crerar. As is usually the case with Bronze tiers, Crerar is not a good choice.
4. Conclusion
Crerar is a fantastic general at the beginning of the game. His skills are great, there isn't really a problem with them. Competition with the other Bronze tier generals isn't always good, but Crerar's price and effectiveness make him a good choice... in Bronze. Unfortunately for Crerar, his luck doesn't go all the way and he's forced to be sold in order to get a general that's actually good.
Alright, that was the Crerar analysis. I would personally say Crerar is worth it, but only for a limited time. He can be useful for invasions in Domination mode, he's quite cheap and can be a good general. I'd probably put him in the group of Bronze tier's best generals, although probably the worst general among the best. Anywho, this is a week and a day later behind what I had planned, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Stay tuned until next time (probably in two weeks or so), and I'll be seeing everyone in the Bagramyan discussion. This has been your Commander in Chief, signing off.
1. Skills
Crerar's first skill is Level 1 Infantry Leader, which has an 8% chance to land a fatal blow. Okay, Mechanized Infantry (when untouched, as with all of these calculations just so we can have a common agreement on these numbers) does 43 base damage. Add Crerar's 3 stars and that takes the base damage to 56, as 3 stars in Infantry adds 13 more damage. "Okay sir, but what makes this skill so special?" Well, part of my conscience that asks this because no one else does when making these, that's what we're going to see. Infantry Leader multiplies the damage by 1.2 when it activates, so that takes 56 damage to 67 (rounded from 67.2) damage. If you don't want JUST a 2/25 chance for this to activate, luckily for you, this skill can be upgraded when Crerar is purchased.
Crerar's middle skill is Level 2 Crowd Tactics, which increases the attack of any surrounding unit by 8. This means a general packs a heavier punch if they are near Crerar. Now, seeing as there isn't really any sort of calculations here, we'll end it here. You can also upgrade this one when you purchase Crerar, but if you're willing to pay 350 medals (only 25 medals short of Crerar's price of 375).
Crerar's last skill is Level 1 Entrenchment, which reduces damage from Artillery by 6 percent. We did these calculations before, but seeing as it's been a while since the last analysis, I'll do them again. So, a triple stack Rocket Artillery does 63 damage, and Entrenchment reduces the damage done by 4 (rounded from 3.8, which itself was rounded by 3.78). Taking into account Mechanized Infantry's defense stat of 6, and using the theory of the defense stat of a unit being a percentage, Crerar dodges an extra 4 damage. The initial 63 is then brought down to 55 damage (on a plain tile, value would be lower in a jungle tile). However, this skill cannot be upgraded until WWII Pacific Allies 07 Battle of Iwo Jima Normal.
TL;DR Crerar actually has a decent set of skills
2. Competition
Okay, now a general's skills isn't the only thing making them great. You've also got to take the competition into account. Now, I'll do the same thing I did for the Savings section and cut out the other generals like Messe. We'll be focusing solely on the Infantry generals, and 1 other general I haven't really mentioned because he's a hybrid.
So, we're gonna immediately take out Tito and Tassigny. These guys aren't really competition for Crerar. This leaves Kuribayashi, Bagramyan (the new guy), Heinrici, Nasser, Slim, and Zhu.D (I'll just call the Chinese generals by their last name). Okay, we're also gonna eliminate Bagramyan, as his skills are terrible and his 2 stars in Infantry won't do him any favors. We're also taking out Slim due to his skills, and could very well be considered a hybrid as well.
Kuribayashi is slightly more favorable, as even if he's half health (which reduces a general's attack by 1.4 or so), he'll still do more damage than a Crerar whose Infantry Leader won't activate. I'll do the calculations here for all of these generals. Kuribayashi with full health does 67 base damage, give or take. At half health, he'll do 48 (rounded from 47.8) damage, which would normally suck. However, Level 3 Bayonet Charge will add 15 more damage, taking the 48 to a 63. Kuribayashi is almost back at full base damage that way. Crerar, on the other hand, is stuck doing 40 base damage and only bumps up to 48 when Infantry Leader activates. Point here goes to Kuribayashi. However, both Kuribayashi and Crerar find themselves in a deadlock for Entrenchment, and when it comes to their remaining skill, Crowd Tactics is way better than Elastic Defense. However, the tiebreaker here is the price. Crerar is 375 medals, while Kuribayashi is worth 500 medals more at 875 medals. The winner of this matchup is Crerar.
Round 2 is Crerar vs Heinrici, and this one is really subjective, in my opinion. Both have an ability that reduces damage from a certain unit (Camouflage and Entrenchment), both have Infantry Leader (although Heinrici's Infantry Leader is Level 2), and both have a skill that makes them somewhat good (Rumor and Crowd Tactics). "Okay, but where's the part that's subjective?" It all comes down to price and damage. Heinrici is 480 medals more expensive than Crerar, but upgrading Crerar to his 5th Infantry star will be more expensive. In the end, it's a tie. Okay, who am I kidding, Crerar wins because he can be of more use in Domination.
Crerar vs Nasser seems to be next up on the list, and this one is gonna be good. Skill wise, it seems to go in favor of Crerar. However, Crerar only does 56 damage normally, and 67 damage if Infantry Leader activates. Nasser, however, has Level 2 Raider, which adds an additional 12% damage to the general. This bumps Nasser's 56 damage to 63 damage, an additional 7 damage (rounded from 6.72). Not to mention that 63 damage will only be the base damage on a mountain, city, or jungle. Level 3 Desert Fighting add 15 damage, bumps that 63 to 78 damage. Plain Fighting (which is Level 2) bumps it to 73 damage. Price-wise, Nasser is more expensive, but Nasser is definitely worth those 360 more medals.
Crerar vs Zhu is a little bit easier than the others. Zhu's damage with Level 3 Infantry Leader is 73, can avoid any counterattack damage 24% of the time, and heals up by 3 HP. "This means Zhu is better than Crerar skill-wise? Oh, he's also a M General? Sorry Crerar, but you lost this round." Not quite, as Zhu is 750 medals more expensive than Crerar, and Crerar is still fairly good against Zhu despite lacking in some areas. Besides, you could get some else with those medals, maybe Messe or even Nasser and still have 15 medals left over.
3. Savings
"Hey man, don't you think you should include the other infantry generals?" Don't worry, this section will be fairly short. I won't be doing any calculations in this section, because we all know that when it comes to saving up for a better general or buying a Bronze tier and sticking with it, we all choose saving up. Vasilevsky is 1425 medals more expensive but has an extra skill slot, Peng is 1190 medals more expensive and still with an extra skill slot, and MacArthur is 2050 medals more expensive with 2 extra skill slots. Those are the Infantry generals that are in Silver and Gold that people don't really buy, and they all do more damage (MacArthur and Peng do 80 damage, while Vasilevsky does 88 damage). With Rundstedt, he's cheaper than the other generals and can be used as an air general if he's low health (this is a point Sun Li-jen of the Glorious ROC made once). Yamashita is more expensive, but great mobility and semi-decent skills are some sort of redeeming quality. Mannerheim does more damage than Rundstedt and Yamashita, and definitely more than Crerar. As is usually the case with Bronze tiers, Crerar is not a good choice.
4. Conclusion
Crerar is a fantastic general at the beginning of the game. His skills are great, there isn't really a problem with them. Competition with the other Bronze tier generals isn't always good, but Crerar's price and effectiveness make him a good choice... in Bronze. Unfortunately for Crerar, his luck doesn't go all the way and he's forced to be sold in order to get a general that's actually good.
Alright, that was the Crerar analysis. I would personally say Crerar is worth it, but only for a limited time. He can be useful for invasions in Domination mode, he's quite cheap and can be a good general. I'd probably put him in the group of Bronze tier's best generals, although probably the worst general among the best. Anywho, this is a week and a day later behind what I had planned, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Stay tuned until next time (probably in two weeks or so), and I'll be seeing everyone in the Bagramyan discussion. This has been your Commander in Chief, signing off.
