Post by beentheredonethat on Aug 24, 2022 11:27:28 GMT
Having played the game for several months on my Android device without IAPs and getting tired of the monotonous daily farming I decided to start from scratch on my Windows laptop and see how quickly I could progress without spending too much. I concluded that a few bucks spent are a better use of my personal resources (time and money) and made the game much more enjoyable as steady progress until the end was possible. Thus, if you have spent some time playing and are having a hard time with the Modern War/UN missions or if you just starting out I hope my notes will offer you some valuable pointers.
Here's a sort of proof that I 3-starred all scenarios:
1) In App Purchases
Sadly, without any IAP you are doomed to farm for months to have a lineup strong enough to complete the game. The best value IAPs to remedy this are: a) the Battle Pass and b) the Panzer Elite medal.
- The battle pass over time will provide you with far more medals than the 2500 medal pack. Plus, as the rewards are earned over time it complements your growing expertise much better.
- The Panzer Elite medal (which comes with extras that allow you to upgrade it) can turn your best tank into a superpower. That added power and survivability will allow you to work with less upgraded complimentary generals to complete the game (see below). This will save you many thousand medals as the final upgrades to skills and upgrades to ranks are extremely dear.
2) Best Generals
There is no need for any IAP general, especially since they all lack "Rumor" which is the most important skills in the Modern War scenarios.
I have the following lineup
-> The best generals and a good order of purchase is:
i) Messe (Tank/Infantry Invasions):
You'll see Messe missing from my lineup as I sold him to test Crerar who is useful for infantry "Invasion" missions but I wouldn't really recommend that. Messe will do the job just fine if you upgrade his "Crowd Tactics" once or twice. With that you might as well hold on to Messe and stick the "Great Soldier" medal on him
ii) Guderian(Tank):
As you can add "Rumor" Guderian clearly is the best general in the game. This also makes him the natural choice for the Panzer Elite medal.
Beyond that I have performed the following upgrades:
- I upgraded the rank a bit but it's not necessary to go all the way, especially with the "Panzer Elite" medal.
- "Rumor" is a must for the endgame and should be at least at level 4.
- I added plain fighting to have the maximum raw damage output. Thanks to Blitzkrieg and other units to pin down enemy tanks/artillery the amount of damage taken when standing in the open field is typically managable over the course of a scenario if the strategy and tactics are right.
- Some people like "Explosives" but the benefit of "Plain Fighting" is more one shot kills which suits me better.
iii) Arnold (Support Artillery/Air Support/Aircraft Carrier)
Arnold is a dream of a general as he comes with the ideal skillset for a support general. He's an absolute must buy and has no viable/similalary priced alternatives for what he brings to the game, especially as he comes with level 4 "Rumor" right out of the box. He makes a good third purchase and is super useful even if no upgrade is performed at all. If you don't fully see the value just get him anyway and over time you'll see how powerful he actually is.
- With his great mobility, health and Rumor I often use him as third artillery in the endgame to pin down enemies and move him into the next best city for airstrikes and missile attacks as he makes both much more powerful.
- I tend to use him for naval invasions as he is great for reducing submarines to low health before they arrive. If you corner battleships and they attack him, his rumor can also render them uable to fight for two rounds.
- He is also super useful in Conquest mode as his more powerful airstrikes
- There are also some "Exercises in ..." where his airstrikes are needed to win.
- I added crowd tactics for lack of better ideas. It's ok but not all that needed.
iv) Rommel (Tank)
Rommel is the second best tank generals and comes at at great price once you have completed the discount missions. As you can add "Rumor" he's more useful than Manstein who you'd have to pay for. He makes a great 4th purchase.
- Rumor had to be added for the endgame.
- "Panzer Leader" was upgraded to the max as I put the medal on him. With that and Counterstrike (+medal) he is great for baiting enemies. Move him to a mountain so he'll take reduced damage and watch him dish out nasty counterstrikes. Maxed out "Panzer Leader" makes for great initial strikes too and increases the chance of one shot kills that allow you to attack the next target.
v) Konev (Artillery)
Konev is the best artillery general (better than Zhukov) and now that we have two strong tanks, Konev makes a good 5th purchase.
- In the endgame it's crucial that rocket artillery through encircling and "Rumor" helps pin enemies down to stop them from fighting back. Some enemy generals can dish out 250+ damage and you don't want to be on the receiving end of that. Hence, he has level 5 "Rumor"
- I added explosives to take down city defenses faster.
vi) Kutsnetsov (Naval)
With our initial tanks and artillery taken care of, Kutsnetsov is the best value naval general. He's only bronze rank but has an ideal skillset. Yes, Nimitz is better but Kutsnetsov upgraded to level 4 "Rumor" will be similarly priced and be 100times more useful than base Nimitz. Hence, as he's good enough for the job and saves you valuable medals you might just take him instead of Nimitz. If you are happy to grind a bit longer to make up for the extra medals then you can go for Nimitz.
vii) Leeb (Artillery)
Leeb is a great artillery general and a good purchase as you just need to add "Accuracy" to make him pack a real good punch. I bought him as I needed as many "Rumor" generals as possible to pin down end games enemies. I typically do 3 tanks/3 artillery or 3 tanks/2 artillery/1 naval in "Modern War". Hence I needed Leeb with strong "Rumor".
viii) Rokossovsky (Tank)
Roko is a great tank general and a pleasure to play with thanks to his mobility and power. I also needed a viable third tank general for the end game. Messe is too weak.
- I added "Armored Assault" which is a must for tanks.
- I also added "Rumor". As mentioned several times already this is a must for the endgame.
3) Other Generals
Infantry:
The best infantry general is Tito as you only waste 325 medals buying him. The worst infantry general is MacArthur as you waste a whopping 2425 medals on a type of general with marginal value at best. Don't bother with any infantry general until you're almost done with the game and want to try out speedruns in some conquests or have a bit more power for "Frontier" battles.
Tank:
Vatutin looks attractive but his low health, low mobility and painful choice of final skill make him a liability for the endgame. He can still add value if you have a very clear plan for the scenario. However, for me dumping him for Rokossovsky was the best choice ever. I'd see him as 4th tank general. Graziani and Montgomery look interesting for certain situations but are inferior to Roko overall.
Artillery:
Beyond the natural choices Konev and Leeb and Arnold as "Rumor" support, I don't see any artillery general worth buying.
Naval:
You really don't need a lot of navy so I wouldn't bother going beyond one naval general. If you finished the scenarios and have too many medals lying around then maybe go for Donitz. Yamamoto seems useless. I'd rather have Dowding and stick him on a carrier if ever needed.
4) Trying out Generals
Don't waste precious medals buying generals that you later dump. If you want to try out a general out of curiosity, then save up a chunck of medals, save your game to the cloud, buy and test him in a few scenarios and go back and load the saved game. Like me you may find that some folks look much better on paper.
5) Take time to upgrade the Tech Tree
Yes, it takes time to upgrade the tech tree and you may have to grind a few invasions to earn resources but it makes such a huge difference. Thus, seek to at least one star all scenarios needed to progress to the next scenario stage. You'll find that after a few tech upgrades scenarios that were tough are becoming easier as do all the various exercises. You can then collect the medals you missed the first time around and upgrade your generals.
6) Find your best resource grinding "Conquest" to progress your tech tree
Once your tech tree and generals are good enough and you've mastered the art of finding the best cities to bomb and parachute into to grow your empire quickly "Conquest" will become easier and you can collect resources quickly. Some conquests are easier than they first seem.
E.g. 1950 South Korea isn't all that hard thanks to the Panzer Elite medal and India 1980 is quite easy once you figured how the 1980 scenarios work. (the AI loves abandoning cities -> bomb and parachute where you can and don't worry too much about defending everything)
7) Learn the game mechanics
There are various aspects to the game that this forum provides valuable information so do your reading up. Understand that:
- Tanks will take much less damage when fighting from a hill. Forests or deserts also provide a bit of cover. For artillery it's similar. Terrain managment is thus hugely important.
- There are many triggers in the scenarios that will make enemy units move if one of your units occupies a certain hex. Learn how to bait and trap units and generals.
- The AI loves attacking cities, the closest unit, etc. Sometimes you want to use infantry as cannon fodder to save your tanks and artillery.
- Some attack strength stack, some multiply
- etc., etc.
8) Share your Accomplishments!
"UN 4 - hard" was the last Modern War mission that I 3 starred. After only managing 2 stars in many attempts, some old thread on this forum helped me see the solution!
Good luck and if you have any questions I'm happy to discuss!
Here's a sort of proof that I 3-starred all scenarios:
1) In App Purchases
Sadly, without any IAP you are doomed to farm for months to have a lineup strong enough to complete the game. The best value IAPs to remedy this are: a) the Battle Pass and b) the Panzer Elite medal.
- The battle pass over time will provide you with far more medals than the 2500 medal pack. Plus, as the rewards are earned over time it complements your growing expertise much better.
- The Panzer Elite medal (which comes with extras that allow you to upgrade it) can turn your best tank into a superpower. That added power and survivability will allow you to work with less upgraded complimentary generals to complete the game (see below). This will save you many thousand medals as the final upgrades to skills and upgrades to ranks are extremely dear.
2) Best Generals
There is no need for any IAP general, especially since they all lack "Rumor" which is the most important skills in the Modern War scenarios.
I have the following lineup
-> The best generals and a good order of purchase is:
i) Messe (Tank/Infantry Invasions):
You'll see Messe missing from my lineup as I sold him to test Crerar who is useful for infantry "Invasion" missions but I wouldn't really recommend that. Messe will do the job just fine if you upgrade his "Crowd Tactics" once or twice. With that you might as well hold on to Messe and stick the "Great Soldier" medal on him
ii) Guderian(Tank):
As you can add "Rumor" Guderian clearly is the best general in the game. This also makes him the natural choice for the Panzer Elite medal.
Beyond that I have performed the following upgrades:
- I upgraded the rank a bit but it's not necessary to go all the way, especially with the "Panzer Elite" medal.
- "Rumor" is a must for the endgame and should be at least at level 4.
- I added plain fighting to have the maximum raw damage output. Thanks to Blitzkrieg and other units to pin down enemy tanks/artillery the amount of damage taken when standing in the open field is typically managable over the course of a scenario if the strategy and tactics are right.
- Some people like "Explosives" but the benefit of "Plain Fighting" is more one shot kills which suits me better.
iii) Arnold (Support Artillery/Air Support/Aircraft Carrier)
Arnold is a dream of a general as he comes with the ideal skillset for a support general. He's an absolute must buy and has no viable/similalary priced alternatives for what he brings to the game, especially as he comes with level 4 "Rumor" right out of the box. He makes a good third purchase and is super useful even if no upgrade is performed at all. If you don't fully see the value just get him anyway and over time you'll see how powerful he actually is.
- With his great mobility, health and Rumor I often use him as third artillery in the endgame to pin down enemies and move him into the next best city for airstrikes and missile attacks as he makes both much more powerful.
- I tend to use him for naval invasions as he is great for reducing submarines to low health before they arrive. If you corner battleships and they attack him, his rumor can also render them uable to fight for two rounds.
- He is also super useful in Conquest mode as his more powerful airstrikes
- There are also some "Exercises in ..." where his airstrikes are needed to win.
- I added crowd tactics for lack of better ideas. It's ok but not all that needed.
iv) Rommel (Tank)
Rommel is the second best tank generals and comes at at great price once you have completed the discount missions. As you can add "Rumor" he's more useful than Manstein who you'd have to pay for. He makes a great 4th purchase.
- Rumor had to be added for the endgame.
- "Panzer Leader" was upgraded to the max as I put the medal on him. With that and Counterstrike (+medal) he is great for baiting enemies. Move him to a mountain so he'll take reduced damage and watch him dish out nasty counterstrikes. Maxed out "Panzer Leader" makes for great initial strikes too and increases the chance of one shot kills that allow you to attack the next target.
v) Konev (Artillery)
Konev is the best artillery general (better than Zhukov) and now that we have two strong tanks, Konev makes a good 5th purchase.
- In the endgame it's crucial that rocket artillery through encircling and "Rumor" helps pin enemies down to stop them from fighting back. Some enemy generals can dish out 250+ damage and you don't want to be on the receiving end of that. Hence, he has level 5 "Rumor"
- I added explosives to take down city defenses faster.
vi) Kutsnetsov (Naval)
With our initial tanks and artillery taken care of, Kutsnetsov is the best value naval general. He's only bronze rank but has an ideal skillset. Yes, Nimitz is better but Kutsnetsov upgraded to level 4 "Rumor" will be similarly priced and be 100times more useful than base Nimitz. Hence, as he's good enough for the job and saves you valuable medals you might just take him instead of Nimitz. If you are happy to grind a bit longer to make up for the extra medals then you can go for Nimitz.
vii) Leeb (Artillery)
Leeb is a great artillery general and a good purchase as you just need to add "Accuracy" to make him pack a real good punch. I bought him as I needed as many "Rumor" generals as possible to pin down end games enemies. I typically do 3 tanks/3 artillery or 3 tanks/2 artillery/1 naval in "Modern War". Hence I needed Leeb with strong "Rumor".
viii) Rokossovsky (Tank)
Roko is a great tank general and a pleasure to play with thanks to his mobility and power. I also needed a viable third tank general for the end game. Messe is too weak.
- I added "Armored Assault" which is a must for tanks.
- I also added "Rumor". As mentioned several times already this is a must for the endgame.
3) Other Generals
Infantry:
The best infantry general is Tito as you only waste 325 medals buying him. The worst infantry general is MacArthur as you waste a whopping 2425 medals on a type of general with marginal value at best. Don't bother with any infantry general until you're almost done with the game and want to try out speedruns in some conquests or have a bit more power for "Frontier" battles.
Tank:
Vatutin looks attractive but his low health, low mobility and painful choice of final skill make him a liability for the endgame. He can still add value if you have a very clear plan for the scenario. However, for me dumping him for Rokossovsky was the best choice ever. I'd see him as 4th tank general. Graziani and Montgomery look interesting for certain situations but are inferior to Roko overall.
Artillery:
Beyond the natural choices Konev and Leeb and Arnold as "Rumor" support, I don't see any artillery general worth buying.
Naval:
You really don't need a lot of navy so I wouldn't bother going beyond one naval general. If you finished the scenarios and have too many medals lying around then maybe go for Donitz. Yamamoto seems useless. I'd rather have Dowding and stick him on a carrier if ever needed.
4) Trying out Generals
Don't waste precious medals buying generals that you later dump. If you want to try out a general out of curiosity, then save up a chunck of medals, save your game to the cloud, buy and test him in a few scenarios and go back and load the saved game. Like me you may find that some folks look much better on paper.
5) Take time to upgrade the Tech Tree
Yes, it takes time to upgrade the tech tree and you may have to grind a few invasions to earn resources but it makes such a huge difference. Thus, seek to at least one star all scenarios needed to progress to the next scenario stage. You'll find that after a few tech upgrades scenarios that were tough are becoming easier as do all the various exercises. You can then collect the medals you missed the first time around and upgrade your generals.
6) Find your best resource grinding "Conquest" to progress your tech tree
Once your tech tree and generals are good enough and you've mastered the art of finding the best cities to bomb and parachute into to grow your empire quickly "Conquest" will become easier and you can collect resources quickly. Some conquests are easier than they first seem.
E.g. 1950 South Korea isn't all that hard thanks to the Panzer Elite medal and India 1980 is quite easy once you figured how the 1980 scenarios work. (the AI loves abandoning cities -> bomb and parachute where you can and don't worry too much about defending everything)
7) Learn the game mechanics
There are various aspects to the game that this forum provides valuable information so do your reading up. Understand that:
- Tanks will take much less damage when fighting from a hill. Forests or deserts also provide a bit of cover. For artillery it's similar. Terrain managment is thus hugely important.
- There are many triggers in the scenarios that will make enemy units move if one of your units occupies a certain hex. Learn how to bait and trap units and generals.
- The AI loves attacking cities, the closest unit, etc. Sometimes you want to use infantry as cannon fodder to save your tanks and artillery.
- Some attack strength stack, some multiply
- etc., etc.
8) Share your Accomplishments!
"UN 4 - hard" was the last Modern War mission that I 3 starred. After only managing 2 stars in many attempts, some old thread on this forum helped me see the solution!
Good luck and if you have any questions I'm happy to discuss!
