Classic Campaign – Mission 7M: Max Strikes! (Max)

Max’s tanks are always grade A, but this particular battle will be won at sea.

Mission Strategy

This mission is the first branching path in the Advance Wars 1 campaign. You can choose between Andy and Max as your CO. While both missions are similar, they are unique missions and will lead you down a specific path of missions until they converge at Mission 11.

This mission teaches you about three new sea units, Battleships, Submarines, and Landers.

Battleships are indirect-fire units with a huge range. Similar to ground based indirect-fire units, they are best used when kept out of harm’s way. They cannot counter attack enemies, so it’s best to keep them off of the front lines. Battleships not only deal huge damage to enemy sea units, you can also bombard enemy land units. Your Battleship in this fight is relatively safe (once you clear Olaf’s Battleships) to wreak havoc on Olaf’s ground forces.

Submarines are a direct-fire naval unit. The are best used to destroy enemy Battleships and other Submarines. They can Dive underwater, making them immune to all enemies expect Cruisers and other Submarines. Enemy units will also need to be adjacent to a Dived Submarine to even see it, similar to Woods in Fog of War. While dived, they will use more fuel. If a sea unit runs out of fuel, it will be destroyed.

Landers are similar to Transport Copters and APCs in that they can carry units. However, they are superior to these as they can not only hold any ground unit (not just Mechs and Infantry), they can also hold two of these units at once. They have no way to attack and have low defense, so be sure to keep your loaded Landers protected.

I tried multiple strategies for this map, but the most effective turns out to be the most straightforward approach possible (how fitting for Max). Don’t worry too much about positioning or staying away for the enemies ranged units. Focus on maximizing how much damage you cause each turn and you’ll win the day. Keep your APC and Lander near your army to help soak ranged attacks.

HQ Capture: The general idea is to use your lander to land an Infantry or Mech at the enemy HQ. While effective and relatively simple, this approach is slightly slower. You also need to make sure it isn’t in range of Olaf’s Battleships, as they can destroy it in a single hit. Submerge your Submarines to clear the waters, bringing your Battleship into range of heavily damaged enemy Battleships to finish them off.

Olaf will get off at least one Blizzard which will slow your Lander. By the time you get your Lander across the water, you should be free to drop and capture without any worry. What happens in the northern battle is kind of irrelevant, but try to minimize losses to get a good Technique score.

Defeat All Enemies: In true Max fashion, this is the preferred approach. I was able to complete the mission within four days multiple ways, but three may be possible. I found that rushing your Tanks on turn one into the enemy usually was the faster approach, but hanging back will keep you out of range of the Battleships until your Submarines can deal with them.

Focus on value trades, saving your Rockets and Medium Tanks for the enemy Medium Tanks. Use your Infantry to attack the enemy Infantry. Soak hits from enemy ranged units with your APC and Lander. Don’t worry about capturing cities, as the mission will be over too quick for them to matter.

Turn by Turn Walkthrough

Day 1

Attack the north enemy Tank with your north Tank
Attack the enemy Medium Tank with your Medium Tank
Attack the south enemy Tank with your south Tank
Attack the enemy Battleship with your north Submarine
Load your western Mech into your APC
Advance your APC, dropping the Mech off north
Advance your Artillery, Rockets, Medium Tank, Battleship, Lander, and Submarine (submerge)