Guide to 3vs3's/Clan Wars [Version 0.2]

Let me start by saying that this is a mere guide. You cannot become good by just using a decent opening. In a 1 vs 1 vs most of you, I could probably do nothing for the first turn, and have you do your "good" opening, and I'd still win. Skill is gathered on your own, on your own time, by yourself. Put yourself at odds, try to win when you have no chance. Only this way can you get better.

When you begin reading this I expect you to be at least rank 4 with a grasp of game controls and how to efficiently use your different units. There will be many rank 6's, 7's and even 8's that lack understanding. But there are "basics" guides elsewhere, and I'm not here to teach you how to wall. Your coalition members should teach you what you do not know.

That said, my entire guide has been up in my coalition forums for nearly a year. I'll update the outdated stuff and put it back on there, but for now all of the expansions are removed. So just read the information of this first post and go out there and practice, learn from your own coalition leaders/officers.

Maybe suggest what you want added to the guide.








Upgrades

You must head for these upgrades immediately, skip everything else to be competitive:

#1 - Air Transport Capacity
#2 - Faster Infantry - The most important upgrade, ever. Get it.
#3 - Air Transport Capacity II
#4 - Cheaper Infantry - Most expensive unit upgrade for a reason. Get it.

If you do not have these, you are not playing at the top of your game. I'm going to assume you can figure out what other upgrades to get with your clan mates. Ask them. They are there to help you.

And for when you have all the above three, and some of the strategies/other upgrades you want, to play in an advance game you might want these:
#4 - General: Movement Range
#5 - General: Infantry Attack
#6 - General: Tank Attack
#7 - General: Bomber Attack

Here is a link to all the upgrades and their costs:

http://atwar-game.com/forum/topic.php?topic_id=6309




Strategies

Perspective Note: This advice is from an elite player perspective. Some of you may enjoy the strategies that I list as being bad. You will grow into this same attitude when you begin to become a competent player.

Competitive Use Strategies:

Imperialist - IMP - Cheap and can stack much more defence and attack than other strategies if you have lots of spawn points.
Sky Menace - SM - The most versatile strategy ever. You can attack with huge power wherever you want, and can travel/expand fast.
Perfect Defence - PD - This is THE strategy of today. It is the most well-rounded, and perfect strategy at the moment. It is OP and you should learn it.
Guerrilla Warfar - GW - The come-back strategy. Requires almost all the standard upgrades AND the marine upgrades. So most of you won't be able to play it correctly until you've gotten to rank 8ish. Late game strategy, possibly the most powerful out of all.
Iron Fist - IF - Attack and Defence is immense, but you are fenced in by your short range. This is almost in the next category, but it only requires you to be disciplined. Another late game strategy, can top GW when played correctly.

Used Only When You Get Good:
Master Of Stealth - MOS - You get this early as a noob. You think it's great since you have good powerful units. But once you have upgrades it isn't a short-range power strategy. It is too expensive and doesn't give a defence bonus, so you get torn apart by the competitive strategies. However it CAN be a force to be reckoned with. Marines +1 range is very good for decent openings and travel, but it's too expensive, and thus not used by the best players.
Naval Commander - NC - You can't really use this even semi-good until you've reached maturity in AW. By maturity I mean you can use every other strategy. This can be powerful in the fact that its transports can travel as far as air transports, and for almost 1/3 the cost. Infantry, Marines, Transports, and of course Destroyers are this strategies main units. For land targets, infantry in transports, specially when chained together, are immensely powerful.
Great Combinator - GC - The most powerful strategy with lots of money. You can attack with the power of SM stealths, and defend with near PD infantry.
Desert Storm - DS - Powerful when you have lots of money. Its Marines make it so you can do magical openings since they have +1 range, and marines will die last since their helicopters have more attack and defence than marines. It was nerf'ed without any talk or announcement, so it has been downgraded and it is not a competitive strategy.

"None" - Seperate from the rest. It isn't good but doesn't have any drawbacks, and if you have lots of money to start(like in a 15k+ match) you can use this over Imperialist.

Do NOT use at ANY time:
Tank General - TG - Simply no. Sure you can attack, but you can't hold anything, and tanks are still expansive. Your Infantry are expansive and weak. Do not use this strategy. Use PD instead. Do not use this.
Blitzkrieg - Blitz - This probably the best of the bottom three, and can be dangerous long range and for surprise attacks, or when your opponent doesn't know what strategy you are. Otherwise this is exactly like TG, you can't hold what you take and can be easily routed in your advance. Do not use this.
Lucky Bastard - LB - Just... just don't use this. That is all.
Hybrid Warfare - HW - Can be decent in a world game but otherwise is useless in 3vs3s. It can't hold up against anything early game, and other strategies are far more powerful late game.





Clan Wars & 3 VS. 3's

Note: This part is not to be combined with the rest of the thread, this is a guideline to show what strategies to use to be competitive. In your other games go ahead and play DS/Blitz to try things out, but if you want to win, use these.

Clan Wars are for when you've become competitive with the above summaries. 3 vs 3's are practice FOR clan wars. That is ALL they are. Play them. Become better. Become good. (they are also good for pwning high ranks who think they're good)

The two Red must be the first pick; the 3 orange must be your second picks, and the yellow is what you will choose last if you can't get any of the orange.




This is in order of what you should be using, so the first one or two strategies is the preferred strategy.


Turkey - Imperialist, Perfect Defence - Depends on who you are against, PD for a max rush, Imp for a long game of attrition. Imp is by far the stronger though.
Ukraine - Sky Menace, Perfect Defence, Guerrilla Warfare -> Every strategy works with Ukraine. Just these are the strongest when it comes to it.

Germany - Perfect Defence, Iron Fist, Guerrilla Warfare, Imperialist -> Perfect Defence is too powerful now, so it's obviously first. But for Offence and lategame IF and GW are strongest by far.
United Kingdom - Perfect Defence, Iron Fist, Imperialist -> PD for the most well-rounded game. IF for a game you know will be long, as its offence stacks and stacks with its HP.
Spain - Perfect Defence, Sky Menace, Great Combinator -> PD is still powerful enough for the rush of Rome, but GC is actually stronger for the initial rush. SM is very reliable as well.

France - Perfect Defence, Iron Fist -> The rest of the strategies are too costly to use, these are the only two that can survive and dominate if played right.
Italy - Perfect Defence -> Being the direct target for Turkey and Spain is harsh. You will get run over by 80 units very easily. It is playable though, and can garner some advantages in a 3vs3 by just scaring Germany's/Turkey's expansions.

[Reserve post#1] - Turkey Openings

Sorry, most of the opening information is ~10 months old, I'll update it all and begin reintroducing it as I go. I just wanted the first post above out early so the public can learn what they can. The post above is all updated though.

[Reserve post#2] - Ukraine Openings

[Reserve post#3] - Germany Openings

[Reserve post#4] - United Kingdom Openings

[Reserve post#5] Spain Openings

[Reserve post#6] - France Openings

[Reserve post#7] - Italy Openings


You can now post! I have made all the reserve posts I need. Comment, rate n hate, ask questions, go ahead.

Written by Guest, 26.09.2013 at 12:36

NW: Russia not competitive? x3 xaxaxa desu

It's usable, kinda like Poland, Sweden, and Volga, but definitely not a power country.

So no, not competitive.

Seconding Terminal, it was as decisive as Turkey in a 5vs5 clan war. lol. Also happens to be ridiculously OP against Germany, Sweden and UK.
(permission to remove this post by thread owner is granted by author of this post)

EDIT: don't forget that blitz def is now only -1. big difference compared to -2.

also note that strats with infs and strats with marines sorta diverge, so you have to pick your path early on. I picked the NC route instead, so I can't say much, but in the end I think it was worth it. NC with inf, occasional marines and bombers for long distance attacks. when played from the right countries, the inf snowball becomes too huge to block. better with some marines mixed in, but only if you can afford it and they have the same range.

Nice guide, but as weak as blitz is in a lot of situations it is very good for medium scale maps, playable in big maps but not if you are playing for the win against good people. Advantage of blitz in medium maps is big expansion before they manage to build up units that will destroy your nerfed defense, this is the key in winning with blitz, get there before they are strong. You can use it to take out the good players in big maps if they are kinda bunched together and then the noobs will be easy to win against.

Also add what you want to NEVER buy until you have all other upgrades, do not let people become victim to AA ever again. Or something like lift the fog.

Ironically, Blitzkrieg in SPECIFIC situations, allows you to defend better than PD or IF.

LB is a decent strategy if you make enough cash which is not the case for the world map. And if you have enough cash there are other strategies that are just as good or better.

Written by hayaterocks, 26.09.2013 at 12:57

(permission to remove this post by thread owner is granted by author of this post)

All comments/ideas welcome, don't worry.

Written by hayaterocks, 26.09.2013 at 12:57

EDIT: don't forget that blitz def is now only -1. big difference compared to -2.

Pretty big difference but it's the same thing that stops RA from becoming a force of pure attack. You can't hold anything, attrition is against you.

Written by hayaterocks, 26.09.2013 at 12:57

also note that strats with infs and strats with marines sorta diverge, so you have to pick your path early on.

Yes indeed, almost like the "skill tree" in other games. Choosing a route to upgrade along. Choosing between Infantry upgrades and Marine upgrades is a big decision. Not for this thread though, we're here to discuss 3 vs 3's.

Written by Xenosapien, 26.09.2013 at 13:27

Nice guide, but as weak as blitz is in a lot of situations it is very good for medium scale maps, playable in big maps but not if you are playing for the win against good people. Advantage of blitz in medium maps is big expansion before they manage to build up units that will destroy your nerfed defense, this is the key in winning with blitz, get there before they are strong. You can use it to take out the good players in big maps if they are kinda bunched together and then the noobs will be easy to win against.

Also add what you want to NEVER buy until you have all other upgrades, do not let people become victim to AA ever again. Or something like lift the fog.

Blitz can be dangerous, even in 3vs3's, but once it's found out it will be torn apart. I agree though, picking your upgrades wisely is a big part of competitive play.

Written by clovis1122, 26.09.2013 at 15:11

Written by Desu, 26.09.2013 at 12:08

Lucky Bastard - LB - Just... just don't use this. That is all.

Can someone expain me why LB is so bad? I had got godly rolls with this strategy...

Good rolls doesn't equal being good, RA can hit hard, but can't hold. LB can hit hard but the cost for both short term and long term is too much.

Great guide, and i really like what you're trying to do, as a new player here i found khaleesi's thread saddening. =/

Great initiative Desu and thank you for taking the time to do what most of us are bored.
On a side note guys please dont flood this great thread with either useless personal opinions or talking off topic,because it will spoil the result in the end.Desu made clear its competitive guide and for europe+ map.i suggest mods remoove unessesary posts to make this tread a great and clean sticky guide.

Yeah, this thread is beautiful, plz don't ruin it

Mhmm as much as I openly dislike Desu, these are pretty good and yes he does earn my rep back. 5/5 tutorials, work that the majority of AW probably can't be bothered to do. Thank god, someone's stepping up to save AW.

Mods should sticky this.

Great, i love it

(i stickied it)

You know what I would like to see?

A single fricken 3v3 that isn't for rank 7+.

That would be nice.

Written by Guest, 27.09.2013 at 12:08

SO I have a serious question. This is a guide to 3vs3s and Cw's. right?

Well once you got to the Clan Wars & 3 VS. 3's part you lost me :/ What does this have to do with being competitive in Clan Wars & 3 VS. 3's??? This is only for EU+, there are many other maps out there. At least rename it to 3vs3 Clan Wars on EU+. Also it looks like most the other posts are just openings for this one scenario

Tl:Dr :/ I want more advice "not memorized unit moves". So please add more of that into this guide.

Read the second line bro,

''Skill is gathered on your own, on your own time, by yourself. Put yourself at odds, try to win when you have no chance. Only this way can you get better''.

that goes for other game types also, the reason this guide is important is that the majority of team games have been played using a variation of EU+ 100 + with 3v3 settings. If you play other games for CW is fine, but the guide is aimed at that group that chooses the established settings.

Also its not memorised moves, just a basis for 1st turn, individual adaptations are great but the basis of all countries highlighted is the same in 9/10 situations. Remember also this is aimed at players New or inexperienced to 3v3 not higher ranks like you and I so the value of it may be missed from your perspective as you are already aware of them.

I don't see it as rude to highlight that this is the normal settings. Other than first turn ideas, knowledge of Strategies, needed upgrades and Country combos, what advise can actually be given? Everything past that point revolves around your own intuition and communication with your allies. This is a good basis to not make you lose in 3 turns then from that you can start developing your own ideas and play style. Something that can only be done individually, with playtime and analysing your mistakes

Termy as much as i <3 you you are wrong.

Countering other strategies,playing other maps,doing your own expansions and etc all that belong to another thread and another "level" of player.
One has to perfect first the <<basic>> 3v3 expansions and only after that he can get to make his own stuff.
If one gets to know the basic expansions and role with pd germany,pd uk,pd france,pd/nc/sm spain,imp turk,sm ukraine i say its a hell of a good start..

The best way to learn is not to watch, but to play against a pro and see how he reacts to your moves, see every flaw that he has exploited in your plan and improve upon it, and later maybe even winning small victories.

Written by Desu, 26.09.2013 at 12:08

...

Great stuff! Lot's of useful information here for new players and not-so-new players alike.
I have a question: I sorta know GW Ukraine is a viable strategy - you listed it as one and I know some good players use it - but how does it defend against a rush by PD Turkey? I can't see how you can move enough militia back to defend Kiev, what with those 800$ ATs... That and the first turn expansion is weaker because of nerfed Inf.

Thank you. I'm usually WAY too scared to join 3v3's (because of the high skill players there, sort of makes me say 'no fuck that gonna embarass myself') but this has made me rethink that. <3

Written by Grimm, 27.09.2013 at 21:55

Written by Desu, 26.09.2013 at 12:08

...

Great stuff! Lot's of useful information here for new players and not-so-new players alike.
I have a question: I sorta know GW Ukraine is a viable strategy - you listed it as one and I know some good players use it - but how does it defend against a rush by PD Turkey? I can't see how you can move enough militia back to defend Kiev, what with those 800$ ATs... That and the first turn expansion is weaker because of nerfed Inf.

Your rank 6 set of upgrades cannot make max use of GW. Without the full infantry AND marine upgrades, along with all the other standard upgrades, it's almost a waste to use until rank 8-9. Even then, if you don't use it correctly, you die.

That said, I'll respond to the question for your benefit when you get there. Guerilla Warfare is a powerful strategy when it isn't killed off early, also, it is the comeback strategy. Though in most situations you can survive a rush(as Ukraine and your opponent is Imp, not PD), you don't actually need to survive the initial Turkey rush. Defend and prepare to recap Kiev. Use up all the militia you can defending, and walk marines from farther places to recap if you're cap'd. Also be offensive right away, take the unprotected cities of Turkey early and force him want to defend Ankara. Pressure is vital.

Written by Mitthrawnuruodo, 27.09.2013 at 23:33

Thank you. I'm usually WAY too scared to join 3v3's (because of the high skill players there, sort of makes me say 'no fuck that gonna embarass myself') but this has made me rethink that. <3

You're welcome, be sure to learn from higher ranks, join a clan, and maybe even get clan members to coach you when you play. Good luck.

I would say NC spain and italy is also good

P2 please.