Advance Wars

• Mechs might be slow but they still kick ass. Infantry is great cannon fodder!

• To win, you must capture as many bases as possible. Quick. Destroying a huge army doesn't matter if it didn't net you any bases.

• Ranged units are your best friends. Buy them early, keep them in the frontlines and keep them alive.

• Try to do as much monetary damage as possible. Ex: if you have a unit worth 3000 and attack a unit worth 17000, and deal 5 damage but your own units dies, it was worth is because you lost a unit worth 3000 but dealth 8500 damage counted in money, so you gained a 5500 advantage on it!

• The C.O. powers are nuts.

• Abuse the crap out of COs with attack power advantages. COs like Andy and Sami are interesting to use once in a while (and you're forced to use them occasionally), but "average" COs or those with multiple unit handicaps force you into playing more careful, longer games. So while it may seem lame to try to bully your way through matches with COs like Max and Jesse, it's sometimes surprisingly easier. It's a matter of choosing who has the best attack advantages for whichever map.

• Take as many cities as possible as fast as possible. Use the funds to pump out the most expensive units and rub the enemies into the ground with them.

• Use multiple save files and save often. Save in battle. If you lose, either your strategy needs an overhaul or you need to shuffle your COs.

• Don't be tempted to rush the enemy at the start of a game because they're defences are weak. You won't have the proper resources to take on the enemy's home base due to their factories.

• Expand early. Your first priority should be to capture as many cities as possible. Try to capture buildings further away from your base and work backwards. Of course the risk to this is the cities that are further away from you are closer to the enemy so you have to guard what you've captured. Remember each city is another 1000 funds per round. If you can get more cities than your opponent that's half the battle over, you can slowly but surely outnumber your opponent and win by brute force.

• Try to identify chokepoints on the map like bridges and narrow pathways and take advantage of them. The easiest way to do this to put a heavy unit eg a Medium or Neo tank on the point with an artillery behind it. When the heavy unit gets damaged get it to a city for repairs and get a similar unit in there to take its place; which leads me onto the next point.

• Infantry are useful early in the game for capturing cities but they start to become less useful as more powerful units come into play. Fortunately infantry make great cannon fodder! If the enemy is pushing foward and you need to buy a little more time to get your tanks repaired don't be afraid to sacrifice your infantry. Sacrificing an infantry worth 1000 is much better than losing a Medium tank worth 16000.

• Don't bother with Megatanks. Although it is powerful it's also very slow, runs out of fuel and ammo quickly and costs an arm and a leg to build. I would only recommend it if you have cash to burn.

• When you get to your enemy's base try to plant your heavy units on the factories. This makes them inacessible for building and severely cripples the defense.