Good evening,
In this guide I will outline theories of attacking a defended base.
Please note, I am not a "massively high" level player, but I do enjoy successful raids often.
This is intended for those who have a varied and decently upgraded attacking force
who wish to raid an enemy base for any of a number of reasons (to be given in due time).

Also, please note that I will be deliberately vague about names of units.

If you cannot be bothered to read an entire section, a few "TL;DR" statements will sum up all of the valid points
into little snippets of wisdom at the top of each section.

Most Recent Changes:
29/1/12
- Added to the Mines section.



Contents:
I) Time
II) Range vs Damage Per Second
III) Expendable Resources
IV) Mines
V) Defensive Offence
VI) Miscellaneous Tips
VII) Accreditations


A defensive building being upgraded is not a ticking clock counting down until an upgrade is complete, it is a window of opportunity for even the lowermost soldier to take advantage of. Levelling any building while the process is occurring halts its progress, causing much pain and suffering to the defender.

Time might be a barrier for many things (upgrades, Damage protection, Unit Construction...) and it is more apparent is certain aspects that others, for example: You send a column of tanks to their death - yet you can have them working (albeit with about 5hp) within minuets. However, losing a flight of Helicopters will take hours to re-assemble.

Also, Having your base being decimated is not necessarily a bad thing (especially if you had few resources). When I was trying to upgrade my Command Centre I was praying for decimation - thus gaining me at-least a day's worth of construction time, unhindered, for a mere 35 minuets of repairing time. The inverse is of-course possible. Why should you grant an enemy a day's worth of construction, upgrades and preparation time to retaliate with a more organised force? The answer is to destroy either the expensive, upgrading building, or the many resource buildings to assist your own forces. Dodge defences as much as possible.

Keep to this tactic, and you can raid an enemy quite often; preventing key buildings from upgrading or stealing vast amounts of resources. I only ever total a base as a show of force.

In warcommander, the attacking force is usually smaller than the defending one, thus fighting a DPS battle is pointless. The enemy will out-gun you. How can you therefore limit the DPS of your enemy and maximise your own? The answer is simple, shoot him where he cannot shoot you in turn. That means anything from helicopters against tanks, to artillery against stationary weapons, to snipers against soldiers.

There will be many who disagree, feeling that maximising your own DPS with endless columns of heavy tanks is the only way to destroy some bases. They are correct - endless columns of tanks will level any base, but at what cost to your own forces? Chances are you will lose most to mines and mortars - and further after the the point of attacking has diminished into a joke, or revenge killing. This is not the mark of a good commander, rather the opposite in fact.

Often I have peered at my attack logs, showing a loss of a defensive building or two, then the entire destruction of the enemy force... "Were you using RUBI?" I wonder. This is only proof that the DPS battle does not work, as your forces take damage and inevitably you take losses, how are you to maintain your DPS? Only through disciplined hit and run tactics and keeping out of the range of your enemy's weapons will you ever hope to become a force to be reckoned with.

Remember, I am not saying that high DPS units have no place - they are merely overused and easily countered, whereas the only counter to a high range unit is to get in close and pummel it.

Would you attack with a lone suicide bomber (high DPS, low range), or a lone sniper(High range, low DPS)?
(A difficult question, sometimes.)

Have you ever deployed a small force to attack a base, only to discover all the hostile units (usually tanks) are now hunting you down mercilessly? This has happened to me, on occasion.. but nothing is more simpler to destroy, a base with no units. A quick deployment of helicopters and pulling my ground forces back ensured a line of scrap tanks as the enemy willingly ran into my helicopters fire. Even normal units can be baited in this way, with a fast ground unit. Any amount of baiting the enemy forces will be possible. Should you fail to destroy the enemy in time and they happen across this scout unit, no fear- a buggy is quickly repaired, their tank column will not be so fast to get back on its feet.

Another situation, You have no air units, but you have some tanks and need to destroy a high level mortar. Do you send them in as a group? do you send one forward as bait? I do neither. I use yet another fast, easily replaced, scout unit to dance in front of the mortar's guns - rarely getting hit in the process, while my tanks finish the job. Remember, defensive turrets and units shoot at whatever is closest to them, make sure it is expendable and cheap to replace.

And if you have been wise and have a varied and multi-tasking force, then you can adapt, change, and destroy any foe with the uppermost ease - even if it could take you a little while longer than a few columns of tanks, you will be able to raid again, and again, and again; the tanks will need to be replaced after one raid.

Undetectable, untraceable and as deadly as a poke in the face with a machete - mines; if placed well, they can decimate your ground forces. This will cause your air force to become useless in the presence of gun turrets and masses of AA units. At this point there is no countermeasure to such devices, apart from sending a scout unit in front of the main force to take the damage instead of them - however, once you have lost your scout to a mine you will know the path to that point will be clear.

Mines are usually placed at the edges of a mortar turret's range in parallel with nearby turrets, and occasionally inside a base its self. They are rarely in a well-defended section of defence, so the question is posed - Risk a mine strike or attack the towers head-on? It depends on your personal point of view, if you are good with a scout unit and the enemy has no units to hinder your scout - feel free to dance in front of the mortars with a scout and damage with tanks, else the more predictable and more frustrating approach may be your only option. (Note, there is always more than one option when attacking.)

In fact, the only place you are guaranteed to not run into one of these 'pesky packages of joy', is if you move your units on top of destroyed buildings, and keep them on them. If you move your units where mines cannot physically be placed, then you are removing one threat to your forces; always a good thing. (2) But if you have to move over open ground, use a cheap scout unit first; better to lose a scout than to lose a tank.

Occasionally, you may come across an opponent who posses great skill, he or she may be able to crush your defences with a single blow - leaving your resources in tatters and your base in DP. You will probably also find this his or her base is built in meticulous detail - every direct attack you make is costly and without the reward of metal or oil. In such cases you must reside to the fact that if you do not act quickly against such an opponent, they shall best you in the long term. You must strike under the cover of DP, furiously baiting all possible units out of the mutual protection of your enemies defences and crush them - leaving them useless for several hours. You will need to repeat this often until you have the capacity to fully assault the base, losing as little as possible in the process. If his or her units are destroyed, any attack will be swiftly thwarted, or will not occur for some time; be wary of air units.

However, indeed the best defence (currently) is to never log out at all - to employ the use of such tactics can see you permanently removed of the battlefield if found guilty of foul play. Scripting is frowned upon since there is no defence against such dastardly schemes, and to do so is to fight without honour; but to prove that such tactics are being used is difficult, even though it is apparent that a few users clearly do.