COs in Combat: 3 COs vs. Sturm
Difficulty: **********
The Challenge Campaign version of this map plays differently than its Classic Campaign counterpart, even though you still have to win in 30 days. You can't just fly a bomber straight to the Deathray because there are two anti-airs in the way, and there's also a mini-cannon. Each of your armies start with two infantry and an APC. Sturm, on the other hand, starts with two Neotanks, two medium tanks, two tanks, and two anti-airs in the middle. Additionally, Sturm also has two battleships, two submarines, and two cruisers in the western sea.
You have a few missile silos around your bases which may dictate how you want to proceed. You can either fire your missiles at the western sea to allow your army in the west (2nd CO selection) to advance quicker, or you can fire your missiles at the land forces near the Deathray. The safer option is to damage the land forces next to the Deathray. Sturm's forces will primarily focus on pinning down your central CO and your left CO, preventing them from making major advances early.
One good CO selection would be to use Grit (center), Drake (left), and Max (right). Grit has the extra artillery distance to damage and destroy the Black Cannons in two hits even without needing to damage any pipeline seems. Grit can also use artillery early as defense to pin down the bulk of Sturm's land forces. Drake can use his CO Power, Tsunami, early and quickly run Sturm's navy out of fuel.
As Grit damages the Black Cannons, Max can use battle copters, medium tanks, and bombers to advance towards Sturm's base, break through the pipeline seems, and head towards the Deathray. Beware of the Deathray, which fires on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. Also be aware of Sturm's meteor strikes, which will target the most densely populated and most expensive units. Do your best to have Drake take those meteor strikes.
The bulk of your early unit builds with your COs will be artillery (Grit), tanks (Drake), and tanks (Max). You'll want to load your APCs with Drake and Max early so that you reach the missile silos quickly. Build your primary units as described for the first 20 or so turns, plus infantry units from additional bases with any leftover monies. Build anti-airs with Grit (2 when countering any bomber), Drake, and Max as needed to take down any aircraft. On all turns, use those infantry units to try to capture surrounding cities for additional resources.
On day 1, move your infantry/APC with Drake and Max towards the missile launches; do the same with Kanbei's APC and an infantry towards the nearby missile. On days 2 and 3, your missile strikes from your COs should target the largest Neotank/medium tank clumps first before any missiles at the navy. These missiles will keep Sturm from moving units down to attack Grit.
On day 2, start building Grit's artillery units. Build your first artillery unit with Grit from your eastmost base so that you can take down the Black Cannon inhibiting Max first; your second should be from the westmost base. As you approach the eastern and western Black Cannons, keep them out of range and them move them to the tile immediately south of the seems so you can take advantage of Grit's extra 2-4 artillery range. You should be able to start attacking the eastern Black Cannon by day 4.
By day 4, you'll want to start damaging the eastern Black Cannon with Grit and moving your other artillery towards the western Black Cannon. Meanwhile, you should start capturing the nearby neutral bases with Drake and Max. Due to Sturm's western airport, you'll want to have Drake build an anti-air.
On day 5, use Grit's northeast artillery to destroy the eastern Black Cannon, and move your three other northern artillery towards the western Black Cannon and mini-cannons to attack the next turn. Meanwhile, keep Drake's units out of range of the western Black Cannon, but take a bit of damage over the next few days from the battleship and rocket to charge up your Tsunami CO Power. With Max, save money for a medium tank.
On day 6, use Grit's western artillery to damage the western Black Cannon and eastern artillery to destroy the eastern mini-cannon, and move northeastern infantry northeast towards the neutral airport. Don't let Sturm take that airport or Sturm will build air units from there. Move Drake's infantry eastward towards the two Sturm cities to the east. With Max, build a medium tank to combat Sturm's medium tank.
On day 7, check the Deathray's range and make sure Grit's units aren't in the Deathray's range, while destroying the western Black Cannon and the western mini-cannon with your artillery units. On Drake's side, keep chipping away at the rocket, and on Max's side, advance with your medium tank and regular tanks. Once you're at a medium tank and a tank with Max, you can have Max begin saving for more medium tanks rather than normal tanks. Sturm will begin bringing units damaged from missiles down to attack Grit.
On day 8, prepare for Sturm's next Meteor Strike. Start by having Grit destroy Sturm's advancing bomber, and move artillery units mostly northward to advance on Sturm. With Drake, continue advancing with your tanks and any anti-airs, but out of battleship range. With Max, advance on Sturm's remaining units to close in on Sturm's next base.
From day 9 onward, have Grit capture the northwest neutral airport when possible, and prevent Sturm from taking the northeast airport with an artillery unit or two. Keep having Grit build 2+ artillery units per turn. Move Grit's artillery and anti-air units northward. Grit should have enough artillery units to advance even without a wall protecting those units. Eventually, use Grit's Super CO Power to snipe from afar. Meanwhile, use Drake's CO power the first chance that you can, which will force Sturm to retreat air/sea units to refuel, and have Drake advance southeast with tanks. Have Max build medium tanks and infantry, then advance them southward.
Around day 11, prepare for Sturm's second Meteor Strike by separating out Grit's artillery units so that no more than five can get hit on a turn. Keep advancing with your COs as stated above. After Sturm's subs and cruisers sink from lack of fuel, you can build a sub with Drake to take down the remaining battleships, or use artillery units. With Drake, begin building artillery units and continue advancing towards and capturing the southeast base. With Max's infantry, advance on the southeast base while using medium tanks to attack the mini-cannons and then the pipeline seems. Have Max keep building medium tanks, attacking the pipeline seems, and advancing towards that southeast base.
On day 14, check the Deathray's range and make sure there aren't too many Grit's units that are in the Deathray's range. Also be aware of a third Meteor Strike that may hit around day 16, and divide Grit's units up accordingly (no more than 5 artillery/anti-air within a potential meteor). After that point, you can advance Grit's artillery units up towards the Deathray, and even build a Neotank or two to advance with the artillery units. (Drake/Max). With Drake, after you've built a few artillery units and wiped out the battleships, you can start building medium tanks, then use artillery and medium tanks to attack the mini-cannons and pipeline seems. With Max, keep moving medium tanks past the pipeline seems and infantry towards capturing the southeast base and the properties next to it.
From day 19 onward, advance Grit's artillery northward, backed up by any anti-air or Neotanks you may have, but primarily relying on Grit's artillery units. You should now have sufficient forces to get past Sturm's front line forces in the middle. Have Grit's artillery and Max's medium tanks advance towards the Deathray. As you do so, beware of the day 21 Deathray, the mini-cannon range, and the day 21 meteor strike. Try not to have too many units caught up in the ranges of any of those three things. keep advancing with Grit (artillery), Drake (medium tanks), and Max (medium tanks) as described above. You can also have Grit build a few Neotanks to speed things along. Win in thirty days or less to achieve the ultimate victory.