Sami (Orange Star CO)

Advance Wars Sami CO guide detailing her capture rate, CO Powers (Double Time, Victory March), and best strategies for AW1 and AW2.

Sami's CO Stats:

• Foot Soldiers Firepower: 120%, 150% Capture Speed
• Direct Units Firepower: 90%
• Transport Units: +1 Movement
• All Other Units Firepower: 100%
• All Units Defense: 100%

AW1 CO Power (Double Time, 3 bars): Sami's foot soldiers gain +1 to movement range, +35 to Firepower, and +15 to Defense. Their movement costs are reduced to 1 across all terrain, regardless of weather. Her other units gain a small bonus to Firepower and Defense.

AW2 CO Power (Double Time, 3 bars): Sami's foot soldiers gain +1 to movement range, +20 to Firepower, and +10 to Defense. All her units gain +10 to Defense.

AW2 Super CO Power (Victory March, 8 bars): Sami's foot soldiers gain +2 to movement range and +50 to Firepower. They can also capture properties in a single turn, no matter their HP. All her units gain +10 to Defense.

Sami Strategy:

After Max, Sami is likely the second best CO in Advance Wars 1. Sami is a good choice for any Advance Wars 1 predeployed campaign mission where you're reliant on a HQ capture for victory due to her 1.5x capture rate. Sami's strengths come from smaller maps in which there are few funds but a lot of bases, and on maps with a lot of mountains. Sami's strength comes from her infantry and mechs, which Sami can build cheaply and quickly to take down most vehicles, except for much more expensive medium tanks, aircraft, and naval units. Mechs have the lowest movement in the game, but that disadvantage diminishes with the use of Sami's fast transports and with APCs (Armored Personnel Carriers) to reload the mechs' bazookas.

Sami isn't as dominant compared to her new rivals in Advance Wars 2 as compared to Advance Wars 1, and thus falls to mid-tier, but her Super CO Power still allows Sami to capture properties quickly, including the HQ, in a single turn. Just don't rely on Sami's weak direct units, and Sami will be less effective on larger maps which require her to transport a lot of units against some heavy machinery.