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Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a turn-based strategy game for the Nintendo DS in which the player uses their military force to defeat the enemy, either by capturing the enemy headquarters or by destroying all enemy units.

Game objectives

  • Beat all 26 campaign missions
  • Uses RNG manipulation
  • Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.8

Mission information

  • General mission strategies come from the RTA, with occasional tweaks or improvisations.

Random Number Generation

  • RNG can be manipulated in a couple of different ways. One way is to delay an attack: each frame advances the RNG. This method is used occasionally in the TAS to achieve certain damage values on enemy units, and/or to ensure better subsequent enemy movement patterns. Another way is to adjust a movement pattern prior to executing movement. I think some Fire Emblem games share this method of RNG manipulation.
Memory: Claiming for judging.

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Posted: 3/12/2023 9:02 PM
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TASVideoAgent
They/Them
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #8105: ninespaces's DS Advance Wars: Days of Ruin in 36:54.57
Posted: 3/13/2023 1:47 AM
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pachunka
Joined: 11/20/2007
Posts: 22
My favourite AdvanceWars game and a really enjoyable run! I loved the early missions, especially the preoccupied artillery in 13, but the later missions were just amazing to watch.
Posted: 3/20/2023 8:39 AM
(Edited: 3/20/2023 2:35 PM)
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GipFace
Joined: 9/20/2012
Posts: 9
Posting here because my YT comment for whatever reason got marked as spam and doesn't show. I am the RTA world record holder (57:02) that this TAS is based off of. Proof is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crkcHltJCVY. There are two ways to handle a TAS of this game: maximum speed, or maximum score. For maximum score, due to how the scoring calculations work, it is favorable to sometimes allow the enemy to attack first. The power score is calculated by total damage dealt, plus number of KO bonuses (each KO is +100), divided by total number of attacks. Therefore, having the enemy attack first allows a counterattack, damaging the enemy unit, and thus allowing the enemy unit to be 1HKO'd the next turn without using an extra attack. A TAS that focuses on maximum score involves more RNG manipulation and can be more spectacular. For example, the maximum score for T9 Hourglass (which is a trial map and not part of this TAS submission) involves a 0.6% luck roll only if the RNG seed is favorable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9WeVHVde-w As for maximum speed, the RTA uses strategies that strike a balance between speed and reliability. They have a high likelihood of working without many reloads. In the RTA WR, there are still several reloads simply because I lost the luck roll. However, the RTA WR strategies aren't the theoretical fastest strategies, as those would require luck rolls that are much less likely to happen. Someone in the community, dxdydzd, who published the T9 Hourglass strategy above, has published TAS maximum score videos for 18 of the 26 campaign maps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjZAHJTLHNI&list=PLETr2TbRLvb6kg4uSp4HclLrK53wc4QUv. The strategies themselves are very unlikely to be improved for these 18. As for why there are 8 videos missing, it's because there has been no published walkthrough for them. There was some drama in the community because a number of people claimed the WR score for these maps without posting any video or text walkthrough proof. We were supposed to trust them and believe their high scores based on their reputations. Therefore, while I am flattered that my RTA WR run was a blueprint for this TAS, I don't feel this video should be approved. A TAS has the possibility to do much more outrageous tricks than what the RTA WR can do, and I don't feel this submission shows that. It does not go for maximum speed, nor does it go for maximum score. It is essentially just an input and luck optimized version of the RTA WR.
Posted: 3/20/2023 12:35 PM
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ninespaces
Active player (391)
Joined: 7/19/2019
Posts: 62
GipFace wrote:
Therefore, while I am flattered that my RTA WR run was a blueprint for this TAS, I don't feel this video should be approved. A TAS has the possibility to do much more outrageous tricks than what the RTA WR can do, and I don't feel this submission shows that. It does not go for maximum speed, nor does it go for maximum score. It is essentially just an input and luck optimized version of the RTA WR.
Totally fair criticism. Opinions about what constitutes a publishable TAS are always going to vary, so I leave it to the community/judge to decide -- I'm sure they'll take your comment into consideration. (Really impressive RTA btw!)
Posted: 3/29/2023 1:51 PM
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TASVideosGrue
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om, nom, nom... want more!
Posted: 3/29/2023 1:54 PM
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ninespaces
Active player (391)
Joined: 7/19/2019
Posts: 62
Upon further reflection, and in light of GipFace's comment, I think it makes sense to cancel this submission. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to do a deep-dive into the game to make either kind of suggested TAS, but I'm hopeful someone out there takes a shot at it! I'd love to see what kind of madness happens compared to RTA.