StreetPass Games Revisited: Warrior's Way

I have three plaza tickets left in Warrior's Way.  The ones I have left are for taking over the world twice, getting my castle to rank 20, and battling 300 monarchs from afar.

I don't really have any major issues with this game.  The way it curves enemy troop numbers according to your own progression can sometimes be frustrating when it throws a battle at you that makes you have to go on a troop recruitment drive.  This is most apparent when you've gotten to one country remaining, but also tends to happen when it throws Berserkers or Ninjas at you, since they have different battle rules than normal battles.

Don't get used to those gold stars telling you when an army can't lose, though.  They go away after your first playthrough.  Figuring out when you've got enough troops is simple, though.  When you're on equal footing, you simply need more troops.  When you have the advantage, you can have just over half the troops.  When you have the disadvantage, you need at least double the troops.  The condition for the gold star is that the specific troop type can defeat what it's weak to, or the largest enemy group, whichever is bigger.

Combat is basically rock, paper, scissors, best two out of three.  Rock is your cavalry, Scissors are your archers, and Paper is your infantry.  Just in case you live under a rock, this means that infantry has the advantage over cavalry, cavalry has the advantage over archers, and archers have the advantage over infantry.  A unit can still defeat the unit with an advantage over it, but it must do so through sheer numbers.  Field conditions can also randomly weaken one troop type and make it always have a disadvantage.

The game's play coin-fueled spying mechanic is very important to determining your strategy and unit sizes, so get yourself plenty of play coins.  However, there are two special types of battles you'll run into.  Some nations will have Berserkers, where spying is extra important because they take out 4/5 of a unit when they have the advantage, and 2/3 of a unit with equal footing.  Others will have Ninjas, which are their own special troop type that always has the advantage.  Because Ninja is its own troop type, spying is useless since you'll just figure out that they're going to be sending Ninjas (as the cool kids say... duh).  The only way to beat the Ninjas is through sheer numbers, you'll need at least twice what they have.

A strategy that's useful sometimes is to have a "planned defeat" built into your battle strategy.  This is most useful when the enemy has one really large group, or against Berserkers or Ninjas.  Set one of your troop types to be as small as possible.  You then get extra troops to throw at your other troop types.  Once in battle, spy to figure out when they're sending the big group, and send the tiny one.  It'll get defeated, but the big group won't be a factor anymore.  Against Ninjas, just send the tiny group first, then hopefully your other groups will be big enough to take out the remaining Ninjas.

Also, against the countries you have to take over, sometimes they'll favor one specific troop type and have it for two of their three units, making your strategy somewhat easier as you'll have a group that's much more easily guaranteed a win.  Field conditions can also apply to these battles.  I had one hilarious battle where the enemy had two units of cavalry, but field conditions weakened cavalry.  Easiest.  Battle.  Ever.

Don't forget to challenge monarchs from afar (which of course are other people who own Warrior's Way), because they're a great way to build your troops up.  Just remember that the number of times you can spy is per session, not per battle.  I generally only challenge a monarch if I have over double their troops by a significant enough amount that there's no possible way I can lose.  There are five plaza tickets related to challenging monarchs from afar, so you might as well get started on them as early as possible.

Hiring mercenaries is a great way to boost your numbers, but at the same time, it's not really necessary until just before the Emperor on each play-through.  Some castle rank-ups will increase how many mercenaries you can hire with play coins, so to get the most out of your play coins you should hold off until just before the Emperor.  Also, only ever spend 15 play coins on mercenaries, it's the best deal in the long run.

As for that pesky critical strike plaza ticket, it's something that has a chance of happening in the third round of battle if your unit is smaller than the opponent's unit.

I still maintain my stance that if you can only get one of these games, go with Warrior's Way.