On Allies and Attack/Defense Units

One of the new members asked what the best strategy would be to amass a strong army: purchase many inexpensive units with relatively low attack and defense stats, or buy a few stronger units.  To really answer this question, you have to dive into the different strategies that people use to play and discuss some of the idiosyncrasies of the game.

Unlike most games, MW seems to "punish" you for leveling up too quickly.  For example, if you have 500 allies, but are only level 10 in the game, you open yourself up to attack by much stronger players with a similar number of allies.    Likewise, as you progress through the game different events such as "defeat the boss" become more difficult as you level up.  Meaning, if you level up without gaining significant attack/defense stats, you will have a more difficult time completing these events, as opposed to when you were a lower level player.  Lastly, like the boss events, your ability to score high points against opposing factions in the World Domination events, is related to your level in the game.  For example, if you are level 25 and are able to defeat an opposing faction member at level 40, you will score many more points than if you were level 40 attacking someone who is level 25.  This effect is even more pronounced if your enemy has more allies than you.  So again, there is a pressure to remain low level with high stats in order to maximize how well you can do in the game. 

All these things consider, many will conclude that it is more in your interest to collect stronger units, even if it means you can purchase fewer of them.  This strategy will ONLY work if you carefully monitor how many allies you have.  For example:  If you have 20 allies, you will be able to bring 80 units into battle.  If you only have 60 strong units, you will be bringing 20 low level units into each battle.  In this case, it would make sense to reduce your number of allies to 15, so you are only bringing your strong units into battle.

SIDE BAR - WHICH UNITS ARE THE BEST TO PURCHASE?
One aspect of the game which is often overlooked is that your attack and defense armies can be completely independent.  What this means is that you should collect the best defense units for your "defense army" and collect a group of separate attack units for your "attack army".  For example, The military ambulance is relatively inexpensive, and offers 18 defense.  In comparison, it only offers 2 attack.  If you had 10 allies and had an army consisting entirely of 40 ambulances, you would have a defense score of  720, and an attack score of 80.  This is bad for obvious reasons, but it also means you are bringing your defensive units into battle when you attack, exposing them to casualty not only when used for defense, but also when they are used for attack.  To avoid this, you could purchase 40 inflatables, which have an attack of 6 and a defense of 1.  Now you have two separate armies, one that you bring into battle when attacking and one that you bring into battle while defending.  Your defense stats would remain at 720, but you would have increased your attack to 240.  There are a number of low or very low casualty units that can be purchased even be low level players that will ensure you have the strongest attack/defense armies available to you.  Some of these "good buys" can be found listed below.  END SIDEBAR

While it is difficult to argue with the logic listed above, I'm not convinced this strategy will allow you to improve as quickly as possible.  I personally chose to amass a high number of allies (without going over 499.  You can only bring additional units into battle with up to 500 allies, so it doesn't make sense to carry more than 500 allies at any point.  In addition, the final Force of Degradation Operations ask you to defeat members with 499 or more allies.  If you carry 499 allies or more, you expose yourself to being attack by all the strong players looking to complete these operations.)  while building my armies with less expensive units. For my defense army, I began by purchasing ~1000 medics.  My initial attack army, I purchased ~1000 fighter jets.  As a subsequent step, I replaced those medics with military ambulances and the fighter jets with frigates (I opted for frigates over inflatables due to their much lower casualty rates).  You can argue that I've wasted money on units that I have simply replaced, but I have been able to be much more active in the game and maintain a reasonably high attack/defense stats.  I continue to move forward with this strategy, and am now purchasing Titan Attack boats.

One consideration not yet address are the valor units.  They typically offer stronger stats and are a great way to strengthen your armies.  Keep an eye on the valor units with the lowest casualty rates. Unlike the cash units, I would suggest purchasing the strongest valor units possible at your current level, since valor is more difficult to collect and you don't want to have a bunch of low stat valor units sitting around not being used in battle. In fact, you may even consider waiting until later in the game to use your valor, as you can purchase stronger units at that point.

Lastly, the best way to obtain strong units is to participate in the Limited Time Quests (LTQs).  So much so, that many of the cash units are become obsolete as member armies begin to consist entirely of indestructible units.  I would therefore urge all members to participate in these events when possible, as they allow you to increase your attack and defense scores in the most rapid manner possible. 

Member Contributions - Madagascar

Join order	Member	Attack	Defense	Units	Wins	Losses	Points	% of points scored without this member
11	fagboi	112597	143537	1872	259	83	35930	22.03
18	Private Parts	52602	54843	544	106	37	17537	32.78
2	general fabs	48164	62767	1120	102	81	15050	42.01
17	Sgt Gray	101151	115687	1840	96	37	14660	51.00
6	PGA	67421	72928	1100	115	60	12992	58.96
20	Chief	55209	53496	1656	68	33	8189	63.98
10	ian	56172	65260	1941	57	55	6600	68.03
23	Tappy	38600	44140	948	50	47	5953	71.68
8	ssg einbu	32259	36916	2000	72	18	5528	75.07
5	mike	20532	23691	1476	50	38	5434	78.40
4	rick james	62756	70020	1220	30	104	4153	80.95
12	Sgt Slaughter	49423	41217	540	28	182	3716	83.23
16	Gilbert	33172	36690	436	11	53	3545	85.40
13	capt stallion	50065	54927	1624	36	10	3220	87.38
27	fhrut	20142	20818	780	18	22	3040	89.24
1	marco	57029	72974	1252	14	165	2617	90.84
21	rsm scott	22316	25192	928	12	12	1923	92.02
3	dad	60847	68147	2000	17	98	1724	93.08
26	Aiden	10509	11616	344	1	39	1696	94.12
30	Clark	4107	4320	212	11	56	1685	95.15
28	Yohan	2698	3066	226	9	30	1637	96.16
32	alex killer	765	899	32	4	74	1353	96.99
25	wolfgang	6580	7517	40	5	73	1052	97.63
14	KiefertheReeferChief	58767	63496	1348	2	47	809	98.13
22	silent	5752	6998	216	2	42	679	98.54
9	yann	45141	52523	1475	4	100	595	98.91
24	turbman	13758	15058	216	3	29	573	99.26
31	camp hood	2721	3423	230	0	23	546	99.59
7	lolo	53795	81326	2000	5	159	334	99.80
15	Masterbogz	43418	48648	1380	3	14	288	99.98
29	5ha1id23	2175	2558	108	0	38	40	100.00
19	sir cutler	12304	13457	220	0	102	0	100.00

Above, a point breakdown for the Battle for Madagascar.  Members are listed by the % of points they contributed to the factions total.  Taken together, all members listed in yellow or below collected less than 10% of our total points in the war.  Members in orange or below contributed less than 5% and members in red contributed less than 1% to the total points collected by the faction. 

Below, a pie chart describing the same data.



Lastly, for veteran members, a break down of your earned points between Colombia and Madagascar.  Members listed in red contributed fewer points in this war than in Colombia:

	Points change	% Points change
marco	-1226	-32
general fabs	4705	45
dad	-256	-13
rick james	-2936	-41
mike	4448	451
PGA	-162	-1
lolo	-1361	-80
ssg einbu	2015	57
yann	-1835	-76
ian	4852	278
fagboi	5103	17
Sgt Slaughter	-709	-16
capt stallion	2324	259
KiefertheReeferChief	359	80
Masterbogz	-39	-12
Gilbert	-2186	-38
Sgt Gray	-18169	-55
Private Parts	3314	23
sir cutler	-1756	-100
Chief	3237	65
rsm scott	758	65
silent	-416	-38