Sami (Japanese: ドミノ Domino) is a CO from one of the four countries that comprises the Allied Nations, Orange Star. She is one of the first CO's played in the games, debuting in the eighth mission of the first game.
Personality
Sami is pretty calm and lively most of the time, sporting a somewhat "happy-go-lucky" attitude, similar to Andy. However, she is not one to be crossed with, and can easily get angry in the right situation. This is best shown when fighting Sonja in Advance Wars, where she almost goes berserk on Andy for being tricked so easily. She's also outspoken and doesn't hesitate to be rude when angry, as shown in Advance Wars 2, where she is cornered by Adder, who tries talking her into surrendering. Her response is shown to be quite "inappropriate", to the point that one of Green Earth's soldiers doesn't feel "comfortable" reading it out loud, and Eagle starts laughing upon reading it. Sami also seems to be a bit of a suck up to her superiors (specifically Nell), as noted by Andy. Despite all this, she is shown to be caring of those close to her, like in Advance Wars when she refuses to leave Eagle behind to fend off Sturm's forces, or in her talk with Eagle before the final mission of Advance Wars Dual Strike, where she refuses to accept Eagle's promise in the case he dies, stating that making a promise like that means one of them will most certainly die.
CO ability summary
She is a graduate of special-forces training, giving Infantry and Mech units an extra firepower boost when under her command.
Advance Wars
CO abilities
Infantry and Mech units get a 20% firepower boost and a 10% defense boost. As well as a firepower boost, all of her foot soldiers capture at a rate of 150%, always rounded down. This means an unhurt Infantry will reduce a property's capture number by 15 points instead of 10, and an Infantry with 6 hp will reduce a property's capture number by 9 rather than 6. In comparison to her special-forces when measured against generic 100/100 stats, her non-infantry Direct Combat units are slightly below average. Sami's Indirect Combat units are equal to the generic stats. Transports have an extra space of movement.
CO power
Double Time - Increases movement range and firepower of Infantry and Mech units by one space and 50% respectively. Has the shortest charge meter in the game.
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Storyline significance
Sami returns in Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising as a well-trained and intelligent special-forces commander. After successfully liberating Orange Star with the help of her comrades, she later makes cameo appearances in other missions later in the Campaign.
CO abilities
Infantry and Mech units receive a 30% firepower bonus and capture 1.5x on a daily basis. Sami's indirect capabilities and deployment costs are equal to normal stats, while non-infantry direct units suffer from a slight firepower reduction of 10%. All transport units boast +1 movement. The in-game description also states her foot soldiers move farther, though this is not the case.
CO power
Double Time - Increases movement range by one for all Infantry and Mechs, and their firepower is raised to 150%. All units receive a +10% defense bonus.
Super CO power
Victory March - Increases movement range of Infantry and Mech units by two spaces. All foot soldiers have 180% firepower, and allows any such unit to be able to completely capture any unallied property in one turn, regardless of unit health.
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Storyline significance
Sami again returns in Advance Wars: Dual Strike, offering aid to Omega Land late into the war. She plays a significantly smaller role in the Campaign's plot, though her personality and abilities remain somewhat intact.
CO abilities
All Infantry and Mech units have 120% firepower, reduced to their original levels in Advance Wars. Non-infantry Direct Combat units retain their small firepower reduction of 10%. Foot soldiers still capture at 150%. However, her transport unit movement bonus has been removed.
CO power
Double Time - Increases movement range by one for all Infantry and Mechs by 1 space, and their firepower is raised to 160%. They also receive a +10% defence bonus. All other Units get a 10% boost in firepower and defence.
Super CO power
Victory March - Increases movement range of Infantry and Mech units by 2 spaces. All foot soldiers have 190% firepower and may capture in one turn, regardless of HP.
Tag Breaks
Sami has Tag Breaks with the following COs:
- Sonja, 110%, "Girl Power" (1 star) - Wipe them off the properties with Sonja, and seize with Sami.
- Eagle, 120%, "Earth and Sky" (3 stars) - Despite only having a 20% boost, it is probably the most overpowered Tag Break in the game, and can quite often instantly seal a victory. Start out with Eagle, load infantry/mechs on transport units, give an all-out assault with units to open a pathway. The use Tag power, continue the assault to clear pathway for the second time with Eagle, move transport units, and unload them. Then switch to Sami, continue assaulting to clear pathways, and then capture the enemy HQ for a Victory.
- Andy, 105%
- Max, 105%
- Nell, 105%
- Von Bolt, 90% ...
Quotes
Dual Strike
Switch
"Leave it to me. I'll work something out."
"Roger! Advance to the front lines!"
Power
"Hooya!"
"A commando never gives up!"
Campaign, Pre-Battle
Final Battle
"Yowza! I wonder what that gigantic oozium is going to do to us."
(with Eagle)
Eagle: "I want you to promise me something, Sami. Promise that if we both return from this battle alive..."
Sami: "Oh no you don't! Stop it right there! If two people make a promise like that, one of them is going to end up dead! You might as well tell me that you're two days away from retirement! Save the promises for later, OK? We'll talk when we get back in one piece."
(with Sonja)
Sami: "Fiddlesticks! This will be it for the Omega Land war! I mean, I'm glad for peace and all... But I have homework to catch up on! Hey, Sonja? Teach me math again, OK?"
Sonja: "You're insanely confident at a time like this. It's funny... but I feel the same. Calm. Completely at ease. I feel like there's no way I can lose if I team up with you! We're going to win!"
Victory
"Area secured!"
(with Eagle)
Eagle: "Our victory is secured."
Sami: "Ha! That's my Eagle!"
(with Sonja)
Sonja: Our chemistry is fantastic.
Sami: Well, we go back a long. I'm sure that helps.
Sami: Don't ignore us because we're girls!
Sonja: Our team is second to none.
Trivia
- Sami is one of three COs (the others are Gage and Grit) to carry a real-life firearm with her. It appears to be an M16A2 or M16A4, hinting that her faction is based on the United States military. However, the Orange Star infantry uses what looks like the M1A1 Thopmson submachine gun. Older games featured her with the German H&K MP5. It is likely that this is because real life US Special Operations Forces use the MP5.
- One of her quotes, 'Hooyah!', is inaccurate as this line is quoted in real life by soldiers of the United States Navy. More likely to be affiliated to the Orange Army than to the Orange Navy, she should use 'Hooah!' as this is used by the United States Army soldiers in real life (however the quote may most likely be a reference instead of attempting to imitate exactly).
- Sami's design is extremely similar to that of a generic soldier, probably to emphasize her specialty with Infantry.
Tactics
Sami strategies usually evolve around gaining an economic advantage through her superior capture rate. In the early game, when both sides are attempting to gain sources of funding by capturing cities, Sami's 150% capture rate allows her infantry to capture property even under attack from enemy infantry or tanks, as most early units cannot reduce her infantry below 4 HP (the threshold to prevent a two-turn capture) by themselves. Meanwhile, her powerful infantry can severely disrupt enemy infantry during the capture-phase.
Likewise, Victory March can often turn the tide for Sami by giving her a funding advantage that will last at least two turns even in the ideal scenario for the opponent--the opponent must have a 10 HP infantry within capturing range of the lost city and it must not be attacked and can capture an HQ in that turn with any one infantry as long as there aren't any units on the HQ.
Gallery
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| Orange Star | |
| COs: | Andy | Hachi | Jake | Max | Nell | Rachel | Sami |
| Former COs: | Grit | Olaf |