Rubinelle | Lazurian/IDS | ||
A plane produced at sea by carriers. It can attack any unit. | |||
MAIN | SUB | ||
---|---|---|---|
Missiles | None | ||
Cost | 15000 | Inftry | |
Gas | 40 | Veh | |
Ammo | 3 | Air | |
Mobility | 7 | Heli | |
Vision | 4 | Ship | |
Range | 1 | Sub | |
Movement | Air | Combat | Air |
Notes | 5 fuel usage per day. | ||
Seaplanes(Days of Ruin) or Ship Planes(Dark Conflict) or 艦載機(失われた光) are Air Units. They are the only air unit that cannot be produced at an Airport; instead, they are made on Carriers. They are able to attack all units, though they are not able to fire upon submerged submarines. However, they have low ammunition and fuel, and therefore must remain close to rigs, carriers, or airports. To date, they have only appeared in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.
Seaplanes are initially introduced and become buildable in Greyfield Strikes.
Strategy[]
While seaplanes have very low ammo counts and limited fuel, they are one of the most versatile and tactically flexible units in Days of Ruin, and are relatively cost-effective (once you get past the 28000 funds needed for the carrier that produces them) at only 15000 - only 2000 more than a Duster. For only 75% of the cost of a Fighter or Bomber, you have a much more utilitarian unit that can engage air units or ground units, and can do so very effectively to boot. The fact that they can do satisfactory damage to basically everything, paired with their comparatively low costs, makes them extremely efficient, especially as part of a combined force. Back them up with other units, be they land or sea, and they quickly show their worth. However, their combined cost is still significantly high, given than it's necessary to deploy a carrier for every 4 seaplanes, bringing a total cost of 88000 funds, 8000 more than deploying any combination of 4 Fighters and/or Bombers, units that are generally more independent, which means that maps where airports are present, it might be more efficient to deploy Dusters and Bombers rather than a Carrier and Seaplanes. However, on maps without airports, they will quickly overwhelm both land and sea units thanks to the overall superior maneuverability and decent firepower.
The fact that you can deploy them on maps that otherwise lack airports means that COs that focus on air combat, such as Tasha and Waylon can still see good use of these units. While less powerful than fighter or bombers at their chosen roles, they can do quite a bit of damage, especially with veterancy or when used as CO unit. Putting Tasha in a seaplane, for example, can make for a threatening foe, while one carrying Greyfield or Waylon can be a gigantic pain to shut down.
Seaplanes can become a CO unit by moving the seaplane to the player's HQ.
The first rule of using seaplanes is to always strike first. Seaplanes rarely will have the punch needed to finish off a unit outright, but their opening volley can seriously hurt an opponent and cripple its ability to retaliate. In the case of fighting units that can't fight back at all, such as Tanks, Bombers, and Helicopters, the seaplane fundamentally has free reign to engage and cripple whatever it sees so long as it has the ammo and fuel to keep the pressure on.
That brings us to the second rule of seaplanes: resource management. You need good supply chains to get the most mileage out of them. Use Rigs to fill up their ammo and fuel supplies, and frequently build Temporary Airports to allow resupplies in enemy territory (especially with Greyfield). Back them off to patch them up, since they don't cost much, and while many foes that they can shoot at cannot shoot back, the ones that can will, necessitating such repairs.
The third rule of seaplanes is to launch them immediately after they have been constructed if naval superiority has not yet been achieved. Carriers cannot attack other naval units and as they cost an astonishing 28000, any lost Carriers are expensive to replace and any Seaplanes that are onboard a destroyed Carrier are lost as well. Seaplanes can protect Carriers from direct fire units such as Gunboats and Submarines.
Trivia[]
- The Rubinelle seaplanes resemble A-10 Thunderbolts, while their Lazurian counterparts resemble Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoots. Both are ground attack aircraft in real life and the former is always deployed from airfields, instead of aircraft carriers, while Su-25K is a very rare sight.
- Seaplanes are the only unit that is never found pre-deployed on any map.
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