Sonja (Japanese: アスカ, Asuka) is a Yellow Comet CO. She is the daughter of Kanbei and an intelligence gathering officer. She specializes in intel. Her father is overprotective of her, something that often gets on her nerves. Sonja attended military academy in Orange Star with Sami though this is not mentioned in the English version of the game due to the change in colour of her uniform. She often scolds Sami for slacking in her studies. She also has a rivalry with Lash, seeing as the two are both very intelligent.
Abilities
All units have their HP hidden from the enemy (no matter the damage the unit has taken, their HP outside of battle animations will always be represented by a "?"). All units can see one space further in Fog of War. Counterattacks are multiplied by 1.5x in Advance Wars 2 - in Advance Wars: Dual Strike, she reduces the terrain stars of her enemies by 1 instead of having better counterattacks, but her other benefits remain.
Sonja has bad luck that occasionally reduces attacking power by 10% in Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2, in Advance Wars Dual Strike her bad luck is -5.
CO Powers
CO Power - Enhanced Vision: Sonja enables her units to see one space further and into forests and reefs even if they're not adjacent to them. In Advance Wars: Dual Strike, enemy terrain stars are reduced by 2 during this power.
Super CO Power - Counter Break: In addition to the effects of Enhanced Vision, Sonja's units now have the first strike while defending (though the animation doesn't show this). It should be noted that units dying will not counterattack, even if they should do it before getting attacked. Enemy terrain stars are reduced by 3 in Dual Strike for the duration of the power.
Tag Breaks
Sonja has Tag Breaks with the following COs:
- Kanbei, 130%, "Battle Standard" (3 stars)
- Sami, 110%, Girl Power" (1 star)
- Lash, 105%, Brainstorm" (1 star)
- Sensei, 105%
- Von Bolt, 90%
Tactics
Sonja is the mistress of Fog of War. Outside of fog, one of her biggest benefits is useless, as well as her normal CO power. While her Super CO power is still useful, as well as her hidden HP (although it becomes less useful since it's easier for the opponent to keep track of the damage dealt to your units if he can see all units all the time), her bad luck can seriously complicate playing her life.
In Fog of War, however, Sonja is a force to be reckoned with. Her improved vision may not seen impressive, but it can really make a diference in the heat of battle. Her hidden HP can be an unbearable nuisance to the enemy, as it is very hard to keep track of which unit you damaged when she can keep retreating and playing mind games with the opponent. When Sonja uses her normal CO power, she negates the enemy the biggest advantage of playing in Fog of War (the ability to hide your units in forests or reefs), as well as getting even more vision, meaning it becomes nearly impossible to hide your units from her. Her Super CO power makes so you not only won't be able to hide, but also means you can't go on the offensive, as she will demolish your troops if you attack her with the wrong units (for example, normally attacking a full HP Medium Tank with another full HP Medium Tank will result in the opponent losing about 5 HP while you will lose about 3 HP, but attacking a Sonja's full HP Medium Tank with her Super active will most likely result in you losing about 7 HP, since she still has 50% stronger counterattacks).
In Dual Strike, she loses her stronger counterattack, but will always take one terrain star away from the opponent, meaning she changes from being an defensive CO to quite an agressive one, with her CO power taking two and her Super CO power taking three. This makes so it's best to always stay on the offensive instead of defensive. Interestingly enough, this new ability also makes so she counters Lash, by taking away her ability to use terrain stars to boost offense.
As with the previous games, Sonja is primarily useful in fog of war battles. However, due to her ability to reduce enemy terrain bonuses, she is still worth using in normal battles if the enemy is held up on terrain with high defense bonuses, such as mountains or cities.
Quotes
Dual Strike
Power
"My brains will beat your brawn!"
"You are a lot stronger than me but..."
"Get me some fresh intel, stat!"
"You can't hide from me!"
Switch
"Cover me!"
"I'll show you how this is done."
Campaign, Pre-Battle
(Pincer Strike)-
(with Lash)
Lash: "I wonder why they don't just make a ton of those cloned COs? Then they could crank 'em out and let 'em charge! Tee hee!"
Sonja: "That would be futile. Even an entire army of clones couldn't defeat a real CO. What piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! Hmm... I just said something meaningful. Lash! Write that down!"
Final Battle
"So this is it... The power of Black Hole's technology."
(with Sami)
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 confindent 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!"
(with Lash)
Lash: "Do you see that, Sonja? You're looking at the pinnacle of Black Hole technology. It's amazing what science can achieve if you ignore morality and all that noise...Tee hee hee! An unfettered scientific mind could turn men into gods!"
Sonja: "That's why we must stop them. Black Hole has gone too far! If they win, there's no telling what horrors they will unleash!"
Victory
Advanced Wars 2 Black Hole Rising Sonja's theme
This is Sonja's theme song
(with Lash)
Lash: "Tee hee hee! Get to the junkyard, losers!
Sonja: "...Humble. I like that."
(with Kanbei)
Sonja: "I knew we would win. Didn't you, Father?"
Kanbei: "Indeed! Victory was a certainty!"
Kanbei: "I love you, Sonja! Do you hear, world? I love her!"
Sonja: "Father, stop! You're embarrassing me!"
Kanbei: "On to the next battle! Yellow Comet, away!"
Sonja: "Father, wait! You forgot your sword!"
(with Sami)
Sami:"Don't ignore us because we are girls."
Sonja:"Our team is the second to none."
Trivia
- Most players don't know this, due to the change in Sonja's uniform, but she actually studied in Orange Star alongside Sami, like Olaf, both of which had red clothes to showcase this fact.
- It's shown in Advance Wars that Sami has somewhat of a rivalry against Sonja, due to them studying together and probably due to the fact that Sami hates the way Sonja acts (always sporting an air of superiority and disdain towards the enemy) and Sonja gets angry at Sami for not focusing hard enough on her studies.
- In the japanese version, Sonja has glasses, probably to show that she's smart.
- In Dual Strike, Sonja's Tag Power with Kanbei has the strongest increase of the entire game (130%), which makes sense considering they are father and daughter.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yellow Comet | |
| COs: | Grimm | Kanbei | Sensei | Sonja |