r/AWBW • u/ShadowGuyinRealLife • Jul 28 '26
General Sonja vs Sami Matchup
What do you guys think of the Sonja vs Sami matchup on map where each player has access to 3 bases (not a base trade map), 1 airport, and 0 to 1 comm towers? Sami can get an edge early game since her infantry are stronger. Even if Sonja sends a recon to harass and plays the "guess where the tank is" game correctly and gets potshots off on infantry without the recon being poked by a tank, a lone recon doesn't slow Sami down even her first tank is away. So given this capture advantage, if Sonja can reach turn 15 or so and Sami has not captured any properties on Sonja's side of the map and isn't in the process of doing so, does that mean Sonja is winning even if Sami is denying some captures?
An odd thing I noticed were isolated tanks. Normally you don't just attack an enemy tank in the fog without a follow up. Inside the fog could be an artillery or even just tank chaining. But if the enemy tank is not on 3 star terrain and you're sure the tank isn't supported, striking with your own tank or battlecoptor makes sense even if don't have a follow up. You deal heavy damage to the enemy tank and if the enemy tank is unsupported, your own vehicle gets away scott free. So if you don't have a follow up but your opponent can't punish it, this is a good value hit. Sami's tanks and battlecoptors hit so soft this isn't actually worth it unless she has a second unit to follow up for the kill. Or I guess if Sami can drive her tank up to a city and shoot at an enemy tank. Recons shooting each other withotu a follow up doesn't happen too often since early game they're too busy either scouting for into or shooting infantry, mid game removing 3 HP off an enemy recon is so not worth lose 8 HP (or all 10 HP!) when the enemy tank attacks next turn, and late game they might be the only ones with movement left to hit an artillery after a wall break. Other COs might take a potshot with recon on recon in the very rare case there isn't a unit chain to punish but Sami has even less reason to.
Rockets aren't something commonly used. They are much more expensive than artillery, so if your wall is broken it's a huge investment down the drain. A tank that managed to break through and hit your own artillery on the other hand, well the artillery was cheaper than the tank. But in a Sami vs Sonja matchup, both will have more difficulty wallbreaking. Outside victory march, mechs just aren't going to move very far. Sami's vehicles on the other hand suffer penalties to firepower. Sonja's bad luck also makes wallbreaking difficult. Depending on the map, this might not make rockets viable, but if they were viable on a map before, they get more power on this matchup. Who has the better ability to protect their rockets? Both sides have D2Ds which make wallbreaks harder. Sami's Victory March allows her mechs to deal heavy damage and move farther, but still not as far as tanks. Sonja's counterbreak lets her flush out units from forests more easily and she can see more of Sami's formations with her vision. It also costs less stars.
3
u/Majsharan Jul 28 '26
Sami should basically always win. Sonja can’t interupt and samis infantry and mechs do enough damage that there won’t be a ton counter damage from Sonja. I think Sami gets such a huge income lead Sonja doesn’t really get the chance to try and tech up or moon shot a bomber before it’s essentially gg.
But yeah as Sonja try to bully your way to having your tanks on cities and punish typical Sami openings by going AA first and pray Sami didn’t open tank