Loadout Selection and Battle Strategy

How to choose the optimal loadout for a mission and how to use your units effectively during battle.

Introduction

Hi everyone!

This is a guide designed to help you choose the optimal loadout on missions in Warpips and effectively use those units. I have tested this guide on General difficulty, but it will also work on lower difficulties.

Initial Considerations

• Enemy Units (see specific counters)
  
• Your units - Try to conserve your best units and avoid overkill
  
• Map Length- For long maps, use snipers and vehicles. For short maps, use base defence turrets and heavy gunners.
  
• Difficulty - Maps with higher stars spawn more enemies than maps with lower stars. Even if the enemy units seem weak, you can still get overwhelmed on high difficulty missions.
  
• Timing of enemy waves

Recommended Upgrade Path

1. Both arms dealer upgrades - to get access to vehicles, airstrikes, oil barrels and base defence turrets as early as possible and to top up your stock of heavy gunners and tear gas
2. Armor Plating - very important for surviving on island 2 and 3
3. Deployment logistics - very important for surviving on island 2 and 3
4. Pip supply - By getting this upgrade you can focus on using your medallions on cash upgrades and ranking up units instead of upgrading pip supply during battle
5. Extended Salvo- fairly cheap and useful
6. Modular construction - mainly for pumpjacks, oil derricks and TOWs

The Battle

Early Game

Defend and possibly get some quick kills (for xp) by using tear gas or missiles. If you’re using vehicles, focus on unlocking them ASAP. Consider using warpips, pipsqueak, shield, sniper, constructable turrets, and/or base defence turrets during this stage.

Unlock and Deploy Win Condition (skip on low difficulty maps)

Win conditions are generally heavy gunners (late island 1 - early island 2) or vehicles (late island 2 - island 3). Use barrels / trade medals for cash to buy them if necessary.

Expand Your Frontline

Go on the offensive by pushing forward. The aim of this stage is not to completely destroy the enemy, but to gain a lot of xp for your final attack. Solidify your advantage by deploying pumpjacks, oil derricks, ranking up your units, and getting cash upgrades.

Final Attack

Try to time your final attack so that it does not occur during an enemy wave. However, sometimes attacking during a wave is necessary.

If you decide to attack during a wave, send your units in groups (so that your units aren’t seriously outnumbered) and in several of your own waves if necessary.

If you are not attacking during an enemy wave - maintain constant pressure by sending one large group and then deploying individual reinforcements once the main group suffers casualties (getting outnumbered is not really a concern in this case).

Specific Counters

Enemy Unit	Recommended Counters
Basic Infantry (including Warmule and UAZ)	Warpips, Pipsqueaks, Puma, LRV, sniper, tear gas, base defence turrets
Gas Pip	Puma, LRV, Heavy Gunner, small turret
RPG	Tank, Heavy Gunner
Sharpshooter	Vehicles, heavy gunner, smoke, drone strike
Buggy	TOW, heavy gunner, Vehicles
Howitzer	Airstrike, IC7 missile, drone strike
Sniper Tower	TOW, Vehicles, Heavy Gunner, Airstrike
Anti-Infantry Jeep	Puma, LRV, TOW, Heavy Gunner
Tank	Tank, missiles
Heroes	Vehicles, smoke, drone strike, tactician
Landmines	Tear gas, smoke grenades, drone strike

Tips and Unit Specific Strategies

General Tips

• The range boost from defence mode can be used offensively by allowing your units to get the first strike on the enemy in an engagement
  
• The accuracy boost from attack mode can be used defensively by allowing your units to quickly kill invading units
  
• Do not use more than one vehicle on any single map (except the final mission of island 2 and 3 - where I recommend the tank + LRV combo)
  
• If in doubt, add drone strikes, dumbfire missiles, tear gas, smoke grenades or barrel to your loadout

Infantry Tips

Pipsqueaks

• Good auxiliary force, but relying on them as your main force is risky
  
• They are extremely weak at rank 0, so prioritise getting them to rank 1 / 2

Warpips

• Good for early game defence (2-3 can hold off most infantry attacks)
  
• When using them as a standalone force, focus on upgrading pip supply so that you can use them in large numbers (6 - 10 units per attack)
  
• They do not benefit much from ranking up

Heavy Gunner

• Good multipurpose unit, but slow moving
  
• Win condition for islands 1 and 2
  
• Focus on getting the cash upgrade in the early game. Then trade medallions for cash when you want to attack.
  
• A group of 3 - 6 is usually enough to overpower the enemy and win

Sniper

• Situational anti-infantry support unit
  
• Do not use them on short maps or maps with an early enemy wave

Shield Pips

• Good for stalling the enemy
  
• Time when you spawn your units so that the shield pip is in front of your main force

Tactician

• Not very reliable, but powerful if it gets a lucky artillery strike

Vehicle Tips

LRV

• Good on long maps, where there is enough time and space to spawn lots of warpips
  
• Focus on getting them to rank 1. Rank 2 is not necessary.

Puma

• Good multipurpose unit
  
• Focus on ranking them up to rank 2 ASAP
  
• Do not use on maps with enemy RPGs or Tanks

Tanks

• Very powerful, although weaker vs infantry compared to LRVs and Pumas
  
• When against massed infantry, focus on ranking them up to rank 1
  
• When against other tanks, focus on ranking them up to rank 2

Consumables and Turrets

Dumbfire missiles

• Good for getting quick kills in the early game

Tear Gas

• Strong against infantry waves
  
• Blanket the enemy spawn point or chokepoints (e.g. bridge) with gas
  
• Can be used to set off mines

Smoke Grenades

• Enhance the survivability of your units
  
• Can set off mines

Drone Strike

• Expensive but relatively common compared to IC7 and airstrike
  
• Low damage to vehicles
  
• Very good for setting off mines
  
• Use on sharpshooters, large clusters of enemies, howitzers

IC7

• Very powerful anti-howitzer and anti-tank option

Airstrike

• Similar to IC7, although less effective due to longer unlock period

TOW

• Good for early game defence vs. buggies, anti-infantry jeeps, Warmule and UAZ
  
• Use in groups of 2 or 3
  
• Can be used to distract the enemy

Barrel / Barrels

• On difficult missions, use these two items together to get lots of cash

[Captain Norrec]

I'd kinda like to add on that while snipers are situational, because of their 100% accuracy, high range and damage, they end up being genuinely good counters to hero units. If anything, they're just amazing in general for curbing the horde, especially since they're one of the few types that doesn't laserfocus the base when close enough. A full team of them can arguably hold the line for much longer than the same number or even double of regular warpips. Only times they genuinely suck is when there's vehicles involved, but then you just bring along other hard counters for those things.

[Hugh-G-Rection]

nice guide

[Carvernon]

I feel like you underestimate snipers and tacticians. Tacts plus pipsqueaks are a great, cheap, early game unit. Tacs plus marines are also viable even on island 2. Otherwise, great guide.

[Duri (Laptop-Zombie)]

Needs an refresh, the Guide is too old

[Ctrekoz]

I hope Gas Dude will get nerfed by the way, he is way too tanky. Well, if he's intended to be like an enemy's Heavy Gunner then it fits, don't take him lightly.

Also have you forgot about dogs? Anti-infantry in overall and counter to heroes.

[Ctrekoz]

Snipers are fine againt Gas Dudes too, but i've found the most success with Tactician, the latter's ability oneshots Gas Dude. Actually, he is very reliable, at least at defending your base, since his artillery strike has extreme range (so he remains safe) and he always targets the biggest group, you can easily predict. The thing is that you purposefuly need to let enemy stack units without killing them too soon, for example waiting for them to come close to your base then spawn a Tactician, or when you're launching an offense don't use range and accuracy boost before he calls the strike. Killing stacks of infantry with him is easy since extreme range of the strike, for vehicles like buggies you need someone to hold the front while they stack, like Shield Dude. Also, when Tactician uses his ability but red arrows are not yet appeared, if the closest biggest group to him is destroyed, his ability will automatically re-target to the next one.