Combat in EndWar functions at a basic level through the "Combat Chain" which can be compared to Rock, Paper, Scissors except with Tanks, Gunships, APCs. This can offset by veteranship, upgrades, or shear numbers, but in general gunships should be hunting for tanks and avoiding APCs. Additionally, artillery will decimate ground units at range but has little defense against units up close or gunships.

Engineers are vulnerable in the open but can fight off vehicles when they're in cover. Engineers move slowly and are slow to capture uplinks, but can upgrade uplinks quickly and lay minefields or drone units. Infantry can quickly capture uplinks and can remove engineers from cover, but are slow to upgrade uplinks and don't have the firepower to hold out against vehicles.

Command Vehicles provide access to the SITREP and can deploy drone units or UAVs. They are slow and should be put in the center of the map and behind your front line.

Finally, Command Points are slowly generated over time and are granted when capturing uplinks. They can be used to call in reinforcements, airstrikes, force recon, cyber attacks, or move the deployment zone.

The goal of Assault is to eliminate all enemy units. The match may start with some uplinks in your possession and with friendly AI infantry to support you.

Mobility Strategy:

One strategy is to maximize gunship and APC usage for hit and run attacks. As the fastest units in the game, you can use them in groups to ambush lone enemy units of any type, defeat them, and then retreat to recharge your shields. Have one engineer unit in the rear to capture/upgrade uplinks. Do not capture more than half of the uplinks or the enemy will be authorized WMDs. You will be able to whittle down your opponent no matter what composition of troops they use.

Hard Point Strategy:

Identify key areas of the map based on chokepoints (natural and manmade), possible cover, avenues of approach, and uplink locations. Utilize APCs, tanks, artillery, and engineers to set up a defensive line as close to the center of the map as is feasible. Mass firepower on chokepoints and use gunships for quick reaction to enemy movement and for chasing retreating enemies. If the enemy begins to overwhelm your line, have a fallback line established as well; use airstrikes to cover your withdrawal in that case.

In Conquest, the goal is to control the majority of the uplinks to win. At the start of the match you will have no uplinks in your possession, but you will have friendly AI infantry to support you. Once you have captured more than half of the uplinks, the losing side will be authorized to use WMDs and crash one uplink. You can also win by defeating all enemy units.

Rush Strategy:

One strategy is to use speed to capture the majority of the uplinks and try to hold out until the countdown ends. You need infantry riding in APCs and supported by gunships. You can stand and fight off enemy infantry and engineers, but larger forces should be avoided. The mobility of APCs and gunships should allow you to flank the enemy and capture uplinks in their rear. Even if they start recapturing uplinks, you will be able to react quickly to the situation. Just keep your units spread out so they don't all get destroyed when the enemy inevitably uses their WMDs.

Bleed Strategy:

Another strategy is to win by defeating all the enemy units. You can either establish hard points or use hit and run ambushes to achieve this. It is important to not capture more than half the uplinks for this strategy so that the enemy can't use WMDs on you.

Raid is won by the attacking player by destroying more than half of the objectives within the time limit and won by the defending player by protecting at least half of the objectives when time runs out, or won by either player who defeats all enemy units. The defender will have drone units protecting each objective.

Attack - Swarm:

The most practical strategy is to mass firepower against one objective at a time. This will reduce the amount of time spent on the attack and also reduce the amount of time the enemy has to react to your attack. Tanks, artillery, and gunships are best for attacking objectives. If the enemy is able to stop your attack, you will be at risk of losing when the time runs out.

Attack - Spread:

Another offensive strategy is to task organize your forces for multiple objectives. By attacking multiple objectives at once, your enemy will not be able to effectively defend every objective. Again use tanks, artillery, and gunships. Be aware that each attack will take longer to destroy the objective and the enemy may choose to focus on just one objective to defend. If your units are getting overwhelmed, don't haphazardly throw them away, retreat and regroup to use them as support on another objective.

Defend - Hard Points:

Each objective is a natural hard point with the addition of a friendly drone unit. Pick the forward-most objectives and establish defenses around them with tanks and APCs. Use engineers to lay minefields along avenues of approach between the forward-most objectives and those directly behind them, then put the engineers in cover behind the minefields. Even if your defensive line gets overwhelmed, you can fall back and maximize enemy casualties against the second defensive line.

Defend - Counter Swarm:

Similar to the offensive swarm, the defensive swarm focuses on one objective at a time to overwhelm the attackers. While this could result in a lost objective somewhere, it generally guarantees the defense of whichever one you focus on. Gunships and APCs for speed are ideal.

The goal of Siege is to control the capital uplink and defeat all enemy units. The defender has no reinforcements for a set time.

Attack - Blitz:

Due to the initial reinforcement limit on the defender, one strategy is to try to overwhelm the capital uplink from the start. You will need a combination of artillery, gunships, and APCs. You must attempt to push your infantry through the enemy positions and then defend them until time runs out. Wisely choose which enemy units to focus on during the push, especially those that are targeting your infantry.

Attack - Lure:

Another strategy is to bait the enemy units into chasing you, and then sneaking your infantry behind them in an APC. This is risky as your infantry will have limited support capturing the capital uplink, however once the enemy realizes the situation and turns around, you can try to keep them pinned down until the timer runs out.

Defend - Hard Point:

For defense, the simplest strategy is to turn the capital uplink into a hard point. Use engineers to lay minefields out front and then take cover. Create a defensive line in front of and behind the capital uplink. You have to hold out until additional reinforcements are granted, then you can go on the offense to defeat the enemy units.

Defend - Attack:

You can also win by defeating all enemy units. Using groups of gunships to hunt for the enemy is effective, while artillery defends the capital uplink.

Once you've upgraded an uplink and amassed enough Command Points, you can use them to call in various support. You are also limited on which support you can use based on which and how many upgraded uplinks you have. You can also deny the enemy their support by capturing or destroying their uplinks.

Personally, I never use the EMPs. However, they are effective at freezing enemy units long enough to defeat them.

Typically, I invest heavily in Force Recon and have one uplink for airstrikes. Force recon is great for establishing hard points or disrupting enemy movement or access to uplinks.

One of the best tips is to maximize veterancy. While veterans are powerful and important, you must rotate them off the front lines to keep them from being killed and allowing other units to gain experience. Once a unit goes red (down to 2 pips) you should evacuate them from the battlefield.

Hopefully this guide gave you a "lightbulb".