German developer Bytro Labs has just released Conflict of Nations: World War 3, which is a mobile port of the browser game that has well over a million registered players. Conflict of Nations: World War 3 differs from conventional strategy games on mobile in terms of depth and consideration for the term “real-time”.
The game may not appeal to everyone but should be a good fit for gamers who enjoy strategic planning and tactical execution at its purest form. Conflict of Nations: World War 3 does not just focus on military power alone but also on economic efficiency, technological superiority, and strong alliances borne of diplomacy.
Conflict of Nations: World War 3 sets you off to take command of one nation and its military forces with the goal of global dominance. Utilizing conventional battlefield technology, military tactics, and diplomacy, players are situated in an enormous battlefield where potential allies and enemies are scattered about. Every decision and action counts as each battle lasts as long as any real life global military conflicts should.
Conquering resource spots, continuing territorial expansion, and handling potential threats are just some of the decision points players need to constantly plan for. If you are a fan of modern military-themed strategy games with a high sense of realism, then you certainly need to check Conflict of Nations: World War 3 out!
As Conflict of Nations: World War 3 stands as a unique strategy game even within its genre, the amount of information it may present new players can appear overwhelming. The game does contain a brief tutorial to start things off, but the best way to get accustomed to all its features and the interface itself is to engage in an actual skirmish. As every action or command takes a while to complete, there is more than enough time to venture into exploring as many of the provided in-game data.
If you find yourself confused as to which actions to prioritize over others, or losing the war before you even knew what has transpired, then check out our Conflict of Nations: World War 3 beginner’s guide below!
1. Get To Know Each Nation
On top of each other commander influencing the outcome of war in each game, what guarantees a unique turn of events from the start of each game to its conclusion comes from the selected nation of each player before they join in on the conflict.
As you start or join a new match in Conflict of Nations: World War 3, you will be made to choose one from a large number of countries, each with its own unique traits, map location, and map size. For one, you may want to represent your country for the coming war but then, there will always be an inclination to check what each nation has to offer.
For starters, read through the description provided for each nation as this will indicate what they specialize in as far as military power is concerned. While it certainly take a couple of sessions before you familiarize yourself with the in-game map for its sheer size, at the very least check what each country offers as you may find good use for this information whether some of them become allies or enemies in the game.
One detail you should take note of is the indication on some countries that they are best suited for experienced players. These typically relate to nations that exhibit a lot of military power or popularity in that they are prone to igniting conflict from the bordering nations. As such, especially as a beginner, it is best to stick with smaller countries just so you can secure a much firmer grasp of the game’s basic concepts and features.
Although the goal in Conflict of Nations: World War 3 is to earn as many victory points as you can, which depends on the number of territories you conquer, the size of your starting territory does not necessarily influence its growth. Territorial size both have positive and negative impact on your status.
2. Focus On Research And Production First
There are more than 300 different unit types that can be manufactured and used in Conflict of Nations: World War 3, subject to the limitations of the military doctrine that your nation has. Research applies to all cities within your territory and as each one takes a while to complete, it is best to plan ahead before deciding which ones to initiate first. On top of resources you need to conduct a research, some are locked and will only become available after certain days.
As you await the completion of current research tasks, take time to look onto the other items aligned with the branch of your chosen research as well as the other branches. Research items follow a hierarchy and some can only be done if the previous one has been completed. Some may be more suitable to your current scenario while others may be valuable as surrounding circumstances change. Take note of the needed resources for subsequent target researches as well in line with current amount of resources generated by your city over time.
Beyond completing research and having the needed resources, creating some units will also require building certain structures or facilities. Unlike researches which cuts across your entire nation. Starting cities will be able to build structures independently but all cities utilize the same source of requirements which you can see at the top of your screen. Note that you will replenish resources each day based on what is generated by your territory. The bigger your territory is, the more resources will be available for you for production and mobilization.
Research and production should be a continuous activity, which means that there should always be an activity lodged on your nation’s research queues and that you are always producing something. At some point, you will have more than enough units to mobilize and will perhaps be inclined to launch an attack. Before you do, however, there are still plenty of preparations left to do before you start mobilizing your troops.
3. Familiarize Yourself With Surrounding Territories
Every nation starts off keeping diplomatic ties with surrounding nations although you will certainly be at war with at least one. Given the number of nations available in the game, it may happen that some are merely A.I.-controlled and not commanded by an actual player. As pre-requisite for formulating your survival or domination strategy, take some time to look into the performance and standing of each nation.
Nations you are in conflict with can easily be spotted on the map as they will appear red in contrast with the bluish or greenish shade that diplomatic nations exhibit. You can have a quick look at some details of each nation thru the diplomacy icon at the lower left side of your screen. There are various ways to sort the list and you can change the order by tapping on the sort field.
Important details to look into are your victory points in relation to every other players’ victory points. This can tell you which ones are actively conquering new territory and which ones may not be as active. The number of cities occupied by a nation can tell you how much resources they have and beyond that, look into provinces belonging to that nation as well.
You can also check on the average morale, the capital, and which other countries they are at war with by tapping on the nation icon. Considering all the information you can gather here, one of the most important will not be available, and this relates to that nation’s military power. You can secure these information through intel gathering, which we will get into later on, but for now, use whatever information you have on all other nations to device your immediate and long-term plan of action.
You have to look into the top-performing nations, specifically their locations on the map relative to yours. As you begin to conduct research and production of various units, you should aim for expansion based on how the entire map is developing. In addition to plans for conquering new territories, mobilization of troops should also include setting up viable defenses on edges of your map towards where potential threats are likely to come from.
4. Maintain Valuable Diplomacy And Enter Into Coalitions
Engaging in actual war is without a doubt the single most exciting aspect of every military-themed strategy game. While you need to engage in it as a means of expanding your territory and earning more victory points as well as resources, extra care and preparation is needed before committing your troops to march towards outside territory.
With regard to expansion of your territory, your immediate concern rests on the regions around your nation. For starters, these regions can potentially make it difficult for you to make progress and move forward. As you are likely to start with diplomatic ties with these regions, it will be beneficial for you to maintain your diplomatic relations with each of them as much as you can.
Having diplomatic ties with neighboring countries can give both you and the other nation a sense of peace although it does not prevent you or them from launching a surprise attack at any time. Caution should still be taken into consideration as war tends to leave little value for ethical standards and adherence to agreements. As you continue to make progress in terms of military power, resources, and victory points, keep a close eye on every nation around you as far as these factors are concerned as well.
In most cases, diplomatic ties will just keep potential enemies at bay and is just the first step towards helping you make progress through the game. As you begin to eye potential areas for expansion, it can happen that your resources, especially military units, may not be sufficient to launch an attack against an enemy territory. In such cases, the best way to do move forward is to join a coalition. You can create your own coalition or join an existing one via the coalition tab in the diplomacy window. A coalition can have a maximum of 3 players in flashpoint games and 5 players in WW3 games.
It can be advantageous to join an existing coalition if you can find one that suits your needs. There are, however, no extra costs in creating your own coalition. As far as requirements are concerned any player can join any coalition provided that they are not already a member of another coalition and that they are not at war with any of its members.
Being in a coalition paves way for easier conquering of new territory and members of the coalition will share in the victory points earned for territories they claim in behalf of the coalition. While the basic idea is to stick with the coalition as far as you can it may still come to a point where each nation must go their separate ways to proceed with the rest of the war as they please.
Always ensure that what you are getting out of being in a coalition is more than what you would on your own as efficiency in terms of resource management and territorial expansion is an important factor to consider to win the war.
5. Keep Your Nation’s Morale High
Your role as a commander of a nation does not limit your responsibilities to your troops alone. As each city under your control slowly grows in population, you need to continue maintaining a high enough level of morale to ensure, at the very least, a stable progression rate towards your goals. It may not be a common aspect of most strategy games on mobile, but morale plays a critical role in your overall performance in Conflict of Nation: World War 3.
To start off, each city you have within your territory produces resources regularly. The amount of resources produced over time is impacted by the morale of your people within that city. As you will receive a morale boost at the start of the game, the goal is to at least keep it at that level or increase it as much as you can. Morale also affects the troops mobilization and while moving troops around is already based on real time, there will be a noticeable boost in their movement if the city where troops originate from have higher morale.
Having low morale, on the other hand will make both resource-production and troop-mobilization slower. The biggest threat that comes from low morale, however are insurgencies or uprisings and rebellions within your nation. As you already have other nations that serve as a threat to your nation’s security, having more from within the country is something you definitely want to avoid.
While you may consider the average morale within your country as good measure of whether or not you should make an effort to boost it further, you should pay close attention as well to each city and their respective levels of morale.
What makes insurgents a huge concern is not the city itself where rebellion arises. Rather, leaving them unchecked can cause insurgencies to spread across to neighboring provinces and expand much like a plague. Under normal circumstances, the level of morale within your original territory is easy enough to maintain or increase, given that an increase in population over time and the construction of new structures positively contribute to the city’s morale.
What you should keep a close eye on, is the morale of regions or areas you wish to conquer, as any province or city following a war naturally starts off with low morale under new rule.
Relative to this, going into war with any nation inflicts damage to your nation’s overall morale, most particularly, nations that you have diplomatic ties to begin with. Initiating war always has its toll on your population in contrast with reactively defending your territory. Regardless of your means conquering new territory, the fact that you initiated the attack will always have its negative impact on the people’s morale and that is something you always need to keep in consideration.
Still on the issue of morale, you should take note of your military units’ respective combat properties by tapping on each of them within their division. Note that each unit has distinct attack values against different types of military units and structures. At the bottom of the list, however, you will see their damage against civilian population, and considering morale, utilizing combat units that deal the smallest amount of damage against civilians is the priority choice.
Motorized infantry for example, may deal a value of 2 as damage to inhabitants of cities while modern ballistic missiles can deal 30. With this, you may want to consider the harsh impact on morale caused by weapons of mass destruction.
6. Always Plan Several Steps Ahead
As we mentioned earlier, Conflict of Nations: World War 3 is not entirely about which nation is the most powerful. Regardless of your territory’s size and how many military units you have at your disposal, winning and losing will constantly be an equal possibility. This naturally be further influenced by factors like morale, alliances, and most importantly, how you strategize given your current situation as well as your forecast of the things to come.
Strategy is huge part of the game, perhaps more than what other strategy games have to offer. If a neighboring ally is amassing power more than you do, planning is involved on how you can deal with the fact. You can exert more effort towards strengthening your alliance with that commander, choose to deploy troops closer to the border between your nations, or both. It depends on your preferences and instincts as to which decision will work better for you.
A more subtle approach towards preparing for potential attacks is the use of intel gathering. There are agents you can hire and deploy to other nations to have a more concrete idea of certain information you can use against them. These agents can also wreak havoc on other nations through corruption and negatively impact resource production or population morale. Lastly espionage agents can also be utilized to sabotage a nation’s infrastructure and lead to a delay in construction of new buildings or mobilization of troops.
As far as research, construction, and mobilization goes, planning the next steps should be a constant consideration for you to ensure a steady flow of productivity and avoid wastage of valuable resources. In terms of production, you can always queue in subsequent projects per city. It is not entirely a matter of what structures you need but also where you need those structures to be. This will depend on your overall territory that you need to plan ahead for. Given the resource cost of each structure you build and the time it takes to complete each one, you would want to ensure that you are only building what is necessary.
Mobilization of land troops can also take some time. Suppose you decided for a division to wage war on another nation, you can queue in next step actions. You can choose to plan for subsequent attacks or command retreat after the attack is done. As far as deployment is concerned, terrain can be a factor as well in determining a specific unit’s efficiency in combat. You can check for the terrain’s impact on a military unit’s HP, speed, or range by tapping the unit within their division.
In terms of conducting research, feel free to look into the units or upgrades that will unlock on succeeding days. It is important to note that you need to achieve the prerequisite research before engaging in more advanced ones. Given as well that the research tree is broad and consumes a lot of time to complete each task, you should identify early on the path of research nodes you are aiming for as early as you can.
There are still a lot of details you need to read as you play Conflict of Nations: World War 3 but for now, this is where we end our beginner’s guide. Be sure to spend some time getting to know more details within the in-game menus as you wait for actions to complete. If you have played the game extensively enough and would like to share your own tips and strategies with us, do not hesitate to do so and send us a note in the comment area!