Xanari Crew

Thumbnail featuring the first batch of custom COs. (Not pictured: Xanderbot.)

Thumbnail featuring the second batch of custom COs.

Xanari Crew - AW2 Rules (mods/xanari_aw2) is a mod for Commander Wars made by XnKradst, adding a cast of custom COs, along with some War Room maps. It is a remake of Xanari Crew (mods/the_xanari_crew), an older mod of the same name. Unlike its predecessor, which was made with Commander Wars' default Days of Ruin-like rules in mind; this mod was instead designed around Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising's rules, as its name suggests. Therefore, it is bundled with a separate mod that enforces this rule set. It also takes a more minimalist approach to design, currently featuring a smaller, but overall more polished roster compared to the original.

The first release was posted on October 30th, 2022, with a minor update four days later on November 3rd.

A major update to version 2 was released on September 5th, 2023. This update added 14 more COs, made changes to the existing 12, among other miscellaneous additions like a custom battle background for the custom faction's HQ. It also features half of an unfinished second War Room.

A smaller update was released on January 28th, 2024. This update fixed a few bugs and re-implemented CO zones, thereby improving compatibility with Commander Wars' default play style.

The latest version can be downloaded here.

Differences from the original

Unlike the original mod, which featured more than custom COs (buildings, units, weather and a perk); the new mod currently features only 26 COs (out of the approximately 40 from the original), nearly all of whom have their designs simplified in order to make them more intuitive. They also have new sprites that are more in line with the Advance Wars art style. Custom "signature units" have been removed, and most CO powers are specifically coded to grant a 10% defense boost by default.

Until version 2.1 re-added them, CO zones were also absent in order to keep the designs simplistic. CO-specific units may be re-implemented at a later date.

Both mods feature their own set of War Room-style maps. The new mod's War Room makes use of the world map feature, making it closer to a custom campaign without story.

Roster

As the mod is supposed to be its own separate thing, none of the factions follow the Advance Wars naming convention of a color and a celestial object. There are only 2 major factions (Xanari and Epinger) that are divided into smaller factions, similar to how Commander Wars separates the Bolt Guard from Black Hole.

List of COs and Factions

Blaze's Team/Mercenaries (BT)	Xanari Intelligence (XI)	Outer Xanari (OX)	Destin's Alliance (DA)	Epinger Squad (ES)	Epinger Nation (EN)	Core Xanari Crew (XC)
Blaze	Cindee	Lumi	Tynia	Zaiu	Lio	Nana
Jill	Tomasu	Chelsen	Dekkar	Embrie		Rick
Rocky	Sonny			Grigori		Sally
Drayke	Cyphir					Drac
June	Leona*					Kairo
	Troy*					Xander*
						Xanderbot*

* Locked by default.

COs (First Batch)

Blaze

Day-to-Day: Indirect units have no minimal range, allowing them to fire at point-blank range. They can also counter-attack direct units, but all of Blaze's units suffer more damage from counter-attacks (-20% defense).

CO Zone (1-3): Direct units can attack one space ahead for half the damage they normally deal.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Distant Shooting" - All direct units can fire one space ahead even after moving, but when firing this way, they inflict only half the damage they would normally deal.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Direct Sniping" - All direct units can fire two spaces ahead even after moving, but when firing this way, they inflict slightly less damage than they normally do (losing a third of the overall damage) than they normally do.

Jill

Day-to-Day: All units gain 10% firepower for every space between their starting position and the target. However, direct vehicles start with a -20% firepower penalty.

CO Zone (2-4): All units have +20% firepower.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Goose Chase" - Direct units can move one space farther. Indirect units can fire one space farther.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "War Hunt" - All units can move one space farther. Indirect units can move and fire on the same turn, but doing so deducts 30% from their overall firepower.

Rocky

Day-to-Day: All units have 20% more defense, but this bonus is always halved for foot soldiers. Anything with more than 4 movement points by default has -1 movement.

CO Zone (2-4): All units have +20% defense.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Turtle Power" - Defense rises by 20% (10% for foot soldiers).

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Stone Wall" - Defense rises by 20% (10% for foot soldiers). All units receive a terrain star, and an additional star if on a property (regardless of who owns it).

Sonny

Day-to-Day: When attacking, the friendly unit behind the attacker is healed for 1 HP. This also applies when counter-attacking.

CO Zone (2-4): Attacks deal 1 HP of damage to all units behind the enemy, up to 3 spaces ahead. Allied units in the opposite direction heal 1 HP.

CO Power (4 Stars): "Pierce Shot" - All direct attacks deal 1 HP of splash damage to enemies behind the target, up to 5 spaces in a straight line. Friendly units in the opposite direction heal 1 HP (also up to 5 spaces).

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Pierce Blast" - All direct attacks deal 1 HP of splash damage to enemies behind the target in a straight line across the entire map. Friendly units in the opposite direction heal 1 HP.

Cyphir

Day-to-Day: All units have the ability to capture, but non-foot soldiers are half as efficient (5 capture points per turn at max health) and loses 50% defense when doing so.

CO Zone (2-4): Captures always deduct an additional 3 points from a property, regardless of HP.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Shady Seizure" - Firepower rises by 10%. Captures deduct an additional 5 points off a property, regardless of health.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Sudden Takeover" - All units can move one space farther. Captures deduct an additional 5 points off a property, regardless of health. If capturing drops a (non-HQ) property's capture points below 11, that property turns neutral.

Embrie

Day-to-Day: Each consecutive attack against the same enemy unit on the same turn has 40% more firepower than the last.

CO Zone (2-4): All units have +10% firepower, while enemy units inside have -20% defense.

CO Power (2 Stars): "Head in the Game" - All units gain 20% firepower and defense, but as soon as her turn ends, they instead lose 20% firepower and defense until her next turn. All land units can move one space farther.

Super CO Power (6 Stars): "Maximum Concentration" - All units gain 40% firepower and defense until she ends her turn. All land units can move two spaces farther.

Grigori

Day-to-Day: Units have 20% more firepower if they start outside the enemy's vision range. Units on terrain with less than two terrain stars lose 10% defense.

CO Zone (1-3): Indirect units inside can fire twice, but they deal only half damage. (If the indirect unit has already fired once, moving the zone away does NOT remove the half damage penalty for its second shot.)

CO Power (3 Stars): "Dead-Eye" - Enemy vision is reduced by one point. All indirect units can fire twice.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Shots in the Dark" - Enemy vision is reduced TO one point. All indirect units can fire thrice.

Nana

Day-to-Day: All units have 5% less defense. Units stun enemy units if killed by counter-attack. When attacking a stunned unit, firepower rises significantly and she takes no counter-attack damage.

CO Zone (0-2): All units paralyze the enemy just by attacking them.

CO Power (5 Stars): "Freeze Ray" - Her HQ and all production facilities each fire 4 beams of laser, stunning the first unit hit by each beam. Firepower rises by 20%.

Super CO Power (9 Stars): "Numbing Laser" - Her HQ, all production facilities AND cities each fire 4 beams of laser, stunning the first unit hit by each beam. Firepower rises by 40%.

Rick

Day-to-Day: All units have 10% less defense, but they recover 1 HP at the start of every turn.

CO Zone (2-4): All units recover an additional 1 HP at the start of his turn.

CO Power (4 Stars): "Healthy March" - All foot soldiers fully recover.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Universal Cure" - All foot soldiers fully recover, while everything else recovers 4 HP.

Drac

Day-to-Day: All units gain 5% firepower for each round of ammo and every 5 points of fuel missing from the target.

CO Zone (2-4): All enemy units take 1 HP of damage at the start of his turn.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Vengeful Spirit" - All enemy units lose 20% of fuel and 2 rounds of ammo. Enemy APCs are stunned.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Infernal Judgment" - All enemy units lose 60% of fuel and 3 rounds of ammo. Enemy APCs are stunned.

Xander

Day-to-Day: All units have 50% more firepower, but 50% less defense. Units cost 10% more to build, but they can act immediately, allowing a single factory to deploy as many units as he can afford.

CO Zone (2-4): All units have normal defense (as opposed to his usual -50%).

CO Power (5 Stars): "Mass Production" - All units cost 20% less than their normal price, and firepower rises by 150%.

Super CO Power (10 Stars): "Superior Strength" - All units cost 40% less than their normal price, and firepower rises by 150%. Damaged units will instantly kill anything they can hit.

Xanderbot

Day-to-Day: At the start of each turn, Xanderbot randomly picks one of the other COs (from this mod), and uses their day-to-day abilities.

CO Zone: No CO zone.

CO Power (1 Star) - Activates the CO Power of the currently chosen CO.

Super CO Power (2 Stars) - Activates the Super CO Power of the currently chosen CO.

COs (Second Batch)

Drayke

Day-to-Day: All direct units have 40% more firepower if they attack without moving.

CO Zone (1-3): All units have +30% firepower.

CO Power (4 Stars): "Batter Up" - Direct vehicles (not foot soldiers) can attack again from the same position after attacking, but they cannot move.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Drive-by Maneuver" - All direct vehicles are loaded with a temporary, full HP Mech that can act when dropped. These Mechs despawn at the end of the turn, regardless if they have been dropped or not.

June

Day-to-Day: Indirect units can counter ranged enemy attacks, and they have 30% more defense against those attacks.

CO Zone (1-3): Indirect units have +1 range.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Safety Measures" - Enemy indirect units suffer the same amount of damage they deal to June's direct units, even if they destroy. The enemy indirect can also be destroyed from this.

Super CO Power (6 Stars): "Defensive Shelling" - All indirect units gain an additional 30% defense (stacks with the day-to-day 30% against enemy indirect attacks only). They also gain extra fire range equal to their terrain stars plus one.

Chelsen

Day-to-Day: The entire map is treated like a checkerboard, and the top-left tile is black. Units on a tile marked as "black" gain 20% firepower and lose 20% defense, while the opposite is true for units on "white" tiles.

CO Zone (3-5): All units have +10% firepower and +10% defense.

CO Power (2 Stars): "The Old Switcheroo" - Inverts all tile colors. They stay inverted until this power is used again.

Super CO Power (6 Stars): "Reversal of Cards" - Enemy units receive a 40% penalty on either their firepower or defense, depending on their tile's color. Units on "black" tiles lose firepower, while units on "white" tiles lose defense. (Note that in the event the enemy is also Chelsen but has inverted tile colors, this power still depends on the Chelsen player using the power.)

Lumi

Day-to-Day: Naval units, and any non-naval units in their vision range have 20% more firepower and 10% more defense. Naval units can also act immediately when built. (Ports cannot build multiple units a turn.)

CO Zone (2-4): Naval units have +20% defense and +2 vision.

CO Power (4 Stars): "Naval Wave" - Spawns 4 HP Submarines on every port she owns if possible, ready to act. Additionally, all land or air units near any form of water terrain gain another 20% firepower and 10% defense.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Tropical Storm" - Naval prices are cut in half, while all enemy land units not on a property or mountain suffer 3 HP of damage. Additionally, all land or air units near any form of water terrain gain another 20% firepower and 10% defense.

Cindee

Day-to-Day: Units have -5% firepower and defense, unless they are within 3 spaces of a property she owns. If within range, they gain 2% firepower and defense for each space closer to the property (up to 8% on the property itself). Bonuses from multiple nearby properties stack.

CO Zone (1-3): All units have +10% firepower and +10% defense. The zone's range and effects are doubled if the CO unit is on a property.

CO Power (3 Stars): "City Girl" - Bonuses from properties are doubled. (Units 3 spaces away get 4%, units on her properties get 16%). Additionally, all enemy units on her properties are stunned for a turn.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Homeland Advantage" - Properties grant bonuses up to 7 spaces away. This practically gives units within the original range more than double their original bonus, as the new "edge" of 7 spaces grant 2% to units, while units on properties receive 16%.

Tomasu

Day-to-Day: Start with a global -10% firepower. Every time a unit is ordered to wait, firepower rises by 10% for all units. Every time a unit attacks, global firepower drops back to -10% after battle.

CO Zone (2-4): Waiting a unit inside the zone increases his firepower by 30% (instead of 10% on his day-to-day).

CO Power (3 Stars): "Aura Reserves" - All foot soldiers can act again, but they can only wait in place.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Mystical Surge" - All foot soldiers can act again, but they cannot capture. Firepower rises by 20% instead when units are ordered to wait.

Tynia

Day-to-Day: Ground vehicles can move one space farther if they start the turn on a road or a production facility (including ports and airports).

CO Zone (2-4): Terrain inside the zone have their movement costs dropped to 1 for all of her units. (Note that this does not mean the CO unit itself has permanent perfect movement, it's only unhindered by tiles inside the zone's current position before moving.)

CO Power (3 Stars): "Road Rage" - Roads grant one defense star to ground vehicles. Ground vehicles gain 5% firepower per defense star traversed before attacking.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Trails of Flame" - Roads grant one defense star to all land units, including foot soldiers. These units are unhindered by terrain, and gain 10% firepower per defense star traversed before attacking.

Dekkar

Day-to-Day: All units start with 30% more firepower and 20% more defense, but their stats are reduced depending on the number of units surrounding them and their target. (Units lose 5% defense for every other unit within 2 tiles of their position, and lose 5% firepower for every other unit within 2 tiles of the enemy's position. All units count towards this regardless of owner, the only exceptions are the two units involved in battle.)

CO Zone (0): The CO unit has +50% firepower and +50% defense. Zone range is static.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Silent Takedown" - The day-to-day ability ignores damaged units and foot soldiers when reducing stats.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Severing Blade" - The day-to-day ability ignores only damaged units when reducing stats, but all attacks deal 1 HP of splash damage to any other unit adjacent to the target, regardless of alliance.

Zaiu

Day-to-Day: All units have perfect vision, at the cost of -1 vision for anything with 5 or more vision by default.

CO Zone (2-4): All units have -20% defense, but accumulate power charge about 70% faster than normal.

CO Power (4 Stars): "Remote Control" - Firepower rises by 10%. Temporarily takes control of a small group of enemy units (like a small, 1 radius meteor affecting up to 5 units). These units are returned to their respective owners at the end of his turn.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Cyber Hijacking" - Firepower rises by 30%. Temporarily takes control of 30% of all enemy armies combined, prioritizing expensive units. These units are returned to their respective owners at the end of his turn.

Lio

Day-to-Day: Enemy units that defeat Lio's units are tagged with a special icon, even if it was a counter attack. Lio's units have 30% more firepower against tagged units.

CO Zone (1-3): Enemy units inside are tagged at the start of her turn.

CO Power (2 Stars): "Forged Warrant" - Lio's units can tag enemy units just by attacking them this turn.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Arbitrary Justice" - All currently tagged units suffer 2 HP of damage and are untagged in the process, while all currently untagged units are tagged.

Kairo

Day-to-Day: Units attacking from terrain with more defense stars than the opponent have 30% more firepower.

CO Zone (1-3): All non-air units gain 3 extra terrain stars.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Seismic Shock" - Enemy units receive no defense from terrain this turn.

Super CO Power (7 Stars): "Grand Earthquake" - Enemy units suffer damage equal to their defense stars.

Sally

Day-to-Day: Units take no damage from any attack that would have dealt 15% or less damage.

CO Zone (2-4): All units negate enemy attacks that deal less than 35% damage.

CO Power (4 Stars): "Relief Force" - Units take no damage from any attack that would have dealt 30% or less damage.

Super CO Power (9 Stars): "Savior Shield" - Units take no damage from any attack that is not powerful enough to destroy them.

Leona

Day-to-Day: All units have 5% less firepower. Damaged units deal 20% true damage (flat damage) if they either have exactly 7 HP left, or if their HP matches the opponent's HP. If both conditions are met, deal 40% true damage.

CO Zone (2-4): All units have +20% luck.

CO Power (3 Stars): "Chaotic Distortion" - Unit HP is hidden to the enemy. If possible, all units heal or lose up to 3 HP in order to match nearby enemy units.

Super CO Power (8 Stars): "Chaotic Pandemonium" - Unit HP is hidden to the enemy, and all undamaged units belonging to Leona or the enemy suffer 3 HP of damage. (Units that are already damaged are unaffected.)

Troy

Day-to-Day: Troy has the ability to deploy cheap, decoy versions of Light Tanks, Artillery, Anti-Air and Battle Copters, all of which cost 3000. These decoys are identical to their real counterparts, but they are slower (half movement), cannot attack, and are destroyed in one hit.

CO Zone (1): CO unit has its defense dropped by 60%, but any enemy unit inside the zone will be permanently converted to Troy's side at the start of his turn. Zone range is static.

CO Power (2 Stars): "Decoy Infiltration" - Decoys cost only 1500 this turn, and Troy can deploy all four types of decoys from cities.

Super CO Power (6 Stars): "Trojan Tanks" - All decoy units currently on the map are permanently upgraded to their real counterparts, and they can act again this turn.

War Room/Campaign

Bundled with the mod is a collection of War Room-style maps. It is technically a campaign, as it has a world map, game progression, and it is accessed via the "New Campaign" option in Commander Wars (unless the files were not properly extracted). However, unlike campaigns, there is no story aside from short cutscenes introducing the COs, and the player can pick any CO they like, including those from other mods. The only exceptions are the COs from this mod itself, they can be played only after they have been defeated once. The mod uses the achievements feature to keep track of this.

Like the COs, the maps were built and balanced around Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising's rule set, although they can be played under any rules. There are a total of 12 maps, split into 4 stages. Completing all maps in one stage unlocks the next (unless progress was not saved). The first and second stages consist of 5 maps each, and the last two stages each contain a boss map.

First War Room - Stage 1

Map 1 Turtle Lake	Map 2 Floral Road	Map 3 Arch River	Map 4 Wind-Up Range	Map 5 Chain Streets
Enemy CO: Rocky	Enemy CO: Jill	Enemy CO: Blaze	Enemy CO: Sonny	Enemy CO: Cyphir
Size: 18 × 18	Size: 19 × 24	Size: 17 × 14	Size: 25 × 14	Size: 21 × 17
Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No
Speed Time Limit: 22 days	Speed Time Limit: 20 days	Speed Time Limit: 22 days	Speed Time Limit: 22 days	Speed Time Limit: 21 days

First War Room - Stage 2

Map 6 Blind Valleys	Map 7 Staff Expressway	Map 8 Vampire Cape	Map 9 Space Age Peninsula	Map 10 North Island
Enemy CO: Grigori	Enemy CO: Embrie	Enemy CO: Drac	Enemy CO: Rick	Enemy CO: Nana
Size: 18 × 15	Size: 18 × 14	Size: 26 × 22	Size: 15 × 18	Size: 27 × 27
Fog of War: Yes	Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No
Speed Time Limit: 20 days	Speed Time Limit: 20 days	Speed Time Limit: 19 days	Speed Time Limit: 22 days	Speed Time Limit: 24 days

First War Room - Stage 3 and Stage 4

Map 11 Utopian Isles	Map 12 The Scrapyard
Enemy CO: Xander	Enemy CO: Xanderbot
Size: 27 × 24	Size: 27 × 21
Fog of War: No	Fog of War: No
Speed Time Limit: 26 days	Speed Time Limit: 21 days

Second War Room - Stage 1

(Work-in-progress.)

Second War Room - Stage 2

(Work-in-progress.)

Second War Room - Stage 3 and Stage 4

(Work-in-progress.)

Known bugs in the latest public release/pending changes/to-do list

- Grigori superpower nerf.

- Music filesize reduction.

- Second War Room maps.

- Other balance changes probably.