Planes

Because there is so much information that needs to be covered I've broken this page down into the following sections:

As with many things in Army Men Strike, it's hard to imagine Planes being any more complex than they already are.  Planes can be enhanced in 7 different ways that I can think of (gears, components, attributes, upgrading, promoting, pilots, and the new core), and each plane has a different purpose, a different task they excel at.  Plane power can drastically improve your attacks, your HQ defense, your resource production, your research and construction abilities, your gathering abilities, and even your troop training.  Planes can also be very expensive.  As of early 2021 there are 12 different Planes available. 

The Planes:

  • Vampire - The first plane most players get, it's somewhat useful for all functions (Attack and Development).  It's a very good beginner plane, however to match the abilities of the other planes it costs an incredible amount of Air Force Tactical Points.
  • F117 - This plane excels at Development bonuses, including Construction, Research, Resource, Production and Troop Training.  It is also relatively inexpensive to max its' Attributes.  For these reasons it is the most common plane to assign to the Development Zone Garrison slot.  (Vampire can have higher Development bonuses, however to do so you must spend an incredible 75 Billon (with a "B") Air Force Tactical Points.)  The F117 can also have a very fast march due to its' Energy attribute.
  • S-Wing - Can be used for both Administrative and Attack functions, but does neither very well.
  • Storm Wind - Can be used for both Administrative and Attack functions, but does neither very well.
  • Shadow Airship - Can be used for both Administrative and Attack functions, but does neither very well.
  • Pegasus - A decent Battle plane, the Pegasus is also the cheapest to achieve max Attributes.  It also has Defensive capabilities, and for these reasons it is frequently used in the War Zone Garrison slot.
  • Conqueror - A good Attack plane, made better if you use a layered troop attack with high level (T9-12) troops.
  • Slug Copter - A good Attack plane, including de-buffs against your target.
  • Ice Dragon - Currently the best Attack plane due to the buffs added when the Ice Dragon uses the Lord of Winter gear set.  Add to that the bonuses added by Firepower attribute, and it can deal a ton of damage to your enemies.  It is also very expensive to get those Lord of Winter gears, and to promote the plane itself.
  • Flame Feather - A good Attack plane, especially for copter-heavy marches.
  • Spaceship - A good Attack plane, especially for vehicle-heavy marches.
  • Arctic Sleigh - A good Attack plane, with bonuses for all copters, and Christmas Airships especially.  The Arctic Sleigh has two gear sets that give it additional buffs: the Sled Companion gear set (specializing in defending your Command Center when placed in the War Garrison slot), and the Devil's Descent gear set (specializing in attack).

In AMS, Planes fall into two main categories: Administrative/Development and Battle/Deployment.  Battle Planes are best used in either attacking other players or defending your HQ.  Administrative Planes can focus on Resource production, Construction, Research, and Troop Training.

Administrative/Development Planes:

AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PLANE ADMINISTRATIVE BUFFS: The Administrative buffs of a plane only take effect if the plane is Garrisoned in the Development Zone!  More about this later...

Best:

  • F117 - The F117's Attributes can be quickly improved to provide substantial Construction, Research, Resource, and Troop Training buffs.
  • Vampire (Development Track) - The Vampire actually has better buffs than the F117 when they both have max Attributes, however it takes massive amounts of Air Force Tactical Points to improve the Vampire's Attributes to be anywhere close to a F117's max Attributes.

Secondary:

  • S-Wing - While mainly an attack plane, the S-Wing does have Troop Training and Defensive Facility buffs.
  • Storm Wind - While mainly an attack plane, the Storm Wind does have Troop Training and Defensive Facility buffs.
  • Shadow Airship - While mainly an attack plane, the Shadow Airship does have Troop Training and Defensive Facility buffs.

Battle/Deployment Planes:

Premier:

  • Ice Dragon - The Ice Dragon, when equipped with its' specific gears (the Lord of Winter gear set), has the best attack stats in the game as of now.  The problem is that it is expensive to upgrade both the Plane itself, and the Lord of Winter gears must be purchased and are rather difficult to get.

Very Good (and Special Uses):

  • Slug Copter - Very good attack bonuses, along with good de-buffs for your targets' troops.
  • Flame Feather - Very good attack bonuses, and it has moderate buffs for copters in your march.
  • Spaceship - Very good attack bonuses, and it has moderate buffs for the vehicles in your march.
  • Arctic Sleigh - Very good attack bonuses, along with excellent buffs for the copters in your march.  Also gives extra buffs to any Christmas Airship troops you have in your march. The Arctic Sleigh has two gear sets that give it additional buffs: the Sled Companion gear set (specializing in defending your Command Center when placed in the War Garrison slot), and the Devil's Descent gear set (specializing in attack).

Good:

  • Pegasus - While the Pegasus has mid-range attack bonuses, it also has buffs to your Defensive Facility capabilities.  For this reason, many people use this in their War Garrison slot (more on this later).  Pegasus also requires the fewest Air Force Tactical Points of all the Planes to max its' Attributes.
  • Conqueror - While the Conqueror starts with only mid-range attack bonuses, it can be made much more powerful using a layered troop march including high level (T9-12) troops.

Moderate:

  • S-Wing - Moderate attack bonuses, relatively cheap/easy to get, can be used for Training and Defense buffs too.
  • Storm Wind - Moderate attack bonuses, relatively cheap/easy to get, can be used for Training and Defense buffs too.
  • Shadow Airship - Moderate attack bonuses, relatively cheap/easy to get, can be used for Training and Defense buffs too.

Beginner:

  • Vampire (Deployment Track) - Most players start out with a Vampire, as it is the easiest Plane to acquire.  Relatively speaking it has poor attack bonuses, and it costs an exorbitant amount of Air Force Tactical Points to max out its' Attributes.  Start with Vampire and move to something better when you can.

Garrison Settings

The Air Force section of your Air Force Command Center has a Garrison setting that is extremely important for actually using certain skills of your planes.

  

Before we move on, it's important to emphasize the fine print on the Garrison Settings screen:

It reads:

Only garrisoned planes affect the Command Center.

The Command Center can be garrisoned by one development plane and one war plane.

Tip: When selecting the planes to garrison, suitable planes will be automatically filtered.

As stated, there are two available Garrison slots:

  1. Development Zone - the attributes of the plane selected here (and ONLY the attributes of the plane selected here) will affect the Development stats of your Command Center.  Development attributes include:
    • Construction bonuses
    • Research bonuses
    • Training bonuses
    • Resource Production bonuses
    • Unit Upkeep bonuses
  2. War Zone - this plane (and ONLY this plane) will be used as defense when your Command Center is attacked.  Defense Attributes (such as Defense Facility bonuses) of this plane (and ONLY this plane) will be applied.

The choices of which planes to Garrison in each slot are very important, and configuring the planes that you Garrison is very important as well.

It's also important to note that a Garrisoned plane is still available for attacks and/or gathering, and using a plane in an attack or gathering march does NOT prevent it from defending your HQ in an attack.

Let's be specific about this:  Let's say you have your Pegasus Garrisoned in the War Zone slot.  Let's also say that it's gathering day, and you've got all your marches out gathering, including a march with your Pegasus.  If your HQ is attacked in this situation, your Garrisoned Pegasus does still participate in your defense, even though it's out gathering.  This isn't intuitive, but I've verified it using battle reports.  Therefore, you will want to assign your best defensive plane (which might also be your best combat plane) to your War Zone Garrison slot, and you need not worry about using that plane for other purposes - it will always be there to defend you.

Getting back to "Only garrisoned planes affect the Command Center."   This applies to Plane Attributes and any bonuses due to Gears.  Gears will be discussed in more detail below, however it should become obvious that the gears you get for free from the Air Force Factory fall into two categories that align with the different types of planes: Administrative and Battle.  Take a look at these two Gears, both for the weapon slot:

 

The first Gear ("Commercial Probing Bomb") adds a Technology Free Time +20.0 (minutes) bonus, while the second Gear ("Tracking Missile") has Increases Copter Attack +40.00% bonus.  The first is obviously an Administrative bonus since it deals with Research, while the second is obviously an attack bonus.  That Research bonus is pretty valuable, so how do you use it?  You must use that gear on a plane garrisoned in the Development Zone in order for it to take effect!

Garrison - Development Zone

As an example, let's take a bare Vampire Plane and build it up with Gears to become a good Development Plane to see what effect it has.  Here is our Plane with no Gears assigned:

All those red dots near the empty gear slots are screaming at us to load them up, so let's do so.  Click on the first slot - the Radar slot:

That Gold quality Commercial Radar gives us a nice +80% increase in Metal Production, so Confirm that selection and move on to the next slot - the Engine slot:

The Purple quality Commercial Propeller adds a +48% Plastic Production bonus, so let's Confirm that selection too.  Move on through the remaining slots (Console, E-System, Armor, and Main Weapon):

   

We've added +48% Paint Production, +48% Electricity Production, +12% Unit Load (note that this isn't a Development attribute), and +8% Technology Free Time.  Now let's look at the impact of selecting our newly geared Vampire Plane in the Development Zone Garrison slot.

  

To see the before and after impact of a Garrisoned Plane, we can look to the Commander Info tab (clicking on our Avatar), then clicking on the Power number to see the breakdown.  If you scroll down past the Combat section you can see the Resources section - that's what we're looking at here.  The first picture above shows the bonuses applied to our player's resource generation capabilities before we Garrison our new Vampire.  The middle picture shows the collective bonuses our Vampire has.  All of those bonuses are due to gears at this point, but once we add plane attributes they will be shown here as well.  We confirm the Garrison selection of that Vampire, then go back to our Power breakdown to see the third picture, which shows the incremental bonuses being applied.  We see our Paint Production has gone from +27% to +75% (increasing +48% from the Console gear).  Our Plastic Production has also gone from +27% to +75% due to the Engine bonus.  Electricity Production has increased from 0% to +48%, and Metal Production has gone from 0% to a whopping +80% (you can really see the value of Gold quality gears in this example).  Technology Free Time isn't shown in this power breakdown, but you will notice that free time when you perform Research tasks.

If we had decided to Garrison our Vampire in the War Zone slot, or left our Vampire un-Garrisoned, none of these bonuses would apply, even though we added those great gears to our plane.  Development gear bonuses only take effect if they are assigned to a plane that is garrisoned in the Development Zone!  You might have a bunch of really great gears, but if you don't assign them and garrison the plane properly they're useless.

Garrison - War Zone

Similarly, only the Plane Assigned to the War Zone Garrison slot will help in your defense when your HQ is attacked by other players.  Obviously the selection of this plane and its' gears is important as well.  If you load up a Plane with a bunch of Administrative gears and assign it to the War Zone you will have hurt yourself doubly - your Administrative gears will be wasted, and you won't be setting up your best defense.

I stated this above, but it's worthwhile to repeat here:

It's also important to note that a Garrisoned plane is still available for attacks and/or gathering, and using a plane in an attack or gathering march does NOT prevent it from defending your HQ in an attack.

Let's be specific about this:  Let's say you have your Pegasus Garrisoned in the War Zone slot.  Let's also say that it's gathering day, and you've got all your marches out gathering, including a march with your Pegasus.  If your HQ is attacked in this situation, your Garrisoned Pegasus does still participate in your defense, even though it's out gathering.  This isn't intuitive, but I've verified it using battle reports.  Therefore, you will want to assign your best defensive plane (which might also be your best combat plane) to your War Zone Garrison slot, and you need not worry about using that plane for other purposes - it will always be there to defend you.

Note also that your War Zone Plane does NOT defend you if you are attacked outside your HQ (on a gathering point, for example).  In that case, the plane that you used for that march is applied to your defense.

Improving Your Planes

As mentioned above, there are at least 7 different ways to improve the effectiveness of a plane:

  1. Unlock and Upgrade Plane Attributes
  2. Equip Gears
  3. Upgrade (increase the plane's Level - unlocked at HQ level 26)
  4. Promote (increase the plane's Stars - unlocked at HQ level 26)
  5. Affix Components (also known as Chips)
  6. Assign Pilots
  7. Upgrade Core

Improving Your Planes - Attributes

Each Plane has their own particular Attributes (although many of them are common to multiple planes), and it is these Attributes that make a particular plane suited to a particular task.  Attributes are upgraded using Air Force Tactical Points.  Small amounts of Air Force Tactical Points can be gotten for free (in fact, you can collect a number of them for free from your Air Force Command Center every day), and larger amounts can be purchased.

I have divided all of the Plane Attributes up into four categories:

  1. Attack
  2. Development
  3. Defense
  4. Gathering

Let's go back to our baby Vampire plane for an example of how Attributes work:

 

The Vampire Plane has 45 different Attributes that can be unlocked and upgraded.  Generally you must unlock them sequentially (although the Vampire has two different tracks which can be developed independently), and the cost (in Air Force Tactical Points) to unlock and upgrade Attributes increases exponentially across the entire contingent of Attributes for that Plane.  In the case of our Vampire, you must start by unlocking either Vehicle Firepower I or Plastic Factory Enhancement I.  Let's start on the right side, which is the Development side:

 

It costs 1 Air Force Tactical Point to upgrade Plastic Factory Enhancement I to the 1st level.  The second picture shows the bonus we gain for each level of this Attribute. Let's upgrade it two more times:

  

As we reach that 3rd level in Plastic Factory Enhancement I we max the attribute - it's time to move on to the next.  We can also see that the cost to upgrade each step increases - slowly at first, but wow does it accelerate. (In fact, it accelerates geometrically.)

 

Cascading down, I sure would like to unlock that Research Speed I Attribute, however when I click on it, it looks like I have a prerequisite that isn't met - I need to have Level 1 Vehicle Firepower I unlocked first.

  

Now back to Research Speed I:

   

It takes 5 steps to complete the Research Speed I Attribute, and each step keeps getting more and more expensive in Air Force Tactical Points cost.

Although the Attributes amongst all of the planes sometimes have different names, they all fall into the following categories:

Bonus Category
Artillery Attack Attack
Commando Attack Attack
Copter Attack Attack
Unit Attack Attack
Unit Defense Attack
Unit HP Attack
Vehicle Attack Attack
Defense Facility Attack Defense
Defense Facility Strength Defense
Construction Speed Development
Defense Facility Speed Development
Research Speed Development
Resource Utilization in Training Development
Unit Training Speed Development
Unit Upkeep Efficiency Development
Resource Gathering Gathering
Unit Load Gathering

Pay attention to the Attribute categories, and align them with the way you use that plane.  Some planes (like the F117) have few to no Attack Attributes, instead focusing on Development Attributes.  It would be silly to assign that plane to the War Zone Garrison slot, as it would be a waste of that Planes' Attributes.  Similarly, many of the planes have only Attack Attributes.  If you can, avoid assigning those Planes to the Development Zone Garrison slot, and instead gear up a Vampire or other Development-focused Plane for that slot.

Many players have three main Planes with three main usages:

  1. A Battle Plane (usually a Pegasus or an Ice Dragon) with Deployment Gears that you send out on attack marches;
  2. A Development Plane (usually a Vampire or F117) with Development Gears that you Garrison in the Development Zone;
  3. A Defense Plane (a Pegasus if your attack plane is Ice Dragon, or perhaps an S-Wing if your attack plane is the Pegasus) with Defense Gears that you Garrison in the War Zone.  Note that your Defense Plane can also be the same as your Attack Plane if you don't have Defensive Gears yet, or if you only have 2 planes.

It's smart to focus your efforts and resources (Air Force Tactical Points, Enhancement Alloy, and money) on these three planes, and probably in that order, then get to developing the other planes as resources permit.  You rarely use the other planes in any meaningful way - usually for gathering marches and the like.

By the way: The single best place to get Air Force Tactical Points is from War of Time.  War of Time rotates between 3 different types of rewards (Tactical Points, Feat, and Spray), and you can get millions of Tactical Points for "free" (although it does cost resources to heal your wounded troops).

Plane Special Skills:

Every plane except Vampire has a Special Skill, which is a buff that can be activated manually and lasts for a limited time. Special Skills have a "cool-off" period (which is usually 24 hours, but might be less) such that they can only be used once until the cooldown period expires. Many of these are quite powerful, one-time buffs that can be activated for the next attack. These skills are only available when you have maxed out the specific Plane's Attribute.  To activate the Special Skill, go to the Battlefield Screen and click the icon in the lower-left corner with an officer hat and a plane  then find the specific skill and activate it.

Plane Special Skill Description
F117 Super Missile Temporarily Increases Damage to Toys, the Mad Scientist, and Fanatic Generals
S-Wing Immediate Strike The next marching queue will reach the destination at high speed.
Storm Wind HEAT Temporarily increases damage dealt to Vehicles.
Shadow Airship Anti-Air Cannon Temporarily grants a chance for commandos to deal double damage to copters.
Pegasus Combo Temporarily grants a chance for your units to inflict a combo when attacking.
Conqueror Elite Battle For a period of time, increases high-level units' damage done to unit types they counter when attacking other commanders.
Slug Copter Active Protection Decreases damage taken for all your units.
Ice Dragon Frost Breath Increases your units' damage done.
Flame Feather Copter Damage Increases your copters' damage done.
Spaceship Vehicle Damage Resistance Decreases your vehicles' damage taken.
Arctic Sleigh Christmas Party Increases Copter Damage. Christmas Airships receive an additional 50% bonus.

NOTE: You do not have to use the Plane that has the Special Skill in your march in order to reap the benefits of that skill, you only need to activate it.  Put another way, you can activate the Special Skill for one plane and use a different plane and still get the benefit of that Special Skill.  I have verified this.

Improving Your Planes - Gears

Gears are the first and easiest way to improve your Planes, mainly because you get a handful of free Gears every day from your Air Force Factory.  However, while the gears you get from the Air Force Factory are free, they are also not very good compared to what you can purchase.  Here are the probabilities for the 5 qualities of gears from the Air Force Factory:

Gear Quality Expected Probability
Gold 1%
Purple 5%
Blue 30%
Green 36%
White 28%

Gears come in themed sets, and each gear set has 6 positions: Radar, Engine, Console, E-System, Armor, and Main Weapon.  These correspond to the 6 positions on each plane, so each plane can have 1 full set of gears.  The gears in each gear set all have similar focus, and sometimes when you have a minimum number of gears all of a certain set equipped on a plane it gives the plane an additional set buff.  The following picture has an Ice Dragon with a full set of Lord of Winter gears:

 

I've created catalogs of all of the currently available gears and gear sets - find them at:

It shouldn't be surprising that since the Planes themselves can be broken down into functional categories, the available gear sets can also follow those same categories.  Gears generally fall into one of three categories:

Development Gears

These gears perform best when equipped on a Development Plane (F117, Vampire, Storm Wind, S-Wing, or Shadow Airship).  These gears only take effect when the plane they are equipped on is assigned to the Development Garrison slot!  Here are the gear sets that help Development, loosely sorted from best to worst:

  All Resource Production All Unit training speed Increases construction speed Increases defense facility building speed Increases technology research speed Resource Protection Technology Free Time Unit Load
Set Name Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max
Christmas Frost 40% 160% 30% 120% 30% 120% 30% 120% 40% 160% 160% 640%        
Christmas Snowflake (Gold)     30% 120% 30% 120% 30% 120%                
Christmas Snowflake (Purple)     18% 72% 18% 72% 18% 72%                
Commercial Development (Gold) 80% 320%                     20% 80% 20% 80%
Quartermaster (Gold) 2% 216%                     0.5% 54% 0.5% 54%
Commercial Development (Purple) 48% 192%                     12% 48% 12% 48%
Quartermaster (Purple) 1.2% 129.6%                     0.3% 32.4% 0.3% 32.4%
Commercial Development (Blue) 32% 128%                     8% 32% 8% 32%
Commercial Development (Green) 16% 64%                     4% 16% 4% 16%
Commercial Development (White) 8% 32%                     2% 8% 2% 8%

These values do not take into account the extra Attributes gained when a gear is Appraised, nor does it take into account the Set Effects, both of which can add substantial performance to the enhancements gained when gears are equipped.

The top three Development Gear Sets have Set Effects as follows:

Set Name Set Effect (3 pieces) Set Effect (4 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces)
Christmas Frost Research Cost Reduction: Each Lab upgrade reduces the resources needed for technology research by 1%. Research Boost: Each Lab upgrade increases technology research speed by 2%. Logistics Command: Increases battlefield skill effects of officers assigned to the Logistics Department by 20%
Christmas Snowflake (Gold) Research Cost Reduction: Each Lab upgrade reduces the resources needed for technology research by 1%. Research Boost: Each Lab upgrade increases technology research speed by 2%. Logistics Command: Increases battlefield skill effects of officers assigned to the Logistics Department by 20%
Christmas Snowflake (Purple) Research Cost Reduction: Each Lab upgrade reduces the resources needed for technology research by 1%. Research Boost: Each Lab upgrade increases technology research speed by 1%. Logistics Command: Increases battlefield skill effects of officers assigned to the Logistics Department by 10%

 

Attack Gears

These gears perform best when equipped on your Attack Planes (Ice Dragon, Slug Copter, Flame Feather, Spaceship, Arctic Sleigh, Pegasus, or Conqueror).

  Unit Attack Unit HP Unit Defense Marching Speed Increase Increases defense facility resistance Additional Basic Attributes
Set Name Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Attribute Min Max
Lord of Winter 280% 1120% 160% 640% 120% 480%              
Devil's Descent 280% 1120% 160% 640% 120% 480%              
Superalloy Slug 280% 1120% 160% 640% 120% 480%              
Blade of Champion 210% 840% 120% 480% 90% 360%              
Wild Roar 210% 840% 120% 480% 90% 360%              
Blackbat 175% 700% 100% 400% 75% 300%              
Nature Force 5.25% 567% 3.00% 324% 2.25% 243%              
Christmas Gold Bell 100% 400% 40% 160% 40% 160% 30% 120% 60% 240%      
Christmas Silver Bell (Gold) 60% 240%         30% 120% 60% 240%      
Christmas Silver Bell (Purple) 72% 288%         18% 72%          
Hornet (Gold) 1% 108% 1% 108% 0.5% 54% 0.5% 54%     Increases Vehicle Attack 2% 216%
Increases Vehicle HP 2% 216%
Increases Vehicle Defense 2% 216%
Top Player (Gold) 1% 108% 1% 108% 0.5% 54% 0.5% 54%     Increases Commando Attack 2% 216%
Increases Commando HP 2% 216%
Increases Commando Defense 2% 216%
Nighthawk 50% 200%         25% 100% 50% 200%      
Combat Leader 1.5% 162%         0.75% 81% 0.75% 81%      
Commercial Deployment (Gold) 40% 160%         20% 80% 40% 160%      
Hornet (Purple) 0.6% 64.8% 0.6% 64.8% 0.3% 32.4% 0.3% 32.4%     Increases Vehicle Attack 1.2% 129.6%
Increases Vehicle HP 1.2% 129.6%
Increases Vehicle Defense 1.2% 129.6%
Top Player (Purple) 0.6% 64.8% 0.6% 64.8% 0.3% 32.4% 0.3% 32.4%     Increases Commando Attack 1.2% 129.6%
Increases Commando HP 1.2% 129.6%
Increases Commando Defense 1.2% 129.6%
Guardian (Gold) 1% 108%         0.5% 54% 0.5% 54%      
Commercial Deployment (Purple) 24% 96%         12% 48% 24% 96%      
Commercial Deployment (Blue) 16% 64%         8% 32% 16% 64%      
Commercial Deployment (Green) 8% 32%         4% 16% 8% 32%      
Commercial Deployment (White) 4% 16%         2% 8% 4% 16%      

The following two sets have both an Attack component and a Command Center Defense component:

Set Name Basic Attributes Min Max
Sentry Increases Copter Attack 50% 200%
Increases Vehicle HP 50% 200%
Increases Vehicle Defense 50% 200%
Increases defense facility Attack 40% 160%
Increases defending unit Defense 40% 160%
Increases defending unit Attack 20% 80%
Commandant Increases Copter Attack 1.5% 162%
Increases Vehicle HP 1.5% 162%
Increases Vehicle Defense 1.5% 162%
Increases defense facility Attack 0.75% 81%
Increases defending unit Defense 0.5% 54%
Increases defending unit Attack 0.5% 54%

The following sets of gears have Set Effects and/or Exclusive Set Enhancements:

Set Name Set Effect (2 pieces) Set Effect (4 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces) Exclusive Set Enhancement
Lord of Winter Enemy Unit Defense -125% Enemy Unit HP -125% Enemy Unit Attack -125% When Ice Dragon is equipped with 6 pieces of Lord of Winter gear, increases the effects of the air force attributes: Dragon Wrath and Dragon Force, by 100%.
Devil's Descent Increases unit Attack 125%. Snowman Soldiers, Armored Sleighs, Christmas Airships, and Christmas Cannons receive an additional 10% bonus (Battle Report will show the maximum effectiveness). Increases unit Attack 125%. Snowman Soldiers, Armored Sleighs, Christmas Airships, and Christmas Cannons receive an additional 10% bonus (Battle Report will show the maximum effectiveness). Increases unit Attack 125%. Snowman Soldiers, Armored Sleighs, Christmas Airships, and Christmas Cannons receive an additional 10% bonus (Battle Report will show the maximum effectiveness). Increases unit Damage by 15% when this set is equipped on Arctic Sleigh.
Superalloy Slug Vehicle Firepower: Increases damage done by 50% for all your vehicles. This effect is enhanced [ed: by 10%] (caps at 50%) for every 1 level difference (positive value) between your unit's lowest level and the enemy units' lowest level. Commando Firepower: Increases damage done by 50% for all your commandos. This effect is enhanced [ed: by 10%] (caps at 50%) for every 1 level difference (positive value) between your unit's lowest level and the enemy units' lowest level. Air Force Firepower: Increases damage done by 50% for all your copters. This effect is enhanced [ed: by 10%] (caps at 50%) for every 1 level difference (positive value) between your unit's lowest level and the enemy units' lowest level.  
Blade of Champion Vehicle Firepower Suppression: Decreases damage done of enemy vehicles by 50%. This effect is enhanced by 10% (caps at 50%) for every 1 level difference (positive value) between your unit's lowest level and the enemy units' lowest level. Commando Firepower Suppression: Decreases damage done of enemy commandos by 50%. This effect is enhanced by 10% (caps at 50%) for every 1 level difference (positive value) between your unit's lowest level and the enemy units' lowest level. Copter Firepower Suppression: Decreases damage done of enemy copters by 50%. This effect is enhanced by 10% (caps at 50%) for every 1 level difference (positive value) between your unit's lowest level and the enemy units' lowest level.  
Set Name Set Effect (2 pieces) Set Effect (4 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces)
Wild Roar Unit Defense +120% Unit HP +120% Unit Attack +120%
Blackbat   Scorn: Lowers 25% of enemy units by 1 level. Fervor: Randomly increases unit attack by 1-3% every round (up to 150%)
Nature Force Unit Attack +60% Unit Defense +60% Unit HP +60%
Set Name Set Effect (3 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces)
Christmas Gold Bell Stun: 15% chance of making the enemy stop attacking in the next round. Poison: In the first round, 15% of enemy units will die. Lasts 3 rounds.
Christmas Silver Bell (Gold) Stun: 15% chance of making the enemy stop attacking in the next round. Poison: In the first round, 15% of enemy units will die. Lasts 3 rounds.
Christmas Silver Bell (Purple) Stun: 10% chance of making the enemy stop attacking in the next round. Poison: In the first round, 10% of enemy units will die. Lasts 3 rounds.
Combat Leader Scorn: Lowers 25% of enemy units by 1 level. Fervor: Randomly increases unit Attack by 1-3% every round (up to 150%)
Set Name Set Effect (2 pieces) Set Effect (4 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces)
Hornet (Gold) Vehicle Attack +150% Vehicle HP +150% Damage Dealt by Vehicles to Commandos +25%
Top Player (Gold) Commando Attack +150% Commando HP +150% Damage Dealt by Commandos to Copters +25%
Nighthawk   Scorn: Lowers 25% of enemy units by 1 level. Fervor: Randomly increases unit Attack by 1-3% every round (up to 150%)
Hornet (Purple) Vehicle Attack +90% Vehicle HP +90% Damage Dealt by Vehicles to Commandos +15%
Top Player (Purple) Commando Attack +90% Commando HP +90% Damage Dealt by Commandos to Copters +15%

 

Command Center Defense Gears

These gears do best when equipped on a Battle Plane (Ice Dragon, Slug Copter, Flame Feather, Spaceship, Arctic Sleigh, Pegasus, or Conqueror).  These gears only participate in the defense of your Command Center when the plane they are equipped on is assigned to the War Garrison slot!

  Increases defending unit Attack Increases defending unit HP Increases defending unit Defense Increases defense facility resistance Increases defense facility Attack Additional Basic Attributes
Set Name Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Attribute Min Max
Guardian of Order 210% 840% 120% 480% 90% 360%              
Sled Companion 210% 840% 120% 480% 90% 360%              
Triumph 175% 700% 100% 400% 75% 300%              
Christmas Gold Bell             60% 240%     Unit Attack 100% 400%
Unit Defense 40% 160%
Unit HP 40% 160%
Marching Speed Increase 30% 120%
Christmas Silver Bell (Gold)             60% 240%     Unit Attack 60% 240%
Marching Speed Increase 30% 120%
Nighthawk             50% 200%     Unit Attack 50% 200%
Marching Speed Increase 25% 100%
Sentry 20% 80%     40% 160%     40% 160% Increases Copter Attack 50% 200%
Increases Vehicle Defense 50% 200%
Increases Vehicle HP 50% 200%
Commercial Deployment (Gold)             40% 160%     Unit Attack 40% 160%
Marching Speed Increase 20% 80%
Commercial Deployment (Purple)             24% 96%     Unit Attack 24% 96%
Marching Speed Increase 12% 48%
Combat Leader             0.75% 81%     Unit Attack 1.50% 162%
Marching Speed Increase 0.75% 81%
Commandant 0.5% 54%     0.5% 54%     0.75% 81% Increases Copter Attack 1.50% 162%
Increases Vehicle Defense 1.50% 162%
Increases Vehicle HP 1.50% 162%
Commercial Deployment (Blue)             16% 64%     Unit Attack 16% 64%
Marching Speed Increase 8% 32%
Guardian (Gold)             0.5% 54%     Unit Attack 1% 108%
Marching Speed Increase 0.5% 54%
Guardian (Purple)             0.3% 32.4%     Unit Attack 0.6% 64.8%
Marching Speed Increase 0.3% 32.4%
Commercial Deployment (Green)             8% 32%     Unit Attack 8% 32%
Marching Speed Increase 4% 16%
Commercial Deployment (White)             4% 16%     Unit Attack 4% 16%
Marching Speed Increase 2% 8%

The following sets of gears have Set Effects and/or Exclusive Set Enhancements:

Set Name Set Effect (2 pieces) Set Effect (3 pieces) Set Effect (5 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces)
Guardian of Order Defending unit Defense +120% Defending unit HP +120% Defending unit Attack +120% Reinforcement Attack, Defense, and HP +50%
Set Name Set Effect (2 pieces) Set Effect (4 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces) Exclusive Set Enhancement
Sled Companion +125% unit Attack when defending. Snowman Soldiers, Armored Sleighs, Christmas Airships, and Christmas Cannons receive an additional 10% bonus (Battle Report will show the maximum effectiveness). +125% unit Attack when defending. Snowman Soldiers, Armored Sleighs, Christmas Airships, and Christmas Cannons receive an additional 10% bonus (Battle Report will show the maximum effectiveness). +125% unit Attack when defending. Snowman Soldiers, Armored Sleighs, Christmas Airships, and Christmas Cannons receive an additional 10% bonus (Battle Report will show the maximum effectiveness). Increases defending unit Damage by 15% when this set is equipped on Arctic Sleigh.
Triumph Guardian: The defending units will gain 10% more Defense for every 50,000 units garrisoned in the Command Center during defense (up to 200%) Fight Back: The defending units will gain 20% more Attack for every 50,000 units garrisoned in the Command Center during defense (up to 200%) Bulwark: The defending troops will get 10% more HP for every 50,000 troops garrisoned in the Command Center (up to 200%).  

Set Name Set Effect (3 pieces) Set Effect (4 pieces) Set Effect (6 pieces)
Christmas Gold Bell Stun: 15% chance of making the enemy stop attacking in the next round.   Poison: In the first round, 15% of enemy units will die. Lasts 3 rounds.
Christmas Silver Bell (Gold) Stun: 15% chance of making the enemy stop attacking in the next round.   Poison: In the first round, 15% of enemy units will die. Lasts 3 rounds.
Nighthawk   Scorn: Lowers 25% of enemy units by 1 level. Fervor: Randomly increases unit Attack by 1-3% every round (up to 150%)
Sentry Guardian: The defending units will gain 10% more Defense for every 50,000 units garrisoned in the Command Center during defense (up to 200%)   Fight Back: The defending units will gain 20% more Attack for every 50,000 units garrisoned in the Command Center during defense (up to 200%)
Combat Leader Scorn: Lowers 25% of enemy units by 1 level.   Fervor: Randomly increases unit Attack by 1-3% every round (up to 150%)
Commandant Guardian: The defending units will gain 10% more Defense for every 50,000 units garrisoned in the Command Center during defense (up to 200%)   Fight Back: The defending units will gain 20% more Attack for every 50,000 units garrisoned in the Command Center during defense (up to 200%)

The level of gears can be increased by using Enhancement Alloy.  The cost for each level depends on the quality of the gear:

Quality Cost per Level Total (0 to 80)
White Alloy Cost = 1+0.1*(Level-1)2 16,832
Green Alloy Cost = 1+0.2*(Level-1)2 33,576
Blue Alloy Cost = 1+0.4*(Level-1)2 67,072
Purple Alloy Cost = 1+0.6*(Level-1)2 100,568
Gold Alloy Cost = 1+(Level-1)2 167,560
Lord of Winter, Devil's Descent, Sled Companion Alloy Cost = 1+1.25*(Level-1)2 209,500

Therefore, to upgrade a set of Dragon gears to level 80, it will take 1.25M Enhancement Alloy.

AMS recently (December 2020?) increased the maximum level of gears to 120.  Here is an example of an Ice Dragon's Banner at level 110, courtesy Lyndell H. from this Facebook discussion :

As of January 2021 (Revision 3.70.0) you can use General Plane Promotion Material to upgrade gears once they reach level 80.

Improving Your Planes - Level Upgrade

The level of each plane is yet another parameter that can be increased, resulting in improved performance for your planes.  You cannot increase the level of your planes until your HQ reaches level 26, at which point the Air Force Remodeling screen is unlocked for each of your planes:

 

Here we have a level 1 Vampire.  Since our HQ is at least level 26 the Air Force Remodeling button has appeared in the lower right corner.  Clicking on it takes us to the Upgrade screen.  New Energy is needed to upgrade planes, however the exact amount is a bit random, since each New Energy does not always give the same amount of Plane EXP.  The amount of Plane EXP earned for each New Energy used is random according to the following probabilities:

EXP Odds
100 84%
200 10%
300 5%
1,000 1%

Therefore, on average, 1 New Energy gives you 129 EXP.  It takes approximately 3.5M to take most planes to level 50, which equates to approximately 26,785 New Energy.  It takes approximately 6.5M EXP to upgrade a premier plane (Ice Dragon and Arctic Sleigh) to level 50, which equates to approximately 50,248 New Energy.

Plane level must be upgraded in tandem with the Star rating of the Plane (shown below).  Every 10 plane levels requires an additional Star upgrade before the plane may be upgraded further.  Therefore, the following progression must be followed:

  1. Planes start at level 1 with 1 star
  2. Upgrade from level 1 to level 10
  3. Promote from 1 star to 2 stars
  4. Upgrade from level 10 to level 20
  5. Promote from 2 stars to 3 stars
  6. Upgrade from level 20 to level 30
  7. Promote from 3 stars to 4 stars
  8. Upgrade from level 30 to level 40
  9. Promote from 4 stars to 5 stars
  10. Upgrade from level 40 to level 50

The result of upgrading the level of a Plane is to increase one or more of their three core attributes: Armoring I, Firepower, and Energy.  These are displayed to the sides of the picture of the plane on that planes' main page:

  Armoring I:

The Armoring I Core Attribute reads: "Armor: Unit Defense +X% for units which are equipped with this plane. (Every 100 Armor grant 0.10% Unit Defense)."

The Vampire, shown above, has no base Armoring value, so level increases do not improve this attribute.  Other planes (such as S-Wing, Storm Wind, Conqueror, Ice Dragon, Flame Feather, Spaceship, and Arctic Sleigh) do have Armoring I as a base Attribute, so increases in their levels will cause an increase in their Armoring I effect.  Pilots also improve all three plane Attributes.

 Firepower:

The Firepower Core Attribute reads: "Firepower: Unit Attack +X% for units which are equipped with this plane. (Every 100 Firepower grant 0.10% Unit Attack)."

Again, our Vampire does not have Firepower as a Core Attribute, so level increases will not improve the Vampire's Firepower.  Planes that do have Firepower include Shadow Airship, Pegasus, Conqueror, Slug Copter, Ice Dragon, and Arctic Sleigh.

 Energy:

The Energy Core Attribute reads: "Armor: Unit Marching Speed +X% for units which are equipped with this plane. (Every 100 Energy grant 0.10% Unit Marching Speed)."

In this case Energy is a Core Attribute for Vampire, so each level increase improves the Energy of the Vampire.  Other planes with Energy as a Core Attribute include F117, Flame Feather, and Spaceship.  These planes tend to be faster, and can be used for gathering marches and toy attacks.

Plane
Armoring I
Firepower
Energy
Vampire N N Y
F117 N N Y
S-Wing Y N N
Storm Wind Y N N
Shadow Airship N Y N
Pegasus N Y N
Conqueror Y Y N
Slug Copter Y Y N
Ice Dragon Y Y N
Flame Feather Y N Y
Spaceship Y N Y
Arctic Sleigh Y Y N
Cloud Piercer Y Y Y

Improving Your Planes - Star Promotion

As mentioned above, Promoting the star rating of a planes is performed in tandem with upgrading the planes' level.  Planes start out with 1 star, and cannot be promoted to 2 stars until the plane has been upgraded to level 10 (see the progression above).  Promoting the star rating of a plane increases a handful of bonuses:

  • 1 Star: Plane can have 0 Pilots and has a set number of Component Slots available;
  • 2 Stars: 1 additional Component Slot is added, and 1 Pilot can be used;
  • 3 Stars: 1 more Component Slot is added (for +2 from the base number), and all Attribute Effects of the plane increase by +10%;
  • 4 Stars: 1 more Component Slot is added (totaling +3 from the base number), and 1 additional Pilot can be added (for a total of 2 Pilots);
  • 5 Stars: A 3rd Pilot is added, and the set effect of gears equipped by the plane increases by +10%

In order to promote a plane, spare parts of that plane are required, and they are consumed in the promotion:

  • For the first promotion to 2 stars, 3 of each spare part (for a total of 12 parts) are required.
  • For the second promotion to 3 stars, 6 of each spare part (for a total of 24 parts) are required.
  • For the third promotion to 4 stars, 15 of each spare part (for a total of 45 parts) are required.
  • For the fourth and final promotion to 5 stars, 20 of each spare part (for a total of 80 parts) are required.

   

Alternatively, you may use General Plane Promotion Material, which is a relatively new item that may be used instead of plane spare parts.  The amount of General Plane Promotion Material required for each promotion depends upon the star level of the plane, and the plane itself.

Plane General Plane Promotion Material Required
1  2 Stars 2  3 Stars 3  4 Stars 4  5 Stars
Vampire, F117, Shadow Airship, Storm Wind, S-Wing 60 120 300 ?
Pegasus, Slug Copter, Arctic Sleigh, Spaceship, Ice Dragon, Cloud Piercer 150 300 750 ?
Flame Feather, Conqueror 300 ? 1,500 ?

(Obviously I'm missing some of the data above.  If you have one of the planes at that stage and can send a screen shot of the Promotion screen with General Plane Promotion Material selected to amswiki@amswiki.com I would greatly appreciate it!)

 

You can find the ability to promote using General Plane Promotion Material by clicking on the  icon on the bottom right of the Promotion page.

Finally, most planes can be promoted by purchasing Air Force Cultivation Cards from the Premium Gift Card Event.

Planes Air Force Cultivation Card Cost
Vampire, F117, S-Wing, Storm Wind, Shadow Airship $10 US
Conqueror, Pegasus $50 US
Spaceship, Ice Dragon $100 US

Improving Your Planes - Components (aka Chips)

Similar to gears, each plane has a certain number of available slots to be equipped with Components, which add buffs to your plane.

 

A table of all available Components can be found here: Table of All Components

Components come in different quality levels, all aligned with the standard coloring system of AMS: Gold, Purple, and Blue.  It's possible that Green and White (Grey) Components exist, however I have not seen them.  In fact, even the Purple and Blue Components are rare, and it's mostly Gold quality Components that I see.  The higher quality Components take up less Component Spaces, and have higher buff values per space.  This means that by using higher quality Components you can equip more of them on the available slots on your planes, and have higher buffs as a result.

Different Planes have different available Component Spaces when they start out, and additional available slots are earned by Promoting your planes to 2-, 3-, and 4-stars:

Planes Available Component Slots (Initial) Max Component Slots (4 stars required)
Vampire, F117, S-Wing 9 12
Storm Wind, Shadow Airship, Pegasus, Conqueror, Slug Copter, Ice Dragon, Flame Feather, Spaceship, Arctic Sleigh 11 14

There are two main ways to acquire Components: by purchasing them in packs, and by purchasing Component Supply Tickets and redeeming them in the Air Force Factory.

  

You can only buy 1 Golden Plane Component Chest per day.

  

You can only buy 2 Component Supply Tickets per day.

  

An important note about which Components you can get from the Air Force Supply building: Certain days give Administrative Components, while other days give Deployment Components.  Check out the following guide from the Component Supply help file:

This tells us that Monday-Wednesday (server time) gives Administrative Components, while Thursday-Sunday (server time) gives Deployment Components.

The help files on AMS list numerous other packs that have Components as rewards, however I rarely see them:

Lesser quality Components can also be fused together to randomly create higher quality Components (see Air Force Factory - Refit Center - Fuse Components), however I have so few Blue or Purple quality Components this doesn't happen very often.  I am guessing that AMS used to make the packs listed above more readily available, but I haven't seen them for some time.  It takes four lesser quality components to fuse together to have a chance to create one Purple or Gold Component.

To equip a plane with Components, go to the Air Force Chip page and drag your available chips (which will be shown along the bottom) onto your open slots:

  

You must click the Save button to save your configuration.  When you apply the Component to your plane you can see the added buff (in this case "Paint Gathering Speed +15%) along the top of the screen.

As you can see from the Table of All Components, Chips either have a Deployment/Battle focus, or an Administrative/Gathering focus.  Make sure to align the type of Components to the planned usage of the plane.  It wouldn't make sense to use those good Administrative Components above on an attack plane.  You would do well to use the two gathering chips on a plane you might use for gathering, and be sure to use the Unit Upkeep Efficiency chip on the plane you have Garrisoned in your Development Zone.

Improving Your Planes - Pilots

Pilots add to your Planes' Core Attributes: their Armor, Firepower, and Energy.  It requires at least 2 stars to add a Pilot to a plane. A 2nd Pilot slot is added at 4 stars, and a 3rd Pilot slot is added at 5 stars.

There are 13 different Pilots, and (for the most part) each of them must be purchased.  Every now and then a free Pilot is available in the Full Firepower Bonus activity.  It is also possible to win Pilots in the Secret Treasure Event every now and then (however it does require spending to win any but the first reward in that Event).

 

There are two Pilot Chests that can be purchased that allow you to select a Pilot:

In addition, there are four Planes that have a specific list of Pilots that, when assembled together, give that Plane additional bonuses (you can tell this by the small exclamation point icon at the upper right of the pilot selection portion of the plane main screen):

Storm Wind: (General White, Larsen, and Arba)

Shadow Airship: (Treier, Larsen, and Lily)

Pegasus: (General White, Farrel, and Mitchell)

Conqueror: (Cowboy, Jaina, and Locke)

I have not yet assigned all three of the specific Pilots to their Planes yet, so I don't know what the bonuses are.  Since many of them are the lesser Pilots (with +2,000 and +5,000 core attribute buffs) I'm hoping the bonuses are good.

Preferably you would like to assign three of the top tier Pilots (Cowboy, Jaina, and Locke) to each of your planes, giving them each a +21,000 increase to Armoring I, Firepower, and Energy.  That would result in a +21% Unit Defense, +21% Unit Attack, and +21% Marching Speed for that Plane.

Improving Your Planes - Core

In mid-December 2020, AMS introduced Plane Cores, which allows you to upgrade a Plane's level from 50 to 80.  First you must upgrade the plane to level 50 and promote it to 5 stars, and Core will become available on that plane.

  

It takes 10 of each plane spare part (which are all consumed, as you would expect) to activate the 1st Core.  New Energy is then used to upgrade the core level.

  

While during standard upgrading (levels 1-50) each New Energy provides a random amount of EXP, that is not the case in Core.  Instead, each New Energy used provides 100 EXP.

As you increase Core Level, you get the following attribute buffs:

  • Gear Effect Boost (Excluding Set Effects): +2% for activating, then +0.2% each level afterwards
  • Chip Effect Boost: +2% for activating, then +0.2% each level afterwards
  • Pilot Effect Boost: +2% for activating, then +0.2% each level afterwards

The result of this can be pretty powerful, as many of these buffs are not achievable in any other way.

It takes an additional +5 of each Plane Spare Part to open unlock each progressive Core Level, and each Core Level has 50 Plane Levels.  Each Plane Level after 50 requires an additional 3000 EXP on top of the previous one, which looks like this:

Core Level Plane Level Plane Parts Needed EXP Required New Energy Required
1 (50) 0 10 x 4 - -
1 1 - 40,000 400
1 2 - 43,000 430
1 3 - 46,000 460
. . . . .
1 48 - 181,000 1,810
1 49 - 184,000 1,840
2 50 15 x 4 - -
2 1 - 190,000 1,900
2 2 - 193,000 1,930
. . . . .
2 48 - 331,000 3,310
2 49 - 334,000 3,340
3 50 20 x 4 - -
3 1 - 340,000 3,340
3 2 - 343,000 3,430
. . . . .
3 48 - 481,000 4,810
3 49 - 484,000 4,840
4 50 25 x 4 - -
4 1 - 490,000 4,900
4 2 - 493,000 4,930
. . . . .
4 48 - 631,000 6,310
4 49 - 634,000 6,340
5 50 30 x 4 - -
5 1 - 640,000 6,400
5 2 - 643,000 6,430
. . . . .
5 48 - 781,000 7,810
5 49 - 784,000 7,840

Here are the cumulative buffs for each Core Level:

Completed Core Level Gear Effects Chip Effects Pilot Effects
1 +12% +12% +12%
2 +12% (total +24%) +12% (total +24%) +12% (total +24%)
3 +12% (total +36%) +12% (total +36%) +12% (total +36%)
4 +12% (total +48%) +12% (total +48%) +12% (total +48%)
5 +12% (total +60%) +12% (total +60%) +12% (total +60%)