Assault is the simplest of all game modes in Tom Clancy's EndWar . Rather than focusing on capturing uplink or strategic points, the object is to simply eliminate all hostiles. Therefore the battle isn't necessarily concentrated around a certain point on the map, but it is up to the players to decide where and how the battle will be fought.
At the start of the match, each player can deploy up to 8 units. The battle therefore gets underway relatively quickly, with both sides able to attack each other at the onset.
Goal[]
The game will only end if one side has no combat-effective units remaining on the map for 10 seconds. Uplinks can still be captured, but even if one side controls all uplinks, the game will continue until one side annihilates the other's units.
Tactics[]
Since Assault is a very standard game mode considering the typical RTS game, the tactics available are relatively straightforward.
Mission Support[]
While uplinks will not give the player victory in and of themselves, contrary to Conquest mode, they can still be captured and upgraded for Command Points and mission supports. A cautious player might consider it imperative to simply destroy as many of the opponent's uplinks as possible outright, as it denies them the only lasting advantage of having those uplinks - off-map support. The supports themselves have different uses in this mode, as opposed to Conquest, Raid or Siege.
Air Strike becomes more useful in this game mode, as since the map is densely populated early on by units, it can easily be used to hand-pick an enemy unit to destroy, depending on the level of air strike, and the HP of the unit in question. This becomes more important than in other game modes because killing enemy units is the only thing that can bring about victory.
Force Recon is immensely powerful in the right situation, as it can be used to conserve what units a player has remaining to deploy, by sending in a detachment of units that are not drawn from the player's reserves. Even if a player has no reserves left, they can use Force Recon for as long as they have enough command points to call for it, and can thus bring more and more units into the map. This makes it vitally important to identify when an opponent has upgraded an uplink to Force Recon, and capture or destroy it.
DEFCON[]
DEFCON in this game mode can only be triggered when a side is running dangerously low on units. Generally, the winning side benefits greatly from this, as they have more units remaining than their opponent; in DEFCON, reinforcements only cost 2 CP instead of 4, enabling the winning side to flood the map with more units faster than their opponent.
WMDs should be used very wisely. Since WMDs take some time to impact, the player using them must choose their moment carefully and hope to disable as many enemy units as possible. Due to the above mentioned advantage to the winning player once DEFCON is reached, correct use of the WMD is a key factor that can even the scales. The losing side will be able to control when their opponent gets access to the WMD by choosing when to use their own, and with good planning can negate their opponent's advantage.
Infantry[]
On maps with many buildings and options for cover, infantry should be used to full effect. Since most players will (and probably should) start with an initial force mostly consisting of armor and gunships, engineers will be very effective at holding the line against the attack if they can be moved to position quickly enough. When considering a building or cover position in which to place infantry, it is wise to choose a location that is along where the player anticipates the battle to take place, as it allows the infantry to take part in the battle more frequently.
It is often good to send an escort of riflemen ahead of the engineers to clear the way, especially when playing against a power with faster vehicles. A commander who anticipates enemy engineers moving to a certain position may send riflemen to that position at the onset to effectively set a trap for the engineers, and hold the position once the engineers are killed. In city maps, this tactic is highly effective if the riflemen have the Urban Operations upgrade which enables them to storm buildings and defeat garrisoned infantry outright.
Artillery[]
As Assault can only be won by killing enemy units, artillery units become enormously valuable. Players should focus on finding and neutralizing enemy artillery as quickly as possible. Artillery vehicles will often be hidden behind buildings or trees, well behind the frontline to prevent the enemy getting eyes on. Players can generally tell from what direction artillery shells are incoming, so it is important to keep artillery well-defended, especially from gunships and attack UAVs. Transports and/or combat drones are often used for this, making tanks the most viable option for assaulting an artillery position, though gunships provide a faster reaction to incoming fire.
It would be good to have the first attack range upgrade available for the artillery, as it generally allows the artillery to fire on units halfway across the map, maximizing their effectiveness. The longer an artillery piece can stay alive and fire on enemy units, the closer it brings its owner to victory.