The Warlords II
Players' Encyclopedia -
 
Info, Tactics
| FAQ
| Demos, Patches
| Scenarios
| Army Sets (+)
| Scenario Editing
| WarBOT
| Tournament
| League
| Remailer
| Other Sites -
This page last revised 27-Apr-02 by Bob Heeter
Setting up a League Game
To set up a game, the Challenger or Organizer should just choose a group
of players and then follow one of the game-setup procedures.
Three ways to start a new League Game
- The Easy Way: Predefined Scenarios, Gamefiles, and Rules
- The Middle Way: Premade Scenario and Gamefile, Customized Rules
- The Total Control Way: You Choose Everything
We have tried to streamline the process of setting up a new game,
but it is not a trivial task! Be careful; a game that is set up well
should be very fun, but a game that is set up carelessly may become a miserable
waste of time! In case of questions refer to the explanations below,
and if they do not help, email the WW2L-Talk list
(ww2l-talk@heeter.net).
Guidance and Advice for Setting Up Games
- Getting Organized - All Methods:
- Level of Play: Choose from one of the following:
- Beginner - informal game for novice players
- Intermediate - informal game for intermediate players
- Advanced - informal game for advanced players
- Ranked - official League game for players to fight for ranking
- Participants:
- The lowest-ranked player is called the "Challenger".
- The highest-ranked player is called the "Defender"
- Other players are rank-ordered after the Defender.
- You can usually get a moderator by emailing ww2l-talk
and asking for a volunteer.
- Now go through the sections below that are relevant to your game,
and then follow the instructions under "Final Preparations".
- Help for the "Easy Way" (Predefined packages):
All the rules are pre-defined in the packages. The only choice
is which package to use!
The scenario/gamefile/rules packages are (currently) available in the
Warlords
Archives (Tournament Section).
For more information see the League Scenarios page.
- Help for the options common to "Middle Way" and "Total Control":
- WarBOT MUST be used unless all players agree otherwise.
WarBOT is available in the Warlords Archives.
- The Challenger selects the scenario and army set, with these constraints:
- If WarBOT is used (true by default):
- The scenario should not have more than 15 cities per player.
- The army set should be fast-building and fast-moving (such as the
army sets used in the Tournament)
Otherwise the game will be too complex to play in a reasonable
amount of time, and the defender will have the right to refuse the choice
of scenario or army set.
- If you would like to try out a new scenario or
army set, please check with the
WW2L-Talk Scenario Wizards.
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: If a PC user and a Mac user face off,
they may need to use one of the "standard" scenarios so that they
can play a cross-platform game. In general it is the challenger's
responsibility to accommodate the defenders' version(s) of the game.
- For more information, see the information on the
League Scenarios page.
- Now all the players take turns selecting the remaining game options.
This process starts with the Defender and proceeds
downwards by rank to the Challenger, then back to the Defender.
Variants outside the normal
limits may be played if all players agree, but everyone has
the right to refuse if the rules are outside the normal limits.
The following game settings are all flexible, and many variations
are possible.
- PBEM Diplomacy Rules:
The traditional rule is 2 archive messages
per turn, with complete freedom of speech (but no unsportsmanlike conduct)
within the archive messages. You can choose this tried-and-true default,
or select from the large number of
Diplomatic Rules Variants!
- Gamefile-Resending Etiquette:
Sometimes players will accidentally
send the wrong gamefile, or wish to redo a move. If the gamefile
is entirely unplayable, then the player making the mistake loses
a timeout as a penalty, plus any additional timeouts due to delaying
the game beyond his original deadline. But sometimes players will
send a playable gamefile (right turn, right side) that just isn't
what they intended. In this case there are three options. Each option
strikes a different balance between giving players a chance to fix mistakes
versus delaying the game and giving them some potentially-unfair
additional thinking time. The options are:
- Standard ("Tournament"): A gamefile may be resent only if the
turn report does not need to be changed and no archive messages
have been sent since the original gamefile was sent. There is
a minimum penalty of 1 timeout plus whatever timeouts are needed
to cover any additional time used.
- Strict ("Screw Up and Die"): No resending at all.
Any valid gamefile must be played.
- Lenient ("To Err is Human; to Resend, Divine"):
Both gamefile and turn report may be changed and resent
provided no archive messages have been sent since the original
gamefile. Same penalties as the Standard Tournament rule.
- League Options:
These options will really give your game its unique flavor. For each
option there are a number of choices which are listed on separate pages.
- Hero Rules: choose from the
List of Hero-Rules Options
- Quest Rules: choose from the
List of Quest Rules Options.
If quests are used, be sure the Quests option is turned on in the gamefile.
- Ruin-Search Rules: choose from the
List of Ruin-Search Rules Options
- Help for Options Specific to "Total Control":
- Note - the "Email Game" option inside Warlords is always OFF
(we use the Remailer instead).
- Game Settings: Continue choosing in sequence...
- Diplomacy: On or Off. If on, the Warlords "Doves and Swords" system is used.
- Razing Cities: any of the 3 options is allowed.
- Neutral Cities: any of the 3 options is allowed.
- Intense Combat: either option is allowed (off is preferred).
This setting affects the combat odds and
must be indicated in WarBOT!
- Negotiated Options:
Any player can make a suggestion, but
all non-default choices must be made by consensus:
- Quick Start: (Preassigns all cities at start.) Default is "Off".
- Random Turns: Default is "Off". (Ask the moderator to
handle the change of turns; each turn the Moderator
starts the new turn and then rearranges the players in
the Remailer. This is a lot of work.)
- I Am The Greatest: Default is "On". This will make
any computer AI players more aggressive.
- Options affecting WarBOT:
If WarBOT is being used, then, any player can make a suggestion,
but there must be a consensus by all players to use any
non-default settings, since these will alter the gameplay.
If WarBOT is not
being used, choose these in the indicated
sequence (whoever did Choice #4 gets another choice).
- View Enemies: On/Off, default is "On".
- View Production: On/Off, default is "On".
- Hidden Map: On/Off, default is "Off".
- Military Advisor: On/Off, default is "Off"
- Ruin Contents:
If a premade "official" starting gamefile is available that matches
the selected game options, it may be used, and Choice #8 is to select
the gamefile (or create a new one). If a new gamefile is needed
then there is the problem of determining the ruin contents.
In this case, Choice #8 is to decide which items will
be allowed in the ruins. (Traditionally speed items are not allowed
because they are too valuable when the Tournament armies are used.)
At this point the available items and allies should be known
and the players will need to negotiate the ruin contents.
This must be done by consensus.
The easiest (default) approach is "potluck", where the moderator
simply generates a gamefile with the desired options, and you live
with whatever the ruins have available for you. Disallowed items
or allies cannot be kept if ruins containing them are searched.
An alternative approach is to take a "potluck" gamefile, assess
the ruin contents, and then reassign the items and allies to different
locations by some means. You will need to obtain the assistance of a
Scenario Wizard capable of editing the ruin contents, which requires
hex-editing the starting gamefile.
For example, one approach is to
divide up the territory and the ruin contents, and allow each player
to arrange his own set of ruins.
- Final Preparations (Finishing the Game Setup):
- Play-by-Email Parameters:
- Turnaround Time - Once the scenario and game options are chosen,
the turnaround time should be decided. For unofficial games
this is determined in advance by the Organizer. For official
(ranked) games, all players
state their desired turnaround time for the game.
The largest value given by a player will be used,
within the official limit of one week per move.
Remember that there may be overall time limits on the allowed
duration of the game, and that slow-moving games tend to stagnate
and lose players.
- Timeouts and Vacations - the Standard settings are 9 timeouts
of 2 days each to start, plus 1 timeout every 5 turns.
These rules will be used for all Official games.
(See the Rules of Play for details.)
Unofficial games can have any policy the Organizer wishes,
but it should be stated clearly beforehand so no one gets
confused. (Note to Tournament veterans - these new League rules
eliminate the need to keep track of vacation days and are meant to
help simplify the game administration.)
- Choosing Sides:
- Selection of Active Sides: For official games, this is the
Defender's choice. For unofficial games, the Organizer chooses
with input from the players.
Traditionally there's 1 active side per human player,
and no computer players. (Computer players do not
play with the WarBOT rules!) Any non-traditional choices
need to be agreed to by all players.
- Choice and Naming of Sides:
The Defender chooses his side first and gives the name he
will use for his kingdom. Then rotate through to the Challenger.
If you are not using a premade gamefile you can actually
rename the sides when the game is set up. Otherwise you can
at least refer to them as you like in your Turn Reports.
- The Challenger (with help of the Moderator) sets up the game in the
Warlords
Remailer. It is usually helpful to use the game-setup template
for "Tournament" games. Official games will be given special names by
the League Coordinator. These games will be named sequentially in the Remailer,
with the format L##, where L is the code for an official League game,
and ## is the game number within the set of League games.
(e.g., L01, L02, L03...) You can see on the Remailer which is the
highest-numbered current League game, and take the next one.
For two-player "Head-to-Head" games we will use
the "H" series (H01, H02, etc.) of Remailer game names.
Playtesting (eXperimental) games use the "X" series.
Unofficial games can have any name you like.
- Once an agreeable gamefile is ready, the challenger generates a
comprehensive rules summary indicating all of the non-default
rules that have been chosen, with any special parameters
(gold allowed at ruins, turns when heroes can arrive, etc.) clearly
indicated. This should be sent to the Remailer
as the first archive message, so that players wishing to read the
game history later on will know what rules were used.
Once that's done, the Challenger sends in the starting
gamefile as a noarchive message to the Remailer.
- The first player takes their turn, and the war begins!
Back to the W2 Players' Encyclopedia
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This site began in 1994 as Eugene Lee's
Warlords II Home Page in Australia. It has evolved steadily since then,
and now includes material by a variety of authors, including Bob Heeter,
Eugene Lee, Elam Birnbaum, Glen Barnett, Dirk Pellett, Vern Vaillancourt,
Gary Best, and others where indicated.
A number of graphics are copyright by SSG; copyright and other
rights to the Web source are reserved by the appropriate authors.
(This site is not the Official
Warlords Site by SSG.)