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


Rules for Official League Games

Outline:
  1. Intro / Philosophy
  2. Fixed Rules:
    1. Object of the Game
    2. Using the Remailer
    3. Time Limits and Vacations
    4. Sending Gamefiles
    5. Receiving Gamefiles
    6. Rules Disputes and Violations
  3. Flexible Rules and Variations:
    1. Fundamental Rules
    2. Archive Messages
    3. Heroes
    4. Combat
    5. Tiebreakers
  4. Rules Variants -- Archives

I. Introduction:

The basic rules of Official Games are similar to the Tournament Rules, only much more flexible. Except for the "Fixed" Rules specified in the next section, any official League rule may be changed at any time in any game, if all the players in the game agree. And you can play unofficial games with any rules you like!

The basic idea of the Fixed Rules is that all official League games must satisfy certain general constraints (use of the Remailer, time limits, etc.). The Flexible Rules allow you to customize each game to have a unique flavor. However, in case players cannot agree, there are also "Default" rules (based on the successful Tournament rules) which everyone can use.

Each player is responsible for making sure the rules are followed, by learning the rules and checking their opponents' moves to catch mistakes/cheating.

II. Fixed Rules:

These rules are standard for all League games, to provide a common environment for the games and keep the League healthy. They may not be adjusted, except by decision of the Rules Committee.

  1. Object of the Game:

    League games last until either there is a winner (all other players or teams having conceded defeat or been eliminated), or the game has exceeded the maxmimum duration. The maximum duration of a game is 2 months per starting player; this is designed to keep the League fluid and keep players from causing their games to stagnate. A 2-player game should take at most 4 months, and an 8-player game might take over a year! The game duration is measured from the time when the Remailer forwards the first move at the start of the game. If the game runs beyond the limit, the current turn must be completed, and whoever is ahead according to the tiebreaker rules wins. (The default tiebreaker rules are listed in the Flexible Rules.)

    Everyone will lose at some point, except possibly for The Greatest. Unlike games against the AI, or even ordinary play-by-email games, in League games it's very important how you choose to accept defeat. It's better to concede an inevitable defeat with honor than to delay another's victory by fighting to the death. It is recommended that once one player or team holds more than 2/3 of the cities for an entire turn, the remaining opposition should surrender. But each Warlord may judge for him/herself when it is that defeat becomes inevitable.

  2. Using the Warlords Remailer:

    All Official games are played "in public" using the Warlords II Remailer . The Remailer enforces the play-by-email settings and provides an online history of the game by archiving turn-change messages. The Remailer must be used for game-related email, so that game-related discussion is sent to all participants and archived for reading by other Warlords in the League. (Under some rules variants, private diplomacy is allowed, and gamefiles need not go to all players, but the Remailer should still be used to manage the flow of the game.)

    All League game histories are completely public and anyone may discuss ongoing games with anyone else. However, the password for each game should be kept private. Only the players, the Moderator, and the League Coordinator may send email to the Remailer for a particular game. It's considered cheating if someone generates bogus, fake, or falsified messages. (You can lie in your own messages, but you can't change what others have written or pretend to be someone else!)

    Games are set up according to the game setup info. When it is time for the game to start, set it up in the Remailer. (Ask a moderator for help in case of confusion.) Once the game is set up, you will receive an introduction from the Remailer with the relevant game information. The first player then takes his/her turn using the Starting Gamefile, and sends the game on its way with his first Turn Report!

    The Remailer is usually reliable, but if you are having trouble, try this:

    1. Check the address and subject line and try again. If the Remailer doesn't match the subject line with a game, password, and command, it simply ignores the message. You need to get this right.
    2. If the Remailer still doesn't reply, check the remailer game status with a "gamename, password, status" message. Make sure your *own* email address is correct in the status report!
    3. If the Remailer still doesn't respond, notify Elam Birnbaum (elam@pixgen.com) or the League Coordinator () that the Remailer seems to be down.
    4. Wait until noon U.S. Eastern time (GMT -0500) on the next business day (to allow time for Remailer resurrection) and try sending your game or message through the Remailer then. When the Remailer is down, incoming mail is queued until it revives, so it may have processed your mail while you were waiting.
    5. If it's *still* down (unlikely, but possible) then email the League Coordinator (), your Moderator (if any) and Elam again, and then send the messages via direct email (the old-fashioned way, without the Remailer) while we work on the problem.
    6. When the Remailer revives, the downtime-delay may have messed up the game status (turn and player), the remaining turnaround time, and some players' timeouts. You may fix everything via the Web interface. Always send a query message to explain any settings changes.

  3. Turnaround Time Limits, Timeouts, and Vacations:

    We want games to run as smoothly as possible without interfering with real life. Players must make their moves reliably in as little time as possible. Remember that there are overall limits on the duration of games. However, some allowances for vacations and emergencies must be made. The following rules embody this philosophy:

    1. The maximum allowed turnaround time limit is 7 days, enforced by the Warlords Remailer. The limit actually used in any given game should be the largest of the limits desired by each of the players. The limit can be changed at any time by consent of all players. The one-day weekend rule may be used if desired, but then the maximum limit is 6 days. (The idea is that each game must move once each week, at a bare minimum. In practice, games tend to stagnate if each player does not move at least once every 7-10 days, so shorter time limits are better.)

    2. "Timeouts": At the start of each Official game, each player gets 9 timeouts of 2 days each. Players accumulate one more timeout for every 5 turns that are played. These will extend your turn in case of crisis. Timeouts do not need to be announced in advance. They will be used one at a time automatically by the Remailer whenever your move becomes overdue. You do not need to use the whole timeout; however, once a timeout is started, it is gone. Note that the one-day weekend rule does not apply to timeouts.

    3. "Vacations": You may convert timeouts into vacation days at any time. Each timeout is worth two vacation days. (Fractional timeouts are forgotten, you must buy vacation days two at a time.) Thus you are allowed over 2 weeks of vacation per game, plus 2 more days for every 5 turns that go by. Vacation time will not be used until a vacation is declared, but vacations may be announced at any time, even in emergencies during your turn. However, please give as much advance notice as you can to avoid inconveniencing others. When you are on vacation, the game will be suspended when your turn comes up, and will be revived when you return, or when your vacation time expires.

    4. Vacation Rule for Team Games: In a team game, if one player goes on vacation, or disappears, another player on his team is allowed to move for him, to keep the game alive and moving. (This is a Flexible Rule. Players may decide not to allow teammates to serve as substitutes.)

    5. Players may only suspend the game if they declare a vacation; the two are equivalent.

    6. If you run out of timeouts and vacation days, and miss your turn, you automatically forfeit the game. Remember that there are League volunteers you can call in case of an emergency. If you forfeit more than two games in a row without completing any games, in between, you will be converted to an inactive player. If you do not complete a game within 12 months of becoming inactive, you become a Lost Player and lose your ranking. If you wish to rejoin the League, you will have to start at the bottom.

    7. Moderators may "suspend" the game during discussion of rules issues. Please check the rules carefully before bringing rules questions to the moderators.

  4. Sending Gamefiles:

    After you finish your move, do not actually end your turn. (This is a Flexible Rule.)

    Save the gamefile using the Tournament Filename Convention: LxxTyySz.SAV.

    Example: a game file sent in the 4th League game on Turn 7 for the 2nd player's upcoming turn would be named L04T07S2.SAV

    (This filename convention is extremely useful in helping players keep the official gamefiles from multiple games organized.)

    Compress gamefiles before mailing. Use ZIP for PC and cross-platform games, and StuffIt for Mac-only games. If your mail system allows it, send the .zip or .sit files as *attachments*. Don't manually uuencode or binhex files unless you must. If you cannot send attachments, use uuencode or binhex to convert the compressed file to emailable text. Any .zip, .sit, .uu or .hqx files should be named the same as the saved game, but with the extension .SAV changed.

    It is your responsibility to send files using a standard technology, and to help players who have trouble decoding your files. Encryption is not allowed.

    Remember to send your turn-change message and turn report (if required) at the same time you send your gamefile! Your move is not officially complete until both the turn report and gamefile have been sent, so you may be charged timeouts if both are not sent in time.

    If you send an invalid gamefile, (wrong turn, wrong game, not compressed right, etc.) the game will be suspended until a valid gamefile is sent, and a rules-error point will be assessed against you for delaying the game, since the delay might have been intentional.

    If you send a valid gamefile, then it should be played. But if you realize that an incorrect file was sent (say a file from before the move was finished), you can say in effect "Oops, I made a gamefile transmission error" and re-send the gamefile if you wish. This is only allowed if (a) the next player hasn't sent their turn through the Remailer yet, (b) no player has sent an "archive" (diplomacy) message since your turn report, and (c) the next player's turnaround time hasn't expired yet. And if you do send the gamefile again you will still be penalized with a rules error - but it might be worth the price!

  5. Receiving Gamefiles:

    Gamefiles are normally sent as email attachments. It is your responsibility to decode whatever you receive, provided it was sent in a standard fashion such as MIME, binhex, UUencode, Base64, etc. If you can't decipher a particular file, consult the Email Help page, and ask the moderator and other players for assistance and enlightenment.

    When you receive a gamefile, end the previous player's turn immediately. Do not "adjust", "explore", or do *anything*, or you may be accused of cheating! Mac players are used to a different convention and are prone to making mistakes here. Be careful!

  6. Fairness and Rules Violations (Rules Errors and Cheating):

    1. Fairness: The rules should treat all players equally, unless there is an agreement before the game to give certain players some sort of advantage. This is particularly important in cross-platform games, where the different versions of Warlords may not behave identically. If players on one platform can do something, but players using another platform cannot (as verified by the Rules Committee), then that action should be prohibited in that game. For example, PC-Deluxe players can use keyboard movement commands and send ground units to attack enemy stacks stationed on port squares. Mac-Deluxe users cannot do this. Therefore this action should not be allowed in a cross-platform game. (Though it would normally be allowed in single-platform games.) Another example in Deluxe involves razed cities. In PC-Deluxe navies can move through razed cities just like normal cities. But in Mac-Deluxe they behave like regular shore and navies cannot use them as ports anymore.

    2. Rules violations are divided into two types:

      "Mistakes":
      These are minor violations, presumably due to a simple accident or misunderstanding of the rules. These are generally errors that can be fixed (backing the game up a little if necessary) without affecting the course of the game afterwards. For instance, failure to report a battle(s) or hero action(s) is a rules error, and so is a minor WarBOT mistake. Each player is allowed 2 rules errors plus one additional error for each 10 turns that have been completed. (Novice players in their first game start with 4 allowed errors, and get one additional error every 5 turns.) These Rules Error points are assigned and tracked by the moderator and/or the other players. There is no penalty for an individual error, but once the limit is reached, additional errors are considered cheating.

      "Cheating":
      These are deliberate rules violations which cannot be explained by ignorance or stupidity. Examples are editing the gamefile, generating invalid battle reports (fudging the odds), and repeatedly making the same mistake as though one didn't know better. In a case of possible cheating the issue will be decided by the Rules Committee and the moderator. Cheating will be taken very seriously; cheaters may be expelled from the League, the Tournament, and all other coordinated Warlords 2 PBEM activities, or at least demoted to Lost Player status and excluded from play for 12 months.

    3. Dealing with Rules Errors:

      1. "Trust Thy Moderator:" Most battle or rules errors will be easily resolved problems that won't require moderator intervention. The moderator for the game handles any disputes that occur. Should the moderator be asked to settle a dispute, his/her decision is final, though if a player strongly disagrees with a moderator's ruling by the moderator, he/she may appeal to the Rules Committee, which shall hear statements from both sides, ask questions, discuss the situation privately, and arbitrate any disputes by majority vote. In the event that a member of the Rules Committee is involved in the dispute, the League Coordinator will serve as the 5th member.

      2. "Report Thy Own Mistakes:" If you realize you have made a mistake, report it immediately. If you report your own error before anyone else does, it is not counted towards the rules-errors limit.

      3. "Mistrust Thy Enemies:" Each player is responsible for checking the play of the others and reporting any suspected rules violations to the moderator. In particular, the defending player must check the battle reports. Check the initial and final gamefiles and the WarBOT report to catch possible cheats.

      4. "No Statute of Limitations:" Rules-Error points may be assigned at any time for any previous error. In particular, anyone may protest any battle result at any time. However, only errors reported within one full turn (after the sending of the gamefile or turn report in question) will be fixed. (This particular rule is flexible; 2 turns might work better for 2-player games.)

      5. "Retake Turns Only When Necessary:" Turns may not be replayed except to fix rules errors. Errors favoring the defender will not be fixed. If the error favors the attacker, the attacker (and all subsequent players) must retake the turn. A game will never be backed up more than 1 full turn to fix a rules error. (This particular rule is flexible; 2 turns might work better for 2-player games.)

      6. "Reset the Remailer Before Retaking a Turn:" If you must replay a turn, first go to the Remailer and reset the game to your turn. This ensures that everything will go smoothly when you send the corrected gamefile, and that you won't accidentally use up someone else's turn, timeouts, etc. Note that if you send a gamefile when it's someone else's turn, the Remailer will not send it to that player (thinking that the gamefile came from that player, and not you.)

    4. Only You Can Stop Cheaters:

      The League rules do not prevent cheating; they only make it easier to spot. (And depending upon which rules variants you choose, they may not even do that.) We've done the best we can to help you protect yourself, but your games will only be cheat-free if you learn the rules, take responsibility for enforcing them, and play honorably yourself. The fairness of the League is up to you - it's your responsibility to check for possible cheats and report any that you find!

III. Flexible Rules:

These rules are intended as guidelines and may be modified. (Various standardized variations already exist, and there are links to the various lists of variants.) Both players must agree to any modifications by written email. A copy of the email must be sent to the moderator and the League Coordinator in order to be valid.

Take your turn according to the rules that follow. When you send your gamefile onwards, also send a Turn Report in which you report everything from the Report Template which is relevant to your turn. (Note: Do not use HTML tags or styled text in your turn reports, because this causes problems in the Remailer archives and makes the game histories practically unreadable.) The reporting rules are discussed in more detail below. The reporting requirements may vary, depending on your choice of rules variants.

  1. The Standard Fundamental Rules:

    1. Anything you can do WITHIN the Warlords application is LEGAL (except as restricted elsewhere in these rules), BUT the only changes allowed in the official gamefile sent to the next player are those from playing your own turn.

      This specifically allows you to:

      • Revert moves in the official game to improve outcomes.
      • Save unofficial copies to peek at other players' upcoming turns.

      You are NOT allowed to adjust another's side in the official game file; this includes changing another player's "enhance" setting.

    2. Anything you try to do to the game file from OUTSIDE the Warlords application is ILLEGAL, except compressing the game file and mailing it to other players.

      Among other things, this prevents:

      • Editing the game file or using an outside cheat program.
      • Changing the army, scenario, or other game data.
      • Hacking the Warlords application itself.

      Cheating of this sort can be detected in its effect on the game, and anyone caught cheating will be expelled from all organized Warlords PBEM activities (tournaments, players' list, etc.) for life.

  2. Archive Messages and Diplomatic Rules:

    The standard rules are that "All's Fair in Love and Warlords", so you may say anything you like in your in-game diplomatic archive messages. You are allowed two diplomatic archive messages each turn: one contains your turn report and any additional communications you wish to send; the other may be sent at any time between your turn reports. You may only send one archive message between turn reports. Any discussion about the game should be sent as an archive message; query messages are for asking rules questions and talking with the moderator about game problems, and noarchive messages are for social communication unrelated to the game itself.

    There are a wide range of Diplomatic Rules Variants.

  3. Heroes and Hero Actions:

    Your side can only have one living Hero at a time, except as announced for special Hero-Rules variants. Do not hire any additional heroes offered. If your (last) Hero is killed, disbanded, or otherwise lost, here's how you can replace him/her:

    1. On the first turn that you start your move without a hero, declare that turn as "Turn X" in your Turn Report. Turn X is the first turn you actually declare it.

    2. "Turn Y" is the first possible turn you can receive a new hero without an ally. "Turn Z" is the first possible turn you can receive a new hero with one ally of your choice.

    3. At the end of your move on Turn X, report your Final Gold and determine the values of Turn Y and Turn Z from the table below:
      	Your Gold:         Turn Y (Hero only)     Turn Z (Hero, 1 Ally)
      	==================================================================
      	less than 300        *need more gold*        *need more gold*
      	 300+                   Y = X + 3               Z = X + 4
      	 600+                   Y = X + 2               Z = X + 3
      	1200+                   Y = X + 1               Z = X + 2
      	2400+                     n/a                   Z = X + 1

    4. In your Turn Report on Turn X, report when Turn Y and Turn Z will be.

      Example: If start turn 5 without a hero, and you end Turn 5 with 605 gold (pillaging helps!), you would declare Turn X = 5, Turn Y = 7 (X+2, no ally), and Turn Z = 8 (X+3, with ally).

    5. On Turn Y, you can receive a new hero in any of your cities, but you must disband any allies that arrive. If you choose to wait, then on Turn Z or later, you can receive a new hero in any of your cities, with any ally of a type allowed in that round. (Disband additional allies.) (Note - the rules for hero replacement and allowed allies are extremely flexible.)

    6. You may revert as much as you wish to get your hero in the city of your choice (and with the ally of your choice if it's Turn Z or later). (Tip - turn off the sound in Warlords to speed reverting.)

    7. You can wait as long as you like to get a new hero. You don't need to tell anyone where your hero will arrive, or what ally you will get.

    8. If your end-of-turn gold increases after Turn X, you should check the table again, because the values of Turn Y and Z can go down. If they do, report the new values of Turn Y and Z. You can only receive a new hero on or after the most recently declared Turn Y.

    9. If your gold decreases after Turn X, the values of Turn Y and Z do not change, and you can still get an ally with your hero. However, you are not allowed a new hero if you have less than 300 gold when the hero would be offered. (Warlords doesn't seem to allow it and neither do we! Beware: it will be hard to receive additional heroes if you have less than 500 gold, and very hard if you have less than 400. Only a few heroes are ever offered for 300-400 gold.))

      Example: Continuing the example above, suppose your gold increases from 605 at the end of Turn 5 (Turn X) to 1412 at the end of Turn 6 (X+1). Then Turn Y drops from 7 to 6 (X+1), but you've already moved on Turn 6 so that's no help. However, Turn Z drops from 8 to 7 (X+2), so now instead of getting a new hero with an ally on Turn 8, you can get it on Turn 7.

      Alternatively, suppose your gold dropped from 605 on Turn 5 (Turn X) to 475 on Turn 6 (X+1). Then you could still get a new hero without an ally on Turn 7 (Turn Y is still X+2), or with an ally on Turn 8 (Z is still X+3), because losing gold after Turn X can't change Turn Y or Turn Z.

    Heroes may revert to successfully search ruins/strongholds. The standard ruin-search rules are: You may only accept one ally at a ruin and two at a stronghold; all others must be disbanded immediately. You may revert as much as you like when receiving gold, but you may not receive more than 1250 from a ruin/sage, or 2500 from a stronghold. We recommend reverting to get 1200-1250 from each ruin/sage and 2400-2500 from each stronghold. (1200-1250 and 2400-2500 are the most likely ranges.) There are other Ruin-Search Rules Variants as well.

    All Hero activities must be reported, including arrival of new heroes and allies, new hero levels, ruin searches (allies, items, gold), and hero visits to temples. Always say which city, ruin, or temple was involved. There's no need to report blessings of non-hero units except when they fight. At the end of each turn, report hero experience and the change from last turn.

    Quests are now an option; select your desired Quest rules from the list of Quest Rules Variants.

    New rules variants are also welcome, but consult the Rules Committee before trying anything strange...

  4. Combat:

    For each battle, use an unofficial copy of the game file to preview the fight order and unmodified strengths of the defender's units. For naval battles you must run a "fake" battle and check the battle display - only the units shown with blue water splashes fight as navies. Note this information and then use the Warlords Battle Odds Tool (WarBOT) to determine the correct battle outcome. In the official game file, fight the battle and revert until the results are correct. Medals are not allowed, so revert until you get the correct outcome with no medal awarded. (If medals were allowed, everyone would revert to get extra medals. Boring!) If you win an attack with extra units remaining that should have died, disband them.

    WarBOT determines the actual battle bonuses and battle odds, and indicates which units survive. Attackers with survival odds less than or equal to 50% should die. Defenders with survival odds less than 50% die. Ties (50% survival odds exactly) go to the defender. A thorough explanation of the Warlords battle-bonuses system (used by WarBOT) can be found in the Battle Bonuses page. WarBOT is available via the odds-tools section of the archives.

    All battles must be reported, in the order they were fought, with this information:

    1. Defender's name/color and location (e.g., Attack on Red stack 5 west of Cherupel)
    2. Complete WarBOT report, including
      • Terrain of defender (with city production, if appropriate)
      • All army types, number and base strengths (griffin (6) vs. spider (4))
      • Outcome of battle

    Unit names may be abbreviated so long as the meaning is obvious (e.g., Heavy Cavalry -> Hv Cav, Light Infantry -> Lt Inf). Note that blessings are indicated as part of the base strength. Battle reports may be simplified in trivial one-on-one battles where the attacker is clearly stronger. (e.g., "Blue Dragon roasts Red scout in Brie")

  5. Game Endings: Tiebreaker Rules

    In the event that a game runs beyond the allowed duration, the current turn must be completed and the tiebreaker rules must be used. The tiebreakers are assessed on the turn after the final completed turn. For Doubles games, the stats for each team are added together. (An interesting variant might be to compare the stats of the leading side from each team.)

    1. Fraction of Remaining Cities your side holds. If tied, then
    2. Total Sum of the Unmodified Strengths of your units. If tied, then
    3. Total Gold for your side. If *still* tied, then
    4. Net Profit (Loss), i.e. income - expenses, for your side.
    5. If players are still tied, the Defender holds his rung.


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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.)