A brief introduction to WarOnline
Welcome to waronline.net. This is a truly great game system, built singlehandedly by Australian programmer and game designer Alex Fiedler, known as Requiem in the game. We are all beta testers (one who helps work out the bugs before a game is released commercially) and are expected to help test new features and comment on them and find bugs and report them. You will have a great time playing...but there are some very un-obvious features that this essay hopes to clear up. We hope that many more players will stick around if they find answers to the most asked questions in one place.
Battles Duels Campaigns Moving & Fighting Ranking System
Communicating Clans Common Problems Useful Links
Let's start with the three major game types, Battles, Duels and Campaigns (B/D/C). A battle is a short two or four player game. A campaign is a larger and longer ten to forty player game. A duel is a two player campaign.
Top BATTLES
take anywhere from half an hour up to 2 or more hours depending on the game size, the player's skill in moving troops and the respective connection speeds of the players. Average time is about one hour. Players get their troops before the battle and meet each other for a Medieval, Demonic or Barbarian showdown on a map with two or four castles. Medieval class troops are the standard (and the only pieces in the campaigns currently), Demonic class troops and Barbarian class troops are only used in battles currently, as well as Medieval class troops. In Custom battle games any of the three classes can battle against one another. More classes are slated to appear in later releases of the game. Mythological and Undead classes are in the planning stages.
Battles are turn based games. One player has control and moves and/or attacks, then the other player has his/her turn.
Scenario (Standard) battles are selections of troops that have been decided on by the game maker. Each player gets exactly the same troop selection as the other. There are many different Scenarios, some short, some long, even some (for members only) that combine Demons and Medieval troops in one army! Scenario Battles are offered to all players and are a good test of your tactical skills. The first player to enter the game chooses the scenario to be played. Members can choose a members only game and a non-member can join it. You can also suggest more setups in the forums. It's fun to have your idea for a setup be used by Requiem! Custom battles are selections of troops that are chosen by the individual players and are not the same as the other's. These games are part strategy and part tactics. They can be extremely unbalanced in troop selections and that can make for some easy victories and humbling defeats. A good balanced setup is probably a good idea until you are more experienced. By this I mean: some power troops, some heavy blockers, some ranged and some weak retaliation takers.
Here's a tutorial on how to join a battle. It tells you how to get a battle going with someone. Everyone has their own style and favorite troops!
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Top DUELS
Duels are two player Campaigns. They are played on a map with two castles and a number of resource buildings and piles of goodies. The idea is the same as a battle, to eradicate your opponent. The technology and upgrading is the same as a campaign (see Campaigns)
Keep in mind that in a duel the resources are a key element to winning. Letting your opponent get all the gold and goodies is a sure way to lose. Try to take at least one of the areas at the top or the bottom of the map that has buildings and piles of stuff. Along the way you will also want to take the gold and goldmine in the swamp areas. The center has a goldmine as well. There are many buildings to take over and you can get quite a nice income going.
Duels are only sixty turns long, but that has seemed to be plenty of time to decide a winner in the ones played so far. Duels are tick-based, like campaigns, not turn-based, like battles.
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Top CAMPAIGNS
are much larger and longer in duration than battles. There are campaigns that have very short turn times, such as two hours, and turns that happen only once in twenty-four hours. A 120 turn, 12 hours per turn game takes 60 days if you last to the end.
Join campaigns by clicking on the "CAMPAIGNS>Show Games" menu item on the main page. Follow the instructions there to join the game that suits your fancy. You will be entered in a queue of active players waiting for the game to fill up with players. When enough have joined, the game will begin and you will be notified by message that it has started. Please don't bother asking others to join a campaign just to get going faster. It's annoying and they probably would have joined already if they wanted to. It can take a few days ( or weeks!) to fill a large game, so be patient and battle for practice.
Troops regenerate their movement and battle points at regular intervals and increments. In a 12 hour turnover game, troops regenerate 1/12 of their full strength and movement each hour. Likewise, in any game, divide 1/hours per turn. You may move troops at any time, up to the current amount of movement points, attacking whenever you are ready, whether anyone else is playing at the same time or not.
Campaigns are a mix of warfare and economic strategy, unlike battles, which are purely fighting, no building. In campaigns one builds barracks, military academies and other useful buildings, each of which increase your capabilities and/or income. You can take over mines, woodmills and other outlying buildings for more resources and income.
You can't do anything Turn 0. No building, no deployment of troops, researching or taking over buildings on this turn. Move your troops out of your castle and start grabbing goodies on Turn 1. Update your barracks so that they will begin producing troops on turn 1 (on your "Military" page).
Try to build a military academy, blacksmith and training guild as quickly as you can. You won't be able to research vital technologies or buy and sell resources until you do. Most players research Military and Taxes early on. Other items can wait until later, usually.
Your barracks produce troops. You must activate and assign what your barracks will produce on your "Military" page (on turn 1). You begin with the ability to make basic troops such as Spearmen, Swordsmen and Scouts and you must upgrade your individual barracks to produce better troops such as Squires, Macemen, Marksmen, Heavy Cavalry and Knights.
You can build troops on any barracks hex. You can build all of the troops that you begin the game with at the same time, not just one troop per barracks.
You begin with two barracks in your castle. You may build a third anywhere you like. I suggest it be in the castle until you are a more advanced player. As you conquer other's castles you will be able to have more barracks. One extra barracks per conquered castle. Turn barracks on or off on the "military training" page of the game. Update the page after changing anything.
One thing I like to make new players aware of is that there are no ranking points awarded for "Beginner" level games. As you get higher ranking you will be allowed to join higher ranked games. This means you will play against your peers, more or less. Beginner games can end abruptly if you are the only active player left, don't be surprised.
You may be in a maximum of three campaigns and two battles at once, although you can queue for any amount of campaigns. The exception is for Lifetime or Gold Members. They have donated at least $20 US for Gold or $120 (currently) for Lifetime memberships to Requiem and have a medal next to their name. They can play in more than 3 campaigns at once, although very few actually do, because they are time consuming. Please consider supporting this game financially if you decide you like it enough to continue playing. Requiem could spend more time designing and less time at a regular job, and we all want him to be concentrated on this great game as much as possible!
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Top MOVING & FIGHTING
MOVING
To move a troop, first click on it, then move the cursor to where you want the troop to go. Four inward moving arrows appear over that spot. Your troop will attempt to move to that position. However, it may not pass through forests, mountains, other troops, resource buildings, walls, other people's drawbridges and other obstructions I can't think of! (However, some Demons can fly, and over anything, too) Movement points are needed to move a troop.
To calculate movement over different terrain types in campaigns, use this chart:
Castle and Road hexes are 150% movement rate. .75 movement points per hex.
Grasslands, Rough, Dead Earth, Swamp and Snow are 80% movement rate. 1.25 movement points per hex.
Rocky terrain is 70% movement rate. 1.43 movement points per hex.
Cursed Earth, Thick Swamp, Ice and Woodlands are 60% movement rate. 1.67 movement points per hex.
Shallow Water is 20% movement rate. 5 movement points per hex.
Just add up the movement points need for each hex you want to move through.
Or use my Movement Calculator program.
The computer attempts to move your troop the shortest possible distance to get where you want it to go. Sometimes it is better to make short "hops" rather than trust the computer to go the direction you want automatically. This is also a good scouting technique, since you can refresh the map (using the red "Refresh" button on the pop-up menu at the bottom of the map) and see new territory carefully. Not much fun to teleport into the middle of 10 Heavy Cavalry you couldn't see before your move! This is useful in campaigns as well.
Sometimes in battles the map will "hang" on a move, never completing it. I find that closing and re-opening the map from the game window usually solves this problem.
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FIGHTING
To attack another player's troop, move next to it, so that the hex you are on is adjacent to it. Click on your troop, then move the cursor over the troop you wish to attack. A sword moving up and down will appear over the troop. Click the mouse and a window appears showing the damage or deaths that have occurred. If the game hangs on this window with no results, try closing it and refreshing the map.
In this game, most troops are assigned to a group in the Rock, Paper, Scissors categories. Some troops are better at attacking certain other troops and vice versa. If a winning combination is used, there is 140% damage, and if a losing combination is used, there is 70% damage. So for example, if a Swordsman (which is paper), meets up with a Spearman (which is rock), the Swordsman is at a great advantage (given equal numbers) since paper wraps rock. You can see charts of the various types in the online manual, and double-clicking on a troop on a map shows a list of its capabilities including R-P-S type. Ranged troops such as Marksmen and Arbelestiers are not part of this system. Siege weapons are a different group as well. Commandeers are neutral. Flying troops (Demons only) are considered neutral as well.
Something else to bear in mind, bloody ground takes 10 points off attacks! This can mean the difference between life and death, so tread carefully. Rubble is similar to bloody ground but also affects defense.
A Flash movie of moving a piece and an attack
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Top RANKING SYSTEM
You'll notice on the main page that everyone has a set of numbers after their names, such as 000:000:000 or 350:76:213. This is the person's rank in battles, duels and campaigns, respectively.
You gain rank points in CAMPAIGNS by not dropping out, firstly, and how well you do in the game, secondly. A first place win in a campaign gives a high score. The score is affected by rank and also by the average rank of the players in it. A low ranked player winning against a lot of higher ranked players will get proportionately more than a high ranked player would have gotten.
You gain experience points when you destroy your opponents' armies, and sometimes a lesser amount when your own pieces are destroyed by others. Disbanding troops is not free, one loses experience points doing it.
In other words, playing entirely defensively is a poor idea. You will not gain points as fast as someone who is actively campaigning and taking out other's castles and troops.
Your rank changes when the game ends, whether you are still in it or not, so this can take some time to change if you are wiped out of the game. If you are the last player then it changes when you win. ____________________________________________________________
You gain rank points in BATTLES by completely destroying all the opposing forces. Here's where it gets interesting. You gain more points for defeating a higher ranked opponent and less for defeating someone with a lower rank than you. Playing the higher ranked players will gain you rank points (and know-how) much faster than the lower ranked ones. Beating a higher ranked opponent is a thrill and very rewarding. Getting beaten by a lesser ranked player is expensive and more rewarding for your opponent! Your rank changes immediately after the battle. ____________________________________________________________
QUITTING
In Campaigns, Duels and Battles, quitting is punished by giving an extra penalty to the quitter. Even going inactive is better than quitting a campaign, and quitting a battle is disastrous.
Exceptions:
In a battle both players can agree to quit by voting. The player with the higher score at the time of the end of the turn before the vote is the winner. However, if one votes when he is winning, the other could wait to vote until HE was winning, so there is a small danger there. You can't "un-vote" a quit on that turn.
In a battle you can also quit on or before turn five with no penalty if there is no score on either side. You might do this when you realize your pieces are all wrong or you have to go to the movies with your significant other. I advise staying in a battle until the end if at all possible, even if you think you'll lose. For one thing, it's a hassle to play someone for half an hour only to have them drop out and there is always the chance you will pull it off and win!
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Top COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS
There are at least 4 ways to communicate with other players in the game. The quickest and most aggravating is the instant message. I use it a lot!
Click on the white square button at "1" on the "Who's Online" page. You may select multiple players to message with the same information.
Next, click on the button at "2" and a window appears to write your message. This is then sent to the recipient(s) instantly. However, if the player is offline it will appear when they next log on. This can be a bit confusing since one thinks it was just sent. This method of messaging can be abused by sending inappropriate messages to everybody with useless information. Acceptable messages include invitations to battles or pleas for you to vote for waronline.net at MPOGD (Multi Player Online Game Directory, go vote right now!!)
Feel free to use this with those you know will be happy to hear from you. Mass spamming is frowned on with a "frowning mace" to the head!
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The second, and more preferable way to send a message is to click on the player's name on the "Who's Online" page (or the "Find Player" page). This opens the biography window for that player. Here you will see a button reading "Send Private Message". The message only goes to that particular player and can be opened from their message inbox. Get to your inbox by clicking "messages" to the left of the screen.
If a player isn't online, you can message them by going to the "Find Player" page. Another way to "bookmark" people is to add them to your friend's list.
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The third way to send a message is that many players give their email addresses on their bio page. If it's there, they obviously don't mind you emailing them.
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There are two kinds of chat rooms to visit for meeting players and asking questions or finding a battle partner.
You can enter the chatroom by clicking on the IRC link on the left of the main page or using the "IRC" menu item. This brings up an in-game IRC chat room, but feel free to download other IRC programs like "mIRC" for Windows or "Ircle" for Macs.
WEB Chat is a simpler room. Some people find they can't enter IRC chat so they go here. It works fine but has less features than the other room.
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Another way to communicate is by using the forums. Here you can ask questions, get tips on strategy and tactics, report bugs, or just have a general continuing chit chat. Some players start jokes or continuing stories, other complain about bug abusers (someone who knowingly exploits a bug to their advantage, and this is not allowed!) and others just get weird.
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Although this should go without saying: abusive language, racial or ethnic slurs or any offensive behavior will result in your being banned from the game. I (Mog) was made moderator of the forums by Requiem in 2005. If you need help in the forums, feel free to message me about offenses. Please don't bother Requiem for any but serious offenses as he is very busy and shouldn't be sidetracked by minor issues that could be resolved in another way, such as messaging the person to stop their abuse or asking me to intervene. A link to Requiem's email is at the bottom of the "Who's Online" page as "Alexander".
See the link "Terms" for the official version.
There are players as young or younger than 10 in this game. Don't assume that someone is your age or older. Please bear this in mind while chatting with or messaging another player. You may ask a person's age but they don't have to tell you. Some of the best players in the game are very young so skill isn't a way to know a person's age! Some players will tell you the area or country they live in, some won't. Please don't pressure anyone to tell.
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Top CLANS
Clans are groups of pals who battle other groups of pals (clan games are 5 vs 5). You can join an existing clan or start a clan of your own. There are minimum requirements for keeping a clan alive, you must have 4 active members. Existing clans are either open to all comers or will ask you for a password to join. The higher ranked clans want better players. You may want to wait until you are a better ranked player before attempting to join a clan. The games are fantastic, with mutual communication and combined forces battles. Can you handle the responsibility to your clanmates?
Top COMMON PROBLEMS
You must have cookies enabled on your computer to see any maps.
You need Flash Player version 5 or better.
You need Internet Explorer 5 or better, Firefox and Mozilla apparently work now too.
Always refresh your map and game windows when you go to them in battles. Otherwise it looks like you can't move. If that doesn't work, perhaps your opponent hasn't ended his/her turn and needs to be reminded. Chat is great for battles since the other player can respond immediately.
The game slows down occasionally due to server speeds and the number of players online. This is frustrating, especially in battles. Sometimes it's your own computer that needs a booting to clean out the crud and speed it back up. Sometimes just closing and re-opening your browser is enough to solve a lock-up problem. If you think you will take a long time on a turn in a battle it's polite to tell your opponent. This also keeps them from "forcing" your turn after 11 minutes.
Google toolbars sometimes seem to affect gameplay.
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USEFUL LINKS
MPOGD Multi Player Online Games Directory, go vote for waronline.net right now!
How To Join A Battle
BattlePlanner, a program to help choose troops in Custom battles.
Movement Calculator program helps add up movement points for different terrains.
By MOG, June, 2004
Updated July 2005 and November 2005 and February 2006.