The following rules only apply as default settings to our Multiplayer-Games. It is meant to speed up the process of creating a game without having to discuss every detail . If you have any suggestions to improve this guide, feel free to leave a message at civforum.de. We hope to accomplish the completion of this guide soon.
Our personal goal is to make it possible for everyone to play Age of Wonders 3 - Multiplayer without having to discuss long beforehand or being frustrated by the map and/or settings.
Random map creation
When creating a map please consider the preferred and disliked terrains of the various races in AoW 3. Try to reduce the non-needed/hated terrains as much as possible so that no one starts in an area which his race detests.
Terrain Overview the races
Mankind :
Preference: Fertile plains
Abhor : Arctic , Underground
Hate: Spoiled, Volcanic
Goblin :
Preference: Swamp
Abhor : Arctic , Tropical
Hate: Volcanic
Draconians :
Preference: Wasteland, Lava
Abhor : Arctic
Hate: Spoiled
Orcs :
Preference : Badlands
Abhor : Arctic
Hate: Spoiled, Volcanic
Dwarves :
Preference: Mountains, Coast Mountains
Abhor : Tropical
Dislikes: Spoiled
Elves:
Preferred: Dense forest
Abhor : Tropical , Underground
Dislikes: Spoiled, Volcanic
Remark concerning maps with underground.
Due to a bug , the entrances to the underground aren't distributed anyway fair. So you should refrain from using it until maybe a patch fixes this problem.
map size
When creating a random map we suggest the following player/size-ratio.
When playing with 2 players: map size small
When playing with 2-4 player: map size small to medium
When playing with more than 4 players: map size medium to large
Start Distance
Should be set to 'distant', if two players still start next to each other please say so quickly and restart the game.
Combat modes
We recommend to use the automatic battle whenever a non participant would be forced to watch/wait because of it. So fighting manually would mostly only happen in 1 versus 1 situations.
We know the bad flaws of the automatic combat system, but if everyone uses it, then no one will have major disadvantages.
timer
We suggest the following map size/time ratio:
small map size: 2 or 3 min
medium map size: 3 or 4 min
simultaneously or sequential moves
To play fast and smooth its best to set the game to simultaneously mode. Sequential moves slows the pace of a game considerably and takes too much time. When declaring war to another party ingame you need to make up an order to move/handle frontline units/cities until that war is over. Please wait for your opponent to finish his move to engage him in battle. This rule doesn't apply if you attack "one-scout-only-stacks"
This however is not meant to allow the defender to draw/summon units to frontline cities. Whenever a city is unguarded you may attack it.
To make it fair the timer is split between the opponents. The attacker has the first half of the timer for his moves/attacks regarding the war and the defender has the second half. Moves that don't affect the war directly can be done regardless throughout the whole time.
As example a 1 vs. 1 with a 3 minute Timer:
Attacker: Can pull with his frontline stacks between 0-90 sec , may no longer draw these between 91-180 sec
Defender: Must wait with its frontline stacks between 0-90 sec , may draw these between 91-180 sec
It would be best to communicate these shifts with ingame chat or Teamspeak.
non-aggression pact
You can negotiate a non-aggression pact in a FFA-game. If you want to end this pact you have to communicate it with the ingame chat or by using Teamspeak. However you have to wait 5 to attack your opponent.
fair play
We hope to build a friendly multiplayer community. In order to do so we have some little rules concerning the interpersonal contact.
The following actions can lead to a ban from our community:
-repeatedly leaving/quitting multiplayer games without noticing the other players
-if you insult the other player/s
This community is no different than a public place. Behave yourself and act like a decent human being. If you're unable to do so, you're not welcome here and will be made to leave.
Wait after Disconnect
If someone leaves the game without logging out , the other players should wait at least 10 minutes before restarting the game .Those 10 minutes gives the disconnected player the chance to reboot his personal computer and contact the players. However it is not possible to rejoin a game . You have to make a new one and load the "automatic save". The only way to resume the game is : " AI takes over" - > End Game - > don't save - > Load Autosave .
Heroes , Advanced Start, Number of ressources , Independent etc.
The settings here depend on what the group/players want. Feel free to negotiate the exact settings briefly.
Notice for PBEM and Hotseats
You can fight the independent Forces here manually, because the game is not slowed down.