MP Tutorial

If you want to play Multiplayer games and are unsure of how, or seek more information on the workings of Wesnoth multiplayer, this is the place for you. Welcome to our MP tutorial.

Don't be daunted by the length of this page. It's not a required read, meant mostly as a bulletproof description on how to do everything on multiplayer and you can skim through it pretty quickly.

Your username is how you will appear on the servers and during games. The next time you will click on the multiplayer button on the main screen, this username will be automatically set, but you will be able to change it anytime you come back to this pop-up window. It is advised that you register your username so that nobody can take your name or impersonate you, this is done by registering on the Wesnoth forums (remember to register with the same name you're going to use when playing Wesnoth).

Choose the kind of game you want to play.

Under your username, you now have three choices:

Join official server: Allows you to join the official Battle for Wesnoth server, where most of the multiplayer games are played.
Connect to host/server: Allows you to connect to a different server, useful when the official server is down for example...
Host Networked Game: Starts a Wesnoth server in the background and connects to it. Useful to play with friends when there's no Internet access.
Local game : Allows you to play a multiplayer game on a sole computer, this is Battle for Wesnoth "Hot-Seat" mode.

Double click on the selected option or press the OK button to start playing. A click on the cancel button will bring you back to the main menu.

Welcome to the official server

When you connect to the server, a welcome message appears in the chat area at the bottom. It contains some useful directions and occasionally some current information.
Perhaps the most important part of it is the link to the official server's Code of Conduct. All players who stay on the server are supposed to have read it, but of course we can't force anyone. : )

The lobby

The multiplayer lobby is a game screen with interactive list of games, of players and a simple chat interface.

It is divided into four areas, each further described below:

1: Menu.
2: Games.
3: Players.
4: Chat Area.

To join a game, click on a game and then click on the "Join Game" button. We will see which games you can join and which you can not join in the Game legend section.
To observe a game, click on the game you want to observe, then click the "Observe Game" button. If you want to go straight to the current turn of the game, check the "Quick Replays" box, if this box is unchecked, you will be able to see all the moves of each player during all the turns of the game.
To create a game, click the "Create Game" button. We will go back to this in the "Create a game" section.
"Preferences" allows you to change Battle for Wesnoth configuration, sound, video... this button brings you to the same menu that the "Preferences" button on the title page of Battle for Wesnoth.
The "Quit" button brings you back to the title menu.

Game legend

Games appear in the lobby in different colors :

White are games that already have started. You can only observe those games.
Red are games that have started and that you can't observe.
Green are games you can join or observe and which haven't started yet.
Yellow are reloaded games, only people with the same name as the original players can join.

On the left appears a thumbnail of the map.
On the top, in green, appears the name of the game : in this example "remfarkas jateka" (remfarkas's game)
On the top right corner appears the number of players needed for the game to start, or "vacant slot". In our example you can learn that the game is designed for four players and that three players are already waiting for the game to start.

Next comes a white line where you can see a description of what is needed to play :

First comes the "era" (Default in this example). "Default" means that everyone can join the game to play. In some other cases, you will need a specific era to play.
Just right to the era appears the size of the map, in remfarkas's game, 20x20 tiles (which means this is a small map).
Then comes the number of players the map is designed for (4p in the same example).
And last is the name of the map : "Isar's Cross".

Eras can be downloaded on the main screen of Battle for Wesnoth, in the "Add-ons" menu.

Also, please be sure to have the appropriate era before joining a game, if you do not have it and that the game starts, you will crash while other players will be less likely to play with you again.

On the top-right corner you can see that the game has already started and is currently at turn 1. The game can be observed (once more, you need the appropriate era). Players get 5 gold per village per turn, units need 30% of experience to level up and there is no fog of war.

Some other games are reserved, most of the times the word "reserved" appears in the name of the game. Ladder games are reserved for ladder players only for example.

This game also uses a timer. Players will have 270 seconds per turn, a 200 seconds reserve and a 20 seconds action bonus (they will get 20 seconds more each time they do an action).

In any case, please read the name of the game before joining, a lot of information is written here by the game hosts.

Players

You may have noticed that players on the right panel can appear in different colors :

Players in blue are those in the currently selected game (as players or as observers).
Players in red are players currently involved in a game.
Players in white are on the lobby, they are not playing and may be available for a game.

Your name appears first, then appear the names of your friends.

Names are sorted alphabetically (once with major caps and then with minor caps) for each color type.

Talking to players

You might need to talk to other players, for example to set up a game. It's not always easy to find players so you may have to ask who is interested for what kind of games... Or maybe you just want to ask something.

You have two ways to talk on the official server :

Using the chat box. Just type your message then press "return/enter". Your message will be visible for everyone on the lobby.
Send a 'private message' also know as 'whisper' to a player -- it will only be visible for the player you send it to...

* Double click on a player name on the right panel, a window will pop-up, then type your message and press Enter.

* When combined with tab-completion, the faster way to whisper is by typing in the following command and pressing Enter:

"/m username message", changing "username" the the desired nickname.

Hosts

Any player who creates a game is that game's host.
He/she is in charge of solving any in-game issues or disputes between players, possibly with the aid of the host-only commands.

Time To Play

Joining a game

To join a game, double click on a green game or click a game and then press the "Join Game" button. You will then be asked to choose a faction and a leader, you can also choose to play with a random faction and leader.

If you decide to change faction/hero, you can ask the host to change it for you while the game hasn't started yet.

Creating a game

This window will allow you to configure the game you want to play. Different options are available.

On the top of the screen, put the desired name for your game. Battle for Wesnoth will automatically name your game "username's game" (in the language you use Battle for Wesnoth), but you can change this name just clicking in the text field.
Under the name of your game, you have to choose the map on which you want to play. 2p maps are designed for two players, 3p for three players etc... A thumbnail of the map will appear on the left.
Under the picture of your map, you have two buttons, "Default" is the current era for the map, you can change it by clicking, a list will show you the available eras.
You can set a password by clicking the "Set Password..." button. When trying to join your game, people will be asked for this password. Useful for reserved games.

The right of the screen contains more gameplay options:

The first horizontal scroll bar allows you to choose a determined number of turns before the game stops. At maximum the game will not have turn limit.
The second scroll bar will determine the number of gold a player gains each turn by holding a village.
The third scroll bar determines the experience required for any unit to level up.

You may not be able to change some of the configurations if the box "Use map settings" is set.

Then come check boxes :

Use map settings, when checked, the game will be played with the developers configuration.
Observers, allows observers to watch your game when checked.
Time limit, when checked determines a time limit for each turn, you can set this time limit with the little scroll bars, where (in seconds) :
- - "Init. Limit" is the initial amount of time a player have.
  - "Turn Bonus" is the amount of time a player gets each turn.
  - "Reservoir" is a granted number of seconds each turn to complete the turn bonus.
  - "Action Bonus" is a granted number of seconds for each unit who have done an action this turn.

The right options can only be checked/unchecked when you don't use the map settings:

Fog of war : if unchecked both player can see the whole map when playing. If checked, each player will only be able to see as far as his/her units can move next turn + one hexagon.
Shroud of war : this is a kind of fog of war, but darker ;).
Random start time : instead of starting at sunrise, game will start at a random time of the day.

When you have set all the desired options, press OK, if you don't want to continue further, press cancel and you'll get back to the lobby.

Once you have pressed OK, choose your faction and your hero and wait for other players. You're also able to toggle position between players by clicking a player name. (The player whom name comes first will play first)

Other servers/ Local games

You now know all to play on any other server or to play a local game, those work exactly the same way as described above.

Tips

These assorted bits of advice could make your stay on the server more comfortable.

Registering a nickname

Registering a nick has a number of advantages:

it makes it harder for someone to impersonate you, and people will immediately know it's you
you can kick an old instance of your connection by reconnecting (remove the 'ghost')

you can register a nickname by going here

Tab-completion
Instead of typing a person's whole name, you can have the remainder of it filled-in by pressing the Tab key.

To catch a person's attention, send them a PM or type out their whole nick as it's written.
(NOTE: sending PM's to people who don't know you might offend them)

Useful commands

The wesnoth multiplayer server supports several commands that can be helpful when dealing with the games and people that you meet. The most useful are:

Command	Description
Typed in a message box, either directly in lobby or by pressing 'm' in a game
/query adminmsg text	send a message 'text' to all available server moderators. (See this page for more /query commands.)
/m nick text	write a private message 'text' to 'nick' (identical to /msg or /whisper) (also by double-clicking the nick)
/friend nick	add 'nick' to your friendslist (so that 'nick' will be listed at the top of the lobby)
/ignore nick	add 'nick' to your ignorelist (so that 'nick' will be listed at the bottom of the lobby and you don't see messages written by 'nick')
Typed in a command box, by pressing ':' in a game
control side nick	give 'nick' control over the side number 'side'
droid side on	give control of a side number 'side' to the computer AI. droid side switches between AI and human control
kick nick	remove player with 'nick' from the current game
ban nick	remove from and prevent further rejoining of player with name 'nick' from the current game (the player does not have to be in the game but on the server)
nosaves	turn off the autosaves function, can be helpful in speeding up things in large scenarios

For a list of universal multiplayer commands see ChatCommands or use the /help command in a MP game or lobby.

For a list of in-game commands see CommandMode or use the :help command in a game.

Final Word

Hope this tutorial has helped you, good luck, have fun ;).