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.

This tutorial was designed for version 1.4 of Battle for Wesnoth, but most information here is still accurate.

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.

Multiplayer menu

Battle for Wesnoth main menu

The first thing you need to do if you want to play a multiplayer game is to choose which kind of game you want to play.

Click the multiplayer button in the general menu of wesnoth.

A new window will pop-up, asking you what kind of multiplayer game you want to play :

Pop-up window

Put your username on the top.

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 keep the same username (in 1.5, you are reserved your forum name), as players are often recognized by their names, and so you will build a reputation if you use the same name each time you play.

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...
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.

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. : )

Welcome to the lobby

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

Official server

The official server lobby looks like the image on the right. (without the green lines of course)

It can be divided into four areas:

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

Server menu

The menu allows you to join, observe or create a game.

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.

Here is an example of a "green" game, it's to say a game you are able to play :

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".

The last line shows some icons :

The eye : means that you can observe this game. When you can't observe a game, this eye is scratched in red.
The gold pile : tells you the number of gold you get each turn per village (in this example two gold per village per turn).
The experience needed to level up a unit is described near this icon : (70% is the required experience using map settings most of the time).
This icon: shows if there will be fog of war or no fog during the game.
At last can in some cases be seen "Use Map Settings" this tells you that the game is set with the original configuration developers gave to their map.

Here are some other examples, with different configurations:

"jeu de Prince" (prince's game) needed that you had the "era_magic" to play, anyway it's a "white game" so you can't join.

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 informations 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 can have to talk to other players, for example to set up a game, this is not always easy to find players so you may have to ask who is interested for what kind of games... or you may just want to talk.

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.
Whisper to a player. Double click on a player name on the right panel, a window will pop-up, then type your message and press return/enter. Your message will only be visible for the player you whispered to.

To whisper to a player you can also use the command line "/msg username message", you can find a list of useful commands on the following pages :

http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/MP_CodeOfConduct#Useful_commands

http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/CommandMode

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

When pressing the create game button, you should see something like this :

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)

Final Word

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