World at War

World at War FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to the second (HTML!) version of the World at War Frequently Asked Questions. Please feel free to drop me suggestions to add to this FAQ in the World at War forums!

-Blue Dragon

1 - How are rankings determined?

2 - How are ranking ICONS determined?

3 - Why are 4 out of 6 players never taking their turns in a game?

4 - Why don't you kick deadbeat players out of games?

5 - I attacked a defender with only x armies and I had xxx armies, yet I lost! You're dice are screwed up!

6 - I think PlayerX and PlayerY are the same person using a duplicate account.

7 - When I log in it says "Welcome back player #xxx but my ranking is #yyy".

8 - There's two countries that have grey numbers, but there are no grey players. What's up with that?

9 - After joining a new game, I view the log. Then after hitting the QUIT button, it says "Would you like to start your turn now? (YES) (NO)". The game hasn't started yet! How can I start my turn?!

10 - I want to play a LIVE game. How can I set one up?

11 - I use Netscape 6 and the screens don't display right!

12 - I don't use Nogstripe 6 but the screens still don't look right!

13 - I don't have new turns today!

14 - Playerx played 3 turns in 5 minutes without anyone else playing at all! How can that be?!?!

15 - PlayerX did Y that should have been impossible.

16 - I got error "MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server"

17 - PlayerX has locked 2 games at the same time!

18 - WAWSCOUT doesn't work!

19 - Why can't I specify how many armies to attack with? / If I attack with 4 armies, why am I able to only move 1 into the conquered country?

20 - I cannot create more than 5 games! Why?

21 - So I can create a player named FUCK YOU ALL?

22 - I'm playing in a game with a player named NAZI'S RULE and I'm Jewish and offended. I want you to delete him. (Note... replace NAZI and Jewish with any hate group/ethnic group you prefer)

23 - Why does my screen always jump down to the bottom after it loads?

24 - I cannot continue playing a game. Can I forfeit?

25 - PlayerX is obnoxious. How can I keep from seeing his posts/chats? (Ignore List)

26 - How can I add links to a Forum message?

27 - Chat seems to have some special commands. What are they and how do they work?

28 - Is there a method to quit a game?

29 - I accidentally created a game I didn't mean to. Can I delete it?

30 - I cant attack from (country A) to (country B)! (one-way borders)

31 - I want to play like a board game where each player follows the last! (Sequential Games)

32 - How long can an account remain inactive before it is deleted?

33 - How does (some) option work?

34 - How do Team Games work?

35 - How do I get a Forum picture-thingy? Change password? Add signature? Edit my account?

#1 - How are Rankings determined?

The formula used is one that F.I.R.E. uses to determine their rankings and is based in turn on a standard chess ranking formula. It goes like this:

All players begin with a ranking of 1200 before they win or lose any games.

When a game is over, the losers lose points based on this formula:
(loserranking * 27) / winnerranking

How ever many points that works out to is subtracted from each loser's ranking.
All of THOSE points are then ADDED to the winners ranking. If all players were beginners with a starting ranking of 1200, then each loser would lose 27 points and the winner would win them all.

This formula takes into account a few different things. First, the more players that are in a game, the more points the winner will get for it. Makes sense since his odds of winning is harder.

Second, a winner with a high ranking going into the game will get LESS points (and the losers will lose less points) than if the winner started with a lower ranking.

Finally, losers with a high ranking will lose more points than those with a lower ranking.

It's really a great system. Also, that number "27" is called a weight. Because there are different types of games, the weight can be changed. There is an inherent unfairness in World at War for all non-Daily games. I'm not going to detail why this is here, but it is a fact. To compensate somewhat, I've set the weight factor to 31 for daily games instead of 27. Winners of Daily games will receive more points than an otherwise-equal non-daily game. Losers will lose more as well. Recently a new game type Sequential was implemented. Sequential games are both slower and more fair than any other type. Because of this, the weighting value for Sequential games is now set at 35.

Just ONE more thing...

Deadbeat players (players who join a game then never play their turns) skew the rankings badly. Because ANYONE can defeat a deadbeat player, no points will be awarded to winners for defeating deadbeats. (Defined at the end of a game as a player who has not taken more than 1 turn.

Monthly rankings are identical except everyone gets reset to 1200 at the 1st of every month. Also, when you view the rankings you will never see someone with a ranking of 1200. It does not display people at the default ranking.

#2 - How are Ranking Icons determined?

Recently I created an assortment of new Ranking icons. Here is the current icons and how they are determined. Firstly, icons throughout the game and in the Forums are based on your current overall score. The only exception to this is when listing the Monthly rankings where the Monthly score is the basis for those icons.

There are 9 rank icons. In order from best to worst they are:

warlord >2900 Looks like a little globe
general >2600 A gold star
colonel >2300 A white eagle
major >2000 A blue "leaf"
captain >1700 A blue double-bar
lieutenant >1500 A blue single-bar
sergeant > 1200 A yellow triple-stripe
beanie =1200 A beanie cap (1200 is the starting point for newbies)
corporal >1100 A yellow double-stripe
private >1000 A yellow single-stripe
beanie =<1000 A beanie cap

These point levels and icons may change however. This is accurate as of 12/17/04.

#3 - Why are 4 out of 6 players never taking their turns in a game?

A phenomenon of World at War that I've come to accept are "deadbeat" players. These players, through whatever means, find the game and jump right in, joining and creating games left and right. However, once in a game they realize that they can't play yet... They have to wait for enough players to join before the game really starts. This usually takes a day or so, and they often never return. I think they are expecting the game to be a real-time game that they can play Right Now. Although it can be played in Real Time, in practice it's very difficult to keep all the players live and online. If any one player drops out, the game will not roll over to the next turn until midnight.

So we end up with lots of "deadbeat" players that never come back. ADE is one option which will help to combat the effects of deadbeat players. If a game has the ADE option on, the game will check when the last time each player logged on was. If it sees that a player has not logged into the game for more than 4 days, it will be automatically forfeited. The armies will still remain to be defeated, but the game will not wait on the player and he will not be able to return to play the game.

These players also have a devastating effect on Team games. If you join a Team game and your player turns out to be a Deadbeat, you're at a VERY significant disadvantage. To combat this the option NO NEWBIES was added. While intended for Team games, this option can be added to ANY game when it is created. Essentially it prevents players from joining if their overall score is exactly 1200 - indicating they have not yet won OR lost a single game.

#4 - Why don't you kick deadbeat players out of games?

With the recent addition of the ADE option, this is now semi-possible. They are not actually kicked out, instead they are automatically forfeited. This allows the game to continue without having to wait for them to play, plus they are not allowed to return to the game after they have been auto-forfeited. However, their armies will still remain and must be defeated to win the game. (NOTE: ADE option is not compatible with some game types - notably Paranoia and Open Paranoia. Since the object of these types of games is to defeat a specific player, forfeiting a player would give a big advantage to the player who's goal is to defeat them.)
When a game ends, if the game determines a player was a deadbeat (if he took only 1 turn or none at all) it will NOT give his points to the winner. However, it will remove points from the deadbeat player. The theory being that deadbeat players are no challenge to defeat and therefore beating them should not count towards a players ranking.

#5 - I attacked a defender with only x armies and I had xxx armies, yet I lost! You're dice are screwed up!

This is a recurring nightmare for me. First, no computer program can create totally random events. I am convinced that my current method of rolling the dice is as random as possible. Since when you are attacking, the defender isn't present I only seem to get complaints about attacking dice not rolling randomly enough. How many times has an attacker with 4 armies defeated a defender with 10? We will never know 'cuz the attacker sure isn't about to complain and the defender is unlikely to notice how many the attacker had when he finally logs back in. I've tried various experiments to prove or disprove the randomness. I've swapped the dice between the attacker and defender and still get the same complaints. It's been suggested that I log all dice rolls for a day or two to see the statistical results, and I may do that eventually. But the bottom line is that the dice rolls are non-deterministic. One roll doesn't affect the next roll in any way. The odds say that 10 armies against 2 will win, but they don't always. The odds say that 100 armies against 2 will nearly ALWAYS win, but they don't ALWAYS. All it takes is you being that one that loses, and you'll be convinced to high-heaven that something was wrong - and I'll get an earfull.

Also, PLEASE try to understand this - THE DEFENDER WINS ALL TIES. That's a HUGE statistical advantage. Play Blackjack for awhile with that advantage to the dealer and see what I mean! One player recently posted a list of his 5 to 1 attack loss. In that list were 2 ties that went to the defender and some admittedly bad attacker rolls. Be careful when using the Massive Attack! unless you KNOW what you're committing to. It's a losing proposition once you drop below 4 armies! That option is incredibly useful when you have MASSIVE numbers of armies and a MASSIVE advantage. Otherwise its a sucker play. Don't be that sucker. In the example posted, the first two rolls (5 to 1 and 4 to 1) the attacker had a good statistical likelihood of winning. When he didn't, he should have stopped. A 3 to 1 attack is nearly 50/50 when the defender wins all ties. (Only 2 dice are rolled against 1). A 2 to 1 attack is suicide. You will lose. It's ONLY worthwhile if the prize is worth it - either a continent grab or taking away someone else's continent. Don't do it.

The Master has provided a nifty link with the probabilities of the various attack/defend probabilities. The URL is:

http://www.geocities.com/lh_git/risk_chances.html

#6 - I think PlayerX and PlayerY are the same person using a duplicate account.

They very well may be the same person. In our terms this is called a "multi" - someone using more than one account to cheat the system. Combatting this is quite difficult, time consuming and a manual process. If you suspect someone of being a "multi" in a game, you are welcome to report it to me (Blue Dragon) via private mail OR post about it in the Forums.

In SOME cases it is clear the accounts are from the same person. In others it isnt. I am the sole arbiter of this and make my decisions in a wholly capricious manner. However, recently a new feature was implemented to help cut down on the "Multi" problem tremendously. Currently when a game is created the game does NOT allow two people with the same IP address to join. There are circumstances, however, where legitimate players DO have the same IP. For them there are two options if they want to play together in a game. They can create (or join) a game with the SAMEIP option (which allows this) or they can become Premium. Either way allows this ability. Of course other players may not want to join games with the SAMEIP option since it potentially allows Multis.

It is not a perfect or indefeatable system, but it is the best that can be done automatically.

#7 - When I log in it says "Welcome back player #xxx but my ranking is #yyy".

I should have fixed that long ago. The "Welcome back player #xxx" is your record number in the player database. The game doesn't really track people by their name, but by their record number. It has no relationship to the ranking. The one reason I thought it might be worth leaving it in there was so if someone had a problem with their user ID, I could find them quickly by looking up their record number.

#8 - There's two countries that have grey numbers, but there are no grey players. What's up with that?

There are 42 countries in the game. The game can have from 3 to 6 players. 42 is evenly divisible by 3 and 6, but NOT by 4 or 5. To make the game fair, a dummy player is used in 4 and 5 person games. The dummy player's countries and armies are shown in grey. He will never do anything, but you must conquer those contries too to win the game. Early on, the 1st and 2nd players in 4 and 5 player games got one more country than anyone else. (42/4 = 10 remainder 2, 42/5 = 8 remainder 2)

#9 - After joining a new game, I view the log. Then after hitting the QUIT button, it says "Would you like to start your turn now? (YES) (NO)". The game hasn't started yet! How can I start my turn?!

It's a bug. Minor but it can be annoying. If you hit YES it will tell you the game hasn't started yet so you won't start your game anyway. It would be harder to fix than you might think though, so I'm just leaving it as is for now.

#10 - I want to play a LIVE game. How can I set one up?

First, you need to get the players together. Although the in-game chat function works reasonably well, you're better off getting some friends together with AIM or something similar. Then, get everyone logged in and create a game. As long as you do NOT choose the Daily option and do NOT set any turn delay, you should be in good shape. When I first designed the game, I couldn't see any good reason why multiple players can't play at the same time. It can lead to some interesting situations, but the database itself should be able to handle it. (If I own a country on my screen, then another player conquers that country, I won't know it till my next activity and screen update! The screens can't update dynamically, even though the underlying database will keep proper track.) Eventually, though, odd intermittent bugs were seen. It's hard to understand all the different possible ramifications of multiple user access to a game. So I changed the game and implemented Locks to allow only one player in a game at a time. However, if you feel adventurous, you can play using the Unlocked option which will allow concurrent access to a game. Personally, I like the concept of Unlocked live games, even if bugs may occur. It's up to you.

However, if even 1 player goes offline the game comes to a screeching halt. Until ALL players have taken their turns, the next round will never begin (till midnight that is!) So you need to be SURE all the players will stay online. The one workaround is a feature I still havent implemented - voting to kick a player out of a game. If all players vote to kick another player out, the next rounds will continue without him. It's a fairly complex feature to add, though, and I have more that I want to add first.

#11 - I use Netscape 6 and the screens don't display right!

REVISION!! The maps are essentially a background graphic with text numbers overlaid on top of them. It is critical to the proper display that the font size of the text is exactly the size expected. If the fonts size is too tall, the numbers will display "lower" on the map than they should. Far more common, the font size can be too wide resulting in the numbers displaying too far to the right. Recently a major change was made to attempt to FORCE browsers to display the text at the exact right size. Windows and Internet Explorer require each line to be 16 pixels tall and the font size to be 16 pixels wide. Using CSS, that is what they are set to. Most modern browsers support these CSS commands and hence should display correctly. In experimenting with other browsers (and other operating systems like Linux), it seems some require a font size setting of 15 pixels instead of 16. This change is now automated based on the information sent by your browser. It SHOULD display right automatically. If it does not, PLEASE send me a message - either through Email

#12 - I don't use Nogstripe 6 but the screens still don't look right!

REVISION!! This SHOULD no longer happen. However, if it does - read #11 above and send me that data in email or private message.

#13 - I don't have new turns today!

This is my other recurring nightmare. Every night at midnight server-time the server runs a maintenance routine that does lots of things including giving new turns in all the games. Anyone who's been around awhile will recall the TERRIBLE time we had getting it to work right a few months ago. For the last few months it's been running flawlessly, but it could happen again. If it does, be assured I already know about it by 8am Eastern time and am working on it. In the meantime repeat after me, "It's only a game. It's only a game. It's only a game."

#14 - Playerx played 3 turns in 5 minutes without anyone else playing at all! How can that be?!?!

REVISION! This is still possible, but much less likely with a recent revision. To explain it, you can read on...

There are 3 distinct types of games in World at War.

Daily games allow one (and ONLY one) turn per day per person. The order of play doesn't matter - everyone gets one turn per day. A bit after midnight, a program runs which allows all players another turn.

Another type is Sequential. Players must play in order. This is the most "fair" method possible but can be slow if a player stops playing.

Finally, the Standard game (not Daily or Sequential) works like this - Each player can play in any order. When ALL players have finished, a new round begins. Obviously the last player to play a round will be right there when the next round starts and - in effect - takes two turns in a row. Turn Delay option can prevent this but by default it is possible. Of course, if he takes two turns in a row, he definitely WONT take two turns in a row next round but still...

Until recently, at midnight the game would start a new round regardless. Therefore a player could be the last player to play a round just before midnight. Then a new round would start and he could play again. THEN the midnight routine would run and he could play yet AGAIN!
Now, a change has been made and the midnight routine won't start a new round UNLESS at least one player hasn't taken his turn in 24 hours. So it is still POSSIBLE that a player could take 3 turns in a row, but much less likely to happen.

#15 - PlayerX did Y that should have been impossible.

Bugs probably still exist in the game. I get suprised every few weeks with a new one that I never considered. However, the best thing I ever did in programming this game was the creation of the LOGS. Careful reading of the log file for a game can reveal exactly how PlayerX COULD have done Y legitimately. It's not foolproof, and to keep the database size down to a reasonable level the logs don't show as much detail as they could, but it's helped me out a LOT when determining if someone is cheating or if a bug is being exploited. Before complaining, read the logs CAREFULLY to track who has done what. It can sometimes explain exactly what took place.

#16 - I got error "MySQL Connection Failed: Can't connect to local MySQL server"

The game uses MySQL to keep track of the data. MySQL is a separate program but it sure is a great program for doing database stuff. However, on rare occasions the game has problems communicating with it. My best suggestion is to try again whatever you were doing. If it is a constant problem, try logging back in again. (You never need to log out really.) You most likely won't even be able to log in if it is consistant. Wait for the server to get fixed. I'll certainly know about it real soon anyway. Occasionally it's a one-shot fluke and retrying will work fine.

#17 - PlayerX has locked 2 games at the same time!

That's entirely possible due to the way the locks work. A lock stays active for 5 minutes after a person does any activity in a game. Players can disconnect totally at any time but the game won't know it for 5 minutes. That player can then join another game and lock it during the same 5 minutes. Be patient, after 5 minutes at least one of the games will be freed up. UPDATE! A revision was made a few months back. Anytime a lock is generated for one game, all OTHER locks for that player will be cleared. This problem should no longer happen. Also, players can no longer lock multiple games to keep other players out by opening multiple windows.

#18 - WAWSCOUT doesn't work!

WAWSCOUT is a little program that robertf wrote that runs in the taskbar and checks WAW to see if you have any turns to play. It was pretty popular when it was first made, and can still be downloaded. I didn't program it so I don't know a lot about how it works, but I think robertf still frequents the area occasionally and we can get hold of him if needed. UPDATE! A Mac version (by PigSprout) is now available for download as well. The link is at the bottom of the Message of the Day screen (right after you log in).

#19 - Why can't I specify how many armies to attack with? / If I attack with 4 armies, why am I able to only move 1 into the conquered country?

RISK requires that you MUST move the number of dice you rolled into a conquered country. I have not yet implemented that requirement in World at War. The current method is obviously simpler to play and simpler to program. However, it does remove an element of strategy which I like. I do plan to implement that in the near future. Essentially there will be a new option box where you can set how many dice to roll when attacking. If you conquer a country then the game will automatically move at least that many armies into the conquered country. The default will be to attack with the maximum number of dice possible (3 usually) so it should not normally slow down a turn too much. Defenders will continue to always roll the maximum number of dice possible (2 usually).

#20 - I cannot join more than 5 games! Why?

Free accounts will not be able to join more than 5 games at a time. If you want to play more than 5, please consider a Premium account. At only $25 for a YEAR it's certainly not too expensive! Also you'll then be able to write in the Forums and participate in Chat (including the Chat Poker game). If you ARE a Premium member but can't join, send me a Private Message or a message in the Forums so I can investigate. Also of note, if you are a Premium player but your Premium time runs out, you will still be able to play ALL the games you are currently in as a Free player. You just can't join new ones till you're in less than 5 or renew your Premium account. (UPDATE! Free players who have won at least 1 game should now be able to play in up to 7 games. Until you've won at least 1 game, however, you'll still be restricted to 5.)

#21 - So I can create a player named FUCK YOU ALL?

Yup! No promises you can KEEP it. I retain all rights to delete anything I want. It's only a game. If your name is too offensive and you send in $25 for a Premium account, I simply won't accept your money in the first place. Believe it or not, I'm NOT doing this for the money.

#22 - I'm playing in a game with a player named NAZI'S RULE and I'm Jewish and offended. I want you to delete him.

And I'm playing in many games with people who can play 50 games a day and have the time to do so. I'm offended too! I've ran a rather LARGE BBS in the past and these issues came up almost daily. I'm not the morality police and frankly haven't the time or energy to become them. If you are offended, it's your right to let me know about it. I may or may not do anything about it depending on how offensive I personally think it is. I am arbitrary and capricious. If you continue to be offended, I must advise you to go elsewhere. I'm too busy programming to decide if NAZI'S RULE is hate speech or not. Better yet, beat the shyt out of him in the game! I'm not a Nazi. That's about all I can say. (Or you can create that 2nd handle that says NAZI'S LOST!)

#23 - Why does my screen always jump down to the bottom after it loads?

An early request (by a player who doesn't log in anymore by the way) was that she didn't want to have to scroll to the bottom to enter turn data. Well, the only way I could figure to do that was using Javascript. By and large, I hate to use Javascript or anything else that will reduce the range of players that can play World at War. But in this case, players who don't have Javascript enabled browsers wouldn't lose anything so I put that one bit of Javascript in.

No one has complained since I implemented it so I guess it must have been a good suggestion after all. If it bugs you, you can disable Javascript in some browsers and it won't happen anymore.

#24 - I cannot continue playing a game. Can I forfeit?

You may now forfeit a game for any reason. To forfeit, click your own name on the very top line of the map display. You will be asked to confirm that you want to forfeit. If you do forfeit, your armies WILL remain in the game, but you will not be allowed to play any more. Remaining players must still defeat you to end the game, but the game will not wait for you to play your turn before beginning the next round. If the last player in a game forfeits (heaven forbid!) then the game will eventually time-out and get deleted and NO ONE will lose or receive points for that game.

#25 - PlayerX is obnoxious. How can I keep from seeing his posts/chats?

A relatively new feature in World at War is the Ignore List. Each player can assign other players to his personal Ignore List. This is done by clicking the "Ignore List" link at the bottom of any Forum page. You will then see a list of anyone already on your ignore list, and get a list of all player names to select from beside it. You can select as many people to add to your Ignore List as you want. (Hold the CTRL key down as you select multiple names!)
Once added to your ignore list, you will no longer see ANY Forum message or Chat messages from these players. Also, if you create a game, no one on your Ignore list will be able to join it. In fact, they won't see your game at all on the list.

#26 - How can I add links to a Forum message?

Although general HTML will not function in a Forum message, you CAN insert links in your messages. To do so, you must follow special conventions. For instance, the normal HTML code for inserting a link to the main Prowler Pro web site would be:
<A HREF="http://www.prowler-pro.com">Prowler Pro</A>
To input this into your message, replace all < and > signs with [ and ] instead. So you can enter
[A HREF="http://www.prowler-pro.com"]Prowler Pro[/A] to achieve the same effect.

There are also special codes to put a link in to a game and a link to another Forum message thread. To enter a link to game #577 for instance, you would enter:
[GAME 577]Game 577 link[/A]

You can also enter a link to JOIN a game (rather than just display it) with:
[JOIN 577]Join game 577 link[/A]

For a link to another message thread, it takes a bit more investigation. Each thread is identified by a Forum number and a Thread number. When you look at a message thread, the URL on your browser will give you these numbers. For instance: http://www.prowler-pro.com/war/forums.php3?session=xxxxxxxx&Forum=2&Thread=119
To post a link to this thread, you would enter: [MSG FORUM=xx THREAD=yy]Link to another message[/A]

SOME Forums also allow you to add graphics to your messages if you know the URL of the graphics file - in other words it must already exist out on the Internet somewhere. For example, if I want to put a picture that is already located at URL: http://wawgame.com/graphics/5.jpg into a message, I can do so with [IMG SRC="http://wawgame.com/graphics/5.jpg"]
Since users COULD post porn pictures etc., this feature is probably restricted to Premium users and forums that only they can post in.

#27 - Chat seems to have some special commands. What are they and how do they work?

I've had some fun with the HTML-based chat.
WHISPERS: First, you can send a message just to a single user. (a whisper) For example, if you wanted to send me a whisper (and I was in chat!) you would type:
/Blue_Dragon Hello, this message is intended for your eyes only!
(Note if there is a space in the name, you MUST replace the space with an _ character!) This message would only be seen by me.

ACTION WORDS: Another fun thing are Action Words. There's nearly a hundred of these and I won't attempt to list them here! As an example, I'll use the "decapitate" action word. If I type the following:
/decapitate Blue_Dragon
an action message will be displayed like "You've decapitated Blue_Dragon!". Actions can be directed or non-directed. If you just type:
/decapitate all
A different message will be displayed. ("You've decapitated everyone in the room!"). Also, the messages are gender-specific based on the gender stored in the Account database. I'll leave it to you to discover all the action words. A special action word is /leet too. It translates any message after it into "leetspeak".

POKER: Finally, theres an entire poker game coded into the chat room. Commands include:
/poker on
/poker help
and many more. The result of "/poker help" will list all the various poker-related commands.

#28 - Is there a method to quit a game? (Forfeit)

Yes. There are circumstances that can arrive when it would make good sense to forfeit a game. For instance, if you were going on a 2 week vacation you might want to forfeit your games. Esp. in non-Daily games where more than one round can be played in a day, you might hold up these games if you were gone. Also, if there's a game where you feel there's no hope of winning you can avoid having to delay it by deploying armies that will do nothing but slow the inevitable loss.
To forfeit a game, click on your name on the top line of the map display in the game. You will be asked to confirm that you want to forfeit. If you confirm, you will be marked as "Eliminated". However, your armies still must be defeated by others to win the game. Scoring is unaffected by forfeiting. You will still lose points and the winner will gain points by defeating you whether or not you forfeit.
Also, there are situations where the players in a game decide that the game should be "aborted". If ALL players forfeit, the game will eventually be deleted with no points given out or taken away due to inactivity. This works well, but only if ALL players can be trusted to forfeit.

#29 - I accidentally created a game I didn't mean to. Can I delete it?

Yes. If you create a game and forfeit BEFORE the game begins, (before the last player joins), you can delete the game by forfeiting. (see #28 above) Only the creator (Player 1) can do this. Forfeiting by any other player prior to a game starting will result in loss of points for that player, though the winner will not gain points from him. (He will appear to be a deadbeat player).

#30 - I cant attack from (country A) to (country B)! (one-way borders)

A couple of the optional maps include One-Way Borders. Specifically, the only maps with one-way borders are Tintac and Islands & Icebergs currently. These are designated with arrow-like connecting lines that indicate which direction armies can travel (attack and/or fortify). Any country at the end of these one-way borders cannot attack back, and cannot fortify back to the country at the other end. One Way borders are NEVER used when the map indicates countries share a geographical border, only when there is a arrow-like line between them.

#31 - I want to play like a board game where each player follows the last! (Sequential Games)

Recently, the Sequential option was added which forces games to be played in player order. Player 1 first, then Player 2, then Player 3. While on the surface this seems like an easier way to play, it is in fact a potentially VERY slow method of play, but also is the most fair method. In Sequential games, each player must wait for the preceeding player to finish their turn before they can play. When the game begins, one player is randomly determined to go first. Players may take up to 24 hours to complete a single turn. If a player fails to play within 24 hours, the next player can play. If this happens, the armies that the skipped player would have received go into a "bank" and will be able to be deployed during his next turn. Obviously, if a player joins a Sequential game but never returns, it can easily take months to complete the game. To help speed games in this situation, an auto-forfeit method will be created in the near future which will automatically kick a player out of Sequential games if he does not play for 3 turns in a row. Sequential play affects the following options significantly:

AANR - There are no "rounds" in Sequential games. AANR is incompatible with Sequential and games cannot be created with both.
Turn Delay - Though allowed, Turn Delay serves no useful purpose in Sequential games.
TEAM Games - All players on a team get to play before the next team can play. It's allowed but not advised.
Unlocked Games - Because of the way Sequential games are implemented, it is advised to run them all LOCKED. When a player begins his turn, the next player is IMMEDIATELY allowed to play THEIR turn without locks - BEFORE the first player has finished. This is necessary because there can be no guarantee that a player will properly END their turn. By running these games LOCKED, the second player will not be able to enter the game until the first has left.

#32 - How long can an account remain inactive before it is deleted?

Premium players will never be deleted as long as their account remains Premium. You can determine when your account expires by checking the View Account page from the main menu. Free players have exactly 3 weeks before their account is deleted by the nightly routine. Every night, around midnight, a program runs that checks when the last time an account was logged into. If, when it runs, a player is found that has not logged in for 3 weeks, it is deleted IF it isn't currently in any games. If it IS in a game, it is skipped and checked again the following night. This continues until all games the account is in have been deleted OR the player logs in again.

#33 - How does (some) option work?

The various options available for games are explained SOMEWHAT in the HELP file (look for it at the main logon screen). I say SOMEWHAT as the HELP file is not updated as often as the game itself. However there are some pretty descriptive popups if you click the NAME of the option at in the create new game area at the bottom. A little Javascript popup will appear with details on that particular option and that IS updated right along with the rest of the program.

#34 - How do Team games work?

First, I must admit that Team games behave a bit oddly. They were implemented quite a bit later than most of the game options and the implementation is not the best possible. Here's how they work...
Two types of team games are available. 2 man teams and 3 man teams. In a 2 man team game, players 1 and 2 are on a team. Players 3 and 4 are on another team. Players 5 and 6 comprise the third team.
In a 3 man team game, players 1, 2 and 3 are on one team and players 4, 5 and 6 are on another.
Obviously, in a sequential game, the first team has a pretty big advantage over the other teams since they get to play first. However, the first player in any sequential game is randomly chosen so the first team to play is not always player 1's team. Mitigates the unfairness a LITTLE bit.

Some of the changes to the rules for team games include:
Taking a country from a teammate does NOT earn a card. You must defeat an opponent to earn a card.
During the deployment phase, a player may deploy to his teammate's countries as well as his own.
During the fortification phase, a player may fortify TO a bordering teammate's country. He cannot, however, fortify FROM a teammates country.
3-man team games can only be created with 6 player games. (obviously).
2-man team games can only be created with 4 or 6 player games. (still pretty obvious)
The game is over when one team owns the entire map - you do not have to eliminate your teammates.
Points are evenly allocated to all winning team players - even if one member of the team has been eliminated, he still gets points if his teammates win.
When a game is won, the last player to attack an opposing team is designated the "winner" for game listing purposes - but point-wise it doesnt make any difference.

Rules that do NOT change for team games:
To get the bonus for a continent, one and only one player must own all countries on that continent. This does force teammates to attack each other occasionally.
When turning in a set of cards, the extra 2 gained for owning a country associated with the turned-in cards only applies to the player turning them in. In other words, if a card is turned in that a teammate owns, the extra 2 armies are not allocated to that country.

#35 - How do I get a Forum picture-thingy?

The Forums are just about as popular as the game itself here. I encourage ANYONE who likes to play World at War to visit the Forums. Free players can only post in the Freebies forum, but anyone can read any of the messages. The messages go back YEARS so there is quite a lot of stuff in there! But you want to know how to get a picture right?
The "secret" is in the Edit Account page. From the main logon page, you can get there from a link at the left. If you are reading this, you can also get there from a link at the upper left on this page. Anyway, there you will see a big list of things you can change or edit. If you want to see your current settings, just enter your Username and Password.

Some of the resulting info includes your current account type (Premium or Free)
The date that your Premium account expires
Your Sex (used in some chat actions)
Your birthdate
Your description text (used if another user clicks on your name in the game or forums)
Your signature (used at the bottom of all Forum posts)
JPEG File Upload (this is where you can upload a picture for the Forums!!!)
Your preferred player colors (if no one else has chosen your favorite color in a game before you, you will get your favorite color. If someone has, it will try to use your second most favorite color, etc)
Your browser type. (Do NOT use this if you dont need to! Its being phased out and may mess up your maps.)
Forum Graphics choice. (This determines if the forum graphics are displayed. For dial-up users you are probably best to turn Forum Graphics off. Recently, the ability to have .GIF files instead of just .JPEG files was added. This allows Forum Graphics to be animated. Some people HATE animated graphics. If you are one of them, you can turn off Animated graphics - which really just disallows .GIF graphics.)
Password and confirmation password - allows you to change your password.

To actually change any of this info, MAKE SURE TO RE-ENTER YOUR username and current password at the top! Then make any changes (or select a graphic file to upload). Upon submitting the form, your option will change and/or a new graphic will be uploaded to the server.

Note on graphics - ALL graphics must first be approved by me. This may take weeks, days, or hours. It varies. If your graphic is non-porno and otherwise acceptable, I will approve it. You needn't be Premium to have a graphic. It is suggested you first upload a JPEG-format graphic and wait for it to be approved. If you want to then upload a .GIF graphic (mostly for an animated graphic) you may do so. Just disregard the "JPEG ONLY" warning. I'll still get it. Also, keep your graphic file sizes reasonable (about 30,000 bytes preferably). The upload will reject any file larger than about 1,000,000 bytes. If your file size is too big, I will try and reduce it myself for you. Aren't I kind?!!