0
alt.games.warcraft Warcraft 2 Unofficial FAQ List
by Dan Zerkle (a.k.a. ``Trouble'')
zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu
September 10, 1997
1. About this document
This section discusses this document.
1.1 Introduction
Warcraft 2 is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard. This
document lists frequently asked questions and answers appearing
on the newsgroup alt.games.warcraft. Please read this document
carefully before asking any questions on alt.games.warcraft. Most
likely, your question is answered here.
This document does not address the original game of Warcraft.
There is a Warcraft FAQ list at
http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h88/h8825403/spiele/warcraft.zip .
This FAQ list was originally written before the Macintosh version
of the game was released. As such, the questions and answers in
this document are slanted towards the IBM-PC version. If you have
a copy of the Macintosh version of Warcraft 2, please make
appropriate suggestions, corrections, and additions, and they
will be added to the FAQ with your name attached.
Please save a copy of this document. If you see someone ask a
question that is answered in this document, please mail the FAQ
list to that person instead of answering the question.
Each time a new version of this document is released, the date at
the top is updated. Check the date to see if you have the latest
version.
Please send suggestions and corrections for this to the author at
zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu. Good ones will be used and acknowledged.
1.2 Table of contents.
Sections marked with an asterisk are new or changed in this
version.
1.
About this document
1.1
Introduction
1.2
Table of contents
1.3
Authors of this document
1.4
Where to get this document
1.5
What does Blizzard think about this?
2.
General Questions
2.1
What is Warcraft 2?
2.2
How can I contact Blizzard?
2.3
What are the different versions of Warcraft 2?
2.4
What third-party products are available for Warcraft 2?
2.5
What are some good Web pages for Warcraft 2?
2.6
Can I download Warcraft 2?
2.7
Which is better, Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer?
2.8
Which are better, orcs or humans?
2.9
What's a PUD?
2.10
How do I use a PUD?
2.11
Can PUD's have a goal other than destroying?
2.12
How do I use the features of the expansion set in my own
maps?
2.13
How can I make computer-controlled units attack each
other?
2.14
How do I capture the graphics on the screen?
2.15
Can I make a PUD without some units?
3.
Game play and operation
3.1
I'm having trouble running the program. Help!
3.2
What bugs are in Warcraft 2?
3.3
My save files don't work with 1.3! Help!
3.4
What are the shortcut keys?
3.5
What are the cheat codes?
3.6
Why can't I build more units?
3.7
What do portals, rune stones, and circles do?
3.8
Why don't I see cut scenes in the expansion set?
3.9
Can death knights see invisible units?
3.10
What does this spell do?
3.11
Does haste increase attack speed?
3.12
How do I build walls?
3.13
What Easter eggs are in Warcraft 2?
3.14
What do critters do?
3.15
How do I do a screen capture?
3.16
How do I repair platforms, catapults, and ships?
3.17
What is a razing?
3.18
How do I make a daemon?
3.19
How is the score calculated?
3.20
What does regeneration do?
3.21
How is damage calculated?
4.
Single-player campaign levels
4.1
How do I beat the computer?
4.2
I killed all the computer units. Why don't I win?
4.3
Does the computer cheat?
4.4
How do I beat level Human 7?
4.5
How do I beat level Human 9?
4.6
How do I beat level Human 14?
4.7
How do I beat expansion level Human 2?
4.8
How do I beat expansion level Human 4?
4.9
How do I beat expansion level Human 7?
4.10
How do I beat expansion level Human 9?
4.11
How do I beat expansion level Human 12?
4.12
How do I beat expansion level Orc 4?
4.13
How do I beat expansion level Orc 12?
*4.14
How do I beat the Heroes custom levels?
5.
Multi-player games
5.1
What is ``spawning''?
5.2
The start button is greyed out. Why?
5.3
I keep getting beaten on multiplayer. What to do?
5.4
Are other people cheating in multi-player?
5.5
How can I cheat on multi-player?
5.6
What is a grunt rush?
5.7
What is the seven-man grunt rush?
5.8
What is a mage bomb?
5.9
What is barracks first?
5.10
How do I change the color of my name?
5.11
Can I play Warcraft 2 over the Internet?
6.
Kali, Kahn, and Internet play
6.1
What are Kali and Kahn?
6.2
What do I need to play on the Internet?
6.3
Where do I get Kali?
6.4
How do I install Kali?
6.5
Really, how do I install Kali?
6.6
Which are good Kali servers to play Warcraft 2?
6.7
What is THF?
6.8
What are ogre rules?
6.9
What is TVB?
6.10
What is a FFA?
6.11
What leagues can I join?
6.12
What is the lumber bug?
6.13
How do I stop my units from mining?
6.14
What's the best speed on Kali?
6.15
Is there a Kali newsgroup?
6.16
What are GOW and POS?
6.17
What about Kahn?
7.
Tricks and tactics
7.1
What strategy guides are available?
7.2
How do I stop bloodlusted ogres?
7.3
How do I stop sappers/dwarves?
7.4
How do I stop death knights?
7.5
How do I stop a mage bomb?
7.6
How do I stop submarines and turtles?
7.7
How do I stop barracks first?
7.8
How do I stop early grunt attacks?
7.9
What tricks can I use?
8.
Macintosh Warcraft 2
8.1
How can I find TCP/IP games on the Internet?
8.2
Can I play against IBM-PC players?
8.3
Can I use IBM-PC PUD's?
1.3 Authors of this document
The primary author is Dan Zerkle, zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu. If you
would like to suggest an addition or revision, please mail it to
him.
Suggestions and additions from Richard Wan (riwan@unixg.ubc.ca)
are marked ``RW''. Other contributions are marked as they appear.
1.4 Where to get this document
The document is posted Mondays to alt.games.warcraft,
alt.games.kali, and comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic. It is
available on the Web from
http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~zerkle/w2faq.html . It is mirrored
at http://home.earthlink.net/~eek/war2/w2faq.html and
http://www.ogr.com/faqs/warcraft2faq.html .
1.5 What does Blizzard think about this?
This FAQ list is unofficial and the authors have no association
with Blizzard except as customers. However, an employee of
Blizzard made the following commendation:
I want to commend you on the War2 FAQ. Very thorough, and very
accurate.
Mike Morhaime
Vice President
Blizzard
2. General Questions
This section contains general questions about Warcraft 2.
2.1 What is Warcraft 2?
Warcraft 2 is a real-time action and strategy computer game
written by Blizzard for the IBM PC and compatibles. It runs under
MS-DOS, Windows 95, or MacOS. You may control armies of noble
humans (and allies) or loathsome orcs (and allies). You may play
against the computer or up to seven other players.
To defeat the enemy requires clever strategy, tactics, and
resource management. You must produce buildings and harvest
resources to train troops and fight the enemy.
It has the unique fog of war feature. You can not see the actions
of the enemy unless you actually have a unit in visual range.
2.2 How can I contact Blizzard?
Their Web page is http://www.blizzard.com . E-mail is
sales@blizzard.com. Sales are at 800-953-SNOW. Paper mail is P.O.
Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92713. The manual lists contacts for
customer support.
2.3 What are the different versions of Warcraft 2?
Version 1.0 is the original version (Tides of Darkness) that
comes in the box on the CD. It comes with 28 campaign levels, a
couple dozen built-in custom levels, and a map editor so you can
make your own levels.
Version 1.2 is a free (RW) patch available from Blizzard's Web
site. It fixes a bug with the exorcism spell, includes support
for Kali, and allows players to start in random map positions in
multi-player.
Version 1.3 is the Beyond the Dark Portal expansion set,
available as a separate CD. It has all the features of 1.2. Also,
it includes 24 difficult campaign levels, two new cut scenes,
many maps for use in custom or multiplayer levels, a new tile
set, special ``hero'' characters, better PUD selection software,
and a disco music track.
Version 1.5 is a free patch available from Blizzard's Web site
for the MS-DOS version of the game. It contains a program to fix
old save files to work with newer versions of the program. A new
map editor allows the use of the Draenor tile set and the new
heroes. It also prevents certain types of cheating in
multi-player.
2.4 What third-party products are available for Warcraft 2?
W!ZONE is a collection of 65 scenario maps and a Tips & Tactics
guide. W!ZONE 2: Retribution includes 64 such maps plus the
guide. They are available from Wizard Works Inc., 2300 Berkshire
Lane, Plymouth, MN 55441. They have a Web site at
http://www.wizworks.com . (willy@rogers.wave.ca and
Franz62421@aol.com).
Total War is 1093 single and multi-player PUD files. It's
registered to Micro Star, 2245 Camino Vida Roble, Carlsbad, CA
92009 ("Willy" willy@rogers.wave.ca).
More War is a collection of scenario maps. Anyone with further
information (price, company, address, other) please supply it for
this FAQ list.
War2xed is a scenario map editor with a wide variety of
additional features. It is free and is available from
http://members.home.com/lemberg/ .
CraftGen is a scenario map editor that can randomly generate
maps. It is shareware ($15) and is available from
http://www.concentric.net/~jimware .
PUD Browser allows the quick review of PUD's at full screen size,
plus printing in monocrome and color. It is free and available
from http://w3.one.net/~billw/PudBrowser/ .
A utility called ``WarDraft'' for Windows systems is available
from http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e8900070/ . It allows the
modification of graphics, sounds, built-in levels, and the like.
PUD Master is a Macintosh level editor with a wide variety of
extra features. It's available from
http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~bwood/PUDMaster.html .
See also the questions about Kali and Kahn.
There are other third-party products available. If you have any
further information, please submit it to the FAQ list author.
2.5 What are some good Web pages for Warcraft 2?
There are far too many to list them all. Use a Web search, watch
the newsgroup, or follow links to find them. Here are three good
ones.
Blizzard's Web site is at http://www.blizzard.com . It has all
sorts of useful information. Check it out if you have purchased
or are considering purchase of any Blizzard product.
Shlonglor's War 2 page is generally considered the best, with
lots of strategies and overviews. It's at
http://games.nextlevel.net/~fraizer/WAR2/war2.html .
Methos' Warcraft II Strategy Page contains lots of hints for
better game play. It also contains links to other pages. It's at
http://www.netleague.com/wc2/ .
In addition, GameWeb lists Web pages for dozens of games,
including Warcraft 2. It is at http://thegw.com/ .
2.6 Where can I download Warcraft II?
It's available for both IBM-PC and Macintosh from
http://www.blizzard.com/library/demos.htm .
2.7 Which is better, Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer?
They are both good. If you like one, you'll probably like the
other. You should probably buy both. Generally, Warcraft 2 is
considered better for multi-player, while Command & Conquer is
considered superior for single-player play.
Warcraft 2 has a medieval setting with monsters and magic. It
runs in SVGA mode for nice graphics. The units for the two races
are very similar, all having close or exact matches to the other
side. You must harvest and manage three kinds of resources. Up to
eight players are permitted in a single game (effectively six on
Kali). Each package purchase allows up to three players per game
(two of every three players don't need CD's). The cut-scenes
between levels are sparse and not very pretty, but occasionally
clever. It has the unique fog of war, which adds a new dimension
to the game by allowing sneak attacks and surprise tactics.
Command & Conquer has a modern setting with soldiers and
vehicles. It runs in VGA mode for mediocre graphics. The two
opposing sides have widely varying unit types. You must harvest
and manage only one resource. Up to four players are permitted in
a single game (effectively two on Kali). Each package purchase
allows up to two players per game (the game comes with two CD's).
The cut scenes between levels are magnificent, detailed,
frequent, and add to the plot of the game. It has no fog of war,
so different players in multiplayer games can see everything that
the other players do (after initial scouting).
2.8 Which are better, orcs or humans?
The skills of the commander are much more important. Both races
are nearly identical until the castle/fortress stage, when the
spells arrive. Until that stage, the orcs have slightly easier
weapon upgrades at the blacksmith.
After the castle stage, the races are somewhat different. Orcs
are easier to play effectively, but humans are more subtle and
dangerous.
A perfectly good orc strategy is to make a whole mess of
ogre-mages, run them to edge of the enemy town, cast runes
between the enemy hall and mine, bloodlust all the ogres, then
run them into town to wreak havok. This, in fact, is one of the
best strategies, and commonly used. It's easy and effective.
Humans, on the other hand, can do more things in the control of
an intelligent commander. They have a wider variety of useful
spells. Holy vision helps a lot with fast reconnaissance,
allowing intelligent actions. Invisibility allows units to sneak
into vulnerable spots and cause damage before they are stopped
(invisible mages and transports are particularly dangerous). Slow
is an absolutely devastating spell if used correctly and
liberally.
In multi-player games with fast game speed and slow network
response, orcs are much easier to play, simply because they don't
have to cast as many spells. Humans have to spend more time doing
that.
2.9 What's a PUD?
A PUD is a file containing a level map. Many come with 1.3. You
may also create your own with the level editor or download them
from various sources.
2.10 How do I use a PUD?
Just put the file in your Warcraft 2 directory (or a subdirectory
if you are using 1.3 or 1.5). To use it, select a custom scenario
or multi-player scenario, then pick the PUD from the "select
scenario" list.
2.11 Can PUD's have a goal other than destroying?
No. All custom games or multi-player games have only the goal of
destroying all the enemies. You can't change this with the map
editor or any other way.
2.12 How do I use the features of the expansion set in my own maps?
The map editor in 1.3 is the same as the one in 1.0. It doesn't
allow you to use the new tile set or the heroes.
The version 1.5 patch contains an editor that allows the use of
these features.
Also, Daniel Lemberg has written an unofficial editor that will
let you do so called war2xed. See the section above about
third-party products for more about war2xed.
2.13 How can I make computer-controlled units attack each other?
Using the map editor, set the controller of multiple clans or
nations to rescue (active). When the map is played, such units
will attack each other. You may use the ``on screen'' cheat to
watch them. (Noel Herradura noel99@sprynet.com)
2.14 How do I capture the graphics on the screen?
Consult the README file that game came with the game for
directions on how to do this.
2.15 Can I make a PUD without some units?
Yes. Use war2xed to set the decay time of the unit to 1 and the
cost to 0. Any such disallowed units created will instantly die.
See the section above about third-party products for more about
war2xed.
3. Game play and operation
This section addresses general questions about game play and
program operation but not strategy (there is a separate section
for that).
3.1 I'm having trouble running the program. Help!
Blizzard has extremely good technical support at its Web page. If
something is going wrong, please check out that page first. An
answer to your problem is almost certainly there. Modem
difficulties seem especially common. Blizzard has a list of modem
configuration strings at http://www.blizzard.com/support/init.htm
.
If you're still having trouble, contact Blizzard at one of the
support contacts mentioned on page six of the manual. This will
work better and faster than posting to the newsgroup.
Do not post a technical question without trying these two things
first. If you really must post, please mention that you already
tried the above avenues. Messages posted to newsgroups are
distributed to tens of thousands of servers worldwide, and it
isn't really appropriate to waste these sorts of resources when
you've already paid Blizzard to answer your questions for you.
3.2 What bugs are in Warcraft 2?
Version 1.0 may crash when the exorcism spell is used in certain
places.
The multi-player chat room does not always show correct versions
of other people's software.
If you start a peon or peasant chopping wood, then order him to
build a hall or lumber yard, you'll get one free load of wood
without taking the time to chop it. It appears when the building
finishes.
Save files from 1.0 or 1.2 will cause a crash after installing
1.3. The 1.5 patch contains a fix for this. Also, you may use the
tigerlily cheat to continue your game at the appropriate level.
Walls, trees, and rocks are considered terrain, so you can see
them being built or destroyed by opponents even if they are in
the fog of war.
Rarely, when a building is destroyed (especially mines), you can
still see it (although game play is not affected).
Sometimes, when you expect to get an ogre-mage, an ogre gets
built instead. Likewise, knights can appear when paladins are
expected.
Very rarely, in a laggy network game when the game is delayed but
the user is issuing many commands, units will get built in the
wrong building. For instance, sappers or peons may be trained in
the barracks.
Knights rescued from other nations do not get church upgrades if
the upgrades are taken before the rescue. They stay knights and
only get the blacksmith upgrades (Derek Angell ChezLad@aol.com).
Sometimes, after restoring a saved game, one or more
computer-controlled clan or nation will stop producing any
troops, thus making the game too easy.
If the host of a multi-player game tries to start a a custom PUD
that one player does not have, fails (because one user doesn't
have it), switches PUD's, then tries to start again, the players
that do have the original PUD will start on that original PUD
(Ken Cantrell kec@cs.clemson.edu).
Sometimes, some of the PUD's that should be available in
multi-player games do not appear. The game may report to the
hosting player that another player does not have the PUD when he
in fact, does.
Skeletons raised from the dead will die on their own after about
10 minutes. If a skeleton is on a transport when it dies, its
icon on the transport will change to the next thing created,
whether a building or unit and whether friendly or enemy. The
actual building or unit will behave normally until the transport
is unloaded, at which time it will move to the site where the
transport is unloaded.
3.3 My save files don't work with 1.3! Help!
See the section above about the bugs in Warcraft 2.
3.4 What are the shortcut keys?
Put your mouse pointer over an icon for any command. Text
describing that command will show up on the bottom of the screen.
One of the letters of the description is a different color. That
is the shortcut key for that command. You may press it instead of
clicking on the icon.
3.5 What are the cheat codes?
To use a cheat code, hit enter, type the cheat code, then hit
enter again. To disable a cheat, just type it again. In
multi-player, any cheat you use will help all the players. These
are the more useful codes:
``Tigerlily'' enables level jumping. After this, use codes like
``human 7'' to skip to human level seven, ``orc 12'' to do a
similar thing for orcs, and ``human 17'' to skip to level three
of the expansion set.
``On screen'' shows the whole map and turns off the fog of war.
``Make it so'' speeds up building, upgrades, and unit production.
``It is a good day to die'' spectacularly boosts your units'
strength (does not affect computer players).
``Unite the clans'' wins immediately.
``You pitiful worm'' loses immediately.
``Glittering prizes'' increases your gold, wood, and oil.
``Valdez'' increases your oil.
``Hatchet'' speeds up wood chopping.
``Deck me out'' gives you armor and weapon upgrades.
``Every little thing she does'' gives you spell upgrades.
``There can be only one'' wins whole game.
3.6 Why can't I build more units?
Each game has a maximum limit of 600 units, which includes mobile
units and buildings. This limit is divided evenly amongst all the
players. Therefore, if there are four players (human or
computer), each one can have a maximum of 150 units.
The unit limit only applies to players still in the game. So, if
one of the four players in the example above was eliminated, each
of the three remaining players would get to make up to 200 units.
3.7 What do portals, rune stones, and circles do?
In campaign levels, the roles of the dark portals, rune stones,
and circles of power are explained by the introductions to the
appropriate levels. However, in custom maps (PUD's), they can
serve no roles other than decoration.
Using w2xed, it is possible to assign different characteristics
to all buildings. For instance, a rune stone could be made into a
gold collection point. See the section above about third-party
products for more about war2xed.
3.8 Why don't I see cut scenes in the expansion set?
There are only two new cut scenes. One is at the end of the human
campaign (level 12), and the other is at the end of the orc
campaign. That's it.
3.9 Can death knights see invisible units?
No, they can't. The computer can, but it's cheating.
3.10 What does this spell do?
To find out what a spell does, there are three steps:
First, read the manual. It has a description of the spell.
Second, experiment with the spell in a single-player game. You'll
get a good feel for the thing. This should be enough.
If you're really, really curious about the exact details of the
spells, check out the Insider's Guide to Warcraft II, at
http://www.gamespot.com/features/wc2/index.html .
3.11 Does haste increase attack speed? (RW)
The haste spell doubles the number of attacks from dragons and
gryphons. All other units will attack no more frequently and
cause no more damage when hasted.
3.12 How do I build walls?
You can only build them in multi-player games. The computer units
never attack walls directly, so they aren't permitted in
single-player games.
You may use farms as a substitute for walls. They are much more
expensive and they are not as flexible, but they are much harder
to destroy.
3.13 What Easter eggs are in Warcraft 2?
Click on a unit many times to hear it say funny things. Keep
clicking. Footmen are particularly hilarious. RW: Boats are funny
as well!
You also get cute quotes from testing the sound card too many
times (Simon.Palmer@cs.uwa.edu.au).
Sheep say ``Baa ram ewe!'', which is from the movie, Babe.
If you click on a critter enough times, it explodes! No, it
doesn't cause any damage when you do this.
If you use the cheat ``disco'' on an expansion set level, a
really cute song will start playing. You can also play the song
by putting the CD in an ordinary music CD player and playing
track 18.
3.14 What do critters do?
Not much. Mostly, they just get in the way. Death knights can
cast death coil on them to top off their health (Gary Jacobson
jcbgar04@scilab.uct.ac.za). Mages can cast flame shield on them
and they'll damage enemy units. Their main purpose is really to
give enemy units something to turn into after a polymorph spell.
The sheep are fun to kill (my girlfriend)!
3.15 How do I do a screen capture?
This and other useful information is in the README file in the
Warcraft 2 directory on your hard drive.
3.16 How do I repair platforms, catapults, and ships?
Generally, you can't. You have to replace them. However, a peon
or peasant can repair a transport if it is on shore. You must
order the peon or peasant to repair instead of right-clicking or
command-clicking.
3.17 What is a razing?
The word ``raze'' can be found in any English dictionary. You
really should look in there before asking on a newsgroup.
You get credit for one razing for each building you destroy.
3.18 How do I make a daemon?
Use the map editor. You can't build one during the game.
3.19 How is the score calculated?
You get 500 points for winning a level, plus more points whenever
you destroy units or buildings. See
http://www.blizzard.com/tips/tip3.htm for details.
3.20 What does regeneration do?
A beserker with regenereration will slowly regain its health
after it has been injured.
3.21 How is damage calculated?
The formula is fairly complicated. See
http://www.blizzard.com/tips/tip2.htm for complete details.
4. Single-player campaign levels
This section discusses play in the campaign levels.
4.1 How do I beat the computer?
Generally, you can protect your town with lots of towers and wait
until you've built up a huge force. Then, attack.
On the expansion set levels, you often need to attack much
sooner. On several, in fact, you need to wipe out an enemy town
immediately with your starting forces.
Most levels can be beaten with simple persistence and skill. See
the strategies and tips section for some hints that may apply to
single-player levels. Tricks for beating tricky levels are
detailed below. If this FAQ list isn't enough for you, you may
call Blizzard's hint line at 900-370-SNOW. The charge is 85 cents
per minute.
4.2 I killed all the computer units. Why don't I win?
You missed one or more somewhere. Keep searching. Make sure that
the entire level has been explored.
You may need to turn off the fog of war to help you look. Using
the ``on screen'' cheat helps. Also, you can turn off the terrain
display on the mini-map with the TAB key.
Some of the later levels have submarines or turtles that are very
hard to find. If there is water, use a flying machine or zeppelin
to look for them. Also, black enemy units are hard to see on the
mini-map, so scroll the main map and look there.
4.3 Does the computer cheat?
Yes. It always knows where all your units and buildings are. That
means that it can hit your invisible units with death coil. It
also means that it doesn't have to search to find your towns. On
the campaign scenarios, it usually starts off with considerably
greater forces. It can upgrade scout towers to arrow towers
without having a lumber mill (Paul Jeray
pjjeray@students.wisc.edu).
4.4 How do I beat level Human 7?
There are some catapults on the left side of the map. If you
touch them, you'll capture them and you can use them to attack
the orcish town. They are especially good for destroying cannon
towers.
4.5 How do I beat level Human 9?
Just send your fighting ships forward to kill the enemy ships in
the way, followed immediately by your transports. Load your hero
on the transport with the least damage and send him to the island
with the circle. Transports are so fast that it will probably
survive. If you really want to, you can use your troops and
ballista to remove the land forces that attack your ships.
4.6 How do I beat level Human 14?
Load your transports with the footmen, knights, and ballista.
Attack the shore with your ships and all the troops in the
transports simultaneously to remove the towers, catapults, and
ogres. Then, land your mages, archers, and peasants. You must be
quick to be ready before the dragons arrive.
Build lots of anti-dragon defenses. Guard towers or archers,
mixed in with an occasional mage fireball, will do the job. Once
you have plenty of guard towers, build up forces, take the black
gold mine, and the rest of the level is routine.
4.7 How do I beat expansion level Human 2?
Attack the black orcs last. They won't bother you if you don't go
near their town.
4.8 How do I beat expansion level Human 4?
Immediately use your starting forces to knock out the white
village to the south before they build any troops. Then, set up
your own town there. Your castle does not have to be right next
to the portal; it may be anywhere on the map.
4.9 How do I beat expansion level Human 7?
Although you can't build much, you can make a lumber yard, a ship
yard, and lots of destroyers. Do so.
Kill Deathwing by using your gryphon to lure him to your fleet of
destroyers, which will do the job quickly.
4.10 How do I beat expansion level Human 9?
This is a very difficult level, and there are no tricks to it.
Either open mine will work, but the bottom center one is easier
to defend. Use farms for walls and put up lots of guard towers
behind them where you get attacked.
Put a flying machine on the approach path of the death knights.
They will waste mana casting whirlwind on it instead of
destroying your buildings.
You must eliminate the bottom right orcs quickly; you need their
gold. The center (white) orcs will not attack unless you go too
near their town. Leave them alone until later.
Send two gryphons to the top left mine. You can destroy the
stronghold there and save the mine for your use later.
Gorefiend is a pest. Polymorph him as soon as you can. Use an
invisible mage.
Use dwarves and blizzards to eliminate the cannon towers before
you attack the black orcs.
4.11 How do I beat expansion level Human 12?
Early in the game, you need to attack the white orcs. Cast
blizzard spells on their towers and over the trees on their peons
until they are all dead. After that, set up a defense force near
the portal and have Khadgar destroy the portal with lightning and
blizzards.
*4.12 How do I beat expansion level Orc 4?
Take your starting force and immediately attack the top left
town. Destroy the towers, all the peasants, and the hall, but
don't bother with the remaining buildings. Then, take what is
left of your force and attack the bottom left town. While your
troops finish knocking down all the buildings, start your own
town by that mine.
4.13 How do I beat expansion level Orc 12?
As the game starts, send Deathwing to the top left (purple) enemy
mine, out of range of the arrow towers. He will kill all of the
peasants there and that nation won't be able to make troops.
After that, do the same with the nearest enemy mine. Haste and
bloodlust on Deathwing help a lot.
*4.14 How do I beat the Heroes custom levels?
Start the game on high resources so you have enough gold to make
a transport and cross the river.
5. Multi-player games
This section details questions relevant to multi-player gaming.
5.1 What is spawning?
You may install the game on multiple computers. You only need the
CD to create (not join) a multi-player game or to engage in a
single-player game. Each CD on a computer in a multi-player game
will serve up to three players, so an eight-player game will work
with only three CD's. This multi-play from a single CD is called
spawning.
5.2 The start button is greyed out. Why?
All players who didn't create the game must click in the little
``ready'' box next to their names.
5.3 I keep getting beaten on multiplayer. What to do?
Your best bet for improving your game is to carefully read the
strategy Web pages, including the ones mentioned earlier. See the
tricks and tactics section later in this document, as well. For
the impatient, here are a few quick tips:
Tactics you used against the computer won't work here. You need
to build really fast and produce lots of forces right away. You
should probably wait longer to buy all of those expensive
upgrades that were so handy against the computer. Towers don't
work so well against intelligent players, so use fewer of them.
Build your hall as close as possible to your mine. Don't build
your hall until you find your mine.
You need many, many peons or peasants. Forty isn't too many.
Use the lumber bug when you play on low resources.
5.4 Are other people cheating in multi-player?
Probably not. Most likely, they're just much better than you are.
If you enable a normal cheat, it affects all players, and a
message appears on everyone's screen.
There are various hacks that allow such things as viewing the map
without using a built-in cheat, producing units without farms,
and letting buildings produce any unit or upgrade. The version
1.5 patch will stop most of these cheats.
5.5 How can I cheat on multi-player?
Go away.
5.6 What is a grunt rush?
It has two definitions. It either means attacking with a lot of
grunts or footmen early, instead of trying for upgrades, or it
means building a barracks before a town hall and attacking with a
couple grunts before anyone else has them. You should not use the
second meaning. Instead, refer to that strategy simply as
``barracks first.''
5.7 What is the seven-man grunt rush?
It is a devastating strategy for medium-resources land games.
Build a hall, three farms, and a barracks. As you do so, produce
six peons or peasants. Start the barracks as soon as the first
farm is done. Set five peons or peasants to mine gold, and put
the sixth to chopping wood. Use the gold to produce seven grunts
or footmen. As you produce them, scout for the enemy. When you
have all seven, gather them outside the enemy town, then attack
to kill all the enemy peasants or peons.
If this doesn't work, you will eventually have enough wood to
build another farm, produce more choppers, and proceed as usual.
This strategy is so nasty that people rarely play on medium
resources any more.
5.8 What is a mage bomb?
It is a mage casting blizzard on the area in which he is
standing. The blizzard won't hurt the mage. However, it will kill
any of the usual armored units that try to attack the mage. If,
after starting a mage bomb, the mage casts a very brief blizzard
on a group of enemy units, those units will charge into the mage
bomb and all die. Mage bombs are especially effective when used
in the middle of the enemy miners and when used by invisible
mages.
Note that death knights can do this by using the death and decay
spell. A hasted, unholy-armored death knight doing a mage bomb is
extremely deadly.
5.9 What is barracks first?
This is the strategy of building a barracks before a town hall,
then producing a few grunts or footmen to attack very early. When
the enemy doesn't do it, it is a guaranteed win if you find his
town fast, and a guaranteed loss if you don't. Most people don't
like to play this sort of game.
5.10 How do I change the color of my name?
Edit the file war2.ini. Find your name in it. Use your text
editor to insert the characters CONTROL-B through CONTROL-F Each
of these characters will change the color of the letters after it
when you're in the game.
You can use the MS-DOS edit program for this. Just position the
cursor, type a CONTROL-P, then the control character you want.
The special character will be inserted.
A program this will do this for you automatically may be found at
http://www.csra.net/jlawton/war2col.zip .
5.11 Can I play Warcraft 2 over the Internet?
Yes. See the next section about Kali and Kahn. Also, Macintosh
players can use TCP/IP directly. See the section on Macintosh
questions for more.
6. Kali, Kahn, and Internet play
Internet play of Warcraft 2 is very popular and gives the highest
level of competition.
This section discusses Internet play of Warcraft 2, including
Kali and Kahn, the popular Internet multi-player gaming
utilities. For more information, see the Web sites.
6.1 What are Kali and Kahn?
Kali is a system designed by Jay Cotton that fools a set of
computers on the Internet into thinking that they are together on
an IPX network. This allows many games that allow multi-player
action on an IPX LAN to work over the Internet. Server machines
on the Internet and a chat facility allow players to meet before
they start their games.
There are Kali systems for MS-DOS and Windows 95, with a
Macintosh version in beta release as of this writing.
Kahn is a competing product that does basically the same thing.
See the later question about Kahn.
Warcraft 2 works particularly well on Kali.
6.2 What do I need to play on the Internet?
You need a real Internet connection (PPP and SLIP are fine)
running at least 28.8Kbps (14.4 might work), at least version 1.2
of Warcraft 2. Kali and Kahn require special software that may be
downloaded from their Web sites.
To play on Kali, you need $20 one-time registration fee if you
want to play for more than 15 minutes. Kahn requires a $15 fee
and has a three-week trial period.
AOL's Internet software works with Kali, but special software
must be added and the performance is poor. See the support
section on Kali's Web server for details.
You may play on Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone for free if you
have Windows 95 and the Internet Explorer browser. It is at
http://www.zone.com.
Also, you need experience. Before you try playing on Kali,
complete the 28 campaign levels that come with the game. They are
good practice.
6.3 Where do I get Kali?
It is available from http://www.kali.net .
6.4 How do I install Kali?
Complete, detailed instructions come with the Kali package. If
you download that, you'll have all your Kali questions answered.
You may need to unzip the Kali files to get at the instructions.
If you have a Macintosh, you'll need to unstuff the files first
instead of unzipping them. If you don't know how to unzip or
unstuff a file, ask any friend who knows something about your
computer.
If you have a problem that is not addressed by the instructions,
contact Kali technical support. They will be happy to help you.
6.5 Really, how do I install Kali?
Really, read the instructions. They're very good.
6.6 Which are good Kali servers to play Warcraft 2?
Kali St. Louis has lots of novice games. There is a server called
``->Warcraft Otherwise, just look for a server with lots of
players on it.
6.7 What is THF?
This rule is commonly used on Kali. It stands for ``town hall
first,'' and means that you must build a town hall or great hall
before anything else. One should always assume this rule unless
someone specifically states ``no rules.''
6.8 What are ogre rules?
It is a rule which disallows attacks unless there is an ogre or a
knight in the attack party. It is sometimes called by less
skilled players who don't want to quickly lose to waves of grunts
or footmen.
6.9 What is TVB?
It stands for ``top versus bottom.'' It means that the top two
players on the chat room ally with each other against the bottom
two players (who also ally with each other).
6.10 What is a FFA (RW)?
It stands for ``free-for-all.'' It is a multi-player game where
every player attempts to destroy all the other players. Secret
alliances are allowed when more than three players are in the
game, and treachery is not frowned upon (as it is when teams are
decided before the game starts).
6.11 What leagues can I join?
There are several.
The International Warcraft II League (IWL) is a league of teams
called clans and nations that play on Kali. It is small but has
absolutely top-rank Kali players. The clans compete for points
and rank. IWL players put special characters around their names
in kchat to indicate their team. The IWL home page is at
http://www.instantweb.com/~shadow/cgi-bin/iwl.htm .
The National Warcraft 2 League is similar. NWL players put the
``NWL'' characters after their names. When NWL players do this,
they typically refuse to play against anyone who is not in the
NWL. The NWL page is at
http://home.netinc.ca/~amolnar/war2/inwl.htm .
Case's Ladder is a system that allows thousands of players to
play each other for rank for various games. There are Warcraft 2
ladders for both individuals and teams. Case's Ladder can be
found at http://www.igl.net/ .
The Macintosh Gaming league is for Mac users playing directly
over the Internet with straight TCP/IP. Players compete for
points and can play solo or join teams. Its home page is at
http://www.magleague.com .
The World WarCraft2 League has a point system and allows
individual or team play. The home page is at
http://pages.prodigy.net/wharam/wwl/war.htm .
6.12 What is the lumber bug?
See the bugs question above. It is important when playing on low
resources because it allows you to build a farm immediately after
finishing the town hall.
6.13 How do I stop my units from mining?
Slow the game way down. As fast as you can, select peons or
peasants and order them to stop by pressing the ``s'' key.
Eventually, some of them will stop.
RW: Most players can get by without doing this. Just train more
peasants.
6.14 What's the best speed setting on Kali?
When starting the game with one peasant only, full speed is best
for a short while. After three or four buildings are completed,
it is best to slow the game to one notch below that. This makes
units more responsive, so it is possible to cast spells, react to
attacks, and so forth.
If the lag in a game is particularly bad, the speed should be
slowed to about the midpoint to reduce the effect of the lag.
Note that lag is caused almost entirely by network and modem
performance. Turning music on or off does not help with lag.
6.15 Is there a Kali newsgroup?
Yes. It's alt.games.kali.
6.16 What are GOW and POS?
They stand for Garden of War and Plains of Snow, two built-in
maps that are popular on Kali.
6.17 What about Kahn?
Kahn is a system for MS-DOS or Windows 95 that provides about the
same services as Kali. For Warcraft 2, though, Kali is much more
popular. As of this writing, the software is in beta test, and is
available from http://www.stargatenetworks.com/ . The
registration fee is $15.
7. Tricks and tactics
This section discusses common questions on how to deal with
elements of game play. It is mainly oriented towards multi-player
action. These hints are purposely brief. See the Web sites for
more detail.
7.1 What strategy guides are available?
There is an official strategy guide book. It mostly contains
information in the manual, but also contains maps and
walkthroughs of the standard campaign levels. There is also a
strategy guide for the expansion set levels. You may purchase
them at your local software store or directly from Blizzard.
Most of the Web sites for Warcraft 2 offer multi-player strategy
guides.
7.2 How do I stop bloodlusted ogres?
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Make sure you have plenty of reconnaissance in the form of
towers, flyers (flying machines or zeppelins), and patrols, so
you can see them coming.
Cast slow on them.
Cast blizzard or death & decay on them when they stop outside
your town to bloodlust or when they attack a building.
Polymorph them.
Put up a cannon tower and surround it with farms and other
buildings so the ogre-mages can't touch it.
Cast runes in front of them.
Keep a few gryphons or dragons over your town for last-ditch
defense. Ogres can't hurt them.
RW: Cast a flame shield on one of them when they are in a group
together.
Run your units away from them and wait for the bloodlust to wear
off.
7.3 How do I stop sappers/dwarves?
Spread out your buildings so a single unit won't be able to hit
multiple buildings at once.
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Keep your enemy from getting lumber, so he can't build them.
Make sure you have plenty of reconnaissance in the form of
towers, flyers, and patrols, so you can see them coming. Patrols
will also likely kill them.
Don't keep your units standing around. It's too easy for a sapper
or dwarf to blow up two or three of them. Put them on patrol,
instead.
Cast slow on them. They will be much easier to kill.
Surround your important buildings with walls.
Make a group of troops and put them on patrol along likely
approach paths for the exploders. Upgraded elves and trolls are
especially good for this.
Use polymorph, unholy armor, death coil, runes, or invisibility
on them. All of these spells instantly destroy exploding units.
7.4 How do I stop death knights?
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Make sure you have plenty of reconnaissance in the form of
towers, flyers, and patrols, so you can see them coming.
Use exorcism on them. With good reconnaissance, you should always
be able to kill them before they kill your paladin.
Cast slow on them. Death & decay becomes much less dangerous.
Attack them normally when they approach.
7.5 How do I stop a mage bomb?
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Listen for the sound of the blizzard. If you see where it is,
pull your troops away before they try to charge.
Use thorough reconaissance to spot mages setting up the blizzard.
Stopping invisible mages from blizzarding your miners is nearly
impossible. Put two cannon towers near your mine. They will
probably kill the mage before he causes too much damage. A
catapult and some patrolling units near there also help.
7.6 How do I stop submarines and turtles?
The best way is to make sure that you can see them. Consult the
manual's descriptions of submarines and turtles to find out how
to see underwater units. If you can see a sub, it is easy to kill
with ships or a catapult.
If you are in a pinch and can't see the sub, order a catapult,
ballista, battleship, or juggernaut to ``fire at the ground
(water)'' where you see the sub's projectile coming from. You may
be able to hit it anyway. It will die in one shot, usually.
Blizzard and death & decay spells are also great for killing
these units.
7.7 How do I stop barracks first?
Use the THF rule.
Play on low resources.
Play on a water level.
Play on a map where you need to chop through trees before you can
reach the enemy town.
7.8 How do I stop early grunt attacks?
Build faster than your enemy.
Use your own early grunt attack first. Kill all the enemy peons
or peasants so that he can't make grunts.
Near your hall, build a cannon tower and surround it with other
buildings (probably farms) so that grunts can't hit it. It will
defend your peons or peasants.
Block off access to your peons or peasants with trees and
buildings. This is called a ``wall-in'', and is dangerous because
your peons or peasants can't get out to new mines or to expand
the town.
Play a water level or one where you need to chop out of a bunch
of trees.
7.9 What tricks can I use?
Kill enemy peons and peasants first. They are the most dangerous
units, since they are the ones who are sending those nasty enemy
units at you. They are also really easy to kill. The best way to
do it is to cast blizzard or death & decay on the area between
the enemy hall and mine.
If someone does something really nasty to you, remember it. Do it
to your next opponent.
Have multiple peons or peasants repair a building while it is
being constructed. It will build much more quickly.
Use hotkeys. You can order your troops and buildings around much
more quickly that way.
To bloodlust a group of ogres very quickly, click on one, type a
``b'', then double-click on another. You've now bloodlusted and
selected that ogre. Type another ``b'' and double-click a third
ogre. Continue this process until all the ogres are bloodlusted.
Caste haste on a deathknight, then order it to cast death &
decay. It will cast the spell very quickly.
Use mage bombs whenever they will kill three or more enemy units.
If you use invisibility, you can do it while the mage is standing
in the enemy peon line.
Cast haste and unholy armor on a death knight, and have him do a
mage bomb. It works better than having a mage do it. He may even
escape.
Make a lot of gnomish inventors or goblin alchemist buidings near
or behind the enemy town. Make a lot of exploding units and blow
the enemy town to bits.
Put a platform on every oil patch. Your enemy won't get any oil.
Even a simple tanker sitting on the spot may do the job.
Cast slow on every enemy unit you see.
Cast haste on your woodcutting peons.
RW: A trapped peon can build a wall to pop himself out.
RW: Cannon towers can not attack units directly adjacent to
themselves. Surround them with farms.
8. Macintosh Warcraft 2
This section is for questions about the Macintosh version of
Warcraft 2. Please send in questions and answers.
8.1 How can I find TCP/IP games on the Internet?
Connect to the EFNET IRC channel #macwarcraft. People gather
there to set up games. (Ted Woodward ted@austin.ibm.com). For
more about IRC, see http://www.cochran.com/understand/irc.html .
8.2 Can I play against IBM-PC players?
Yes, at least using IPX or IPX over Kali, serial play, and modem
play (modem confirmed by davidmurphy@earthlink.net). The IBM-PC
version does not have direct TCP/IP access, so that will not
work.
8.3 Can I use IBM-PC PUD's?
Yes. Ted Woodward (ted@austin.ibm.com) reports: You may need to
change the file type and creator to the editor's type and
creator, W2Ed.
--
Dan Zerkle zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu
GCS d(---)(!) p- c++ !l u++ e++(+++) m s++/-- !n h+(--) f g+++(-) w+ t+ r(-) y+
Stamp out Internet spam! See http://www.vix.com/spam/ to help.
by Dan Zerkle (a.k.a. ``Trouble'')
zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu
September 10, 1997
1. About this document
This section discusses this document.
1.1 Introduction
Warcraft 2 is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard. This
document lists frequently asked questions and answers appearing
on the newsgroup alt.games.warcraft. Please read this document
carefully before asking any questions on alt.games.warcraft. Most
likely, your question is answered here.
This document does not address the original game of Warcraft.
There is a Warcraft FAQ list at
http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h88/h8825403/spiele/warcraft.zip .
This FAQ list was originally written before the Macintosh version
of the game was released. As such, the questions and answers in
this document are slanted towards the IBM-PC version. If you have
a copy of the Macintosh version of Warcraft 2, please make
appropriate suggestions, corrections, and additions, and they
will be added to the FAQ with your name attached.
Please save a copy of this document. If you see someone ask a
question that is answered in this document, please mail the FAQ
list to that person instead of answering the question.
Each time a new version of this document is released, the date at
the top is updated. Check the date to see if you have the latest
version.
Please send suggestions and corrections for this to the author at
zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu. Good ones will be used and acknowledged.
1.2 Table of contents.
Sections marked with an asterisk are new or changed in this
version.
1.
About this document
1.1
Introduction
1.2
Table of contents
1.3
Authors of this document
1.4
Where to get this document
1.5
What does Blizzard think about this?
2.
General Questions
2.1
What is Warcraft 2?
2.2
How can I contact Blizzard?
2.3
What are the different versions of Warcraft 2?
2.4
What third-party products are available for Warcraft 2?
2.5
What are some good Web pages for Warcraft 2?
2.6
Can I download Warcraft 2?
2.7
Which is better, Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer?
2.8
Which are better, orcs or humans?
2.9
What's a PUD?
2.10
How do I use a PUD?
2.11
Can PUD's have a goal other than destroying?
2.12
How do I use the features of the expansion set in my own
maps?
2.13
How can I make computer-controlled units attack each
other?
2.14
How do I capture the graphics on the screen?
2.15
Can I make a PUD without some units?
3.
Game play and operation
3.1
I'm having trouble running the program. Help!
3.2
What bugs are in Warcraft 2?
3.3
My save files don't work with 1.3! Help!
3.4
What are the shortcut keys?
3.5
What are the cheat codes?
3.6
Why can't I build more units?
3.7
What do portals, rune stones, and circles do?
3.8
Why don't I see cut scenes in the expansion set?
3.9
Can death knights see invisible units?
3.10
What does this spell do?
3.11
Does haste increase attack speed?
3.12
How do I build walls?
3.13
What Easter eggs are in Warcraft 2?
3.14
What do critters do?
3.15
How do I do a screen capture?
3.16
How do I repair platforms, catapults, and ships?
3.17
What is a razing?
3.18
How do I make a daemon?
3.19
How is the score calculated?
3.20
What does regeneration do?
3.21
How is damage calculated?
4.
Single-player campaign levels
4.1
How do I beat the computer?
4.2
I killed all the computer units. Why don't I win?
4.3
Does the computer cheat?
4.4
How do I beat level Human 7?
4.5
How do I beat level Human 9?
4.6
How do I beat level Human 14?
4.7
How do I beat expansion level Human 2?
4.8
How do I beat expansion level Human 4?
4.9
How do I beat expansion level Human 7?
4.10
How do I beat expansion level Human 9?
4.11
How do I beat expansion level Human 12?
4.12
How do I beat expansion level Orc 4?
4.13
How do I beat expansion level Orc 12?
*4.14
How do I beat the Heroes custom levels?
5.
Multi-player games
5.1
What is ``spawning''?
5.2
The start button is greyed out. Why?
5.3
I keep getting beaten on multiplayer. What to do?
5.4
Are other people cheating in multi-player?
5.5
How can I cheat on multi-player?
5.6
What is a grunt rush?
5.7
What is the seven-man grunt rush?
5.8
What is a mage bomb?
5.9
What is barracks first?
5.10
How do I change the color of my name?
5.11
Can I play Warcraft 2 over the Internet?
6.
Kali, Kahn, and Internet play
6.1
What are Kali and Kahn?
6.2
What do I need to play on the Internet?
6.3
Where do I get Kali?
6.4
How do I install Kali?
6.5
Really, how do I install Kali?
6.6
Which are good Kali servers to play Warcraft 2?
6.7
What is THF?
6.8
What are ogre rules?
6.9
What is TVB?
6.10
What is a FFA?
6.11
What leagues can I join?
6.12
What is the lumber bug?
6.13
How do I stop my units from mining?
6.14
What's the best speed on Kali?
6.15
Is there a Kali newsgroup?
6.16
What are GOW and POS?
6.17
What about Kahn?
7.
Tricks and tactics
7.1
What strategy guides are available?
7.2
How do I stop bloodlusted ogres?
7.3
How do I stop sappers/dwarves?
7.4
How do I stop death knights?
7.5
How do I stop a mage bomb?
7.6
How do I stop submarines and turtles?
7.7
How do I stop barracks first?
7.8
How do I stop early grunt attacks?
7.9
What tricks can I use?
8.
Macintosh Warcraft 2
8.1
How can I find TCP/IP games on the Internet?
8.2
Can I play against IBM-PC players?
8.3
Can I use IBM-PC PUD's?
1.3 Authors of this document
The primary author is Dan Zerkle, zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu. If you
would like to suggest an addition or revision, please mail it to
him.
Suggestions and additions from Richard Wan (riwan@unixg.ubc.ca)
are marked ``RW''. Other contributions are marked as they appear.
1.4 Where to get this document
The document is posted Mondays to alt.games.warcraft,
alt.games.kali, and comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic. It is
available on the Web from
http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~zerkle/w2faq.html . It is mirrored
at http://home.earthlink.net/~eek/war2/w2faq.html and
http://www.ogr.com/faqs/warcraft2faq.html .
1.5 What does Blizzard think about this?
This FAQ list is unofficial and the authors have no association
with Blizzard except as customers. However, an employee of
Blizzard made the following commendation:
I want to commend you on the War2 FAQ. Very thorough, and very
accurate.
Mike Morhaime
Vice President
Blizzard
2. General Questions
This section contains general questions about Warcraft 2.
2.1 What is Warcraft 2?
Warcraft 2 is a real-time action and strategy computer game
written by Blizzard for the IBM PC and compatibles. It runs under
MS-DOS, Windows 95, or MacOS. You may control armies of noble
humans (and allies) or loathsome orcs (and allies). You may play
against the computer or up to seven other players.
To defeat the enemy requires clever strategy, tactics, and
resource management. You must produce buildings and harvest
resources to train troops and fight the enemy.
It has the unique fog of war feature. You can not see the actions
of the enemy unless you actually have a unit in visual range.
2.2 How can I contact Blizzard?
Their Web page is http://www.blizzard.com . E-mail is
sales@blizzard.com. Sales are at 800-953-SNOW. Paper mail is P.O.
Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92713. The manual lists contacts for
customer support.
2.3 What are the different versions of Warcraft 2?
Version 1.0 is the original version (Tides of Darkness) that
comes in the box on the CD. It comes with 28 campaign levels, a
couple dozen built-in custom levels, and a map editor so you can
make your own levels.
Version 1.2 is a free (RW) patch available from Blizzard's Web
site. It fixes a bug with the exorcism spell, includes support
for Kali, and allows players to start in random map positions in
multi-player.
Version 1.3 is the Beyond the Dark Portal expansion set,
available as a separate CD. It has all the features of 1.2. Also,
it includes 24 difficult campaign levels, two new cut scenes,
many maps for use in custom or multiplayer levels, a new tile
set, special ``hero'' characters, better PUD selection software,
and a disco music track.
Version 1.5 is a free patch available from Blizzard's Web site
for the MS-DOS version of the game. It contains a program to fix
old save files to work with newer versions of the program. A new
map editor allows the use of the Draenor tile set and the new
heroes. It also prevents certain types of cheating in
multi-player.
2.4 What third-party products are available for Warcraft 2?
W!ZONE is a collection of 65 scenario maps and a Tips & Tactics
guide. W!ZONE 2: Retribution includes 64 such maps plus the
guide. They are available from Wizard Works Inc., 2300 Berkshire
Lane, Plymouth, MN 55441. They have a Web site at
http://www.wizworks.com . (willy@rogers.wave.ca and
Franz62421@aol.com).
Total War is 1093 single and multi-player PUD files. It's
registered to Micro Star, 2245 Camino Vida Roble, Carlsbad, CA
92009 ("Willy" willy@rogers.wave.ca).
More War is a collection of scenario maps. Anyone with further
information (price, company, address, other) please supply it for
this FAQ list.
War2xed is a scenario map editor with a wide variety of
additional features. It is free and is available from
http://members.home.com/lemberg/ .
CraftGen is a scenario map editor that can randomly generate
maps. It is shareware ($15) and is available from
http://www.concentric.net/~jimware .
PUD Browser allows the quick review of PUD's at full screen size,
plus printing in monocrome and color. It is free and available
from http://w3.one.net/~billw/PudBrowser/ .
A utility called ``WarDraft'' for Windows systems is available
from http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e8900070/ . It allows the
modification of graphics, sounds, built-in levels, and the like.
PUD Master is a Macintosh level editor with a wide variety of
extra features. It's available from
http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~bwood/PUDMaster.html .
See also the questions about Kali and Kahn.
There are other third-party products available. If you have any
further information, please submit it to the FAQ list author.
2.5 What are some good Web pages for Warcraft 2?
There are far too many to list them all. Use a Web search, watch
the newsgroup, or follow links to find them. Here are three good
ones.
Blizzard's Web site is at http://www.blizzard.com . It has all
sorts of useful information. Check it out if you have purchased
or are considering purchase of any Blizzard product.
Shlonglor's War 2 page is generally considered the best, with
lots of strategies and overviews. It's at
http://games.nextlevel.net/~fraizer/WAR2/war2.html .
Methos' Warcraft II Strategy Page contains lots of hints for
better game play. It also contains links to other pages. It's at
http://www.netleague.com/wc2/ .
In addition, GameWeb lists Web pages for dozens of games,
including Warcraft 2. It is at http://thegw.com/ .
2.6 Where can I download Warcraft II?
It's available for both IBM-PC and Macintosh from
http://www.blizzard.com/library/demos.htm .
2.7 Which is better, Warcraft 2 or Command & Conquer?
They are both good. If you like one, you'll probably like the
other. You should probably buy both. Generally, Warcraft 2 is
considered better for multi-player, while Command & Conquer is
considered superior for single-player play.
Warcraft 2 has a medieval setting with monsters and magic. It
runs in SVGA mode for nice graphics. The units for the two races
are very similar, all having close or exact matches to the other
side. You must harvest and manage three kinds of resources. Up to
eight players are permitted in a single game (effectively six on
Kali). Each package purchase allows up to three players per game
(two of every three players don't need CD's). The cut-scenes
between levels are sparse and not very pretty, but occasionally
clever. It has the unique fog of war, which adds a new dimension
to the game by allowing sneak attacks and surprise tactics.
Command & Conquer has a modern setting with soldiers and
vehicles. It runs in VGA mode for mediocre graphics. The two
opposing sides have widely varying unit types. You must harvest
and manage only one resource. Up to four players are permitted in
a single game (effectively two on Kali). Each package purchase
allows up to two players per game (the game comes with two CD's).
The cut scenes between levels are magnificent, detailed,
frequent, and add to the plot of the game. It has no fog of war,
so different players in multiplayer games can see everything that
the other players do (after initial scouting).
2.8 Which are better, orcs or humans?
The skills of the commander are much more important. Both races
are nearly identical until the castle/fortress stage, when the
spells arrive. Until that stage, the orcs have slightly easier
weapon upgrades at the blacksmith.
After the castle stage, the races are somewhat different. Orcs
are easier to play effectively, but humans are more subtle and
dangerous.
A perfectly good orc strategy is to make a whole mess of
ogre-mages, run them to edge of the enemy town, cast runes
between the enemy hall and mine, bloodlust all the ogres, then
run them into town to wreak havok. This, in fact, is one of the
best strategies, and commonly used. It's easy and effective.
Humans, on the other hand, can do more things in the control of
an intelligent commander. They have a wider variety of useful
spells. Holy vision helps a lot with fast reconnaissance,
allowing intelligent actions. Invisibility allows units to sneak
into vulnerable spots and cause damage before they are stopped
(invisible mages and transports are particularly dangerous). Slow
is an absolutely devastating spell if used correctly and
liberally.
In multi-player games with fast game speed and slow network
response, orcs are much easier to play, simply because they don't
have to cast as many spells. Humans have to spend more time doing
that.
2.9 What's a PUD?
A PUD is a file containing a level map. Many come with 1.3. You
may also create your own with the level editor or download them
from various sources.
2.10 How do I use a PUD?
Just put the file in your Warcraft 2 directory (or a subdirectory
if you are using 1.3 or 1.5). To use it, select a custom scenario
or multi-player scenario, then pick the PUD from the "select
scenario" list.
2.11 Can PUD's have a goal other than destroying?
No. All custom games or multi-player games have only the goal of
destroying all the enemies. You can't change this with the map
editor or any other way.
2.12 How do I use the features of the expansion set in my own maps?
The map editor in 1.3 is the same as the one in 1.0. It doesn't
allow you to use the new tile set or the heroes.
The version 1.5 patch contains an editor that allows the use of
these features.
Also, Daniel Lemberg has written an unofficial editor that will
let you do so called war2xed. See the section above about
third-party products for more about war2xed.
2.13 How can I make computer-controlled units attack each other?
Using the map editor, set the controller of multiple clans or
nations to rescue (active). When the map is played, such units
will attack each other. You may use the ``on screen'' cheat to
watch them. (Noel Herradura noel99@sprynet.com)
2.14 How do I capture the graphics on the screen?
Consult the README file that game came with the game for
directions on how to do this.
2.15 Can I make a PUD without some units?
Yes. Use war2xed to set the decay time of the unit to 1 and the
cost to 0. Any such disallowed units created will instantly die.
See the section above about third-party products for more about
war2xed.
3. Game play and operation
This section addresses general questions about game play and
program operation but not strategy (there is a separate section
for that).
3.1 I'm having trouble running the program. Help!
Blizzard has extremely good technical support at its Web page. If
something is going wrong, please check out that page first. An
answer to your problem is almost certainly there. Modem
difficulties seem especially common. Blizzard has a list of modem
configuration strings at http://www.blizzard.com/support/init.htm
.
If you're still having trouble, contact Blizzard at one of the
support contacts mentioned on page six of the manual. This will
work better and faster than posting to the newsgroup.
Do not post a technical question without trying these two things
first. If you really must post, please mention that you already
tried the above avenues. Messages posted to newsgroups are
distributed to tens of thousands of servers worldwide, and it
isn't really appropriate to waste these sorts of resources when
you've already paid Blizzard to answer your questions for you.
3.2 What bugs are in Warcraft 2?
Version 1.0 may crash when the exorcism spell is used in certain
places.
The multi-player chat room does not always show correct versions
of other people's software.
If you start a peon or peasant chopping wood, then order him to
build a hall or lumber yard, you'll get one free load of wood
without taking the time to chop it. It appears when the building
finishes.
Save files from 1.0 or 1.2 will cause a crash after installing
1.3. The 1.5 patch contains a fix for this. Also, you may use the
tigerlily cheat to continue your game at the appropriate level.
Walls, trees, and rocks are considered terrain, so you can see
them being built or destroyed by opponents even if they are in
the fog of war.
Rarely, when a building is destroyed (especially mines), you can
still see it (although game play is not affected).
Sometimes, when you expect to get an ogre-mage, an ogre gets
built instead. Likewise, knights can appear when paladins are
expected.
Very rarely, in a laggy network game when the game is delayed but
the user is issuing many commands, units will get built in the
wrong building. For instance, sappers or peons may be trained in
the barracks.
Knights rescued from other nations do not get church upgrades if
the upgrades are taken before the rescue. They stay knights and
only get the blacksmith upgrades (Derek Angell ChezLad@aol.com).
Sometimes, after restoring a saved game, one or more
computer-controlled clan or nation will stop producing any
troops, thus making the game too easy.
If the host of a multi-player game tries to start a a custom PUD
that one player does not have, fails (because one user doesn't
have it), switches PUD's, then tries to start again, the players
that do have the original PUD will start on that original PUD
(Ken Cantrell kec@cs.clemson.edu).
Sometimes, some of the PUD's that should be available in
multi-player games do not appear. The game may report to the
hosting player that another player does not have the PUD when he
in fact, does.
Skeletons raised from the dead will die on their own after about
10 minutes. If a skeleton is on a transport when it dies, its
icon on the transport will change to the next thing created,
whether a building or unit and whether friendly or enemy. The
actual building or unit will behave normally until the transport
is unloaded, at which time it will move to the site where the
transport is unloaded.
3.3 My save files don't work with 1.3! Help!
See the section above about the bugs in Warcraft 2.
3.4 What are the shortcut keys?
Put your mouse pointer over an icon for any command. Text
describing that command will show up on the bottom of the screen.
One of the letters of the description is a different color. That
is the shortcut key for that command. You may press it instead of
clicking on the icon.
3.5 What are the cheat codes?
To use a cheat code, hit enter, type the cheat code, then hit
enter again. To disable a cheat, just type it again. In
multi-player, any cheat you use will help all the players. These
are the more useful codes:
``Tigerlily'' enables level jumping. After this, use codes like
``human 7'' to skip to human level seven, ``orc 12'' to do a
similar thing for orcs, and ``human 17'' to skip to level three
of the expansion set.
``On screen'' shows the whole map and turns off the fog of war.
``Make it so'' speeds up building, upgrades, and unit production.
``It is a good day to die'' spectacularly boosts your units'
strength (does not affect computer players).
``Unite the clans'' wins immediately.
``You pitiful worm'' loses immediately.
``Glittering prizes'' increases your gold, wood, and oil.
``Valdez'' increases your oil.
``Hatchet'' speeds up wood chopping.
``Deck me out'' gives you armor and weapon upgrades.
``Every little thing she does'' gives you spell upgrades.
``There can be only one'' wins whole game.
3.6 Why can't I build more units?
Each game has a maximum limit of 600 units, which includes mobile
units and buildings. This limit is divided evenly amongst all the
players. Therefore, if there are four players (human or
computer), each one can have a maximum of 150 units.
The unit limit only applies to players still in the game. So, if
one of the four players in the example above was eliminated, each
of the three remaining players would get to make up to 200 units.
3.7 What do portals, rune stones, and circles do?
In campaign levels, the roles of the dark portals, rune stones,
and circles of power are explained by the introductions to the
appropriate levels. However, in custom maps (PUD's), they can
serve no roles other than decoration.
Using w2xed, it is possible to assign different characteristics
to all buildings. For instance, a rune stone could be made into a
gold collection point. See the section above about third-party
products for more about war2xed.
3.8 Why don't I see cut scenes in the expansion set?
There are only two new cut scenes. One is at the end of the human
campaign (level 12), and the other is at the end of the orc
campaign. That's it.
3.9 Can death knights see invisible units?
No, they can't. The computer can, but it's cheating.
3.10 What does this spell do?
To find out what a spell does, there are three steps:
First, read the manual. It has a description of the spell.
Second, experiment with the spell in a single-player game. You'll
get a good feel for the thing. This should be enough.
If you're really, really curious about the exact details of the
spells, check out the Insider's Guide to Warcraft II, at
http://www.gamespot.com/features/wc2/index.html .
3.11 Does haste increase attack speed? (RW)
The haste spell doubles the number of attacks from dragons and
gryphons. All other units will attack no more frequently and
cause no more damage when hasted.
3.12 How do I build walls?
You can only build them in multi-player games. The computer units
never attack walls directly, so they aren't permitted in
single-player games.
You may use farms as a substitute for walls. They are much more
expensive and they are not as flexible, but they are much harder
to destroy.
3.13 What Easter eggs are in Warcraft 2?
Click on a unit many times to hear it say funny things. Keep
clicking. Footmen are particularly hilarious. RW: Boats are funny
as well!
You also get cute quotes from testing the sound card too many
times (Simon.Palmer@cs.uwa.edu.au).
Sheep say ``Baa ram ewe!'', which is from the movie, Babe.
If you click on a critter enough times, it explodes! No, it
doesn't cause any damage when you do this.
If you use the cheat ``disco'' on an expansion set level, a
really cute song will start playing. You can also play the song
by putting the CD in an ordinary music CD player and playing
track 18.
3.14 What do critters do?
Not much. Mostly, they just get in the way. Death knights can
cast death coil on them to top off their health (Gary Jacobson
jcbgar04@scilab.uct.ac.za). Mages can cast flame shield on them
and they'll damage enemy units. Their main purpose is really to
give enemy units something to turn into after a polymorph spell.
The sheep are fun to kill (my girlfriend)!
3.15 How do I do a screen capture?
This and other useful information is in the README file in the
Warcraft 2 directory on your hard drive.
3.16 How do I repair platforms, catapults, and ships?
Generally, you can't. You have to replace them. However, a peon
or peasant can repair a transport if it is on shore. You must
order the peon or peasant to repair instead of right-clicking or
command-clicking.
3.17 What is a razing?
The word ``raze'' can be found in any English dictionary. You
really should look in there before asking on a newsgroup.
You get credit for one razing for each building you destroy.
3.18 How do I make a daemon?
Use the map editor. You can't build one during the game.
3.19 How is the score calculated?
You get 500 points for winning a level, plus more points whenever
you destroy units or buildings. See
http://www.blizzard.com/tips/tip3.htm for details.
3.20 What does regeneration do?
A beserker with regenereration will slowly regain its health
after it has been injured.
3.21 How is damage calculated?
The formula is fairly complicated. See
http://www.blizzard.com/tips/tip2.htm for complete details.
4. Single-player campaign levels
This section discusses play in the campaign levels.
4.1 How do I beat the computer?
Generally, you can protect your town with lots of towers and wait
until you've built up a huge force. Then, attack.
On the expansion set levels, you often need to attack much
sooner. On several, in fact, you need to wipe out an enemy town
immediately with your starting forces.
Most levels can be beaten with simple persistence and skill. See
the strategies and tips section for some hints that may apply to
single-player levels. Tricks for beating tricky levels are
detailed below. If this FAQ list isn't enough for you, you may
call Blizzard's hint line at 900-370-SNOW. The charge is 85 cents
per minute.
4.2 I killed all the computer units. Why don't I win?
You missed one or more somewhere. Keep searching. Make sure that
the entire level has been explored.
You may need to turn off the fog of war to help you look. Using
the ``on screen'' cheat helps. Also, you can turn off the terrain
display on the mini-map with the TAB key.
Some of the later levels have submarines or turtles that are very
hard to find. If there is water, use a flying machine or zeppelin
to look for them. Also, black enemy units are hard to see on the
mini-map, so scroll the main map and look there.
4.3 Does the computer cheat?
Yes. It always knows where all your units and buildings are. That
means that it can hit your invisible units with death coil. It
also means that it doesn't have to search to find your towns. On
the campaign scenarios, it usually starts off with considerably
greater forces. It can upgrade scout towers to arrow towers
without having a lumber mill (Paul Jeray
pjjeray@students.wisc.edu).
4.4 How do I beat level Human 7?
There are some catapults on the left side of the map. If you
touch them, you'll capture them and you can use them to attack
the orcish town. They are especially good for destroying cannon
towers.
4.5 How do I beat level Human 9?
Just send your fighting ships forward to kill the enemy ships in
the way, followed immediately by your transports. Load your hero
on the transport with the least damage and send him to the island
with the circle. Transports are so fast that it will probably
survive. If you really want to, you can use your troops and
ballista to remove the land forces that attack your ships.
4.6 How do I beat level Human 14?
Load your transports with the footmen, knights, and ballista.
Attack the shore with your ships and all the troops in the
transports simultaneously to remove the towers, catapults, and
ogres. Then, land your mages, archers, and peasants. You must be
quick to be ready before the dragons arrive.
Build lots of anti-dragon defenses. Guard towers or archers,
mixed in with an occasional mage fireball, will do the job. Once
you have plenty of guard towers, build up forces, take the black
gold mine, and the rest of the level is routine.
4.7 How do I beat expansion level Human 2?
Attack the black orcs last. They won't bother you if you don't go
near their town.
4.8 How do I beat expansion level Human 4?
Immediately use your starting forces to knock out the white
village to the south before they build any troops. Then, set up
your own town there. Your castle does not have to be right next
to the portal; it may be anywhere on the map.
4.9 How do I beat expansion level Human 7?
Although you can't build much, you can make a lumber yard, a ship
yard, and lots of destroyers. Do so.
Kill Deathwing by using your gryphon to lure him to your fleet of
destroyers, which will do the job quickly.
4.10 How do I beat expansion level Human 9?
This is a very difficult level, and there are no tricks to it.
Either open mine will work, but the bottom center one is easier
to defend. Use farms for walls and put up lots of guard towers
behind them where you get attacked.
Put a flying machine on the approach path of the death knights.
They will waste mana casting whirlwind on it instead of
destroying your buildings.
You must eliminate the bottom right orcs quickly; you need their
gold. The center (white) orcs will not attack unless you go too
near their town. Leave them alone until later.
Send two gryphons to the top left mine. You can destroy the
stronghold there and save the mine for your use later.
Gorefiend is a pest. Polymorph him as soon as you can. Use an
invisible mage.
Use dwarves and blizzards to eliminate the cannon towers before
you attack the black orcs.
4.11 How do I beat expansion level Human 12?
Early in the game, you need to attack the white orcs. Cast
blizzard spells on their towers and over the trees on their peons
until they are all dead. After that, set up a defense force near
the portal and have Khadgar destroy the portal with lightning and
blizzards.
*4.12 How do I beat expansion level Orc 4?
Take your starting force and immediately attack the top left
town. Destroy the towers, all the peasants, and the hall, but
don't bother with the remaining buildings. Then, take what is
left of your force and attack the bottom left town. While your
troops finish knocking down all the buildings, start your own
town by that mine.
4.13 How do I beat expansion level Orc 12?
As the game starts, send Deathwing to the top left (purple) enemy
mine, out of range of the arrow towers. He will kill all of the
peasants there and that nation won't be able to make troops.
After that, do the same with the nearest enemy mine. Haste and
bloodlust on Deathwing help a lot.
*4.14 How do I beat the Heroes custom levels?
Start the game on high resources so you have enough gold to make
a transport and cross the river.
5. Multi-player games
This section details questions relevant to multi-player gaming.
5.1 What is spawning?
You may install the game on multiple computers. You only need the
CD to create (not join) a multi-player game or to engage in a
single-player game. Each CD on a computer in a multi-player game
will serve up to three players, so an eight-player game will work
with only three CD's. This multi-play from a single CD is called
spawning.
5.2 The start button is greyed out. Why?
All players who didn't create the game must click in the little
``ready'' box next to their names.
5.3 I keep getting beaten on multiplayer. What to do?
Your best bet for improving your game is to carefully read the
strategy Web pages, including the ones mentioned earlier. See the
tricks and tactics section later in this document, as well. For
the impatient, here are a few quick tips:
Tactics you used against the computer won't work here. You need
to build really fast and produce lots of forces right away. You
should probably wait longer to buy all of those expensive
upgrades that were so handy against the computer. Towers don't
work so well against intelligent players, so use fewer of them.
Build your hall as close as possible to your mine. Don't build
your hall until you find your mine.
You need many, many peons or peasants. Forty isn't too many.
Use the lumber bug when you play on low resources.
5.4 Are other people cheating in multi-player?
Probably not. Most likely, they're just much better than you are.
If you enable a normal cheat, it affects all players, and a
message appears on everyone's screen.
There are various hacks that allow such things as viewing the map
without using a built-in cheat, producing units without farms,
and letting buildings produce any unit or upgrade. The version
1.5 patch will stop most of these cheats.
5.5 How can I cheat on multi-player?
Go away.
5.6 What is a grunt rush?
It has two definitions. It either means attacking with a lot of
grunts or footmen early, instead of trying for upgrades, or it
means building a barracks before a town hall and attacking with a
couple grunts before anyone else has them. You should not use the
second meaning. Instead, refer to that strategy simply as
``barracks first.''
5.7 What is the seven-man grunt rush?
It is a devastating strategy for medium-resources land games.
Build a hall, three farms, and a barracks. As you do so, produce
six peons or peasants. Start the barracks as soon as the first
farm is done. Set five peons or peasants to mine gold, and put
the sixth to chopping wood. Use the gold to produce seven grunts
or footmen. As you produce them, scout for the enemy. When you
have all seven, gather them outside the enemy town, then attack
to kill all the enemy peasants or peons.
If this doesn't work, you will eventually have enough wood to
build another farm, produce more choppers, and proceed as usual.
This strategy is so nasty that people rarely play on medium
resources any more.
5.8 What is a mage bomb?
It is a mage casting blizzard on the area in which he is
standing. The blizzard won't hurt the mage. However, it will kill
any of the usual armored units that try to attack the mage. If,
after starting a mage bomb, the mage casts a very brief blizzard
on a group of enemy units, those units will charge into the mage
bomb and all die. Mage bombs are especially effective when used
in the middle of the enemy miners and when used by invisible
mages.
Note that death knights can do this by using the death and decay
spell. A hasted, unholy-armored death knight doing a mage bomb is
extremely deadly.
5.9 What is barracks first?
This is the strategy of building a barracks before a town hall,
then producing a few grunts or footmen to attack very early. When
the enemy doesn't do it, it is a guaranteed win if you find his
town fast, and a guaranteed loss if you don't. Most people don't
like to play this sort of game.
5.10 How do I change the color of my name?
Edit the file war2.ini. Find your name in it. Use your text
editor to insert the characters CONTROL-B through CONTROL-F Each
of these characters will change the color of the letters after it
when you're in the game.
You can use the MS-DOS edit program for this. Just position the
cursor, type a CONTROL-P, then the control character you want.
The special character will be inserted.
A program this will do this for you automatically may be found at
http://www.csra.net/jlawton/war2col.zip .
5.11 Can I play Warcraft 2 over the Internet?
Yes. See the next section about Kali and Kahn. Also, Macintosh
players can use TCP/IP directly. See the section on Macintosh
questions for more.
6. Kali, Kahn, and Internet play
Internet play of Warcraft 2 is very popular and gives the highest
level of competition.
This section discusses Internet play of Warcraft 2, including
Kali and Kahn, the popular Internet multi-player gaming
utilities. For more information, see the Web sites.
6.1 What are Kali and Kahn?
Kali is a system designed by Jay Cotton that fools a set of
computers on the Internet into thinking that they are together on
an IPX network. This allows many games that allow multi-player
action on an IPX LAN to work over the Internet. Server machines
on the Internet and a chat facility allow players to meet before
they start their games.
There are Kali systems for MS-DOS and Windows 95, with a
Macintosh version in beta release as of this writing.
Kahn is a competing product that does basically the same thing.
See the later question about Kahn.
Warcraft 2 works particularly well on Kali.
6.2 What do I need to play on the Internet?
You need a real Internet connection (PPP and SLIP are fine)
running at least 28.8Kbps (14.4 might work), at least version 1.2
of Warcraft 2. Kali and Kahn require special software that may be
downloaded from their Web sites.
To play on Kali, you need $20 one-time registration fee if you
want to play for more than 15 minutes. Kahn requires a $15 fee
and has a three-week trial period.
AOL's Internet software works with Kali, but special software
must be added and the performance is poor. See the support
section on Kali's Web server for details.
You may play on Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone for free if you
have Windows 95 and the Internet Explorer browser. It is at
http://www.zone.com.
Also, you need experience. Before you try playing on Kali,
complete the 28 campaign levels that come with the game. They are
good practice.
6.3 Where do I get Kali?
It is available from http://www.kali.net .
6.4 How do I install Kali?
Complete, detailed instructions come with the Kali package. If
you download that, you'll have all your Kali questions answered.
You may need to unzip the Kali files to get at the instructions.
If you have a Macintosh, you'll need to unstuff the files first
instead of unzipping them. If you don't know how to unzip or
unstuff a file, ask any friend who knows something about your
computer.
If you have a problem that is not addressed by the instructions,
contact Kali technical support. They will be happy to help you.
6.5 Really, how do I install Kali?
Really, read the instructions. They're very good.
6.6 Which are good Kali servers to play Warcraft 2?
Kali St. Louis has lots of novice games. There is a server called
``->Warcraft Otherwise, just look for a server with lots of
players on it.
6.7 What is THF?
This rule is commonly used on Kali. It stands for ``town hall
first,'' and means that you must build a town hall or great hall
before anything else. One should always assume this rule unless
someone specifically states ``no rules.''
6.8 What are ogre rules?
It is a rule which disallows attacks unless there is an ogre or a
knight in the attack party. It is sometimes called by less
skilled players who don't want to quickly lose to waves of grunts
or footmen.
6.9 What is TVB?
It stands for ``top versus bottom.'' It means that the top two
players on the chat room ally with each other against the bottom
two players (who also ally with each other).
6.10 What is a FFA (RW)?
It stands for ``free-for-all.'' It is a multi-player game where
every player attempts to destroy all the other players. Secret
alliances are allowed when more than three players are in the
game, and treachery is not frowned upon (as it is when teams are
decided before the game starts).
6.11 What leagues can I join?
There are several.
The International Warcraft II League (IWL) is a league of teams
called clans and nations that play on Kali. It is small but has
absolutely top-rank Kali players. The clans compete for points
and rank. IWL players put special characters around their names
in kchat to indicate their team. The IWL home page is at
http://www.instantweb.com/~shadow/cgi-bin/iwl.htm .
The National Warcraft 2 League is similar. NWL players put the
``NWL'' characters after their names. When NWL players do this,
they typically refuse to play against anyone who is not in the
NWL. The NWL page is at
http://home.netinc.ca/~amolnar/war2/inwl.htm .
Case's Ladder is a system that allows thousands of players to
play each other for rank for various games. There are Warcraft 2
ladders for both individuals and teams. Case's Ladder can be
found at http://www.igl.net/ .
The Macintosh Gaming league is for Mac users playing directly
over the Internet with straight TCP/IP. Players compete for
points and can play solo or join teams. Its home page is at
http://www.magleague.com .
The World WarCraft2 League has a point system and allows
individual or team play. The home page is at
http://pages.prodigy.net/wharam/wwl/war.htm .
6.12 What is the lumber bug?
See the bugs question above. It is important when playing on low
resources because it allows you to build a farm immediately after
finishing the town hall.
6.13 How do I stop my units from mining?
Slow the game way down. As fast as you can, select peons or
peasants and order them to stop by pressing the ``s'' key.
Eventually, some of them will stop.
RW: Most players can get by without doing this. Just train more
peasants.
6.14 What's the best speed setting on Kali?
When starting the game with one peasant only, full speed is best
for a short while. After three or four buildings are completed,
it is best to slow the game to one notch below that. This makes
units more responsive, so it is possible to cast spells, react to
attacks, and so forth.
If the lag in a game is particularly bad, the speed should be
slowed to about the midpoint to reduce the effect of the lag.
Note that lag is caused almost entirely by network and modem
performance. Turning music on or off does not help with lag.
6.15 Is there a Kali newsgroup?
Yes. It's alt.games.kali.
6.16 What are GOW and POS?
They stand for Garden of War and Plains of Snow, two built-in
maps that are popular on Kali.
6.17 What about Kahn?
Kahn is a system for MS-DOS or Windows 95 that provides about the
same services as Kali. For Warcraft 2, though, Kali is much more
popular. As of this writing, the software is in beta test, and is
available from http://www.stargatenetworks.com/ . The
registration fee is $15.
7. Tricks and tactics
This section discusses common questions on how to deal with
elements of game play. It is mainly oriented towards multi-player
action. These hints are purposely brief. See the Web sites for
more detail.
7.1 What strategy guides are available?
There is an official strategy guide book. It mostly contains
information in the manual, but also contains maps and
walkthroughs of the standard campaign levels. There is also a
strategy guide for the expansion set levels. You may purchase
them at your local software store or directly from Blizzard.
Most of the Web sites for Warcraft 2 offer multi-player strategy
guides.
7.2 How do I stop bloodlusted ogres?
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Make sure you have plenty of reconnaissance in the form of
towers, flyers (flying machines or zeppelins), and patrols, so
you can see them coming.
Cast slow on them.
Cast blizzard or death & decay on them when they stop outside
your town to bloodlust or when they attack a building.
Polymorph them.
Put up a cannon tower and surround it with farms and other
buildings so the ogre-mages can't touch it.
Cast runes in front of them.
Keep a few gryphons or dragons over your town for last-ditch
defense. Ogres can't hurt them.
RW: Cast a flame shield on one of them when they are in a group
together.
Run your units away from them and wait for the bloodlust to wear
off.
7.3 How do I stop sappers/dwarves?
Spread out your buildings so a single unit won't be able to hit
multiple buildings at once.
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Keep your enemy from getting lumber, so he can't build them.
Make sure you have plenty of reconnaissance in the form of
towers, flyers, and patrols, so you can see them coming. Patrols
will also likely kill them.
Don't keep your units standing around. It's too easy for a sapper
or dwarf to blow up two or three of them. Put them on patrol,
instead.
Cast slow on them. They will be much easier to kill.
Surround your important buildings with walls.
Make a group of troops and put them on patrol along likely
approach paths for the exploders. Upgraded elves and trolls are
especially good for this.
Use polymorph, unholy armor, death coil, runes, or invisibility
on them. All of these spells instantly destroy exploding units.
7.4 How do I stop death knights?
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Make sure you have plenty of reconnaissance in the form of
towers, flyers, and patrols, so you can see them coming.
Use exorcism on them. With good reconnaissance, you should always
be able to kill them before they kill your paladin.
Cast slow on them. Death & decay becomes much less dangerous.
Attack them normally when they approach.
7.5 How do I stop a mage bomb?
Destroy or hurt the enemy badly in the beginning of the game so
he can't get them.
Listen for the sound of the blizzard. If you see where it is,
pull your troops away before they try to charge.
Use thorough reconaissance to spot mages setting up the blizzard.
Stopping invisible mages from blizzarding your miners is nearly
impossible. Put two cannon towers near your mine. They will
probably kill the mage before he causes too much damage. A
catapult and some patrolling units near there also help.
7.6 How do I stop submarines and turtles?
The best way is to make sure that you can see them. Consult the
manual's descriptions of submarines and turtles to find out how
to see underwater units. If you can see a sub, it is easy to kill
with ships or a catapult.
If you are in a pinch and can't see the sub, order a catapult,
ballista, battleship, or juggernaut to ``fire at the ground
(water)'' where you see the sub's projectile coming from. You may
be able to hit it anyway. It will die in one shot, usually.
Blizzard and death & decay spells are also great for killing
these units.
7.7 How do I stop barracks first?
Use the THF rule.
Play on low resources.
Play on a water level.
Play on a map where you need to chop through trees before you can
reach the enemy town.
7.8 How do I stop early grunt attacks?
Build faster than your enemy.
Use your own early grunt attack first. Kill all the enemy peons
or peasants so that he can't make grunts.
Near your hall, build a cannon tower and surround it with other
buildings (probably farms) so that grunts can't hit it. It will
defend your peons or peasants.
Block off access to your peons or peasants with trees and
buildings. This is called a ``wall-in'', and is dangerous because
your peons or peasants can't get out to new mines or to expand
the town.
Play a water level or one where you need to chop out of a bunch
of trees.
7.9 What tricks can I use?
Kill enemy peons and peasants first. They are the most dangerous
units, since they are the ones who are sending those nasty enemy
units at you. They are also really easy to kill. The best way to
do it is to cast blizzard or death & decay on the area between
the enemy hall and mine.
If someone does something really nasty to you, remember it. Do it
to your next opponent.
Have multiple peons or peasants repair a building while it is
being constructed. It will build much more quickly.
Use hotkeys. You can order your troops and buildings around much
more quickly that way.
To bloodlust a group of ogres very quickly, click on one, type a
``b'', then double-click on another. You've now bloodlusted and
selected that ogre. Type another ``b'' and double-click a third
ogre. Continue this process until all the ogres are bloodlusted.
Caste haste on a deathknight, then order it to cast death &
decay. It will cast the spell very quickly.
Use mage bombs whenever they will kill three or more enemy units.
If you use invisibility, you can do it while the mage is standing
in the enemy peon line.
Cast haste and unholy armor on a death knight, and have him do a
mage bomb. It works better than having a mage do it. He may even
escape.
Make a lot of gnomish inventors or goblin alchemist buidings near
or behind the enemy town. Make a lot of exploding units and blow
the enemy town to bits.
Put a platform on every oil patch. Your enemy won't get any oil.
Even a simple tanker sitting on the spot may do the job.
Cast slow on every enemy unit you see.
Cast haste on your woodcutting peons.
RW: A trapped peon can build a wall to pop himself out.
RW: Cannon towers can not attack units directly adjacent to
themselves. Surround them with farms.
8. Macintosh Warcraft 2
This section is for questions about the Macintosh version of
Warcraft 2. Please send in questions and answers.
8.1 How can I find TCP/IP games on the Internet?
Connect to the EFNET IRC channel #macwarcraft. People gather
there to set up games. (Ted Woodward ted@austin.ibm.com). For
more about IRC, see http://www.cochran.com/understand/irc.html .
8.2 Can I play against IBM-PC players?
Yes, at least using IPX or IPX over Kali, serial play, and modem
play (modem confirmed by davidmurphy@earthlink.net). The IBM-PC
version does not have direct TCP/IP access, so that will not
work.
8.3 Can I use IBM-PC PUD's?
Yes. Ted Woodward (ted@austin.ibm.com) reports: You may need to
change the file type and creator to the editor's type and
creator, W2Ed.
--
Dan Zerkle zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu
GCS d(---)(!) p- c++ !l u++ e++(+++) m s++/-- !n h+(--) f g+++(-) w+ t+ r(-) y+
Stamp out Internet spam! See http://www.vix.com/spam/ to help.