F.A.Q.

1. What is it? Warlords is essentially a strategy game, with (in its original form) some fantasy elements. The emphasis is on combat, though economics, diplomacy, and exploration figure into it as well. The basic aim is to conquer at least half the cities on the map (unless you are really bloodthirsty and don't accept surrenders). Up to 8 players - human or computer - can participate. More than 3 humans can get a bit slow, unless you have several machines, and play multiple games simultaneously, moving from machine to machine. Each side (human or computer) begins with one "hero" with one army and one city. Heroes may be of either sex. Cities can produce armies. Each city has a different production and income, and you take more cities by combat. The hero can also explore ruins, where there might be items (after overcoming any guardians), sages (who reveal the locations of other items, or maps of areas, or reward you with gifts), or monsters willing to become allies. Heroes can also go to temples to be blessed or receive quests. Quests may be rewarded with special allies. Armies can also be blessed at temples (blessing affects combat strength). The default scenario is fantasy-based: Dragons, Wizards, elves, and so on. The cities mostly look like castles. However, many kinds of scenarios are possible. There exist tank battles, pirate scenarios, even a battle in the mud for a pig-farm (between pigs of course). Each scenario is playable many times - I played the original Warlords I scenario dozens of times. One of Warlords' best features is the quality of the computer players - at their most intelligent levels of play, they are reasonably difficult opponents. If they become too easy, you can issue a challenge (so they concentrate their efforts against you more than at each other). If you are a really super player, you can give the computer some extra advantages. It has a random map feature which extends playability enormously - the random maps are very good indeed - most give an excellent game. However, the rivers have interesting properties, apparently running uphill at times, happily cutting right through mountain ranges, and sometimes even right across a continent. (Rivers should generally flow from high places - like mountains - down to the coast. Maybe I'm fussy.) The scenario builder (Warscen) allows you to make new scenarios (new maps, armies, cities, shields, boats, items, ruin guardians and so on). This extends the playability of the original game further, as well as being fun in itself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Where can I get Warlords-related material on the Internet? The best site for information about Warlords (both the Mac and PC platforms) is Bob Heeter's "Warlords II players home page" (address below). If you want to know something and it's not in the FAQ, it's probably on his site somewhere. Bob's site doesn't carry scenarios or much in the way of utilities, but it does have lots of links to places that do. Which brings me to Matt Schikore's web page. This is the most up to date site as far as scenarios, patches and utilities go, both for the PC and the Mac. There are a number of sites with Deluxe Scenarios; try Paul Field's site first. John Rosenquist's ftp site (lupan) and web page are extensive. I haven't been able to get onto either in a while; they may have gone away. Of course, there's also SSG's own web page. Get it right from the horse's mouth. These and many other addresses follow - SSG: http://www.ssg.com.au/ Information about SSG's products, screenshots from Warlords II Deluxe, ordering information for Warlords II Deluxe, links to lots of Warlords II information on the web. Warlords II Player's home page: http://www.heeter.net/w2home.html Bob Heeter took over Eugene Lee's Warlords page, but it is now far more extensive than Eugene's page was. Bob has put lots of interesting information up. It is a site