AWBW Guide

"... and that's how it's done."

This page is intended as a guide for newer players.
If there is anything you are still unsure about or feel could be improved, feel free to leave a comment!

This article aims to be a comprehensive guide for the Advance Wars By Web website to help new users to get a game and start playing quickly. If you have just joined up, welcome! Those who are completely new to playing Advance Wars should see Advance Wars Overview first for a run-down of the game's basic mechanics. If you are already familiar with the series and are just checking out the site for the first time, the steps to go through to start playing are not too difficult or unintuitive, but it still may be helpful to read this guide and have a look at what can be done.

Regardless of your past experience, playing AW against humans is naturally much harder than playing against the computer AI. Don't lose hope if you are struggling to win games, everyone has to start somewhere! Refer to the Basic Strategy Guide or Advanced Unit Tactics for some good tips and things to consider for actually competing, and do not be afraid to ask for advice from more experienced players or your opponents either.

Links and actions (clickables) in the AWBW site are shown in bold below, note they generally show as green-type on the main website.

Classic Games[]

Before a user is able to play Advance Wars by Web, a player must first get into a game.

The original and recommended way for a new player to get involved in PvP Advance Wars By Web is via correspondence games which will typically play out over the course of many days or even weeks, which can be done either by creating or joining a game lobby. This would also be the way to play games involving more than two players. This section will cover the creation and joining of traditional (casual) public and private games - for a faster way to start playing, the Live Queue feature can be used for an on-demand game which will be much shorter in duration, usually of an hour or less. See #Live Games for this method.

Global League and Tournaments are handled separately - see their pages for information on joining more serious matches.

Joining a Game[]

Joining a game is the easiest and fastest way to jump in; you are able to browse the selection of available games using the options at the top of the page. There you will find hosted games (which are created by other players, often with specific maps and rules in mind) and Z Games, which are empty 1v1 games that are automatically generated every few hours using randomly selected maps and settings, and are free for anyone to join and play.

Upon finding a game to your liking, clicking Join Public Game on the list will take you to the Join Game page. After selecting your preferred Country and CO you will be put in the game, starting when the host elects to (if it is a hosted game) or whenever you and your opponent are both Ready (for Z games).

Joining a private game cannot be done through the browser like this - for private games, you will instead be given a join link by the host which will take you to the game entry screen. The process for joining private games is otherwise identical except that you will be prompted for the password set by the host to be allowed access.

Creating a Game[]

Creating your own game allows you to play a game to your own tastes with any map or settings you desire. To start creating one, click the 'Create Game' link under the Games tab on the top bar of the website.

You will first be asked to select a map for the game to take place on, shown on the right. You can pick from one of your own maps, or any map from the archive of AWBW, sorted by map category (see Map Categories for an explanation of each category). Alternatively, you can skip this step by creating a game directly from a map's page by clicking Create Game option in the toolbar.

Once that is done, you will be taken to the game creation screen. Outlined below are explanations for the various options.

ScreenCreateGame — The Create Game screen.

Game Name: The name of the game, for identification purposes. The set name must not be in use by another game. If it is, your game will return an error, and your game will not be created.
Game Password (Optional): If left blank, your game will be publicly open for any user to join freely. If a password is set, other users will need to know the password to be able to join the game and it will not appear in the list of publicly displayed games.
Comment: Any notes or comments about the game that will be displayed in the game browser. This can be used to inform prospective players of the intention behind the game, if it is not clear from settings or map alone. This comment will disappear on game start.
Map: By default, this field will show the map you selected previously in the map browser and the properties that exist on the map; clicking it will bring you back there to allow you to change it.
All Settings: This will show any default or recommended settings available for the game in question. Particularly for maps in use in the Global League, using this can be an easy way to generate balanced competitive settings for the map.
Team: Only visible if the map supports more than two players. If checked, Teams will be enabled to be set freely by the game host. Armies on the same team cannot attack each other, and will all be declared the winner should one (or more) players meet any victory conditions. If left unchecked, the game will be considered a Free-For-All, with the last person standing the winner.
Tags: If checked, all armies in the game will use two COs instead of one. The currently leading CO's stats will be used in battle until swapped out for the other CO. Your CO selection in Field 6 will be your leading CO on game start.
Weather: Selecting "Clear" "Rain" or "Snow" will permanently force the game to have the selected weather effect in play. Selecting "Random" will have each player's turn have a randomly selected weather, with the rate of weather being 85% clear, 10% rain, and 5% snow.
Fog: If enabled, Fog of War will be in effect through the whole battle. If disabled, the entire map will be revealed to all players at all times.
CO Powers: If on, COs will have their unique day-to-day abilities and (Super) CO Powers available. If off, all COs will be the exact same statistically and the CO choice will be for aesthetics only.
Funds Per Turn: The amount of funds each property on the map gives players, per turn. Labs and Comm Towers will always provide 0 funds per turn.
Starting Funds: The amount of funds each player begins the game with.

Capture Limit: If set to a value, the first person to hold the amount of properties set in the value will be declared the winner. Labs and Comm Towers do not count towards the limit.
Days Limit: If set to a value, the amount of in-game days before the game is over. If there is no clear winner by the time limit, the player holding the most properties at the time limit will be declared the winner.
Units Limit: If set to a value, the maximum unit count of an army will be limited to that value. Any attempts to build or generate units beyond this cap will be prevented.

Initial Time: The starting amount of time on the timer, which denotes the time players have left to complete the game - see #Game Timer below.
Increment: The amount of time added to each player's timer at the start of each turn.
Max Turn Time: The amount of real-time days players have to complete their turn before AET (Automatic End Turn).

CO Bans: Any COs checked in this field will be banned from play, unable to be selected by any player.
Unit Bans: Any units checked in this field will be banned from play, unable to be built by any player. If a unit is banned but also Pre-Deployed on the map, it will still be able to be used as normal, but no more may be built.
Lab Units: Any units checked in this field will require ownership of a Lab on the map in order to be built. If a map has no Lab, any Lab Units selected will be effectively banned from the game.

When finished, clicking Create Game will finalize most changes, and, if no password is set, post the game in Public Games.

Pre-Game Lobby[]

Upon creating or joining a game, the game will be listed under "Games Waiting to Start". Here you can overview some further options before the game starts.

Clicking your CO portrait will allow you to change COs before the game starts; banned COs will be greyed out. This is not visible to other players in the lobby, so counterpicking COs is not possible.
Clicking your country icon will allow you to change your selected country. This will NOT change your position on the map as this is determined by the default armies on a map; it will only change your colour and visual appearance, and whether your units face right or left. This will be visible to other players' in the lobby, and you cannot change to a country that has already been selected.
The GO / Ready button indicates to the lobby that you are ready to begin. Once all players have clicked ready, the game will automatically begin.
X / Drop Out button will remove you from the game if you do not wish to play.
Switch Position on Map will change your place in the move order - for example, changing to Blue Moon from Orange Star will set you as Player 2.

If you are also the host of the lobby, you will have access to some further options:

Remove Player will kick other players from the game, if you do not wish for them to play.
Invite Players will bring you to a screen to invite any players on your Friends list or use an invite URL to send to anyone you wish. If all player slots are already filled, this will instead say Start Game which will start the game immediately, even if not all players have chosen to Ready. A game cannot be started with less players than the map supports.
Delete Game will prompt you if you wish to delete the game. If confirmed, the game will be instantly deleted without starting.
Make Public / Make Private will remove the password from the game and allow it to be visible in the public games list or allow you to set a password to remove it from the list, respectively.

Live Games[]

In addition to correspondence games, AWBW also offers a Live Queue function that works similarly to the random matchmaking systems of other genres and may be more familiar to those coming to Advance Wars from real-time strategy games. Live games function on a greatly reduced timer compared to standard matches - games will generally take an hour or less to complete and can be done within a single sitting. By default, games are considered rated as part of the Live League (see Global League), but there is an opt-in selection to play unrated games for a more relaxed experience. Matchmaking will still use the same MMR to decide appropriate opponents in either case, but the outcome of unrated games will not affect this rating.

The process for joining a live game is much simpler as the game setup is handled by the matchmaker itself - one or more game modes are available to select that you wish to play on, and the queue can be joined using the confirmation button. Once this is done, the system will place you in the queue and look for a suitable opponent to match against you - an on-site window will appear showing the status of the matchmaker. If you change your mind during this period, you may leave the queue at any time without penalties. Once an opponent is found, you will be prompted to confirm if the match can proceed - this is the last opportunity to leave the queue if you do not wish to play, as accepting will lock you into a game once it has been generated. Failure to pick an option in time will result in cancellation of the game and a 5-minute timeout being placed on your account for new games, to prevent excessive numbers of AFK players.

Once accepted, you will be taken to a new window which will display the game settings and the map to be played where you will have a small amount of preparation time to change your selection of CO and country to suit your preferences. Maps are chosen randomly from a curated list of "Live Play" maps designed to produce fast and dynamic games while still being intuitive to play on. Once at this screen, the game will begin either when the prep timer expires or when both players have signalled they are ready to play - a link will be given that will take you to the newly generated match where gameplay proceeds as normal.

Interface[]

Viewing your active game will take you to a page that displays the game map in the center, timer and creation information at the top, the game bar above the map and the player overview to the side of the map (or below it, if the map is too large to display all at once).

You may not view more than one active game at a time on the same account; if you connect to a separate game with a previous one open, the previous one will be stopped and will not update. You also may not view an in-progress Fog of War game in which you are not an active participant, to prevent cheating.

Game Bar[]

In the game options above the main playing area of a page, you'll see several options: Zoom In/Out, the Game Menu, Pause Timer, Messages, Damage Calculator, Move Planner, Replay, Toggle Follow, Tag CO (only if tag powers are on) and End Turn. In the Game Menu, you will see Resign, Set Draw, Info, View and Stats.

Coordinates for the tile currently highlighted under the player's cursor is shown first, starting from the top-left tile at (00,00) and counting left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
Zoom In/Out increases or decreases the size of the game window during play, which can be very helpful for users with particularly large or small screens.
The Menu has a handful of further options:
- Resign will cause you to forfeit the game, and is often used in the case where a game is clearly lost and a comeback is impossible but would take many more turns to fully resolve. You will be prompted for your password before you do this. Note that you cannot resign unless it is your turn.
- Set Draw is the setting to offer a draw to your opponent. If your opponent accepts the draw by clicking on their own Set Draw button, the game will end without a victor. You can choose to unset any draw after offering one by clicking the "Unset Draw" button (only appears if you have already set a draw).
- Info displays the current game settings such as funding and unit restrictions.
- View covers visual-only options such as the sprite set used for the game. Setting a map theme here other than 'Default' will override the stock map theme used on all maps you view. This can also be changed in your Settings.
- Stats covers statistics such as units built and destroyed for the game being played.
- Vision allows players to share vision with external observers during Fog of War games, which will normally restrict vision to participants only. This can be done for spectating or coaching purposes.
Pause Timer will put forward a pause request to your opponent(s). If all opponents click their own Pause Timer setting, the turn timer will be paused for all players and will not decrement, though actions can still be taken. This is generally not used in most games but can be important during some live games to allow players a break or to resolve problems without running down their clock unnecessarily.
Messages displays the messages exchanged between players during a game.
Damage Calculator will open a pop-up window where damage outputs can be calculated. This can be very important for planning out your turns.
Move Planner will open a new tab where you can plan out potential moves more precisely.
The Replay function can be used to replay and view previous turns, which can be very important during Fog of War matches where units may leave vision but you may not be around to view the action happening in real-time.
+ Toggle Follow will add the game to your list of followed games. You can use this to keep track of games you have an interest in seeing development for, such as a high-ranking League game or a major tournament matchup. This will also show how many players are currently following your game and how many viewers are currently spectating, including any of the players themselves.
Select Next Unit will suggest the next available unit you have that has not yet taken an action - clicking it will select the unit for you. If no units are available, it will pick your next available base. If no units or bases are available, the section will disappear.
Tag CO and End Turn are similar in that both of them will end your turn and pass to your opponent. Tag CO is only available in Tag games, which in addition to ending your turn will also switch over to your tag CO.

Game Timer[]

AWBW utilises a timer system to ensure reasonable playing times and prevent perpetual games due to inactivity.

The timer of the player whose turn is currently active is displayed below the title of the game and has two active timers that both update in real-time; the turn timer and global timer. Other players' timers can instead be viewed in their player overview box, which only displays their global timer. Timers will only tick down when it is the players' turn and are independent of each other - players may be penalised for running down either one regardless of the status of the other.

The turn timer is the amount of days players have to complete any individual turn. This duration is set during game creation - by default, this number is 1 week, meaning a player may take up to a maximum of 1 week to finish their turn. If players fail to do so within the allotted time, their turn will be automatically ended. If the turn timer expires two days in a row, they will instead automatically resign the game. This time can be paused upon agreement with all players using the Pause Timer function described above.
The global timer is the amount of time players have to complete the game in aggregate. Upon game creation, a certain initial amount of time is allotted to players depending upon the settings of the game - by default, this value is 1 week. In addition, at the start of each player's turn, an additional amount of time may be added to the global timer, also known as the increment - by default this is 1 day per turn, but it may optionally be set to 0. This means that a player will effectively start the game with their initial time plus one turn of increment time added, if it is added. If the global timer runs out, players are given a one-time 1-minute grace period within which they may end their turn - if this additional time runs out or the timer expires on a later turn, they will automatically resign the game.

The default settings for the timer are generally enough to ensure ample time for players to complete their games, even with a relatively inactive schedule. Nevertheless, it is important to be wary of your game timer and especially Max Turn Time if you cannot be online regularly. If you know you will be inactive and unable to play for a while, you can enable Vacation mode in your profile settings to temporarily stop your turn timer for all games for up to 2 weeks or until you begin taking actions again. Vacation mode cannot be enabled for 1 week after it has been activated the first time.

During Your Turns[]

Building Units[]

To build a unit, you have to click on a production facility (Bases, Airports and Ports, and also Cities if you are Hachi with SCOP active), and select the unit you want to build. Units you can build will be unformatted. Units you cannot afford will be in black and crossed out, greyed out units are units that you can only build if you own a Lab, and units that have been banned will not appear at all.

The funds required to build the unit will be deducted from your "Funds" shown next to your CO portrait.

Controlling Units[]

Movearrow — A Tank moving to attack an Infantry.

Games are played in AWBW purely through mouse commands - no downloads or scripts are required to use the site. Clicking a unit will activate commands for that unit, and the game will highlight all the valid tiles the unit can move to. To move a unit, simply click on the tile you would like it to move to, or if you need it to stay in place, click on the unit twice. If you need to cancel your order, click outside the valid area or the menu.

Moving to a tile requires a path the unit must travel along, shown as a red arrow. If it is not otherwise specified, the game will generate one automatically for you. You can specify a path manually (generally useful only in Fog of War or for fuel conservation) by dragging the cursor along the route you would like it to take, provided the unit has enough movement to make it and it is not blocked by terrain or enemy units. For mobile devices, you can click and drag to achieve the same effect.

Once you have picked a tile with a unit whether it is within movement range or staying still, you can click on the tile to get the usual list of actions you can take from this location. The majority are identical to their AW implementation and are described in the Advance Wars Overview, but certain actions may have small differences:

Fire has a shortcut command; double-clicking a valid attack target within range with a unit selected will initiate a fire command without the need for the menu.
- A pop-up tooltip will also appear over the unit when hovered over that will tell you the range of expected damage you will do, based on the damage dealt in the attack plus the luck factor of your active CO. Note that this will not accurately reflect damage if Sonja's SCOP Counter Break is active - you should use the Damage Calculator to calculate damage as if her units were the ones initiating the attack to calculate this correctly.
The Unload command will not end the turn of the transport unit itself, only the boarded unit (see Changes in AWBW).
Delete will bring up a prompt to confirm deletion before proceeding as there is rarely if ever a reason to delete your own units.

CO Powers[]

Main article: CO

COs (with the exception of Von Bolt) have a 2-part CO bar, a shorter one with small boxes that informs the CO Power, and the longer one with large boxes comprising the Super CO Power. These will fill up as your units deal and take combat damage, with every 9000 funds worth of damage taken comprising one segment and damage dealt worth half of that. Once you have dealt or taken enough damage to fill your CO meter to the proper level, the bar will begin to shake and a button will appear that allows you to activate your COP and SCOP.

If you can use your COP, a box with a gold star appears next to the power meter which can be clicked at any time during your turn to activate it. If you can use your SCOP, a box with 3 stars appears which is activated in the same way. A CO with the CO power or Super CO Power activated will have their power bar temporarily replaced for its duration, and their overview is outlined by a red or blue box, respectively.

During Enemy Turns[]

After you have completed all your actions and passed the turn to your opponent, be patient! Conventional AWBW is built around a similar concept to 'mail chess' where players may take five minutes, an hour, a day or even longer to finish their turn. Especially if your opponent is in a very different time zone, it is not unusual for turns to take at least a day each to play out. Luckily however, unlike in the original games, you are not limited to playing only one match at a time; in AWBW, the norm is to play many long-term games simultaneously. Taking your turn on one game can take several minutes or more depending on how complex the game is and how much you like to think! So even if you only have an hour of free time available every couple of days to spend on the game, you could reasonably join and be able to play 5 or 6 games at once. When it is your turn for a game, you will be given a notification in the website interface and it will appear in the list of games on the Your Turn page.

During live games, the approach is quite different as your opponent will be online with you and you will both play out your turns in near real-time - in these games, using the downtime during your opponent's turn to strategise and plan your next moves can be very valuable. You could still participate in other games during this downtime as well, but just be sure you do not miss out on too much time if your turn arrives while you are gone!

Offline Notifications[]

AWBW also includes email and Discord integration to allow a notification to be sent to you via these methods whenever it is your turn, even if you are not currently on the website. You may do so in your Settings page.

The email used is the one associated with your AWBW account, or the one you signed up with.

Discord notifications will require joining the AWBW Discord server and are sent via a @mention courtesy of Nell Bot in the dedicated #site_notifications channel, along with a link to the game/lobby in question. Integration requires your unique Discord ID - note that this is not the same as your username, but a unique 18-digit number that is normally not visible to you. You can find it by querying a bot with the associated !userid command in the server or using Discord's integrated development tools.

Map Making[]

Main article: Design Maps

You may also wish to use the Design Maps feature. To create playable maps, at least some playing experience is very useful, but there are many elements to mapping that are not immediately obvious from just play alone.

Designing competitive maps and especially League-quality maps is not so easy. They need to be balanced, stable, and not too easily drawn/stalemated, with appropriate consideration given to FTA. Expect comments after you publish your maps! Take the criticism in good humor if you can, say you are new and ask for constructive advice in the comments below your new map. If you are making some kind of weird or specialty map, it's a good idea to say so in a comment below your map before publishing, simply click on the map title while in "map edit" or in the Your Maps page.

To get advice on making better maps, see the relevant AWBW guides sections and discuss with other users in comments, on the forum and the Discord server. Map Committee members in particular are recognized as reliable and friendly sources of good advice regarding map design.