FAQ

FAQ

Questions usually asked by new players:

1.) How can I join a game?
Go to AWBW public Games List and click one of the join links.

2.) Is there an active community in awbw?
Yes, there is: AWBW Discord

3.) What is AWBW based on?
AWBW is based on advance wars 2 (mostly) and to some extent on AWDS. It has also evolved into its own game but is still similar to its original games.

4.) Can AWBW played vs a computer AI?
No, AWBW is purely player vs player

5.) How long does a game take?
A game in AWBW can take between 1 day and several months, depending on the number of players and the game settings.
Players are not required to be online at the same time. Games are usually not played in real time.

6.) How many players can play in one game?
The current upper limit for the number of players is 16 as there are 16 different countries available. But games with many players tend to have difficulties with drop-outs. Usually games of 2-6 players work well.

7.) Does AWBW feature FOG OF WAR?
There is a setting for each game, which determines whether the game is played with Fog of War on or off. The listed games available for joining will show this setting for each game.

8.) What does boot mean?
There is a boot timer in awbw. The boot timer is reduced once a day for each game. If the boot timer would become negative the current player looses the game and is booted from the game. Whenever you move a unit the boot timer is reset to the original number (which is determined by the game creator). The boot timer makes sure that games can proceed even if a player withdraws from the game.

9.) What does AET mean?
Automatic End Turn. The AET can only be reset by ending your turn manually. AET can be turned off during game creation.
The DB sets an AET date, which is based on the time from when your turn starts to that time plus the AET interval.
The display just shows the difference between now and that time.
It’s not a timer that reduces.
The script runs every day at one time.
If the AET date is lower than now, it AETs you.

If a player gets AET twice in a row in a match, they will be booted.

10.) Is AWBW bug-free?
No, AWBW is not perfect. But there is currently a lot of improvement going on. See http://awbw.amarriner.com/changelog.php
Also, there is a list of known issues.

11.) Is AWBW meant for casual or competitive play?
AWBW is often played casually. But there are options for competitive play.
The Global league introduces a ranking system. See http://awbw.amarriner.com/newleague.php
There are also some tournaments. There is usually a limited signup period for each tournament. You can check either in discord (see point 2 above) or on the tournaments page here.

http://www.takeyourturn.net/t920-bug-and-glitch-list

12.) Is AWBW a luck based game?
There is a small luck based component in the damage formula / calculation. Tactical skill is a lot more important than luck in a game of awbw.

13.) Is there a tutorial?
There is no tutorial in the strict sense. But GUIDE is very helpful for beginners. Also, you can play any of the offical games for one. You can always ask a veteran for a tutorial match (e.g. on discord)

Specialized Questions:

1.) Where can the CO tiers be seen?
Tier List
Old official-awbw-tier-list-by-hellraider

2.) What is the damage formula?
Damage_Formula

3.) Is there a formula for the rating change in league games?
The formula is similar to the ELO formula in chess.

Here's the formula for League rating change:

P = (1 / (1 + 10^(ABS(R2_old - R1_old) / 400)))

there is a comparison of the winning and losing players' ratings. If the winning player has the higher rating, Delta = P*k. If the winning player has the lower rating, Delta = (1-P)*k.

R1_new = R1_old (+/-) delta R2_new = R2_old (+/-) delta

Where:
k = 50 if user has <30 completed games, otherwise k = 30 R1_old & R2_old = current ratings for player 1 and player 2
R1_new * R2_new = new ratings for player 1 and player 2

Obviously there is logic to add or subtract the delta rating to the existing rating depending on the result of the game.

So as an explanation, basically the rating change is calculated logarithmically. If you have the same rating as your opponent, the base change is +25pts. If you are the winner, your rating boost scales proportionally with the rating of your opponent (higher-rated opponent = the more you get from beating them).

After 30 completed games, this base goes from +25pts to +15pts.

4.) Does AWBW feature TAGS as in AWDS?
There are tags in AWBW but they work a bit different than in AWDS.
a.) There is no option to use TAG power to activate both SCOPs at once
b.) There are some bugs with the CO meter (so tag games are recommended for casual play only)

5.) How does the CO charge meter work?
Taking damage charges your meter most and doing damage to an opponent charges your meter half that amount. See Charge_Meter for details.

6.) Does the CO meter charge change after firing off a COP or an SCOP?
Yes, the required amount of damage for each star (starting cost is 9000) increases by 20% of the previous cost  for each time you fire either COP or SCOP. See also here: old forum thread

7.) What is the vacation in awbw?
The vacation can be set manually by each user. It will make your games immune to the boot and aet scripts while it is active. When using vacation be aware that:
a) It automatically ends after about 2 weeks, b) It automatically ends if you come back and start taking turns, and c) it will potentially leave you with expired or even negative boot/aet timers and you will only have until the next time the boot script runs (a little after midnight Eastern US time, I think) to take your turns once vacation has ended

8.) When does the boot /aet script run? At approximately 9:11 GMT.

9.) How to destroy a pipe seam?
Damage it like a neotank without terrain and without luck. Do 99 (percentage) points of damage to open it up. It will change to plains terrain.

10.) Which COs are from which game version (AW1, AW2, AWDS)
Most COs are from AW2.
More info to be added later here.

about mixed co's; Most CO's are their AW2 version. Drake is AW1 with SCOP from AW2 (and +10/+10 from AWDS)
Drake is 100/120 naval and 80/100 air in AW1. In AW2 it's 100/110 naval and 70/100 air.
Sami was AW1 (120/110 footsoldiers) but got updated to AW2 (130/100). Luckily Drake can be his AW1 self, he already isn't chosen a lot.
Also AWDS CO's get a standard +10/+10 during (S)COP while AW1 and AW2 CO's only got +10 defense in the past. But they were changed so everyone gets +10/+10.

11.) What are the settings for the auto generated z games:
Currently (as of 2017-12) the settings are:
CO tiers are used from http://www.takeyourturn.net/t669-official-awbw-tier-list-by-hellraider
And then it makes a few adjustments for game type and map traits. But nothing too fancy.
So right now there's a 40% chance of standard settings, 30% for fog, 25% for high funds, and 5% for limited high funds.
For maps, there's a 35% chance of New, 20% Under Review, 10% S-Rank, 35% A-Rank.
For CO Bans:
Broken Tier = 10%
Tier 1 = 20%
Tier 2 = 20%
Tier 3 = 25%
Tier 4 = 10%
Tier 5 = 5%
CO powers off = 10%

+----------+------+ | CO | Tier | +----------+------+ | Colin | 0 | | Grit | 0 | | Hachi | 0 | | Kanbei | 0 | | Nell | 0 | | Sensei | 0 | | Sturm | 0 | | Hawke | 1 | | Javier | 1 | | Sasha | 1 | | Von Bolt | 1 | | Eagle | 2 | | Max | 2 | | Olaf | 2 | | Andy | 3 | | Drake | 3 | | Kindle | 3 | | Lash | 3 | | Sami | 3 | | Adder | 4 | | Grimm | 4 | | Rachel | 4 | | Flak | 5 | | Jake | 5 | | Jess | 5 | | Jugger | 5 | | Koal | 5 | | Sonja | 5 | +----------+------+

For fog, Sonja gets moved to Tier 2
Here's the High Funds moves:
Lash to T4
Sami to T4
Rachel to T3
Drake to T2
Grit to T1
No CO changes for LHF because I have no idea what the metagame is like.
And Javier moves depending on # of towers.