The following etiquette and house rules are almost universally observed in both competitive and friendly games. They should be assumed during any PBEM game unless there has been an explicit statement before the game is started that they do not apply.
SR-1: Do not restart the same turn to gain an advantage. You may not overwrite and then reload a partially played turn in order to replay the turn, or any part of the turn.SR-2: Do not look ahead to the next player's turn. You may not load games which are identical to a successive player's turn regardless (from what directory they are or) whether that player uses a password or not.SR-3: Explain restart messages. If you generate a restart message on your turn, especially during turns with key battles, then explain the circumstances regarding the restart message to your opponents.SR-4: Do not attack on the same turn that you declare war. After declaring war against an opponent with whom you are at peace you must wait at least one turn before attacking them. (Casting spells on another players units or cities without permission constitutes an attack, as does surrounding a players unit on 4 of 6 sides or more so they would be forced to sit still rather than break this rule.) This rule does not apply if there is no initial diplomatic status between the two opponents.
Tip: Declare war at the end of turn, after moving your units. This to avoid surprise-attacks that can come through the 'new enemy' cave entrance unit or concealed units.SR-5: Do not declare war on the same turn that you break alliance. After breaking an alliance you must wait at least one turn before declaring war against your former ally.SR-6: Do not abuse the magic catalyst bug. If not used up immediatelely, the extra 50 casting points will be useful for several turns when casting large summons. The bug keeps the 70/20 value active for several turns. A spell costing 210 mana to cast, can be done in 3 turns, instead of 8, for example.SR-7: Do not abuse the Summoners Aura bug. (Pbem) This bug allows summons influenced by the summoners Aura spell to regain all their health when exiting the turn (legal, via[esc]) and reloading again. SR-8: Do not use the Resurgent Zombie cheat to gain extra experience. Resurgent Zombies award full experience points each time they are killed. You may not repeatedly retaliate against Resurgent Zombies with a Hero for the purpose of gaining extra experience points.SR-9: Do not abuse the web/pathing bug. When a unit that is affected by webs is moving through a web, do not use any techniques that allow it to move farther than it should be able to. Moving only one hex at a time through webs will normally prevent this bug from taking effect.OPTIONAL HOUSE RULES
The following etiquette and house rules are sometimes used, but should not be assumed. They are generally used in casual, non-competitive games in which the goal of the game is just to have fun.OR-1: Do not look in the editor to locate points of interest on the map. You may not load the map you are playing in the editor, and then ALT+TAB between the game and the editor in order to "explore" the map more efficiently.OR-2: Do not use the migration trick. Do not temporarily migrate your cities, for the sole purpose of gaining favourable race relations to buy campsites or cities!OR-3: Do not send flame messages using the in-game message system. If you are going to taunt your opponents using the in-game message system, then be sure that they know it is good-natured and not malicious.OR-4: Using the spell Call Hero is not allowed.(WT Only) Since some scenarios have very strong heroes placed as independent on the map, calling such a hero tips the balance far too much.(This has been fixed in SM)OR-5: Units are not allowed to stay on Wall (obstacle type) structures on the worldmap (UPatchv1.4 Only)
Applies to all players and refers only to the obstacle-type wall segments. Units that are capable (flyers, floaters) are allowed to cross, or attack from the walls but should notend their turn on top of these.
Exception: when, in a battle, the flyer on top of wall segment retreats in Fast Combat and movement points are set to zero.OR-6: Restrict the use of the Resurrection ability to your own units.
If, for any reason, an enemy unit is resurrected during TC (Tactical Combat) or FC (Fast combat) battle, such unit can be used, but should be disbanded after the battle ends.
How to configure a PBEM game
For an extensive coverage of how to configure and/or play a AOW2/SM PBEM game lease seeNojd's writeup.
Other items worthy of note:- Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express do not have inboxes that can be scanned automatically for attachments. You will need to save the turns individually to the Emailin folder.
- Autosend requires you have direct access to an SMTP server. (See the
writeup for more details.) - Autosend requires you have direct access to an SMTP server. (See the
Cay
CayMack on Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Network, and Steam. CayMack#1436 on BattleNet.
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[This message has been edited by Swolte (edited 03-31-2010 @ 00:15 AM).]