Winbolo FAQ

I'm thinking of submitting to LRL or another op (or creating on my own) a page outlining basic rules, guidelines, strategies etc... for newer Winbolo players. Below is what I have so far. I would welcome comments, additions and modifications from the community:

I joined a game and started playing, but people yelled at me. Why?

In open games (games where you have trees and ammo when you die or join) the teams are fluid and anyone can join teams, leave when they want, and so on. However, in strict games (games where you have to fuel and forest each time you die) people join, lock the game (ideally) to prevent more from joining, and make teams before starting.

Why do some maps have passwords? Where do I get passwords or spawn maps?

People create passwords to prevent new players from joining randomly. The Winbolo chat channel on IRC allows players to connect outside of the game itself. Here players can talk about the game, spawn maps of their choice (strict or open) on available gamebots, and find out passwords which are changed frequently. You can download the MIrc client program or access it view the web: http://www.winbolo.us:78/cgi-bin/irc.cgi

What is basic game etiquette for 'open' games?

Generally, open games have fewer rules and are more flexible. That being said, many players like to make more fair teams rather than gang up (or: mass ally) on a small team. If one team has lots of pills, most people would agree that they don't need as many allies. Joining and requesting everyone can ruins games by upsetting existing teams structures.

What is basic game etiquette for 'strict' games?

Besides the rules of the game, strict games have etiquette that varies from player to player. Many (or most) currently active players agree that the following activities should be limited or not done at all: deforesting (actively destroying enemy-quad trees) and carpet mining (laying down a lot of mines not just to kill a particular individual player). If someone calls 'hold' it means 'stop playing' - usually this is done if there is a game error or if a player drops out accidentally.

What are good basic tips for playing 'open' games?

If you aren't sure what to do: stay out of the way of your allies, fix pillboxes, pave and snipe enemy LGMs (Little Green Men). If you want to 'suicide' (run and shoot at until you die) a pillbox, make sure you aren't getting in the way of allies or killing their LGMs. Also, if you receive an alliance request, ask your teammates before accepting it - they may want to keep the team smaller, or that person might be requesting multiple people.

What are good basic tips for playing 'strict' games?

Similar advice to open games applies. Try to stay alive even more, though, than you might otherwise - it takes time to get back to a base and refuel, and dying means you lose any trees or ammo you had. Also, use your 'pillbox view' to keep track of what is happening elsewhere on the map - so you can see if your allies need help, or if there are pillboxes outside of your scrollable view window that require fixing.


Well, that's all I have so far. Let me know what you think.

-= Dersux

I love bold tags.

I joined a game and started playing, but people yelled at me. Why?

In open games (games where you have trees and ammo when you die or join) the teams are fluid and anyone can join teams, leave when they want, and so on. However, in strict games (games where you have to fuel and forest each time you die) people join, lock the game (ideally) to prevent more from joining, and make teams before starting.

Why do some maps have passwords? Where do I get passwords or spawn maps?

People create passwords to prevent new players from joining randomly. The Winbolo chat channel on IRC allows players to connect outside of the game itself. Here players can talk about the game, spawn maps of their choice (strict or open) on available gamebots, and find out passwords which are changed frequently. You can download the MIrc client program or access it view the web: http://www.winbolo.us:78/cgi-bin/irc.cgi

What is basic game etiquette for 'open' games?

Generally, open games have fewer rules and are more flexible. That being said, many players like to make more fair teams rather than gang up (or: mass ally) on a small team. If one team has lots of pills, most people would agree that they don't need as many allies. Joining and requesting everyone can ruins games by upsetting existing teams structures.

What is basic game etiquette for 'strict' games?

Besides the rules of the game, strict games have etiquette that varies from player to player. Many (or most) currently active players agree that the following activities should be limited or not done at all: deforesting (actively destroying enemy-quad trees) and carpet mining (laying down a lot of mines not just to kill a particular individual player). If someone calls 'hold' it means 'stop playing' - usually this is done if there is a game error or if a player drops out accidentally.

What are good basic tips for playing 'open' games?

If you aren't sure what to do: stay out of the way of your allies, fix pillboxes, pave and snipe enemy LGMs (Little Green Men). If you want to 'suicide' (run and shoot at until you die) a pillbox, make sure you aren't getting in the way of allies or killing their LGMs. Also, if you receive an alliance request, ask your teammates before accepting it - they may want to keep the team smaller, or that person might be requesting multiple people.

[/b]What are good basic tips for playing 'strict' games?[/b]

Similar advice to open games applies. Try to stay alive even more, though, than you might otherwise - it takes time to get back to a base and refuel, and dying means you lose any trees or ammo you had. Also, use your 'pillbox view' to keep track of what is happening elsewhere on the map - so you can see if your allies need help, or if there are pillboxes outside of your scrollable view window that require fixing.

There we go, looks a lot better now. Maybe break up the paragraphs in sections otherwise it will be tl;dr shit

To all new winbolo players: Never listen to derami, i didn't even bother reading this post, look at all the other posts he makes and how much people dispise him. go ask someone in irc if u have any questions.

Knuckles wrote:

To all new winbolo players: Never listen to derami, i didn't even bother reading this post, look at all the other posts he makes and how much people dispise him. go ask someone in irc if u have any questions.

exactly, tl;dr

its almost like you forget there are already faq's written years ago that cover all this crap.

http://www.lgm.com/bolo/guides/longfaq.html

And lrl/op's arn't exactly the people you should be asking if you want to get a faq up, elvis is. Since the best place for it to be is on winbolo.net.

Min

Knuckles, if you're not going to bother reading my post, then why bother responding to it? Go play with your shopping cart ...

As for that, Min: thanks, yes, Elvis sounds like the person to go to. Also, thanks for pointing out that there is another FAQ version. I had a few concerns about existing guides/FAQ tho, hence my version:

1) It is long, and clearly most new players don't read it - though I agree, it's a great resource, and I think a link at the bottom of a shorter FAQ (like the one I'm proposing) would be good for peeps who want more info.

2) A nice and easy (short URL and quick read, not comprehensive) version would, I think, be helpful. There are a lot of times when I am trying to explain the *very* basics to someone in-game and the newswire just isn't an effective way to do that, or an easy way to link someone to IRC or FAQ URLs.

So, with those (hopefully) clarified, I'm still open to advice (thanks, the bold was a good idea, FF). Just ask yourself: what do you typically get frustrated with new players about? Is it covered in what I have so far? I'm trying not to cover things that aren't typical and big problems that cause tension between noobs and vets.

-= Der

I think it would make a good contribution.

derami wrote:

2) A nice and easy (short URL and quick read, not comprehensive) version would, I think, be helpful. There are a lot of times when I am trying to explain the *very* basics to someone in-game and the newswire just isn't an effective way to do that, or an easy way to link someone to IRC or FAQ URLs.

strange, the bolo folks thought of that one too. I welcome you to read the bolo short faq, rather than the log comprehensive one I posted.

http://www.lgm.com/bolo/guides/bolofaq.html

Amazing. Newbies who joined irc when I was there all the time would regularly be directed to the bolo guides section of lgm.com becuase its already got all the valuable information a new player needs to know, including samhains strategy, and many other detailed bits of information. Such as the sluggo post r.g.b archive. Winbolo can't replicate great stuff like that. To many morons.

Min

derami wrote:

I'm trying not to cover things that aren't typical and big problems that cause tension between noobs and vets.

Then remove the bs about the mining and deforesting. Since those have been and will be big problems between newbs and vets until bolo is no longer played.

Min

I believe I wrote up a WinBolo Ethics page at one point a few years ago. I've taken it (and my WinBolo-related site) down but I know I have it archived somewhere. Or just look for it on the Wayback Machine.

EDIT: Found it on the Wayback Machine. Wow my writing sucked back then. I think it first appeared online sometime in 2002.

Ferm: Thanks :)

Min: Thanks, I had seen that section actually. Still, I am going for something even shorter and more streamlined. Extra info about how to download the game, etc... doesn't apply (this is so people can send short link to newbies already in-game for a quick reference guide). I feel I'm repeating myself, but perhaps I wasn't clear: this is so that new players can get a quick overview of the major rule/etiquette issues that most often cause frustration on the part of veteran players. That being said, I'm posting this here precisely to get other ideas for what those most frequent sources of tension are, so if you think I've missed something essential that is covered on that existing page, please let me know what it is. Also, the URL for the shorter FAQ page is a bit long to easily remember from the newswire in the game. Nonetheless, I think it would be good to link *from* the page I'm proposing *to* these other FAQ sections - I am by no means suggesting that *this* FAQ page is the end-all-be-all, but rather the opposite: that it, like the others, serves a particular purpose

Min 2: About the deforesting/mining issues: sure, maybe I should rephrase that and suggest that they just ask at the start of games to be safe whether or not anyone is strongly opinionated one way or another on those, because you're right: not everyone agrees.

Sticks: Wow, that's actually a pretty great discussion of etiquette! I like how it shows both sides of the arguments, etc... With your permission (and assuming my page suggestion ever gets put up) I'd really like to link to it. More and more I'm thinking that linking to other sources for more information will be a valuable part of this FAQ page. Thanks!

-= Der

:!:
BIG DUMMY
:!:

Der, it's not really up anywhere. I would prefer to re-write most of it before placing it back online for everyone to see. You can use what's there on the WBM link but I'm going to change some stuff around in there.