Warlords II frequently asked questions list:
0) What is it?
1) Where do I get scenarios?
2) Do I need the Scenario Builder to use them?
3) Where do I get patches?
4) How can I edit random maps?
5) Why do all the enemy warlords ALWAYS declare war on me?


0) 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).

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.

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.

1) Where can I download scenarios from?

lupan.byu.edu: /site/ibmstuff/Games/Warlords_II

*Note*: this site has undergone substantial reorganization
in recent months, and /Warlords_II has a number of subdirectories.
There are some newer scenarios as well.

(Of course, the quickest way to get lots of nice scenarios is to buy
the scenario builder, since it comes with about two dozen.)

If you have WWW access, try http://www.princeton.edu/~rfheeter/w2home.html
Bob Heeter has taken over Eugene Lee's Warlords page. Eugene's page
is still there for now: http://192.188.107.10/~elee/index.shtml

wuarchive.wustl.edu used to have lots of stuff, but it all got cleaned off.
Even the directory was gone until I put it back. It has only a couple of
scenarios in pub/msdos_uploads/games/warlords_II: cartoon and pelicar
(which is really 3 scenarios in 1 zip file).
* wuarchive now also has the showarmy utility.


2) Do I need the Scenario Builder to use them?

No. All you need is the 1.11 patch. If you have the Scenario Builder,
you don't need the patch. You may also need the 1.02 patch if your
version number is lower than that.


3) Where do I get patches?

The site mentioned in question 1 (lupan) has them.

If someone has the patches, could they upload them back to wuarchive?


4) How can I edit random maps?

a) Without a utility:
Let's say I want to create a random scenario called "Sample":
(Any other name would do - but no more than *7* characters)

i) Run WARSCEN. STAMP (say). Sample. .
(Any other scenario should do instead of STAMP.)

ii) Run WARLORD2. Choose , and select desired options -
even a different terrain set. You can exit as soon as you get to
choose who is Human etc, but you will probably want to look at
the map first. Go ahead and look. If you don't like it - generate
another one. It doesn't matter whether you leave everyone as Human
or not at this stage. . You don't need to save the game.

iii) At the DOS prompt:
From the Warlord2 subdirectory type:
COPY .\RANDOM\RANDOM.* .\SAMPLE\SAMPLE.*

(I'm sure you can figure out the corresponding commands from other
directories.)

iv) Run WARSCEN. The "Sample" scenario now appears. it. It is now
the random map. When you save, the information on the number of cities
and ruins should be updated. Note that a different terrain set may look
a bit odd when you first load it - just move around a bit and it should
look OK. Change what you like, and remember to save often.

That's it! One edited random scenario. Take care - it is possible to
cause problems, but you can always reinstall in the worst case.


b) Quick method:

Get hold of the W2ORDER utility (version 1.2 or higher -
Version 1.3 is available at lupan and wuarchive).

Use, for example,

w2order /r /o Sample

to make a copy of the random scenario called Sample, with the extra
benefit that the army fight order is the same as the order of the
armies in the "Edit Armies" display, rather than the slightly jumbled
order you can get from a random scenario.

5) Why do all the enemy warlords ALWAYS declare war on me?

You are doing one of two things:

i) using "I am the greatest" to make them all warlords. This automatically
makes everyone declare war after a few turns (it never hurts to
read the manual). If you want to make them all warlords _without_
declaring "I am the greatest", but are lazy, click "I am the greatest"
twice.

ii) being nasty, like attacking everyone, especially sides you're at
peace with; razing cities; or similar nastiness - you know if you're doing
this because you'll be down at "running dog" on the diplomacy rating.