The basics of Online play

Ok So you have all played Battlegrounds obviously, maybe downloaded a couple of scenarios, installed a few mods..
But what's left? Well... Multiplay! Playing against other people. There's nothing more funner than duking it out against
Real People. It offers a lot of variety, each game is different.... So where do you go to meet other players?
Zone.com! You can go here if you launch Galactic Battlegrounds and click go to Zone.com.

There are basically 3 main types of games played on zone.com. These being
Random Map (RM)
Death Match (DM)
Scenarios

I've tried all these and i honestly find RM the most fun, but whatever you play is upto you. I'll do a small outline for each of these
games..

Random Map

RM is played on a randomly generated map, with others players of course. Nearly all of the time, Random Map will consist of the
following settings
Game Type= Random Map
Location= Random Land Map (This is nearly always played, in Random Land Map(RLM) one of
several maps are randomly selected. Even though each map is different, it's still easy for a player to get used to the typical
resources and build orders on a map. Random Land Map is played to offer variety to the game.
Map size= Corresponding to the amount of players in the game. Ushually its either 2 player, 4 player 6 player or 8 player,
as 2 different teams are the most typical settings in RM, so there's nearly always an even amount of players in a game.
Difficulty= Varies. Depends on the player. Some say it affects the amount of wild animals on a map so it's ushually easy.
Resources= Standard (Some players, particulary new players tend to set resources as high. However this isnt how LucasArts
intended resources be, and the game is modelled so that a game is properly balanced on standard resources). High and Medium
Resources is a big nono in RM..)
Pop= 250. Always
Reveal Map= Standard. Yet another path newbies tend to go down is setting it to explored which is a big no..
Initial Tech level: Standard.
Victory= Conquest. I dont know exactly why it's conquest but i image it would be easy for a player to go tech 4 quick and make
a monument from tributes given to them by allies which is probably one of the reasons conquest is played.

Team together= Yes
Lock Teams= Yes. To prevent players from changing teams
All Techs= No. If people played with all techs then there would be no point in choosing a civ
Record Game= Depends. Some say it lags up a game, others record their games and watch them to improve. If your striving
to get better then you should probably record each game, watch it and see where you went wrong. Also watch other players and
see how they do...

RM games are ushually classified into 3 main categories:
Rook/Newb: For people who don't really have an idea how to play much or good
Low Inter/Inter/High Inter: This is the next level up from Newbies and Rooks and often a good level for people who are beating
the rookies and newbies by ease and have developed strategies.
Expert/Very Good: For the guys who really feel confident in their game.

Often High Inters will play with experts and vice versa. However Inters and Experts often dont like rookies in their games, and for
a good reason too. If a team has a rookie, then it is at a big disadvantage because often newbie on team= minus 1 player.
Newer players can often make the assumption that they are not crap, therefore they ushually jump into the first inter/expert game
that pops up. They also ushually discover they are wrong...

I recommend if you play RM or are going to start, to play/host Rookie games first, until you have an established idea of gameplay.
Newbies often havent even played the game tutorials, Rookies have but dont really have their game good, Inters have an established
Ideas and ushually can do decent and crippling rushes and High Inters/Experts can rush and boom good (see the guides to rushing
and booming).

Death Match

Now, i dont play Death Match much really, in fact i probably haven't played more than 30 games, but i still have quite a good idea
at how they work... Death Matches are basically the opposite for RM. High resources, post tech 4, explored (not revealed)
you get the picture. It has less emphasis on resources on RM and a higher emphasis on Military. But dont kid yourself, resources
do run out in death match and you'll eventually have to throw quite a few workers on the farms..

Scenarios
Scenarios are probably the most played games on zone.com, for various reasons, which dosen't mean they are nececerily the most
fun, but in general, a lot easier than RM and DM and a lot less skill required. I've played quite a few scenarios in my time, so
i'll try to outline the main ones...

Fort/Fortress Blood - You have your own base, and several forts. Basically you make your civilisations unique unit and
bounty hunters and try to ... well get as many kills as you can. You gain upgrades and extra stuff as you kill more of your
enemies units.

Hero Fest- You start off with a few units on a small island, you move the unit you want into the middle and its created at your main
base (it stops when you have maybe 40 units or so). As you get more kills you start to access more better heroes and units.
You have a fortress in your base and when it is destroyed you loose.

Frontline- A favorite scenario of mine, you start off with a few workers ushually in the center with the other players, and you
have unlimited resources.... you keep getting free resources so you basically have unlimited. This is quite a game, it really is a
frontline. One game i had with fellow clanmates took a few hours, each players base was a few meters away from each other and
had huge lines of turrets and fortresses dotted everywhere.

World Blood- A map imitating the world, resources map reveal and techs vary by host...

Jedi Fest

Bounty Fest

Air Fest

Mech Fest

These are basically Games where you make specific types of units and recieve upgrades as you kill...

Arena Battle, where you have to defend your Imperial Guards in the middle of the map and inside a wall fortification , so your troops will keep spawning. If you are the defender, you will win if you can defend yourself for 1 hour. If you are the attacker you will win if your enemies' Royal Guards have been killed and all enemy troops has been crushed.

RPG(Save Naboo/Galaxy, Lord of the Rings,Dragon Ball, etc) , where you control a super unit and you must kill your enemies (they outnumber you )to get more attack and HP, and your name will also change. For example, if you reach certain kills, your name will change from status A to status B (e.g: Padawan Mace to Knight Mace).

Scenarios vary, new ones come out and fade away all the time, but these are perhaps the main ones. Past include things like senate
which required a lot of player co-operation, and it seems City-Build is a new form of senate when you, well build a city is played
a lot by the senate guys.

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Clans
Clans are generally a group of players, with a tag in front of their name. For example _SF_Skythe_ and _SF_Donks__ would be
in the same clan. Clans differ, but each clan generally has a website and some have requirements for joining. For example my
clan ushually only accepts very high skilled RM players, and only those who we are friendly with. It's upto you if you join a
clan, some players despise them, others cant be without them.

Member Pluses
Basically the Cherubs/Moderators of the zone, these guys keep all the naughty spammers (guys who consistently advertise their
game) in order.

Tournaments
Tournaments are often held on the zone, and are ushually RM tournaments. Ushually the winner gets to choose a $50~ microsoft
product which they will recieve...

Alternatives to the Zone
If msn game zone isnt your cup of tea, for some reason or another there are a few alternatives.

Gamespy Arcade: A Program,similar to the zone, but unfortunly riddled with annoying adds that disrupt you while looking
for games. Gamespy.com should have a link for you to download this.

IP IPing into a game may seem like a complicated process at first, but you get used to it. To host an IP game go into
Battlegrounds > Click Multiplayer > Internet TCP/IP connection for direct play then click Host. Then you need people to join,
so you double click Internet TCP/IP connection for direct play then put in the IP address of the host. The host can get the IP
by clicking IP when hes in the game, then he just has to write it down and copy it and tell the person who wants to join.

MSN messenger Another method you could use is msn messenger. When your in a conversation with someone who has
Battlegrounds, click Start playing star wars galactic battlegrounds, clone campaignes or whatever. Its that easy. However you
can only do this with one person, so if you want others they'll have to IP in.

Zone is definly the biggest online community, however you can always get together with friends and use those alternatives.
There are probably more out there, but zone is definly the most signifigant..

Zone Terminology/Slang
Before i leave you ill leave ya with a list of the basic abbreviations etc used on msn game zone.

RM = Random Map
DM = Death match
Scen = Scenario
RLM = Random Land Map
googogo= boot me
gg= Good game
gl= Good Luck
hf = Have Fun
brb= Be right back
lol= laughing out loud
WOW= Week of war. A type of ladder rating which is played by some. One WOW each month.
SWGB=Star wars galactic Battlegrounds
CC=Clone campaigns
btz= Back to zone
(dude in RM game) HIGH RESOURCES= boot me
(dude in RM game) MAP REVEALED= boot me
(dude in RM game) WHATS RM= boot me
(dude in RM game) ALL TECHS/POST TECH 4= boot me

Hope this guide helps, and if you havent tried played multiplayer, i suggest you try it, its great fun!
Oh and by the way not many people play on the zone without the expansion pack, so for full funness you might want to have the
expansion....

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Find me on MSN Game Zone as _Skythe_ or _SF_Skythe_ typically...
Waiting on the next SW RTS!!!
Only a few more years to go..

[This message has been edited by AU_Skythe (edited 07-17-2003 @ 07:10 AM).]