The “Getting Started” guide is designed to help you get connected to our Warcraft II server as quickly and easily as possible. It covers three main steps:

1. Where to download your copy of Warcraft II
2. How to add server.war2.ru to your in-game Gateways list
3. Connecting to the server & registering an account

It also goes over some basic information to help you familiarize with the game and our community. This includes:

• Common in-game terminology
• Gaming etiquette
• Server commands
• Hosting new games
• Taking screenshots
• Descriptions of commonly played maps

Joining Server.War2.ru

Downloading Warcraft II

Server.war2.ru has created a custom version of Warcraft II, known as War2Combat, which is just 13 megabytes and does not require you to enter a valid CD key. You can download a copy here (it’s completely free!) After you download War2Combat315.exe, double click the file to execute it and follow the step-by-step installation procedure. The default settings will be adequate for the majority of users. After the installation is complete, there will be a new icon on your desktop called “War2Combat” — simply double click this icon to run Warcraft II.

Adding server.war2.ru to the Gateways List

If you already have a copy of Warcraft II installed (for example, if you own the original CD) then you will need to add our server to the Battle.net Gateway list in order to play on it. There are two ways to do this:

• Download & run this .reg file to automatically add the server
• Download the Battle.net Gateway Editor Application to add the server manually

Connecting to server.war2.ru

1. Start Warcraft II
2. Left-click your mouse once to proceed past the splash screen.
3. Click on “Multi Player Game”
4. Click on “Enhanced”
5. On the left side of the screen, ensure the first option (“Battle.net”) is highlighted in white. On the right side of the screen, select “RU: War2 Server” in the dropdown menu, then click on “Connect”
6. If this is your first time logging on, you will need to click on “Register Account” and follow the prompts to create a new account for yourself. Once you’ve chosen your desired username and password, you will automatically be connected to the server.
7. If you’re using Windows 7, the first time you connect to the server you will probably receive the following prompt (you may need to alt+tab out of WC to see it) – make sure you check both boxes then click “Allow access”

That’s it!

You’re playing WC2! Good job!

Additional Info

Terminology

General Internet Slang

• gg – Good game
• glhf – Good luck, have fun
• lol – Laugh out loud, commonly used to denote mirth
• brb – Be right back
• afk – Away from keyboard
• newb, noob – A new player who has yet to learn the basics of gameplay and gaming etiquette.
• ss – Screenshot
• op – Over-powered
• dt, double – Jointly attacking a single opponent with one’s ally, considered to be an unfair or “lowly” tactic by some, or in some situations.
• bs – Backstab, when a player unallies and attacks players to whom he was originally allied.

Common Warcraft II Lingo & Shorthand

• war2, wc2 – Shorthand for “Warcraft II”, our favoritest game ever!
• bnet – Battle.net, the original online multiplayer gaming server hosting by Blizzard Entertainment.
• war2.ru, .ru – This server (server.war2.ru)
• east, west – Servers on Battle.net
• smurf – A player who uses a throwaway user name to disguise their identity.
• puds – Warcraft II maps, so called because of the .pud extension
• comps – Computer, the built-in AI opponent that can be selected in melee games.
• Classics – Official maps designed by the creators of WC2 and bundled with the original game
• Customs – Fan maps designed by players of WC2, which typically deemphasize the strategic elements of gameplay in favor of novelty and mindlessness.
• bne – Battle.net Edition maps, updated versions of original classic maps that have been revised for improved balance and overall gaming experience. Such maps are indicated by the “BNE” suffixed to the end of their name, e.g. Garden of War BNE vs. Garden of War (original)
• old – Used to indicate original versions of classic maps, rather than BNE versions (e.g. gow old = Garden of War, not Garden of War BNE)
• f – Fastest, a map speed setting (commonly used when playing custom maps)
• ef – Even faster, a map speed setting (commonly used when playing classic maps)
• res – Resources (gold and lumber). Often used to refer to the starting resources setting that can be selected when hosting a game, e.g. high res, low res.
• pm – Power mine/power mining, a technique for placing one’s townhall in relation to a goldmine that yields the optimum rate of gold harvesting.
• rep – Repair, a peon ability which restores health to damaged buildings or decreases the contruction time of new buildings.
• vis – Short for “Vision”, meaning to share allied vision with another player.
• unvis – Short for “Unvision”, meaning to remove allied vision from another player.
• rush – Assembling combat units and engaging your opponent as early on in a game as possible, in an attempt to catch him off guard and overwhelm his defenses.
• dual – Starting a game by building two separate bases concurrently, effectively doubling your resource harvesting capabilities. Requires extremely defensive playing, as combat units can’t be afforded until the bases are well established.
• wall, walling – Utilizing terrain features and strategic placement of buildings to block access to one’s base from land units.
• rape – The brutal slaughtering of an opponent’s peons in order to undermine his resource harvesting efforts, thus crippling his industry.
• exp, expa, expo – Expansion, a secondary base built in addition to a player’s main base.
• cat – Catapult, a ranged Orc unit. (Also used interchangeably to reference Ballistas, the corresponding Human unit.)
• rax – Barracks.
• dks – Death knights, a magic-wielding Orc unit.
• lust – Bloodlust, an OP ability of ogre mages.
• s9 – 30k

Map Names

• gow – Garden of War
• pos – Plains of Snow
• nwtr – Nowhere to Run or Hide
• b2b – Bridge to Bridge Combat
• gsep – Gold Separates East from West
• foc – Fierce Ocean Combat
• hsc – High Seas Combat
• bgh – Big Game Hunters

Warcraft II Etiquette

It’s considered bad manners (and in some cases expressly forbidden) to do any of the following:

• Build or interfere in any way during games in which you are a watcher.
• Unally and attack your teammates (backstab).
• Go afk while you’re hosting a game.
• Spam or “flood” the main channel or chat interface.
• Arbitrarily request screenshots to be petty and inconvenience other players, when you do not have reasonable suspicions that they might be hacking.
• Use third party software (“hacks”) to gain an unfair advantage in-game.
• Pet a burning dog.

Server Commands

• /w [username] [message] – Send a private message to another user
• /r [message] – Send a private message to the last person who sent you one.
• /join [channel] – Join a different channel. Default is War2BNE
• /away [message] – Set your status to “Away” with optional message (does not stop you from receiving private messages).
• /dnd [message] – Set your status to “Do Not Disturb” with optional message (blocks you from receiving private messages).
• /watch [username] – Receive activity updates on a given user (join/leave the realm, join/leave games).
• /watchall – Receive activity updates on all users.
• /ignore [username] – Squelch a given user.
• /games – View a list of all active games.
• /mail s [username] [message] – Mail a message to a given user. The message will be stored in their mailbox indefinitely and can be retrieved by typing /mail
• /mail r [#] – Read a mail received from another user, indicated by the message ID number.
• /f a [username] – Add a user to your friend list.
• /f r [username] – Remove a user from your friend list.
• /f l – View your friend list
• /users – View a list of all active users.
• /con – View connection information for all active users.
• /uptime – View the uptime of the server.
• /where [username] – Find the location of another user (either channel name or game name). If they aren’t logged in, command returns the last date & time they were online.
• /finger [username] – View the contents of a given user’s profile.
• /help – View a complete list of all server commands.
• Alt + V – Show or hide Join/Leave notifications in the channel.

Hosting Games

1. After logging into the server, click on the blue “Create” button on the left side of the screen.
2. Type a descriptive name into the “Game Name” field, then click on “Browse” to select your desired map
3. After you choose a map, you will want to review the various game settings. The most common Game Type is “Top Vs Bottom”, and the most common Speed is “Fastest”. The “Even Faster” speed setting is often used for a more classic style gameplay, while the rest of the speeds are considered much too slow for casual gameplay.
4. For Resources, “Map Default” is typically used for custom maps, while “High” is used for classic maps.
5. For certain maps (especially customs) it’s advisable to uncheck the box labeled “One peon”, which refers to the units each player will have when the game starts.
6. If you want to host a private game between you and another player or players, you can also optionally add a password that users will need to enter in order to join your game.
7. After you’ve finished making your selections, click on “OK” to create the game.
8. You will now find yourself in the pre-game lobby. After a suitable number of players join the lobby click on “OK” to begin the game.
9. If other players can’t join your games due to “high latency”, you will need to forward ports on your router before you can host games. Read the guide to fixing hosting issues.

Illustrative screenshots forthcoming!

Taking Screenshots

This is a screenshot

Screenshots are like taking a photograph of your computer screen. They can be taken any time by pressing the “PrtSc” key on your keyboard (usually found in the row above the number keys, with the F-keys, on the right-hand side). When you take a screenshot while in-game the screen will blink. Once taken, screenshots are saved in the default Warcraft II directory. On Windows 7 this is usually C:\Program Files\War2Combat or C:\Program Files (x86)\War2Combat If you’re using the latest version of War2Combat, then it could also be C:\War2Combat

Map Descriptions

Classics

• Garden of War – A classic map that is the single most-played WC2 map ever. Old timers have played this map literally hundreds (and often thousands) of times, and are exhaustively familiar with every inch of it. If you’re new, you probably want to avoid joining gow games, unless they’re specifically intended for new players.
• Plains of Snow – I don’t play this map, I’m a helpless newb!
• Nowhere to Run or Hide – I don’t play this map, I’m a helpless newb!
• Bridge to Bridge Combat– I don’t play this map, I’m a helpless newb!
• Fierce Ocean Combat– I don’t play this map, I’m a helpless newb!
• Big Game Hunters– I don’t play this map, I’m a helpless newb!
• KPuds – A collection of fan-made maps that are classic-esque, attempting to emulate the core elements of strategic gameplay espoused by the true classic maps.

Customs

• Chop – A collection of maps in which players start with extremely restricted real estate and must extensively chop trees in order to enlarge the buildable area. There are several different varieties:
  • Chop mad
  • Chop jammin
  • Mini chop farms
  • Chop no farms
  • Chop peons
• BGH – Any of several customized variations of the original Big Game Hunters map. There are several different subsets of BGH, characterized by their unit restrictions (or lack thereof):
  • KoTr – No air, magic, towers or lust
  • n/a – No air
  • 2hf – Anything goes
• Arena – This map needs a description!
• Gruntwork – This map needs a description!
• Archers – Any of several different maps that feature archers/axethrowers as the exclusive combat unit.
• Mini – Any map that is a miniturization of an existing map, with a lower resolution and scaled down terrain features. e.g. GoW Mini, Archers Mini, BGH Mini
• Free – Maps in which units have no cost.
• Paintball, Pball – A crappy generic style of map in which all units are insta-killed with one hit, and which is crappy.
• Mageball – This map needs a description!
• Deathknights, Dks – This map needs a description!
• Castles – This map needs a description!
• 62 Peons – This map needs a description!
• EZ5 – This map needs a description!
• C6 – This map needs a description!