Online CS Gaming

 | Introduction | Starting up | Host Options | Joining Options | In the game | ROEs | FAQs |

 Introduction

  So you want to get online and crush someone? Do you think you got the skills to even crush someone? There's only 1 way to find out, but you have to know how to get an online game set up before you can prove it.

    I will attempt to create a simple, yet informative outline on setting up and playing an online game for the Talonsoft Campaign Series games. ( East Front 2, West Front, Rising Sun & all their add-on CDs)

    The first step is obviously finding someone to play with. Posting on the Message boards is a good start. Emailing some prospects is another. The best way is an online communications program (further known in this article as Comm.). I've listed 3 of the most popular here and provided links for easy downloading. There are many others as well, but I am not here to provide a complete reference guide, I'm here to show you how to play CS games online! 

    The next step is finding the time. Setting dates and times is a tedious process. Many players will find that the time they said was ok last week has been wrecked by family, nature, acts of God, animals, Cosmic electromagnetic explosions and such. Be courteous and let you opponent(s) know, so he's not wasting his hours looking for you. Having a back up plan will provide you with a game when the timings go wrong. Being active on the Comm. programs will also provide you with an alternative gamer on the spot.

   Next you need to have a battle to play. There are many scenarios to choose from, balanced, unbalanced, small, large.. you get the idea. picking a small quick battle will provide you with 1-2 hours of fun & tense gaming. A larger scenario will last substantially longer and might even take a few nights to finish. Online games can be saved and restarted numerous times by the hosting player. You can also have more than 2 people playing a game, up to 16 people can possibly play a CS game together, this makes some of those larger battles more playable. **TIP (save and end the game during the caller's turn to prevent any possible illegal activities that may cause disputes)**  Playing online doesn't have to be compared to speed chess, but a slow player will find themselves playing against an opponent who passed out an hour ago waiting for something to happen. Be prepared to play faster than you would in PBEM games, don't go get a coffee @ Starbucks, walk the dog or "fluff pillows" with a female companion during an online game! There are timer options that can be set to keep things at a decent pace. I'll explain more on this option later. 

    The next step is finding the time. Setting dates and times is a tedious process. Many players will find that the time they said was ok last week has been wrecked by family, nature, acts of God, animals, Cosmic electromagnetic explosions and such. Be courteous and let you opponent(s) know, so he's not wasting his hours looking for you. Having a back up plan will provide you with a game when the timings go wrong. Being active on the Comm. programs will also provide you with an alternative gamer on the spot.

   Next you need to have a battle to play. There are many scenarios to choose from, balanced, unbalanced, small, large.. you get the idea. picking a small quick battle will provide you with 1-2 hours of fun & tense gaming. A larger scenario will last substantially longer and might even take a few nights to finish. Online games can be saved and restarted numerous times by the hosting player. You can also have more than 2 people playing a game, up to 16 people can possibly play a CS game together, this makes some of those larger battles more playable. **TIP (save and end the game during the caller's turn to prevent any possible illegal activities that may cause disputes)**  Playing online doesn't have to be compared to speed chess, but a slow player will find themselves playing against an opponent who passed out an hour ago waiting for something to happen. Be prepared to play faster than you would in PBEM games, don't go get a coffee @ Starbucks, walk the dog or "fluff pillows" with a female companion during an online game! There are timer options that can be set to keep things at a decent pace. I'll explain more on this option later. 

    Finally you need to decide who's hosting. Try to use the player with the faster PC, most ram, and best connection. Cable and DSL are faster than Modems, let those guys host unless they're gaming on P2 133's with 32 megs of ram. Most all DSL and Cable connections have firewalls, these programs prevent hackers from destroying  PCs, so they are necessary. These programs also prevent many gamers from hosting because they don't understand how to bypass the firewall's blocking ability. Most firewalls can be accessed by a program and quickly set up to allow hosting. Notably by disabling DMZ host function. This function needs to be switched back and forth to ensure the firewall protection isn't left off when not gaming. Routers for networking function similar to firewalls and most routers have built in firewalls as well, router documentations usually provide a "web" page for changing settings as well sometimes these can be accessed by calling the manufacturer as well. Port Forwarding is also something that may need to be changed to allow some firewalls to open up.

 Modem gamers will get a different IP # everytime they log onto the internet and they can see this # by clicking on the Start button, selecting run, and typing WINIPCFG in the box. 

    An alternative method is to go to What'sMyIP 

    Cable and DSL users usually have a static IP which never changes, this is dependant upon the ISP they use. Cable and DSL sometimes also have 2 IP numbers which causes a lot of confusion sometimes. There is an External IP and an Internal IP. The Internal IP will always show up using winipcfg, this is the wrong IP #! You'll need to use What'sMyIP to find the correct IP # to give to your opponents instead.

    Ok you've got a victim, you've got time, you got a battle in mind, you know who's hosting...  now we're ready to begin playing online!

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