Playing the game

There are several ways to play the game. Each game client has its own postives and negatives, so the list below gives instructions for several of the different clients.

If you are not using a client listed below, the only information you need to set it up is:

Hostname: tw2002.zot.org
Port: 2002

Various clients:

online web portal
This is the quickest and simplest way to play, but it has the least features of all the clients. It is often slower than the other clients. However, this client should just work for all people
telnet tw2002.zot.org 2002
Simply type the above command into your command prompt and you will be connected to the game. This is essentially a non-web based version of the online web portal
putty
Download putty from the above link and then install it. Once it is installed, download the config file and install that too. Now, when you start putty you will have the "tw2002.zot.org" session ready to use. This client has better scrollback and generally better graphics than the first two
Weapon-M
This client is the only one on this list that does more than just showing you the raw game. The most useful feature that it has is a map of your known universe. This client also supports scripting (but see below for our scripting house rules) - see the scripting documentation for more details.

To install this client, download the above zip file and extract it to the location you wish to install it to. Double-clicking on the WeaponM.jar file should start the client. - Note, unfortunatly, this might not work on a Mac

The first time you run it, you will be asked to create a new Database - which you will need to fill in with the hostname and port shown at the top of this page - but every other time, you can just use the Database->open menu to load your existing database.

To connect to the game, use the Network->Connect menu option and to see the map (note that it starts off empty), you will need to use the View->Map menu option

Remember to save your database when you quit!

Scripting rules

The advent of high powered fully scriptable clients for tradewars is widely regarded as a turning point in the history of the game. It seems that the heavy of use of scripting clients makes it a much more technical, much more fast paced game and tends to accentuate the differences between the various players. We dont want that!

In order to keep the game smaller and more social, there are a small set of "ground rules" that will help.

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