Custom Scenario
Custom scenarios (not to be confused with scenario distributions) allow game creators to specify exactly how they want their map to start, territory-by-territory. The feature unlocks at level 47 or with the Mega Strategy Pack.
Details
Game creators accomplish this by defining a slot (letters) for each player to your game, including open seats and AIs. Then, when you build the map, you can assign corresponding slots to territories, as well as the number of armies that each territory starts with.
This is useful for a variety of reasons. For example:
- You can give players handicaps, such as starting one player with fewer armies. This is useful when veterans want to introduce a new player to Warzone, or experienced players just want to give themselves additional challenge.
- A World War I scenario where you give one player control of Germany and another gets control of France.
- A Godzilla scenario where one player starts with 10,000 armies, and 20 other players are teamed up to take down Godzilla.
- A hand-crafted map where bonuses that start with wastelands in them are worth additional armies per turn, giving incentive to take down the wasteland.
- A finely-tuned 1v1 map created by picking which territories are available for players to pick, or making less-desirable bonuses start with fewer neutral armies, or placing wastelands in strategic positions.
Custom scenarios can be used to create unfair / unbalanced games. When experimenting with variants like these, it may take several games to figure out the correct ratios to make the game fair and fun for all players. It is recommended to set games as practice games until the correct balance is reached.
Custom scenarios with manual distribution
If a game creator elects to use manual distribution, then every territory assigned a slot will be available for players to pick. The slot letter actually does not matter in this case - you could just assign every territory that you want to be available to slot A.
Custom scenarios in tournaments
If a custom scenario is used in a tournament with automatic distribution, the slots players receive will be randomized for each game.
Custom scenarios with open seats
If there are multiple open seats with the same slot on the same team (or all on no team), players joining the open seat will be asked if they want to receive a random slot or choose which slot they'd like to take.
Tips for entering custom scenarios quickly
On large maps, it may take a while to set up everything you need. Here are two tips for speeding this up:
First, make note of the "Copy to all" button. Using this, you can set every territory on the map. This is useful when you want the majority of the territories to be the same thing. Use this when first getting started, as it will make your life easier.
Second, you can use your keyboard to speed up the entering process. Follow these steps for each territory:
- Click a territory
- Type in the number of armies
- Press "Tab"
- Type the slot letter
- Repeat for next territory
For example, to set Brazil to 5 armies and slot G, simply click Brazil, press 5-Tab-G. Once practiced, this strategy allows you to set a territory in less than a second.