NWOL

About Napoleonic Wars OnLine

Software Requirements
To play NWOL, all you need is an email program that can display HTML documents as attachments and a Javascript-capable web browser. Browsers like IE version 3 and higher, Netscape version 4 and higher, Mozilla/Firefox, and AOL have all been tested and worked correctly on both IBM and Macintosh platforms. NWOL does not require you to install any other software on your computer.

Player Time Commitment
NWOL runs two turns per week when a campaign is underway and one turn a week when not. For a player who commands land units and is not a government minister or army commander (typical for newly entering players), it takes about half an hour to an hour to read the reports for the previous turn, communicate with fellow officers, and prepare orders for the next turn. Players should be prepared to read and respond to emails daily; other players can temporarily cover for you if you are away from the game for a period of time. One campaign lasts up to 15 turns unless a truce is reached earlier; that is, about eight weeks. The number of campaigns in the game depends on how long it takes a nation to achieve the conditions required to end the game. The first NWOL game took 4 full campaigns (3 "15 turn" + 2 "7 turn" campaigns) to end.

Game Flow
At the beginning of each turn of an NWOL game, players receive reports showing where their units and ships are, what they can see, and what happened on the previous turn. Players then submit orders for their units via a web form, in consultation with their fellow players. You can see what the various reports look like, how orders are submitted, and how an NWOL campaign goes by clicking on the Select Links link.