Lot of updates actually: Facebook Connect, Re-Match Feature and Full Screen Mode.

We wanted to make logging in and playing Weewar even easier, so we added Facebook Connect! As an existing player you can simply log in with your username and password as before and then click the Facebook button at the top of the page to connect your Weewar account to your Facebook account. On future visits to Weewar.com, you will then be able to sign in with a single click on the Facebook button. New users can sign up on their first visit by clicking the Facebook button. Linking your Weewar account to Facebook is, of course, entirely optional.

Now, you can invite friends to your Weewar game from Facebook! If you are logged in via Facebook, you can choose to let your Facebook friends know when you create an open game so they can join you.  Weewar game notifications are, of course, entirely optional. This is Weewar, not Spamwar.

Win or lose, now you can rematch with a single click! Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you’d made a different move in a Weewar game?  We do. But setting up a new game and inviting all the same players used to be tedious. No more! With the new re-match feature you can do it all in one click. You do not even have to wait for the game to end, just start another – and if there was a player that slowed everyone down, drop them and replace them with someone else.  It is available to all pro players from the in-game options menu in every game and at any time!

Full size mode! Netbook players rejoice.  Look for the yellow icon at the top right corner of your games to try out the new and improved full size mode.

Need air support?  You can now repair your aircraft on any team controlled airport. Spoke to soon! This will be part of the next release.

Rules, rules, rules!  It is not all happy news.  We have been advised that the referral system in its current form does not comply with US laws. Since most of you are based in the US, we have decided to remove the feature for the time being. You will of course retain any pro time you have received in the past for referrals. And we are working on new ways to reward you!

Coming Soon! We have a lot of new features and updates coming soon.  So, stay tuned!  And as always: Let us know what you think. We need and want your feedback on these updates so please share them via the contact form!

We are going to roll out a number of features to Weewar.com at around 5.45 pm PST on November 10th (see it in your time zone). We expect the process to take some 45 minutes in total… Stay tuned for an update on what is new!

UPDATE2:  Depending on your DNS it might take a while till weewar.com resolves to the correct servers. Until then you will be redirected to www2.weewar.com

UPDATE: You can already access your games at www2.weewar.com – automatic redirects from weewar.com will follow shortly.

Our hosting provider requires us to move Weewar over to new servers. All data will be preserved of course, however the system will be offline for some  2 hours. We will start the transition at 15.30 CET (in your time zone). Sorry for the inconvenience.

The new feature will allow players to set up teams at any time during a game. Players can then apply to join an existing team or create their own. All the necessary controls are available from the in game options menu. A player’s team affiliation is indicated by the team letter next to their name. A capital “B” for example means, that the player is a member of team B. A lowercase “b” means that the player has applied for team B but has not been accepted yet.

Units do not exert zone of control (where units can not move freely in the vicinity of other units) over friendly units nor can they attack them. Team members do also loose and gain points together when a player is defeated in a rated game.

We are very excited about this new feature and can’t wait to see the first teams in the wild!

The update is scheduled for 6pm CET (see it in your time zone…)

Casaubon has published a whole range of maps with great annotations and descriptions. Exciting stuff!

We’ve just opened the test server again! Log in and help us test  a new unit and the brand new team play. You can create, join or leave teams from the in game options menu. Each team member’s point gain/loss depends on the average score of the team. Once only one team is left the game ends in a victory (or a draw if no other player was defeated).

Remember: everything that happens on the test server stays on the test server and will not affect your account on the live server. The test server will only run for a few days – so you may not be able to finish every game! This is all about testing and we rely on your feedback to get this onto the live system as quickly as possible.

Please send us your feedback and findings via the contact form.

Have fun.

We have rolled out a number of significant changes last week and we are thrilled by your great feedback on those (see the comments here).

And so I am very happy to announce the first direct result of these changes: We will soon start public testing of proper Team Play! It will enable you to form alliances and play collaboratively. Zone of control (where a unit can’t move freely in the vicinity of an enemy unit) will not apply to team members and you will win (or lose) as a team rather than individually.

This has been a much requested feature and we are working hard towards giving it to you! Exciting times ahead…

Weewar has come a long way.  A big part of that is thanks to the excellent community which we are very happy to be part of!  We are especially thankful to our Pro Players who have opted to support us with their subscriptions.

Bert and I have committed  a lot of time and money towards making this happen and we are very pleased with where Weewar is and where it is going. We do however fall short of covering our ever growing expenses (this really is the cost of success) and it makes it hard to move things forward as fast as we’d like too. So we are about to introduce a few changes that will impact free play but will also make it a lot easier for new players to get into Weewar:

• Pro players will now be  able to start up to 15 games and accept as many invites as they like  while we limit regular headquarters to a maximum of 4 games at a time
• A new simplified  game set up form with only three maps to choose from (pro players will still have access to the feature rich current version and the 1000s of maps on the system). Please note: Pro players can still invite anybody to their pro games
• Newly signed up players get to play  an intro game against a computer player to learn the ropes (this is already live)
• We will introduce a new map tile: Bridges (Ships go under, ground units go over). This should make the map universe ever so much more exciting.

While we are introducing these changes we would like to offer you a special deal: From today till May 15th the price of the one year subscription is reduced by 50% to only $12. Everybody is entitled to this offer. If you already have a subscription this will simply extend it for another year at the reduced rate.

This is a big step. We count on your support so we can keep maintaining and improving Weewar!

ps> There is a new (still secret) unit in the making which we will reveal soon…

From Franz Sittampalam’s work on the weewar ai-commander. It is a work in progress but you can already set up your own bot – or challenge his!

We have updated the API documentation to reflect the latest version (rolled out earlier today). The changes are minor but might affect some of the 3rd party applications out there. Check out the latest version…