Internet play
Worms 2 is the first Worms game which can be played on the Internet (Although it won't be the last :). It extends gameplay a lot, even if it not always works so well. you can meet and compete with guys from all over the world, and get way more interesting and challenging games than when you play with your friends (that can be fun too) or against the stupid computer. On this page I've tried to cover most of the important things regarding the Worms 2 Internet society.
History
Worms 2 had Internet play compatibility when it got released in November 1997, unfortunately I had no Internet connection at that stage, so I don't know much about it. But, I believe that you couldn't see people's nationality flag, that feature just didn't exist. Furthermore, I believe that the game was even worse in lagging and connection-lost games, I think such things happened more often, than it does when playing with the patch 1.05 (how could that be possible anyway?), which you need to play at all today. And, at this time the guys at Team 17 ACTUALLY PLAYED on Worms 2 servers! Just the thought of playing with a real T17:er! I do hope they will play when Wormageddon will be released. It HAS been sayings from different sources that Team 17 DO play worms 2 online, from time to time. Well, atleast that Spadge (Martyn Brown, you know) does so. But ofcourse he doesn't use the T17 flag, he uses his national flag (UK, I suppose). And furthermore, there was something about teamers are gonna play Wormageddon online, but only when they get the time and only from home or something. However, read under "Misc" to find out why I think they don't play Worms 2 on the net so often nowadays.
Well, time passed by and Team 17 first released demo with internet playability in February 98, and then a patch to upgrade Worms 2 to improve it not only for Internet play, also for other features. Now you could see people's nationality flags (it's not always the country they are from but...) and you needed, and need now aswell, the patch to play Worms 2 online. Now, there are leagues, clans and whatever whatnot you may think of for Worms 2 online and one and another of those things is what I've written a few lines about here...
Servers
Here's a full list of all the Worms 2 servers available. Some of these may be down from time to time, the server list at Worms2.com handles which ones quite well now, it seems like they've done a kind of cgi-script to tell which servers that work, updating all the time. Click here to get to that list. Testing and checking are recommended though. I also recommend play after about 17:00 GMT to a few hours after midnight, most people are online and play then. I've done a rating on how many people there are on the different servers too. Note: Rating is only based on my knowledges and please mail me and tell if you don't share my apprehension of it. Also, I've provided my own list of which servers that work and which that don't. Please note the date of when I figured it out, as that matter is very changing. That's all, enjoy the server list!
Server working/not working list last updated 30th August 98
Orange Server = Server is down White Server = Server works
Server Rating: * = Empty * = Some people * = Lots of people
| Server Country / Description | IP Address | Port |
| *United Kingdom #1, Team 17 | uk1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *United Kingdom #2 | uk2.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *United Kingdom #3 | uk3.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *United Kingdom #4 | uk4.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *United States #1 | us1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *United States #2 | us2.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *Germany | de1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *Finland #1 | fi1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *Finland #2 | fi2.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *Singapore | sg1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *Norway | no1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *Italy | it1.servers.worms2.com | 17000 |
| *The Demo server | Unknown (Alredy Installed) | Unknown (Alredy Installed too, probably 17000) |
Leagues
When you play Worms 2 online, there's really nothing to it, the honor is the only you win. To change that, unofficial leagues like the Allotment league popped up. I've done a complete list here of the leagues I know of. Personally I thought the thing with leagues was really cool and recreated the online play of Worms 2, but that was only when I was merely a newbie. Lots of people like the leagues and participate in them, but I think it's just a waste of time, I mean, you don't get anything for playing in a league, except your name at a list. The only real place where you see that you're in a league is propably your phone bill... Well, for you tourney junkies, here's the most popular leagues, and I'll try to get the addresses and link them ASAP:
The Allotment League
Probably the first league to appear, The Allotment is a league with many competitors. Using the default settings with some slight changes, players play in 1 on 1 matches with two victories. You get points and acheive different ranks as you fight yourself on. I don't like leagues, but if you're absolutely desperate to join one, I recommend this as it's well made and presented. The Allotment has got other leagues aswell, the "ACL" clan league, the Cup Tourney and so on.
Case's Ladder
The probably most popular league right now, a "cases ladder" room appears often in Worms 2 servers. I've never participated in this one, but I believe it's a ladder style tournament and that it's got its own league game settings.
911's Invitational Tournament
A tournament with "the winners meet the winners" system and quite restricted number of players. The players list is full now, but mailing 911 may get you to another invitatioal tournament if there will be any. This league was originally made to fill the space Archmage left when he... um, left. He had a league much like 911's. Erhm... Due to a post of true poetry on the Allotment's msg board, it seems like 911, like many other, has given up Worms 2 entirely, that is, the league probably doesn't exist anymore. Maybe the update there made him depressed or something...
Habib's Hangover
A league which I don't know much about either, this one was popular some time ago. I'll try to find the homepage and see if it still exists and what it's all about.
The DLB clan league
A league in which you have to be a member of DLB to participate. I'm not in it because I don't like leagues as I've said before. This league seem a bit "off" at the moment as sadly, DLB:ers aren't as into Worms 2 as they were before.
Clans
There are lots of Worms 2 clans out there, participating in the ACL or just being clans. Clans consist of people that join the clan in some way and then put their "clan-tag" to their Worms 2 name. I recommend you to go to the "Recruitment" section of the Allotment to watch some of the clans' homepages and maybe even join one, if you are on your own now. If you take my mean, clan members get more respect when playing Worms 2. Well, here's the clans I know of, more are coming!
| Shortened | Member Tag | The Meaning | HQ Link |
| DLB | [dlb] or [ÐLß] | De La Burg | DLB |
| UMI+ | ÌìíÍ+ | Secret, only clan members know :) | UMI+ |
| WAW | \X/@\X/ or '//@'// | Wicked Ass Worms | WAW |
| CRU | ÇRÜ | Crew Remains Untouchable | CRU |
| A-Team | /\ /\ | Allotment Team | A-Team |
| BGC | ? | British Gentlemen Club | BGC |
| W | *W* *W* | Worm Wizards | ? |
| LL | =ll= | Lopatol Leaders | LL |
| NBK | ? | ? | ? |
| SotD | (o) (o) or (o)~ | Soldiers of the Donut | SotD |
| TE | "I"£ | The Elite | TE |
| SPK | <S.P.K> | ? | ? |
| AW | /\-\\' | Armageddon Worms | AW |
| WIB | {W.I.B} | Worms in Black | ? |
| QM | **? ?** | ? | QM |
| AE | Æ | American Earthworms | ? |
| 007 | ? | 007 | 007 |
| MAD | <MAD> | ? | ? |
| BOE | >BOE< | Baguetthos Of Earth | ? |
| TC | \|/ \|/ | The Coven | TC |
Settings
Ofcourse there are thousands of settings out there, but here are the ones which has become well known and used by more and more on Worms 2 on the net:
Default
Default is the default setting that Team 17 say brings the most fun out of the game. I think so, but with some small changes, namely, the quantity of clusters and mortars provided.
B&G
B&G is for "Bazooka and Grenade" which says quite a deal about how this settings work. You play with only Bazooka and grenade as your primary weapons and a few tools as blowtorches, drills and stuff. This makes the game very tactic depending and matches can take hours to complete. An interesting and challenging setting, indeed.
Rope
Rope games are games with unlimited ninjaropes and very short turn time. Usually you start off with only something weak like a grenade but your weaponry gets upgraded as reinforcements arrive. The task in most ropegames is to first collect the health crate that is being dropped down each turn and then do something damaging to your enemy. Ropegames are not like usual worms settings, and may appear boring the first time. After some training though, I believe it can get very fun.
Newbie/Beginner
Beginners have something weird in their mind as they always include many power weapons like Super Banana bomb, holy handgrenade and so on, and ALWAYS unlimited ninjaropes. Specific settings may vary but what the above is about the standard newbie setting. Ok, to the point. Newbies must think that they will have a better chance when playing with these settings, but the sad fact is that they don't. A good Worms 2 player can finish off any newbie faster than you can say "Concrete Donkey" twice, with a such setting. In all manners a newbie setting game is often boring and unfair (it's a hell to go last). Don't use these settings!
Very Funny :(
This has no real name, and the settings vary from games to games, bu the idea is the same. These settings actually has two categories aswell: Irritation and Cheaty Weap. The first, Irritation, includes settings whose are real irritating and mainly pisses you off. The gameplay of these settings sucks, but the gameplay is not the idea, it's not what the maker had in mind. For example: I played a game with a geek that had done a setting in which there was a lower level close to the ground, where most worms was situated at the beginning of the round. Unfortunately, Sudden death was on from the beginning and almost all the worms drowned after the first turn. Very funny. All teams except two got out of the match in the first round. The creator of the setting must thought it was really cool, but I bet nobody else did. These are not games you want to waste your time and money on, they are simply nothing but irritating.
Ok, the second, Cheaty Weap. Are games which's creators have modified some, or maybe only one weapon, making it super powerful and mighty. All other are normal. So, nobody knows about that weapon except the one who made the setting. And at the right moment he uses it and wins the game, completely unfair and unchallenging, as close to cheating as you can get. Playing these games just makes you sick. I can tell you about one game a played, a good example: The game was fine and fun, and we played until I had 1 worm left, and my opponent too. Water rise sudden death was on, and the water began to rise. Then the sucker teleports his worm as far up as posible, and gards his worm with a girder. When I blowtorches my worm close enough, then what do you think he does? He damnit picks up his mega boosted minigun (which I had absolutely no idea that it was like that) which fires 30 points bullets for half a minute! My worm dies and he is the winner. Fair and player friendly, yes, yes. Very Funny. :oP
"Hacked" Lame Games
Lately, a tendency of people hacking the game and playing has developed on the Worms 2 online scene. Well, maybe not hacking, I prefer to call it hacking but I have been told that this "hacking" is simply done by downloading a program and use it to change Worms 2. Anyway, In these games, the graphics is about the only thing that works like in a normal unhacked Worms 2 game. Everything else is hacked and works weird and boring. For example: I played a game in which All weapons had 75 pts explosions, no weapons worked like they used to, and the crates gave you +1 in health. If it was fun? NO WAY! It simply sucked. Don't play hacked games and don't hack the game yourself. Believe me, leaving the game the way it was meant to be is way more funnier and fair, as said before. More about this in the Misc section below.
Misc
Just some miscellaneous basic things about Worms2ing online.
<- PLEASE do NOT use this flag when playing online, it's not cool, you are
not getting respect, cause most everybody knows or could easily find out how to get it. It's as simple as
stealing candy from children. Actually (if you didn't know) it was meant for Team 17 (the ones responsible for all the Worms games)
and one big factor why they don't play Worms 2 online anymore is that
so many hacks the game and uses it. Use your country's real flag instead,
or are you a coward that can't represent your own country? If you see anyone that uses this flag,
tell them not to, as if enough people do, they may change their mind.
Also PLEASE do not hack (download a certain lame program for Worms 2, and use it) the game in any other way to change the weapons and so on, believe me, I've played several of those hacked games, they're never fun, never fair and ALWAYS stupid and boring! Leave the game the way it was meant to be!
ICQ
Icq is a very useful program in which you can see when your pals are online and when they're not. You can also exchange messages, files and web URLs with them. Signing up gives you a number, which you tell your internet friends, so you can stay in touch. This is also useful when playing Worms 2 online, if network problems occur, you can catch your opponent in icq, or, if you meet some nice feller that you'd like on your list etc. Click on the link below to download if you haven't got it yet!
ICQ homepage
Chat Guide
Also I've made a little chat supplement, as some people still don't seem to know how to chat in-game:
[Page Down] = Activate the chat menu
[Page Up] = Deactivate chat menu
Type anything and press [Enter] to send it. Note: you cannot control your worm or select worm with [Tab] when having the chat active.
Also, in chat menu type:
/me and then message = To make your text appear like this, like an "action", If I'd type:"/me bla bla" it would appear something like this:
[Servadac bla bla]
/anon and then message = Will send an anonymous message, if I'd type in "/anon don't kill me" it would appear like this:
[don't kill me]
The Future
In the future we will have Wormageddon and WORMNET, two things whose will change the Worming on the net entirely. More reliable, rankings in game (no need for any leagues :), and you can see ALL players who wants a game, and you can connect by any server. Better chat (IRC system) and better and easier hosting, will make Worms playing on the net a pleasure. Take my word, after Wormageddon is released, I will not even think of playing that laggy and non-userfriendly Worms 2 online again!
A Final Word
I will never forget when a guy who I was playing against, was going to walk down a precipice, and so risked that his worm would be fall damaged and his turn would end. He had taken one shot with his shotgun alredy, so he was unable to choose bungee or parachute. Then he said some words of true wisdom: Ah, it's just a game. When I read that I realized that, he was right! Worms 2 IS just a game and it was meant for people to play against each other and only have fun. It wasn't meant for any of those leagues where people cheat and get angry on each other. Not meant for people to make websites and argue and debate to eternity of which is the best. I think many have forgot this, and I think people should think it over. I wish I could write that guys name here, but it was a long time ago, so unfortunately I don't remember it.