Co op

Co-op

Every feature of the mod works in co-op. One player hosts the war and the others join as viewers. The lobby is titled "GWO Co-op - Difficulty:" followed by the tier.

Host and viewers

The war belongs to the host. The host's mods, difficulty, options, and deck are the war's. Viewers join through Browse Games and play the host's war. The host's launch progress is mirrored to viewers.

Every player should run GWO at the same version as the host. The mod does not check this, and a mismatch can show different information to different players.

Loadouts and tech

By default every player shares one inventory. Settings in the Co-op Campaign window on the war setup screen change that. The host chooses them when creating the war, and they cannot be changed afterwards:

• Separate loadout & tech gives every player their own loadout, inventory, offers, Sub Commanders, star cards, and treasure planet offer. A viewer's reroll goes through the host, and viewers see "Host Choosing Tech" while the host decides.
• Separate races lets every player pick their own race and commander when they choose their loadout. Its tooltip reads "Each player picks their own race when they choose their loadout. Requires Separate loadout & tech." It offers the races the war was created with that the host still runs, and is not available under the Cluster faction.
• Unique AI loadouts, from the next release, stops an AI player starting with a loadout that another player already holds, unless every loadout it could take is held. Its tooltip reads "An AI player never starts with a loadout another player holds, unless every loadout it could take is held. Requires Separate loadout & tech." Like the other settings in that window, it is not remembered for the next war.

Players with separate tech may hold copies of each other's cards. The Sub Commander card's weight uses the larger of the host's retinue and every player's retinue combined.

AI players

From the next release, the host can fill an empty slot with an AI player: press Add AI on the empty slot in the player list. The AI takes a name from the base game's list of AI names, one of the host's commanders (one of its race's in a race war), and the next colour in the players' sequence. Its row is marked "AI Commander".

• In battle it fights beside the players as an allied army, at the war's difficulty tier and with the same economy as the players. The Co-op column of the AI window picks its brain. See AI Brains.
• Tech. With shared tech, AI players field the host's tech. With Separate loadout & tech, each AI player has its own. It draws its loadout at random from the host's unlocked loadouts, most often one that gives it what tech cards cannot, such as upgrades, and never one it could not fight with, such as Tourist Commander, or one whose power it cannot use, such as Warp Commander's mass teleport. An AI player whose loadout has no basic factory for bots, vehicles, or aircraft receives Basic Air Tech, Basic Bot Tech, or Basic Vehicle Tech in place of its first offer, and never deletes it while it is the only such factory it has. It receives its own offer every time the host explores, and rerolls, takes, or swaps cards by what they would do for it. It favours cards that build on the tech it has, values upgrades to its Commander and Sub Commanders, and values an upgrade for units it has yet to unlock, though less than one for units it can build. Explore and Fight wait while it decides, as they do while a player chooses tech. It also holds its own star cards and Sub Commanders. Any player can view an AI player's loadout and cards with the Inventory button on its row. With Separate races, it picks a race from the war's offer, preferring one no player fields.
• Pings. Once the war settles after a move, a battle, or a deal, an AI player may ping the unexplored enemy system it would rather fight next, from those the host can move to. It weighs the card it would find there (its own with Separate loadout & tech, the system's with shared tech) against the system's Threat Level in Planetary Intelligence. It pings only when it wants that card or one system clearly stands out, and it leaves alone a system another AI player has just pinged. It never pings the same system twice running, nor a new one within 20 seconds of its last ping. Everyone sees its ping as they would a player's, with its name in chat.
• Slots. An AI player takes a slot, so a war made for four players can be fought by two people and two AI players. A player who returns while an AI player holds their slot is refused until the host kicks an AI player or adds a slot. After a battle, Add AI waits up to a minute for the players who fought it to come back.
• Kick. Press Kick, then "Kick this AI?", to remove an AI player. It is gone for good, with its cards, and its slot opens again.
• Playing alone. AI players take part only in a co-op session. When the host plays the war without one, they sit out battles, offers, and pings. When a session opens again, their slots come back, and each catches up on the offers it missed.

The war panel lists AI players after the players.

On the galaxy map

• Ping: select an unexplored system and press Ping to mark it for everyone. Pings have a three-second cooldown and change nothing in the war. From the next release, AI players ping too (see AI players).
• Selection: your selection follows the host's until you pick a system of your own.
• Colours: every player takes a colour from the faction's co-op palette. Sub Commanders never share a player's colour.

Scaling

The war is scaled for the number of players it was created with:

• boss Commanders, the minimum armies per system, and the reinforcement rate are multiplied by the player count
• system size grows one step for every extra player

If more players join than the war was scaled for, victory badges are disabled for that war. From the next release, AI players count as players for this.

The treasure planet

Each player is judged on their own unlocks. With shared tech the host's offer is the war's; with separate tech each player receives their own. The Guardians hold every player's tech combined. See Loadouts.

From the next release, an AI player counts as owning every loadout, so it receives an ordinary offer at the treasure planet, and the Guardians hold its tech too.

Leaving and rejoining

A viewer who leaves keeps a copy of the war and can carry on with it alone. A viewer who rejoins picks up the war as it stands, and their Sub Commanders are kept for them. After a battle only the host can press Continue War; viewers wait for the host.

War end

When the war ends, a "Waiting for players" modal holds the host until every viewer has caught up.