The process on a LAN is:
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1. Host starts game (through lobby or through loading a multiplayer saved game).
2. Client connects to host, either by manually typing in the IP address, or by selecting it in the results list from when it searches on the LAN.
Possible Problems:
A. Client and server have different ports selected in the Settings window (this would only be the case if one of the players had changed this in the past).
B. Client and server are not on the same game version (both must be the same).
C. Client or server has a software firewall, like the Windows Firewall, ZoneAlarm, or something else that is either blocking AI War or the AI War port. AI War's setup process opens the Windows Firewall port if you use our installer, but if you have something else you might need to either temporarily disable it to test, and then add an exception once you have confirmed the firewall is the issue.
The process over the Internet is:
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1. Host starts game (through lobby or through loading a multiplayer saved game).
2. Client connects to host, either by manually typing in the host's public IP address, or by manually typing in the host's virtual IP address on a VPN solution like Hamachi.
Possible Problems:
A. Any of the problems from the LAN section might still be the issue here, but additionally:
B. Using the wrong IP address. For Hamachi, the IP addresses always start with 5.whatever, and are shown right in Hamachi. For a direct connection, use something like
http://www.whatismyip.com/C. If not using VPN software like Hamachi, then you probably are having to traverse a router with NAT on the host's network. This requires
port forwarding for the AI War port.
Those are pretty much the common pitfalls, I can't think of anything else that would generally cause a problem with a game like this. Hope that helps!
