Ladies and gentleman, I am proud to announce that Heavengames will host the...

OFFICIAL 1 vs 1 PBEM TOURNAMENT 2009

Officially starts September, 2009...

You will find information and requirements regarding your sign-up for this tournament in this thread. Also, feel free to ask questions, dispute rules, etc... in here.

For news, and more fun issues regarding the tournament, please visit the Tournament News Station.

Current sign-up list
- Swolte
- Timelord
- SMUki
- Morgull666
- Albinscott
- Black_d1 R
- Necromagi R W D
- Oleg123
- Enginerd
- Naeco ^ R
- Spiceant
- Torso
- PawelS
- Charx
- JamesEde
- MrLifford88 R WW ^ R W
- LordDuck
- Vicbrother R
- Reapagan R W D
- Troy Locker
- luke811 R
- orangeknite1 R
- Xalarun R WWW D
- Toth R
- Costa
- badborre_dk R
- Cranberry
- Hatstand Withdrew
- ZombieEater
- Zerge R WW D
- Sapphoenix
- Vovy

R= Reminder
W = Warning
D = Disqualified

Count: 30 contestants.

WHAT(FOR) IS THIS TOURNAMENT!?
This is a yearly play-by-email tournament played on small 1v1 maps here at Heavengames (the standard v1.4 rule-set). Former champions of such tournaments have been Waterfly, JWorth (guess he counts), and Swolte. Winners are allowed to proudly wear the title in their sigs (see mine, below... ).

Less important, but still worth mentioning, is that the second and first place can win an official Heavengames cap (only a few in the world - image will follow). The winner will also get a $25 gift certificate.
As a special category, the best 'logger' (as chosen by the 5 judges) will also win a cap!

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS BEFORE SIGNING UP?
** On average (!), you need to be able to play at least one turn once every two days. If there are absences longer than 7 days, you are recommended to not participate.
** You need Shadow Magic and the latest unofficial patch v1.4. installed.
** Before you sign up, you must have read, and agreed to, all the rules as posted below.
** You must be of good sportsmanship. Where there are winners, there will be losers. Remember that it's a game and the main goal is to have a good, exciting time.

If you agree/fulfill all of the former, sign up by posting in this thread and sending me (swolte at gmail dot com) your email and forum name!

WHAT ARE THE RULES?

Rule 1 - Function of Judges.
There will be 5 judges, consisting out of Swolte, Timelord, Engineerd, Chowguy, and Naeco.

Function:
* Exceptions and additions to any rules can be made at the judges' discretion if situation asks for it.
The rules can be expected to remain relatively fixed.
* Any ambiguous dispute with the organization or opponent players may be resolved by the judges' voting where normal rules are not sufficient.
* Provide scores for the best logger category (judges may not vote for themselves). These scores will be determined on frequency and quality of the logs as determined by each judge.
* Rule 'winners' in situations where games takes too long, or ambiguous situations current rules do not cover.
* Judges may request information on game progress. Failure to reply to judges requests within 2 days may result in the withdrawal of the tournament.
* Note: judges may also be players. In case of a conflict of interest and involvement, particular judges may not exert their rulings. Also, if the parties involved feel the judge would have a conflict of interest, this judge will not participate. Non-playing members of the community may also be called upon as judge.

Rule 2 - Playing rules
Standard Houserules and Optional rule #2 (Migration trick) will be in effect for the tournament games. You are required and assumed to have read and understand them. Breaking of the rules and cheating may result in consequences ranging from your removal from the tournament to an immediate ban from the forums, depending on the severity rule-breaking.


Rule 3 - Availability and reliability
You are required, and a have a responsibility, to keep your tournament games at a good pace. You HAVE TO log each turn (posting only 'ts' will do*). By not logging, you are subjecting yourself to tournament warnings, which may disqualify you.

Unless notified in thread, turns should be sent out once every 48 hours (at minimum!) from the last time your opponent logged. Please be reminded that its your own responsibility to keep track of the turns.

If player does not comply: For the first time, the player may receive a tournament reminder if he/she is late and hasn't given notice. This reminder will be accompanied by an email. If player does not respond within 24 hours to this email, he/she will receive a tournament warning.
Reminders will only be sent out once in a tournament round. After this, subsequent lateness will result in a tournament warning.
Not responding (in thread or by email) after a tournament warning within 48 hours may result in this player being forced to forfeit the game. Three warnings will automatically mean a disqualification.

With notice, a 7 day period of absence is allowed. However, without notice, your game will be forfeit through the above-mentioned cycle of reminders and warnings.

If a game holds up the tournament for too long (as decided by the judges), a game may be decided by studying the latest save-game and declaring a winner. This may be the case if 80% of the other tournament games are finished.

APPEAL: The communication rules are applied automatically. If you believe you had valid enough personal circumstances which did not allow you to communicate (e.g., post one message saying you will be late), you can appeal. The judges will take your reasons into account and see if the decision can be reversed.

* Do note that a prize can be won for the best logger!


Rule 4 - Password Protection
You MUST password protect your turns (explanation here), and you MUST send the password to Chowguy (chowguy at heavengames dot com). This is VERY important as it help people from accidentally opening your turns.

Rule 5 - Issues with map balance
The maps that will be used in the tournament can be downloaded here. They have been pondered over by experts and tested multiple times to make them as balanced as possible. Complete balance is often an illusion so we ask you to keep this in mind. Do check the maps out if you are concerned about balance.
These maps are still subject to change. Comments about them can be made to the organizers ONLY BEFORE matches on those maps start. This is your own responsibility! After this period, you are assumed to have agreed on starting position.
Final maps will be uploaded at least 2 days before the matches.

If, within reason, no agreement can be reached on a to-be-played map (2 days before the match begins), a different map may be used on which you, and your opponent, CAN find agreement.

Rules 6 - Tournament schedule: the Swiss system
The first round will use a relatively unknown system (Swiss format) which allows us to have a tournament starting with 30 contestants.

For the first round in this tournament players are randomly set up against each other. Each player will play 3 different maps and encounter 3 different opponents (thanks to Enginerd for making the excel sheet which computes this all). A victory will get you one victory point, which will get you your base ranking. After all games are played, there is a subranking based on the scores of opponents you have played. If you have played opponents who have won matches from other players you will receive more subranking points. This will determine your final ranking.

In the end, we will choose the 16 best ranked contestants and will do simple elimination rounds with them until the final. For the second elimination round, the highest ranked player will be paired with the lowest rank player, the second highest with the second lowest, etc... If two players have already played against each other, there will be a switch.

IMPORTANT: it is possible that contestants will have the same final rank at the 16th best player range. In those cases, we will look at those people who are similar (usually 2 or 3) in this order:
- Have they had direct contact in a match before. If so, this will determine who goes first.
- Those players who have had official tournament warnings will fail.
- Add all the Opp rank scores of the players they defeated. The one with the highest score will get priority.
- Add all the Opp rank scores of the players they lost to. The one with the highest score (who was beaten by better players) will have priority.
- Do the same as the above two steps, but instead of Opp points, use the final rankings of the players.
- Lastly, the judges will do a lottery.

WHAT IS THE PLAN?

Once the sign-up is closed, it will take approximately a week before the tournament will start (September):
- Feedback on the maps (and rules, if needed) will be incorporated.
- A schedule will be made depending on the amount of players. For now, the plan is to start with pools of 4 players where the best 2 will go on to the next rounds. This means that you will play 3 games simultaneously. These will be elimination rounds to the final.

[This message has been edited by Swolte (edited 10-17-2009 @ 11:36 PM).]