Monthly Challenge Rules
The monthly challenge is a competition to finish a selected map in the least number of days possible. A lot of your suggestions have now been included, to make the monthly challenge even more fun, so thanks to everybody that made suggestions. Every month a new map will be selected. We will modify the map slightly from its original form, password-protect it, and then make it available for download. Your job will be to download the map, and finish it as quickly as you can. You will have to save your progress at various points in case we ask for verification, and you will have to send us your final game save from immediately before the final battle.
New for 2004 is the Quest map. This is a map where you should complete a number of specified quests in a certain time period, and each completed quest earns you a certain amount of points. The quest map challenge runs over a time period of three months. The points you get from completing the quests are added to the points earned from the monthly challenges (check the scoreboard link below for more info).
The Rules
Each month a new challenge map will be made available from the AOW Heaven map archive. A new quest map will be available every three months. Check for details in the Competitions & Tournaments Forum, and download the current maps. Make sure you download the password-protected “challenge” version, and not the regular version.
Play the scenario, and try to beat it as quickly as you can. You must save and keep copies of your game at Days 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. You are not allowed to use the Beatrix command line cheats. We may use these game saves to verify the authenticity of your submission, should there be a query about the validity of your result. You may, however, save and reload as many times as you wish. This is not an Iron Man contest where you have to finish the entire map without ever reloading, however please try to avoid excessive replaying of battles in your efforts to achieve the perfect result.
Do not research or use the spell Warp Party. If you find that Warp Party is already in your spell book, you must restart.
When you complete the scenario, make sure you have saved immediately before the final battle. Send an email message to Angel Magog indicating your AOW Heaven user name, the challenge you are submitting an entry for, the number of days you required to complete the scenario, and finally, attach your save from immediately before the final battle. Do not attach all saves — we may ask for further saves if yours is the winning submission. You may make a maximum of three submissions per monthly challenge, and anyone making at least one valid submission in a given month will be sure to win at least one championship point. The minimum points on offer in any given month will be as follows:
| Position: | Points awarded: |
|---|---|
| First place | 10 points |
| Second place | 7 points |
| Third place | 5 points |
| Fourth place | 4 points |
| Fifth place | 3 points |
| all subsequent places | 1 points |
There are also two bonus items on each map, the Red ring and the Blue ring. Each item is worth 2 bonus points if owned in the last save.
You have until 23:59 GMT on the last day of the month to submit your final entry. In the event of tied entries, the tie will stand — we don’t need to have a lone winner. Most of all — have fun! It’s fun competing against other forum members, also it may expose people to a few maps they wouldn’t have otherwise tried.
Monthly Challenge Rankings
The challenges are played in quarters, where three monthly challenges and one Quest map are played each quarter. The winner of a quarter will recieve a gold medal, runner up will recieve a silver medal and 3:rd place gets a bronze medal. After all four quarters are played, the one with the most medals wins the championship.