Settings
Balance mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661597466
(for round 4, exceptionally, the beta branch will be used: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=758212846)
Turn timer = 1 day
"Tournament map" Map with Surface and Underground on Continents
Normal Game flow speed
Start town: Village
Starting units: Weak
Starting distance: Far
Roads: Few
Roaming units: Average
Treasures: Average
Cities: Few
Dwellings: Few
Ressource structures: Average
Visit structure: Average
Treasure structures: Average
Water Slider at 25%
Undiggable walls and Diggable Wall Sliders down to 15%
All other sliders left untouched at standard 50 %
Each Player is given a team number (two different teams, one for each competitor)
Ironman Mode: on
Seal Victory: off
Unifier Victory: at 2 Beacons
Tactical Combat Mode - Against AI: Always Ask
Game speed: Normal
Starting Resource: Standard
Starting Skills: Normal
All Heroes Have Resurgence: Never
Defenders Strength: Strong
Cosmic Events: Medium
Maximum Number of Heroes: 2 (1 Leader + 2 heroes)
Maximum Heroes Level: 13
Map Exploration: On
City Founding: On
Random heroes match player race: Off
Empire Quests: On
Rules
1. One round cannot exceed 2 months. If neither of the players won 2 months after the start of the round, then one should surrender and take a screenshot of the score and provide it to the judges. The team with the highest (combined) score then wins the match. If scores are very close, the judges can decide that it is a draw and decide a replay the game with a shorter deadline (for instance 1 month), an extension or another solution (including awarding victory to one team), based on the circumstances of the march and the tournament.
2. Players can arrange whatever settings (e.g. no dwellings) they choose, but in the absence of consensus, the settings described in the “In-Game settings” above are to be considered the default. The team hosting the game is automatically and randomly chosen by the Battlefield website. If for any reason (e.g. no DLC), the designated host team cannot host the game, then the other team does. The host must take screenshots, preferably in windowed mode (showing the date and hour when the screenshots were taken), of the settings and post them publicly (so that his opponent and the judges can access them) before the match starts.
3. If one player temporarily cannot play his turns in 24 hours (e.g. because of holidays, or personal issues), and warn the host reasonably in advance, then the host should temporarily change the turn timer to accommodate him.
If a player skips his turn because of the timer, it is not allowed to revert the turn: the host should remove the turn timer and players should notify judges and wait for their indications on how to continue.
4. In the event of a crash (from your PC or from AoW), reloads are allowed BUT the player who crashed needs to take appropriate screenshots, pictures or videos (with a mobile phone for instance) and sends them to the judges. The player who crashed must not re-enter the game after the crash, he must wait for feedback from the judges allowing the game to continue. The turn timer must be turned off by the host while waiting for judges' feedback (see rule 8). Reloads should be counted by all players and reported to the judges. If no proof of a justified crash or in case of repeated reloading (during one match or during the tournament as a whole), the judges have full power to disqualify the player.
5. A team can never play a class or race that it played in all its previous matches (so you can play Goblin only once in the whole tournament, you can play Sorcerer only once, etc.). As there are only 7 classes, after your 7th match, the "counter is reset", i.e. you can play all the class/race again. However, in your 8th match, you cannot play the class or the race that you played in your 7th match.
BEFORE the match, you must let the Judges (but not your opponents) know what class and race you will play for your upcoming match by private message in the Battlefield website.
6. Banter and taunting is allowed, rudeness, swearing and racial (or other prejudicial) language is not. Repeatedly trolling will lead to forfeiting the match.
7. The decision of the Judges is to be respected. When the rules are imprecise or do not cover a case, Judges have flexibility to take the most appropriate decisions. Players breaking the rules get a total of 3 warnings before being disqualified from the tournament entirely. Judges may disqualify a player without warnings if their behaviour is deemed to be completely out of order (e.g. racism).
8. When awaiting judges’ decision (as soon as his opponent requests arbitration), the host must remove the turn timer and may need to revert turns to come back to the situation existing prior to the issue being judged.
9. Players must play with the latest official version of the game (no beta). If the official version is updated during the tournament, players must update to it as soon as it is released both on GoG and Steam (and turn timer must be removed while waiting for the GoG release). Players must also play with the PBEM balance mod http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661597466 (except for round 2, see below). At the beginning of the tournament (round 1), v1.2 of the mod was used. All the games may be updated to a newer version if all the judges deem it to be stable and necessary for game balance (they may require the non-binding opinion of the players through a poll). The version used for round 2 is v1.21, through the beta branch: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=758212846
10. If you feel one of the rules had been broken, but you carry on playing without reporting to the judges, then you have no recourse.
11. Players should not voluntarily exploits bug or weaknesses in the game. Players should report any bug or exploit to judges or on the official forum when they discover them. Judges can decide to ban players using exploits from the tournament.
Arbitration process
The main judge is Hiliadan.
Assistant judges are: Fistandantilus and marcuspers.
When arbitration is necessary:
1. If 1 or 2 of the judges are involved in the game which needs arbitration, the 3rd judge should name two temporary judges to replace them for this arbitration.
2. The players should both send necessary files to the judges (screenshots, videos, their latest saved game which can be found here in Windows: C:\Users\[user name]\Documents\My Games\AoW3\Profiles\[profile name]\PBEM) by email or any other means
3. The arbitration will be taken at the majority of the 3 judges and the decision taken is definitive. If one player refuses it, he is disqualified.