Hello! I wanted to make a tournament with minimal involvement of luck, so if you played well, you should have a good chance to win. However, there is a price - many games (eight per round) and somewhat (but nor really) complicated rules/criteria. So if you prefer plain, simple, "only winner advances" tourneys; a tourneys you can luckily win by winning 3 games only - this tournament is probably
not for you.
This tournament is for players who don't afraid of serious testing of their skills. For players who enjoy complex positions on the playing board as well as complex situations on the tournament table... For players who find slightly complicated rules/criteria more interesting than dreadful, rather funny than annoying... For players who are not afraid of long introduction posts
...
Yes, this post looks dreadfully long. There isn't much content, but I like neatly organized texts, so I am pressing enter a lot
... Wanting to make this post more reader friendly, I am giving a table of contents:
Further Sections:1. Apology to players who can't play
2. General information about the tournament
3. First round (all you should know about it)
4. Second round (semifinals)
5. Third round (finals)
6. Additional information
(important - don't miss it)WHO CAN AND WHO CAN'T PLAYI like tournaments which guarantee you to play at least several games before they bust you. Unfortunately, such tourneys are not freemium friendly, since you usually have to play several games simultaneously. I was thinking for months, trying to find a nice solution - a tourney I'd really like, but with no more than 2 slots engaged. I haven't succeeded yet
... I mean, I have some ideas, but they aren't ripe yet. Hope I'll succeed in a future...
This tournament requires 8 slots, so it's for premium members only. Sorry
There is also a problem of
really weak players, below 900 score. Some tournaments allow them to play, some not. I've been happy to see many, new, special tourneys - for cooks only, for privates only, for question marks... That encouraged me to set few more conditions - at least 900 score and at least 5 games finished. Therefore:
This tournament is for premium members, with at least 900 score (at the moment of joining) and at least 5 games finished. My apologies to everyone not included...
GENERAL INTRODUCTIONThis is an 8 players singles tournament. I am planning 40 participants, but it is a summer... So in case of insufficient interest, we'll make it with 32, 24, maybe even 16 players. In any case, 2nd (semifinal) round will have 16 players.
Participants will be divided (by score) in 5 (or less, see previous paragraph) roughly equal 8 players groups. Each group will play 8 simultaneous games (home ground of each player). All games will be standard sequential, without fog, while rest of the settings (map, cards, fortifications) everybody chooses for oneself.
Every place, in every game, carries some points: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 18
(First eliminated gets 1 point... last eliminated gets 13 points, winner gets 18 points)
FIRST ROUND16 best placed players will qualify for second round. However, some subtleties depend of the number of groups, so I have to cover all possible options:
a) 40 participants, 5 groupsThree best placed players from each group are directly qualified. The last remaining place in 2nd round goes to player with most points (already qualified players of course don't count).
b) 32 participants, 4 groupsAgain, three best placed players from each group are directly qualified. This time, 4 places remain. Four (not already qualified) players with most points qualify.
Note that 4th place doesn't guarantee you pass to 2nd round. Nor does 5th (or even lower!) place guarantee that you're out. Just collect as much points as you can!
c) 24 participants, 3 groupsFour best placed players from each group are directly qualified. Four of the remaining players with most points also advance.
d) 16 participants, 2 groupsWe go directly to second round.
Tie break criteriaIf a players have same number of points, best placed is player who has:
1. most wins
2. most points in 7 last games
SECOND ROUND (semifinals)This time there are 2 groups precisely. Groups play 8 simultaneous games each, just like in first round. Eight best placed players qualify to finals.
Three best placed players from each group directly go to finals. Two remaining places go to players with most points.
If there is still somebody who doesn't understand the system - this is a last chance. If you aren't qualified directly, number of points matters more than placement in your group. So, if you're 5th in your group, but you have more points than 4th in another group - you are the one who qualifies, not him/her. So one more time - collect as much points as you can!Tie break criteriaIf a players have same number of points, best placed is player who has:
1. most points overall (1st round included)
2. most wins
3. most points in 7 last games (in this round)
THIRD ROUND (finals)Only 8 players left. They'll play 8 simultaneous games, the very same way as from the beginning of tournament.
Does that mean a player with most points in final is a definite winner of the tournament? Well, not quite...
Let me define a notion - THRESHOLD. Threshold is an average point difference between winner and a runner up in all previous groups.
So if you won a final league competition with point difference bigger than threshold - it's all over. You're the champion! However, if the point difference is insufficient (i.e. smaller than threshold), then you'll have to play a super-final play off match against the runner up.
(possible) Play OffIf the threshold hasn't been broken, a winner and runner up will play a 4 games play off match, 2 games by each players' choice. Winner of this match is a winner of the tournament.
This time you can choose even
freestyle and/or
fogged games,
IF an opponent agrees. In case of even result (2:2), a fifth, decisive game will be played. Who chooses settings? A better placed player.
Additional CriteriaA better placed player is the one who has:
1. more points in final group
2. more points overall (from the beginning)
3. more points in semifinals
If players are still tied (which is extremely unlikely), the one who first wins 2 games in play off will have a privilege to choose settings for 5th game.
(
There is a theoretical possibility that more than two players have to play superfinals, but if I try to solve all possible complications in advance - this post will exceed a capacity of CC server... Perhaps I've been over-pedant already.)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (important!!)Map ChoiceEight players is actually pretty many! Although such games are popular, we still can't say that they are typical. So you shouldn't be surprised if I say -
you cant choose every map! Some maps aren't even theoretically usable for more than 6 players (AoR, Feudal War...). So you, naturally, can't choose some of those. There are further restrictions, also very natural:
You can't choose a map with less than 40 countries (I'd gladly say "less than 56", but that would exclude Classic, which is of course out of the question). So, thanks to Classic (and other old, widely beloved maps), you may choose somewhat smallish map, but not
too small. Do I have to explain the reasons?
You may not choose a new map with bugs! Especially if that bugs are known in certain circles, but not widely...
If you choose inadequate map, you may and may not be warned - everybody is responsible for his/her choice of map. I am certainly not going to check all maps. So if your map proves inadequate after the game is initialized - it will be void and you'll probably be out of tournament.
Double check whether your map is suitable for this tournament!Proper RegistrationYou registration should contain your current score and preferred settings. For example:
Zemljanin - 2483, Prohibition Chicago, flat rate, chained
Why have I made separate section, just to say something so obvious? Well, because of score. For practical reasons, I'm going to use your score in the moment of joining for making groups (by SNAKE method). So if you didn't provide your score, you actually haven't joined...
No alliances allowed!Natural measures against an obvious game leader are normal thing. But nothing more than that!
Flows of This PostWell, it is my very first tournament. And English is not my native language. So I'm sure that this tournament announcement is far from perfect. If something is missing or unclear or unnaturally written -
do not hesitate to ASK!See ya on battlefield!