AOE-III THE NEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2019

Ladies & Gentlemen,

EscapeAoE is very pleased to announce The New World Championship 2019! The first Age of Empires 3 LAN tournament in over ten years.

This July, we’ll fly the top eight international players to Manchester, all expenses paid, to compete at our studio. Under entirely lag free conditions, this four day event will determine AoE3’s New World Champion, who’ll take home the lion’s share of the $4000 prizepool!

$1400 - 1st
$800 - 2nd
$600 - 3rd
$400 - 4th
$200 - 5th - 8th


Qualification Event:

Escape & ESOC will be partnering to host an open sign-up, online qualification tournament to determine who the top 8 invitees will be. We’re taking no chances here - for an event of this scale, the qualifier has to comprehensively determine the true top eight best players! This is why we’ll be hosting a 64 Player Double Elimination Tournament. This will play out normally until all but 8 players are fully eliminated. The survivors will compete in the LAN Playoffs.

The bracket will be seeded with the top 64 signups determined by ESOC 1v1 elo. This means the top seeds will in theory be the best players... start ranking up now to improve your position!

Signs ups open today and close March 30th! The qualification event will be managed & scheduled over the ESOC Forums and will commence at the start of April and conclude 7 weeks later (1 round per week). Upon discovering the top eight, we’ll take a brief pause to allow for visas, flights and accommodation to be finalized. The Championship will resume with the LAN Playoffs July 11th-14th hosted & managed by Escape at our studio in Manchester.

Everyone is welcome to sign up (you’ll need an ESOC forum account). Though only the top 64 will be seeded! Here’s more information.



LAN Playoffs, July 2019:

We have plenty of room for an audience at the studio! If you’d like to attend the event in person, we’d love to have you. We’ve put together this handy document with all of the transport, accommodation & local information you could ever need to know! We’re located just outside of the city in a town called Leigh which isn’t an expensive place to visit and has great transport links. Join the Discord server to stay up to date with the event (even if you can’t come!). By all means book flights & accommodation.


SCHEDULE:

Wednesday, July 10th: Arrival Day - Players, casters & most guests will arrive in the UK
Thursday, July 11th: LAN Day 1
Friday, July 12th: LAN Day 2
Saturday, July 13th: LAN Day 3
Sunday, July 14th: LAN Final Day
July 15th & 16th: No Stream & studio closed - Most people will travel home - though everyone’s invited to hang out a bit longer!

Note: Invitees can customize their flight dates in & out if they want to make a small holiday out of the trip.


Format, Settings & Rules:

Both the Qualifier & LAN will use Standard Supremacy settings and will be played on EP6 (ordinary ESOC Patch). Currently, EP civilization balance seems to be the best it’s ever been! Because of this, we’re going to deviate from traditional ESOC tournament civilization rules and instead use ‘smackdown rules’ which are more exciting! For those unfamiliar, they are written below.

Standard Supremacy: All series will be played on ESOC patch using standard game rules.
Civilization rules: Once you have won with a civilization, you may not use it again for the rest of the series. For the 1st game in a series, players will agree on a civilization matchup. For each subsequent game, the winner of the previous game will select their civilization first.
Map Pool: The nine maps below have been selected for The New World Championship. All series will be played on maps drawn from this pool.
Map Veto Rule: Players may veto one map each per series.

Full Rules & Settings

Map Pool

Summer Kamchatka:

AoE3’s quintessential tournament map. The “bread-and-butter” of competitive 1v1. Since its inception in 2014, Kamchatka has seen some incredible games and has a warm place in our hearts as the first map in a series. A watercourse divides the region and forks in the centre to form an island. Shallow crossings offer passage but only in predictable locations--a keen awareness of your opponent will be rewarded as they can only approach you from limited angles.

Spoiler: Kamchatka Minimap

NOTE: Please enjoy this winter version of the map! Hopefully we'll have the summer variant to show you soon! As of EP6.0, only the Summer variant will spawn until after July 2019.

Baja California:

Baja California is an arid peninsular region where colonies are divided by a mountain range. Players must control the wide central mountain pass, or sneak through narrower backdoor chokes as they vy for control of a winding trade route and the surrounding resources, or else spread their influence on the sea.

Spoiler: Baja California Minimap

Deccan:

Players start on opposing sides of a closed central plateau containing abundant wildlife and natural minerals. Your homecity has taken an interest in the wealth of this region and its valuable trading routes so has supplied your colony with additional starting resource crates to jumpstart your influence in the area and put a wider array of strategic options at your disposal.

Spoiler: Deccan Minimap

New England:

Players begin on the shores of the New World surrounded by dense forest, lakes, and beautiful unspoiled wilderness. This classic Age of Empires 3 map boasts some unique naval options where warships can play an important role in influencing the mainland and controlling the central trading route. The island just off the coastline offers an excellent strategic position for anyone casting an eye to the surrounding fish stocks.

Spoiler: New England Minimap

Thar Desert:

Shifting sands and rolling dunes cast long shadows across the Thar Desert. This vast open landscape is far from barren though -- gold is plentiful, and although food is not scarce either, the wild elephants are not easily controlled! Settlers will quickly find themselves out in the open as they venture away from their town in search of food. There is no passing trade in the desert, and the native Udasi offer little by way of alliance--acting mostly as an obstacle which makes controlling the centre of the map much more difficult than it would first seem.

Spoiler: Thar Desert Minimap

High Plains:

High Plains is a throwback to the classic vanilla Great Plains: a fairly open map where large, plentiful herds of bison roam freely. A long trading route spans across the map; monopolizing this is a surefire way to a powerful economic victory making fierce competition over each post an essential factor in remaining a relevant power in this the region.

Spoiler: High Plains Minimap

Fertile Crescent:

A pair of rivers divides the Fertile Crescent - your settlement is positioned on the outskirts of the central plain and is faced with a decision... the center represents a solid strategic position, but offers no trade and little in the way of resources compared to the surrounding east and west. Influencing these three regions as well as two seperate trading routes is tough, you can’t be everywhere -- absolute control over the Fertile Crescent is exceedingly challenging.

Spoiler: Fertile Crescent Minimap

Pampas Sierras:

Wild llamas roam the western Pampain mountains, and new colonies must choose whether to invest into the wealth of livestock, or take their chances picking out the first treasures in the lowlands. This semi-arid region offers no trading routes, though native Incan and Mapuche tribes populate the landscape -- player should watch out for potential alliances that can offer a variety of early aggressive options as well as valuable lategame technologies.

Spoiler: Pampas Sierras Minimap

Florida:

In the race to colonize the Americas, new arrivals are settling the East Coast quickly! Neighbouring trade flows through this bustling region and directly into your new colony. Starting on top of the route, you begin with a market and two trade sites within arms reach. A strong early economy is ensured, especially with coastal fishing up for grabs too, but expanding your trade into the opponents territory will be very challenging. Native Seminole and Carib tribes offer some incredibly powerful archer technologies - beware!

Spoiler: Florida Minimap

 

I will add some of the games that are being streamed by Escape or Esoc to the AoEZone calendar but if you want to check out full coverage, it's best to check the eso-community.net calendar.

 

I'd watch a bit of it. Used to play some AOE3 casually back when I was supposed to be studying for exams, what seems like a lifetime ago, no idea how the game is supposed to be played at a high level.

 

Does anyone else find it rather ironic that the "New World Championship" is being held in the most quintessential Old-World country? 11

Name jokes aside, I wish them the best! I have not played AoE3 multiplayer in a long long time. Might tune in a bit if it's interesting.

 

I have only played AoE3 in singleplayer, but maybe I will play some again now. Not that I will participate LUL, just to "try it out again".

 

There have been about 4 years worth of serious playtested balance changes on ESOC Patch. At the moment civ balance is the best it has ever been if you use tournament diversity as the metric

ESOC balance changes https://wiki.eso-community.net/ESOC_Patch/Version_history

Thank you. I will read that. I have played a lot of AoE 3 until around 2009, but only single player and with friends, never online or competitively.

 

Something different for a change I will watch aoe3 tournament with pleasure. Thanks for the initiative.

 

Ill watch, see what is like. Getting an aoe2 pro in would make it 10 times more interesting for me but would take away from the aoe3 pros.

 

Nice to see the other games get some love for a change, too. Might even try watch a couple of these games to see if I still find it as boring as I used to.

 

Ill watch, see what is like. Getting an aoe2 pro in would make it 10 times more interesting for me but would take away from the aoe3 pros.

At the moment none of them stand a chance! Would be awesome if some top players signed up though. TaToH probably stands the most chance as he's actually played some AoE3. I think he could make it to the top 64 for the qualification event if he put some hours in between now and sign ups closing. Maybe.

 

really amazing to watch some AoE3 after those years, lets go with this HYPE PogChamp

 

 

Great job guys! I'll definetely tune in!

 

I dont want this to sound as a critic, but I have no idea how multiplayer status is for aoe3, altho it doesnt look good at all by the numbers I check from twitch streams. Seems like a really dead game, like AOM.

 

At the moment none of them stand a chance! Would be awesome if some top players signed up though. TaToH probably stands the most chance as he's actually played some AoE3. I think he could make it to the top 64 for the qualification event if he put some hours in between now and sign ups closing. Maybe.

I've seen/heard this attitude before. Reminds me of what DMers (including myself) were saying about Viper's chances to beat Jidba and become one of the best DM players. We all said it would take months if not a year... 2 weeks later he was killing everybody and doing 50-50 with Jidba.

I know it's a different game in this case, but I'd never underestimate Viper. If he put a solid month towards training and was truly motivated to win the event, I wouldn't bet against him.

 

Nice ClickBait 11 I thought this was AoE2.

 

Thread is labelled as AOE 3. People still think it is AOE2

 

Nice stuff! However, I think people would appreciate a non-capslock title...

But cool to know aoe3 is growing too.

 

I dont want this to sound as a critic, but I have no idea how multiplayer status is for aoe3, altho it doesnt look good at all by the numbers I check from twitch streams. Seems like a really dead game, like AOM.

Currently AoE3 has 2000+ average steam players (not including many people like myself who launch the game without Steam) https://eso-community.net/population-statistics. The game has been steadily growing since population data began. And I guess there aren't that many streams when you're checking. But usually when a top player streams they get ~100 without using a mic. And much more when we stream tournaments.

I've seen/heard this attitude before. Reminds me of what DMers (including myself) were saying about Viper's chances to beat Jidba and become one of the best DM players. We all said it would take months if not a year... 2 weeks later he was killing everybody and doing 50-50 with Jidba.

I know it's a different game in this case, but I'd never underestimate Viper. If he put a solid month towards training and was truly motivated to win the event, I wouldn't bet against him.

With DM though, Viper still already knows all the unit counters, all the maps, all the civs, how the game plays, all the little nuances. He can apply his existing, incredible knowledge to the new problems DM kicks up. I'm not saying Viper, or any other AoE2 pro, couldn't do well at AoE3 - I'm sure they'd be very good at any RTS they tried. Just it really is a totally different game.

 

who cares if it is aoe 3 , 4 or 5, TheViper will win it again