Two Pools 2 | Rules&Settings

[LidaKor]

Timeframe

Sign-up Deadline: 14th March, 23:59GMT
Seeding: 15th March
Brackets: 15th March

Qualifiers first round played: 15-20th March
Qualifiers second round played: 21-26th March

Qualifiers streamed: 25-26th March (First Round), 27-28th March (Second Round)

Main event:

Playing times

27th March - 2nd April : Group Stage Round 1
3rd April - 9th April: Group Stage Round 2
10th April - 15th April: Group Deciders
16th-17th April: Quarterfinals
April 24: Semifinals [LIVE GAMES]
April 25: Grand finals [LIVE GAMES]

Steaming times:

April 2-4: Group Stage Round 1
April 9-11: Group Stage Round 2
April 17: Group Deciders
April 18: Quarterfinals
April 24: Semifinals
April 25: Grand finals

Dates subject to change, please stay in touch with a tournament administrator in case any change occurs.

Brackets

Qualification stage PREVIEW:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AuFzGvbASWmir0wtuGWX2LF5k0yOjAUagW0p0VVOLjM/edit?usp=sharing
Main event: Soon (TM)

Match Settings

Spoiler: Qualifiication stage

Both rounds Bo5

Game 1: TP2-Arabia
Game 2: Loser of Game 1 Home Map
Game 3: Loser of Game 2 Home Map
Game 4: Loser of Game 3 Home Map
Game 5: Loser of Game 4 Home Map

The Lower seeded team may decide if they wish to be A or B.

Teams will conduct a map draft in the order of:
Pick: A, B
Ban: A, B
Pick: B, A

Teams may choose to play their home maps in any order.

Team A will host the civilization draft https://www.aoe2cm.net/preset/LrQAt

Spoiler: Main event

Group stage&Quarterfinals (Bo5)

Game 1: TP2-Arabia
Game 2: Loser of Game 1 Home Map
Game 3: Loser of Game 2 Home Map
Game 4: Loser of Game 3 Home Map
Game 5: Loser of Game 4 Home Map

The lower seeded team may decide if they wish to be A or B.

Teams will conduct a map draft in the order of:
Pick: A, B
Ban: A, B
Pick: B, A

Teams may choose to play their home maps in any order.

Team A will host the civilization draft https://www.aoe2cm.net/preset/LrQAt

Semifinals: (Bo7)
Game 1: TP2 - Arabia
Game 2: Loser of Game 1 Home Map
Game 3: Loser of Game 2 Home Map
Game 4: Loser of Game 3 Home Map
Game 5: Loser of Game 4 Home Map
Game 6: Loser of Game 5 Home Map
Game 7: Loser of Game 6 Home Map

The Lower seeded team may decide if they wish to be A or B.

Players will conduct a map draft in the order of;
Pick: A, B
Ban: A, B
Pick: B, A, A, B

Teams may choose to play their home maps in any order.

Team A will host the civilization draft https://www.aoe2cm.net/preset/jKzbc

Grand Finals: (Bo9)
Game 1: TP2 - Arabia
Game 2: Loser of Game 1 Home Map
Game 3: Loser of Game 2 Home Map
Game 4: Loser of Game 3 Home Map
[10 minutes break]
Game 5: Loser of Game 4 Home Map
Game 6: Loser of Game 5 Home Map
Game 7: Loser of Game 6 Home Map
Game 8: Loser of Game 7 Home Map
Game 9: Loser of Game 8 Home Map

The Lower seeded team may decide if they wish to be A or B.

Players will conduct a map draft in the order of;
Pick: A, B
Ban: A, B
Pick: B, A, A, B, B, A

Teams may choose to play their home maps in any order.

Team A will host the civilization draft https://www.aoe2cm.net/preset/IayuQ

Map Pool
The following maps will be available to play during the event.

• Arabia
• Cape of Storms
• Coast to Mountain
• Eruption
• Forest Pond
• Hideout
• Kawasan
• Not Socotra
• Regicide Fortress (no towers)
• Rockslide
• Team Acropolis
• Team Islands

The mappack can be downloaded here: https://www.ageofempires.com/mods/details/21294/

Prizepool

The tournament will feature a minimum of $10,000 prizepool. In addition to this, Lidakor will be adding $1 for every Twitch Subscriber, and $1 for every 75 Youtube subscribers at the conclusion of the event.

1st place: $3250 - (32.5%)
2nd place: $1625 - (16.5%)
3rd & 4th place: $800 - (8%)
5th - 8th place: $500 - (5%)
9th - 12th place: $200 - (2%)
13th - 16th place: $150 - (1.5%)

Currently unassigned: $125 (1.25%)

If you would be interested in adding to the prizepool or contributing to the administration costs, please reach out to Lidakor on discord or on AoEZone.

Spoiler: Funding

$10,000 is provided by Microsoft, which will be entirely used for prizepool. Any expenses related to organization, administration, etc. is covered by donations and Lidakor himself. If you would like to contribute to the administration expenses, please reach out to Lidakor.

Tournament Rules

Spoiler: Tournament Rules

§1 - Seeding and Participation
Two Pools 2 has 24 Qualification spots available for players to sign-up for. After the sign-ups are closed the players will be ranked according to the current average rating achieved on the AoE2 DE 1v1 ladder for the players' highest rated accounts at the end of signups. Admins retain the right to adjust seeding based on previous tournament performances of the players.

The main event will be using a group stage, where each group will consist of two invited teams, and two teams from the qualifiers.

§2 - Respecting Deadlines
All players must respect the tournament schedule and times for each round. There will be no exceptions or delays granted to any player. No excuse will be accepted for failing to play in the specified time. If the admin staff determines that a player is trying to avoid scheduling and playing the tournament games, the player may be warned, receive an admin loss for the game or match, or be disqualified from the tournament. Players failing to schedule, or not showing enough effort to get the match scheduled (determined by the staff), in the first round will be replaced by the first ranked player that missed out on the tournament. Any player offering an Admin Win to their opponent, and not completing any round/games will be penalized 50% of their prize money per infraction.

Teams will complete map & civ drafts prior to the scheduled start time & must also be available to start earlier than anticipated if the schedule is running under time, under advisement from the Administration.

§3 - Admin Times
If both players cannot come to an agreement in scheduling their match, the staff will analyse the situation, schedule and time zones in order to add a viable Admin Time that suits both players to the best of our ability. Admins will ensure players are not forced to play games between 2am - 6am local time.
If there is no agreement about the playing time by Wednesday 23.59 GMT, the staff might start interfering in order to get the games scheduled and completed in time.

§4 - Respect & Fairplay
Every player must respect their opponent. Bad behavior (determined by the Admins) will result in a warning and may lead to immediate disqualification of the player. This tournament values not only great skills but also sportsmanship and fairness. Any insult, racism, or flaming will not be tolerated.

Laming and mind games in-game are allowed.

Players are requested to limit the time between games as much as possible to make the experience as smooth for everyone as possible.

§5 - No Smurfing
All players have agreed to the No Smurf rule. Each player must submit all relevant player usernames for Admin discussion. Smurfing and account sharing is not allowed. Any discovery of the aforementioned will result in a player's disqualification.

Players must sign up with their most well-known nickname and must play their games with their most well-known nickname being shown in-game.
If you do not follow this rule you will be penalized 5% of your prizemoney per series that you used an incorrect name.

§6 - Lobby Location
All tournament games are to be played in an unranked lobby in AoE2 DE with the allow spectators option turned off.
If a game is not recorded, it must be replayed regardless of the result.

§7 - Recorded Games Posting
All Recorded Games must be sent to a Tournament Admin immediately after the completion of the games by both players. Failure to do this may result in penalties.

§8 - Scheduling

Teams will send their available playtimes to the tournament admins and they will organize a time that works for both parties. Players are expected to check and respond to messages a minimum of once per day. Failure to schedule a game may result in Disqualification or loss of prize money.

§9 - Restoring
In case of disconnections, the players must attempt to save and restore. All the .mgz recorded game files (multiple parts of the game before/after drop) must be provided when posting the recorded games.
If restoring is not possible, the recorded game should be provided, along with any additional information to the Administration of the tournament instantly. Subsequently, facts will be analyzed and a final decision made. If an Admin is not around at the time of playing and the players cannot agree on a result, continue with the rest of the series, and if the series is tied 2-2 at the end, then the final game shall be rescheduled.

§10 - Schedule Reliability, Admin Wins, Rescheduling

If a player does not show up to a scheduled game without notice their opponent must wait for a minimum of 20 minutes before any action can be taken. They should notify an Admin as soon as possible and a decision will be made. Failure to arrive on time/communicate potential issues to admins may result in prizepool losses.

§11 - Prize Money
Prizes will be sent via PayPal. If the recipients do not use/have PayPal the prizes will be sent by other means. However, certain fees may be deducted from the amount.

§12 - Communication
Each player must be fluent in English and is responsible for scheduling, possible disputes, and everything else regarding their participation. If a player is not fluent in English, they can have an External Operator to represent them during scheduling, recorded game posting and in the Hidden Cup 4 tournament in general. The External Operator must be communicated to the tournament Admins ahead of time.

§13 - Streaming, Spectating & Spoilers
Because of standardized casting times, players are not allowed to stream their POV on any streaming website. Failure to comply will result in a potential ban and replacement.

Players are not allowed to reveal the result of their games or any spoilers until those games finished in the official casting times. Since revealing results before appropriate/information leaks/spoilers (determined by staff) ruin caster and viewer experience, it will result in immediate disqualification and the loss of 90% prizemoney of the team involved.

The entire event is open streaming. The entire event - including qualifiers - will be recorded games. Exception is only semifinals and Grand Finals which are going to be played live. Recorded games will be shared within a Discord group before each game.
The qualifiers may be streamed live or as recorded games by anyone as long as they follow the streaming rules.

Streamers of the event must use the provided banner in between games and the provided shield logo during games. It has to be made clear to viewers who is hosting and sponsoring the event. Failure to do so may result in the removal of casting rights for the given streamer.

§14 - Player Location
If a player has the potential to travel and play games from a different location, that player must request permission from the Admins beforehand. If Admins have any concern over a player's location and have not had a prior request, not only the player(s), but the player may be disqualified.

§15 - Rules Additions
New rules can be added and current rules can be changed. However, Admins MUST inform the players about such changes in Two Pools 2 Rules & Settings forum. All the latest additions in Rules & Settings will be in red.

§16 - Sending Recorded Game
Both teams must send their recorded games, the civ draft, map picks immediately after the conclusion of their games. Failure to do so will result in a prize deduction.

§17 - Using wrong civilizations
Teams are required to select one civilization from each pool (Pool 1, the one they drafted; and Pool 2, the one the opponent drafted for them). If a team picks the wrong civilizations, the game has to be restarted, and the opponent will select two civilizations for them (one from pool 1, one from pool 2) for that given game. If that does not happen, any game that does not comply the civilization selection rules has to be replayed regardless of the result.

Gaming Rules

Spoiler: Gaming Rules

§1 - Game Settings
The game settings must be the following.

Game : Random Map / Regicide for fortress
Map Style : Custom
Location : Determined by stage
Size : Medium (4 player)
Difficulty : Standard
Population : 200
Game Speed : Normal
Reveal Map : Standard
Starting Age : Standard
Victory Condition : Conquest
Team Together : [X] Yes
All Techs : [ ] No
Allow Cheats : [ ] No
Lock Teams : [X] Yes
Lock Speed : [X] Yes
Record Game : [X] Yes
Multi Building Queue : [MQ]


§2 - Restarts

In a Best of 5 each team is awarded one restart each.
In a Best of 7 each team is awarded one restart each.
In a Best of 9 each team is awarded one restart each.
A restart must be requested before minute 4:00 game time (remember that this is shorter than real minutes). When a game is restarted, each player must choose the same civilizations as in the previous attempt.

§3 - Bugged Map Restarts
A player can request bugged map restarts during the first 6 minutes (game time). A restart requested due to a bugged map does not count as one of the restarts awarded before a series.
A bugged map is defined as the following for standard resource starts:
Gold: Less than 5 tiles of the main gold cluster are at least accessible on one side, extra gold are excluded.
Stone: Less than 4 tiles of a stone cluster are at least accessible on one side, extra stones are excluded.
Berries: Less than 4 tiles of a berry cluster are at least accessible on one side.
Animals: Spawned with less than 3 deer or less than 8 sheep or less than 2 boars or, one or more of the animals being trapped.

§4 - Hidden Civilizations
For the entire event "Hidden Civilizations" must be selected when hosting the lobby on DE.

§5 - Different Civilizations
Different Civilizations means a civilization must be picked, choosing "Random" or "Team Random" at the start of the game is not allowed.

§6 - Graphical Mods
Any graphic changes that only affect the player's Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition are allowed.

§7 - Cheating
Cheating is not allowed under any circumstances. Players using any kind of cheat will be disqualified from the tournament and banned from future events.

§8 - Automatic Agreement & Punishment
All the game settings provided in this post MUST be followed. Not following them may result in penalties and possibly disqualification.

§9 - Player Colours
The higher seeded team should always play in the colour blue and green (P1 and P3) and the lower seeded team should always play in the colour red and yellow (P2 and P4).
If you do not follow this rule you will be penalized 5% of your prizemoney per series that you used incorrect colours.
Any prizemoney that is forfeited will be distributed proportionally among the other players.

§10 - Straggler Trees
Players are not allowed to delete the straggler trees which spawn within 10 tiles of an opposing player’s Town Center. This rule does not apply if the straggler tree which is being deleted forms part of a wall for the defending player. On maps where main forests are exclusively straggler trees, it is strictly forbidden to delete straggler trees from opponents (using the "palisade trick") unless they are being used as part of a mid-section of the wall.
Players may not delete fish spawning on sand or Mangrove shallow terrain by placing a building on top of them.

§11 - Laming
Players may steal enemy boars with their scout and are allowed to do anything else that is permitted within the game, including stealing boar with villagers, walling in resources, or blocking/killing villagers in the dark age.
Maps have been updated to make boar stealing much harder.

§12 - Server
Players should together work out a server that gives the most equal pings for the two players, if they cannot agree on a server they should speak to an admin.

§13 - Nomad Rules
In the event of a no-TC start (example: Coast to Mountain) - that is a start where players do not have Town Centers but only villagers:
The first buildings constructed must be either a Town Center, Dock, Mill, or Lumber camp.
Villager Fights are not allowed before minute 3:30 game time.
No Barracks, no Outpost, no Palisade Wall, and no more than one House may be built until the first TC is up.
No TC fighting is allowed. If it happens the game must be replayed. Should the Administration decide that a TC fight occurred intentionally, that team will receive an Admin Loss for that game.

Before minute 3:30 game time it is not allowed to block another TC being built by using villager(s), intentionally killing enemy villagers, boars, sheep, or deer, or sit under an enemy TC to steal sheep. After 3:30 minutes players are free to do any of the above. Breaking these rules will result in an AW for the infringed team.
Killing enemy boar and deer will be defined as: you are not allowed to lame any deer (killing more than 1 deer without taking 20+ food from it) and you are not allowed to kill boars without the intent to harvest the boar yourself for food. (I.e. palisading a villager with the intent to kill simply to deny your opponent from using it)

§14 - Slinging
Players may not send any resources to their allies until the player wishing to send resources has reached Imperial Age.

Administrators

robo | Discord robo_boro#5469 | https://steamcommunity.com/id/robo_boro/

Chrazini | Discord Chrazini#5687

Please do not message Lidakor directly about matches/recorded games/other administration issues.

 

[LidaKor]

The post has been updated with the link for the map-pack, which is now available to download

 

[LidaKor]

The sheet with qualifier seeding and bracket (preview) is now live. Please be aware that the bracket is a PREVIEW and not final until sign-ups end.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AuFzGvbASWmir0wtuGWX2LF5k0yOjAUagW0p0VVOLjM/edit?usp=sharing

 

[LidaKor]

Nomad start and Slinging rules added to Gaming Rules.

 

[LidaKor]

To clarify: The new civilizations of the recent DLC will also be allowed during the event.

 

[LidaKor]

Added rule to prevent wrong civilization selections:

§17 - Using wrong civilizations
Teams are required to select one civilization from each pool (Pool 1, the one they drafted; and Pool 2, the one the opponent drafted for them). If a team picks the wrong civilizations, the game has to be restarted, and the opponent will select two civilizations for them (one from pool 1, one from pool 2) for that given game. If that does not happen, any game that does not comply the civilization selection rules has to be replayed regardless of the result.