Winter AOElympics: Rules & Settings

[Huehuecoyotl22]

1. Tournament Structure:

• There are many brackets, each bracket only having 1 map, no maximum of players. All sets until (including) the Round of 8 are played as a Best of 3. Semifinals, finals and third place match will be a Best of 5.
• In each bracket, only two players or teams per national team may participate.
• Each player may only participate in 2 1v1 brackets and 2 3v3 brackets.
• All brackets will run at the same time. So be aware that if 1 player signs up for 4 brackets he/she might have to play 4 or more matches in one week.

2. Map/Bracket Pool:

• The map pool consists rather unplayed maps, from 2010 to 2020, a high diversity of winter-themed maps. A map bracket will guaranteed to be played if at least 16 teams/players sign up for it. Depending on the number of brackets that reach this number, brackets with 8-15 participants might be launched. This will be decided in time.

3. Eligibility to Play for a Nation/Country:

• You can only represent one country/nation throughout the whole tournament.

• I write country/nation, because there are different definitions and we would accept you representing e. g. Scotland (not Great Britain), Palestine, Gibraltar, Hong Kong or Greenland, but not states like Bavaria, Texas, Christiania etc.

• You can represent a country/nation (of) which

• is your place of birth
• you have citizenship yourself
• one of your parents has the citizenship of
• in which you have a permanent residence
• in which you have lived in the past, for minimum 3 years

• We will consider if you are interested to represent e. g. a country which is the birthplace of a grandparent or if the country you, your parent or grandparent was born in does no longer exist (e. g. a person born in the Soviet Union in a place which now is Kazakhstan, but you want to play for Russia) and discuss with you for which country you are allowed to play.

4. Registration:

All teams must use the dedicated thread on AoEZone.net to register. The application must include:

1. A list of all players in the team (no minimum or maximum).
2. One contact player/team admin. He/She does not have to play in the tournament, but is responsible for the communication and uploading the recorded games of your team’s matches.
3. Steam ID, aoe2.net profile, AoEZone profile and Discord name (if available) of every player.
4. To register, all players of the team must have read and accepted all the rules and settings.
5. You can add more players to the team until the end of the registration phase after it has been registered. This way you can already sign up for the brackets. Please try to avoid conflicts within your team regarding who signs up for which map. A good team chemistry will lead you to the win.

5. Bracket Sign-up:

• The players who want to play in a certain bracket, have to sign up in that specific sign-up topic. Only two players (1v1) or teams (3v3) per country/nation are allowed to sign up.
  • For a 3v3 bracket, you can sign up with 3-5 players. All players must be registered in the main registration topic before signing up for a bracket.
  • For 1v1, you can add a back-up player who is allowed to play in case the main player is unable to play. Signing up as a backup also counts towards the 2 1v1 brackets you are allowed to participate in. The seeding will be applied to whichever of the 2 players has the highest rating.
    • It has to be announced which of the 2 players plays before the bracket starts, e. g. if the first round starts on Monday, June 8, you can’t change the player after June 8, 0:00 GMT. In case the primary player finds out he/she can’t play after the scheduling phase has started - in the example case June 8, 0:00 GMT - you receive an admin loss.
    • Each national team is not allowed to change to the backup player more than 4 times to avoid inconveniences for the staff when making the brackets and teams using this as a strategy to confuse opponents.
• You can change the player or withdraw from the sign-up without a penalty until the end of the sign-up phase
• If more than 2 players or teams from one nation sign up for one bracket, the two with the highest rating will be accepted and the one(s) with lower rating will be notified and offered to play in a different bracket which still has a spot free for their nation.

5a. Redistribution Days:

• Day 1: Brackets with less than 7 sign-ups will be cancelled. Players affected have 24 hours to sign up for any bracket that has less than 32 sign-ups.
• Day 2: If a bracket has 7 sign-ups then, it will be cancelled too. Only those players may still sign up for any bracket that has less than 32 sign-ups.

6. Seeding:

• Each individual player/team for each bracket will be seeded. For a 3v3 bracket, the 3 highest-rated players of your team signed up.
• Seeding will be based on
  • Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition ratings
    • 50 % current rating at the end on 2021-01-09 18:00 GMT.
    • 50 % highest reached rating on 2021-01-09 18:00 GMT.
      • For 3v3, it will be 0.5 * (team game rating/1.28) + 0.5 * 1v1 rating [average of the team].
      • For 1v1, it will be 100 % 1v1 rating.

7. General Rules:

• Game & Patch: All games must be played on Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, using the current version.
• Respect & Sportsmanship: All participants, streamers and administrators must respect each other. Bad behaviour, insults or racism will not be tolerated. Great sportsmanship is expected from all players.
• Smurfing: Players must use their primary account - smurfing and account sharing is prohibited. Players must use the nickname they signed up with.
• Game Modifications: Players are allowed to use any graphical mods that are available in the official mod workshop.
• Cheating: Cheating or hacking is not allowed under any circumstances. Players found using any kind of cheat or hack will be disqualified. Communicating with people during a game, other than your currently playing allies, currently playing opponents or tournament administrators is strictly forbidden. Receiving any information from third parties will lead to disqualification.
• Cooperation: All participants must cooperate with a proper attitude and assist in any situation or incident they are involved in to ensure that the event runs smoothly.
• Communication: During the tournament and registration period, players must regularly check AoEZone.net for private messages and new information in the corresponding sub-forums. Players may also be reached on other platforms such as Steam or Discord, if deemed necessary.
• Recorded games: Recorded games from both players/teams have to be posted in the dedicated AoEZone topic before a result counts.
• Maps: Maps may be updated during the event if deemed necessary.
• Penalties: In case of a rule being broken by a team or player, the incident will be reviewed internally amongst the tournament administrators, and a sufficient penalty will be determined.

8. Game Rules:

• Within one Best of 3/5, each civilisation can only be used once per player/team.
• Some brackets can have specific additional rules. Those will be posted in the specific sign-up topic.
• Game Restarts: Players/Teams have 1 restart per set available.
• Admin Restarts: In the case of a bugged map, the player or team whose resources are bugged may request a free restart. A restart must be requested no later than 4 in-game minutes. It is the players own responsibility to determine if their map is bugged; however, players are allowed to pause the game and ask the tournament administrator for help determining the situation. After a restart, civilisations must remain the same.
• A bugged map is defined when: 1. Less than 50% of the sides on a player-specific gold are accessible. Extra golds that don’t belong to a particular player are excluded. 2. Less than 50% of the sides on a player-specific stone are accessible. Extra stones that don’t belong to a particular player are excluded. 3. Less than 50% of the sides on a player-specific forage bushes are accessible. Extra forage bushes that don’t belong to a particular player are excluded. 4. Any herdable or wild animal that belong to a player is trapped or in any way inaccessible. 5. Any player-controlled units are trapped or in any way inaccessible.

8a. Slinging:

• 3v3: 1. In Feudal Age sling is forbidden. 2. In Castle Age you may sling another player who is still in Dark Age or Feudal Age. 3. In Imperial Age there are no restrictions.

8b. Trading:

• It is not allowed to intentionally place markets in both ends of a trade route in order to increase the trade income by trading with adjacent markets or skip the first trip.

8c. Straggler Trees:

• Players are not allowed to delete the straggler trees which spawn within eight 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.

8d. Regarding Nomad start maps:

• You are not allowed to attack an enemy villager within the first 3 minutes of game time, unless that villager is constructing a building (house, wall, barracks, dock etc.) in close range of your own building(s).

9. Lobby Settings:

• Both teams are equally responsible for making sure the lobby settings are correct.
• Wrong settings will result in a game being restarted completely.
• Pre-Lobby:
  • The lobby must be hosted publicly.
  • Please set a spectator delay of minimum 1 minute, maximum 6 minutes. Please be aware that a higher delay might influence admin (restart) decisions, as watching admins will have the same delay.
  • “Hidden Civilisations” must be enabled, unless the specific bracket sign-up topic states otherwise.
  • The host of the game must be considerate and choose a game server that is as fair as possible for both teams.
• In-Game Lobby:
  • The in-game lobby settings must be set to the settings shown below. Take a moment and make sure that all settings are correct before every game.
    • Data mod: Definitive set
    • Game mod: Random map (only for Fortress: choose Regicide)
    • Map style: Custom
    • Location: [map name]
    • Map size: according to game mode (1v1 = tiny; 3v3 =normal)
    • AI difficulty: Standard
    • Resources: Standard
    • Population: 200
    • Game speed: Normal
    • Reveal Map: Normal
    • Starting age: Standard
    • Ending age: Standard
    • Treaty length: None
    • Victory: Conquest
    • Lock teams, teams together, team positions, lock speed, record game [enabled]
    • Shared exploration, allow cheats, turbo mode, full tech tree [disabled]

10. Recorded Games:

• All games during the entire event must be recorded.
• In case of a game crash or de-synchronisation, the game must be saved and restored.
• The recorded games must be adequately labelled to indicate the correct game number.
• Potential restarts must be included.
• The uploaded games may include fake or duplicate games to prevent spoilers.

11. Scheduling:

• Players must use the scheduling sub-forum to communicate and confirm times with their opponents.
• Players must provide all available times as early, and schedule as efficiently, as possible throughout the entire event.
• If a player/team fails to show up to an arranged and confirmed game within 30 minutes, it will result in an automatic loss; unless both teams agree to reschedule within the given time frame of the specific round.

12. Streaming:

• Streaming is completely open.
• POV streaming is allowed. A stream delay is possible to prevent cheating, but won't be enforced.

13. Admin Wins and Replacing Players:

• As we, from an organiser and fan point of view want as many games as possible to happen, and no medal decision should happen without a game played, we add this to the rules, for semifinals and finals/3rd place matches: If a player shows up late - 30 minutes or more, his/her opponent can claim to start with 1:0 at that time or at the rescheduled time. This way a player can be rewarded for waiting, but still hope for matches to happen. This does not mean that you have to wait more than 30 minutes.
• An admin win is still possible if a player does not schedule at all or because of other rule violations.
• For 1v1: If you know in advance that you won't be able to play, e. g. if you are unavailable because of unplanned personal or work-related problems, you can nominate a back-up from your nation's already registered players. That player can't have a higher rating on the seeding deadline (June 12, 20 GMT) and can't be in 2 brackets that are still not finished or already have reached 2 semifinals. If he/she already played in 2 brackets, but did not reach any semifinal, then he/she can be back-up.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Since 1.5 days before the original registration deadline, no bracket has reach 16 sign-ups yet, meaning there wouldn't be a Ro32, registration and seeding are moved 7 days.

New registration deadline: January 08, 20:00 GMT.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Since contrary to the 2020 AOElympics the sign-ups are very low, even in 1v1, which of course has to do with the prize money, but still lower than expected, we will change the tournament’s structure drastically to still make sure everyone who signed up can compete.

The maps will be divided into 5 map pools (brackets) of 4 maps each for 1v1 and 3v3 respectively.

1v1:
Bracket A (Gold Rush-type maps): Golden Ghost, Yukon, Eyjafjallajökull, Fimmvörduhals
Bracket B (Mixed maps): Ice Shield Arena, Alpine Valley, Sublimation, Permafrost
Bracket C (Water/Hybrid maps): Fjord, Frozen Lagoon, Scattered Islets, Winter Glush
Bracket D (Open land maps): Taklamakan, Hyperborea, Peary Land, Snowbowl
Bracket E (Less standard open land maps): Siberia, Triple Crystal Valley, Freezelands, Gobi

3v3:
Bracket A (Gold Rush-type and Nomad maps): Golden Ghost, Himalayas, Nomadlands, Stranded
Bracket B (Migration-type maps): Boar Isle, Team Island Hopping, Vinlandsaga, Winter Glush
Bracket C (Open land maps): Alpine Heights, Andes, Hyperborea, Taklamakan
Bracket D (Hybrid/Water maps): Arctic Circle, Coniferous, Kraken, Antarctica, Glacial Springs [1 map will be voted out by participants]
Bracket E (Less standard land maps): Combat Ring, Poppyfield, Permafrost, Rockslide

Players (teams) can participate in 2 brackets.

The first round will be group stage. If >7 players (teams) one group, if 8+ 2 groups, if 12+ 3 groups etc.
In each group each player (team) will face each other player (team) once, they play all 4 maps.
Hidden free civilisations, repetition allowed.

The 2 players (teams) who have the most map wins will face each other in a 1-map Best of 5 final, with the winner getting the gold medal, the loser the silver medal. Hidden free civilisation, no repetition. If there are 2 groups, the one with the most map wins from each group. If 3 groups, #2 and #3 will face each other in one semifinal to decide the second finalist. If 4 groups, Bo5 semifinals will be added.

If 2 players from the same group who would advance have the same amount of map wins, the direct comparison counts.

A bronze medal can be awarded in a) a match between semifinal losers or b) if only 1-2 groups to the player with the 3rd most map wins.

4 weeks will be given for all group stage matches. If a match is not played in this time frame, there will be no point (map win) awarded. Admin wins/losses will not be given.
After that the semifinal and final stage will take place.

This means each player could potentially win 8 medals in 1v1, by winning 8 maps.
An additional gold medal will be awarded to a player (team) who wins all 4 maps of one bracket.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Regarding the DLC and new patch:
From the impressions we have now, I make the following conclusions:

If all players in a match agree, they are allowed to use the DLC and civilisations, but 3 things are not allowed:

1. Using Coustilliers. The creation will not be penalised. But using a Coustillier to attack will result in an admin loss for the attacking player.

These 2 can lead to disqualification:
2. Abusing the bug with Lithuanians when using a relic multiple times to add bonus attack.
3. Deleting enemy walls by placing your building (wall, gate, Donjon and whatever else might be possible) on top of them.

Further, the players are responsible themselves if they agree to use the DLC and any other bug occurs that impacts their game. They can report it to the admins, in case they need assistance to solve a problem - e. g. game crash

These rules might be changed depending on what will happen with the game in the next days and weeks.

 

[Huehuecoyotl22]

Regarding the DLC and new patch:
From the impressions we have now, I make the following conclusions:

If all players in a match agree, they are allowed to use the DLC and civilisations, but 3 things are not allowed:

1. Using Coustilliers. The creation will not be penalised. But using a Coustillier to attack will result in an admin loss for the attacking player.

These 2 can lead to disqualification:
2. Abusing the bug with Lithuanians when using a relic multiple times to add bonus attack.
3. Deleting enemy walls by placing your building (wall, gate, Donjon and whatever else might be possible) on top of them.

Further, the players are responsible themselves if they agree to use the DLC and any other bug occurs that impacts their game. They can report it to the admins, in case they need assistance to solve a problem - e. g. game crash

These rules might be changed depending on what will happen with the game in the next days and weeks.

With the last hotfix, all 3 issues should be fixed and Coustilliers are no longer banned.