RTS-League: Clan Leagues for Strategy Gamers

Hello and welcome clans!

Season 32 of RTS League's Age of Mythology: The Titans Clan League begins, and here's how it's all gonna roll - be sure to read the whole post, as experience has shown that some long-standing practices tend to get forgotten over time (like timely uploading of games and such), and there are also some new ones that are very important. So here's the list of things to know!

The League participation can be summed up like this:
1) Fill in your Clan Roster and keep it up-to-date
2) Schedule your match
3) Come to match on time (which means before the scheduled time) and play (using RTSL Ladder on Voobly)
4) Don't smurf
5) Upload the played games
6) Submit the Fair Play Ratings (more below)
7) If you have any troubles, contact your division staffer

But you'll need some more specifics, so here they are:

1. Season 32 schedule:

Round 1: 24th April - 2nd May
Round 2: 3rd - 9th May
Round 3: 10th - 16th May
Round 4: 17th - 23rd May
Round 5: 24th - 30th May

2. Playoffs are planned as top 2 and 2 best 3rd places (best result after Group Stage). We'll see how the season progresses if there should be some adjustments.

Teams not advancing to the Playoffs advance to the League Cup - a postseason bracket competition aimed at providing further fun games beyond group stage play for everyone.

3. Play only under your Main Nickname. Do not use any smurfs. Play on a nick that clearly lets the opponents know who you are - it's not cool when you're kept in the dark, so don't do this to your opponents either. We also encourage every clan and team to ask about a player from the other team if you're not sure of his/her identity or skill level - you have the right to the truthful information.

Also make sure you are playing under your clan's tag - you need to be a member of your clan after all Check the Rules again for specifics.

4. Come to match on time - we are continuing the practice of supporting clans coming to their matches on time, to mitigate the oft-repeated malpractice of wasting your opponent's time through coming late for no reason whatsoever but not respecting your opponents - when you schedule a time, that time is when the match should start, not when you remember you have something to do - you should also e.g. have your connection issues resolved before the scheduled time, not take an hour to figure things out, so if you know you have problematic connection, come early - Clan Operators should make sure of this as well, motivate your players to do this.

To support this correct behaviour, we will be penalising teams coming unprepared and late to their scheduled games - if you come late, i.e. aren't ready to play by the time the waiting time is up, you will receive a warning for the first occurence - every further coming late will result in a Miss, i.e. -1 point to the standings (if you think it's no punishment, think again - 1pt regularly distinguishes Playoff participants or Playoff seedings). We hope this will help you show organised competition is way more fun and something we should all strive for, and that you, the participants, play an important role in making RTS League great

5. Use Voobly Balance Patch - the patch is mandatory, currently we play on version 5.0.

6. Submit Fair Play Ratings as soon as possible after each match your clan plays. More info on how to do it is below - especially new clans amongst us, read on. Fair Play is also your shot at an award banner and, most importantly, the feedback from you, the clans, on other clans, is priceless.

7. When playing a League game, do not forget to choose the RTSL Ladder on Voobly - it doesn't count any ratings, but it's here to keep track of all the RTSL games and also preserve recorded games in case you happened to lose yours.

8. Do not wall-spam near Wonders - no 1x1 wall segments and similar (long walls are fine). If you want to win through Wonders, do not do it by abuse. You can get in trouble for this. Simply if you have even the slightest hint that something could be considered unfair or an abuse, do not do it.

If there is some other behaviour that is considered questionable or talked about as such, just avoid it and possibly consult it before you actually endeavour in it - better safe than sorry.

9. Don't forget that you can choose Conquest instead of Supremacy on your home map. This will help you gain victory in a manner you feel most comfortable with.

10. You are the masters of your fate. You are responsible for your clan's ability to play in the assigned week, finish the games you are supposed to, and to be able to cover for any drop-outs from your clan roster. We are not exercising extensive considerations for a tough situation your clan might have suddenly found itself in, it's only your matter to worry about and resolve. We are, however, still here to see what can be done to improve your situation inside the mantinels of reason.

This means:
- Match is supposed to be played in its given week. If it's not, you have to have a time scheduled by Wednesday of the following week, otherwise an Admin Time is set on Thursday for a date until the end of the second week. You can schedule around that Admin Time, but if the match is not done or hard-scheduled by that Admin Time, it's forfeit. If you manage to schedule another time, that one will become the new Admin Time.
- No post in a scheduling thread by Friday means a Miss. Even if there is no scheduling thread up yet, you will get the Miss. Don't wait for anyone, it's your job to schedule actively.
- No vague scheduling. If a match is not played in the appropriate week due to your insufficient efforts, you will get a Miss. And you might get it even sooner if you're not scheduling seriously. Make true and clear effort to schedule your games. Start a scheduling with your offer, not asking "when you can" and doing nothing on your part the whole time until you get an answer. That's days wasted. Week is not that long.
- If your clan faces problems with activity due to whatever reason (vacation, sickness, school...), or, more importantly and what's happening regularly in AoT League, your top player cannot play this week, it's your own problem. You will be given no consideration. When signing up, you agree to have 6 active players for a reason - to be able to cover for problems. Use all your available players. Even if it should hurt your pride - you're here to play games and have fun, remember?
- Delays in uploading recorded games and submitting Fair Play Ratings will not be tolerated. Games and Fair Play Ratings should be submitted no later than the day following the match. If a recorded game or FP rating is missing for a week, you will get a Miss (for record and FP each). Another week, another Misses. Let's keep the competition clean and tidy. If you have some kind of trouble, contact a staffer.

11. At least one active Clan Operator needs to join the RTS League Discord to potentially facilitate communication with staff and also between you, the clans. Scheduling is still expected to happen here on the forums though for maximum clarity. Please visit the forum regularly, ideally daily, for everyone's sake, both yours and others'.

Now let's explain a few things:

What is a Clan Roster and how do I update it:

The Clan Roster is a list of players who are allowed to play for your clan in the League. You need to submit all the players you want available using their Voobly nicks. Newly added player must wait 7 days to become eligible for League play (does not apply to Round 1), this is to allow you to know who you can expect as your opponents and to prevent clan hopping and similar malpractices.

Clan Roster is updated by the Clan Operator through the Clan Operator Panel - new Clan Operators have received the log-in through Private Messages here at the forum. You can log in at the very top of the web (above banner) and then you just follow the leads and instructions.

How to upload a recorded game and update the match result:

Match results and League standings are updated through uploading played games. This means that without uploaded games, you won't get the points (unless it's an administrative decision, of course), so make sure all the games you play are properly submitted to have the correct numbers.

In group stage, you upload only the games your clan has won - if you have won both games, you upload 2 games, if you have both, you upload none.

Games are uploaded by the Clan Operator through the Clan Operator Panel. You can log in at the very top of the web (above banner) and then you just follow the leads and instructions.

What is the Fair Play Rating and how do I submit it:

Fair Play Award is not a competition, it is an award that should highlight and promote what RTS League stands for - fun competitive matches in a friendly setting. It's also meant to reward acting nice and responsible during League play, which are the qualities that make other clans enjoy playing with you

Fair Play Award is being awarded to the clan most deserving. The most deserving clan is the clan that gets the highest average Fair Play Rating during the Group Stage - these ratings are given by Clan Operators to clans their team has played during the Group Stage.

After each match, Clan Operators send the Fair Play Rating to the division staffer through forums PM (check you have the correct nick in the addressee line, there are some mischievous gnomes tirelessly working on replacing them all the time) - you give the opposing clan a score on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the lowest (worst) score, 10 the best. Since this is an award, meaning it is to a degree subjective, it does not have strict rules on how many points you should give for what - but, you should always take into account the whole process. This means you should evaluate how went the scheduling, how was the opponent's behaviour prior to the match, in-game, and after the games. At the same time you should leave out your personal biases, concentrate only on the match at hand. Basically your Fair Play Rating should be a general account of your experience with the opposing clan - if everything went great, without trouble, do not hesitate to give them high marks like 9 or 10, if you did not like some part of the whole thing, deduct some points from the top mark.


All right then, this is pretty much it, and all that remains is to wish you all gl&hf!