RTS-League: Clan Leagues for Strategy Gamers

With cold and damp weather settling in (well at least in the northern hemisphere ), it's time to get back to our computers and spend the time more productively again - by playing Age of Mythology of course! To give you the best chance on ultimate fun with the game, we're back with yet another, proper season of RTS League's Age of Mythology: The Titans Clan League, this time with some necessary updates to ensure better experience for everyone.

Novelties for Season 23:

Regarding the current state of the community and a trend evident in the several past seasons, we have decided to take measures to ensure a smoother course of matchplay from now on. Our attempts at having a competition aimed at friendly competing based on fair play and fun will, of course, continue, but we see it's necessary to implement some measure of tough love into the formula for the competition to successfully continue its tradition.

Simply put, you will be the masters of your fate starting Season 23. You will be 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 will no longer exercise extensive considerations for a tough situation your clan might have suddenly found itself in, it will be only your matter to worry about and resolve. Our attempts at helping clans were often misused and tended to backfire due to various reasons, and this summer showed us a different approach is needed if AoT Clan League is to continue living strong. We will, however, still be here to see what can be done to improve your situation inside the new mantinels we are going to lay down, and we are introducing some more "tools" to help you in getting around in the League.

After all these words, let's get down to business - here is what we will do to help you:

1) Clearly stated Round dates - the exact time span a match is supposed to be played in will be posted in the scheduling thread's title to be constantnly on your eyes, a schedule will be posted in each division, and we will add the dates to the match schedule itself.

2) Pause on significant holidays - we will work to create a schedule avoiding times where clans historically have problems attending games. This means that in the upcoming season, we are planning to finish group stage before Christmas and start Playoffs after Christmas.

3) Timely staffing efforts - we will work diligently to solve problematic situations as soon as they start to brew and make sure we avoid further escalations.


And here's what's going to change for you:

1) 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.

This will effectively mean that a match will take no longer than 2 weeks.

2) No post in a scheduling thread by Friday means a Miss for the offending team. 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.

3) No more 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.

4) 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?

5) 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.


These are quite some changes to the current practices, but we believe they are necessary for improving the playing experience for everyone, so you better make sure your Clan Operator can handle the task well - it's not really that hard, all it takes is being able to be responsible and reliable

The transition might be hard for some established clans, but, well, changes come all the time, even in the ultraconservative AoT community We expect to see some more Misses and Admin Losses, maybe a lesser amount of played games, but if that's what it takes to make things better, let's give it a go, together.

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With this serious matter behind us, we have some more news for the upcoming season and beyond concerning the gameplay itself!

1) Teams are now able to choose Conquest instead of Supremacy on their home map. We have listened to the worries about the increasing number of Wonder wins in the community, and this will help you gain victory in a manner you feel most comfortable with.

2) Semifinals, Bronze match and Grand Finals will be played as Best of 5. This enhanced format will help you in proving your real worth and eliminating any prevailing luck factor in the most important games of all, and fans will have more games of you to swoon over and watch live in streams.

We will work with a combination of home maps and pre-set maps in the following manner:
1. Pre-set
2. Map 1 loser's home map
3. Map 1 winner's home map
4. Pre-set
5. Random

The mappool for the pre-sets will be decided during the season with the help of you, the participating clans.

3) We have introduced a chapter about live streaming and spectating into the rules, covering the basics like 2-minute delay or 1 observer only that are already in effect through other means.

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So this has been the part covering the news awaiting you in the new season, and now it's time to get to the sign-ups themselves! Is your clan looking for some friendly team-game competing in a League with a decade-long tradition? Or do you even think you could take up arms with the current Champions Deities of Death and throw them off their throne? Then don't wait any longer and sign up!

First though you will need a Clan Operator - the guy/gal representing you in the competition, scheduling your matches with the opponents, and communicating with League staffers on your behalf. This person should be reliable, responsible, and available regularly, every day if at all possible. Proper and timely communication is the key here. You can, of course, have more than 1 Clan Operator to cover for each other

Then you must have at least 6 active players ready to participate - this is to ensure you are able to complete your matches regularly even if some of your heroes happen to be temporarily unavailable.

Further you need to be familiar with the League rules. Read them carefully, and pay attention to the novelties for Season 23 posted above as well.

And when you've checked all these points and you're ready to join, then again make sure that your clan meets the criteria listed above and within the rules and simply post the following sign-up form. Returning clans need just to confirm the participation.

Clan Tag:
Clan Name:
Clan Website:
Number of Members:
Clan Operator Name and IM:
Clan Leader Name and IM:
Clan Operator has read the rules and agrees to them:

Please sign up your clan only if you seriously want to take part in the League, do not sign up inactive clans or clans with too few players to actually meaningfully compete. Clans that drop out during the season will be excluded from the next one/s.

Sign-ups will be closed on Friday 17th October, Season 23 will start on the Monday 20th.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact our AoT staff members or any other staffers.

You can check the games played in RTS League at the RTS League's Replays Archive that is currently being worked upon or in the dedicated forum at RTS-Sanctuary where you can also discuss them. Visit our YouTube channel for previously streamed League matches to enjoy the games with insightful commentary from RyFang, DragonQ, Clown and others, or see the games through the eyes of player's the likes of SpOefT.

About us:
RTS League is the foremost and longest running "Age of" clan competition ever, with a history of hosting numerous other strategy games (like StarCraft II, Empire Earth, and Dawn of War) in the past. Fun and friendliness are the prominent aspects of RTS League, with the unquestionable prestige and fame the triumph brings to the top finishing clans following close behind.

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