RTS-League: Clan Leagues for Strategy Gamers

1: Basic Idea

RTS-League is based on the idea that fun and fair play come before competition. Therefore these rules are limited to only those most necessary to ensure smooth play and to prevent or decide possible disputes. In all cases, the League Staff will have the final decision.

2: Clans

1. A clan is a group of players (minimum of 6 ACTIVE) that play under a uniform tag with a publicly accessible website and forum.
2. With international, and especially non-English speaking clans, it is required that the clans representative (operator) can participate in league operations without problems. Though rules are available in other languages, league operations are to be conducted in English only. This includes all scheduling and posting of games.
3. We do not strictly define clan structure, as varying situations exist. We do, however, REQUIRE that each player be a member of the clan for whom he is playing. Guest players are strictly forbidden. The League Staff reserves the right to exclude any individual from competing if we believe the intent of this rule has been violated.
4. Acceptance into the League takes place through application. At the beginning of a season, a sign-up thread will be opened in the news forum for clans to apply. The League Staff votes on each applying clan to decide on acceptance. League size is never predetermined; every clan deemed qualified by the League Staff will be accepted.

3: Players

1. All members of a clan, including trial members if they use the clan's tag, are eligible to play for the clan. However, all players must be listed in the official Player-List in the Clan Profile. Each clan is solely responsible for maintaining the list before, during, and after the season.
2. Members who have played for one clan during a season may not play for another clan during the same season.
3. The Player-List is to be submitted at the beginning of the season. Changes can be made at any time, however new players can only play after a waiting period of seven days starting from the day they are added to the Player-List. The same applies with name changes. The eligibility of a player can be checked in the Player-List.
4. All players must play in both IGZ and IP games with the exact name indicated in the Player-List. Even a misspelling or missing underscore will result in an admin loss for the offending team. If, when asked, a clan refuses to swap out an ineligible player, and the games are not played as a result, that clan will receive a miss.

4: The League Staff

1. To make RTS-League successful, we are dependent on the assistance and support of all participating clans. The League Staff is grateful for suggestions and constructive criticisms; we will address all suggestions with a private vote of all staffers. If necessary, the League Staff can also hold a public vote on ideas to change or improve the league. During these votes each clan, represented by their clan operator, and each staff member have one vote; decisions are made with a simple majority.
2. The League Staff decides about the accommodation and the exclusion of clans as well as about everything related to the league operation. At present the following persons belong to the League Staff Team:
   • DeathCubeK (AoC RM)
3. For future seasons, the composition of the League Staff can change.
4. The League Staff decides with simple majority. A member of the League Staff is excluded from a decision if his own clan is directly concerned.

5: Season

1. Each season begins with the formation of the divisions, where each league consists of at least 6 and at most 12 teams. There is no promotion or demotion through the leagues, instead they function separately. After the regular season, the best teams from each league proceed to the playoffs, where an overall champion is determined.
2. The duration of a season depends on the size of the divisions. Each week, one match is played. After all clans scheduled rounds have been played, one extra week will be given for delinquent games to be made up.
3. In the case of a tie to decide a playoff spot, a one-game tiebreaker must be played on the map Blind Random. This game should be scheduled during the make-up week at the end of the season. If a tiebreaker is not played, or if there is a tie between two clans that have already both secured playoff spots, the first applicable criteria in the following list will decide:
   • The outcome of the Head-to-Head matchup during the season
   • Fewest admin wins
   • The outcomes of the matchups vs the next highest ranked opponent during the season
   • Repeat the third until a discrepancy in a matchup is found.
   • Note: Admin losses and misses are NOT factored into tiebreaker decisions because they have already been penalized and included in the current point totals.
4. Participation in the League is free for all Clans. Eventual Costs (Website, etc.) are being paid by the members of the League Staff.
5. RTS-League does not offer Prizes. The most successful clans will be added to the Hall of Fame and all awards can be seen in a clans profile.

6: Game Settings

1. The game in use will be AoK: The Conquerors with the latest official patch: 1.0c, IGZ Anti-Cheat MUST be turned on, if by some reason a player has trouble with the IGZ Anti-Cheat you may turn it off but only if BOTH clans agree to it.
2. Settings:
   • All games are played as a 3vs3. If both clans agree, they can exceptionally play 2vs2 or 4vs4 instead. Note: A clan can't demand a 2vs2 or 4vs4 without agreement from the other clan.
   • Game Mode: Random Map
   • Victory Condition: Conquest
   • Selectable Maps: All maps included in the original version of AOK: The Conquerors random maps, as well as the custom map Land Nomad. The ES-Maps and other custom maps are not selectable. Green Arabia and Michi, in their common variations, and the Real World maps can be used if both clans agree. The respective home-team (see schedule) selects the map and announces it to the opponents before the game launches. Both clans can still change their team after the map is announced and before the game starts.
   • Population Limit: 200
   • Game Speed: Normal. Slow or Fast can be used with the agreement of both clans.
   • Other Settings: Default / Normal. "Explored" Map can be used on Black Forest or Michi if both clans agree (all other maps MUST be played with "Normal" Reveal).
   • Record Game must be activated. If the recorded file is corrupted, like after a dropped game, it is recommended to take a screenshot showing the final outcome.
   • The use of any kind of cheats, hacks, is not permitted and will be punished severely.

7: League Operation and how to deal with problems

1. The matches are played in a double-round with both games played in the same week. Each clan is once home- and once away-team.
2. All games shall be completed in the given week. In exceptional cases, and with the approval of the League Staff, games can be moved into a later play-week but have to be played as soon as possible. Playing matches in advance is not permitted.
3. If a clan does not appear for a scheduled game without excuse (delay for more than 20 minutes will be regarded as absence) or only with an insufficient number of players, a repetition date is to be set. This counts as a miss in the standings, and is penalized with (-1) points. If the clan does not appear to the repetition date, the game will be counted as an admin win for the respective opponent.
4. Matches that have not been played for whatever reason will be decided by the League Staff. Result arranout plagements (withying) between the clans are not admissible. In case of disputes only entries in the respective forums as well as personal messages sent to the League Staff are relevant.
5. If the League Staff decides that a particular clan has been exceedingly and repetitively delinquent with scheduling, playing, or posting matches, they may choose to remove the clan from the league.
6. If a clan does not finish a season for any reason, they will not be accepted for participation in the following season.
7. Valuation of Games, Results and Tables:
   • For a win you receive three points, for a draw two points and for a non-administrative loss one point. With so called never ending games each clan may demand a draw after 2:30 hours play time, if the difference in points is not bigger than 10,000. To avoid disputes it is absolutely necessary to make a screenshot with switched on clock showing at least 2:30 hours.
   • If a team leaves or is removed from the league during the season, each game they played will become an admin win to the opposing team regardless of the actual result. All of their submitted fairplay ratings will be removed. The rest of their scheduled games will be treated as byes with the opposing teams automatically receiving two admin wins.
   • The schedule results and rankings are updated automatically upon match submission. Mistakes or inaccuracies should be reported by personal message to your league's Staff member as soon as possible.
8. How to deal with problems during a game:
   • Players with a ping >1000 compared to a "general RTS-League player" - living in Europe/USA with a good connection - arent allowed to play. Players with a ping >800 arent allowed to play in 3v3 or 4v4 games. In case of a dispute make screenshots and contact a member of the League Staff.
   • If a game begins to lag badly, pause and try to fix any possible problems. Offending players should close IGZ and/or other applications. If there is no improvement, save the game and restore (Restart if less than 15 minutes played). If there is still no improvement, play a new game with other players or send the game to the League Staff for decision.
   • If both clans agree to play a 4vs4, then the League Staff will not decide the match as a result of unplayable lag.
   • If a player's connection aborts, the game must be restored (restarted, if game lasted less than 15 minutes). If one team's connection aborts three times in an attempt to play a game, the game is automatically lost.
   • All saved games must be restored within 20 minutes.
   • If the game cannot be restored due to technical reasons, then the game is automatically lost by the clan with the technical difficulties. Exception: If the losing clan was clearly ahead by points at the time the game crashed, they may petition the League Staff to decide the outcome.
   • When playing Nomad and Land Nomad, no players are allowed to intentionally slow down their opponents progress in the first three minutes of the game. This includes villager wars, building palisade walls, sheep stealing, and barracks first starts. In such a case the game has to be restarted. Any deliberate attempt to restart after a bad start may lead to an administrative decision by the League Staff. We advise you to NOT abuse this rule.
9. Posting of Results:
   • All results have to be posted without delay in the clan panel. Each clan is responsible for uploading their home-map. Careful and correct filling out of the forms is presupposed. The game should be uploaded even if it was dropped, because this is the only way the rankings are updated and fairplay ratings are submitted.

If you have any questions about the rules, please feel free to contact a League Staff member at any time. Good luck and have fun!