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**Rommel2D** · April 18, 2004, 04:01

Tournament Rules

Finalized rules (seventh draft):

1) 16 players, two rounds, all four player games
2) Tiny pangea with 70% water, random civs (first round only)
3) Players in final round choose tribes in order of first round completion
4) Players organized by geography for fast play (modified by individual schedule variations)
5) Turn order in east-west progression with exceptions only for players who give specific availability variances
6) Games started by referee, first turn skipped
7) Each player has the option, once per game, to call for a restart before the completion of their first turn
8) Replacements are allowed while game is still BC
9) Replacements will eventually be assigned according to speed and/or number of victories in ICR games, but until the first replacement round reaches completion, they will be chosen as best meets the situation
10) 24 hour 'play clock', actively enforced
11) All players expected to make simple 'sent' post in tracking thread each turn, preferably listing year played, except when technical problems interfere.
12) All turns to be played with version 1.22 until it is superceded by another stable upgrade which all players agree to adopt
13) There is to be no...
rule 13.

To clarify the issue of rules and exploits/ettiquette:
Everything listed under Tournament Rules is here to keep the whole tournament together and running smoothly. These will receive active attention from the moderator.

Everything in the Etiquette and Exploit List is there for the convenience of the players. It is meant to be a starting point for them to refer to when deciding on 'house rules' for each game, and these items are not being actively enforced by a moderator. However, if a dispute arises that is not settled by the individuals in the game, the moderator's resolution will be based on the list and agreements stated in the game's tracking thread.

**Rommel2D** · April 18, 2004, 04:02

Etiquette and Exploit List

[ Recently revised content in orange text ]

Regular and bold words give the basic exploit information and rules to prevent them. Red, underlined words are the specific exploits covered. Royalblue, italicized words are etiquette points mostly, meant to add to the game if agreed to, but not necessary to avoid the most damaging exploits.

Preamble
It is understood that everyone participating is doing so to enhance their enjoyment of the game and share this enjoyment with others. These rules are not designed to prohibit someone who does not play with the spirit of sportsmanship from gaining undue advantage, only the vigilance of the community can hope to accomplish this. The aim of these rules are to present a common ground from which a fair challnge is presented to all, subject to the intended random elements of the game.

Reloading
Reloading of the turn in an effort to gain better RNG results or reposition units according to newly aquired information is the most heinous abuse of the PBEM system. However, reloading a turn to correct manual errors is Ok, as long as no unexplored or fog-of-war tiles are revealed and no combat has taken place. Any instance of reloading should be reported in the tracker thread.

Definitions
'game turn'= sequence begun when first player in order starts turn and ended when last player clicks 'save & exit'

'production phase'= part of the individual's turn immediately after loading, lasting until player is free to select and move units. In the "it's not a bug, it's a feature" department, any time the map is blacked out, it is still the production phase. :-)

'Trade' = applies to tradeable resources only

1 Intertribal cooperation

1-1 Players shall not conspire to use irregularities of the game engine's turn sequence to gain extra use from units or resources. They shall not declare frivilous wars. Deals shall not be canceled on the same game turn as they are made unless due to a legitimate war. Resources intentionally removed from a trade network cannot be reconnected to that network on the same game turn. Players shall not make deals that include money they will not pay for.

1-1.1 Getting double-duty out of artillery and Workers
1-1.2 Sharing a Luxury or Strategic resource
1-1.3 Generating Leaders and Golden Ages by sacrificing cheap units
1-1.4 Declaring war for happiness
1-1.5 Inflation bug
2-0.2 Accepting a Peace Treaty from a civ then immediately declaring war

1-2 Players shall not exchange in-game information until they are represented on each other's foreign advisor's screen. They shall not exchange graphic map information before both have knowledge of Navigation.
a) In diplomacy without an embassy between the Tribes, a player may only offer technology already known by their Tribe. They may not offer or ask for unknown techs.
b) Players shall not coordinate military action unless an alliance is formally declared in the foreign advisor's screen.
c) Players shall not make reference to specific distances or directions until both have knowledge of Map Making.
d) Players shall not make Mutual Protection Pacts or Trade Embargoes unless they are declared in the foreign advisor's screen.

1-2.1 Exchanging map/minimap information before Navigation.

2. Intertribal conflicts

2-1 Players shall not rename units or cities to disguise the content of unit stacks or diplomatic offers.

2-2 Cities may be offered diplomatically only as part of a peace treaty.

2-2.1 Teleporting units by abandoning or gifting cities

3. The individual turn

3-1 Players may only use drop-down menus to make changes during the 'production phase'. They should not zoom to cities or advisor screens from the pop-up boxes.

3-1.1 Using F1 to change production during the 'production phase'
3-1.2 Using city screen's arrow keys to change production during the 'production phase'

3-2 Last player in turn sequence shall not use the GoTo command's double movement to gain strategic advantage over an opponent.

3-2.1 Using GoTo to get extra movement

4. Options

4-1 Naval chains are allowed unless players agree otherwise in advance.

4-1.1 Chaining naval transports to quickly move land units across water

4-2 There are 4 basic levels of combat reporting;

Level 0> Absent
No reporting whatsoever, unless the attacker feels like gloating.

Level 1> Passive
(The default level to be used unless there is a consensus to use one of the other levels.)
A summary of combat results is required to be sent to the defender if, and only if, they make a relevant inquiry soon afterward.
['soon' should allow for a few turns to realize a unit is missing, but could only be one turn cycle for simplicity if the attacker insists.]

Level 2> Active
A player making any attack must indicate to the defender that it has taken place and provide a brief summary of units involved, along with damage taken.

Level 2.5>
Same as level 2, except any unit moving into and out of another player's fog of war on the same turn must be reported.

Level 3> Intensive
A player making any attack must indicate to the defender that it has taken palce and provide a detailed account of each unit's location and resulting damage status.

Level 3.5>
Same as level 3, except any unit moving into and out of another player's fog of war on the same turn must be reported.

All information need only pass between the affected parties. Post it in the turn thread only if you wish to broadcast results to the world (or are too lazy to make a seperate email )

**Rommel2D** · April 18, 2004, 04:03

...From first to last
The peak is never passed
Something always fires the light
That gets in your eyes
One moment's high
And the glory rolls on by
Like a streak of lightening
That flashes and fades
In the summer sky...

Progress Report, as of July 18, 12 weeks into it:

Coliseum A was at 310BC.
Scores at 750BC:
314 Paddy the Scot
219 ricketyclik
169 Aqualung
161 Masuro

Coliseum B was at 1725BC.

Coliseum C was at 70BC.
Scores at 750BC:
235 Moonbars
176 Andydog
160 Mickeyj
159 Sabrewolf [since eliminated]

Coliseum D was at 670BC.
Scores at 750BC:
254 alexman
247 smellymummy
162 Soltz
Trip [eliminated]

**Soltz** · April 18, 2004, 18:06

Sorry, between the Easter weekend and a business trip last week, I didn't get around to checking my PM's.

Password sent.

**Rommel2D** · April 18, 2004, 18:59

MFCamillus and McMeadows requested the last spot, but Soltz responded within 24 hours of their PMs, so I'm going with him.

All passwords received, thank you.

Tracking threads will be made up and games launched later in the week. I'm particularly busy with RL on Mondays and Tuesdays.

**Beta** · April 18, 2004, 19:32

Um - interested.

**Krill** · April 19, 2004, 16:17

I can be a replacement for GMT games.

**Paddy** · April 19, 2004, 20:48

so when do we start

**Conqueror** · April 19, 2004, 23:58

Originally posted by Rommel2D

I could still use passwords from the following (in order to save me the trouble of making up rude embarrassing ones for them myself ;-) :
MickeyJ
LzPrst

Something like 'ReadYourPMs' and 'SendPMInTime' would be good passwords for them, dont you think

**Rommel2D** · April 20, 2004, 01:04

Haven't sent PMs yet- they still have a few days as I don't plan to launch the games until the end of the week. It would be nice if they read this thread though, since it has been so graciously topped.

**alexman** · April 21, 2004, 18:41

The replacement pool has enough players to form a new group. Some of them are frequent and reliable PBEM players.

Would it be any fun to form a new group, and have five players in the final?

**Rommel2D** · April 22, 2004, 03:24

Ain't nothing gonna stop us now...

The experimental Quatrain Tournament Engine (TM) is scheduled to have its prototype assembled early Saturday GMT. Unfortunately, the engineering team will be sleeping one off for the next few days, and are unavailable to make modifications.

I'd really like to keep the tournament structure as simple and uniform as possible for this one, and focus on what happens within that structure. Like I've said elsewhere, I hope someone else takes the initiative to run another tournament and experiment with different set-ups like that. (We can sort of compare this to the first Tournament to see how well the five-player final works.)

**jshelr** · April 22, 2004, 13:21

Originally posted by alexman
The replacement pool has enough players to form a new group. Some of them are frequent and reliable PBEM players.

Would it be any fun to form a new group, and have five players in the final?

I'm sure we would have loved to see that happen Alexman!

**richthur** · April 22, 2004, 22:46

Experienced Civer, newbie PBEM

All sounds great guys! I'v never tried the PBEM, done alot of CivII Gold MP. THIS seems the way to go for a REAL long term player.
Bummer to hear of all the cheats that are possible, but that's true in ANY human competition. Some a__holes have to push his/their ego ahead of everyone else's fairness & fun. But "luck" has a way of balancing them out. As long as, as U have so well done, THE rules are known to all.

As for this touney... i'm a single, self-employed, work from home, keep-strange-hours-anyway, kinda guy. So, having been in long term MP's with players all around the world, i CAN & WILL stick with it... even if i'm getting whooped (as i would no doubt in this crowd). It'd be a great learning experince for moi'. I AM a fast learner.

But if U need another altern or, as has been just suggested, another grouping is formed... count me available & interested.

As a PBEM newbie, any one know where i can get into a / some games? Any takers here? Or "mentors".

---------------------------------------
An Aside: where / how do U get your personal "icon" & flags created/added?

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