PREMIUM IS REQUIRED.
This is a Tournament Players Association (TPA) event, and is governed by its rules, guidelines, and judgments. All are welcome to join and participate in the association. You need do nothing more than join one or more of the TPA events that will be announced each Monday. Check back on the TPA scoreboard in the Tournaments--> General Info forum to see how you're doing.
Note: This may look unreasonably complex. It was, to design... To play or run, it's simple. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS: play the games I send to you. I'll be sending each player ONLY the games they need to join, as autojoin links.
Format: (3x3x3x3) 81 Players, 3 league-style rounds. In the Preliminary round(31 games per player), players will be organized into 3 squads of 27 (3^3 ...okay, I'll stop with pointing out all the 3s, heh) each. You will play all 26 of the opponents in your squad; 8 of them in 8-player games(you play 8 games), 8 of them in 7-player games(you play 7 games), and 14 of them in 4-player games(you play 16 games). Points are earned for order of finish in each game.
To keep things moving, all games will be Standard, Escalating Spoils, Automatic Deploy, Casual. Other maps and settings will be as below, to provide some variety and challenge:
All 8 player games will be Chained fortifications, no fog.
--These games will be played on First Nations North America(first round), Fractured America(elimination round), or World 2.1(finals), depending on the round.
All 7 player games will be Adjacent fortifications, no fog.
--These games will be played on Europa(first round), Eastern Hemisphere(elimination round), or Land and Sea(finals), depending on the round.
All 4 player games will be Unlimited fortifications, with fog of war on.
--These games will be played on Brazil(first round), South America(elimination round), or Classic(finals), depending on the round.
These maps have been chosen for several reasons, the LEAST of which is their ability to fit a weak geographical theme.
In the Preliminary round, the four top scores in each squad, and the next 15 best overall scores will advance to the elimination round.
In the Elimination round, the format will repeat, with the nine top scorers of the single squad making the final round.
In the 9-player finals, the format will repeat with the same number of games, but a shift in the scheduling due to the reduced field.
Scoring:
8 player games: 12 for the winner, then 9, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1, and 0 in reverse order of elimination. 96 points possible.
(i.e., 0 points to the first player eliminated, 1 for the second eliminated, 2 for the third out, 3 for the fourth out, 5 for the fifth out, 7 for third place, 9 for second, and 12 points to the game winner)
7 player games: 13.5 for the winner, then 9.5, 7, 4, 2, 1, 0 in reverse order of elimination. 94.5 points possible.
4 player games: 6 for the winner, then 3, 1, 0 in reverse order of elimination. 96 points possible.
**Note: Deadbeat players will continue to earn points, with their elimination coming at the point they were forcibly removed from the game.
Placement for the TPA for this event:
Eliminated in the first round: Place 28-81, based on scoring (so every point you can earn in a game is valuable)
Eliminated in the second round: Places 10-27, based on Second round scores ONLY.
Finalists will be ranked 1-9 according to their scores in the FINAL ROUND ONLY.
---So if you advance past a round, those points no longer matter. This is clearly "What have you done for me lately"-type scoring.
The games will be sent out in 3 groups, comprising a mix of 8-, 7-, and 4-player games. It is intended to send them out at one-week intervals, and it may be necessary to update squads on different days due to the number of games involved (486 in the first round, total) and the need to send out the precise games involved to each player. Each player will receive between 8 and 12 games in each group of games.
*****
See the Scheduling post for a link to the full tournament schedule.
81 players accepted for play, seeking reserves as well. After some debate, I will be participating. I don't love participating in my own tournaments, it's a distraction. But in this case, the grind/pace/degree of cabin fever in the finals is such that I won't ask others to play the format if I won't myself. Also, I've cut my game load WAY down (momentarily at zero, but engaged in tournaments in progress), so I should be able to manage. Reserves as such will be used ONLY in the Preliminary round. If I need a fill-in in later rounds, it will be the top-ranked player who did not advance from the prior round, and their TPA standing shall be altered accordingly.
Random.org will be used to sort players into the squads and schedule for the tournament.
Questions will be gleefully accepted.
[spoiler=Rationale-History-Origin-Ramblings]I prefer league-style formats to bracket eliminations. A league where you could play the same group of players, in varying game sizes and settings, was introduced to me by the 3456 League. I liked the idea, so I tinkered with it, eventually producing The Five Elements, and The Five Elements-Shuffle. They worked, although they had some problems with 'Cabin Fever' (too many games against the same group of opponents), and the inclusion of a fair number of 3-player games, which caused some outcry and complaints about "ganging up". As such, and despite the name of this tournament, there are no 3-player games included, go figure.
When the opportunity was presented to run a TPA event, I looked at my normal ways of scheduling, and realized, oddly, that I was restricted to scheduling in factors of prime numbers. Choosing not to use 5 as a basis again (I'll go back to that proto-franchise, probably after this event), I was left with 3, 7, and 11, while keeping the size believable. I chose this size and format for the flexibility and variety it presented. There are other ways to schedule this event, within this size format, so I may revisit it as well in the future.
Scoring has been designed to make every game important, with not only a desire to place well, but to WIN. But if someone decides it is strategically wise to sacrifice a game for the greater tournament, It is a potentially viable option in some cases. For the same reason, the Standard game type was chosen over Terminator.
One issue with the 81-player size vs 25 in the 5E tournaments: it did make me drop the custom maps and settings completely for the first run of this size. Having to create this number of games caused MUCH more chance for error if each game had to be custom.
For those interested in the stats, there are (in the Tournament):
486 games in the Preliminary round, 162 per flight, 31 games per player.
162 games in the Elimination round... basically a single flight's worth of games.
54 games in the Finals, 31 per player, although the scheduling works a differently with a field of 9 instead of 27.
If you've read this far, be advised I LOVE constructive (or even USEFUL destructive) feedback on my tournaments. I've tried to improve on some flaws I found in older tournaments (the excess 'weight' given to 5-player games to scoring in 5ES, for example), and keep them out of this tournament and future ones. Let me know if I've succeeded and interested you. Thanks![/spoiler]
Does that mean I get all of the points that the player [player]top banana[/player] had in the 15 games he played?
