The Players' Guide
We hope you will take the time to read this very short players' guide. The organisers will assume that everyone has done so and that all the points contained within it are fully understood.
Please visit the FOG2DL forum regularly
and log in so that you can access any private messages that may have been sent to you by other players or the tournament organisers.
The complete rules of competition are posted on the forum here . . .
viewtopic.php?f=501&t=80755
The organisers will intervene on the basis of these rules where necessary. If you should need clarification on anything then please ask by posting your question in "The Rally Point: Discussion and Questions" thread or by sending a PM to myself (stockwellpete).
Rule 2
When choosing your four armies for the core league sections please choose armies from four different nations. If you were to choose, say, two Carthaginian armies and two Roman armies, then you would be asked to make other selections, which might lead to a delay. You may number your choices as 1, 2, 3 and 4 to indicate your preference if you want to. We cannot guarantee that a player will get their first choice army. Very, very occasionally a player may be asked to make an extra selection. Please take care over your army selections and ensure that you have chosen armies that you enjoy playing with.
In the first season of the FOG2DL, where players were asked to choose just three armies, around 40% of players received their first choice army, around 40% received their second choice army and about 20% received their third choice army. So if you are entering a number of sections it is very likely that you will have to use a second, third or fourth choice army in at least one of them.
From Season 3 onwards the FOG2DL player ratings will be used to determine the order in which armies are allocated to players in each division. So this will mean that if you know you are likely to be one of the higher rated players in a division then there is much less chance that you will get your first preference army.
Rule 3
It is expected that players will complete all their matches. The Digital League tournament that we organised for FOG1 was actually an invitation event and we did have rules that restricted new players to just two sections in their first season, and curtailed entry rights for those players who had failed to complete their fixtures in the previous season, or who were held responsible for slow play. So we would ask that you please think carefully about the number of matches you are going to be able to play in a season of 10 weeks duration. Each core league section will require you to play 9 matches and a player reaching the final of the Themed Event may also play 9 or 10 matches. A player entering the maximum of 4 sections will have to play around 30 matches in 10 weeks, and up to 36 matches if they are successful in the Themed Event.
The tournament does have a time control system that is fairly strictly adhered to. The relevant rule here states, "Players must register one result in each section they have entered within three weeks of the start, and three results within each section they have entered within five weeks (i.e. the halfway stage) of the opening of the tournament, or they may be replaced by a player from the reserve list. Messages will be posted on the forum as the time control date approaches so please be sure to read them. We usually find that we have some latecomers to the tournament and we will put them on reserve lists for the various sections. Players failing the time control either at the three week stage, or at the half-way stage, run the risk of being excluded from that section of the tournament and being replaced by a player on the reserve list.
Rule 4
Most matches will use the
"open battle" option and
"medium" settings for both army and map size, although the Early Middle Ages and Biblical sections have recently moved to
"large" and
"wide" settings for their army and map sizes. Players may pick their own units so the
"default" Force Selection option is used. The
"pot luck" terrain setting is mandatory for all matches in this league, unless otherwise specified. The only exception to this is when user-made scenarios are used in the Themed Event.
Either player may initiate a match by posting a challenge in the appropriate thread in the competition forum.
When challenging an opponent to a match, please remember to also send a PM (private message) to your opponent as well. This will help to avoid the situation where challenges posted on the forum are sometimes missed and matches are subsequently delayed. When setting up your challenges please ensure that they are password-protected. It is better to either use all lower case or all upper case in your passwords rather than a mixture of the two. When setting up the challenge inside the game, please use the "Comment" field to indicate who the game is for and which section and division the match is from.
Sometimes players will just issue one challenge, on other occasions a player might issue 8 or 9 challenges at the same time. Remember, if you put all your challenges up at the same time, you will undoubtedly find it necessary to periodically re-issue the challenges for the matches that have not been picked up straight away. It is entirely up to you how you proceed. All that is asked is that players try to arrange their matches fairly evenly across the sections they have entered rather than concentrate on just one section at a time. This is important with regards the Time Control system that is explained in Rule 4 and Rule 6.
There can be some tactical considerations to the issuing of challenges although not all players are concerned too much about this. For instance, what if you have a player in your division who has always beaten you? Is it better to play them at the beginning before they really get to grips with their army, or is it better to build up some confidence against someone you may have beaten before?
Charts are provided for each section that enable players to see which opponents they still have to play.
Please do not ignore a challenge from an opponent. If you are playing enough matches at the time and you get another challenge, please PM your opponent and try and agree a suitable start date.
If a match is set-up incorrectly for any reason then it must be re-started as soon as possible.
Players may agree to re-start a match, within the first three turns of either player, if they feel the terrain is likely to lead to a sterile encounter or a draw. Players may agree to a maximum of 2 re-starts. If one player wants to keep the map then further re-starts will not occur.
Reporting the result of a match is the responsibility of the winning player. Please do this as soon as you can after the match so that the league tables can be updated quickly. Please do not keep 3 or 4 results and then post them altogether at a later time. If you have lost a match and notice that it has not been posted on the forum after a couple of days, please post it on the forum yourself and the organisers will contact your opponent to remind them of their responsibilities.
From Season 4 onwards, a marginal victory rule has been introduced whereby a player winning a match will only get 3 points, instead of 4, if the losing player has inflicted 50% or more damage on their army. The losing player will also get 1 point in such circumstances. Ties and draws (where players have inflicted 25% or more losses on their opponent) will get 2 points.
Rule 6
Most matches are completed within a reasonable time-frame but occasionally a game will take considerably longer if one player is either playing very slowly, or has stopped playing altogether.
Rule 6 states, "It is expected that all matches will be completed within one month of their starting date".
Please note that the starting date is considered to be the date that the challenge for the match is first posted on the forum. So if you have a match that is coming up to being a month old and your opponent has either stopped playing, or is playing very slowly, please contact me by PM in the first instance and I will see if I can contact the player and get things moving again. If I cannot contact the player then the match will be sent for adjudication.
Rule 6 also states "Please notify the tournament organisers if you are unable to contact an opponent to start a match after 7 days have elapsed." If you have put a challenge on the forum and sent your opponent a PM but you get no response at all for 7 days then you should contact me by PM in the first instance and I will try and get the match started for you. Remember though, sometimes, it may be the case that your opponent is playing a number of matches already and does not want to start another one at this time. Provided they explain this to you and suggest an alternative start date then this is OK as far as the organisers are concerned. The tournament runs for 10 weeks and players are entitled to spread their matches out over that time.
Additionally, Rule 6 states,
"If your opponent has not moved at all for 7 days without explanation then you are entitled to claim the match automatically by using the facility to do this on the multiplayer system." In these circumstances you do not need to contact the organisers.
If you are going away for a week in the tournament when you are in the middle of some matches then you must notify your opponents, either in-game or by PM. If you feel uncomfortable about claiming a match under this rule then, after 7 days have passed without a turn, you may send a PM to your opponent asking him to play the next turn. If you hear nothing within 3 days then go ahead and claim the match. Please note that you cannot claim a match under this rule before the first Time Control check has taken place (i.e. in the first 3 weeks of the tournament).
Finally, in terms of resignations from the tournament, Rule 6 stipulates, "If you wish to resign from the league, or if you will not have time to finish all of your matches, please notify the tournament organisers as soon as possible. If you have not completed three matches in a division in a core section your record will be expunged completely. If you have completed three or more matches then the points available from any un-played matches will be awarded to your opponents. In the Themed Event, If you have not completed one match in a qualifying group you will be replaced by a reserve where possible. If you have completed one or more matches then the points available from any un-played matches will be awarded to your opponents."
"Pot Luck" terrain
Where the armies have different home map sets, the game will use the highest priority map set in the following list (highest to lowest): Tropical, Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, Steppe, Desert." The "Pot Luck" element determines whether the terrain is Agricultural, Hilly, Wooded or Mountainous.
v5 16/9/2019