General
- The ClanBase Q3CTF Nations Cup is an online tournament for national teams (called 'clans' in the rules). National teams are led by captains who are appointed by ClanBase based on the support they have in their national scene.
- Clans who violate the following rules may see a match result changed to a forfeit loss, or be removed from the cup altogether.
- Abusive behaviour towards an admin or an opponent, both during a match or outside the matches, can be punished by the supervisor with a temporary or permanent removal from the cup of either the offending players or the entire clan.
Tournament Layout
- The clans in each group play each other in consecutive match weeks.
- The 3 highest ranked clans of each group advance to the playoffs.
- In the 1st round of the playoffs, the numbers 2 play against the numbers 3, while the numbers 1 may skip a round.
- The tournament tree for the playoffs is:
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A1
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B2 - A3
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B1
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A2 - B3
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Supervisors
- The cup is supervised by supervisors who are responsible for enforcing the rules, scheduling matches that aren't scheduled on time by the clans, and recruiting and coaching match admins. For any problems, contact the supervisors on the cup's IRC channel or through the e-mail address linked below the menu.
- Any issue that involves a supervisor's own clan may not be handled by that supervisor. It must be handled by another supervisor or by a CB crew member.
- For problems that the supervisors can't solve, or for complaints about the supervisors, competitors can mail to
cup@clanbase.com. Mails containing abusive language, a case in which the rules have been correctly applied or any issue that has not been discussed with a supervisor first will all be ignored.
Match admins
- A match admin makes sure the match is played according to the rules, records demos, takes screenshots, and enters the match result and a match report with screenshots in ClanBase. If you want to become an admin, use the Admin Application link in the cup menu or contact the supervisor.
- Match admins who are members of a participating clan may not admin matches in their own clan's poule, nor the matches of likely playoff opponents in other poules. Clans may refuse an admin who disregards this rule.
- Match admins are free to chase any player during a match.
- Match admins have the right to kick players who behave abusive towards them or towards towards their opponents and who continue to do so after one clear warning. A player that has been kicked is banned from the rest of the match. No matter how wrong you think an admin is, stay polite, being abusive won't ever help. If you think a mistake is being made but you can't convince the admin of it, then you can file a complaint with the supervisor after the match.
- Someone who is not registered as an admin (yet) may admin a match only if both clans are made aware of this and agree with it.
- Anyone who falsely pretends to be a match admin will be banned from ClanBase, and the maps she adminned do not count unless both teams agree that they should.
- When there are not enough admins available for all matches, the matches of clans who have an active admin in their ranks will get preference.
- If no admin is available for a match, the clans should do the following:
- Follow the procedures explained in these rules (e.g. server testing procedure). In case of a conflict or disagreement, consult a supervisor or an admin on the cup channel.
- Keep logs of everything that is said on IRC.
- Make demos and screenshots.
- Send the match result and the screenshots to the supervisor right after the match.
Clans and Players
- Only countries with an internet infrastructure that allows local players to be internationally competitive can play in the Nations Cup. To make a judgement about this, ClanBase will generally check whether local clans have participated in (and completed) international online competitions before. The Nations Cup is not the right occasion to try playing on international servers for the first time.
- For each participating country one captain will be assigned by ClanBase before the start of the season. ClanBase will generally pick the candidate who has the most support among the country's top clans and players.
- The captains have to add their players to the team on ClanBase before they are allowed to play. There is no limit to the number of players in a national team, and players can be added to and removed from the team at any time during the season.
- A national team may never have more than 3 members of the same active Q3CTF clan playing at the same time.
For this rule players are considered to still be members of any clan they've been a member of (no matter how briefly) after 30 September 2002, and any clan that was active after that date is still considered to be an active clan. National captains are expected to know the full clan history of any player they wish to field; not knowing it will not be an excuse to break this rule. If any doubt is possible about the membership of a certain player in a certain clan (e.g. because of a try-out) then the captain must always get permission from the supervisor before using that player. There is no limit on how many members of the same clan can be registered with a national team.
- The captains decide which players play the matches. They can also play themselves.
- Nationality and residence requirements:
- Captains must have the nationality and be residents of their team's country. The supervisor can make an exception if there is no candidate who meets these requirements.
- Players who have the nationality of the country they live in are always allowed to play for that country.
- Players who have the nationality of another country than the one they live in:
- Can play for their home country without any further requirements. However a national team may never have more than two such players playing at the same time. This means entire teams of ex-pats (players living abroad) are not allowed.
- Can play for the country they live in if they've lived there for more than 1 year. However a national team may never have more than one such player playing at the same time.
- May never play for more than one country during the same season.
- Players with a dual nationality of countries A and B who live in country A can only play for country B under the following circumstances:
- They must have a valid legal document to prove that they have the nationality of country B (just having the right to obtain such a document is not enough).
- They may never have played for a national team of country A.
Server settings
- Timelimit: 20 minutes
- Overtime: sudden death only in decisive map
- Standard id/OSP Q3CTF settings (team damage off, all weapons and powerups on).
Client settings
- All OSP client features are allowed. However, not being able to use some of these features (OSP hud, truelightning, altgraphics, ...) may not be a reason to refuse a server.
- Client settings during the match:
- pmove: off
- rate: min. 3000, max. 10000
- cl_timenudge: min. -20, max. 20
- snaps: min. 20, max. 40
- cl_maxpackets: min. 30, max. 60
None of these settings may be changed during the match.
- Clans can agree on different net settings rules before the match. If the match admin is not informed of this she will not conduct negotations about these settings but will immediately enforce the standard settings.
- Client settings while testing servers before the match:
- cl_timenudge, snaps, rate: the value that the player will use during the match
- cl_maxpackets: 30
Match rules - general
- Matches are played 5 on 5. Showing up with less than 5 players is equivalent to a no show and therefore a forfeit loss. Clans short of 1 player may forfeit the first map. They get until 30' after the scheduled starting time of the match to get a full team then.
- The map list is: q3ctf2, q3w2, q3w3, q3w7, q3wcp5, q3wcp9.
Match rules - group matches
- A group match is played on 2 or 3 maps. A map win results in 2 match points for the winner and 0 for the loser, a map tie results in 1 match point for both clans. The first clan to get 3 match points wins the match.
- Only the first two maps may end in a tie. In the 3rd map sudden death is played if needed until one clan makes a cap.
If the server has no sudden death, the map is restarted and replayed until one clan makes a cap.
- Both clans select a map from the map list before the start of the match and inform the match admin. The match admin decides whose map is played first.
- If a 3rd map needs to be played, it is selected like this:
- One server match: the clans take turns eliminating maps from the list of unplayed maps until one map remains. The clan with the most caps after 2 maps can decide who eliminates a map first. If both clans have the exact same number of caps after 2 maps, then the clan that won the first map gets to decide who eliminates a map first. If the first two maps both ended in a tie, the admin flips a coin.
- Two server match: the clan with the most caps after 2 maps may choose which server the 3rd map is played on (one of the two servers already used) OR can choose the 3rd map freely from the list of unplayed maps. The other clan can make the other choice.
Group rankings
- A forfeit loss corresponds to a loss of all maps. No map scores will be entered.
- A clan that forfeits a group match for the second time will be removed from the Cup.
- If a clan leaves the Cup with only 1 match to go, then the last match will be considered a forfeit loss and all the clan's matches will count for the ranking. This rule does not apply however to clans that had already forfeited a match or that had won or lost all their previous matches.
- If a clan leaves the Cup after having qualified for the playoffs, it can be replaced by the clan ranked below it in its group.
- Clans are ranked by their number of victories. If two or more clans have an equal amount of victories, their rank is based on net match points. If that number is equal as well, the outcome of the match between the tied clans determines the rank. When necessary, net captures will be counted to break ties. If one of the tied clans has a match or map win by forfeit, captures in the match against the clan that forfeited do not count for any of the tied clans. If one of the tied clans has forfeited one or more maps during the cup, it automatically loses the net captures count.
Match rules - playoff matches
- A playoff match can be decided in 3, 4 or 5 maps. A map win results in 2 match points for the winner and 0 for the loser, a map tie results in 1 match point for both clans. The first clan to get 5 match points wins the match.
- Only the first four maps may end in a tie. In the 5th map sudden death is played if needed until one clan makes a cap. If the server has no sudden death, the map is restarted and replayed until one clan makes a cap.
- Both clans select two different maps from the map list before the start of the match and inform the match admin. The match admin decides whose map is played first.
- If a 5th map needs to be played, it is selected the same way as the 3rd map of a group match.
Roster and Scheduling
- A predefined roster determines which match must be played in which week. Group matches are to be played in the week specified in the roster. However if both clans request it, a match can also be scheduled on the monday of the next week.
- The exact match date and time must be arranged by the clans before the Sunday that precedes the match week. The exact scheduling deadline is Saturday midnight CET.
- To challenge another clan, use the Roster page. To accept a challenge or make a counter challenge, use the Pending page. A challenge that was accepted can still be rescheduled until the scheduling deadline.
- If by Saturday midnight CET the clans still haven't succeeded in scheduling the match, the following procedure is to be followed:
- Both clans have to send an email to the supervisor before Sunday 22h CET, in which they explain what the problem is and specify all the dates and times (during the match week) on which they can play.
- On Sunday evening after 22h CET, the supervisor will schedule any matches not scheduled by the clans themselves without further consulting them.
- If both clans mailed the supervisor then she will pick a date on which both clans can play if there is one. If there isn't then the supervisor will favour the more flexible clan; i.e. the clan that can play on the most dates. If there is doubt about which clan is more flexible then the supervisor divides the week in 9 slots (7 evenings + Saturday afternoon + Sunday afternoon = 9) and counts the number of slots in which each clan is available. Therefore a clan that can provide 5 or more evenings/weekend afternoons on which it can play can be certain that the match will be scheduled on one of them.
- If only one of the two clans mailed the supervisor then she will always pick a date/time that suits that clan.
- If neither clan sent a mail then she will schedule the match as she sees fit.
- During the match week, any scheduled match, be it scheduled by the clans themselves or by the supervisor, can only be rescheduled if both clans agree on a new date/time in the same match week and if both inform the supervisor of this by email at least 1 day before the original date of the match.
Wildcards
- There are no wildcards in the Nations Cups; the teams can not postpone any matches by themselves.
- Only the supervisor can decide to postpone a match, and only in the following circumstance: There is an exceptional internet infrastructure problem in one of the countries (e.g. a major ISP failure) that is beyond the control of the players, and this problem affects several starting players.
Before the match
- For each match, a temporary channel will be created by the supervisor or the match admin who will inform the clans of this. Servers will only be proposed and discussed on this IRC channel, not on a server. The match admin will keep a log of this channel.
- The meeting time for a match is 30 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the match. At that time, the match admin and all players who will play in the match must meet in the match channel. If a clan is late or incomplete, the match admin will write down at what time exactly the clan was completely present.
- The search for a server starts immediately, i.e. 30 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the match. If one of the clans is not present or not complete at that time, that will be reflected in the influence the clan has on the server choice and on the admin's decision if she has to make one, and the more so the more the clan is late. If the match admin is late, the clans should already start the server negotiation and keep a log.
- Server negotiations should proceed like this:
- The clans take turn proposing a server. Proposing a server does not create the obligation to accept it.
- The IP/pw of the proposed server is put in the topic.
- ALL players of both clans join the proposed server immediately and without any discussion.
- On the server all players join their team and immediately make sure they have the proper settings for server testing.
- All players stay on the server until the match admin gives them permission to go back to IRC.
- The match admin makes a note about how good both clans' connections to the server are before giving the clans permission to return to irc.
- On IRC the other clan now proposes a server and the procedure is repeated.
- The procedure is repeated until the clans agree on a server, until all possible servers have been tested or until the scheduled match time has been reached.
If a clan is sluggish in following the above rules during the server testing procedure, the match admin may pick a server against their interest.
- When the clans can't agree on the server, it is up to the match admin to encourage a solution or to decide the server herself. The match admin will make the following considerations when deciding the server:
- The clan that showed up late, suggested very few servers or didn't cooperate well while testing servers may be disadvantaged.
- Only visible aspects of the connection quality are considered. These aspects are: ping, stability of the ping, smoothness of movement, pl indicator (if available).
- When the average pings of the clans differ less than 20% of the lower average ping, they are considered equal.
- If a clan with superior connections still has a better connection on the other clan's best server, then that server should be used.
- If a clan has better connections than their opponent on one server (or on servers in their own country) and worse connections on all other servers (or servers in all other countries), then the match shouldn't be played on that one server (or on a server in that clan's own country). If a clan has members playing from different countries then this rule applies for all these countries.
- If a clan has members playing from several countries, and it is the connection of its foreign member(s) that makes it impossible to pick a fair server, then the admin can decide to not further consider the connection of those members. This is a last resort that will only be used after attempts to find a server that's fair for everyone have failed.
- A match can only be played on two servers if a neutral server is impossible to find, if both clans agree and if the match admin agrees. The difference between the servers may not be so big that the match becomes a matter of who can win with the biggest score difference on their home server. The home map(s) of clan A must be played on the home server of clan B and vice versa.
- Clans that are caught artificially worsening the quality of their connections to a server being tested will be removed from the cup.
- Once a server has been decided upon, either by the clans or by the admin, this decision stands for the entire match; a clan can not demand a server change or more server testing later on. The server decision can only be changed if both clans agree, or if the connections to the server have changed drastically for several players. Only the admin can judge whether the latter is sufficiently the case to warrant a server change.
Match proceedings
- Each clan is allowed to have one spectator (no more) on the server, who has to be /coachinvite'd by her clan mates so she can only chase them. This observer does not have to be an allowed player or even a clan member, but can only substitute a player if she is. The observer may talk with her team during the match.
- The match may not begin before the admin is ready.
- The match admin will pause the match whenever a player overflows or crashes. The pause may last no longer than 5 minutes (enough time to reboot and reconnect). The maximum total pause time is 10 minutes per map per team. A map can be paused no more than 5 times for the same problem of the same player (i.e. repeating lag bursts). After that the player has to play with her problem or be replaced.
- Players are allowed to pause themselves in case of visible technical problems of a player. Tactical time outs are not allowed. Problems with a voice communication program being used are no valid reasons to pause a match. The admin will immediately unpause if there is no valid reason to pause.
- The break between maps will be exactly 10 minutes unless the clans ready up themselves. The match admin may force the map start if players don't ready up in time.
- Problems suffered by a spectator may never be a reason to pause the match, even if she's coaching.
However if the observer suffers a disconnect, the match will be paused shortly upon her return to allow her team to /coachinvite her again.
- If the server crashes during a match, the map will be restarted only if the crash occurred less than 1 minute after the start, or during the 1st round for round-based games. In all other cases the remaining time (rounded to the closest minute and with a minimum of 2 minutes) or rounds will be played, after which the scores will be added to determine the map win.
After the match
- The matchresults are entered in ClanBase by the Cup Admin.
- Players are encouraged to record and submit demos of the match. Demos have to be uploaded to ftp.clanbase.com/incoming after being zipped and named according to the convention ('warid_clan1_clan2_map_player.zip') - otherwise they will be automatically deleted. You can find full instructions on uploading demos .
Cheating and Anti-cheating
- All programs or files, be they changed Q3 files or new files, that change Q3 or add to its functionality, or that interact with Q3 in any way, are strictly forbidden. Modified versions of Q3's .pk3 or .exe files are always forbidden, regardless of what they do. The use of any forbidden program or file by any clan member during a cup match will lead to the exclusion of the clan from the Cup. The use of such program or file outside the cup may lead to the same sanction.
- Required mod files, in their standard version as released on the mod's web site, are the only exceptions to the above rule.
- Programs that do not interact with Q3 in any way are allowed, even if they can be used simultaneously with Q3. Voice communication programs are examples of such programs.
Changes and Exceptions
- These rules are subject to change at any time. Changes made after the start of the season will always be reported on the cup page. All clans are expected to know all the rules; not knowing them is no valid excuse for not following them.
- When the choice needs to be made, the spirit of the rules has precedence over the letters. When reason demands it, exceptions to the cup rules can be made. The internet is a chaotic environment for competitions, and not all situations can be foreseen. However, no clan can ever count on an exception being made, not for any reason, not after any precedent.
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