Rules can be found in a separate thread.

Rosters are unlocked for editing.



Schedules and results for the season will be posted on these boards.

The off-season will be a mere two weeks, March 6th will be pre-season. We'll see what March 13th will be.

Lusty might be hosting events during the off-season.

4v4 Premier League & Prac rules


Sort of current staff: Caerbannog+, 9-Volt+, Clerisy+


Things that are bannable -- everything bannable in pracs is also bannable in matches, but not necessarily vice versa, we do not have a command other than ban to fix most of these issues:

Actions after dying OUT in a prac.

Subbing into a prac and suiciding out.

Subbing yourself in a prac at the cost of someone else.

Playing for more than 3 lives, using any method.

Auto-toggling items and such in matches / pracs.


"Mystic" lagouts near death in matches are to be converted to deaths on the player / slot. We should have mod presence at matches in the playoffs for immediate action. For regular season, we'll see.


Things that require mod presence / player conduct (use !burn, !refend, etc.):

Illegal ship changing. (exception: death sub in a prac, since the bot will deem that illegal -- at least at the moment).

Running in a prac without engaging while losing. !refend by an online mod. Players who like to do this should consider hitting f11. The prac will end and you will not have a death.


Things that are generally frustrating:

Speccing while the score is TIED. (the bot might randomly have the team with no players in win)

Speccing while winning a prac after it has become a duel. (the bot might randomly have the team with no players in win)

Players lagging out a million times in a prac, while the other team uses toys on these players. We cannot fix the zone lag limits. *spec is overridden by !return. Only a ban would prevent these players from entering, unless a lagout limit is added back onto the bots.

Please consider having yourself subbed if there are other people wanting to play. It's good for the zone.


--------------

1. Some changes -- this section has not changed since Season 27.

As a change to previous seasons, if you get banned during the week, we won't lift the ban for matches. So captains / squads, please make sure that your players don't act like assholes during the week. Most of the offences listed above will result in a three day ban. Repeat offenders get punished more. They should learn at some point.

1.1 At some point, a player is going to abuse the above rules and get banned by a staff member who has a game against the team of that player. It will be sad, but the ban is likely to stay in effect.


The reasoning: Players might behave better, which will be better for everyone.

The negative: There isn't enough staff to witness every abuse, and things like attaching after you die OUT of a game and thoring/repelling aren't too easy to spot on logs.


2. No powered names on the roster. Powered names have higher lagout limits than regular names, and could use some *commands

3. Double squadding is still bannable for the player, and punishable for the squad. Meaning all games with the player(s) in them will be converted to losses.
3.1. Some people are known to have brothers or sisters, some names are all screwed up in the alias viewer. Some people tell squad captains they're not double-squadding and join more than one squad, in these cases we need to figure it out.



--------------

4.0.0 -- Basic Standings rules.

The season standings will be W/L -> K/D -> Alphabet on the bot. Playoff standings in 4.2.

4.0.1. -- BYE rounds and such

If you end up with a BYE round, it's a 12-0 without showing up.

4.0.2. -- Playing times

Playing times. As long as we only have 8 or less match-ups, we'll use 3PM and 4PM slots. If we have more than 16 squads, we'll add in the 2PM slot.

The reasoning: People struggle to show up at 2, strong squads with their B-Line-ups isn't spectator worthy at 2.

4.0.4. -- Force majeure garbage

Massive lag issues somewhere on the network. Should the issue arise, where a lot of (arbitrary number) players are online, but cannot play due to lag somewhere on the server, the games will be postponed. If the captains of two squads agree to play the game under random lag, the score will stand and the game will be played. These squads will have a bye the following weekend.

International events postpone games. Superbowl does not. NHL finals do not. The Olympics, while international, do not. Christmas and New Years do (+- a couple of days so people have time to finish their holidays).

The reasoning: We're here to play matches, somehow having lag throw everyone off their game doesn't seem worth it. We can change this rule to "all games are played, even if global lag prevents both teams from fielding 4."

4.0.5. -- Number of players, no-shows

The minimum number of players required to start a game is 2. A squad will be kicked from league if they no-show two weekends in a row, or a total of 4 times during the season. All no-shows count as 0-12, same as BYE rounds.

Unused slots do not automatically close, late entries are ok.

Unused slots on the losing team will be converted to deaths before the matches are ended. To get this done, use ?help to notify an online staff member.


4.1. -- Random note

The squads with staff representation should not be scheduled on the same slot, if this can be avoided.

4.2. -- Playoff split & standings formula

The PRO playoffs will be top 6 squads. AML Playoffs will include all the rest by using X bye rounds for the top seeds, resulting in a total of eight(or four) squads by the second round. All Final games will be best of 3.


Playoff games are best of 1, up to semi-"finals". With 6 squads, the top two teams get a BYE in Pro while #3 plays #6 and #4 plays #5. #1 seed gets to choose which match-up they want their opponents from. Same goes for AML, varied to match in numbers.


Playoff standings: W/L -> H2H between the tied squads -> H2H between the tied squads, and squads above tied squads -> K/D between tied squads -> K/D between tied squads and above -> K/D in league.

Quick, bad example: #5, #6 and #7 are all 6-6 at the end of the season, the bot assigns them these numbers because their K/D are +1, 0 and -1. If in that group #7 with -1 has defeated #5 and #6, they will be the real #5 and make Pro.

4.3 -- Rosters, aliasing.

The maximum roster size is 14.

For new squads, the minimum roster size is 8

(NOTE: All rostered players must have a visible eRating).

4.3.1. -- Roster lock


1. Rosters will be unlocked until round 1. Captains can add and remove players normally.


2. Rosters will be locked for captains and players before round 1.


3. No changes on rosters on Sundays (unless the request and ok for a move have been sent prior to any given Sunday)

- 3.1. Unless we can make sure this player hasn't played on any squad in any round, thus being completely new to league.

- 3.1.1. And even in that case, no one will be removed to make room for this player.

- 3.1.2. The rule 3.1. includes players who have previously played for the same squad they want to play for again. No going around the cap like that.


4. All movement between rosters will be handled by the staff (which will need the request from the player and an ok from the captain of the target squad, which might take a while.). Just to make sure people don't change names etc.

- 4.1. We can track changes in the staff thread if necessary.

- 4.2. Staff is needed to prevent changing names

- 4.3. Captains can request a player to be removed from their squad at any time.

- 4.4. Players will only be moved once a week (so you can't be indecisive and tell the staff you're changing squads, no, not really, put me back)


5. No name changes. Both for players and Squads. Especially squads.

- 5.1. Announcing that you're dissolving a squad, just to remake it under a different name won't work for you. All late entry squads get 0-12 scores for all the rounds up to the current one.


6. Maximum of one game a week, playing more than one using any loophole or method will be penalized (player and squad the player broke the rules on).


7. Final roster lock for movement, excluding homeless pilots by dissolves is usually the last round in the schedule rotation, if it is being rotated. (So in Season 33, R11.)

- 7.1. Should a sneaky captain remove players from his/her squad just before the roster lock, thus potentially leaving the players locked out, extra squadjoin time will be granted to those players.

- 7.2. Players not on a roster can be added up to Round 9. Players on a roster cannot be removed after round 6 though. So if you're full at round 7, it will be your final roster.



8. If a captain of a squad looks inactive and the players don't want to join other squads, the staff will bestow ownership on two active members.

- 8.1. Inactivity will be based on showing up on match scoresheets, or having been seen in game, the results of ?find, and any whine from the squad members.



So pretty much as many squadhops as you'd like within squads that aren't maxed out. Leaving the league integrity to each player him or herself.


PROs:

If you don't like your squad, you can change squads as long as you arrange it with the new squad.



CONs:

Rosters might be getting scrambled all the time, thus effectively ruining the little integrity our league has.

Inactive captains pose a problem.

4.4 Subbing.

The subbing rules are/should be as follows:

- One full sub at any point until the last 10 minutes of the match.

- Full death subs (1 minute timer, !allowsub is the responsibility of the team's captain).

- Lag-out subs etc. are burned.

- You can sub one slot as many times as you want to. The only use for this is ship changes via subs. Players who have subbed or lagged out, can not re-enter.

- The one minute timer also counts for SCs, you should have one minute to SC.

- The full sub can be used on a slot that was already lag / death subbed.



Captains: !allowsub <player going in> !fullsub <player going out> Player going in> !sub #


The reasoning: You need less talented people to "stack" a team to being competitive.

4.5 Game start, spectator conduct, game end.

Spectators should remain in spec during the 1 minute count down. Squads should remain somewhat distant from each other until GO! (meaning do not go float on top of the enemies). No firing until GO!. Massive abuse is bannable / punishable / appealable. Spectators, as well as players in-game, are not to harass the other team by freq or private messages. Public messages are fine, since ?nopubchat fixes that. We do not want to pretend that a player in-game has the time to ?ignore everyone. Spectators need the squad captains' permission to be on their freq during games. Games at 5-5 or less score at a margin of 1 go to overtime. Overtime is, I believe, infinite even during the regular season now. Games at 6-5, 5-6 or more end even with a margin of one. The bot currently does not have a 5 minute lagout timer anymore. All lagged out / specced out slots will still be converted to deaths (read below).

NOTE: There were some cases last season where someone shot at the enemies around 6 seconds left in the countdown, almost getting a kill at 0:01.



Refs, let's go with a 2 minute timer from the ?help message/arrival in arena in case the last players lag or spec out. There is an obvious exploit in jumping to spec and letting the timer run. This will not be tolerated. Any squad attempting to run out the timer by sitting in spec will receive a loss. Do it again and there will be bans. Being stuck in a flawed ship (no multi, 99% charge, no bouncing bullets) is bad luck and the players' responsibility. No enforced shipresets. Same with spawning a new ship. Same with being in the wrong ship at game start. Same with lagging out during the countdown and starting in spec, you'll have to sub an un-used slot, resulting in no toys.


The reasoning: We don't have enough staff to be present in all games fixing these things. While mean, the rules are the same to everyone as enforced by the bots.

4.6 These rules... are not complete. They're just supposed to be visible for everyone in one place.

Are all subject to change even mid-season if something calls for it. Including a big enough change in the total squad amount, or closer to the playoffs, the scheduling. Including ship settings. Yes, they were designed so that wb is the default ship. That is because it has no "trick" features.


5. Ship Settings:


http://www.subspace.co/topic/26024-4v4-ship-settings/

6.0 -- Good to know league things for captains:


1. When a player lags out but the bot doesn't count it (!stats -> LO means lagouts) captains need to !setlagout lagged-out-player. Do not repeat the command too much or you'll end with 3 lag outs on the player, which means they are stuck in spec.

2. You need to !allowsub all subs after the GO! The bot also forgets this command if the sub leaves the arena.

3. Anyone on the squad freq can !cap to gain captain powers. All rostered captains should have them by default. -- roster Captains seem to get ignored a lot.

4. Read the forums. The posts there can achieve things the bot, bots commands etc. can not.

5. All violations of the rules, such as double-squadders playing for your squad, might result in penalties.

6. Captains should have access to 4v4 Council on the forums, a place intended for more civilized chat. (every third post won't be a random image or a reference to a game that took place 2 seasons ago)

7. There has been at least one incident of a player who is being subbed leaving the arena before !fullsub was applied, causing a burned ship. Doesn't look like there's a way around it if the bot decides to be an ass.



Pre-Season / match:

!addplayer Squadnamelayername

!removeplayer Squadnamelayername

!editaccess playername:1 makes people captains. :0 makes them active. -- should be accessible by captains, if it is not, message a staff member to change status.


The difference is that if the staff asks for a captain to reply for a squad on the forum, we might not always remember who the "main" captain is, and take something from the other roster captains as the squads' opinion.



Good to know things for players:

!removeplayer yoursquad:%selfname will make you leave the roster of your squad, prior to roster lock.

What's your opinion? Add your comments below...



--hallu

I saw that the recent news.txt (that not everybody reads) mentioned interest in feedback on the recent "8 powerup flags" game that was tried for a reset, and thought it would be worth asking the question here.



Which flagging game do you prefer to see in the zone? I'm not adding a poll because I think discussion > polls.



A. 8 Flags, no powerups, flag points, and a prize for collecting all. (correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is based on the structure of an old zone called "Jackpot")



B. 1 Flag, +1 to bullets and bombs lvl, no additional prizes or 'flag points'. (apparently based on some old place called Running Zone, or Rabbit Zone)



C. Combination of both above (our last reset), 8 flags, +1 bullets (but not bombs), flag points and reward for collecting all. (based on three sheets of pasta with bechamel cheese)



D. No flags at all? Some folks have mentioned the concept of flags in general is RUBBISH.



E. or of course a build your own rabbit zone pizza with your choice of any of the available toppings, delivery $8.



Personally, I don't really like any of the flag games too much. But that's mainly 'cause I can't tell who's got a high bty on radar when they're all the same shade of freakin' red. Getting a flag seems to be more expedient as a kind of stealthing device as it is for any of its intended purposes. But if I had to have one, I prefer the rabbitty one, ( Option B ), at least with just one flag, the extra firepower the player has is somewhat offset by the attention his (lone) red dot gets. Perhaps that game, with the feature that the power ball has, in that it appears on the expanded radar regardless of how far away he is, and perhaps regardless of stealth!



Ok, all yours.

Players looking for a squad can post here, as well as captains who want to confirm their squad will be returning.



All the squads will more or less be assumed to return anyways, though.

Reposted from the old forum



=====================================================



It's come to my attention that some players are confused about all the various ways that they can help contribute to the zone.



The best way for people to contribute is to bring new people in, and help them learn the game. At this point, this is a very difficult task because the vast majority of players in the zone are vets with years of experience. New players will die many many times often without a single kill -- what fun is that? This is why more luck-oriented zones, such as Trench Wars have been successful -- shots fired at random are sure to get some kills at least. New players need lots of assistance getting up to speed in Chaos.



There are many other ways to promote the zone without being on staff. If you want to advertise the zone -- advertise it! There's nothing stopping you. If you want to dup CDs and send them to people -- send them! If you want to go on various game forums and promote the game, give links where to download it, talk it up -- please! do it!!!



Rational and informed discussion of opinions and ideas is another way to contribute. I say 'informed' in that making suggestions that are impossible does not help, but absorbs people's time in trying to answer or steer the discussion in a meaningful direction. If you're interested in how the game works, that's great, but please, do some research!



At the same time, even with the craziest of ideas, there can sometimes be a small glimmer of something worthwhile. So please, continue to post questions and ideas -- and please be respectful. Vague comments or 'suggestions' such as 'bring more people into the zone' or 'make the zone more friendly for non-hunters' just aren't helpful. Suggestions need to get very specific in order to be implemented.



Another misconception people seem to have is that being on staff makes your opinion more important. That's simply not the case -- ask any staff member! I've gotten excellent input from pro players who rarely play in Chaos, but have good critical thinking skills and have applied them toward the zone. A large number of staff members over the years have had no good ideas for the zone -- but their relationship with the population is great, and so they're wonderful staff members, beloved by the community. You get on staff and rise in the ranks by having ideas and actions that prove to be good ones; by your relationship to the players in the zone -- are you respected as an honorable pilot and communicator in the zone? By your willingness to selflessly help.



The absolute best thing you can do is to start a squad and organize it to compete and give your squad members a fun environment to play in. One where they feel safe, and with friends. An environment where they don't have to worry about the rug being pulled out from underneath them suddenly and without warning. An environment where newbies can learn and get up to speed. For example, teach them to turret and drive them around -- at least that way they can get some kills -- and don't worry about dying yourself so much -- a newb is bound to close bomb the turret at times. All part of the fun in my book. This is a way you can actively help the zone.



To the league squads and those squads with all high quality vets -- your presence in Chaos is valued and needed more than ever! If you think there isn't enough competition in Chaos, then compete against other squads of high caliber -- challenge them! What I see is that the best players avoid each other and choose to kill weaker players; afraid to get a loss on their record in 'ez' Chaos. What I'd like to see is top quality squads swarming and trying to force the others to run from them! Stake out an area, and hold it! Try to take an area from another swarming squad. These are the hallmarks of the best squads -- you swarm, hold an area, _keep_ high bounties (no recycling), take control, make people run from you. Stand up to the Chaos and attacks from all sides.



There are many many ways to help the zone, and we need people to pull together now. The rebirth of CZL has been in the works for a couple of months now. We're looking at more events (I've wanted an events night for a long time [like since I stopped doing it in 2000]). If you are a part of any social network out there - facebook, tumblr, digg, etc. please do a little to get the word out about the game, and then help the person get up to speed -- notify the staff of the new player and that you're trying to help them. At times we can do things to assist that process...



See you in Chaos.



--hallu

Hi all,

as Caerbannog stated some of players think of this as last season of 4v4 league. As I noticed there are still decent number of active players, so shutting down league would be really bad to see. If we do not manage to keep league alive how about we make some sort of Sunday 4v4 tournament. No roster, players pick their teams on Sunday, half of hour before tournament.

Or any other idea that would work and keep players active?



INRI

Can KinGNewbiE defend his crown against all the other Newbies?????

Season 27 (2010) : [The Dark] def [Outlaws], [Llamasery] [Nightwatch] [Rebels] [ReDs (final season)] [Sterling] [Unhallowed] and [color="#FF0000"]one other[/color]

Season 28 (2010) : [The Dark] [Happy Mob (reformed)] [Morph (new)] [Llamasery] [Nightwatch] [Outlaws] [Rebels] [Sterling] [Unhallowed]



Can anyone help me fill in the blank?

[size="5"]General Alpha West (and East) and [color="#800080"]Chaos Zone/?go alpha[/color] discussion.[/size]



Its been a couple of years since Alpha had its own zone. Now the map is consigned to a subarena in Chaos ( ?go alpha ).



But the Alphanian community never dies. It just gets noober. Please note the following options for those seeking out their past cybersex partners. Mine was Vinegaroon. He was dead sexy.



[color="#4B0082"]Play alpha! :[/color]

Chaos subarena : ?go alpha



[color="#4B0082"]Alpha West On The Web:[/color]

Unofficial website (Refugees Of Alpha West) : http://www.blackers.info/ (shared with AUS$IES squad)

Unofficial website forums : http://www.blackers.info/forums/ (shared with AUS$IES squad)

Facebook Community : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=121271761234869



[color="#4B0082"]Current alpha representative squads:[/color]

alpha noob - see a portishead remix

AW Refugee - password is alphawest



Remember, if you ain't from alpha ... you're ... probably from someplace else ...



?message Nude For Satan:whatever else you want to know