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Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 9:43 am
by Muso
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are pleased to announce the fourth Field of Glory 2 public tournament!
Due to the phenomenal demand, this will be the largest FoG II tournament to date: the Holiday 2017 Tournament will consists of 5 rounds for 128 players – a tournament like you’ve never seen before!
This will be played using the normal Field of Glory 2 Multiplayer system and our automated tournament system.

To enter, go to the tournament page HERE!
The general tournament rules can be found HERE!
The first round will commence on Monday, the 11th of December 2017. No further entries can be accepted after the tournament has begun.

Specific tournament rules:
This tournament will involve five rounds. The battles will be medium-sized custom battles.
Round 1: Seleucid (205BC – 167BC) vs Roman (199BC – 106BC) (Mediterranean Agricultural)
Round 2: Pergamon (190BC – 129BC) vs Pontic (281BC – 111BC) (Mediterranean Hilly)
Round 3: Bosporan (84BC – 11BC) vs Dacian (50BC – 106AD) (Norh European Agricultural)
Round 4: Jewish (64BC – 6AD) vs Prolemaic (55BC – 30BC) (Middle East Hilly)
Round 5: Ancient Brits (60BC – 80AD) vs Roman (105BC – 25BC) (North European Agricultural)
Games are paired, so each matchup will be played both ways. Each player will be able to choose his forces using the normal force selection system. Random maps are in use, so the two battles in each pair will be on different maps.
First round pairings will be selected randomly, subsequent rounds using the Swiss Chess system. Nobody will play the same opponent in more than one round.

The scoring system is as follows:
·         If a game runs to the turn limit, each side scores points equal to the enemy % routed at the turn limit. If the game times out, adjustments may be made, depending on how far the game has progressed and who took longer over their turns – see below.
·         If one army breaks, the victorious player scores 60 points plus the difference between the enemy % routed and his own % routed. The loser scores points equal to the winner's % routed.

Examples:

1) If Ben defeats Tamas's army, and has inflicted 45% routed on Tamas, and Tamas has inflicted 15% on Ben, Ben will score 60 + (45 – 15) = 90, Tamas will score 15.
2) However, if Ben defeated Tamas’s army by inflicting 62% routed on Tamas, and Tamas had inflicted 56% routed on Ben, Ben would get 60 + (62 – 56) = 66 points, and Tamas would get 56.
3) If the game is unfinished (or it reached the turn limit) with Ben inflicting 20% routed on Tamas, and Tamas inflicting 10% routed on Ben, Ben would score 20, and Tamas would score 10. (Provided that between them they have played at least 24 turns in all – see below).
Note that this system rewards aggressive play over desultory skirmishing. If you rout an enemy unit then hide for the rest of the game, both players will get extremely low scores - lower than if they played hard and lost.

Byes:
If an odd number of players sign up for the tournament, one player will get a bye in each round. In the first round this is random. In subsequent rounds it will be the player with the lowest score. The score for a BYE is 75 points for each game.

Round times and timing out:
Each round will last 10 days.
Any battles that are not completed by the end of the round will be timed out. The player who has had the game in his “My Turns” box the longest overall will be the one who is deemed to be timed out. This will not normally incur any penalties, unless insufficient turns have been played: If the timed-out player has played less than 12 turns, his score will be reduced proportionately, and his opponent will be granted the BYE score if it exceeds his current score. If the timed-out player has played less than 6 turns, he will not be included in the draw for the next round. This is to prevent someone else’s enjoyment being spoiled by being drawn against someone who has apparently dropped out of the tournament.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:44 pm
by mhladnik
I don't seem to able to join. What gives? The message I get is:
You are logged in as mhladnik.

Remember that you must login into multiplayer with your mhladnik account at least once before you can join a tournament.
I am logged in, and I have played individual multiplayer matches with the account. I installed FoG II on Steam and registered the game under My products on Slitherine.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:24 pm
by rbodleyscott
mhladnik wrote:I don't seem to able to join. What gives? The message I get is:
You are logged in as ***.

Remember that you must login into multiplayer with your *** account at least once before you can join a tournament.
I am logged in, and I have played individual multiplayer matches with the account. I installed FoG II on Steam and registered the game under My products on Slitherine.
Hmm. I suggest you post about this on the technical support forum, as tech support people are unlikely to look at this thread.

I also suggest you email support@slitherine.co.uk

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 6:16 pm
by mhladnik
Thank you very much, sorry for cluttering the space here. I thought maybe it was a known issue with an easy fix.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 6:26 pm
by rbodleyscott
mhladnik wrote:Thank you very much, sorry for cluttering the space here. I thought maybe it was a known issue with an easy fix.
No problem, you might still be lucky. It probably does have an easy fix, but I myself don't know what it is.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:18 pm
by redrum68
@Muso - Are these pretty standard tournament rules regarding "Round times and timing out"? I haven't played in any of the previous FOG2 tournaments but have played many of PBEM or similar format tournaments for other games. Usually even aggressive timeline tournaments shoot for 1 turn per day as if you end up against opponents in drastically different time zones it can be fairly difficult for each player to play more than 1 turn per day.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:45 am
by grumblefish
I would like to join, but I cannot log in to the front page. It doesn't reject my username/password as incorrect... it just reloads the page and I'm still logged out without any error message or indication as to the problem.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:56 am
by MikeC_81
redrum68 wrote:@Muso - Are these pretty standard tournament rules regarding "Round times and timing out"? I haven't played in any of the previous FOG2 tournaments but have played many of PBEM or similar format tournaments for other games. Usually even aggressive timeline tournaments shoot for 1 turn per day as if you end up against opponents in drastically different time zones it can be fairly difficult for each player to play more than 1 turn per day.
I found that you have to get multiple turns in on a weekend in order to get a tournament game done. From the first official tournament, the 2nd round I was paired against a player in Europe while I was in North America. We managed to complete our turns in 7 days but it required me to basically make sure that I get a turn in when I wake up before I go to work and make sure I get a turn off before bed to squeeze in 2 turns a day during weekdays.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:44 pm
by FroBodine
Yep, this is my biggest issue with these tournaments. I love them so much, and am having an absolute blast playing in the tournaments. But, the timezone thing is a killer.

I wish there was a way for players in similar time zones to be matched up together, as much as possible. Doesn't having a Slitherine account ask you for your time zone?

I agree that weekends are the best time to get a bunch of turns in, but when your opponent is absent all weekend, that pretty much ruins your chance to complete the full game.

Another option would be for Slitherine to host a North America only tournament, a European tournament, etc. I would definitely be up for a North America / South America / Hawaii time zone tournament.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 9:04 pm
by Spectre195
Quick question since this will be my first not only FOG2 tourny, but my first PBEM tourny. Will we play both sides of the mirror at the same time? Or do we play one way all the through and then flip to the other side?

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:59 pm
by MikeC_81
Both games simultaneously

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:30 pm
by edb1815
MikeC_81 wrote:
redrum68 wrote:@Muso - Are these pretty standard tournament rules regarding "Round times and timing out"? I haven't played in any of the previous FOG2 tournaments but have played many of PBEM or similar format tournaments for other games. Usually even aggressive timeline tournaments shoot for 1 turn per day as if you end up against opponents in drastically different time zones it can be fairly difficult for each player to play more than 1 turn per day.
I found that you have to get multiple turns in on a weekend in order to get a tournament game done. From the first official tournament, the 2nd round I was paired against a player in Europe while I was in North America. We managed to complete our turns in 7 days but it required me to basically make sure that I get a turn in when I wake up before I go to work and make sure I get a turn off before bed to squeeze in 2 turns a day during weekdays.
That's basically what I did - fortunately I can get home and play a couple of turns at what would be 10-12 pm in the UK since I am on the East Coast. Sadly I am not always available on the weekend and for the holiday tournament well it is the holidays during one of the rounds....

Looking at the player location thread I see there is a smattering of NA players, but we are still outnumbered by the UK and EU players so the time zone issue is a fact of life.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:00 am
by stockwellpete
Maybe allowing 12 days for each round instead of 10 would help?

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 12:17 am
by MikeC_81
At the end of the day, 24 turns in a game means at some point players need to coordinate and play multiple turns a day regardless of time allocated unless you are willing to put up with month long rounds

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:04 am
by TheSkirmishLord
I know it's a long shot but what about a tie ?

I recently played a multiplayer game that ended before the turns ran out with both armies at 60% routed. Technically, you could say I won because the end note said that my armies retained the field but I think that's just an arbitrary choice on the program's part.

How would you score this?

Would each side only get 60 rout points and no winner points because there was no clear winner ?
Would each side additionally get half the winner's points (60 + 30) since there was no clear loser and the game was played to completion ?
Would the army that held the field at the end of the game get all the winner's points (60 + 60) ?

I hope you would choose the second option (90 points) so the players wouldn't lose the victory points since the tie was not due to slow game play or an abandoned game.

Awarding the winner's points based on who had the field at the end would be as bad as deciding the winner by flipping a coin.

As I said, I know a tie is a long shot but it DID happen in one of my games and you should probably decide on the scoring BEFORE the tourny starts.

I'm interested in hearing your opinions.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:44 am
by Lancier
10 days and 107/128 players, wow...

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 8:57 am
by stockwellpete
TheSkirmishLord wrote:I know it's a long shot but what about a tie ?

I recently played a multiplayer game that ended before the turns ran out with both armies at 60% routed. Technically, you could say I won because the end note said that my armies retained the field but I think that's just an arbitrary choice on the program's part.

How would you score this?

Would each side only get 60 rout points and no winner points because there was no clear winner ?
I think this is the answer. If you won a match 61-59 you would get 60pts+2pts (the winning margin) = 62pts. So for a draw I think you would just whatever the opponent's rout points were in the game.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2017 9:41 am
by TheSkirmishLord
@stockwellpete

Looking at the rules again, your comment makes sense - each side would get 60 points. Giving both sides 90 points would be too high.

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:23 pm
by Benedict151
Tournaments for regions or time zones are on our wish list, but I have no ETA for that at the moment

How many days per round is really tricky and TBH I'm not sure what the 'sweet spot' is for most players
7 days does seem to be too short. I don't think we have tried 12, worth a thought perhaps.
Would it be considerably easier if the turns were 14 days or does the downside of taking 2.5 months to finish a 5 round tourney outweigh this?

regards
Ben Wilkins

Re: Field of Glory II - Holiday 2017 Tournament

Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 5:14 pm
by devoncop
Personally I would find 14 days too long as you lose the involvement if you finish a game in two or three days as I did in the last one, and then had to wait another 11 days or so for round two. Like the number of rounds and selection of armies maybe have a quicker and a slower turnaround tournament run conurrently. I would enter the quicker one but pass on the 14 day turnaround one and no doubt others would do the opposite (and others would join both!)