version 0.14, text by Ego, Jjonez and the Challenge Smackdown Crew
CONTENTS
Why rules? Challenge Smackdown doesn't involve any money does it; and wouldn't it just be so much better for all of us if we didn't need to worry about all these regulations and requirements? Well ... true, Smackdown is not about money, it is about having fun by playing competitive teamplay. The problem is that since there is a competitive element in the league (everyone wants to prove their worth as a team) there also comes a need to see to it that all the teams can play eachother in a fair enviroment. The league system also provides for smoother handling of the league and also gives it the official nature that separates a league match from regular clanwars or friendlies.
Challenge Smackdown is run according to a system that has grown out of years of league development. Smackdown is unique though in the sense that it incorporates several divisions from various geographical locations around the globe. These divisions come from the need for all games to be played with a reasonable amount of latency and packetloss (Australia vs England would not be much of a hit).
Each divison of Smackdown is in itself a separate entity. However, all divisions still use the same set of rules and maps. In each division there is a regional title waiting for the team that has the strenght and stamina needed to claim it for themselves. As of yet we see no way of finansing and setting up an international final where a world champion could be crowned. The idea remains however ...
Each divison will be contain a number of groups. The exact number of groups and the number of teams in each group will vary from division to division depending on the number of teams that want to join. There will be a maximum limit of entries in each division and in case the maximum number of entries is reached some teams may have to fight qualifying matches in order to claim a place in the league.
2.2 North and South European Division
The european division has been divided into two separate divisions because of practical reasons. The distance and infrastructure between north and south Europe makes proper gameplay unpractical if not impossible. However, there is no set geographical boundary between the two divisions and teams from any country in Europe may join either division at will. However, a team may only participate in one divison of Smackdown at a given time and furthermore an italian clan who chooses to fight in the CHSD-EU N-divison, for example, will still have to fight on a server located in the northern part of Europe (maybe in Denmark or the northern parts of Germany if lucky). The same goes the other way around of course.
Teams in central Europe will have to decide what division suits them best. As a rule of thumb, any clan participating in the northern divison should be able to play their games in Denmark without too much whining. For participation in the southern division, the same rule should apply to servers in Spain or southern Germany. For regulations concerning matches and servers, turn to chapter 3: Match Procedure.
Seats will be given on merit. Teams with previous experience from leagues or established reputations will not need to qualify unless the demand greatly exceeds the number of seats available. The qualifiers are mainly for new teams or teams that don't have a solid reputation (as of yet). All teams will have a chance at entering a division (as long as they apply for a seat within the timelimit).
The exact procedure for qualifiers have not been decided upon and largely depends on the number of teams that are above the limit. The qualifiers might be settled by just pairing teams together, or they might be fought in small qualifying divisions.
Your team is limited to 12 registered players. We are aware that many clans have more than 12 members, but remember that you are registering your team for Smackdown. Most clans do not have more than 12 active members and we think that this is a very reasonable number since it means that you could in theory field three separate teams of 4 players! You can change your team-rooster up to the day before the start of the group-games in the division. When the group-games have gotten underway, no changes to the team-rooster can be made.
In order to advance to the finals your team first has to last the group-games. As mentioned earlier, each division will have a number of groups and each group will in turn contain a number of teams (Villains-system). For example, a division might consist of four groups of six teams each. Teams fight all opposing teams in their groups and the top-two ranked teams continued on to the quarterfinals and so on. The details may vary from division to divison depending on the number of participants, but the concept will generally remain the same.
The first stage of Smackdown is the Group-games. Each team in each group needs to play each of their opponents in order to have a chance at qualifying to the next stage (depending on the result of those matches of course). If a game is not resolved, your team can't proceed. This means that it is cruicial to settle your matches, be it by winns, losses or walkovers (WO's); even if you have to give WO!
2.7 Qualifying for quarterfinals
Depending on the size and numbers of the groups in each division, one to three teams might be able to qualify from a single group (standard is two teams per group). This means that you need to have settled all your matches and, in most cases, be one of the two highest ranking on the scoreboard of your group in order to qualify.
Games are won and lost according to maps. Frags are of little importance other than deciding in case of a group-draw when we count first the percentage efficiency of the maps (maps won out of total maps played) and if that still results in a draw we use frag efficiency.
In a game, if the competitors tie 1-1, then a third map will be played. This map will be randomly picked from the map-pool using a IRC-script in #smackdown. This unless the teams each chose the same level, then you play a third and decicive round on that map. For details on match-settings turn to chapter 3.5: Match-settings.
This chapter contains all information pertaining to setting up and playing a match in Smackdown-league. It details some of the specific rules, such as the match-settings that are to be followed and the procedure regarding scheduling.
All Smackdown games must be observed by an official Smackdown administrator or a replacement admin that has been approved by the administrator responsible for the game at hand. This replacement must be strictly neutral and have no ties to the teams who are to battle it out. In the unlikely event the scheduled admin does not show up, teams should request assistance from one of the other admins present in the #smackdown channels.
Organizing the actual matches will be left up to the teams involved (at least for the group-games) and intervention from the divisional managment will only come if it looks as if a team is running out of time before the group-games deadline or if we receive complaints from other teams. If you run into problems in organizing your matches, please contact your the regional Smackdown officials and ask for advice or assistance.
In order to be able to provide you with admins for the game, Smackdown divisonal-HQ's must receive official notification of an upcomming match at least two days ahead of gametime. This notification must be sent in by a member of one of the competing teams and contain details regarding: which teams are playing, what date they are playing, what time they are playing, (preferably) which maps the teams have chosen and finally if possibly also what server is most likely to be used for the games. Each division will set a standard time in which scheduling should be expressed to remove confusion over time-zones. All schedules should be written according to this standard time.
Before the match begins, the contacts or team leaders from each competing team must meet with the admin on their local #smackdown IRC (either ETG or QuakeNet) for a quick chat. If the teams haven't stated what maps and settings (see 3.5 Match-settings) they have chosen previously, they must do so now. The tiebreaker map is decided imediately following this by the randomizer in the channel (see 2.8 Games and ranking).
The matchserver is decided by both teams. A server giving approximately equal connection conditions should be found. In principle, all maps are played on the same server. However, if connection conditions deteriorate dramatically during or after one or two maps are played, the admin can decide to change servers for the remaining maps. In any case, if the teams have not agreed on a server 30 minutes after the scheduled start of the match, the admin can force the teams to play on a server or servers selected by him. If the game has not started 10 minutes after the admin anounced such decission, he can assign a walkover.
Both teams have to field 4 players before the game can start. Rules concerning dropping players are detailed in 3.6 During the game.
Games are preferrentially played on servers running a recent version of the 'KTeam' mod. However, if such server is unavailable or only available through poor connections, the teams can agree to use a different mod.
Well on the server before the match begins, all players must be subjected to f_modified and f_speed checks. Players must show "nothing" on f_modified and have a f_speed-% value that is less than 100% (That is a maximum of 99.99% (use version 2.33 of QW if possible as it is restricted to a maximum of that particular value). Players who fail any of these tests will have to drop from server and set things right. The option of replacing players is, of course, open to the teams.
The following settings are used in Challenge Smackdown:
Timelimit: 20 minutesThe Fairpack setting is determined by the teams on their map. In case of a tie, the deciding map is played with Fairpack set to Last Fired, unless both teams chose OFF. In the latter case the setting will be OFF in the final map as well.
Some settings are only available on KTeam servers. If the server runs a different mod, the admin will decide which settings are most approriate.
Each team must record at least one demo of each map, as they will be required to submit one in case of winning the map (see 3.7 After the game).
The teams are allowed to have replacements waiting as spectators on the server but only if the clan isn't playing from the same room (otherwise the chance of them the spectating enemy is *uhm* rather great). Only spectators present at the start of the map, i.e. at the time of the proxy-checks, can jump in. If a player lags out he can be replaced immediately by another player or do his best to get back on server as quick as possible. Teams are responsible for sorting out their backup-plans themselves.
Should 2 players of the same team get disconnected at the same time and no replacements are available or should extreme lag start occuring for several players, the game still continues. However, if this situation has not improved after 5 minutes, the admin can step in and, according to the situation, award a win to one team, force a replay of the map or offer to reschedule the game.
If several players drop under suspicious circumstances or if the whole team just packs up and leaves, there could be additional inquirees into the matter and in a worst case-scenario the whole team might be dismissed from the season or whole league.
Should a team loose a player during the first (or second) map due to connection problems and can only have 3 players ready for the second (or third) map, they are allowed to play 3 against 4. As they won't have any spectators on the server when the map gets underway, no fourth player can join during that round.
All frags made during a round are counted! Frags of dropped players are added to the total (if the mod doesn't do so automatically). It is important for teams to realise that the score shown in the scoreboard might not be correct.
All maps of a game are played imediately following each other, without intermediate discussions on IRC.
If players had to reconnect during the game, they are obliged to stay on the server untill the admin can perform another f_modified and f_speed check.
Each team should take a screenshot of the scoreboard for each map played. The teams are required to submit at least one demo of the map(s) they won. In case no demo can be submitted within a reasonable timeframe, and at the explicit request of the loosing team, a map has to be replayed. Only individual maps are to be replayed; not the complete game. Under no cicumstance can the map choice be altered. Depending on the result of the replayed map, the outcome of the game will be decided as if the maps were played in their original order. In case a tie-breaker map was initially needed for deciding a game but no longer after a map is replayed, it is dropped. In the case where a tiebreaker becomes necessary, it is played imediately after the replayed map, using an anew randomly selected map, or the same when the teams had identical choices.
For safety- and conveniance-issues Smackdown team has decided to make the Qizmo-proxy the one and only official Smackdown proxy. This means that it is the only proxy that you are allowed to use in official Smackdown-matches. In fact it is REQUIRED that you use the Qizmo-proxy because it makes it possible for our officials to check the players for cheats or modifications which are not allowed in Smackdown. To be allowed to play in a match you have to have the latest Qizmo version (2.91 as of now) correctly configured and pass an f_modified and a f_speed-check. These checks will be conducted once all players are gathered on the server before the match and will be done again if a player drops and rejoins!
The only allowed QuakeWorld clients are versions 2.30 and 2.33.
4.1 Connecting through multiple proxies
A chain of proxies can only be used if each and every proxy in it is a Qizmo version 2.91.
Qizmo is rather user friendly, but if required, help on its use can be obtained from admins in #smackdown. Players should make sure their proxy works as expected before the game is about to start.
One common problem many ISDN-users or others who share their connections through a router in Win98 face, is the inabillity to start a qwcl-connected proxy through the command-line. This is a bug in Qizmo although it can be circumvented easily. All you need to do is make a shortcut to the desktop. Input the path to Qizmo and QWcll as you would normally do in the command-line and the proxy should work fine.
Cheating is an issue for all non-LAN competitions, be it for prizes or just glory alone. Smackdown will continue the tradition of non-tolerance that many of it's predecessors have applied. Since the Qizmo-proxy is the one and only proxy allowed in the league we can greatly diminish the chances of anyone actually getting away with any cheats.
5. 1 Things we consider cheating:
Anyone could tell you that fullbright-skins is one of the most effective cheats in quakeworld. The problem is that the use of fullbright skins have reached such enormous proportions that the situation today is more or less that everyone has got them! This means that it is impractical for us to consider them as cheats as it would disrupt the way most people play quake today. Also, banning fullbrights (while theoretically possible with Qizmo-only) would also give a slight advantage to GL-players who can blur map textures and keep the player skins sharp and crisp.
It is important for the teams in Smackdown to know exactly what is expected of them and what their responsibillities towards the administration really are. Therefore this little chapter.
Teams must report scheduled matches with the divisonal managment. Special email-adresses will most likely be announced for this purpose. If a match is not scheduled and no Smackdown official spectates the match, the match will be deemed unofficial.
If teammembers are not present at the matchserver 15 minutes after the set time the match can be considered a walkover. Make sure your players are on time. As always, the presiding admin will decide depending on the situation. In no case, the game should get underway later then 40 minutes after the scheduled time, as detailed in 3.3.
Teams are encouraged to record demos during their games. Screenshots and demos will be collected on Smackdown division sites.