Rules and settings are also available in a form of handbook, thanks to the awesome work of @abductedPlatypus
You can find the handbook here:
F O R M A T
Visible Cup will consist of two stages:
▶ Swiss Stage with 7 rounds played
▶ All matches during the Swiss Stage are Bo5
▶ This means that everyone who got past the signups will have a chance to play seven best of fives over the course of seven weeks
▶ 16 players with the best score will advance to the playoffs
▶ Ro16 and Quarterfinals are Bo5
▶ Semis and Finals are Bo7
T I M E F R A M E
Signups open: May 16th 17:00 GMT
Signups close: May 30th 23:59 GMT
B R A C K E T S
https://tinyurl.com/VC4infohub
S E T T I N G S
Higher seed's picks/bans will be shown in BLUE
Lower seed's picks/bans will be shown in YELLOW
M A P S
▶ HC4_Arabia (May not be chosen as a home map)
▶ HC4_Bay by @AlgernonR
▶ HC4_Cross by @TheMadCADer
▶ HC4_Gold Rush
▶ HC4_Hideout
▶ HC4_Islands
▶ HC4_Slopes by @AlgernonR
▶ HC4_Bypass by @Chrazini
▶ HC4_Cup by @Henkdesupernerd
▶ HC4_High Tides by @AlgernonR
▶ HC4_Mudflow by @Chrazini
▶ HC4_Quarry by @Henkdesupernerd
You can subscribe to the map mod on the DE mod center here or by searching for "Hidden Cup 4" in the mod manager.
@Chrazini is the manager of the map pack, if you have any map-related questions or issues to report, contact him.
Be advised that the March patch broke most of the HC4 maps resulting in players experiencing lags. A fix for that is coming soon.
P R I Z E P O O L
Distribution:
1st: 35%
2nd: 20%
3rd - 4th: 12,5% each
5th - 8th: 5% each
If we reach a prizepool of $4000 or higher, the distribution will be changed to accommodate places 9 - 16 in the following way:
Contributions:
robo - $1500
Capture Age Team - $500
Total - $2000
If you want to contribute to the prizepool, contact @robo
R U L E S
You can find the handbook here:
Visible Cup Handbook - Public Version.pdf
drive.google.com
F O R M A T
Visible Cup will consist of two stages:
▶ Swiss Stage with 7 rounds played
▶ All matches during the Swiss Stage are Bo5
▶ This means that everyone who got past the signups will have a chance to play seven best of fives over the course of seven weeks
▶ 16 players with the best score will advance to the playoffs
▶ Ro16 and Quarterfinals are Bo5
▶ Semis and Finals are Bo7
T I M E F R A M E
Signups open: May 16th 17:00 GMT
Signups close: May 30th 23:59 GMT
Swiss Stage
Round: | Pairings announced: | Playing & Reporting Scores: |
---|---|---|
1 | May 31st 00:00-01:00 GMT | May 31st 01:00 GMT - June 6th 23:59 GMT |
2 | June 7th 00:00-01:00 GMT | June 7th 01:00 GMT - June 13th 23:59 GMT |
3 | June 14th 00:00-01:00 GMT | June 14th 01:00 GMT - June 20th 23:59 GMT |
4 | June 21st 00:00-01:00 GMT | June 21st 01:00 GMT - June 27th 23:59 GMT |
5 | June 28th 00:00-01:00 GMT | June 28th 01:00 GMT - July 4th 23:59 GMT |
6 | July 5th 00:00-01:00 GMT | July 5th 01:00 GMT - July 11th 23:59 GMT |
7 | July 12th 00:00-01:00 GMT | July 12th 01:00 GMT - July 18th 23:59 GMT |
Playoffs
Round: | Playing & Reporting Scores: |
---|---|
Round of 16 | July 19th 00:00 GMT - July 25th 23:59 GMT |
Quarterfinals | July 26th 00:00 GMT - August 1st 23:59 GMT |
Semifinals | August 2nd 00:00 GMT - August 8th 23:59 GMT |
Finals | August 9th 00:00 GMT - August 15th 23:59 GMT |
B R A C K E T S
https://tinyurl.com/VC4infohub
S E T T I N G S
Higher seed's picks/bans will be shown in BLUE
Lower seed's picks/bans will be shown in YELLOW
All rounds are Bo5
Map draft:
[BAN] [BAN] [PICK 1] [PICK 1] [BAN] [BAN] [PICK 2] [PICK 2]
Civ draft:
Higher seed will host the draft: https://aoe2cm.net/preset/hTbHw
Playing order:
Game 1: [PICK 1]
Game 2: [PICK 1]
Game 3: [PICK 2]
Game 4: [PICK 2]
Game 5: HC4 Arabia
Map draft:
[BAN] [BAN] [PICK 1] [PICK 1] [BAN] [BAN] [PICK 2] [PICK 2]
Civ draft:
Higher seed will host the draft: https://aoe2cm.net/preset/hTbHw
Playing order:
Game 1: [PICK 1]
Game 2: [PICK 1]
Game 3: [PICK 2]
Game 4: [PICK 2]
Game 5: HC4 Arabia
After the swiss stage, 16 players with the best match score will advance to the playoffs.
If two or more players end up with the same score, the tie will be resolved in the following way:
#1 Head-to-head score:
▶ If the players faced each other, the one who won will place higher
▶ This rule is retroactive for cases where more than two players have the same score
#2 Map difference:
▶ Maps won minus maps lost, player with the better score will place higher
#3 Bucholtz
▶ Simply put: you take the sum of the scores of people you've played against and divide by the number of matches you've played
#4 Seed
▶ If the players are tied in all of the above criteria, the player with the higher seed will be given the higher place
▶ In the event that players are tied in all of the above criteria and one of the players signed up with a Late Entry, the player who signed up the regular way wins the seed tiebreak by default.
In case of three-way ties, four-way ties or other weird situations, the retroactive rule #1 will come into play:
▶ If the head-to-head doesn't simplify the situation into two-way ties, rule #2 will be checked
▶ If rule #2 simplifies the situation into two-way ties, rule #1 will be checked again to try and resolve said ties, if there are still unresolved ties, rule #3 will be checked
▶ If rule #3 simplifies the situation into two-way ties, rule #1 will be checked yet again to try and resolve said ties, if there are still unresolved ties, rule #4 will be checked to resolve the remaining ties
▶TL;DR the order for more than two-way ties is: #1 #2 #1 #3 #1 #4
The tiebreak scores will be displayed on a spreadsheet with all of the players so that everyone can check their situation at any given time.
If two or more players end up with the same score, the tie will be resolved in the following way:
#1 Head-to-head score:
▶ If the players faced each other, the one who won will place higher
▶ This rule is retroactive for cases where more than two players have the same score
#2 Map difference:
▶ Maps won minus maps lost, player with the better score will place higher
#3 Bucholtz
▶ Simply put: you take the sum of the scores of people you've played against and divide by the number of matches you've played
#4 Seed
▶ If the players are tied in all of the above criteria, the player with the higher seed will be given the higher place
▶ In the event that players are tied in all of the above criteria and one of the players signed up with a Late Entry, the player who signed up the regular way wins the seed tiebreak by default.
In case of three-way ties, four-way ties or other weird situations, the retroactive rule #1 will come into play:
▶ If the head-to-head doesn't simplify the situation into two-way ties, rule #2 will be checked
▶ If rule #2 simplifies the situation into two-way ties, rule #1 will be checked again to try and resolve said ties, if there are still unresolved ties, rule #3 will be checked
▶ If rule #3 simplifies the situation into two-way ties, rule #1 will be checked yet again to try and resolve said ties, if there are still unresolved ties, rule #4 will be checked to resolve the remaining ties
▶TL;DR the order for more than two-way ties is: #1 #2 #1 #3 #1 #4
The tiebreak scores will be displayed on a spreadsheet with all of the players so that everyone can check their situation at any given time.
Quarterfinals:
Map draft:
[BAN] [BAN] [PICK 1] [PICK 1] [BAN] [BAN] [PICK 2] [PICK 2]
Civ draft:
Higher seed will host the draft: https://aoe2cm.net/preset/hTbHw
Playing order:
Game 1: [PICK 1]
Game 2: [PICK 1]
Game 3: [PICK 2]
Game 4: [PICK 2]
Game 5: HC4 Arabia
Semifinals and Finals:
Map draft:
[BAN] [BAN] [PICK 1] [PICK 1] [BAN] [BAN] [PICK 2] [PICK 2] [PICK 3] [PICK 3]
Civ draft:
Higher seed will host the draft: https://aoe2cm.net/preset/mxsFF
Playing order:
Game 1: [PICK 1]
Game 2: [PICK 1]
Game 3: [PICK 2]
Game 4: [PICK 2]
Game 5: [PICK 3]
Game 6: [PICK 3]
Game 7: HC4 Arabia
Map draft:
[BAN] [BAN] [PICK 1] [PICK 1] [BAN] [BAN] [PICK 2] [PICK 2]
Civ draft:
Higher seed will host the draft: https://aoe2cm.net/preset/hTbHw
Playing order:
Game 1: [PICK 1]
Game 2: [PICK 1]
Game 3: [PICK 2]
Game 4: [PICK 2]
Game 5: HC4 Arabia
Semifinals and Finals:
Map draft:
[BAN] [BAN] [PICK 1] [PICK 1] [BAN] [BAN] [PICK 2] [PICK 2] [PICK 3] [PICK 3]
Civ draft:
Higher seed will host the draft: https://aoe2cm.net/preset/mxsFF
Playing order:
Game 1: [PICK 1]
Game 2: [PICK 1]
Game 3: [PICK 2]
Game 4: [PICK 2]
Game 5: [PICK 3]
Game 6: [PICK 3]
Game 7: HC4 Arabia
M A P S
▶ HC4_Arabia (May not be chosen as a home map)
▶ HC4_Bay by @AlgernonR
▶ HC4_Cross by @TheMadCADer
▶ HC4_Gold Rush
▶ HC4_Hideout
▶ HC4_Islands
▶ HC4_Slopes by @AlgernonR
▶ HC4_Bypass by @Chrazini
▶ HC4_Cup by @Henkdesupernerd
▶ HC4_High Tides by @AlgernonR
▶ HC4_Mudflow by @Chrazini
▶ HC4_Quarry by @Henkdesupernerd
You can subscribe to the map mod on the DE mod center here or by searching for "Hidden Cup 4" in the mod manager.
@Chrazini is the manager of the map pack, if you have any map-related questions or issues to report, contact him.
Be advised that the March patch broke most of the HC4 maps resulting in players experiencing lags. A fix for that is coming soon.
P R I Z E P O O L
Distribution:
1st: 35%
2nd: 20%
3rd - 4th: 12,5% each
5th - 8th: 5% each
If we reach a prizepool of $4000 or higher, the distribution will be changed to accommodate places 9 - 16 in the following way:
1st: 30%
2nd: 18%
3rd - 4th: 10% each
5th - 8th: 4% each
9th - 16th: 2% each
2nd: 18%
3rd - 4th: 10% each
5th - 8th: 4% each
9th - 16th: 2% each
Contributions:
robo - $1500
Capture Age Team - $500
Total - $2000
If you want to contribute to the prizepool, contact @robo
R U L E S
§1 - Accepting and being familiar with the rules
Every player who signed up has to accept and follow the rules below. Not being familiar with the rules will not be accepted as an excuse for not following them.
Players who at any point are not sure about a rule or its application, are expected to contact the admins.
§2 - Respect & Fairplay
Every player must respect their opponent, the admins, and other people involved in the event. This applies to in-game and out-of-game behavior.
Any discussion between players about edge case situations, scheduling conflict or any other topic has to be kept civil and professional.
Bad behavior will result in a warning and may lead to immediate disqualification of the player. This tournament values not only great skills but also sportsmanship and fairness. Any insult, racism, or flaming will not be tolerated.
Players are requested to limit the time between games as much as possible to make the experience as smooth for everyone as possible.
§3 - Cheating, smurfing, stream sniping
Cheating of any kind is strictly forbidden, players found using external or internal software
giving them an unfair advantage in the game will be immediately disqualified and banned from future events.
All players have to agree to the No Smurf rule. Each player must submit all relevant player usernames for Admin discussion. Smurfing and account sharing is not allowed. Any discovery of the aforementioned will result in a player's disqualification from this and future tournaments.
Stream sniping is forbidden, players who receive any information about their opponent while their set is ongoing (that includes brakes between maps) from their stream either directly or indirectly will be disqualified.
§4 - Communication
Each player must be fluent in English and is responsible for scheduling, possible disputes, and everything else regarding their participation.
If a player is not fluent in English, they can have an External Operator to represent them during scheduling, recorded game posting and in the tournament in general. The External Operator must be added in the sign-up post.
By choosing to sign up with the External Operator, players agree and acknowledge that they are giving the person they chose the permission to act in their name when it comes to the tournament matters. Any case of violation of the tournament rules by a player's External Operator will be treated as if the player has violated said rules.
§5 - Prize Money
Prizes will be sent via PayPal. If the recipients do not use/have PayPal the prizes will be sent by other means. However, certain fees may be deducted from the amount.
§6 - Additions to the rules
New rules can be added and current rules can be changed.
Players can never be punished for violating a rule that was added AFTER they violated it.
Official and up-to-date rules are always the ones in this post or in the handbook version that's currently linked in this post.
All the latest additions in Rules & Settings will be in red.
Every player who signed up has to accept and follow the rules below. Not being familiar with the rules will not be accepted as an excuse for not following them.
Players who at any point are not sure about a rule or its application, are expected to contact the admins.
§2 - Respect & Fairplay
Every player must respect their opponent, the admins, and other people involved in the event. This applies to in-game and out-of-game behavior.
Any discussion between players about edge case situations, scheduling conflict or any other topic has to be kept civil and professional.
Bad behavior will result in a warning and may lead to immediate disqualification of the player. This tournament values not only great skills but also sportsmanship and fairness. Any insult, racism, or flaming will not be tolerated.
Players are requested to limit the time between games as much as possible to make the experience as smooth for everyone as possible.
§3 - Cheating, smurfing, stream sniping
Cheating of any kind is strictly forbidden, players found using external or internal software
giving them an unfair advantage in the game will be immediately disqualified and banned from future events.
All players have to agree to the No Smurf rule. Each player must submit all relevant player usernames for Admin discussion. Smurfing and account sharing is not allowed. Any discovery of the aforementioned will result in a player's disqualification from this and future tournaments.
Stream sniping is forbidden, players who receive any information about their opponent while their set is ongoing (that includes brakes between maps) from their stream either directly or indirectly will be disqualified.
§4 - Communication
Each player must be fluent in English and is responsible for scheduling, possible disputes, and everything else regarding their participation.
If a player is not fluent in English, they can have an External Operator to represent them during scheduling, recorded game posting and in the tournament in general. The External Operator must be added in the sign-up post.
By choosing to sign up with the External Operator, players agree and acknowledge that they are giving the person they chose the permission to act in their name when it comes to the tournament matters. Any case of violation of the tournament rules by a player's External Operator will be treated as if the player has violated said rules.
§5 - Prize Money
Prizes will be sent via PayPal. If the recipients do not use/have PayPal the prizes will be sent by other means. However, certain fees may be deducted from the amount.
§6 - Additions to the rules
New rules can be added and current rules can be changed.
Players can never be punished for violating a rule that was added AFTER they violated it.
Official and up-to-date rules are always the ones in this post or in the handbook version that's currently linked in this post.
All the latest additions in Rules & Settings will be in red.
§1 - Signups
There are 128 spots open for Visible Cup 4 participants.
Any player who didn't qualify for the Hidden Cup 4 can sign up.
Only signups that follow the signup rules and the signup template will be taken as valid during the seeding process.
Players are required to submit a screenshot with their server pings.
§2 - Seeding
After the sign-ups are closed, players will be ranked according to their highest rating achieved on the AoE2 DE 1v1 ladder at the end of signups.
To avoid incorrect seeding, inactive accounts (the ones that don't show up on the aoe2.net RM 1v1 ladder) and accounts with less than 50 RM 1v1 games played won't be taken into account. Additionally, accounts with their current RM 1v1 rating being 300 or more elo points lower than the highest will be seeded by their current RM 1v1 rating.
Seeding will only affect the first round pairings and might be used to resolve tiebreakers in some rare cases.
§3 - Admin Participation
No Visible Cup 4 Admin is allowed to participate in the tournament.
There are 128 spots open for Visible Cup 4 participants.
Any player who didn't qualify for the Hidden Cup 4 can sign up.
Only signups that follow the signup rules and the signup template will be taken as valid during the seeding process.
Players are required to submit a screenshot with their server pings.
§2 - Seeding
After the sign-ups are closed, players will be ranked according to their highest rating achieved on the AoE2 DE 1v1 ladder at the end of signups.
To avoid incorrect seeding, inactive accounts (the ones that don't show up on the aoe2.net RM 1v1 ladder) and accounts with less than 50 RM 1v1 games played won't be taken into account. Additionally, accounts with their current RM 1v1 rating being 300 or more elo points lower than the highest will be seeded by their current RM 1v1 rating.
Seeding will only affect the first round pairings and might be used to resolve tiebreakers in some rare cases.
§3 - Admin Participation
No Visible Cup 4 Admin is allowed to participate in the tournament.
§1 - Respecting Deadlines
All players must respect the tournament schedule and times for each round. There will be no exceptions or delays granted to any player.
No excuse will be accepted for failing to play in the specified time.
Keep in mind that the deadlines are for posting the results in the appropriate place.
Failing to inform the admins about the result before the deadline will be treated as a forfeit.
If the admin staff determines that a player is trying to avoid scheduling and playing the tournament games, the player may be warned, receive an admin loss for the game or match, or be disqualified.
Any player giving an Admin Win to their opponent in more than one set in the Swiss Stage will be disqualified.
Players who signed up with a Late Entry will have their first round they've missed treated as if they gave an Admin Win - that means they don't have one to spare.
Any player giving an Admin Win to their opponent in the Playoffs will be disqualified and might not be granted a spot in the future tournaments.
§2 - Scheduling, drafting
Players will schedule the Swiss Stage matches publically in the Scheduling Forum. Scheduled Games will be posted in the Tournament Progress Thread.
Players are expected to check their thread and respond to messages a minimum of once per day.
Players are encouraged to try and schedule the matches for weekdays and only if that doesn't work, schedule for the weekend.
Civ and map drafts have to be posted in the scheduling thread at least 10 minutes before the scheduled time of the match. The player with the higher seed is expected to either post the draft themself or ensure the other player does it.
If both players agree, civ and map draft can be made up to 24 hours before the scheduled match. In that case, players are required to post the drafts in their results thread right after it's done.
Once the match starts, neither civ draft nor map draft can be redone for any reason. Invalid drafts have to be redone before the first map.
§3 - Schedule Reliability, Rescheduling
If a player does not show up to a scheduled game, they will be given a map loss per every completed 15 minutes of delay unless a different admin decision is taken upon reviewing the situation. Their opponent must notify an Admin immediately and wait minimum 20 minutes before any action can be taken.
Rescheduling and playing maps in more than one sitting are allowed if both players agree to it.
§4 - Admin Times
If both players cannot come to an agreement in scheduling their match, the staff will analyse the situation, schedule, and time zones in order to add a viable Admin Time that suits both players to the best of our ability.
If there is no agreement about the playing time, the staff might start interfering in order to get the games scheduled and completed in time.
If despite the admins interfering, players won't agree on a date and time, both will be given an Admin Loss.
§5 Reporting scores
Players are required to report the score of their match and post recorded games (including drops, restores, restarts, admin restarts) before the deadline specified in the Timeframe section. Any match with missing map draft, civ draft, recorded games, or score will be treated as not played.
The winner of the set is expected to either report the score and deliver recs or ensure the other player does it.
§6 Playoffs
Before the playoffs start, each of the 16 qualified players will be asked to confirm their availability during the set times. Players who aren't confident in their schedule have the option to forfeit their spot to the player with the next best score without any consequences.
Map and civ drafts have to be posted or delivered to admins at least 10 minutes before the starting time.
All players must respect the tournament schedule and times for each round. There will be no exceptions or delays granted to any player.
No excuse will be accepted for failing to play in the specified time.
Keep in mind that the deadlines are for posting the results in the appropriate place.
Failing to inform the admins about the result before the deadline will be treated as a forfeit.
If the admin staff determines that a player is trying to avoid scheduling and playing the tournament games, the player may be warned, receive an admin loss for the game or match, or be disqualified.
Any player giving an Admin Win to their opponent in more than one set in the Swiss Stage will be disqualified.
Players who signed up with a Late Entry will have their first round they've missed treated as if they gave an Admin Win - that means they don't have one to spare.
Any player giving an Admin Win to their opponent in the Playoffs will be disqualified and might not be granted a spot in the future tournaments.
§2 - Scheduling, drafting
Players will schedule the Swiss Stage matches publically in the Scheduling Forum. Scheduled Games will be posted in the Tournament Progress Thread.
Players are expected to check their thread and respond to messages a minimum of once per day.
Players are encouraged to try and schedule the matches for weekdays and only if that doesn't work, schedule for the weekend.
Civ and map drafts have to be posted in the scheduling thread at least 10 minutes before the scheduled time of the match. The player with the higher seed is expected to either post the draft themself or ensure the other player does it.
If both players agree, civ and map draft can be made up to 24 hours before the scheduled match. In that case, players are required to post the drafts in their results thread right after it's done.
Once the match starts, neither civ draft nor map draft can be redone for any reason. Invalid drafts have to be redone before the first map.
§3 - Schedule Reliability, Rescheduling
If a player does not show up to a scheduled game, they will be given a map loss per every completed 15 minutes of delay unless a different admin decision is taken upon reviewing the situation. Their opponent must notify an Admin immediately and wait minimum 20 minutes before any action can be taken.
Rescheduling and playing maps in more than one sitting are allowed if both players agree to it.
§4 - Admin Times
If both players cannot come to an agreement in scheduling their match, the staff will analyse the situation, schedule, and time zones in order to add a viable Admin Time that suits both players to the best of our ability.
If there is no agreement about the playing time, the staff might start interfering in order to get the games scheduled and completed in time.
If despite the admins interfering, players won't agree on a date and time, both will be given an Admin Loss.
§5 Reporting scores
Players are required to report the score of their match and post recorded games (including drops, restores, restarts, admin restarts) before the deadline specified in the Timeframe section. Any match with missing map draft, civ draft, recorded games, or score will be treated as not played.
The winner of the set is expected to either report the score and deliver recs or ensure the other player does it.
§6 Playoffs
Before the playoffs start, each of the 16 qualified players will be asked to confirm their availability during the set times. Players who aren't confident in their schedule have the option to forfeit their spot to the player with the next best score without any consequences.
Map and civ drafts have to be posted or delivered to admins at least 10 minutes before the starting time.
§1 - Game Settings
The game settings must be set exactly as shown below. Setting different from the default ones have been marked in orange:
1. Lobby Settings:
Visibility: Public
Players: 2
Allow Spectators [X] Yes
Hide Civilizations [X] Yes
Spectator Delay: 2 Minutes
2. Game Settings:
Game Mode: Random Map
Map Style : Custom
Location : HC4 maps
Map Size : Tiny (2 player)
AI Difficulty : Standard
Resources: Standard
Population : 200
Game Speed : Normal
Reveal Map : Normal
Starting Age : Standard
Ending Age : Standard
Treaty Length <None>
Victory: Conquest
3. Team Settings:
Lock Teams : [X] Yes
Team Together : [X] Yes
Team Positions: [ ] No
Shared Exploration: [ ] No
4. Advanced Settings
Lock Speed : [X] Yes
Allow Cheats : [ ] No
Turbo Mode: [ ] No
Full Tech Tree [ ] No
Empire Wars Mode [ ] No
Sudden Death Mode [ ] No
Regicide Mode [ ] No
Record Game : [X] Yes
§2 - Restarts
No player restarts are available
§3 - Bugged Map Restarts
A player can request bugged map restarts during the first 6 minutes (game time). A restart requested due to a bugged map does not count as one of the restarts awarded before a series.
A bugged map is defined as the following for standard resource starts:
▶ Gold: Less than 5 tiles of the main gold cluster are at least accessible on one side, extra golds are excluded.
▶ Stone: Less than 4 tiles of a stone cluster are at least accessible on one side, extra stones are excluded.
▶ Berries: Less than 4 tiles of a berry cluster are at least accessible on one side.
▶ Animals: Spawned with less than 3 deer or less than 8 sheep or less than 2 boars or, one or more of the animals being trapped.
During the playoffs, admins will be checking each map and giving admin restarts accordingly.
§4 - Civilization selection
"Hidden Civilizations" must be selected when hosting the lobby.
A civilization must be picked, choosing "Random" or "Team Random" at the start of the game is not allowed.
§5 - Following the draft and settings
Players must follow all game settings provided in this post, play the maps in the correct order according to their map draft and pick civs according to their civ draft. Failing to do so will result in Admin Losses and eventually disqualification.
§6 - Laming
Players may steal enemy boars with their scout and are allowed to do anything else that is permitted within the game, including stealing boars with villagers, walling in resources, or blocking/killing villagers in the dark age.
§7 - Straggler Trees & Fish Deleting
Players are not allowed to delete the straggler trees which spawn within 10 tiles of an opposing player’s Town Center. This rule does not apply if the straggler tree which is being deleted forms part of a wall for the defending player.
On maps where main forests are exclusively straggler trees, it is strictly forbidden to delete straggler trees from opponents (using the "palisade trick") unless they are being used as part of a mid-section of the wall.
Players may not remove fish that spawn on any sort of terrain by placing buildings on top of them.
§8 - Graphical Mods
Any graphic changes that only affect the player's Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition are allowed.
§9 - Server
Players are free to choose any server that suits them if their opponent agrees to it. If the agreement cannot be reached, players are requested to use the server they both have similar ping to.
§10 - Patch
All of the matches should be played on the newest patch, unless there is an instance where a new patch causes major performance issues - in that case, players experiencing those issues are required to contact the admins as soon as possible.
After a new patch comes out, players are expected to check their mods, settings and play at least one ladder game or a custom game to test the performance.
§11 - In game chat
In game chat should be used only for short messages ("gg", "hf", "ns") and discussing pauses WHILE the game is paused. If you are using in game chat while the game is not paused (trashtalk, attempts to distract the opponent) and the other player takes issue with that, tournament admins won't be able to help you or in extreme cases it might result in a disqualification.
The game settings must be set exactly as shown below. Setting different from the default ones have been marked in orange:
1. Lobby Settings:
Visibility: Public
Players: 2
Allow Spectators [X] Yes
Hide Civilizations [X] Yes
Spectator Delay: 2 Minutes
2. Game Settings:
Game Mode: Random Map
Map Style : Custom
Location : HC4 maps
Map Size : Tiny (2 player)
AI Difficulty : Standard
Resources: Standard
Population : 200
Game Speed : Normal
Reveal Map : Normal
Starting Age : Standard
Ending Age : Standard
Treaty Length <None>
Victory: Conquest
3. Team Settings:
Lock Teams : [X] Yes
Team Together : [X] Yes
Team Positions: [ ] No
Shared Exploration: [ ] No
4. Advanced Settings
Lock Speed : [X] Yes
Allow Cheats : [ ] No
Turbo Mode: [ ] No
Full Tech Tree [ ] No
Empire Wars Mode [ ] No
Sudden Death Mode [ ] No
Regicide Mode [ ] No
Record Game : [X] Yes
§2 - Restarts
No player restarts are available
§3 - Bugged Map Restarts
A player can request bugged map restarts during the first 6 minutes (game time). A restart requested due to a bugged map does not count as one of the restarts awarded before a series.
A bugged map is defined as the following for standard resource starts:
▶ Gold: Less than 5 tiles of the main gold cluster are at least accessible on one side, extra golds are excluded.
▶ Stone: Less than 4 tiles of a stone cluster are at least accessible on one side, extra stones are excluded.
▶ Berries: Less than 4 tiles of a berry cluster are at least accessible on one side.
▶ Animals: Spawned with less than 3 deer or less than 8 sheep or less than 2 boars or, one or more of the animals being trapped.
During the playoffs, admins will be checking each map and giving admin restarts accordingly.
§4 - Civilization selection
"Hidden Civilizations" must be selected when hosting the lobby.
A civilization must be picked, choosing "Random" or "Team Random" at the start of the game is not allowed.
§5 - Following the draft and settings
Players must follow all game settings provided in this post, play the maps in the correct order according to their map draft and pick civs according to their civ draft. Failing to do so will result in Admin Losses and eventually disqualification.
§6 - Laming
Players may steal enemy boars with their scout and are allowed to do anything else that is permitted within the game, including stealing boars with villagers, walling in resources, or blocking/killing villagers in the dark age.
§7 - Straggler Trees & Fish Deleting
Players are not allowed to delete the straggler trees which spawn within 10 tiles of an opposing player’s Town Center. This rule does not apply if the straggler tree which is being deleted forms part of a wall for the defending player.
On maps where main forests are exclusively straggler trees, it is strictly forbidden to delete straggler trees from opponents (using the "palisade trick") unless they are being used as part of a mid-section of the wall.
Players may not remove fish that spawn on any sort of terrain by placing buildings on top of them.
§8 - Graphical Mods
Any graphic changes that only affect the player's Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition are allowed.
§9 - Server
Players are free to choose any server that suits them if their opponent agrees to it. If the agreement cannot be reached, players are requested to use the server they both have similar ping to.
§10 - Patch
All of the matches should be played on the newest patch, unless there is an instance where a new patch causes major performance issues - in that case, players experiencing those issues are required to contact the admins as soon as possible.
After a new patch comes out, players are expected to check their mods, settings and play at least one ladder game or a custom game to test the performance.
§11 - In game chat
In game chat should be used only for short messages ("gg", "hf", "ns") and discussing pauses WHILE the game is paused. If you are using in game chat while the game is not paused (trashtalk, attempts to distract the opponent) and the other player takes issue with that, tournament admins won't be able to help you or in extreme cases it might result in a disqualification.
§1 - General content rules
Everyone is free to make content related to Visible Cup 4 or use Visible Cup 4's recorded games under the following conditions:
▶ clearly state the name of the tournament in your stream title/video title/post title
▶ put the tournament logo in a visible place and in a way that everyone who consumes your content can see it (video thumbnail, post header etc.)
▶ if you are using snippets of somebody else’s Visible Cup 4 related content, be it video, audio, text, graphics or any other media, you have to credit the original author in a clearly visible/audible/readable way regardless of whether or not they specifically requested to be credited
▶ by making content related to Visible Cup 4 you agree to the Respect & Fairplay rule (General Rules §2). Negative opinions are more than fine, however disrespecting any of the people involved with the event and especially the players will not be tolerated.
▶ you are encouraged to use #VisibleCup hashtag when making Visible Cup 4 related content
§2 - Streaming
You are free to stream any of the games on Twitch under the following conditions:
▶ have "Visible Cup 4" in your stream title
▶ display the tournament banner and/or logo in a visible place in between the games
▶ display the tournament logo during the games
§3 - Streaming as a player
You can stream your PoV as long as you follow the rules below:
▶ follow the streaming rules in §2
▶ your stream delay has to match the spectator delay (2 minutes)
Everyone is free to make content related to Visible Cup 4 or use Visible Cup 4's recorded games under the following conditions:
▶ clearly state the name of the tournament in your stream title/video title/post title
▶ put the tournament logo in a visible place and in a way that everyone who consumes your content can see it (video thumbnail, post header etc.)
▶ if you are using snippets of somebody else’s Visible Cup 4 related content, be it video, audio, text, graphics or any other media, you have to credit the original author in a clearly visible/audible/readable way regardless of whether or not they specifically requested to be credited
▶ by making content related to Visible Cup 4 you agree to the Respect & Fairplay rule (General Rules §2). Negative opinions are more than fine, however disrespecting any of the people involved with the event and especially the players will not be tolerated.
▶ you are encouraged to use #VisibleCup hashtag when making Visible Cup 4 related content
§2 - Streaming
You are free to stream any of the games on Twitch under the following conditions:
▶ have "Visible Cup 4" in your stream title
▶ display the tournament banner and/or logo in a visible place in between the games
▶ display the tournament logo during the games
§3 - Streaming as a player
You can stream your PoV as long as you follow the rules below:
▶ follow the streaming rules in §2
▶ your stream delay has to match the spectator delay (2 minutes)
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