CTFX Tournament Rules
Last Edit: 3/11/2003

It is CTFX's goal to help keep the CTF community alive and growing by providing a tourney that is fun for both the CTFX staff and the Clans participating. These rules are in place to help set an expectation level of what to expect when playing a CTFX match and to help clans stay focused on the CTF's goal...playing and having fun.

I - General Info

Season Format

CTFX is be made up of two divisions of teams that have signed up to compete. Teams are eligible to compete as long as the team, and all of their roster are located in the North American Continent. Teams will play one match each week for 8 weeks. There is the possibility that you will play a team outside your division.  Each match week will run Tuesday to Monday of the following calendar week.  At the end of week 8, the top 8 clans in the division will go on to the single elimination bracket playoff tournament. Playoff games will be best of 3 and not point based.

Match Format

Each match will require both teams to field 4 players that are on that team's roster. Players playing in the match must be in the match channel prior to the match. Each match will consist of three 20-minute maps, with each team picking one map, and the third map being decided by CTFX Admin staff. The third map will be played regardless of the outcome of the first two maps. There are no ties in CTFX.

Playoffs
Top 8 clans play a single elimination, best of three style final's tournament bracket.

Tie Breaker
During the playoffs, the third map will be picked by both teams throwing out maps. The maps that each team have selected will be removed from the list of tie-breaker maps. If there is an even number of maps the higher seed picks the first map. If there is an odd number of maps the lower seed picks the first map.

Point System

3 points for map win

3 points for map forfeit win

1 point for map loss

0 points for map forfeit loss

Authorized Maps 

Expectations and responsibilities
Every admin, ref, and participant is responsible for knowing and understanding the CTFX rules and procedures. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Scheduling
Team captains are responsible for contacting their opponents, scheduling their matches in a timely manner and then notifying the CTFX admin staff either via IRC or by sending an email to admin@ctfx.org stating the 2 clans name with the date and time selected ASAP. The CTFX staff plans and manages the available resources and time as needed and will try to accommodate all requests as humanly possible. The CTFX staff will not be held responsible for failing to provide ref support to teams for matches that do not give at least a 2 hour notification.

Team captains can find all the required information for contacting the other team on the website.

Note: All times listed on the website by default are in the EASTERN time zone.

II - Match Info

Start Time
15 minutes before the start of the match players join the meeting channel. A simple way to think about it: To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late.

Map selection
Each team captain notifies the ref of their map selection via private message. Each match map must be unique. In the event that both teams pick the same map, the lower seed has the first option to change maps. Teams cannot pick the map of the week (MOTW) as their pick.

Color / First Map
The higher ranked clan will have their choice of either picking their color or which map will be played first. The other team will make the remaining decision. During regular season if there is a tie in the rank of the two teams and both teams cannot agree then the ref will toss a coin.

Servers
Server selection should start no later than the agreed upon match time. Server selection should take no longer than 20 minutes. If a server cannot be decided on during that period of time the ref will help pick and decide on a server for the match. Both captains have to agree on the server selection. Once the first game of the match is started it will be assumed that both teams have agreed on the server for the duration of the match. Switching servers is not allowed.

Warm-up and Starting
The match warm-up period and in between matches time is 10 minutes. After that it is up to the discretion of the referee to auto-ready the teams and start the game. The map timer is reset on map switch and will be used for determining when 10 minutes has passed. Once a match has started, it is expected that all three maps will be played. Player Warm-up should be done before joining the match server and is not a valid reason for delaying the start of a match or map.

Demo's
All teams and their players are required to record a demo of every match they play for CTFX. The winning team is REQUIRED to upload their demo’s at the completion of the match. The winning team has the right to request that the losing team upload their demo’s as well. Failure to produce will result in the forfeit for every game that is not 100% accounted for, no exceptions. If a player gets disconnected from the game, they are required to continue recording upon reconnection. Any disconnected players that cannot reconnect and have a substitute player come in for them are still required to provide their demo.

OSP can will auto record your a demo for each match your in if you set cg_autoaction. Here are the values:

cg_autoAction <option_bitmask> (default = 0)
Automatically performs actions at certain points in the game.

<option_bitmask>:

1 - Automatically save stats to a local text
file at the end of a match. Logs will be
stored in: <osp_root>/stats/<date>/<logname>.txt
2 - Automatically takes an end-level screenshot
4 - Automatically records a match (requires
a full warmup server - g_warmup = 0)
8 - Dump your team's weapon stats
16 - Dump all players' weapon stats

Note: Failure to produce demos will result in a one game suspension for the offending player per map unaccounted for in addition to forfeiting the match.

Coaches
Each team is allowed to have one spectator that is in coach mode, and must remain in coach mode until the map has ended. Teams may have more then one coach if both teams agree. Coaches must be listed on that teams roster. No other spectator is allowed on the server except the referee, a shoutcastDJ, and/or authorized GTV. Ref's will pause mid game if there are player(s) that need to be coached.

Spectators
The only spectators allowed are the CTFX ref's, a shoutcastDJ, and authorized GTV servers.

Note: The ref reserves the right to spectate any member of the match. That means teams cannot use Speclock. Refusal will result in a forfeit lose.

Substitutions
Player substitutions can be made before and after a map. Player substitution can be made during a map in progress, if a player is having spontaneous connectivity problems or has "crashed" from the server. Illegal player substitutions will result in an automatic map forfeit.

Timeouts
Three timeouts are allowed to be used by each team for each map. On the third timeout, the team who called the timeout must fix their problem or continue to play without any timeouts until the next map. The referee has the power to call only one timeout for a team per a map.

Note: It is up to the team and/or team's coach to call timeouts due to lag spikes or other problems.

Conduct
The CTFX staff challenges each and every team to approach each match with maturity and professionalism. Poor conduct before, during, or after a match will not be tolerated. This league has the potential of getting sponsors, as well as having participants of a large age group. We need to keep things as clean as possible, and present ourselves in a mature and respectable manner. If you or one of your team members may have a problem doing this, ask them to unbind their chat keys to prevent them from talking during a match in the heat of the moment. Excessive poor conduct will result in warnings; continued poor conduct may result in the particular team member being ejected from the match and/or that team receiving a forfeit. Use common sense and listen to the ref.

Player Banning
The following actions will result in one verbal warning followed by a ban. At the ref's descretion, the game will be paused and the offending player will be given a warning or banned. The offenders clan will have to use a substitute in the event of a ban, as the player will not be permitted to play for the rest of the map.

• Going "not ready" after the ref has deemed the 10 minute warm up has passed. When teams join a server, they should be prepared to play after 10 minutes has passed.
• Speaking excessively to anyone other than the ref during play. Save comments and binds for scrims, pickups or IRC.
• Not using the player name you registered with on the team roster
• Using an unregistered GUID

Rosters
All player additions will have a 2 day grace period before being able to take part in a regular season match. At the completion of week 4 all rosters will be locked for the remainder of the tourney.

Ringing
Ringing is not allowed. Members on your roster may not be on any other CTFX team's roster. Any team caught ringing will forfeit the matches they were caught ringing in and will be penalized 9 additional points. All players that are playing or coaching in a CTFX match are required to be in the match channel. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Forfeits and Team Removal
Teams will be removed from participating in CTFX after 2 forfeited matches or 6 forfeited games, which ever comes first.

Tie Breaker
The third map for tourney games will be picked by both teams throwing out maps. The maps that each team have selected will be removed from the list of tie-breaker maps. If there is an even number of maps the lower seed picks the first map. If there is an odd number of maps the lower seed picks the first map.

Ref Note:

• Match channel topics should include who is ref'ing, which maps, and the selected server
• CG_FOLLOWPOWERUP set to 1 on the ref's client, which will auto switch to players that pickup the flag and/or powerups
• CG_AUTOACTIONS set to 6 (or 7) on the ref's client, which will auto start a demo and end it at the end of the map as well as take a screenshot

III – Additional

Power-ups / Weapons
The Invisibility power-ups and BFG weapon should be disabled on maps that they could be enabled.

Server Settings
Servers must be running the latest Q3 point release, and latest version of OSP (www.orangesmoothie.com). On most servers you can set the CTF defaults by issuing the command "callvote setctf mapname" at the Q3 console.

floodprotect 0 (Spamming Binds On)
thrufloors 0 (Splash Damage Off)
timelimit 20
fraglimit 0
capturelimit 0
overtime 0 (Sudden Death ON)
friendlyFire 0
mg_damage 7 (Machine Gun, CTF Default)
pmove 0 (unless both clans agree to it being on)

IV - What not to do

Nick Aliasing and Identity concealment
Nick aliasing and identity concealment prevents the CTFX staff from preventing ringing, letting previously caught cheaters play, and accurately assessing each team’s skill. If you or a member of your clan is using an alternate name (alternate name could be your real life name) the CTFX admin staff must be made aware of your previous Quake3 community known name. Failure to inform CTFX before the fact puts that team and/or its players at risk of being removed from CTFX.

Deception and Dishonesty
Deception and dishonesty will not be tolerated. Teams and/or players run the risk of being removed from CTFX if a team or player from that team is found being dishonest or deceptive to a referee or admin including but not limited to player identity, team availability, and/or server pings.

Map Exploits
Abusing map exploits, such as hiding in the wall on ospctf2 will result in more severe penalties. Falling down into the fog and using that map exploit or any other abused known map "bugs" will be dealt with on a case by case basis. If you are unsure if an area of the map is off limits, use \tell in-game or discuss with you ref on IRC.

Cheating
Cheating is not allowed under any circumstance; any team caught cheating will result in the immediate removal from the league. Cheating includes, but not limited to:

• Client side bots
• Wall hacks
• Modified *.pk3 files
• Ping maskers
• Deliberate packet flooding of opponent or server

If you have any questions on the legality of any scripts or settings you use, please address them with a CTFX admin BEFORE the start of the match. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Note: If you suspect a team or player of cheating, do not make accusations or comments until after the match is over, demo’s have been uploaded/downloaded, and you have had time to examine and note times and instances in that players demo where you suspect cheating. Afterwards immediately alert the ref or a CTFX admin of the situation so they can help and advise. All accusations must be accompanied with notes with the (exact) times in the demo where said event happened as well as a description of observed naughty behavior. CTFX ref’s and admin will do everything in their power to curb any cheating, but it is the responsibility of the clan, not the CTFX admin or ref’s, to do the demo reviewing and documentation. All clans are innocent until proven otherwise.

VII - Tips/Check list:

• Don't wait for the opponent to contact you. Take the bull by the horns
• If problems arise let a CTFX admin or ref know ASAP!
• Log everything
• Take demo's and screenshots of every match
• Congratulate your opponent's no matter the outcome of the match. Sometimes the best friends are made from the worse match outcomes!

VIII – Help and Questions

Obtaining help
For general help you can contact an admin in the #CTFX channel. If no one is around you should log your question and/or concern by email to admin@ctfx.org

CTFX admin staff reserves the right to modify the rules and/or this file with no notice to the public.