Outer Rim War III

Outer Rim War III (ORW3) is a multi-club multi-player competition organized by the Rebel Squadrons. It is the latest in a long line of competitions that includes Outer Rim War (ORW), Outer Rim War II (ORW2), the Minos Conflict, and Celestial Fury (CF). Its start date is as yet undetermined, although currently planned for sometime in November. The competition features multiplayer gaming of a variety of types, from X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter to Empire at War.

Note that nothing on this page should be considered as definite, as the event is still in the planning stages, and the clubs involved have not agreed to the stated rules as final. However, most or all of the rules have been carefully worked over and are likely to be kept unless the clubs involved decide to change them.

The War

ORW3 will follow roughly the same format as the two previous ORWs, with some important innovations. For those who have not experienced ORW before, this is a multiplayer gaming competition involving many SW clubs fighting over territory, in the form of planets or planetary systems, in the Outer Rim. The War ends when one group has captured all of the planets.

This ORW, rather than featuring all of the clubs at odds with each other, will use three "factions" of clubs that have formed temporary, uneasy alliances with each other whose enemy are the other two factions. The three factions are "Rebel", who are affiliated with the New Republic; "Imperial", several remnants of Palpatine's Galactic Empire; and "Sith", Force-using followers of the Dark Side who are gradually conquering the galaxy.

The factions are intended to be as balanced as possible, and a "skirmish" will be held before the actual War to gauge faction balance. After the War has begun, clubs may join the war at any time, pending a majority vote by the ORW Council, if it is possible to keep factions balanced. Clubs may also switch factions during the War, pending a 2/3 vote by the ORW Council, although this is not recommended except to rectify any major unbalanced factions.

The Skirmish will take place approximately 2 to 3 weeks before the War begins. Current estimates are for the War beginning in November 2006.

Fictional background

Twelve planets in the Outer Rim have been occupied by the three factions, and events have led to war. Who will emerge the victor of this fight?

One possible back story for the competition revolves around an ancient culture heretofore undiscovered by modern Galactic civilization. This culture created a form of technology or power accessible only via simultaneously performing a complex set of rituals on the twelve planets that the culture occupied. The requirement for this set of rituals is such that those performing them are extremely vulnerable and need perhaps a month of undisturbed time to be successful.

One possible way for each faction to be involved may be that the Imperials originally discovered one of these planets and their legend, but a New Republic spy discovered the information before the Imperials could prepare all twelve planets and rushed forces there. The Sith, with their dark ways, have also discovered the true nature of the technology, and fight equally hard to control it.

Location

The Subterrel Sector is a possible staging area for the ORW3. This region of space is viable for a number of reasons.

• It is beyond the Outer Rim (beyond civilised space), out in Wild Space (mostly uncharted). (A title might be: Outer Rim War III: The Subterrel Conflict; or, perhaps not called Outer Rim War at all, because it's Wild Space.)
• It's nowhere near any major trade routes.
• The galaxy at large don't know or care about the region (we can have a war there and no-one will know/care).
• Due to its lack of importance, there is practically no canon information avaialable, so we cannot be contradicted by canon material (the only major event of significance was that Luke and Leia Skywalker were born in this region, but not even they know that).
• It's neutral ground, where none of the clubs have a foothold.
• We will have free reign to create our own planets and star systems in this area, as it's a largely uncharted region of Wild Space.
• It is a fair distance from RS space (and several other clubs), but not prohibitively so (it's halfway between the Rimma Trade Route -- our location -- and the Hydian Way).

Possessions

• The three factions will begin with four planets each.
• After each week, the faction who scored the most points that week will capture one planet from the faction with the lowest score and at least one remaining planet.
• A faction without any remaining planets may continue to play, but must achieve the highest score in any given week to recapture a planet. Note that this means every club may participate, and possibly still win, until the last day of the competition.
• The war is over when one faction has captured all twelve planets.
• The planets will be divided among the faction according to their fraction of total points earned during the competition.
• The determining of exactly which planet is captured and occupied each week by which club, under the restrictions above, will be determined by a small number of people, who will announce the result in the ORW NL. This determination only affects the fictional side of things, as all planets will be strategically equal out-of-character.

Map Concepts

Here are a number of preminary concepts for the possible arrangement of systems to be fought over, presented on the sector map.

Note that the first four concepts have been reconciled into Concept 5, in an attempt to reduce weaknesses of the various proposals.

Concept 1

This version divides the sector into three sections — outer section, middle section, centre section — and distributes the worlds thusly: three in the centre section, four in the middle section, and five in the outer section.

Pros

• Natural-looking configuration

Cons

• Unbalanced distribution — two of the factions have the same distribution pattern (1 centre, 1 middle, 2 outer) while the other has a different pattern (1 centre, 2 middle, 1 outer). NOTE: It is not known if this is a real issue or not, unless we were to give different weighting or emphasis on the different sections, in which case it would be a true competition imbalance.

Concept 2

This version divides the sector into three sections as with Concept 1, however the distribution is symmetrical, with three systems in the centre section, three in the middle section, and six in the outer section.

Pros

• Equally-balanced configuration with no natural advantages

Cons

• Looks less natural than Concept 1

Concept 3

This version moves away from the sector divisions idea, and instead opts for a 'front lines' idea, where factions have to battle through defending systems on the front lines, which will fluctuate, rather than capturing worlds at random in the sector. Each faction begins with one world arrayed against one world of each of the two other factions.

Pros

• Strategic systems, with front line worlds requiring capture before being able to access worlds deeper into a faction's territory

Cons

• Does not look like a naturally-forming configuration

Concept 4

This version is a modification of Concept 3, and moves the starting cluster of faction systems from a diamond shape to a squared one. The main difference with this is that instead of each faction having one system being contested by both factions, it has each faction with one system arrayed against each faction, so instead of two factions battling over the one system, each of the front line systems per faction is only arrayed against one faction.

Pros

• Same as Concept 3
• Features two front line systems: one against each faction

Cons

• Same as Concept 3, insofar as it is not a natural-looking configuration

The previous proposed concepts were reworked in an effort to minimise the drawbacks, and agreed upon as the official system for the competition.

Concept 5

These locations will be randomised slightly to present a more organic influence based on this configuration

• Before each (week- or fortnight-long) battle of the Subterrel Conflict is fought, the ORWIII design team determines which worlds are being fought over — unlike some of the previous concepts, this does not use strict rules determining which worlds are to be fought over, as the locations as indicated on that map draft will be randomised slightly to make a more organic-looking configuration that is roughly in that shape (akin to constellations as seen in space that look sort of like object, but aren't perfectly formed).
• The number of worlds to be fought over can be one of two options:

1. 3 only
2. 3–6

• Option 1 uses one world per faction per round, with any incursive matches against each team being against the world denoted of that team for the battle (i.e. if Rebel challenges Imperial in battle, the Imperial player is fighting in defence of their world — this might make players more proactive, by encouraging them to pick fights rather than wait for themselves to be challenged by others)
• Option 2 allows the possibility of having up to two worlds per faction to be defended each battle, with enemy factions striking at different held worlds
• In cases where two factions striking at one world are both successful, it seems likely that the faction fielding the most successful matches in attacking the world will claim it, with the other attacker yielding the world after helping crush the defences
• Any world is potentially available to be fought over per battle, however the guildeline will be to attempt to designate the worlds closest to each other for logistics/storyline reasons — such details will be decided by the council before each battle

Newsletter

• The ORW newsletter, tentatively called The Outer Rim Times, will be published each week and will highlight the main aspects of that week's competition.
• Staff should be drawn from all three factions, and may include any number of members from each club.
• The name should be The Outer Rim (something): Times, Gazetteer, Chronicle, etc.
• Each week's newsletter will contain the current map of planets owned as a centerpiece.
• The newsletter will be entirely in-character and will involve a fair amount of fictional extrapolation from numbers. No numbers from the actual matches are likely to be used.
• The NL aims to be as unbiased as possible and not be centered on any particular club. Individual clubs or factions may produce their own newsletters from a different point of view.
• Another idea is to have the newsletter as an intelligence report from an operative that has successfully infiltrated all three factions, reporting to an unknown external organisation that is not named. This allows for the wealth of information being freely known by the author, and is a way to provide an unbiased narrative, as the operative is affiliated with none of the battling factions.

Staff:

• RS: David Vaughan, Eric Skrevski
• Many more writers and editors will be accepted; please contact Dave at fc@rebelsquadrons.org if you are interested.

ORW Council

The Outer Rim War Council is the top authority in ORW3. The Council will consist of one official representative from each club (likely their leader), who will vote for that club on any matter necessary. The Council will resolve large disputes, officially approve and modify the ORW3 rules, oversee faction alignment, and any other matter involving clubs as a whole. A small number of additional members from each club may listen to and participate in ORW Council discussions, but each club will have one vote. Clubs may change their representative at any time except during a vote. They may also have a backup representative in case of absence.

Clubs

Club name	Status	Contacts	Type	Past wars	Notes
Rebel Squadrons (RS)	Confirmed	Fleet Admiral Dave Trebonious-Astoris, Fleet Commander, fc@rebelsquadrons.org; General Michael Raven, Executive Officer, xo@rebelsquadrons.org; Major General Jon Anchorage, Operations Officer, jonanchorage@mchsi.com; Lieutenant Colonel David Vaughan, Logistics Officer, david@melda.com.au	New Republic-affiliated	ICTE, CF, ORW2, ORW, Minos	DB ally; BattleStats club: most games (29 members); #RS_Bar_and_Grill on irc.undernet.org
Dark Jedi Brotherhood (DB)	Confirmed	Grand Master Jac Cotelin, JacCotelin@gmail.com; Dark Jedi Master Aristan "Sarin" Dantes, Deputy Grand Master, djm_sarin@yahoo.com; Templar Lucius Xerxes Entar, nevergood@gmail.com; Exarch Duga Taldrya Arkarso, Consul of Taldryan, DugaArkarso@gmail.com	Dark Side of the Force (Sith, Obelisk, Krath)	ICTE, CF	RS ally; #DB on irc.undernet.org
Force Elite Soldiers (FES)	Unconfirmed	Rasr Culdan (Rage), Head Ambassador, Rage@fesgaming.com; Winfil Motti (Motti), Multi-Club Ambassador, Motti@fesgaming.com; Kalra Jessorn (Kalra), Multi-Club Ambassador, Kalra@fesgaming.com	Dark-affiliated	ICTE	RS, DB ally; #FES on irc.fesgaming.com
Emperor's Hammer (EH)	Confirmed	Grand Admiral Astatine, Fleet Commander, fc@emperorshammer.org; Sector Admiral Cyric, Executive Officer, xo@emperorshammer.org; Admiral Ramos Kanzco, Combat Operations Officer, ramos.kanzco@gmail.com	Imperial-affiliated	ORW2, ORW, Minos	BattleStats club: most games (11 members); #Emperor's_Hammer on irc.undernet.org
New Republic 5th Fleet (NR5F)	Confirmed	Grand Admiral Michael Simon, Fleet Commander, manfred.simon@t-online.de; High Admiral Commskywalker, Fleet Executive Officer, commskywalker@hotmail.com; Rear Admiral Mattias Gustafsson, Republican Diplomatic Corps Commander, the_tax_collector@hotmail.com	New Republic-affiliated	ICTE, CF, ORW2, ORW	RS, DB ally; #New_Republic on irc.dal.net
United Pilots Alliance (UPA)	Confirmed	Supreme Council, upahq@upahq.org; UPA_Falcon, Head of UPA Website, falcon@upahq.org; UPA_GoldLeader, Head of Expanded Universe, goldleader@upahq.org	presumably New Republic-affiliated	CF	BattleStats club: 6 BF members, 8 XvT/XWA members
Star Vipers (SV)	Confirmed	Sector Admiral Phoenix Berkana, Fleet Commander, phoenix@crimson-net.org; High Admiral Gaius Horn-Berkana, Executive Officer, keldorn@btinternet.com	Imperial-affiliated	ICTE, CF, ORW2, ORW	RS, DB ally; #SVLobby on irc.undernet.org
Vast Empire (VE)	Confirmed	Grand Moff Kadann, Head of the High Council, kadann@vastempire.com; Grand General Talon, Operations Officer, talon@vastempire.com	Imperial-affiliated	ORW2, ORW	RS ally; #Vast_Empire on irc.vastempire.com
Galactic Empire: An Empire Reborn (GE)	Confirmed	Fleet Admiral Sirus Polanski, Supreme Commander, polanski@blueyonder.co.uk; Admiral Tiberius Fel, Strategic Development Director, fel@empirereborn.net; General Jacob Jansen, Ambassador, jansen@empirereborn.net	Imperial-affiliated	ICTE	DB ally; #Galactic_Empire on irc.undernet.org
Imperial Dominion (ID)	Unconfirmed	Admiral Drax Remlinger, Fleet Commander, tombtrooper@aol.com; Admiral Erryc Lasitter, Executive Officer, spencer79@houston.rr.com	Imperial-affiliated		#Imperial_Dominion on irc.undernet.org
Crimson Mercenaries (CM)	Confirmed	Grand Master Spince, cmspince@crimsonmercenaries.com; Master of Logistics Peter Owen (Enforcer), enforcer@crimsonmercenaries.com; Master of Affairs Wrathious Ockisala (Wrath), wrath@crimsonmercenaries.com; Master of Operations noWedge, capitalist_dog@hotmail.com	Mercenaries		BattleStats club: most games (25 members)
Escuadrón Lores del Sith (ELS)	Confirmed	Commanding Officer Carlos "Jefe Pícaro", j_picaro@yahoo.es; Executive Oficcer Kharn, meloncio@hotmail.com	New Republic-affiliated		BattleStats club: most games (8 members); #escuadronls on dune.irc-hispano.org
New Republic Navy (NRN)	Unconfirmed	Fleet Admiral Das717, das@nrnr.org; Admiral Mother, kay@southwood243.fsnet.co.uk	New Republic-affiliated		BattleStats club: XvT, XWA (12 members)
Imperial Directorate (ID)	Not contacted	Imperator Nyykl Orzon, Grand Moff, gmf@imperialdirectorate.org; Tribunus Salth "Wil" Khan, Prime Minister, pm@imperialdirectorate.org; Equite Destavol A. Gin, Minister of Operations, add_r_us@yahoo.com	Imperial-affiliated		DB ally; formerly of the EH
The Defenders of Sovereignty (DS)	Not contacted				BattleStats club: most games (30 members); ER club
Tie Fighter Alliance (TFA)	Not contacted	Fleet Admiral ExarKunONe, Commander	Imperial-affiliated		BattleStats club: XvT, XWA (60 members)
The Rebel Alliance (TRA)	Not contacted	Fleet Admiral Pilotbaby64, Commander; Commodore Highlander01, Executive Officer	Rebel-affiliated		BattleStats club: XvT, XWA (59 members)
Imperial Ground Forces (IGF)	Not contacted				BattleStats club: JA, BF2 (132 members)
Rebel Ground Forces (RGF)	Not contacted				BattleStats club: JO, JA, BF2 (49 members)
Republic of Independent Systems (RIS)	Not contacted				BattleStats club: BF, BF2 (36 members)
Galactic Warfare Alliance (GWA)	Not contacted				BattleStats club: GB, EaW (33 members)
Brotherhood of Selected Sith (BOSS)	Not contacted	Dark Lord of the Sith Cobra; Dark Lord of the Sith Suntear Keeper	Dark Side-affiliated		BattleStats club: XvT, XWA; (4 members)
Sith (S) and Sith Apprentices (A)	Not contacted				BattleStats clubs; A: 5 members; S: 3 members
Brotherhood of the Sith	Not contacted				EH ally; Polish club, entire site in Polish, no English version available
BURN	Not contacted				ER club
Dragon Warriors	Not contacted				ER club: most games
CRS Morning Star	Not interested	CRS Morning Star Command Staff, cmd_staff@crs-morningstar.net			Comprised of Red Squadron and and Blue Squadron. Rob "Biggs" Baden responds that this group is not interested in this type of competition, as it has a different focus.
United Confederation of Free Planets (UCFP)	Not interested / inactive	Syndic		ORW2	Website down; Syndic is around in the RS B&G, and reports that he is unable to sign his club up due to lack of participation.
Neues Imperium (NI)	Not interested / inactive				EH ally; German club that does not currently qualify as "active", and the leader(s) have been contacted but are not interested in this competition.
Orion Strike Fleet (OSF)	Apparently defunct				No updates since 2004
New Republic (NR)	Apparently defunct			ORW	Website down
Last Starfighters League (LSF)	Defunct	Admiral Ghent, Commanding Officer, ghent@starfighters.com; Captian Zorro, Executive Officer, zorro@starfighters.com; Pallos, Executive Officer, pallos@starfighters.com	Multiple factions	ORW	Ghent informs us that the LSF ceased to be active around 2002 or so, although the website is still active.
Galactic Imperial Order (GIO)	Defunct				DB ally; Website down; Morone informs us that the club no longer exists.
Elite Republic Commandos (ERC)	Defunct				Website down; Morone informs us that the club no longer exists.
Antagonist Wing (AW)	Defunct			ORW	Website down; Morg informs us that this club was an offshoot of the Star Vipers that no longer exists.
Imperial Order (IO)	Defunct	Emperor Larsen, emperor@imperialorder.net, Grand Admiral Wulfman, Chief of Operations, chief_of_operations@imperialorder.net	Imperial-affiliated	ORW2, ORW	TJ informs us that the club is no longer active, due to the Emperor retiring from active duty.

(* members) for clubs listed on BattleStats refers to BattleStats membership, not total club membership. For example, the RS has 29 people in the BattleStats club, but 200+ in the club proper.

Possible Factions

Rebel

• (*) Rebel Squadrons
• (*) New Republic 5th Fleet
• United Pilots Alliance
• (New Republic Navy)
• (The Rebel Alliance)

Imperial

• Emperor's Hammer
• (*) Galactic Empire
• Vast Empire
• Imperial Dominion
• (Tie Fighter Alliance)

Sith

• (*) Star Vipers
• Dark Brotherhood
• Force Elite Soldiers
• (Brotherhood of Selected Sith)

(*) Confirmed participant in ORW3
(Club) indicates Battlestats club

Scoring

The scoring system of ORW3 will aim to reward participation more than past competitions. Players will be able to earn points simply by waiting for matches, which will hopefully serve the dual purpose of making waits tolerable and drawing more people, thereby lessening waiting time. This system also rewards according to the number of plays involved in a match, so in a 4v4, many more points are awarded than would be in 4 1v1s. The specifics of the system follow:

(# points - item [fictional equivalent])

• 1 vs 1
  • 6 - win [victory on the battlefield]
  • 4 - tie [stalemate on the battlefield]
  • 3 - loss [defeat on the battlefield]
• 2 vs 2 & more
  • 4 - team win (per person) [large victory]
  • 3 - team tie (per person) [large tie]
  • 2 - team loss (per person) [large defeat]
  • # players through 1 - individual performance [damage dealt to enemy]

For example, in a 2v2, #1 receives 4, #2 gets 3, #3 gets 2, #4 gets 1.

• 1 vs 1 vs 1 (FFA: Free-For-All)
  • 8 - 1st place
  • 5 - 2nd place
  • 3 - 3rd place
• Certain games (EaW, BF2, BF) will earn the players double the merits for all of the above, due to their longer length of play.
• Other points
  • 1 - 20 minutes on the waitlist [patrolling territory] [max 12 per day] [change to 15 minutes if competition is only one day per week]

This only applies when 50% or more of the number of participants are signed up (example: 1 person for 1v1, 2 for 2v2, etc.)

• • 1 - connection failure (unable to connect or lag-out) [scouting territory; orders not to attack, or a brief skirmish]

After three lag-outs in one day, a person can no longer earn patrolling points that day, to prevent abuse.

• • 2 - win by forfeit [enemy turns tail]

A forfeit may be called for any of the following reasons, if the other party so desires: No attempt to play the match by one of the participants within 15 minutes after the match is assigned; Departure mid-match for reasons other than connection problems.

• • In the event of a disconnect in a 1v1 match both parties involved are to resume the match within fifteen (15) minutes of the incident. If the disconnecting party does not return within that time span, he will be given a LOSS. The party that remains to play the match will be awarded a WIN.

Please note: If the non-disconnecting member does not make him/herself available for the 15 minute duration, he will be awarded a LOSS if the disconnecter returns to play the match.

If during the resumption of the game a second disconnect occurs, the disconnecting player recieves a LOSS and the other the WIN.

Multiplayer games are to continue as normal if a disconnect occurs.

If a game's progress can not be easily resumed (IE: Empire at War) the game is to be replayed, and the disconnecter reported to the ORW Moderators.

• • Win by forfeit [enemy turns tail]

A forfeit may be called for any of the following reasons, if the other party so desires: No attempt to play the match by one of the participants within 15 minutes after the match is assigned

A forfeit mid-match (Either issued individually in a 1v1, or AS A TEAM in multiple-person competitions) is treated as a LOSS for the forefeitting side, WIN for the side receiving the forfeit. (They receive maximum points)

• Bonuses:
  • 2 - 25 points or higher in a week & mention in The Outer Rim Times
  • 5 - 50 points or higher in a week & paragraph or news flash in ORT
  • 10 - 100 points or higher in a week & at least half article in ORT
  • 150 points or higher in a week yields mention in the newsletter.
  • 225 points or higher in a week yields a paragraph or news flash in the newsletter.
  • 300 points or higher in the week yields at least half an article in the newsletter.

These values may be modified after Week 1 if deemed necessary.

A club's score will simply be the sum of all of its members' scores.

Possible club strategies:

• Attrition: Fielding a large number of lesser-skilled players who nonetheless overwhelm -- by scoring more overall points -- one or two excellent players on another club, by utilizing the "patrolling territory" bonus. Counterpart: Massacre. This was a strategy not available in Celestial Fury.
• Massacre: Fielding one or two highly skilled players who defeat every player they encounter, from a variety of clubs, and play continuously. Counterpart: Attrition. SV utilized this during Celestial Fury.
• Balanced attack: Fielding several players each in a wide variety of games, to damage forces of all types and win through sheer numbers. Variant of Attrition.
• Concentrated attack: Focusing on one particular game and fielding large numbers of players just for that game, of a variety of skill levels, that carry the club to a victory in that game and, possibly, the event. Variant of Attrition.

Rules

Meta-rule: Rules, factions, and the scoring system may only be changed in between the overall battles.

Cheating

• In an effort to promote a 'clean' competition environment, the ORW council has decided to take a VERY firm and VERY precise stance on cheating in the competition. Suspected cheaters are to be reported to the council with all pertinent evidence (Screenshots, testimony, etc.) and a ruling will be made.
• On the first confirmed instance of cheating, the match will be ruled a WIN for the opposing team, the cheater's personal points will be ZEROed for the entire competition up to the point the offender is confirmed to have been cheating; and the offender will be banned for 24 hours.
• While harsh, we all feel that cheaters have no place here in our competition, and should be dealt with appropriately.
• Please note that the ORW Council may deem that a violation of the spirit but not the letter of the regulation is to be punished.

Games

The following games will be accepted for ORW3:

• (*) Empire at War** (space)
• (*) Empire at War** (ground)
• (*) Battlefront 2
• (*) Battlefront
• Republic Commando
• Jedi Academy
• Jedi Outcast
• X-Wing Alliance
• X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
• (*) Galactic Battlegrounds (possibly, although perhaps replaceable by EaW)

(*) eligible for double merits, as outlined above

** For the sake of the competition, Empire at War is being treated as two separate platforms: ground and space. The competition bot will need functionality for !signup EaWGround and !signup EaWSpace

Not on the list:

• Jedi Knight: outmoded
• Rebellion: outmoded
• Force Commander: outmoded
• Role-playing (D6 or D20): too logistically difficult
• Fiction writing: not really "real-time"
• Allegiance: popular for its space combat system, but not a Star Wars game

ORW location

• Channel: #outerrim on irc.undernet.org
• Time: 12pm-12am EST. This allows for 12 hours of gameplay each day and is easy to remember.
  • Option A: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-week battle periods. More intense.
  • Option B: Saturdays only, 2-week battle periods. Less intense. This has been the format for past ORWs.
  • Option C: Sundays only, 2-week battle periods. May or may not be easier for most people to make than Saturdays.
• Bot operators (ORW3 admins): Anyone available that is known to be trustworthy; there needs to be an admin on hand at all times, if possible. More than one person can operate the bot per gaming period.

Matchups

• Only one match may be played at a time; all participants must re-sign up after a match to play again.
• Combatants may not play against their own club at any time in official ORW combat.
• A person may play the same opponent in a 1v1 a maximum of three times per week and per game.

Example: In one week, three matches in JA, and then also in JO, is allowed by this rule.

• In 1v1s, combatants may only play against members of their own faction three times per week. [Fictionally, this will be considered along the lines of "military drills", or in some instances, "squabbling allies".]
• In all other types, players may not oppose members of their own faction.

Example: AB may play CC, but AC may not play BC.

• Following from this, in free-for-alls, all three participants must be from different factions.
• 3v3s and 4v4s will be treated differently than other types of matches:
  • The bot will not automatically assign matches; players must determine teams themselves.
  • Multiple games may be played without exiting the game and signing up again.
  • Players should sign up using the bot as with other types, but patrolling points are not available.
• If a person is in multiple clubs, he or she may only play for one club per week.
• After a lag-out, the same opponents may not play each other again that week.
• After yielding two forfeits, a person may not sign up again that week.
• If a person's lag-out total is three or higher and 50% of matches or higher, that person may be asked by the admins to stop playing until the connection issues are resolved.

Maps

In games where unique maps can be chosen; if a consensus can be reached any map may be used for the battle. In the event a consensus can not be reached the ORW council will issue a 'default' map each week for each platform that will be used in this case.

Post-match

• Any participant may report the results of a match.
• It is highly recommended to take a screenshot of the results screen of every match. The host must stay at the results screen for at least 5 seconds to allow all participants to take a screenshot.
• Disputes are to be filed on the ORW3 website for consideration by the ORW3 admins.

Coding

The remainder of this page concerns technical details of the ORW3 website and IRC bot.

IRC bot

• Coder: Dessan (from scratch) and/or Licah (adapting Shik's ORW2 bot)
• Announce all activity in the main channel
• Signups for 1v1 and 2v2, to be done via PM !signup; will require a handle and password to do so
• Removes for 1v1 and 2v2 upon parting channel or quitting, or via !remove
• Topics - Checks for updates to the score every 5 minutes and updates topic accordingly. (Or, the website can notify the bot to change the topic when necessary.)
• Turning on/off - Websites are more reliable than IRC connections, so the bot simply needs a local on/off button.
• Interfaces with the ORW3 website to obtain data.
• For the sake of the competition, Empire at War is being treated as two separate platforms: ground and space. The competition bot will need functionality for !signup EaWGround and !signup EaWSpace

Website

• Coder: Licah
• Graphics: Terrak
• The code for assigning and reporting matches will be PHP, instead of mIRC as before.
• Place controls for admin match modifying and turning the competition on/off.
• Pages:
  • Reporting - drawing from list of active matches
  • Disputes - a form that emails to the admins egroup
  • Rules
  • Ladder - Individual achievement; allow for display of any given week as well as cumulative (LIC-style)
  • Standings - Club standings, by week or cumulative
  • Newsletters (or "The OR Times") - containing news, maps, etc.
  • Updates - Non-fictional updates, such as changes to the rules, website, staff, or admins.
  • Clubs - Listed by faction and activity, this will contain brief info on each club.
  • Home - Hub of information: brief "about" section, factions' planet holdings, top 3 or 5 players from each club, top 10 overall, top 2 clubs for each game,
  • Contact - List of contacts for each club, list of ORW3 admins, including an email form to contact them
  • Profiles - a player profile for each person: name, club, IRC nick(s), link to profile at club's site, email address, other contact information (AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Xfire)
  • Matches list
  • Login/logout
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Active matches - includes those waiting on the signup list
  • Admin controls - edit report, turn competition on/off (for a particular day or week)

Consider making highly customizable ladder/standings: ability to view particular game statistics, vs. particular club, vs. particular player, specific match times, vs. particular factions, 2v2 with particular teammate, etc. This will create a significant load on the MySQL server, but using static ladders may resolve such a problem.

We will be purchasing a domain name for this competition, such as orw3.net, when the name of the competition is finalized.