2015 League General Discussion Thread

[gamerman01]

JuanSpain has confirmed, he is in

Still waiting on Me1945 and Rasmustb.  As it stands now, rgp44 would be 8th if neither of these 2 are in.  Pretty sure Me will be

[axis-dominion]

@Gamerman01:

JuanSpain has confirmed, he is in

Still waiting on Me1945 and Rasmustb.  As it stands now, rgp44 would be 8th if neither of these 2 are in.  Pretty sure Me will be

yah i agree, u can count him in. or else why would he have rushed to claim a bunch of forfeited games right at the end?

[lexgreat]

what a super preliminary (and likely final) play off line up, the best the league has to offer. Each quarterfinal match worthy of a final, looking forward to watch. GL to all.

[gamerman01]

Well said, I’m looking at the road to the championship and thinking, holy cow, this is going to be hard.  Starting to wonder which round I’ll get eliminated in
Late tonight, I can fill out the other 2 brackets.  (And the main one may need to be tweaked again, if game results today dictate)

[gamerman01]

The draft of the 2016 league rules has been done for a couple of days now, but am waiting for Jenn to come online and give me her e-mail address.

I suppose it’s time to put it out there anyway…… New league starts tomorrow… so I’ll post it here but it is subject to review.

I want the league year to end December 31, so 2016 will be a 14 month league year…  Is there some big “con” to this that I’m not thinking of?  Trying to reduce confusion, especially among those new to the league

[gamerman01]

2016 Axis and Allies Global 1940, Second Edition League Rules

1 - Anyone can join at any time.  No sign up is necessary just play a game in the league forum with the proper game naming convention (15L G40 Player1(side) v Player2(side))

2 - You may play anyone in the league.
However, against a single opponent, only best of 3 games will count (when one of you has 2 wins).  This limit can be expanded when both you and your opponent have completed more league games:
0-9 games completed: Limit is best of 3 (first to 2 wins)
10-19 games completed: Eligible for best of 5 (first to 3 wins)
20-29 games completed: Eligible for best of 7 (first to 4 wins)
This pattern continues.

3 - Scoring/Playoffs

3a - Each player will belong to 1 of 4 tiers based on their 2016 league year game results, after completing 2 games.  Cutoffs for tiers will be at 5.50 PPG for tier M (Master); 4.50 for tier E (Elite); 3.50 for tier 1; 2.50 for tier 2; and 1.50 for tier 3. 
Players will be awarded points as follows:
Win over tier M, E, 1, 2, 3, 4 earn 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 points, respectively
Lose to tier M, E, 1, 2, 3, 4 earn 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 0 points, respectively
Point totals are divided by # of games played to arrive at PPG (Points per game)

Points awarded are changed when a past opponent rises or falls a tier – that is, every player’s current point total reflects the current standing of their past opponents, with one exception.  If a player leaves the site and abandons all games at once, and this causes that player to drop tier(s), their past opponents will be protected from this drop (points lost due to tier drop will be added back).  However, the players reporting wins due to forfeiture will still earn points based on the abandoning player’s new lower (if applicable) tier.

Until 2 games are completed (in other words, for players who have completed 1 game in 2016), players will be assigned to tier 3 by default, unless they had a ranking in 2015 (or, if necessary, 2014), in which case they will continue with that past ranking until obtaining a new 2015 ranking (2 games completed).

3b League standings are available online here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pYDcR_d27qG312v_rq2q35wYEEfO6mjrX-Co1nvKrlI/edit#gid=10

3c Playoffs will begin as soon as possible after 31 Dec. 2016. The top 8 players in the league by PPG, who have completed at least 8 games, will be eligible to play for League Champion.  The playoff bracket will be seeded, 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5, with the 4-5 being in the same bracket as 1-8.
Tiebreakers for 8th place, in order:
1 – Head to head play
2 – Most games played
3 – Strongest opponent defeated (measured by PPG)
Any players who have completed 4 or more games, and who did not qualify for the League Champion Playoff may sign up to enter the additional league playoffs.  These playoffs will also start with 8 players each, and will be seeded by PPG (with byes or play-in games as necessary)

4 - Game & rules – The default rules are the published G40 2nd edition rules, Regular Dice (also known as ADS or Actual Dice Server), No Technology, and Bidding to determine sides.  Rules are available online here (Europe rules, then Pacific rules): http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/A&A_Europe_1940_2ndEd_Rulebook_LR.pdf
http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/A&A_Pacific_1940_2ndEd_Rulebook_LR.pdf

4a The default game rules may be modified by agreement of both players.  Tech, with or without Tech Tokens, is allowed if you and your opponent agree prior to bidding.  You should notate +Tech in the thread title for the moderators.  Low luck is also allowed – notate +LL in the thread title.

4b – Bidding - Bidding is normally used to ensure that both players are satisfied with the side they are playing.  Bidding is not required – whatever the players agree to, for mutually satisfactory rules and starting conditions, is allowed.

Default settings for bidding:

1. Limit one bid unit in a territory or sea zone.
2. The nation placing a unit in a territory or sea zone must have started with a unit in said territory or sea zone prior to placing the bid.
3. In the instance there are units from more than one country in a territory or sea zone, only one nation will be permitted to place a bid unit there.  I.e. Egypt has ANZAC and British units present at start of the game, either ANZAC or England may place a bid unit in Egypt, but not both.
4. China is limited to bid units of: Infantry, Artillery and/or Fighters (the units China is legally able to purchase or start the game with.)  These units are still limited to movement restrictions other Chinese units are limited to.

5 - Posting Schedule

5a - Time Limits - There is a 72 hour time limit per move. This (72) may be negotiated by the players at game start.  If you agree to different time limits, you need to post it at the beginning of the game thread for the moderators to enforce. 
For good sportsmanship, you should give defender decisions (casualty choices, scramble/intercept/submerge/kamikaze decisions) to your opponent as soon as possible.
5b – Vacations - Play can be paused for a total of 21 days, for whatever reason, without penalty by simply posting the need for a vacation.  Please specify the duration of your absence in your game.

5c - Weekend Players.  If you can only play on the weekend or on certain days, please state so when you are looking for an opponent, and clearly specify this in the game thread.

5d - 72 hour warnings:  If 72 hours goes by and there is no game-play post from your opponent (i.e. at least a game decision made), simply post “bump” and the number of the bump (Bump#1, Bump #2, or Bump #3), which creates the warning.  (Note:  only post “bump” in your warnings to make it clear you are issuing a warning.  Do not add any small talk or other game talk in your warning post.)

5e - Bump warning and consequences - Each “bump” warning resets the clock for another 72 hrs.  However, on the 4th “bump” warning the offending player will be disqualified and declared the loser for that game.  (Note:  You get only 3 warnings per game.)  You must post the warning when it happens (or before the next move has been made by your opponent).  You cannot retroactively issue a “bump” warning.  (For example, if the game is in round 8 you cannot go back and issue a warning that occurred in round 7).  “Bump” warnings can be issued for posting of partial turns (for example, someone only posted their combat move), OOL requests, map questions, etc. but they follow the same 72 hour requirement.

5f - If a turn is not posted within 14 days of either the previous turn post (or request for decision on casualty choice, scrambling, kamikaze, etcetera) or the end of a predetermined “vacation”, then the player failing to post may be declared in default and lose the game.  The 14 days may also be changed by mutual agreement of the players at the beginning of the game, if posted to the game thread.

6 – Posting game results - Losing players are responsible to post results in the stickied game results thread.  This is so that we know the loser agrees with the game result.  Post names of the winner and loser, the sides each player played, and provide a link to the game thread.  Winners may post the result when the game result was due to time limits of rule #5.

7 - The 2016 Regular Season starts on 1 Nov. 2015 and ends on 31 Dec. 2016.  Games must be completed by 31 Dec. 2016 in order to be counted for the 2016 season.  All game results reported between 1 Nov. 2015 and 31 Dec. 2016 will be included in the 2016 league standings.  All game results are included in the league year in which they are reported.

8 - Allowed Assumptions during gameplay - The purpose of assumptions is to reduce the number of game stoppages for opponent decisions (scrambling, casualty choice, intercepting, submerging, kamikazes…).  Because you are assuming a decision for your opponent, the opponent must always be given the benefit of the doubt, and moderators will always decide in this manner.

8a - Scrambling/intercept/submerge/kamikaze – When you make an assumption, you are accepting the risk that your opponent will disagree after seeing your turn.  If your opponent takes issue with an assumption, you should come to an agreement about how to handle it.  If you don’t agree, then the defender can require that the entire combat phase be re-rolled from the beginning.  Or, you may seek a moderator ruling.

9 – Order of Play – From page 11 of the rulebook: “Axis and Allies is played in rounds.  A round consists of each power taking a turn.  Your power’s turn consists of six phases, which take place in a fixed sequence.  When you finish the Collect Income phase, your turn is over.  Play then passes to the next power.”
You may not go back to previous phases/turns of the game and make changes without your opponent’s permission.

10 - Moderators will make the final decision on any rules violations or other game disputes. Moderator rulings are FINAL.  PERIOD.

Have fun!!!

League Moderators
Commander Jennifer
Gamerman01

[gamerman01]

This will be posted in a stickied thread when it is finalized
I am not posting it here to open every word to debate - I am posting now to give you a chance to familiarize with the rules before starting 2016 league.

However, if you have a major concern or question about something, now is the time

Major changes:

1. League year is 14 months long to get the years to end December 31 from now on.
2. Provision to protect past opponents of players who abandon the site and all their games
3. Master tier added
4. Trial period of 3 games at tier 3 for each player (or using last year’s ranking) changed to 1 game.  When players complete 2 games, it will be like it has been in the past, when they reach 4 games
5. Language inserted in various places to emphasize certain league rules (like bidding) are default rules and the players are free to do what they agree to do (like if you want to give USA or Russia +5 a turn for the whole game or something, instead of bidding, for example)
6. Changed default bump rule to 14 days instead of 9, and made it clear the players can change the 72 hour bump rule at the game start to whatever they agree to

[Shin-Ji]

You’ll want to modify 3a, as there are 5 tiers now.

[Shin-Ji]

Oh, actually, 6!

[gamerman01]

Good catch, thanks, my man!

[Shin-Ji]

Glad to help!  Everything else looks great.  I like the implementation of the deadbeat clause.

[bmnielsen]

Good idea to align it with calendar years, makes it much less confusing.

One more minor fix, in #1 the naming convention should say 16L.

A couple of small suggestions:

• List the time when the season ends, preferably in UTC/GMT so it’s easier for everyone to figure out what it is in their time zone.

• We have default bidding rules to speed up the process of starting new games. I suggest that we do the same for allowable edits as well. In every game I’ve played, NCM edits have been allowed until the opponent posts their next turn. Not having it as a default in the rules means it’s something I need to remember to agree on before every game.

[gamerman01]

OK, good stuff, I’ll see what I can do

[gamerman01]

Not sure how to do that, because
I don’t want my opponents making edits after I’ve started putting work into my next move.  I haven’t posted yet, but an edit could screw everything up.

What is your suggestion for wording that?  I want to be careful not to give too much to the one who is making out of turn edits…. allowing them individually works well for me

What are you saying for each of your games?  That both players can make whatever edits they want as long as the other side hasn’t posted anything?

[JDOW]

@Gamerman01:

Not sure how to do that, because
I don’t want my opponents making edits after I’ve started putting work into my next move.  I haven’t posted yet, but an edit could screw everything up.

What is your suggestion for wording that?  I want to be careful not to give too much to the one who is making out of turn edits…. allowing them individually works well for me

What are you saying for each of your games?  That both players can make whatever edits they want as long as the other side hasn’t posted anything?

In my opinion posting of the map stands, any edits from here depend on the leniency of the opponent. When I am doing edits I am always relieved if I see that the current map is not downloaded yet.

However I have had the situation that I was heavily investing time into a move when the opponent was doing a late edit.
So by the rules I think it is a valid option to deny that edit. the rest is a question of sportsmanship in my opinion.

Once I did an important edit and I was worried my opponent could deny the edit refering he was already planning his move. In this case I made the screenshot which showed my edit and that the map had zero downloads yet. One could take such screenshots as in insurance. However this would only work to reveal bad sportsmanship.

[Soulblighter]

2017 the godlike tier will be introduced at 6:50 :P

[axis-dominion]

What I have found helpful is, if I am uncertain about my turn in even the slightest, or even just feeling uneasy about something but not quite sure what it is, because I posted it in a hurry and left for work, for example, I will post that I need to review and possibly reconsider my ncm. That is, I’ll give my opponent a heads up that I’d like more time to review and possibly change some things, that my turn is not yet complete. That usually will catch them before they download and invest any time, and buys me time to get back to it to review and possibly make some changes.

[gamerman01]

Right, thanks guys, that’s what I think too but I will consider if bmnielsen explains what a rule like that would look like.  Perhaps there’s an improvement to be made?

But I think you might want to just type up your standard conditions once, nielsen, and then copy and paste it for each opponent/game that comes along.  Again, the default policy is what it is to minimize arguments and to prevent people from having changes made on them when they’ve already put time and energy into doing their move.

[666]

@Gamerman01:

I want the league year to end December 31, so 2016 will be a 14 month league year…  Is there some big “con” to this that I’m not thinking of?

No big “con”, IMO.

The initial thought, way back when, when we played REVISED, was to have the season, playoffs and all “wrap” w/in a 14 month time frame. Regular season starts Nov 1, 2007 and championship ends Dec 31st 2008.

The thought was to try to keep viewing interest in the playoffs/championship. That never materialized however as the playoffs have always taken so long to complete….

A bit of a history lesson for those that care…

[666]

@Gamerman01:

I am not posting it here to open every word to debate

Good luck w/that! This made me smile.  :-D