How to improve to PACE tournaments

I'm sure people have a lot to say and I don't want people dominating the "lessons learned" thread with this stuff.

Lessons learned thread is this way -> https://forums.uberent.com/threads/what-did-you-learn-from-the-commander-of-the-march-tourney.57932/

Replays this way -> https://forums.uberent.com/threads/commander-of-march-tournament.57939/

No more naval planets until it's fixed.

We need to check the planets and make sure they're balanced before they are put into the tourney.
Also make sure most of the spawns are fair.

What was wrong with naval?

I think we need to make sure all the maps are fair before starting. Also we had problems with several people not showing up so we need to make sure people arrive on time.

Yes, have a strict cut off time, 15 minutes before the tourny starts so that we can have an established bracket and remove people who do not show up. We were late about 30 minutes because of people showing up late.

I propose that people should be showing up 30 minutes before the first round begins and at 15 minutes before the round the people who have not showed up get banned.

This means setting up a line of what counts as fair. There a danger only the most dry mpas are included. And PA is a game with random spawns. How long can you take the attitude of deal with what you are given?

Wreckages don't sink, bad pathing for naval units (made worse by wreckages), bad (large) hit boxes for ships, ships are incredibly slow and too large for current planet size limitations

So there are some obvious areas for improvement:

1. Handling late players
2. Communicating with players
3. Communicating rules
4. Map balance
   
5. Hosting maps

1. Handling late players

So the tournament had some big problems at the beginning due to late arrivals being allowed in which in turn screwed the brackets, which led to an enormous mess. Changes that should occur:

1. Players are requested to arrive 30min before first game
1a. Brackets are locked at the 30 minute mark
2. Anyone not in chat 15min before first game is banned
3. Reserves in chat at this time are used, those who are not are not used
4. Reserves directly replace the players that dropped, the brackets are not reseeded

I'm not even sure having reserves is a good idea. Half the issues were due to the brackets getting messed up during regeneration.

2. Communicating with players

Communicating with players didn't work well because a lot of the important discussion was happening on teamspeak and then slowly doled out to IRC, and people on IRC were getting a little twitchy because no one knew what was happening.

1. Make being present in Teamspeak mandatory
1a. All players to report to the tournament room
2. Make it clear that a microphone is not mandatory
3. No one but casters and TOs should be able to speak in the tournament room
3a. In-game players remain in this room so that announcements can be made to them, such as "5 minutes remaining".
4. Have a break room for between game chat
4a. No one still in a game is allowed in this room
5. TOs move all players into the announcement room at the end of each round
6. Anyone not in TS during any round announcement is disqualified

3. Communicating rules

Another big issue was communicating rules. I suggested before the tournament that the format the tournament takes while running, how casters pick, rounds are started, etc. needed to be made clearer. This was not done and it caused a lot of problems in the first round as people started to host, had to quit, got lost as to what was happening, etc.

1. Document should list clearly, step-by-step exactly how a round works
a. Brackets are updated
b. Casters choose their games
c. Casters will inform players if they're being cast
d. A TO will announce that all other games should be hosted
e. The player at the bottom of the bracket is responsible for hosting
f. insert the stuff about reporting
g. Report back to chat for next round
h. TO will announce once all games have completed
i. Repeat from step a

The tournament also needs to draw more attention to the rules and pre-reqs. The official document link should not be so hidden. It should be:

TOURNAMENT RULES AND REQUIREMENTS - YOU MUST READ THIS TO PLAY
....
Other stuff on the page

4. Map balance

So map balance was a big issue and clearly the current map tools don't properly ensure a fair game. This needs urgent attention. I have a number of suggestions:

1. Maps from PA Stats automatching are used. The ones to be used are announced during the opening ceremony.
2. 20 PACE maps are generated two weeks before the tournament. The community votes on which ones to use. Results are kept secret and the winning planets announced during opening ceremony. This could exist as a constantly evolving PACE Proposed Planets area on Shared Systems, with winning planets moved to the PACE Tournament folder as necessary.
3. Players should be allowed to challenge a caster's fair call. Players are allowed two rehosts and they should be allowed to override the caster's call if they wish. If map balance is improved it should be one rehost per game per player.

5. Hosting maps

The Shared System mod should be made mandatory to cut down on confusion over what a seed is, etc. for new players. The official document should be updated with a page on how to use Shared System to select the correct planets.

People using different maps for whatever reason would be disqualified.

I agree with most of the these points.

Some things we are planning.
No more IRC only TS.
Planets will be tested by multiple people or even be voted on by the community.

Oh, and one minor point: sponsor. I think I was the sponsor for this, but I don't know because the tournament doesn't say. I mean, come on, I'm putting money up, you couldn't at least list a thanks?

Why is everyone fannyflustered about naval?
Sure it's slow, and the T2 needs tweaking, but the very specific tempo of the fight and the large ship gun range mechanics make it for some interesting scenarios. Personally, I liked it.

Hey Quitch, I wasn't sure about the source of the money because I am not handling it and I didn't want to make any missunderstanding there.

All the sponsors will be listed on our website, even the past one like you.

I will ask Gandalf about the money and give you a big thank you later if I get the confirmation ok? And as an apology, feel free to accept my invitation to coach you a bit in 1v1 battles.

2 AM here guys. I will post everything that will improve here tommorow. Some big changes incoming, today tourny teached us and me personally a lot.

I would also like to quickly mention here, that all the problems go to me personally, I was a sole person taking care of the planets, document, rules, schedule and everything, it was also me who decided to let the late commers in. So if you are pissed about anything and you need a person to rage to, please go to me and don't touch my innocent buddies. Much love, no homo <3

A big thank for all the staff that handled today's tourny, I know you needed some balls of steel and I hope you all guys come to host another cool tournament in two weeks.

It's kinda broken until wreckage sinks.

i really dislike the idea of ts only, if there's a way of making the irc more organised i'm all for it. lik bold or colored text for pace admins.

i'm not sure how having 54 people in teamspeak works in an organised way.

I can barely handle talking to more than 3 friends on skype.

I thought Master Void was being a bit harsh in chat. You guys are doing a sterling job and though there were definitely some rough spots today so long as you're open to feedback and continue to improve I don't see anything to complain about.

You don't let anyone other than the TOs speak in the primary room. TS make it easier to make announcements, it also means casters can simply move their players into a room to organise hosting.

well somebody has to teach me to teamspeak then. (if anybody is willing)

Sleep is for the weak!

I think the last round really should not have a time limit. It's so sad when epic games are listed as a tie.

And yeah the start needs to be pretty simple and strict: Have a deadline, and whoever is late is dropped and maybe banned. Maybe not ban if the person turns up a minute late, but drop them for sure. It's not worth it to go crazy like this with reseeds after reseeds.