TWDT 2015 Rules

[ogron]

Draft


Date: Sunday, February 8th, 2015
Time: 3pm EST
Location: ?go TWDT

-Draft order will be done via live stream at 2pm EST, one hour before the draft
-Snaking draft (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
-Each Captain will select one 5-Star Package and one 6-Star Package to speed up the draft





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League Structure

-We'll be building on the mandatory 5-Star and 6-Star in every game, but adding a bit more flexibility for captains to give a broader range of players the ability to get in, and better fit their needs depending on who shows.
-The last two spots in TWDT-D and TWDT-J (three in TWDT-B) will still be reserved, but instead simply have a 12-Star Limit (18 in TWDT-B), allowing you to play either 6/6, 6/5 (like last year), or 7/5.



-I think most teams will use two 6-stars, since 5-stars have by far the worst showrate and are significantly worse (the skillgap between 5 and 6 is larger than between 6 and 7), will be reserved only for pubbers and total newbies, and the rating is reserved for people estimated between 1-5 rating (no borderline 6s in the category), but it gives the option for those one or two teams with a plethora of 7s in a particular league and decent 5s who show the option. This will differ week-to-week depending on who shows, so I don't think this will have a big impact on 6s playrate (and will likely improve it.)
-5-Star and 6-Star players who are not started in a game once again are available to borrow by other teams to avoid forfeits during the regular season.
-IF teams are still struggling to get package players to show come playoff time, I will divest eliminated team's package players to teams in need.
-There are far too few actively involved 5-Stars to actively justify a permanent starting spot, hence the ability to play two 6-Stars. That said, there may be one or two Markmrw's lurking on team's that may find value, so I want to give those team's that option to take advantage of it as well. Some may have few or no showing 7s in a particular league and opt to play 6/5 anyway during poor showings.


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Playoffs


-6 of 8 Teams will qualify for the playoffs.
-Making the playoffs is based on your cumulative win total across all three leagues -- you either make all three or none.
-Once in the playoffs, you can be eliminated in 2 leagues and still carry on and win the 3rd.
-The top 2 teams earn a bye into the Semi-Finals
-Tiebreaks: Head-to-head record, then most win in your worst league (5-5-5 beats 7-7-1), then best plus/minus across all three leagues, with minutes in basing counting as kills/deaths.
-Star Cap Limits remain in place for the playoffs -- borrowing 5/6 Star players is disabled.
-Best of 3 in TWDT-D and TWDT-J, and to 20 Minutes in TWDT-B for Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and Finals.


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Schedule

TWDT-D @ 3PM EST
TWDT-J @ 4PM EST
TWDT-B @ 5PM EST


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Matches

-Matches are to 50 in TWDT-D/TWDT-J, and to 15 Minutes in TWDT-B.
-Match times in TWDT-D/TWDT-J have been increased 10 minutes to be the same as TWD.
-There are no ties in TWDT. If game time expires with even scores, both teams will IMMEDIATELY select a player from their teams to duel each other in ?go duel for the win with these exact rules: (5, Warp.) No NC or Winby2.
-TWDT-D duels must be in warbird, and TWDT-J duels in javelin. Running and refusing to fight will result in TWDT Ops awarding the win to the other team.


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Playing Down A Man

-Not adding a 5th player in TWDT-J/TWDT-D (8th player in TWDT-B) counts as 5-Stars. You would then have 7-Stars left in your final low-star spot (13-Stars left in TWDT-B).
-Not adding a 4th in TWDT-J/TWDT-D is a forfeit
-Not adding a 7th in TWDT-B counts as 5-Stars. You would then have 8-Star left in your final low-star spot.
-Not adding a 6th in TWDT-B is a forfeit.


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Adding Player Over Star Limit

-Any kills/reps/active play that affects the game before the player either specs or is subbed will result in a 50-25 forfeit.
-Active play includes (but is not limited to) terring, sharking, firing shots, or drawing fire.
-A player being AFK in spawn or not moving is not forfeitable.
-Captains and Assistants have clear Star-Limit sheets for every league (http://forums.subspace.tw/showthread...r-Rating-Lists) -- ignorance is not an excuse. Make sure your (A)s are aware of rules/sheets.
-It is a Captains responsibility to make sure players he is borrowing are the correct star limit


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Free Agency

-There will be two Free Agency drafts: The first will take place one hour before Week 2, and the second will happen one hour before week 5.
-The order for the initial draft will be 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 -- the exact opposite of the Draft Pick order.
-The order for the second draft will be based on worst to best records (tiebreaks use regular season tiebreak procedures.)
-Players drafted are immediately eligible for play.
-Assistants may draft in the Captain's place. If neither (C) nor (A) show, a league operator will draft for you to the best of their abilities based on consensus.


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Trades

-The Trade Deadline is TUESDAY, MARCH 17 @ 11:59pm EST
-Unbalanced trades will be nixed.


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Players with limited ability to show

2:turban> i mean i would be in favor of having no tag for limited activity to begin with, and only give the captains a heads up that this guy may be inactive
2:turban> draft at your own risk

-Read the TWDT 2015 Draft Preview for all info on player's stated ability to show
-We'll do our best to inform captains during the draft phase that said player has stated having limited activity
-Please note people's schedules sometimes change and they become more/less active
-We assume zero liability as to the accuracy of player statements
-That said, any intentional coercion between a player and cap will result in that player being banned from the playoffs


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Rules

-In theory, TWDT is meant to be a fun, competitive, and inclusive model, and we follow the same "spirit of the law" mantra as last season, and try to use common sense, and assess cheating/bans/replays/etc. on a case-by-case basis.
-In reality, I'm usually accused of bias and simply defer to Turban for a final ruling.
-Trading names to get around Star Limits is the big sin here, though, so anyone caught doing it will receive a season-ending ban. End of story.

[ogron]

F.A.Q.


Why are you using a 1-10 rating for each player in each league, but the lowest rating possible is 5?

The answer is twofold:

1) New players and pubbers are an unknown quantity. Most of the time we have no information on them, so differentiating between a 1 star or a 3 star or a 5 star is impossible.

2) Going from a 2 star to a 5 star over a period of 7 weeks is not only possible, it happens almost every season. A handful of newbies show up every week, join a TWD squad, and by playoff time they're a legitimate 5-Star (sometimes even 6.) Once you hit that TWD barrier diminishing returns kick in, and the ascent to TWL and 7/8/9/10 ratings is slower and more stable. This makes rating those gradients a lot easier.


Why have ratings at all if they don't matter above 7?

1) They help Captains draft.

2) Tradition and Posterity. People like seeing their ratings and others, and discussing/debating/complaining about them.


Why not return to the old Star Cap system?

1) This was the original plan. But as I started out doing mock ratings for the first 150 signups, I realized rating new players whom most or none had heard of was impossible (see first question above.) Is this guy a 1-star or a 5-star? Will this pair of newbies show up and improve over 2 months, and become a 3-Star juggernauts as a team plays 10/10/9/3/3 while others' newbies they randomly drafted never show, and are left at a huge disadvantage?

2) It's simpler and less prone to abuse to mandate two of the five starting slots in TWDT-D and TWDT-J, especially 6-Star TWD players, who are known quantities, show for TWDT, and are much more reliable, then have 2-3 teams win the 5-Star lottery. Drafting 3 starters (especially if you pick multi-shippers) isn't hard, so each team should be able to field strong lines in every league.

3) Most people I've spoken to recently (and comments on forums) liked the system last year, and wanted something similar. This grants the same two (three in base) slots to lower-starred players, while providing a bit more opportunities for those 7-Stars who got squeezed out last year, and potentially doubling the amount of 6-Stars who can get in (a large pool of players), while reducing the burden of finding 5-Stars who rarely show/care (but not eliminating the potential for a few of them to break out.)

The big difference this year is that the 12-Star cap on those final two spots gives captains week-to-week flexibility to play a pair of 6-Star TWDers or that 5-Star lotto pick who panned out with a 7-Star who maybe suffered last year sandwiched on a roster full of superstars and mandated 6/5 players.

[Zeebu]

after the initial placement on a team, how difficult would it be to have a variable rating through the season? using some of the twd algorithms couldnt a system be developed that gives a new rating each time you play a match with a cap on how far you could rise/fall?

this would allow the newbie guys to start at 5 then fall if they suck or rise if theyre good, but slowly as a week to week thing.

it would also allow those higher rated guys to get a chance to play if they arent playing up to what they were originally rated.


i know this isnt something that can be done for this season, i just think its an idea. at least for wbs and javs it seems pretty doable. basing, pft no idea.

[ogron]

after the initial placement on a team, how difficult would it be to have a variable rating through the season? using some of the twd algorithms couldnt a system be developed that gives a new rating each time you play a match with a cap on how far you could rise/fall?

this would allow the newbie guys to start at 5 then fall if they suck or rise if theyre good, but slowly as a week to week thing.

it would also allow those higher rated guys to get a chance to play if they arent playing up to what they were originally rated.


i know this isnt something that can be done for this season, i just think its an idea. at least for wbs and javs it seems pretty doable. basing, pft no idea.

Ya, it's a good idea, but it runs into a lot of issues:

1) Captain's hate having their player's ratings raised. They feel like they drafted well and should be rewarded, and instead they're being punished.

2) Half the captains in TWDT are my TWL teammates. Dice/Pene/Fierce people never volunteer to cap -- Thunder ppl only cap as a favor to me so TWDT doesn't suck and we have veteran leaders. If I lower one of their ratings, people cry foul. If I raise someone else's ratings, people cry foul. I lowered a few ratings to help people and team's out (mostly Pressure/Mighty/Skatarius/Cranium, never my own team) and it became an issue regardless, so my preference is to make 0 alterations this season.

I want to take as much perceived subjectivity out as possible. Hence a live draft, no ratings alterations mid-season, clearly defined Free Agency draft order, etc. This is especially true of the main draft, Zidane has a horseshoe so far up his ass I'm surprised his colon hasn't won the Belmont. He's never been outside the top 3 in any draft (#3 2012 TWDT, #1 2013 TWDT, #1 2014 TWDT, #3 2014 Fantasy Football, #1 2015 LCS Fantasy), and it looks bad.

3) Constantly updating ratings and formulas to track that sounds like a lot of work, and there's already a lot to be done

[Rab]

Just give me 5 stars again - I'm really bad, ask anyone.

[ogron]

Just give me 5 stars again - I'm really bad, ask anyone.

Rab confirmed 19 star wb

[Jones]

what's the res-limit for wbs

[ogron]

what's the res-limit for wbs

same as last year, provides a little variety. no limit. i played wb at 1920x and it was glorious.

[Jones]

same as last year, provides a little variety. no limit. i played wb at 1920x and it was glorious.

just tested. I can get 2500x1600 on res-resizer. yeah.. fuck that

[ogron]

UPDATED:

Schedule

TWDT-D @ 3PM EST
TWDT-J @ 4PM EST
TWDT-B @ 5PM EST

The schedule and order of leagues will remain exactly the same as last year.

[ogron]

UPDATED:

Matches

-Matches are to 50 in TWDT-D/TWDT-J, and to 15 Minutes in TWDT-B.
-Match times in TWDT-D/TWDT-J have been increased 10 minutes to the same as TWDD
-There are no ties in TWDT. If game time expires with even scores, both teams will IMMEDIATELY select a player from their teams to duel each other in ?go duel for the win with these exact rules: (5, Warp.) No NC or Winby2.
-TWDT-D duels must be in warbird, and TWDT-J duels in javelin. Running and refusing to fight will result in TWDT Ops awarding the win to the other team.


Remembered to get Turban to add 10 minutes to wb and jav games, this was an issue last year. TWDT bots are inexplicably 10 minutes short on time. Caused multiple appeals last year. And the year before.

Also added some new rules to quickly settle ties in the unlikely event they occur (there were none last year, but a few close calls. And TWL had one or two last season) to make sure there are only wins and losses to keep things simple. A quick duel to 5 will resolve the issue, not unlike shootouts in the NHL.

[ogron]

redacted

[Rab]

Do matches start this weekend?

[Turban]

yup,

no pre-season afaik.

[Ravos]

Can't wait.