General TWL/TWDC Information

[MirrorriM]

This is sort of a Frequently Asked Questions thread. In this thread I'll try to address some questions I get asked a lot. Also, feel free to ask your own here.

1. What the heck is a roster rule, soft, and hard lock?

Roster Rule lock (aka Waiting Period): All players who join a TWL or potential TWL squad will have to sit out 1 Round of play/1 weekend. This is in effect as soon as the TWL squads have been chosen. It also applies to TWDC squads, since everyone who wants to participate in TWL has to follow the same requirements (Such as TWDC squads still need to have played 50 games). Squads should be stable and competitive by the time qualifications have ended. It should not be happening after. This rule is also meant to prevent squadhopping easily. This rule applies for the entire length of the TWL season.

The roster rule lock also prevents captains from adding any of their TWD players onto the TWL roster between Friday and Monday.

Soft lock: Begins at the end of the 1st Round of TWL. After this point, TWD players may still join a TWL squad. TWL players can not join another TWL squad (this includes leaving one's TWL squad and trying to rejoin it).

Hard lock: Begins at the end of the 3rd Round of TWL. No one can join a TWL squad after this time. Clarification: TWD players can join a TWL squad's TWD roster, but must do so BEFORE hard lock begins. TWD-rostered players can be put on their TWL squad's TWL roster after hard lock.

2. What is TWDC??

This is a new addition to TWL. It stands for Trench Wars Division Cup. In the past, we had various ways of deciding what squad earned that last spot in TWL. There was much controversy and anger. For this season, we decided that the best solution was to have the next 4 squads on the TWD ladder (after the TWL squads were chosen) fight for the last spot in a tournament.

3. How are playoffs going to work?

TWL will feature best of 3 playoffs. Teams will be included based on regular season win-loss records.

For Season 12:

-TWLD will have 6 squads in the playoffs: the top 2 squads will get a bye and the next 4 squads will play in the quarter-finals for the last 2 spots in the semi-finals.

-For TWLB and TWLJ, the top 3 squads will get a bye to the playoffs. The next 4 squads will play in a tournament during the extra 2 weeks of the TWLD season for the last spot in playoffs.

All divisions will start and end TWL at the same time.

4. What are the lag limits? What are you gonna do about laggy player here?

Lag limits are stricter than TWD lag limits. We can not tell you what these limits are in order to prevent players from manipulating their lag until it is right below the limit. Besides the bot, staff will be watching visual lag also. Players who may be able to play according to the bot may not be able to play according to staff. Players that have visual lag (eating a lot of bullets, stuttering across the screen, bullets appearing far from their ship, etc), will be asked to reconnect if it looks like their lag is helping them gain an advantage over the other team. In the case of an LJ or LD, this will increase their number of deaths by 1. If you do not like this, then you can ask your captain for a sub and save your death. This may seem scary for a staff member to control your TWL future, but please understand that we are most interested in upholding the integrity of the game. The rule will not be used lightly.

5. How long is TWL?

2 week qualifying period
2 weeks of TWDC
1 week of preseason
13 weeks of TWL Rounds; this includes playoffs and replay week.

There will also be a break from TWL for Christmas (Dec. 27th-28th) and New Years (Jan. 3rd-4th). [Note:These dates are subject to change based on player feedback).

Hmm, those are the big ones for now I think. I will update this thread as I get more questions and I'll put up a nice overview of how the new TWL site works in the next week.

[HateTheFake]

how many games is twdc, is it twd format best of 3, or a solo round?

can you switch names during the twl season after hardlock ? (same squad different name)

[Dreamwin]

how many games is twdc, is it twd format best of 3, or a solo round?

can you switch names during the twl season after hardlock ? (same squad different name)

single elimination.

[MirrorriM]

can you switch names during the twl season after hardlock ? (same squad different name)

Nope, gotta stick with your name. This is also a good place to note that the "accidental de-rostering" rule has been removed from the TWL rules. Make sure you trust your captains this TWL season, because your fate is in their hands.

[maketso]

top squads will have to sit every fking weekend while newbs battle for the last playoff spot....................

[Capital Knockers]

Nope, gotta stick with your name. This is also a good place to note that the "accidental de-rostering" rule has been removed from the TWL rules. Make sure you trust your captains this TWL season, because your fate is in their hands.

Something I've been wondering here. If a squad like Pirates had it's dudes decide to go through TWL with their Pirates alais and win a title, can their actual name be put on the History Book? I'd personally like to use my Pirate name in TWL, but I'd rather have Knockers up in the books if we won something. I don't see why we couldn't other than people being mad they didn't win and doing whatever possible to piss in others people's porridge.

[Izor]

Can you please have people with some knowledge of the ship that theyre viewing watch please? I can tell visually whats normal lag in a wb as far as boost lag and pixel dodging for the most part, but a baser may not. By the same token, I might not understand what a flag jupe is if not for a thread a couple seasons ago if I was monitoring base. Something small like a bullet coming out of someones ship too far is very subjective, and as such is wide open to abuse. If youre watching visual lag, mega newbie is not going to be able to play by anyones definition, seeing as how he uses his lag to his advantage and you can never predict what angle the shot is coming at when he comes off a rock. It more comes out of the side of his ship than anything (and 2 inches from his nose). Also, when you rush him and he flies around rocks he flies square into them and then spikes through it on the other side. All depends on what the host feels is 'fair' I guess. Still, if mega newbie gets specced for blatant lagging youre opening up the door to someone being specced that is making good dodges that simply appear to be eats to everyone else.

edit: pirates isnt winning anything anyway, dont worry

[Ricko]

lag needs to be stricter this twl, fed up of laggots getting an enormous advantage and noone doing anything to stop them, they're game changers just by flying around your screen and confusing you.

[Salubrious]

Something I've been wondering here. If a squad like Pirates had it's dudes decide to go through TWL with their Pirates alais and win a title, can their actual name be put on the History Book? I'd personally like to use my Pirate name in TWL, but I'd rather have Knockers up in the books if we won something. I don't see why we couldn't other than people being mad they didn't win and doing whatever possible to piss in others people's porridge.

It's very annoying to play against aliased people and you can't tell who the hell is who. When you see a players name, you automatically draw expectations from them based on experience, and an alias puts the aliaser at a slight advantage because you have no clue what to expect from them.

Take Mega Newbie again. That dude eats a shitload of bullets, and unfortunately it's become an expected thing, so duelers will generally play a bit safer against him. Put him in an alias, and he'll probably eat 5 head on shots and kill you 4 times before you realize you're playing against a Brazilian lagass.

Or, using the league I actually know slightly more about, how would you, as a shark, perform differently against Domi in a basejav on his usual name where you know that as soon as he blinks once on your screen you're going to have to repel IMMEDIATELY, or some random basejav aliased as "Chinese Kung Fu Master 13" and you have no clue it's Domi?

Basically where I'm going with this is if you're going to use an alias and put yourself at an advantage, and do wind up winning, then you should be credited as winning with the alias. B4serman never complained.

edit: on the other hand, TWL staff should know which aliased Pirate is which to make sure there is nobody double-squadding, and I'd personally be okay with having both your regular screenname and alias recorded in the history book if a list was compiled of who each aliased person is. Obviously that would negate the idea of playing incognito, but it's a compromise. Just an idea.

[KiAN]

4. What are the lag limits? What are you gonna do about laggy player here?

Lag limits are stricter than TWD lag limits. We can not tell you what these limits are in order to prevent players from manipulating their lag until it is right below the limit. Besides the bot, staff will be watching visual lag also. Players who may be able to play according to the bot may not be able to play according to staff. Players that have visual lag (eating a lot of bullets, stuttering across the screen, bullets appearing far from their ship, etc), will be asked to reconnect if it looks like their lag is helping them gain an advantage over the other team. In the case of an LJ or LD, this will increase their number of deaths by 1. If you do not like this, then you can ask your captain for a sub and save your death. This may seem scary for a staff member to control your TWL future, but please understand that we are most interested in upholding the integrity of the game. The rule will not be used lightly..

so rather than having them find a way so they are within limits, which if they are stricker than twd, then it wont be bad at all, you are not going to allow them to play twl at all? Sounds pretty gay if you ask me. If 300ms is high for twbd, and its 200ms for twl, i think if they know this, they might be able to try to get it down to 200, but if they dont, they wont even be allowed to play.. wow thats gay if you ask me =/ but then again, you didnt

top squads will have to sit every fking weekend while newbs battle for the last playoff spot....................

Looks like you will be kept busy then

[RednaZ]

Something I've been wondering here. If a squad like Pirates had it's dudes decide to go through TWL with their Pirates alais and win a title, can their actual name be put on the History Book? I'd personally like to use my Pirate name in TWL, but I'd rather have Knockers up in the books if we won something. I don't see why we couldn't other than people being mad they didn't win and doing whatever possible to piss in others people's porridge.

Fuck you and fuck aliases, they stopped being cool years and years ago.

[Dabram]

Fuck me, I'm aliasing this season \o/

[MirrorriM]

so rather than having them find a way so they are within limits, which if they are stricker than twd, then it wont be bad at all, you are not going to allow them to play twl at all? Sounds pretty gay if you ask me. If 300ms is high for twbd, and its 200ms for twl, i think if they know this, they might be able to try to get it down to 200, but if they dont, they wont even be allowed to play.. wow thats gay if you ask me =/ but then again, you didnt



Looks like you will be kept busy then

I wouldnt worry, we are still going to give a reasonable margin for European players. It would be ridiculous to set the lag limit at a nice 100 ms when we know it is virtually impossible for most players to attain that.

Can you please have people with some knowledge of the ship that theyre viewing watch please? I can tell visually whats normal lag in a wb as far as boost lag and pixel dodging for the most part, but a baser may not. By the same token, I might not understand what a flag jupe is if not for a thread a couple seasons ago if I was monitoring base. Something small like a bullet coming out of someones ship too far is very subjective, and as such is wide open to abuse. If youre watching visual lag, mega newbie is not going to be able to play by anyones definition, seeing as how he uses his lag to his advantage and you can never predict what angle the shot is coming at when he comes off a rock. It more comes out of the side of his ship than anything (and 2 inches from his nose). Also, when you rush him and he flies around rocks he flies square into them and then spikes through it on the other side. All depends on what the host feels is 'fair' I guess. Still, if mega newbie gets specced for blatant lagging youre opening up the door to someone being specced that is making good dodges that simply appear to be eats to everyone else.

edit: pirates isnt winning anything anyway, dont worry

That is a good idea, but I am not sure how easily we can do that. I can try to have the host be someone familiar with that league, but no promises. I am also writing up something for staff so they know what to look for, I will include your ideas in it.

I dont have a problem with aliased players having their 'real' names put in the history book.

[Salubrious]

Changing my name to NirrorriN

[Lag.Com]

I get a fairly neat 120ms here in the UK (when nobody else on the network is killing it) since I plug my laptop directly into the wireless router. I wouldn't want to just say "australians can't play" (most of them suck, ahahaha) so I'm not sure a flat ping limit would work at all. As Izor mentioned, it's possible for someone to have 200ms less ping than you and visually lag a lot more.
The server has been so flaky recently I'd be surprised if none of the TWL games will be ruined by it falling over and suddenly giving everyone 50% C2S or something.