Challenge Room

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Based on Ladle Feedback, we are experimenting with another way of self-organising the competition. The responsibilities of Team Captains have altered and they are encouraged to use the Challenge Board below to establish the provisional games to be played that night. Team Captains should still visit a common chat-room to ensure all teams turn up and deal with any problems that may arise. If the preparations are abused in any way, then let us rely on Team Captains to organise it as they did in the first Ladle.

One critical problem to solve this time round: recruiting last-minute. I was most disheartened to discover that one of AW's established team-mates was effectively locked out of a server because it was full. We must be more careful about last-minute additions, as well as recognise that without these last-minute recruits the Ladle would have crashed at the outset. So... any practical suggestions..? See Last Minute Solutions below.

Team Captains

The following team list is from the previous LADLE team-lists, and all captains must put their names here to prepare for the night. Please make sure you have a reasonable form of communication with your team-mates, whether it is IRC, Skype, Team-speak, etc.

  • anarchic wanderers - garissimo
  • speeders - PsYkO (gogodsmackgo@hotmail.com)
  • Wraith Squadron - Manta
  • CrazyTronners - Xevi
  • ¡LØL! - Durka

T-room chat-room

Team Captains use the chat-room to register their team: their team is assembled at the appropriate server and they are ready to play. Team Captains should register at 9, 9.45, 10.30 and 11.15pm GMT. That is, at the beginning of every round...

If the Team Captains verify the listing of teams on the Challenge Board below at the first meeting at 9pm GMT, then the competition should run smoothly. If things get messy, then we must resort to trusting one another and allowing Team Captains the opportunity to challenge other teams and allocating servers on the day.

We need a chat-room that all Team Captains can visit, and make sure it is closed to non-captains in to make the communication feasible.

Challenge Board

A provisional play-off sequence is provided below. Please note, it is for Team Captains to issue challenges by locating their teams appropriately on the board. If they can not do this here, they will have to do it on the day in less than 5 mins, so... be cool and be brave...

Write down the placement of your team. Your placement of the team determines who you are playing in the first round and subsequent rounds if you win. Check this listing ocassionally, alter your team-place if you wish, until it settles and we are ready to play on Sat 29th.

Please do not replace another team-name with yours. Fill only spaces. In this way, Team Captains have a way of jockeying for position.

  • Team 1 is... anarchic wanderers
  • Team 2 is...
  • Team 3 is...
  • Team 4 is...
  • Team 5 is...
  • Team 6 is...
  • Team 7 is...
  • Team 8 is... Wraith Squadron
  • Team 9 is...
  • Team 10 is...
  • Team 11 is...
  • Team 12 is...
  • Team 13 is...
  • Team 14 is...
  • Team 15 is...
  • Team 16 is...

Provisional Play-offs

Do not insert names of teams here. This is merely the structure and timing of the games. The actual teams which will be playing against one another will be based on the Challenge Board above and the Team Captains which register their teams at 9pm GMT on Sat 29th July.

Note, the server allocation may change, especially as we move through into the quarters and semi finals depending on Team Captain discussion on the day.

Note also, we might by-pass the first round if we only have 8 teams... so be sensible Team Captains when choosing where to allocate your team in the Challenge Board above.

First Round 9pm GMT

  • Team 1 challenges Team 2 on Z-man's Ladle Fortress
  • Team 3 challenges Team 4 on Lords of Destruction Clan Server
  • Team 5 challenges Team 6 on Crazy Tronners Jedi Battle Fortress
  • Team 7 challenges Team 8 on US Fortress
  • Team 9 challenges Team 10 on Bugfarm Fortress
  • Team 11 challenges Team 12 on Shadow League VPS Fortress
  • Team 13 challenges Team 14 on Shadow League Dedicated Fortress
  • Team 15 challenges Team 16 on ?? wrtl's or someone else's ??

Quarter Finals 9.45pm GMT

  • Team 1/2 challenges Team 3/4 on Z-man's Ladle Fortress
  • Team 5/6 challenges Team 7/8 on Crazy Tronners Jedi Battle Fortress or US Fortress
  • Team 9/10 challenges Team 11/12 Bugfarm Fortress or US Fortress
  • Team 13/14 challenges Team 15/16 Shadow League Dedicated Fortress

Semi Finals 10.30pm GMT

  • Team 1/2/3/4 challenges Team 5/6/7/8 on Z-man's Ladle Fortress
  • Team 9/10/11/12 challenges Team 13/14/15/16 Bugfarm Fortress or US Fortress

Finals 11.15pm GMT

  • Team 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8 challenges Team 9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16 on Z-man's Ladle Fortress.

Last-minute Solutions

The following solutions need to be aired... check them out... and we must decide on one of them before the big day.

Captain's Lock

One simple rule: The Captains are the last player of their team to enter the server, and by doing so, they will fill the server and effectively lock it. That is, a match will only start when both Team Captains have entered the grid.

During the time the Captain is out of the server, there can only be a maximum of 7 players since team-mates need to leave a space for the captain. Hence, the server will always remain open for last-minute additions and for late team-mates to join.

The Team Captain should be in some form of communication with team-mates, whether it is a chat-room, team-speak, Skype, IRC, or whatever. They should know how many players have turned up for the day's play. If they have a full team, then everything will run smoothly, visiting the Captain's T-room to register and then returning to play the match. If, however, they lack a player or two, they have the opportunity of going around the different servers and doing some last minute recruiting. Their team should fill out and eventually the other team-mates will tell the captain they have 7 players and the Captain can return to the server, being the 8th member of the team, filling the server, and thus starting the match.

This system should allow the flexibility for team-mates who are a little late. If, while the Team-Captain is out recruiting, a regular team-mate arrives, the team can ask any last-minute additions to leave, while still retaining the space for the 8th player -- the Team Captain.


a.o.b.

max number of players

(Will the player count be locked at 8 plus spectators? Alowing a few exra spectators really helps with switching out team mates mid game.) Otherwise sounds good to me. -- Manta

Not sure... thought it was maximum of 16 in a server. I just don't want regular players locked out of a match like Madmax was in the last tournament. I had no way of knowing he was waiting outside. Also, one of the major delays was waiting for players to attend. I think we should be super-strict about time and everything else should follow. I agree about spectators, or subs -- but does the standard fortress settings enable a few extra spectators before being filled? 2020.


US Servers

I notice that for Quarter Finals and After all the servers listed are European. During the Last ladle Bugfarm was very busy with looky loos do to that being the usual server people play on. Perhaps after the first round the US server could replace bugfarm on the list. Most US player average around 100 ping vs European players getting 30 - 60 on local servers so it seems that would be more than fair. Plus concidering Durka's pionts in the Feedback section. - GREAT job laying out the page 2020, it just gets better and better.

Good thinking... the actual server matches are played on should be decided by the team captains with only provisional listings above. Wraith Squadron has already chosen to be Team 8 which means they want to play on the US server and it would make sense to have the continuity of the US server with Quarters between Team 5/6 v Team 7/8 and semi's Team 1/2/3/4 v Team 5/6/7/8... though I see no problem in adding it to the options for the Quarter Finals and later. Does this make sense? Please remember this is all just provisional to assist Team Captains make their decisions on the day as quickly and as efficiently as possible without anyone being in charge. 2020