Alliance Tournament XIV: Rules and Signups

Hello Competitive Pilots!

With the Alliance Member cutoff for teams wishing to participate in Alliance Tournament XIV now having passed, we are able to reveal the ruleset for this year’s contest. There are a few changes from last year, with the main changes summarized below and the full ruleset following. Please note that this ruleset may be updated before the tournament starts. Any such announcements will be made on the EVE Alliance Tournament Discussion forum, so make sure you keep watching it.

Major changes from AT13:

Switching to 10 pilots instead of 12
Point value changes to compensate for change in team sizes:
- Raw point increases to Battleship hulls, Battlecruiser hills, T3 Cruisers, Hictors, Logistics (T1 and T2)
- Point decrease for T1 Cruisers
- -2 points to all Blood Raider ships
Introduction of T2 Logistics Frigates at 5 points, with two allowed per match just like T1 Logi Frigates
Full ban cap transfer
Limit of one WDFG (unique Heavy Interdictor warp disruptor) per ship
Banning MJFG (unique Command Destroyer Micro Jumpdrive)
Disallowing pirate ammo
Disallowing T2 repair drones

At the end of this blog you’ll find the full formal rules for the tournament. You will also be able to find them on the rules page in the Community portal.

Signups

Signups are open as of this dev blog, and prospective teams can have their alliance executor fill out this form. Signups are open until the 22nd of July at 23:59UTC. We will be offering positions in a similar way to last year: the top 14 teams will be offered an option to buy into the tournament directly, 42 positions will be available in the random draw, and the remaining 8 will be offered in a secret auction. This gives a total of 64 teams. Entry fee for teams buying in directly and the random draw is 5 PLEX, and the secret auction will again only be open to teams that have already entered the random draw. Any positions allocated for the Top 14 buy-in that are not used will be added to the andom draw. The draw will take place on the 26th of July with the results announced the same day, and the auction will take place between the 27th and the 29th of July.

Seeding the Brackets

This year, we will be seeding the brackets in a similar way as to AT XIII with a few small changes:

Teams will be seeded into a standard 64 team double elimination bracket
Any teams that used a buy-in for placing in the top 14 will be seeded in the order they were placed in Alliance Tournament XIII. For example, if 13 teams buy in and the 9th placed team does not, the teams that came 10th place and lower would all be seeded from 9-13 in the order of their placing in Alliance Tournament XII.
Teams selected through the random draw and secret auction will be randomly seeded in all remaining positions through a second draw

If you’re interested in commentating but haven’t submitted your interest yet, we’re still accepting applications until July 11^th. Check out the earlier announcement blog for more details.

As always, we hope you’re as excited for the tournament this year. If you have any other questions you can feel free to ask them in the comments thread, or come visit us in the EVE Alliance Tournament Discussion forum.

And remember: the best ship, is Championship.

On behalf of the Tournament team

-CCP Logibro

RULES

This is a single-stage, double elimination tournament with 64 teams allowed to enter.

As a player, you may only compete for a single alliance, regardless of how many player-accounts you own.

All competing pilots must be members of the alliance for which they are competing, and have been a member of that alliance by 2016-07-06.

All alliance members are eligible to compete in any match in which their alliance is taking part, subject to all applicable rules; teams do not have to remain the same between games.

Please note that both the format and match rules are subject to change. It is strongly advised that participants watch the tournament forum regularly for announcements.

Match rules

Teams can field up to ten pilots on the battlefield.

Fights are limited to 10 minutes. If a fight reaches time, it will be stopped and whichever team has the higher total points value will be declared winner. See "Victory Conditions", below.

Intentional pod killing is NOT allowed and may result in the offender being punished. All podkills will be reimbursed.

The match simulation is taken as is. Teams are advised to spend the pre warp-in time to verify that their ships are completely operational.

Penalties

A player found breaking any rules can be penalized to various degrees, depending on the severity of the offence. All penalties are incurred at the tournament referee's discretion. Decisions are final. Penalties may be levied against a player or team and may include, but are not limited to:

Points deduction
Reducing the offending ship(s) shield / armor / hull / capacitor to 50%
Involuntary moving of the offending ship(s)
Removal from the fight
Ban from competing for one or more matches
Ban from competing for the remainder of the tournament, and/or any future tournaments
The referees can call a match null and void or declare a result if they believe that one of the teams is not competing. This tournament is designed to showcase the talents of pilots and should be entertaining.

Format

The format of the tournament will be a modified double-elimination setup which will culminate in a best-of-5 match final. The third place will go to the loser of the final Elimination bracket match.

Place & Tactics

Captains must be online and available 45 minutes prior to the match to make their ban choices. Further details on bans can be found in the subsection Ships and bans.

Participants should be prepared, in their chosen ships, and in a fleet 20 minutes before their scheduled fight time. Teams will be brought by a GM to a solar system in uncharted space and designated as Team 1 and Team 2. If you are not ready within this time allocation, you will be disqualified from this match and the opposing team will be given an automatic win.

There are eight beacons in the system which serve as start off points. Four beacons are marked for Team 1 and four marked for Team 2. Teams will be moved to the beacon of their captain's choosing. Once the teams are in system, all instructions will be given by the referee in local chat. You must keep an eye on that channel at all times once in system.

Once word is given, teams warp in to the arena beacon specified, at a range of their choosing, up to a maximum of 50 km. Team members are allowed to warp in at different ranges.

The arena will measure 125 km radius around the central beacon.

The arena contains nine Mobile Micro Jump Unit structures, one placed in the center and eight placed 87km away from the center in the direction of each of the eight team beacons. These outer structures form a cube around the center of the arena with sides approximately 100km in length. These Mobile Micro Jump Units are indestructible and usable by all.

The host will begin a countdown. When the countdown ends, the host will break target locks of all ships in the arena.

If a player warps out/leaves the arena, his/her ship will be destroyed. This includes disconnection emergency warps. This rule is in effect before and during the match.

Warping within the arena is NOT allowed.

Boarding a ship during the match is NOT allowed.

Deploying cargo containers, anchorable items, upwell structures or mobile structures into space is NOT allowed. Dropping regular jettison containers is allowed.

The following restrictions are in place after teams have warped to the arena beacon, until the match begins:

Locking players before the match starts is NOT allowed.
Activating aggressive or targeted modules before the match starts is NOT allowed.
Launching drones before the match starts is NOT allowed.
Moving before the match starts is NOT allowed.
Beginning the activation cycle of a Micro Jump Drive or Mobile Micro Jump Unit before the match starts is NOT allowed.

Ships & Points

Each team has 100 points with which to select their ships.

Each team may have up to 10 ships on the battlefield.

Teams may field no more than 2 of a given ship. This applies to specifically named ships only and not ship hulls. For example, 2 Merlins, 2 Hawks, and 1 Harpy would be legal.

Teams may field no more than 1 logistics cruiser, or 1 tech one support cruiser, or 2 T1/T2 logistics/support frigates in each match.

Ship point values are as follows. Ship types not listed in the table are not allowed.

The Nestor is NOT allowed.

Previous Alliance Tournament prize ships that have both T2 and Faction status fall under their T2 classes for point values.

Battleship, Pirate Faction (other than the Bhaalgorn) – 21
Marauder – 21
Bhaalgorn – 19
Battleship, Navy Faction – 19
Black Ops Battleship – 19
Battleship – 18
Command Ship – 18
Strategic Cruiser – 18
Logistics Cruiser – 15
Recon Ship – 13
Battlecruiser, Navy Faction – 13
Battlecruiser (including the Gnosis) – 12
Heavy Interdictor – 12
Heavy Assault Cruiser – 12
Tech 1 Support Cruiser – 11
Cruiser, Pirate Faction (other than the Ashimmu) – 11
Ashimmu – 9
Cruiser, Navy Faction – 9
Tactical Destroyer – 6
Command Destroyer – 6
Cruiser – 5
Electronic Attack Frigate – 5
Logistics Frigate – 5
Frigate, Pirate Faction (other than the Cruor) – 4
Assault Frigate – 4
Covert Ops Ship – 4
Interdictor – 4
Frigate, Navy Faction (including Navy Disruption Frigates) – 3
Tech 1 Disruption Frigate – 3
Stealth Bomber – 3
Interceptor – 3
Destroyer – 3
Tech 1 Industrial Ships – 2
Cruor – 2
Frigate – 2
Rookie Ship, Pirate Faction – 2
Rookie Ship – 1

Fitting restrictions

All T1 and T2 modules are allowed, with the following exceptions:

All Remote Armor Repair modules and Remote Shield Transfer modules are NOT allowed, EXCEPT on ONE of: A Logistics Ship, a Strategic Cruiser, a Tech 1 Support Cruiser; or on up to TWO Tech 2 Logistics Frigates or Tech 1 Support Frigates
- A combination of T1 and T2 repair frigates is allowed if desired (so ONE T2 logistics frigate alongside ONE T1 support frigate is allowed)
The Ancillary Shield Boost module will be restricted to a maximum of one per ship.
Warp Disruption Field Generators are restricted to a maximum of one per ship
Micro-jump field generators are NOT allowed
Remote Capacitor Transmitters are NOT allowed
The Bastion Module is NOT allowed
Cloaking devices are NOT allowed
Target Spectrum Breakers are NOT allowed
Faction, COSMOS, deadspace and officer modules are NOT allowed
T1 Rigs are allowed. T2 Rigs are NOT allowed

Cap Boosters are allowed.

Micro-jump drives are allowed.

Polarized weapons are allowed.

Stasis Grapplers are allowed.

All T1 and T2 ammunition, missiles and charges are allowed, with the following exceptions:

Remote Sensor Dampener and Weapon Disruptor Scripts are NOT allowed
Pirate Faction ammunition is NOT allowed.

Navy Faction ammunition, missiles and capacitor boosters are allowed.

Only standard T1 (Tech One) drones and sentry drones are allowed. This means that T2, faction, augmented and integrated drones are NOT allowed. The Gecko is NOT allowed.

T2 logistics drones are NOT allowed.

All electronic warfare drones are allowed.

Attribute Enhancers that give bonuses to anything other than perception, intelligence, willpower, memory, and charisma are NOT allowed.

Genolution "CA-" implants are NOT allowed.

With the exception of Leadership Mindlinks, ONLY Hardwirings that have a name ending in "1", "2" or "3" are allowed.

All Leadership Mindlinks (including navy mindlinks) are allowed.

Boosters (drugs) are NOT allowed.

Flagships

Any standard T1 or Faction battleship hull may be designated as a flagship.

Team captains must indicate to the GM managing their match if they intend to use their flagship in any given match, and which pilot is flying the flagship.

Flagships may ignore meta level restrictions for the following module types (this means they may fit faction, officer, cosmos, and deadspace versions):

All Legal Highslot Modules (not including remote armor repair modules or remote shield transfer modules)
Electronic Warfare Modules
Weapon Upgrade Modules
ONE Shield Booster or up to TWO Armor Repairers

Flagship ship types must be decided in advance and their ship type submitted to "CCP Alliance Tournament" character via EVEmail no later than 2016-09-23. The fittings for a flagship do not have to be disclosed. The names of flagships do not have to be disclosed or remain constant. Fittings may also be changed from match to match.

All flagship hull types will be published in the flagships section of the EVE Online Alliance Tournament site following the deadline date.

A flagship may be fielded in any match, even if its ship type has been banned, and counts as a normal ship in every way other than the ones defined above.

Flagships must still follow all non-metalevel based fitting restrictions, including any restrictions that ban module types or limit the number of a certain module that can be fitted.

A flagship costs the same points value as for a normal ship of its type.

You are under no obligation to field your flagship in any given match.

If your flagship is destroyed, it may not be fielded again during the tournament.

Victory Conditions

During a match, a team scores points for each enemy ship it kills, equal to the tournament points value of that ship. The team that has scored the most points at the conclusion of the match, or that destroys the entire opposing team, is the winner.

If a team chooses to field less than 100 points, non-fielded points count towards the opponent's score.

If a fight is tied after 10 minutes, time dilation will be used to progressively speed up the tournament solar system and encourage a prompt end to the match.

In the very unlikely case that a fight is tied after 15 minutes, the victory will be awarded to the team that had more collective potential team DPS at the beginning of the match, as measured by the tournament automated “attack bar”.

Ships and Bans

Banning of ships will occur before all matches.

Team captains must be online and available to conduct ship bans 45 minutes before the start of each match. At 44 minutes before each match if the captain is unavailable their team’s bans are forfeit.

Each team gets two bans.

The way the banning phase works is as follows:

The team which starts the banning phase is decided randomly.

All ships that are eligible for competition are eligible for banning.

Bans are done in 1 – 2 – 1 order. For example: Team A will take the first ban, Team B will take the second and third ban, and Team A will finish the banning phase with the fourth ban.

Each ban has a time limit of one minute; if no ship is selected within that timeframe the ban is forfeit.

Once the bans start, a drop down menu will appear where you select the ship to ban. You can type the name of the ship to speed up the process.

Please be aware that banning a ship will not remove it from the list. Selecting the same ship type twice is a wasted ban.

Each ban targets a specific ship type and not a ship class or other hull. For example, banning the Harpy would not exclude the Hawk or frigates in general.

Teams should endeavor to have multiple ship setups available as bans may impact your primary team setup. No additional time will be given if teams do not have eligible ships available.

During the final day of competition, some matches will require teams to be ready within 15 minutes after the completion of banning. We expect that many teams will find this time limit challenging. The best teams in New Eden will be the ones that can adapt quickly.

All bans apply to both teams equally.

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