Following the success of Alliance Tournament X in July 2012 we have been looking for opportunities that allow EVE players to flourish in an eSports environment. Our friends at own3D.tv have approached us about hosting a tournament in November and December of this year with a prize pool of a whopping $10,000, which we were more than happy to arrange. This blog is going to cover a lot of information and will be quite lengthy so please bear with us!

This is the first EVE Online cash tournament and we are very excited about bringing this to every player in the EVE Universe.

Tournament dates

The tournament will run over three consecutive weekends in November and December 2012. A full schedule will be published at a later date once all tournament slots have been filled. What we can confirm now is that the following will be our broadcast dates:

Saturday, November 17 and Sunday November 18

Saturday, November 24 and Sunday, November 25

Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2

Focusing on Teams

Every tournament we have run in the past has focused on Alliances and has, for better or worse, excluded a vast portion of EVE players who are members of player and NPC corporations. For this tournament we want to change our format which will shift the focus to teams and all sign-ups will occur through a team format. Our Web team is currently finalizing a sign up page which will allow any player to form a team as a team captain and add members to that team.

Each team will consist between eight and 24 players, with eight being the minimum required team size and 24 being the maximum team size allowed. The total number of players submitted is at the discretion of the team captain. It is important to note that payment of any prize to a winning team will be paid by own3D.tv directly to all players listed in a team.

There will be a total number of 32 teams participating in this tournament and all teams who enter will do so through an online auction held on Saturday, October 19. More details on that later in the blog.

Classification of a ‘player’ in this tournament

To provide clarity on what constitutes a player in the tournament and to prevent gaming of the system the following rules will apply

•  You may only participate as a player on one team regardless of how many EVE Online accounts you own
   
• You may have as many of your characters in a single team as your captain allows. For example, if you own 5 EVE Online accounts with three characters on each there are no restrictions on how many of those characters can be in a single team. If you feel you can multibox your way to victory against some very dedicated teams then more power to you.
   
• Once you have a player character on a team, attempting to place another character on a second team will result in disqualification for both of those teams. For example, if you join team A with one of your accounts and then attempt to join Team B with a second account, both teams will be disqualified.
   
• We expect a certain level of sportsmanship for a tournament of this nature and in order to ensure the integrity of the event strict rules must be applied. Please show respect for your fellow pilots by joining one team only. Players who are suspected of joining multiple teams to disrupt the tournament or auction process may be subject to administrative penalties including loss of access to their accounts.

Ship bans

As well as changing the Alliance to team format we are also introducing ship bans to add variety to set-ups in this tournament. Full details of the banning system can be found under the ‘Rules’, ‘Ships and Bans’ section later in this blog.

To do a quick summary, each captain will have the opportunity to ban out two ship types per match. For example, Team A bans the Sleipnir, Team B bans the Tengu, Team A bans the Guardian and Team B bans the Basilisk. The bans will not cover an entire class of ships meaning that if the Sleipner is banned; all other command ships are still eligible to be chosen by a team unless they are subsequently banned out during the banning phase.

This change allows players to ban out certain ships which they do not want to face in their upcoming match. We feel this change will add much needed variety to ship and fleet compositions as well as highlighting the flexibility of successful teams.

Ship bans will be announced live on air before the match begins by the presenters and commentators. Team captains will make the bans 45 minutes before a match begins and will share this information with their team immediately to ensure that the correct ship types are eligible for a given match.

When a ship is banned from a game it means that both teams are unable to field that ship type.

Team sign-ups and entry cost

We will launch a team sign-up page on Monday, October 15 which will allow captains to create a team, assign a team name and add the character name of their teammates. Please note that the minimum team size is eight pilots and the maximum team size is 24 pilots (8 main players plus up to 16 reserves). Teams do not have to add a reserve if they do not feel this is necessary.

Only teams which are created through the sign-up page will be eligible to participate in the live auction to secure a tournament spot.

Team names which we deem offensive, inappropriate or copyrighted run the risk of disqualification. We encourage team captains to choose a name which is suitable for a teen rated audience.

Double elimination format

The tournament format will be a modified double-elimination setup which will culminate in a best-of-5 match final.  There will be two parallel double-elimination tournaments with the winners of those playing a best-of-five for first and second place. The losers of the final match of each tournament will play best-of-three for the 3^rd and 4^th place prizes.

Further details on how a double elimination format is run can be seen here. It should be noted that our tournament will run a modified version so will not be exactly as laid out in the wiki article.

Online auction requirements

When the team sign-up page goes live on Monday, October 15 we will allow players one week to sign up. This means that team sign-ups will close on Friday, October 26 at 23:59 UTC. On Saturday, October 27 we will conduct an online auction on Tranquility in the channel ‘Live Dev Blog’. This channel is a muted channel so only CCP Soundwave will be able to speak. The auction format is as follows:

• The online auction will start at 19:00 UTC (EVE time)
   
• A minimum of 20 PLEX is required to bid
   
• Only team captains, or a substitute nominated by a team captain, will be eligible to bid. All team captains can nominate a substitute by submitting a petition under the Community queue no later than Friday, October 26 at 23:59 UTC.
   
• When a bid has been accepted the team captain or substitute must have the PLEX available and contract the winning amount to the character ‘CCP Alliance Tournament     ‘.

Further details concerning the auction will be presented in a future blog.

Rule changes and format

Along with changing from Alliances to teams and introducing a banning phase, there have been changes made to the existing Alliance Tournament rule format. This section is quite lengthy and we advise all potential team captains to familiarize themselves with the rules before creating a team:

Rules

Tournament Rules

1. This is a single-stage, double elimination tournament with 32 teams allowed to enter.
2. As a player, you may only participate on a single team, regardless of how many player-accounts you own.
3. Players are not allowed to move between teams once the team sign-ups close.
4. All entries will be decided via an online auction with slots starting at 20 PLEX.

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

1. Teams can field up to eight pilots on the battlefield.
2. 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.
3. If a fight is tied after 10 minutes, the next ship destroyed will end the match.
4. Intentional pod killing is NOT allowed and may result in the offender being punished. All podkills will be reimbursed.
5. 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 organizer'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.

Place & Tactics

1. 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 star system in uncharted space and designated as team 1 and team 2. If you are not ready with this time allocation you will be disqualified from this match and the opposing team will be given an automatic win.
2. 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.
3. 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 captains choosing.
4. Once the word is given, teams warp in to the beacon at a range of their choosing, up to a maximum of 50 km. Team members are allowed to warp in at different ranges.
5. The arena will measure 125 km radius around the central beacon.
6. The host will begin a countdown. When the countdown ends, the host will break target locks of all ships in the arena.
7. 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.
8. Warping within the arena is NOT allowed.
9. Dropping cargo containers or other anchorable items is NOT allowed. Dropping regular jettison containers is allowed.

The following restrictions are in place after teams warp to the arena beacon

10. Locking players before the match starts is NOT allowed.
11. Activating aggressive or targeted modules before the match starts is NOT allowed.
12. Launching drones before the match starts is NOT allowed.
13. Moving before the match starts is NOT allowed.
14. Boarding a ship during the match is not allowed.

Ships & Points

1. Each team has 70 points with which to select their ships.
2. Each team may have up to 8 ships on the battlefield.
3. Teams may field no more than 3 of a given ship. This applies to specifically named ships only, and not ship hulls. For example, 3 Merlins, 3 Hawks, and 2 Harpies would be legal.
4. Teams may field no more than 1 logistics ship.
5. Ship point values are as follows. Ship types not listed in the table are not allowed.
   • Battleship, Faction – 20
   • Marauder – 17
   • Battleship – 17
   • Black Ops Battleship – 17
   • Command Ship – 16
   • Strategic Cruiser – 16
   • Recon Ship – 14
   • Battlecruiser (Tier 2) – 13
   • Logistics Cruiser – 13
   • Cruiser, Faction – 12
   • Heavy Assault Cruiser – 12
   • Battlecruiser (Tier 3)  – 12
   • Heavy Interdictor – 12
   • Battlecruiser (Tier 1) – 11
   • Cruiser – 7
   • Bomber – 6
   • Electronic Attack Frigate – 5
   • Frigate, Faction – 4
   • Assault Frigate – 4
   • Interdictor – 3
   • Interceptor – 3
   • Destroyer – 3
   • Tech 1 Industrial Ships – 3
   • Frigate – 2
6. The definitions of 'Tier 1', 'Tier 2' and 'Tier 3' Battlecruisers are as follows: Tier 1 Battlecruisers are: Cyclone, Brutix, Ferox, Prophecy. Tier 2 Battlecruisers are: Hurricane, Myrmidon, Drake, Harbinger. Tier 3 Battlecruisers are: Oracle, Naga, Talos and Tornado

Fitting Restrictions

1. All T1 and T2 modules are allowed, with the following exception:
   1. All Remote Armor Repair modules and Remote Shield Transfer modules are NOT allowed, EXCEPT on ONE of EITHER a logistics ship or a strategic cruiser.
   2. Faction, COSMOS, deadspace and officer modules are NOT allowed.
2. T1 Rigs are allowed. T2 Rigs are NOT allowed.
3. All T1 and T2 ammunition, missiles and charges are allowed. Faction ammunition, missiles and capacitor boosters are allowed.
4. All drones are allowed, including Logistics drones. Augmented drones, which were previously banned, will now be permitted.
5. Attribute Enhancers that give bonuses to anything other than perception, intelligence, willpower, memory, and charisma are NOT allowed.
6. All Hardwirings are allowed.
7. Boosters are NOT allowed.
8. Cloaking is NOT allowed.
9. Cap Boosters are allowed.
10. The Ancillary Shield Boost module will be restricted to one module per ship for those pilots who wish to fit them.

Victory Conditions

1. 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.
2. If a team chooses to field less than 70 points, non-fielded points count towards the opponent's score.
3. If a fight is tied after 10 minutes, the next ship destroyed will end the match.

Ships and Bans

1. 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.
2. Each team gets two bans.
3. The way the banning phase works is as follows:
   1. The team which starts the banning phase is decided randomly
   2. All ships that are eligible for competition are eligible for banning.
   3. Bans are done sequentially in alternating order. For example Team A will take the first ban, Team B will take the second ban, Team A will take the third ban and Team B will finish the banning phase with the fourth ban.
   4. Each ban has a time limit of 30 seconds; if no ship is selected within that timeframe the ban is forfeit.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Prizes

So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and talk about prizes. This tournament will have four prizes as follows:

1^st Prize – $6,000 plus in-game medal

2^nd Prize – $3,000 plus in-game medal

3^rd Prize – $1,000 plus in-game medal

4^th Prize – 25 Billion ISK plus in-game medal

There will be no unique ships awarded in this tournament, however, every participant will receive a unique collectible in-game shirt.

Prizes will be divided up and distributed to the players on the teams individually, not given to the captain in a lump sum

Further information

We will be releasing blogs regularly in the run up to the tournament focusing on different aspects of the format and rules. In the meantime, please leave your comments and the Tournament team will provide updates as soon as possible.

CCP Bro on behalf of the EVE Tournament Team.