ECTFC Rules

The following rules apply to the ECTFC and all games played as part of the ECTFC. It is understood that all players have read and understood these rules.

1. General League Rules

• Only national teams can participate in the EC. Members of a country’s national team must be entitled to hold a passport to that country (usually having a parent from that country or being born there qualifies you for this). If a country uses a player in a match who is not entitled to hold a passport to that country, they will lose the match. 1 team per country. If you have dual nationality (e.g. a Spanish and a English parent), then you are allowed to choose with nation to play for. Note that you cannot change teams. Once your made your choice it will be final. Every player will have to register themselves at the website and enter a valid WONID. A team who has a player who are not registered or playing with the right WONID in a war will loose the map where they player in question was playing. No exeptions, so make sure you are registered.
• Dropouts will not happen here. If a team joins, then they have shown there willingness to play it to the end.
• Teams must have the following: A valid homepage and a IRC room, a contact with valid e-mail address and the team must commit themselves to play the games needed within the competition period.
• The league will have Friendly Fire (mp_teamplay 1) on for ALL matches.
• Cancelled, moved or missed matches must be played within 24 hours of the original match time. Games can only be moved if both teams agree. If a game is moved remember to tell a admin about or the game will be declared void and o points are given to both teams. This is due to commentary and irc broadcast. Games must be rearranged at least 24 hours before the original match time. LAN games cannot be rearranged.
• Point scoring:
  Win - 3 pts.
  Draw - 1 pt.
  Loss - 0 pts.
  A win is when a team wins both maps, or wins one map and draws the other map.
  A draw is when a team wins one map and loses the other map, even if the overall score is 500 - 10.
  A loss is when a clan loses both maps, or loses one map and draws the other map.
• In the semi-finals and final, maps won will decide the match winner. If teams are still even after 2 maps in the playoff then a map of 2fort will be played as sudden death. First team to make 2 caps wins. If neither team have achieved 2 caps within the 30 minute playtime on 2fort then 15 minutes of CZ2 must be played. In the unlikely event that CZ" also ends in a draw then a simple flip of a coin will be made by an impartial admin.
• Every game within the ECTFC will get a server assigned to the game. If you do not wish to play on that server you MUST notify your opponent at least 24 hours before the game and arrange another server. Your opponent cannot refuse your request. Be fair and open minded and arrange a server which is good/equal for both teams. The server must be for at least 18 players, no less. Remember also to notify the Admins and your refs about any changes. Refs must be given rcon password.
• The top 2 teams in each group/pool at the end of the group stage will go through to the knockout rounds. To decide placements we first we look at points, in the case of a draw on points we first look at the result of the game between those clans, then maps won overall, then caps difference overall (caps scored minus caps conceded) and finally caps scored overall only. CAPS include all points scored on a map such as computer detonations on bases maps.
  Playoffs system looks like this:
  Quarterfinals
  (Q1) winner group 1 vs. 2, placed group 4
  (Q2) winner group 2 vs. 2. placed group 1
  (Q3) winner group 3 vs. 2. placed group 2
  (Q4) winner group 4 vs. 2. placed group 3
  Semi-finals
  (S1) winner Q1 vs. winner Q3
  (S2) winner Q2 vs. winner Q4
  Final
  S1 vs. s2
  In the playoffs each team will choose their own map for the playoff game. However you are not allowed to choose the same map twice (if you make it as far as the final) you can only pick a map once during the playoffs. You must submit your 3 maps to the Admins on the Thursday just after the groups have been finalised. In the event of 2 teams picking the same map for a war the team with the highest score in the groups will get to pick another map. All maps picked must be from the current map selection.

2. Server Rules

• Matches can be played on any server, as long as the settings are correct. These settings are:
  - FF on
  - Footsteps on
  - Pre-match + ceasefire 5 minutes
  - Time limit 35
  - TK ban/kick off
  - Class limits off
  - sv_aim off
  - sv_cheats off
• An ECTFC server.cfg is available for installation if you are un-sure of settings.
• Refs will be on all matches. He or she will have rcon control and will be assigned prior to the game.
• We would like to have access to the logs of the server. This is for the, hopefully rare, event of a dispute over a match result. If this is not possible then a HLTV demo will suffice instead. It is also good practice to record personal demo's or take screenshots of any awkward moments.
• We need to have logaddress access for the channel bots, these channel bots are connected to the server on the logaddress and relay everything that happens to a IRC channel on QuakeNet so please make sure your server provider allows log export before using the server.
• All games will have a server assigned. If you or your opponent wants another server then you must arrange it with at least 24 hours notice. Force Majore (Bad routing etc.) on the game time is an exception to this. Make sure that the assigned ref and the Admins will know of this and will have the rcon password for the server.

3. Match Rules

• The matches are to played with these time constraints: 5 minutes pre-match time, 30 minutes first half, [optional: 10 minute 'break' (we allow substitutions in this period! Have a cigar or cigarette or have sex, whatever.)], 5 minutes pre-match time, 30 minutes second half. We mean 20 minutes playtime, so not including pre-match.
• A match MUST be 8 vs. 8 players no more, no less. If any clan turns up for an arranged match with less than the agreed amount of players, the clan with the most players must decide what to do, they may drop player(s) so the teams are even or play an unbalanced match. We will leave this up to the sportsmanship of the clans. When a team drops 2 players or more at the same time, the match should be paused immediately until they get their normal player amount back or till 5 minutes has passed. Teams are advised to have substitutes on IRC, voice comms or HLTV to fill in for un-expected droppages.
• Spectators are not allowed on the server except for the referee or an admin and a match commentator if needed. This is to stop wasting bandwidth.
• When replacing a player mid-game the player being dropped must leave the server BEFORE the replacement enters the server. At no time may a team have more than 8 players on the server, this includes prematch as it would hinder other people from joining in good time.
• Protests MUST be done after the game and only by mail to the Admins. an IRC complaint will not be a valid protest.

4. Playing fair

• Offence 'potshotting', deathmatching and backtracking is strictly forbidden. (this is also the case with an offence engineer who is considered to be on offence once he leaves his base) Flag carriers are not covered by this, feel free to shoot and kill any flag carrier you meet. Re-supply/respawn spamming will be allowed to some extent as many defenders depends on re-supplying as part of their position and therefore shouldn't be offended that they would have a hard time getting out of re-supply again. We however wont allow what can be considered general spam of a respawn i.e. lower respawn on shutdown2 where it normally isn't used a re-supply.
• Sentry building in enemy base is disallowed as this is seen more as an insult rather than an tactical offence move.
• Maximum player limit in defence is 5 on every map. 5 players is more than plenty to secure the flag on any map. If the team uses an offence engineer he will count as part of the 5 defence at all times.
• There will be referees for all matches, however a referee will and cannot take action in game, so don't start debating with the referees in-game. He will discourage any illegal events, but any action that should be taken on the match events will only happen after a formal protest from the team leader has been submitted with all necessary evidence, such as a demo or server logs, to the Admins of ECTFC. Don't start submitting unless you are absolutely sure and don't submit a complaint for one little pot-shot. In general the rule is simple. If the Admins find that there was use of backtracking potshotting etc on a map the team who was victim of this will win the map.
• In a match where both sides are part of a lame behaviour we don't really care. Don't show us demos from a match where both parties were part of it and are fighting about who started it. We will ignore such complaints. If your opponent starts to play lame that doesn't mean your team should start. We will not look at individual players either. The player is a representative of the team and therefore the team will be responsible for a players action and any punishment will be to the whole team.
• Any complaints not submitted by the team-leader/captain will be ignored.
• When a complaint is submitted it will be viewed by an Admin tribunal consisting of 3 impartial Admins. (meaning a Danish admin will not be able to rule in a game with Denmark or on a in the same pool where Denmark play). The 3 Admins will view the demo's/logs submitted and also consult the referee about his opinion of the matter. Protests MUST be done after the game and only by the team leader to the Admins.

5. Cheating and use of bugs

• Use of any kind of cheat is not allowed. If proof of cheat is found then expect anything from losing a few caps to the whole match. The admin will judge from the evidence.
• Using bugs is considered quite lame and spoils gameplay. We expect teams not to use them. If proof is found that there was use, then the perpetrators loose 2 caps, or if the match was a 0-0 draw, the other clan gets the victory. 3rdperson view is considered a cheat.
  Outlawed bugs/cheats/cvars: 3rd person view, Chopping, Concing out water tunnels on Monkey with flag, Any laser bugs, changes to HW tracerlength and tracerspeed settings, nail and mirv gren bugs.
  This list is not comprehensive and can be added to at the admins discretion without notice.
• Any external program in any form that hooks the HL game engine or otherwise alters the program output is NOT allowed. This includes Nemesis, Sparky utils and of course the more famous cheats like OGC.

6. Behaviour

• General Netiquette applies here. Using language during matches which harms certain populations is frowned upon. Scoring points may be added to the clan who has been subjected to this, or the player in question may be suspended from the league. These actions will be decided by the board of Admins.
• We expect all teams to be fair and not do lame things. We know there will always be a bad apple in the bunch, but please try to keep this league nice.
• If a player get caught cheating in a league match or on a public server he will receive some sort of ban. If a player cheat anywhere he/she is not wanted in ECTFC.

7. Head Admin

• In case of a dispute the Head Admin will make a decision in consultation with the other Admins. This decision is final.