iCTF Season VI

1. General

The iCTF Season VI is an online Unreal Tournament 99 Instagib Capture The Flag League in partnership with Instagib Nation and Passionate Gaming.

Teams are selected for each division based on their stability and their strength as proven by previous League's match results and practice results (or the results of their players in other Teams).

We reserve the right to broadcast every match. The recording of such broadcasts can't be refused by the players.

2. Admins

The League is supervised by Admins who are responsible for enforcing the rules, scheduling matches that aren't scheduled on time by the Teams, and recruiting Admins/helpers. For any problems, contact the Admins in discord by private message.

Any issue that affects an Admin's own Team may not be handled by that Admin. It must be handled by any other Admin or helper. For problems that the Admins can't solve, or for complaints about the Admins, Team Captains can contact tOx. Messages containing a case in which the rules have been correctly applied or any issue that has not been discussed with a League Admin first will all be ignored.

If there is no League Admins available to Admin your match, please go through the server testing procedure as explained in these rules. In case of a conflict or disagreement keep logs of everything that is said on Discord.

3. Teams and Players

Teams who quit the League or who miss two matches by no show/forfeit will be excluded and all matches/points ignored.

Players always have to be easily identifiable to League Admins, opponents and spectators. Therefore, players must use easily identifiable nicks which are the same (or closely resemble) those registered on their allowed playerlist for the League on the website.

A Team can only use players who are registered as Team members on https://www.passionategaming.eu/ and who have not played in the League for another Team. All player trades or replacements require special permission from the Admins before being allowed to play.

A player may not play for more than one Team in the League no matter the circumstances. As soon as the player plays for a Team, he is no longer allowed for any other or is able to be traded or replaced. Failure to follow this rule will result in a forfeit loss for the second Team.

A new Team member (Trade/Replacement) can only play after all the following conditions have been met:

- The new member must be registered with the Team on the website one hour before the group match

(which is the deadline).

- Players can only switch Teams in their own or a higher division.

- Permission to use the new member must be requested and received by private messaging a League Admin, who will add the member to the Team‘s allowed playerlist roster for the League.

- No more than 3 new members are allowed in the entire group stage. Trades/Replacements are not allowed during the Playoff stage.

New players will only be allowed if all these conditions can be met:

- The new member has not played with another Team.

- Players can only switch Teams on their own or a higher division.

- Permission to use the new member must be requested and received by an Admin, which will add the member to the Team‘s allowed playerlist roster for the League.

- Only 3 players are allowed to be traded/replaced.

- A member who was removed from a Team‘s roster during the Season, but did not play for any other Team afterwards, can start playing for his old Team again at any point during the Season (including the playoffs) provided that he is registered again and that permission is asked and received from an Admin first.

- A member who was removed from a Team‘s roster and has played for another Team in the League is not allowed to play for his old Team again at any point during the Season.

Only the rules above determine if a player is allowed to play or not. It is the Team Captains

responsibility to only field players who are allowed to play by the rules. If you have any doubt at all about whether a player is allowed to play or not, always discuss the case with a League Admin first instead of risking a forfeit loss!

Sanctions for Teams: If a Team fields a player who by the rules above was not allowed to play, they lose the map in which that player played.. If they violated more then 1 Team and Player rule they will be disqualified.

Sanctions for players: If a player plays for any Team after being told he was not allowed to play by the Admins, he will be banned from the League.

4. Cheating and Anti-cheating

All programs or files, be they changed game files or new files, that change or edit the game or add to its functionality, or that interact with the game in any way, are strictly forbidden. The use of any forbidden program or file by any Team member during a League match will lead to the exclusion of the Team from the League. The use of such programs or files outside the League may lead to the same sanction.

Programs that do not interact with the game in any way are allowed, even if they can be used and operated simultaneously with the game. Voice communication programs are examples of such programs.

It is not allowed to take advantage of or abuse bugs. Any kind of bug abuse is considered cheating and will lead to a forfeit loss.

For situations not covered by the rules, the League Admins will make decisions based on the spirit of the existing rules and in the interests of justice.

It is not allowed to run any programs that change the original nature of the game (for example bright skin tweaks). In case other cheats/exploits are found being used by a Team after the League has started the League Admins decide on the penalty to the Team for the matches the cheat has been used. Please keep Unreal Tournament clean.

The use of tweaks/temporary console commands that alter, substitute or manipulate any default textures used for skins, maps or flags (TCCs) is forbidden.

5. Demos

Each player must record a 1st-person demo (of each map played) and keep this demo for the duration of the League, and an additional 10 days after the League is over. Please pay special attention to restarting demorec after disconnecting from the server for any reason. Only complete demos will be accepted. Easiest option is to set the autodemorec on true in your igplus settings.

The deadline to upload your demos is 48 hours. If you can't demorec for any reason; do not play.

Repeated failure to supply a requested demo will result in a ban.

There is no limit for demos requested. Failure to supply any demo will result in a forfeit loss for the map requested.

A League or server Admin may take a screenshot of all the players using the ACE screenshot facility.

6. Client Settings

Netspeed must be set to a value between 10000 and 35000. Any change to this value during the match is forbidden and will result in a forfeit loss of the map the violation occurred in.

Bonuspack models, custom models and skins are not allowed, these include models that have been "tampered"with.

Taunt, Taunt/Fire and/or Taunt/Movement binds are not allowed. You must be using patch 436 or later.

7. Server Settings

All Teams Captains have the responsibility to check and enforce the proper server settings. If a certain setting is wrong, incomplete or missing, the Team Captain should alert an Admin

immediately. Matches will not be replayed or restarted because of a wrong setting that could have been reported before or in the beginning of the match.

It is not allowed to change any server settings after the match has started without both Teams agreeing to it. Failure in following this rule will result in a default loss of the match.

The allowed servers will be running the latest released version of patch 469

IG+ (NewNet), NewCTF and ACE (Anti Cheat).

At any time during the League if a mandatory hotfix is released for IG+ (NewNet), NewCTF or ACE(Anti Cheat), servers will be updated.

All matches are to be played with the following settings:

Server Version: 469

Time Limit: 20

Friendly Fire: 0%

Cap limit: 0

Tournament: On

Gamespeed: 100%

Air Control: 35%

GameStyle: Hardcore

Force Respawn: On

Overtime: On / Advantage: On

NetServerMaxTickrate: 100

Mutators: IG+ 9, newCTFv14, SmartCTF 4D++ or higher, Re-extended UT v2-5.2.

Spectators are not allowed.

If the server crashes during a match, the map will be restarted only if the crash occurred less than 1 minute after the start. In all other cases the remaining time (rounded to the closest minute and with a minimum of 2 minutes) after which the scores will be added to determine the map win.

All matches are to be played with the following servers:

Matches including Teams with at least 4 NA players can only be played on servers located in New York, United Kingdom or France.

8. Map List

TIER 1

Acrony

Anfractuous

BrokenLimits

Command

Duku

Nuance

Overflow

Rune

Sprinta

TIER 2

Acrony

Command

Duku

Klondike

Mesmerize

Nuance

Overflow

Rune

Sprinta

9. Match rules - Groups

A group match is played on 2 or 3 maps. A map win results in 1 match points for the winner and 0 for the losing team. If each Team wins a map, the decider results in 1 extra point for the winner.

Example: 

Team A wins both maps against Team B : 2:0 points.

Team A wins in a Bo3 : 2:1 points.

Veto system for groups: 

The cointoss winner Ban – cointoss loser Ban – cointoss winner Pick – cointoss loser Pick. The decider map is selected by Teams taking turns eliminating maps from the list of unplayed maps until one map remains.

Both Teams choose colour on their opponent‘s maps. For the decider map the colour is chosen by the Team that did not eliminate the last map.

A forfeit loss corresponds to a loss of all maps (0-2). No map scores will be entered. A no-show is regarded as a forfeit loss.

A Team that forfeits a group match for the second time will be removed from the League.

If a Team leaves the League with only one match to go, then the last match will be considered a forfeit loss and all the Team‘s matches will count for the ranking. This rule does not apply however to Teams that had already forfeited a match or that had won or lost all their previous matches.

If a Team leaves the League after having qualified for the playoffs, it can be replaced by the Team ranked below it in its group.

10. Match rules - Playoffs

Playoffs will be played using the double-elimination system. Teams that qualify for playoffs will cease to be eligible to win their respective division upon having lost two best-of-three matches.

A playoff match can be decided in 2 or 3 maps. First Team to win 2 maps wins the match.

In all maps overtime is played if needed until one Team makes a cap.

Veto system for playoffs: HigherSeed Pick - LowerSeed Pick. The decider map is selected starting by the LowerSeed team Banning a map, followed by the HigherSeed team Banning another map, taking turns eliminating maps from the list of unplayed maps until one map remains.

Both Teams choose colour on their opponent‘s maps. For the decider map the colour is chosen by the Team that did not eliminate the last map.

11. Match rules - Grand Final

The Grand Final match can be decided in 3, 4 or 5 maps. First Team to win 3 maps wins the match.

In all maps overtime is played if needed until one Team makes a cap.

Veto system for playoffs: HigherSeed Pick - LowerSeed Pick - LowerSeed Ban - HigherSeed Ban - HigherSeed Pick - LowerSeed Pick - LowerSeed Ban - HigherSeed Ban - Remaining map (Decider).

Both Teams choose colour on their opponent‘ s maps. For the decider map the colour is chosen by the Team that did not eliminate the last map.

12. Scheduling

Team Captains must schedule/confirm their matches using the League’s webpage.

Discord can be used to arrange the date.

A predefined schedule determines which match must be played in which week. On every match week Team Captains need to schedule their game within the week itself. It goes from Monday to Sunday:

The exact match date and time must be arranged by both Teams before Friday 23:59 CET.

If by Friday 23:59 CET both Teams still haven’t succeeded in scheduling the match, the following procedure is to be followed: Both Teams have to send a message to the League Admins before Saturday 18:00 CET, explaining what the problem is and specifying all the dates and times (during the match week) on which they can play.

After 18:00 CET (6pm CET) on Saturday, the League Admins will force any matches not scheduled by the Teams themselves without further consulting them. If both Teams messaged the League Admins then they will pick a date on which both Teams can play if there is one. If there isn’t then the League Admins will favor the more flexible Team; i.e., the Team that can play on the most dates. If only one of the two Teams mailed the League Admins then they will always pick a date/time that suits that

Team. If neither Team sent a message then the League Admins will schedule the match for Sunday at the time they see fit. No-show’s and forfeits will be executed if a Team (or both) fail to play the match.

During the match week, any scheduled match, be it scheduled by the Teams themselves or by the League Admins, can only be rescheduled if both Teams agree on a new date/time in the same match week and if both inform the League Admins by message at least 1 day before the original date of the match.

13. Before the Match

Both Team Captains have to meet on Discord server before the match.

Server selection has to be reported 60 minutes before starting time.

Map VETO has to start 30 min before the starting time. If a Team is late, the other Team picks all three maps.

Both Team Captains should inform League Admins about the maps being played 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time of the match.

If a Team does not have enough players to play the match (e.g. they only have 4 players available for a 5v5) they forfeit the match. Teams are not allowed to play matches with less than the required number of players.

14. Server Selection

Captains are advised to agree on a server in advance – when scheduling the match, before the match day.

A two-server match is possible if both Captains agree. The decider map will always be played on the best possible server. If both Teams cannot agree on one server, League Admins will pick the server with best average ping for both Teams.

If both Teams cannot agree on a server, the following rules will be applied:

Only visible aspects of the connection quality are considered. These aspects are: ping, stability of ping, smoothness of movement, packet loss indicator value (if available).

Any player not present on a server is considered to have ping 0 in all comparisons of the Teams’ connections as well as in all calculations of average pings.

It is up to the Teams to agree on one or two servers to play the match. If they cannot agree then the Admin will pick the fairest server given the following:

Fair Ping Table (values in Milliseconds)

Team A Ping (ms) Team B Ping (ms)

20 25

30 38

40 50

50 63

60 75

70 88

80 100

Admins consider pings to be ‘equal’ when the average pings of one Team are no more than 125% the amount of their opponent.

If a Team only has lower average ping than its opponent on its home country server(s), they are deemed to have PING ADVANTAGE for their server(s) and all other servers should be used in preference.

If both Teams have the PING ADVANTAGE for their proposed server(s), then the server with the smallest AVERAGE PING DIFFERENCE will be chosen.

As a last resort the Admins can ignore the pings of any players with abnormally high pings due to routing/ISP problems when deciding on a server.

Admin intervention should only be required if there isn’t an agreement between both Teams.

Server decision with Admin intervention is to be done 10 to 30 minutes before the match starts.

Only the players that are going to play the match are accounted for server testing.

A home country server is defined as being located in the same country as the majority(MEANING 3 out of 5!) of the Team’s players who performed the server testing. Checks will be based on their IPs connected to the server.

The Admins can decide on a two-server match only if the advantages on the two servers give more equal circumstances than can be found on any single server.

The decider map will always be played on the best possible server. If both Teams cannot agree on one server, League Admins will pick the server with best average ping for both Teams.

A decider map including NA vs EU teams will be picked by determining ping difference. Considering previous experiences expect them to be played on servers located in the UK.

15. After the match

Match results need to be entered through the website via the Match report.

Teams always have to add the screenshots, demos if requested and utstats page of every map played to the matchreport.

16. Changes and Exceptions 

These rules are subject to change at any time. Changes made after the start of the Season will always be reported on the League page. All Teams are expected to know all the rules, not knowing them is no valid excuse for not following them.

For situations not covered by the rules, the Admins will make decisions based on the spirit of the existing rules and in the interests of justice.