Version 1.2 (Authors - Winbar, Nivek, Dunceantix)
12/02/12

Entry Criteria

Players must be registered with a participant ticket for epic.EIGHT to take part in this tournament. Registration will close by 8pm Thursday 16th February for teams, players must be signed up to the tournament to participate, an event ticket alone does not guarantee tournament entry.

A briefing will take place with clan leaders and/or team managers on the morning of the tournament start which must be attended.

At least one member of the clan must remain in the internal tournament IRC channel throughout the tournament times.

Tournament Format

The tournament will be played with de maps. The tournament structure will operate as group stages followed by double elimination. Depending on the final number of entrants some teams may be eliminated at this point. The upper bracket of the double elimination will be bo3 decided by veto (This can be changed to bo1 in the event of unexpected delays at admins discretion)

Match Format

Each match is played on the scheduled map as detailed in the tournament management system, selected from the list below.

Matches will be played to max rounds 15 with both teams playing as T and CT for 15 rounds and a round time of 2 minutes. The timelimit will be set to 0. All matches should aim to be completed within the hour scheduled.

Draws

Draw results will be permitted during the group stages of the tournament but not during the elimination stages. In the event of a draw in the elimination stages, the two teams will replay the match with MR3 and $10,000 start money. This can be repeated as many times as needed until a winner is decided. Admins reserve the right to force to a knife round to decide the winner.

Early Retirement

All matches should be played in full as the final result counts towards your rating (in the group stage). If a clan leaves early (for example, winning 16-0 ) the remaining clan can claim the 14 rounds left to be played.

Ranking and Promotion

Clans receive 3 ranking points for a victory, 1 point for a draw and 0 ranking points for a loss in the group stages. At the end of the group stages:

• The top 2 clans in the group will enter into the double elimination stages of the prize-winning bracket
• The clans below that will then be entered into a fun tournament if enough interest is shown along with the casual gaming participants at the event.

Use of RCON

It is expressly forbidden to use RCON in any way which may disrupt or lag an opponent's connection or interfere with the game in general.

Pausing

Pausing will be permitted during the tournament, up to a maximum of 2 pauses per team per match should a player drop from the server. Pauses will last no longer than 5 minutes to minimise match delays and to prevent abuse of pausing.

Players dropping from the server should reconnect immediately to avoid any further delays to the match, after the maximum permitted pause time, play shall resume without the dropped team member.

Substitute players may only be used if they have previously signed up to the tournament and therefore are listed as a member of the team.

Pauses will be started at the end of the round during which the player dropped. When the player has reconnected and rejoined the team, the game will be un-paused and the match may continue.

As we will be using ZBlock with warmode enabled, pausing will automatically be enabled during the correct periods to prevent accidental pausing.

Voice Communication

Either in-game or externally provided voice communications are permitted, such as Ventrilo, TeamSpeak or Mumble. Note that epic.LAN may not be able to provide these dedicated voice comms resources for all of those listed due to licensing restrictions, clans should be prepared to make their own voice communications arrangements.

The Final

The final will be played over two maps.
If the upper bracket winners are victorious on the first map then they will be declared the winners overall.
The second map will only be played if the lower bracket winners are victorious on the first map. The final will then continue to the second map where the winner will be decided.

Maplist

The following maps may be selected for play during the tournament by our system:

• de_contra
• de_dust2
• de_inferno
• de_nuke
• de_season
• de_train
• de_tuscan

Map Rules

A more comprehensive list of map rules will be published in the coming weeks. All of the following are examples of illegal activity unless otherwise stated.

General

• Any spot that allows you to see through the map in a way that is unintended.
• If an object goes through a significant portion of your player model (also known as clipping), the spot is illegal.
• Being in a spot that does not have a visible ledge for standing on.
• Intentionally placing or shooting objects in front of a swinging door.
• Moving through walls, floors and roofs is strictly forbidden. This also includes skywalking.
• Boosting with the help of team mates is allowed in general, but it is forbidden in places were the textures, walls, ceilings, floors become transparent or penetrable.
• Any flashbugs.
• Throwing grenades over walls or roofs is allowed, throwing grenades under walls is not allowed.
• "Pixelwalking" (Sitting or standing on invisible map edges).
• "Projectile boosting" (Using a grenade to assist in player movement).
• "Quick crouching"

Bomb planting

• "Silent bomb planting" (i.e. the planting of a bomb in a location which doesn't make a sound).
• Planting bombs so that they cannot be defused.
• "Bug defusing" i.e. defusing a bomb that is not visible to the player or through another object.

Servers & Scheduling

All players must be ready in the server at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time unless a match is already in play on your server (in which case, speak to a game admin for further instructions).

If a team does not have at least 4 players in the server 15 minutes after the scheduled match start, they will forfeit and the opposing team will be awarded the win for that match. If only 4 players are present in the server, the match will begin after 15 minutes.

Acceptable reasons for missing the scheduled start of a match are:

• Network failure
• Server failure
• Power failure

The allocation of teams will be decided via a knife round or by the mutual consent of the two teams. If mutual consent cannot be reached then a knife round will be completed.

Server Crashes

In the event of server failures, please contact a game admin who will advise further.

Cheating & Exploits

VAC will be running on all servers

The use of any forbidden cheat program, hack, exploit or file by any clan member during an epic.LAN will lead to the exclusion of the clan from the tournament and potential dismissal from the event and future events.

All forms of cheating are forbidden, including the following examples:

• Any programs or files, that change Counter-Strike: Source or add to its functionality, or which may interact with CSS in any way.
• Modified versions of CSS's .pak, .wad or .exe files are entirely prohibited.
• Exploitation of game or map bugs and exploits that give an unfair advantages.
• Use of custom models and skins
• Use of custom map textures
• Use of aimbots, wallhacks and any engine exploits
• Custom sprays that adversely affect game play
• It is not permitted to make use of any hardware which simulates timed button presses including binds and macros that would enable any gameplay not included within normal game mechanics.

The game admins may inspect your machine at any time during the tournament for evidence of cheats or hacks.

Servers

• No spectators will be allowed to connect directly to the game, with the exception of the game admin team or tournament manager.
• SourceTV will be running with relays provided for key matches.
• Teams are advised to record their own demos.

Passwords

Servers for the tournament will be passworded, you can find your password on the tournament system at the event for each match.

Server Settings

epic.LAN tournament servers will be running ZBlock and other scripts as directed by the game admins.

These rules are subject to change. The game admin and tournament team leader decisions are always final.

Cancellation of Tournament

epic gaming Ltd. reserves the right to withdraw this tournament should there be an insufficient number of participating teams.