Silent Sky

(Re-posted from The Official PDZ Forums)

I played in my first clan match this weekend, and was dissatisfied with the method by which the options for the match were chosen - i.e. the other clan just picked everything.
A lot of clans consistently disallow certain weapons. A number of clans restrict themselves to one or two Scenarios. It is their prerogative to do so, but this game is full of variety and options. Part of the skill lies in analyzing how all the different settings fit together as a whole to define the structure, and thus the useful strategies, of the match.
Therefore, I have devised a possible format for organized matches:
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• Teams A and B want to play an organized match.
  
• Teams A and B agree on a play-to point (e.g. 3, 5, 10, etc).
  
• It is randomly determined which Team has control of the options first. Let's say it's Team A.
  
• Team A has two minutes to choose all the options for the match, from number of players to Scenario to Bots or whatever. The only options Team A does not get to choose are the options for the opposing Team's Player Profiles (e.g. Controls). Also, the game must have some Limit.
  
• Team A is discouraged from choosing a "fundamentally unbalanced" match (e.g. a 16 vs. 1), because after Team A selects the options, Team B has two minutes to choose which side to be on (unless it's a Killcount match). So, if Team A chose a 16 vs. 1, Team B can choose to be the side with 16.
  
• Whichever Team wins the match gets a point. In case of a Draw, no points are awarded.
  
• After each match, the roles switch: Team B gets control over the options, then Team A again, etc.
  
• Since Team A chose the options first, if they reach the play-to point after winning a match that they chose the options for, and Team B only has one point less, an additional match is played where Team B chooses the options. This way the Team that chooses first does not have an advantage.

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With this format, both teams get some control over the options. This also creates an additional element of strategy, where teams have to decide on the options so as to maximize their advantage and minimize their opponents'.
What do you think?

Silent Sky

For example, I heard someone say that Irken is really good at 1-on-1 matches -- the perfect ace up Team Brutal's sleeve! When it's your turn to pick the options, you make it Team Killcount, Maximum Players: 2. You pick Irken as your man, and the other team picks one of their guys to face off with him. Since 1-on-1's don't tend to be played very often, this could be an easy point for you.

Drunkn_Munky

If you're doing your match through game battles, the rules are already established. Here's what they basically are:

The lowest rank clan (on Gamebattles) hosts it and gets to choose the first map & bases and weapons (only a few weapons can be disabled, which a lot of people tend to forget and moan if you use frags when they mustn't be disabled. Plus both teams have to agree to it). The other team then gets to choose the base they spawn in (eg. which team). Then the highest rank, and then the lowest again.

It's best out of 5 rounds and 3 maps. You must get a point limit of 3 to win the map, if not it's re-played.

You can't choose the same map twice, unless you run out of maps (which won't happen on PDZ).

5 minute rounds.

A lag test must be performed (oops, we forget to do that some times :P)

If you leave the room, it's your fault. Unless you got kicked, or you lagged out and no lag test was performed.

You've got to wait until everyone readys up or the host forfeits the game.

So if you don't like the rules, do it through gamebattles and you'll get ranked and they sort out problems.

Silent Sky

Well, the format can still work if there are certain restrictions...you just stipulate that certain options have to have certain settings because it's the "Gamebattles Eradication ladder" or whatever, and then the team gets full control over the rest.

Hitzel

The gamebattles rules are the best rules to play by, IMO (at least in Team Killcount, I don't play Eradication on GB).

The team not hosting picks first map, then the hosting team picks their spawn. The spawns alternate until one team wins two matches. After that map's victor is determined, the hosting team picks map and the other team picks spawn. This process continues until one team has won on 2 maps.

It's basically win 2 out of 3 "2 out of 3's"... if that makes sense.

*Edit*

Also, I'm personally not going to agree to a match where one team can say "Okay guys, next match is going to be a 1v1 Killcount match!" Clan matches are for one thing, team games, and are supposed to see which team is the better team, not who just happens to have the best individual player.

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Silent Sky

What's wrong with a 1-on-1 match? They can be very exciting and strategic. The whole point of this format is that everyone has their opinions about what settings are worthwhile, but they're all just that - opinions. If my clan says "we play Eradication only", and your clan says "we play Team Killcount only", then how can we compare our clans to see which one is better?

Anyway, if the clans want to come to some sort of arrangement ("Eradication only because this is for the Gamebattles Eradication ladder" or "4 players or more only" or "Multimine always Disallowed"), they can do that and just allow the controlling team to adjust the rest of the options.

The point is, why restrict the game more than is really necessary? Part of the reason that it's such a cool game is that there are so many options, so why limit them. For example, if you're only good at team-based matches, then you're only good at 75% of the Scenarios in the game. I think Killcount and Infection are too much fun to simply remove from the equation, and so are many of the other options that tend to be restricted in clan matches.

With this format, if your clan doesn't like a particular Scenario, weapon, or other option, then your clan gets 50% of the match to make sure they aren't used.