It's here! ozfortress is returning from the off-season to bring you a first for us - an experimental cup. The Round Timer plugin debuts for the first time in ozfortress. Many of you will have likely seen the recent Insomnia 69 TF2 LAN where this plugin was featured. Yeah, we're hopping on the train, following previous ventures into this plugin internationally.
The primary purpose of this cup is to test the plugin with our local ruleset, and look at possibly implementing this plugin into Season 35 and beyond pending feedback.
Signups
You can sign up for the ozfortress Experimental Cup 1 from Monday the 5th of September, up until Tuesday the 13th of September. We aim to have seeding out early Wednesday the 14th of September, with the cup running from Thursday the 15th of September to Saturday the 17th of September.
This time we are modifying our usual signups process. Typically we allow teams to sign up right up until the cutoff time, but for this tournament, we will be closing signups six (6) hours earlier, meaning we will be "closing" signups at 6:00PM AEST Tuesday the 13th of September. Teams will still be able to sign up all the way until 11:59PM AEST Tuesday, but will need to reach out to an administrator. We are using this time to ensure enough time to complete seedings, and monitor later signups.
For more information on the tournament, including the round time being used for the cup, scheduling and additional signups info, please see the cup page.
SIGN UP HERE
Experimental Cup Scheduling
Like Ultiduo 16, we are bringing back the three-day runtime, with the first two days splitting the top and bottom divisions. Top divisions will play their Group Stage games on Thursday the 15th of September, with the Bottom divisions playing their Group Stage games on Friday the 16th of September. Both divisions will play their Playoffs games on Saturday the 17th of September. There are two main reasons for this split:
- The primary purpose of this cup is to gather data on whether or not this plugin will be used in Sixes S35, along with its implementation, timers, etc. We believe that teams in the top divisions are far more likely to grasp the changes fairly quickly. Because of this, the two-day split allows the bottom divisions to watch the casted matches and STV demos to get a better grasp of themselves, scrim and practise so they are more familiar with the format before playing. This could be one of the biggest fundamental changes to Sixes in ozfortress history and we want to make sure it's something that everyone wants and understands. With that in mind, we'll be making a
#experimental-cup-scrimschannel in the recruitment section of our discord to find some scrims leading up to this tournament. For information on booking a server, using the configs, and the discord - ozfortress Experimental Cup leagues page. - To ease the server requirement, and also give teams further opportunities to scrim by not saturating the server pools. We would like to yet again thank Qixalite, they literally power the competitive scene with their bookable servers!
On the ozfortress Experimental Cup leagues page there is a "time sheet" for the entire cup, along with indicators for which Playoffs matches are a Best of 1 (BO1), and a Best of 3 (BO3). All Group Stage games will be a Best of 1 (BO1). As we don't know how many divisions there will be at the time of writing this, we want to make it clear that the Top divisions will play Day 1, the Bottom divisions will play Day 2, and all divisions will play their Playoffs matches on Day 3.
On the league page, we have included a Signup Agreement dropdown which contains a template we ask teams to use when signing up their team. Information on how to use it and where to put it can be found in that dropdown. We are asking teams to do this to give us a better idea of what players intend to play on their teams.
We hope you are just as excited for this as we are, and we only hope to deliver. If you have any questions, issues or concerns, please feel free to reach out!
The following config files should be used for the ozfortress Experimental Cup 1:
ozfortress_ec_6v6_5cp.cfg
ozfortress_ec_golden_cap.cfg
Please note that these files are required on any non-bookable server. These are not to execute the config, the commands to do that are below and dependent on where you book the server from.
Control Point (5CP) Maps
These are the only maps featured within the cup. Because of this, the config setup is pretty simple. You can execute these configs using the already setup aliases - simply put rcon ozf-ec-standard in your console and press enter to execute the config! If you need to execute the golden cap config, you can do so using rcon ozf-ec-golden and again, press enter to execute it.
Both aliases/commands above are the same on both ozfortress and Qixalite.
Control Point (5CP) Win Conditions and Format
This information can also be found on the main page, but for the ozfortress Experimental Cup 1, 5CP maps need to be played to a thirty (30) minute time limit, and a round win limit of five (5). Win difference should be off as it is set to zero (0). If the round scores are tied after the thirty (30) minute time limit, then the Golden Cap config should be used. This will set the win limit to five (5), with no time limit.
Round Timer plugin/s QnA
Why is ozfortress not using the version of the plugin that adds 1 to the current highest round score from either team after the time limit reaches zero?
Yeah, there is a bit to unpack here. Currently, the original plugin by the same author has been used more, and the new plugin which features the changes to round scoring is relatively new, so we opted to use the older plugin for now as it observes the thirty-minute time limit we have set, which is more ideal for this cup.
Wait, there are two plugins?
We had the same reaction. The new plugin seems to only be functionally different in how it is enabled and the added round scoring functionality. Otherwise, both operate mostly the same and achieve the same result in regards to the round timer.
Will ozfortress ever use the new plugin?
We'll look into it, it definitely needs further testing.
Infraction Threshold reached
Astrdd/Zeised STEAM_0:1:194128783
This player has accrued a total of 70 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for a period of 1 year, after which they will be serving a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. If they are found ban evading during their ban, their ban duration will be extended.
Infraction Threshold reached
This player has accrued a total of 60 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for a period of 1 year, after which they will be serving a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. If they are found ban evading during their ban, their ban duration will be extended.
Infraction Threshold reached
Macca/megladonny STEAM_0:1:81449448
This player has accrued a total of 60 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for a period of 1 year, after which they will be serving a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. If they are found ban evading during their ban, their ban duration will be extended.
Should any clans in any ozfortress competitions be found housing the listed players, the team will be permanently removed from our competitions and all members involved will face severe penalties.
The Probation system
Earlier this month, we released a post addressing the sharp rise in infractions and a little insight into what we're doing to combat it. Part of our overall plan to handle poor conduct more effectively was the reintroduction of the probation system. Any banned player whose ban has or was going to expire soon would effectively see doubled penalties for reoffending.
The infractions system was always intended to be a system where players could be given the chance to reform from their prior poor conduct, hence it initially acted as what many referred to as a "double warning system", with an initial no penalty warning, and a "don't do it again" infraction. We've since iterated on the ruleset considerably to tighten up the infractions system and allow less room for poor player conduct, something that many within the community wanted. While we also recognize that there are many who do not like the infraction system, we believe most understand its necessity when policing conduct.
It is with this in mind that we are again iterating, this time on our newly added probations system. As the infraction system's goal is still to provide players with a chance to reform their conduct within ozfortress, we will be looking to apply it to certain cases where there are multiple instances within a specified period of time, hence preventing a player from immediately being hit with multiple higher point infractions. This period is purely discretionary, along with its application to specific cases. This freedom will give our behaviour panel more options to prevent immediate bans without that player having an opportunity to change their behaviour.
What does this mean for you, the player/community member?
Nothing really. If your conduct within ozfortress is that of a normal person, you will be totally fine, if not able to feel more secure that if do ever slip up once, you are less likely to be immediately removed from ozfortress. Discretion for these cases will look more favourably on past good behaviour.
What does this mean for repeat offenders?
Again, nothing of consequence. This change won't apply to them if they are coming off of a recent ban, they will already be on probation or have served probation but still have past poor conduct. We will however review these instances thoroughly and if there are obvious attempts to reform, they will be considered.
Can I get a TL;DR?
Sure can! This essentially boils down to this example. If you were reported for multiple instances over a few-month period, this wouldn't apply. But say you offended only a few times over a few weeks, this probation would apply. Everything else from the probations system applies, meaning:
- Tier 1 infractions are doubled, and will incur 20 points.
- Tier 2 infractions are multiplied by 1.5x, and will incur 30 points.
- Tier 3 infractions are doubled, and will instantly incur 60 points.
We hope this addresses some concerns community members have regarding those who aren't repeat offenders, and have a decent chance of reforming their conduct within ozfortress. As always, we will continue to take feedback on the system and improve it over time.
Cheers,
The ozfortress staff team.
Ban Extension - Infraction accrued
This player has accrued an additional 30 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player's ban has been extended to a period of 2 years, after which they will be serving a 12-month probation, in which any reoffence will double the severity of the penalty. If they are found ban evading during their ban, their ban duration will be extended.
Previous Ban Thread
This player's original ban thread can be found here.Any further infractions or extensions will be edited onto this post and dated.
Should any clans in any ozfortress competitions be found housing the listed players, the team will be permanently removed from our competitions and all members involved will face severe penalties.
Infraction Threshold reached
This player has accrued a total of 120 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for a period of 3 years, after which time they will be on a 12-month probation, where reoffending will double the infraction points gained from each Tier. If they are found ban evading during their competition bans, their ban duration will be extended.
Infraction Threshold reached
This player has accrued a total of 150 ozfortress infraction points. As such, the player has been banned from ozfortress.com, the community's competitions, and all other ozfortress properties for a period of 3 years, after which time they will be on a 12-month probation, where reoffending will double the infraction points gained from each Tier. If they are found ban evading during their competition bans, their ban duration will be extended.
Should ANY clans in ANY ozfortress competitions be found housing the listed players, the team will be permanently removed from our competitions and all members involved will face severe penalties.
This poll will be used to collect feedback from everybody in the ozfortress community as a guide for future seasons and competitions. We ask that as many players participate as possible as we are looking to gauge interest in potential changes and additions for upcoming competitions.
Please send this poll to your team. We want as much input as possible to inform our decision-making. This will not be the only poll to come out during this off-season, we plan to release specific Sixes and Highlander polls within the next couple of weeks (both at different times). We are looking for further ways to improve our polls, so any feedback would be appreciated.
Please note that we are not collecting email addresses. Google requires them to ensure only one response is submitted.
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