Experimental Cup 4 - Sign-ups Open, Changes & Implementations

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(art by dezi)

Welcome to Experimental Cup 4, Doors!

Doors! We're walking now, 6 new maps for your dining pleasure amongst multiple smaller factors part of the amuse bouche that is Experimental Cup 4. Ignore the shouting from the kitchen... we're going through some teething issues...

Dates:
Weekend 1 (Regular Matches) | Saturday the 6th, Sunday the 7th
Weekend 2 (Finals BO3) | Saturday the 13th, Sunday the 14th
Maps: Valor, Govan, Keylog, Divulgence, BumbleFumble and Cerana. All can be found here
Team Sizes: Rosters of 12 players, no Transfer Windows.
Out of Region Ping Limit Expanded: Each roster will be permitted a maximum of 2 out of region players who exceed the current 180 ping limit.
Whitelist Changes: Loch-n-Load and Darwin's Danger Shield have been unbanned.
Small Divisions: Divisions comprised of 4 teams were possible for optimal map testing.
Badges: Yes
Awards + Prizes for best clip / best Holiday Punch clip / best Loch-n-Load clip: Yes

Maps

The following maps will be included in Experimental Cup 4:

Divulgence: Stopwatch/Hybrid
Bumblefumble Stopwatch/Payload
Cerana: Stopwatch/Hybrid
Valor: King of the Hill
Govan: King of the Hill
Keylog: King of the Hill

All maps were decided upon by Highlander Admins and Advisors. All the maps played in this cup barring Divulgence have active developers. Thus, we will be collecting feedback on all these maps with the intention of the authors making changes where needed. This will be done to make the maps more suitable for competitive play in the regular season competition.

Bumblefumble

Does it have the funniest name of the bunch? Yes. Bumblefumble is your typical 4 stage payload map and received interest from 71.4% of the advisor and admin panels. While initially designed for casual our team's votes reflect that it may be suitable for competitive play as well.

Cerana & Divulgence

Both Cerana and Divulgence are considered Hybrid maps and if you've played the small underground game Overwatch the concept is the same. The attacking team must capture a single control point which then unlocks a cart to be pushed for the remainder of the map, while being timed. This means that this game type will be played under the stopwatch formatting and configs. Divulgence received the highest number of votes with 78.6% of votes and was to be included. However, Cerana was voted in as a part of a later poll with the remaining map options to determine a replacement for the highly voted for Cornwater.

Cornwater's off the Menu

Despite Cornwater receiving a high amount of interest from advisors and admins, ultimately it was passed upon. This was because there was a unanimous agreement that it was better for new maps to be trialed for the experimental cup (hence the name, experimental cup!). Therefore, all teams and players will be learning these maps from scratch and will all be on a closer, more even playing field.

Furthermore, after reflecting on Cornwater's involvement in past cups and seasons we feel that the map isn't currently in a state that is healthy for competition. In particular, the last point on the map has proved extremely difficult to break and without drastic modifications the map is not likely to return to competition.

Valor, Govan & Keylog

Out of all the votes cast by advisors and admins, Valor, Keylog and Govan received the highest amounts of votes with 78.6%, 71.4% and 64.3% respectively. With no glaring issues and all maps having creators who are willing to work on the maps further they made an excellent fit for inclusion.

Whitelist Alterations

The following weapons will be unbanned during the Experimental Cup:

Loch-n-Load

The Loch-n-Load is back nearly a year later after it was initially banned. The item has been on a constant tipping point when looking at seasonal feedback over the past 12 months. The item usually sits between 40-45% in favour of being unbanned with the remaining percentage of players being adamant on keeping it banned or being unsure on it.

For this cup we'll be allowing Demoman players to use the Loch-n-Load and we'll be reflecting on this post Experimental Cup 4.

Darwin's Danger Shield

Similar to the Loch-n-Load, but to a lesser extent, the Darwin's Danger Shield has also been requested to be re-added to the whitelist. The weapon was initially banned as it limits how proactive pyros can be in the sniper match up, as the item limits the class's effectiveness against the long ranged Australian hitman. We want to use this cup as a testing ground to see if these concerns are valid moving forward and if the weapon should or shouldn't be allowed in regular seasonal competitions.

Experimental Cup Structure

Dates

Weekend 1 | Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th of September

The first weekend will feature 3 games on each day. Ideally, teams will face each other twice over the weekend, once on the Saturday and once again on the Sunday on both a King of the Hill and Stopwatch Map. During these matches it should also be noted that a schedule has time allocated for when each match should begin. However, if both teams are happy to play their scheduled match before the set time they are welcome to do so.

Finally, and most importantly, all Stopwatch maps played throughout this cup are to be played under the ABBA formatting. This is to allow teams a chance to both defend first and set the pace on a map they may be unfamiliar with.

Weekend 2 | Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th of September

The second weekend will be our finals weekend. On the Saturday the first two rounds of finals will be played before the grand finals and bronze matches are played on the Sunday. The structure of playoffs may vary depending on the amount of teams who sign up.

Team Sizes, Player restrictions, Transfers and Mercs

Teams will have a roster size of 12, with there being no transfer windows throughout the cup. The roster teams sign up with is the roster that they are expected to use throughout the cup. If teams require Emergency Transfers, they must be discussed with a cup administrator prior to the start of matches.

There will be no limit as to how many class-restricted players teams can have on their roster for Divisions 2 and below. This will allow teams to be evenly balanced for cup competition, making all teams as competitive as possible with one another. Mercenaries will also be allowed throughout the cup and will be looked at and processed case by case via Cup Administrators and Team Captains.

Out of Region players

For this cup we'll be allowing a maximum of 2 players per roster, who currently exceed the existing restrictions that are applied for out of region players and their ping when competing in ozfortress competitions. This means if any players exist outside of the APAC region with an average ping above 180, 2 of them will be able to compete on any single roster during this experimental cup. We'll be monitoring this choice throughout the cup and reflect on it prior to implementing it into the Spring '25 Season.

Division Sizes

Similar to the last cup we'll be aiming for divisions of 4 teams to ensure competition is tight knit and each team will have an even number of games. However, this may not be possible based on how many teams sign up so we may have to make modifications to how we structure our brackets and divisions.

Playoffs

We aim to use our Page Playoff System for the final in this cup. However, we may elect to use the Expanded Playoffs system, if need be, based on how many teams are placed within a division.

The following Pick/Ban system will be used for all playoff matches.
- Home Team Bans | Away Team Bans | Home Team Picks | Away Team Picks | Home Team Picks

All matches in playoffs will have their stopwatch maps played as ABBA.

Player Awards + Clip Contests

This time around we won't have a prize pool, but we still intend to continue to do player awards like we would in the regular Highlander seasons. However, to ensure we stay on track, we'll be delegating the award process to our admins and advisors post event.

We'll also be hosting more clip contests with Keys up for grabs thanks to our financial backer who shall remain nameless. We thank them a lot for continuing to support this little establishment!

You can find all the details on the Clip contest here.

Badges

For those who like shiny and new things...
Mangia Baby! Introducing our new Experimental Cup Badge.

So be ready replicants, it's time to push the envelope and embrace the chaos!