BF3 Campaign 5 System

=Introduction=

Preamble
Battlefield 3 is a tactical first-person shooter set in the modern era, and is developed and distributed by EA Games.

At Global Conflict the multi-player aspects of the game are utilized to simulate a conflict between two organized armies. Members join a side and agree to abide by the rules of that army and to participate in the campaign as outlined in the Campaign System that follows. The Campaign is played out using original (vanilla) BF3, Back to Karkand, Armored Kill, Aftermath and End Game maps.

Each army is headed by a High Command (HC) that will be comprised of well known and respected members, selected prior to the start each new campaign. The HC is responsible for the smooth running of their army. The HC will accomplish this through the delegation of authority in a manner of their choosing. This authority will not extend to breaching the Rules of Global Conflict and in any case will not supercede the authority of the Tournament Admins or of the Executive.

The guiding principle of the campaign shall be an attitude and display of gentlemanly and sportsmanlike conduct. If any rule in its interpretation or implementation should breach these generally accepted principles then this rule must be adapted to comply. If any rule is unclear in its interpretation then it must be applied with this guiding principle determining its intent and outcome.

The rules behind this campaign are based in part from borrowed elements of the board game ‘Risk’ and other rules developed by our community. The goal of the Campaign is to gain control of either 70% of the territories available on the Campaign Map or all of the opposing army's military bases, or to force the other side into surrender. The Campaign Map will be illustrated and hosted on the home page of Global-Conflict.org. As the campaign progresses the campaign map will be updated to reflect the ebb and flow of each army's divisions and territories.

Definitions

 * BFI - Battle for Initiative, first Campaign Match after the draft to decide which army gets the first attack.


 * Army: One of two factions competing for world domination on the campaign map.


 * Map: a Battlefield 3 map in a specific game mode and size, e.g. "Caspian Border 32 Vehicles"


 * Territory: A tile on the campaign map, corresponding to one Battlefield 3 map.


 * Capital City: Each territory has one capital city.


 * HQ: Headquarters are the supply center of An army. New divisions are trained at headquarters. Each army will have two HQ's.


 * Division: A game piece on the campaign map which represents the amount of military strength in a territory. Each division is represented by one round of play in game. Divisions are sometimes referred to as "armies."


 * Net Worth, WCP: Net worth represents the total financial and military power of An army. Net Worth is measured in World Control Points. Each territory is worth 3 WCP. Each capital city is worth 2 WCP.


 * General, HC: Leaders of each army are traditionally referred to as generals. The highest-ranked officers in each army are referred to as the high command (HC).


 * TA: Tournament Administrators are a group of dedicated GC veterans who run the day-to-day functioning of the campaign. They are the "referees" who police the fairplay rules and administer all aspects of the tournament.


 * Executive Senate: The Executive Senate (sometimes called "execs" or "senators") is Global Conflict's highest governing body, made up of veterans who have been active in the community for years. Whereas the TA's run the tournament itself, the Executive Senate is responsible for the overall health of the community. Its members select the TA's and generals, and have the final say in all disputes.


 * SBT: Standard Battle Time is the time at which the main Saturday battle day will begin. This is currently 17:00 UTC but will be adjusted this campaign for the end of day lights saving.

Campaign Initialization
Before a campaign begins, the Executive Senate will select volunteers from the community to serve as Generals and Tournament Administrators. From here, the TA's and HC's will set a timeline for the following steps


 * 1) Selecting territories
 * 2) Selecting maps
 * 3) Drafting officers
 * 4) Drafting players
 * 5) Initial campaign map placements

Territory Selection Process
To set the initial owners of territories on the campaign map, the TA's will meet with both HC's for the territory draft.

A coin toss will determine first pick, and each HC will alternate picking one territory at a time until all available territories are claimed.

Capital cities are initially granted to the army which picks the territory.

Map Selection Process
It is up to each HC to choose a BF3 map corresponding to each territory on the campaign map.

The TA's will create an official maplist for the campaign. This list must specify a game mode/size for each map, and a map may be duplicated.

Once the list is created, and after the territory draft, a map draft will be held. First pick will go to the loser of the coin toss from the territory draft, and armies will alternate selecting maps from the list.

Map Placement

 * After the territories and maps have been selected, the HC’s will place their maps on their territories as they see fit.

Once map assignments are submitted to the tournament admins, they can never be changed. However, the TA's may allow exceptions at their discretion, for example if new patches fundamentally change the balance of a map.

With each map assignment, the HC must also announce which in-game side it will defend from. The defending side may be changed at any time, but there is a five day "relocation time." Side changes must be announced by Monday SBT in the Risk Forum before the battleday it will take effect.

If the territory is attacked within that time, the defender will play from the original defending side.

Division Placement

 * Each army will receive 55 divisons. These divisions will be placed by the army's HC. Every territory must be occupied by at least one division. Additional divisions are used to reinforce territories at the discretion of each HC.


 * Along with division placements, each army will place it's two headquarters.
 * Once placed, these headquarters can not be moved for the remainder of the campaign.
 * Should an army have no headquarters during the reinforcement phase they will be allowed to place one new headquarters on the map and immediately deploy troops from there.
 * Should an army have three (3) headquarters and capture any more, the newly captured headquarters are destroyed and permanently removed from the map as collateral damage.

=Territory Battle Days=

Timing

 * Territory battles begin every Saturday at SBT.
 * TA's and HC's can agree to skip a Saturday for holidays or other reasons
 * If an attack starts late because the attacker was not ready, this time is not refunded at the end
 * However, if the attack starts late for some other reason (e.g. server issues), the time is refunded at the end
 * If the server crashes during a round, the TA's will decide whether to
 * If many tickets remain or it's very close, cancel the round and add time on at the end
 * Otherwise, declare the army that was ahead in tickets the winner of the round
 * After SBT+5:45, no new round can begin, unless time is added on by the TAs due to earlier delays. Any round in progress can continue and still counts.
 * The attacker must take a 30 minute break between SBT+2.5 and SBT+3.5, but can decide where it falls in that time (but they're encouraged to aim for SBT+2.75). After the break, we swap servers.


 * Each battleday has one attacker, who chooses which territories to assault, and one defender, who must protect territories for the whole battleday.
 * The army with the attack initiative tries to attack as many territories as it can
 * The defender tries to stall the attacks, limiting the damage.
 * This means attackers set the tempo. They announce when a round should be live and can take as long or as little as they need to prepare.
 * Defenders always get 30 minutes before the first map, and 5 minutes before each subsequent map, to prepare. After that, the attacker can request live at any time. Defenders may request extra time, but it will be granted only at TA discretion, and it will be added to the end of the battle-day.
 * Should the battle day end prematurely due to a lack of numbers on the defensive side, then this side will be required to forfeit one round for every twenty (20) minutes lost before the scheduled end of the battle day.
 * This forfeit will be rounded upwards.
 * Should no attacking move be declared, the defensive side may choose which divisions to forfeit.


 * The army with the attack initiative must announce their first attack by Thursday SBT before the battleday.
 * If attackers miss the 48-hour deadline, they will be told the map at SBT-30 min.
 * Defenders are never told the attack until SBT-30 min.
 * If the attackers announce after SBT-30 min, defenders are entitled to 30min of setup time. Attackers can sacrifice one division to play immediately at SBT.


 * Every round will start with a 30-second countdown. To be counted as live, it must start with a TA announcing "LIVE LIVE LIVE" over all chat.
 * An attacker cannot cancel a live round partly through, but the TA's can rule a "false start" if needed

Risk Rules

 * For each attack, attackers must announce the destination territory, the number of divisions being used, and the source territories.
 * An army cannot re-attack a territory until their second attack turn following their initial attack on that territory.
 * An attack can be amassed with divisions from multiple territories. These territories must be in direct contact with the territory to be attacked, unless a para-drop card is played.
 * A territory can never be left empty. One division must always be left on it at all times.
 * Division number limits
 * The first attack of a battleday must use at least 3 divisions
 * Every territory has a max attackers limit of 3 divisions.
 * Every territory has a max defenders limit, which is 3 divisions for most maps but can be set lower by TA's for heavily defender-biased maps.
 * It's legal to have more than 3 defenders on a territory, but if this territory is attacked and 3 rounds are lost, all other divisions will also die.
 * Territory battles will be conducted as follows:
 * The armies will play the same side for all rounds on a map, they will not alternate sides. The defender's side will be chosen in the initial map placements.
 * The number of winning rounds required for a successful outcome is equal to the number of opposing army divisions in play.
 * Maps will be played at 175% ticket count, but ticket counts may be modified based on agreements between TAs and HCs in the interests of fair and fun play.
 * Aftermath maps will be played at 125% ticket count.

Attack Sequence
THE ATTACK TURN FORMALLY BEGINS WHEN THE PREVIOUS TURN ENDS AT THE END OF SATURDAY'S BATTLE.

Step 1: Opening Moves
This is the attacking army's movement of divisions to amass them for attack.
 * The attacking army can redistribute it's divisions to any adjoining occupied territory.
 * All territories must remain occupied at all times by at least one division.
 * Each individual division can only move one territory in preparation to attack.
 * Opening moves for the attacker are due in the Risk forum on Thursday SBT. The first attack announcement to the TA's is due in the HC's private forum on Thursday SBT

Step 2: Attacking
This is the phase in which the attacking army moves its divisions into the defending army's territory for the purpose of capturing it.
 * The attacking army will state how many divisions it is attacking with.
 * For each round played the loser of the round must remove one division and place it in the "refund" pool for later re-distribution.
 * The attack will continue until one side has run out of divisions, or until the attacker calls for a retreat.
 * The defender is obliged to defend to the best of its ability. There is no retreat option available to the defender.
 * If the attack is successful, the remaining attacking divisions are moved into the territory and ownership of the territory is transferred to the attacking army. If the attack is unsuccessful no change is made other than the removal of lost divisions.
 * An attacking army may continue to move on and attack any adjoining territory from the one just conquered and occupied. This is known as the Blitzkrieg Effect (aka "Blitz").
 * After the battleday, TAs will announce the number of refunded divisions as soon as possible.
 * From this announcement, each army has 24 hours to announce its moves for steps 4 & 5.

Step 3: Defensive Moves
This is the phase in which the attacker may reposition their forces at the end of a day
 * The attacker may reposition its divisions following the conclusion of the Battle Day.
 * The attacker can move its divisions to any adjoining occupied territory.
 * However, each territory must always remain occupied by at least one division.
 * Each division can move by one (1) territory.
 * Due to battle fatigue, any division used in an attack cannot be moved until the next turn.
 * A newly occupied territory may only be reinforced by up to 50% of the number of occupying divisions (rounding up)
 * For example: the attacking army conquers a territory and only has 3 divisions remaining. The HC can re-enforce 1/2 that number (1.5 divisions) which when rounded up equals 2 divisions. So up to 2 divisions that were not already involved in an attack and are adjacent to the newly conquered territory, or fall within the Para-drop re-enforcement rules, can be moved there to fortify the territory against counter attack.
 * Defensive moves must be posted to the Risk forum by Monday SBT.

Step 4: Refunding
This is the phase in which defeated divisions are redistributed between the two armies.
 * Divisions lost by both armies during the battle day are put into the Refund Pool. At the end of the battle day, these lost divisions will be redistributed between the two sides. Each side's refund is a function of its net worth.
 * The divisions in the refund pool will be redistributed according to the following criteria:
 * The army with the lower net worth will receive:
 * One (1) division for a net worth between 40% and 44.99%;
 * Two (2) divisions for a net worth between 35% and 39.99%;
 * Three (3) divisions for a net worth below 34.99%.
 * ''(percentages are an indication of the side's WCP score in relation to the total world score
 * The remaining divisions will then be refunded based on the percentage of the WCP's held, e.g. an army holding 75% of the WCPs will receive 75% of the divisions in the pool.
 * The rounding of point values will always go in favor of the side with lower net worth.
 * Refunded divisions can only be placed at a headquarters that has been controlled by an army for at least one full attack turn.
 * The only exception to this is if a defender has no headquarters after the attacking phase. In this case the defender may immediately place a new headquarters on the map on any territory they own and place all reinforcements on this headquarters.
 * Refund placements must be posted in the Risk forum by Monday SBT.

Step 5: Placement of New Divisions
This is the placing of the refunded divisions on each army's military base of choice.
 * Please note: This is the last thing that occurs during a turn and is the only post-battle day step a defending army participates in.


 * The locations of newly placed divisions must be turned in to the TAs within 24 hours of step 3.

THE ATTACK TURN IS NOW OVER.


 * The defending army will now become the attacker.

Retreating

 * An army with the attack initiative may retreat from a territory. When a retreat is announced the attacking army shall either:
 * 1) Play one more round and retreat at its conclusion regardless of the outcome.
 * 2) Forfeit one division and retreat immediately. This forfeit refers to surrendering the division to the refund pool.


 * Retreats must be announced between rounds. A conquest game can never be stopped mid-round.


 * No more than half the divisions used in the attack can retreat. For example, if the attacker uses 5 divisions, they must wait until the second round to announce the retreat and play a third retreating round.


 * If the retreating attacker wins the retreat round the defender loses a division.
 * In the event that no divisions remain on the attacked territory, the defender will be allowed to move a division into the territory to re-occupy.
 * The attacker can not gain control of a territory on a retreat round.


 * A defending army cannot retreat, unless they play a card which allows them to do so.

Headquarters

 * New divisions may only be placed at headquarters.


 * Headquarters can be acquired or re-acquired through conquest. If a HQ is re-acquired the controlling army must remain in possession for one week before new divisions can be placed there.
 * The exception is if the newly captured HQ is that army's only headquarters. In this case the new divisions can be placed immediately.

Forward Operating Base

 * Can be acquired by playing a combination of Risk Cards (see Risk Cards)


 * Up to two (2) divisions may be placed on an FOB's in any one week.
 * You cannot place any divisions on a newly built FOB. FOBs become active one week after they are placed.

=Black Ops Battledays=

General Rules

 * Every week, there are two Black Ops Battles
 * European Black Ops (EUBO): SBT+2 to SBT +4.5
 * North American Black Ops (NABO): SBT+8 to SBT+10.5
 * No new live round can start after 2:15 hours in, except in case of server crashes or delays -- the rules here are the same as Territory battledays.
 * Incomplete maps from EUBO are completed at NABO before a new map begins


 * The Army with the attack initiative will attack for the full length of battleday.
 * It must announce its first attack at least 30 minutes in advance to the Tournament Admins, who will announce it to the opposing army.
 * Additional attack moves will remain undeclared until the completion of the previous attack.


 * Each Army receives an identical map pool from which they can select maps to play on the battleday.
 * Each map in the pool must be played once; once all maps have been played, the pool will change to a new set of maps for that army.
 * If all maps in all pools are played through, map pools will recycle.


 * Black Ops battles will be conducted as follows:
 * The Attackers will have the duration of their Black Ops period to initiate as many attacks as they can, choosing either a Capital City Attack or Extra Card Mission each time.
 * For rules on each of these attack types, see below.
 * For each map, the defenders have 2 minutes to choose which side they'll play.
 * Maps will be played at 150% ticket count
 * Ticket counts may be modified based on agreements between TAs and HCs in the interests of fair and fun play.
 * After each attack completes, return to Step 1 until the Attackers are out of time.

Capital City Attack
1. Attacking army must declare which capital city they wish to attack and select a Conquest map from their map pool to play.
 * Capital city attacks must be in or adjacent to a territory owned by the Attacking army.
 * Capital Cities may only be attacked once per Black Ops turn.
 * If the Attacking Army attacks all available Capital Cities once in their turn, they may begin to re-attack with their remaining time.

2. Defenders are granted two minutes to select which side they would like to play first.

3. The map is played twice, giving each army the opportunity to play from both sides.

4. Maps are played at 150% tickets. 5. Whichever army has the most cumulative tickets after the two rounds wins. 6. If the attacker wins, control of the capital is transferred immediately. If the defender wins, the Capital is not attackable for the remainder of the Black Ops turn.
 * Ticket counts may be modified based on agreements between TAs and HCs in the interests of fair and fun play.
 * In the event of a tie, additional rounds will be played until a ticket difference is generated.

Extra Card Mission
1. Attacking army must declare their intention to play an Extra Card mission and select an eligible map from their map pool. 2. Attacking army plays one round of the map selected. Gametype specific rules are outlined below. 3. Once an army has accumulated a certain number of points in either category, they may spend them to draw an extra card during their Draw Phase.
 * Eligible map types: Rush, Tank Superiority, CTF.
 * Rush (Rush will be played Infantry Only)
 * The Attackers play from the attacking side.
 * Each MCOM destroyed is added to their MCOM Extra Card Points.
 * Only one round will be played with the Attackers on the attack.
 * Tank Superiority (TS will be played with Vehicles)
 * The Defenders select which side they would like to play.
 * When the round is over, any tickets the Attackers have left are added to their Tank Superiority Extra Card Points.
 * Two rounds will be played, once from each side.
 * Capture The Flag (CTF will be played with Vehicles)
 * The Defenders select which side they would like to play for the first round. Sides swap for the second round.
 * Each round will have a time limit of 20 minutes.
 * Round will be played on 150% ticket count (Making the number of capturable flags 5)
 * The Attacker will be granted 1 CTF Extra Card Point for each flag they captures above the Defenders.
 * To give the defenders and incentive to do more than just camp their flag, the Attackers will be granted 1 CTF Extra Card Point in the event of a draw.
 * Extra card costs:
 * 6 MCOMs buys 1 card
 * 300 Tank Superiority Tickets buys 1 card
 * 6 Flags buys 1 card
 * Cards costs may vary over the course of the campaign at TA discretion.

=Risk Cards=

Risk Card Draw Phase

 * Each army may only hold up to 7 cards in their hand at any time.
 * If they have 7 cards going into the Risk Card Draw Phase, they may choose to discard as many as they wish.
 * If they elect not to discard, they will skip the Risk Card Draw Phase.
 * During the Risk Card Draw Phase, each army may draw up to 3 cards, or until they have until 7 in their hand.
 * Each army may spend Extra Black Ops Card points to draw additional cards above their 3 card draw limit at this time.
 * The 7 card limit cannot be exceeded using Extra Black Ops Card points.
 * Card Draw Phase moves are posted along with your Refunds and Defensive Moves in the Risk Forum at Monday SBT. (Discards, extra card purchases)
 * Cards will be drawn by Tuesday SBT and announced in your High Command Army Dashboard thread.

Playing a Risk Card

 * 1) Select the card to be played and notify the TAs.
 * 2) If a card is played on the battleday, up to five minutes of TA processing time may pass before it takes effect.
 * 3) If a card is played outside the battleday, please note the use of the card during your normal posting the appropriate phase, or, if the card does not apply to a phase, follow the instructions on the card and make a new post in the Risk Forum.
 * Examples:
 * You want to use a Paradrop to reinforce during your Defensive Moves. In your normal Defensive Moves post in the Risk forum, you note your intent to use a Paradrop card and the move the card applies to.
 * You want to sabotage an FOB the enemy built on their last turn. You make a new thread in the Risk Forum entitled "Week X - Army plays Card". You post the cards you are combining and your intent to Sabotage in the thread.

Basic Card Details
Each card has a title, a category and a "playable by" field. For example, Break Through is an Armor card, and is playable by the Attacking army on a battleday. Card categories only have a function when combining cards into Three Card Abilities.

1. Break Through: [ARMOR / ATTACKER]


 * Card must be played before the attack (when attack is declared), and after a single round win, all remaining attacking armies attack another adjacent enemy territory. The breakthrough attack counts as an attack, and that territory will be locked out on your next attack day. All normal occupation rules apply. If this card is played and the round is won, the Attacker must move to a new territory with their remaining divisions.

Battleday play limit: No limit

'''2. Paradrop: [AIR / ATTACKER] '''
 * 3 armies without penalty may cross over 2 territories to attack (so they may “skip” two territories to attack the third). Can be used during defensive moves and on the battleday. Cannot be used on offensive moves to position armies for attack. Paradropping team must declare their flight path when playing the card.

Weekly play limit: Once on your battleday, once during your defensive move phase

3. Strategic Retreat: [INFANTRY/ATTACKER/DEFENDER]


 * Allows attacking team to retreat without playing a retreat round or losing an army. Can be played after any round during an attack. If played by defenders, they may retreat their divisions back by one territory and cede the attacked territory to the attackers.

Battleday play limit: 1

4. Assassination: [INFANTRY/ATTACKER]


 * Removes a division from the targeted territory. Attacking team must declare their assassination by Friday SBT in the Risk Forum. Card cannot be played on or after the Battleday. Cannot assassinate a territory with only one division on it. The assassinated division is returned to the defender during their refund phase; it is not added to the general refund pool.

Battleday play limit: 1

5. Anti-Air: [ARMOR / DEFENDER]


 * Defending team may employ this card against Paradrop during the battleday, destroying one army in the paradrop process. Destroyed division enters the refund pool.

Battleday play limit: 1

6. Last Stand: [ARMOR / DEFENDER]


 * Defender may play this card while defending a territory where they also hold the capital city. The capital city then acts as an additional division during for the defense. If the defender loses the territory, they also lose the capital city. If they win with only the capital city remaining (having lost all other divisions), they must take one division from their refund pool and place it on the territory. Note: Last Stand cannot be played on a territory that has been targeted by Incite Rebellion.

Battleday play limit: 1

7. Aerial Refueling [AIR / ATTACKER]


 * +1 range to a paradrop. Movement is still susceptible to anti-air.

Battleday play limit: 1

8. Flares [AIR / ATTACKER]


 * Played to counter an anti-air use by the other army. Must be declared immediately following the anti-air on the battleday.

Battleday play limit: 1

9. Capital Blitz [INFANTRY / ATTACKER]


 * Attacker may play this card to attack a capital city in a territory which they own and have at least two divisions. A single round would be played on the smaller version of the territory map (if available). Defender gets to chose the side they wish to play. If won, the attacker gains the capital. If lost, the defender retains the capital and the attacker loses a division.

Battleday play limit: 1

Three Card Abilities
To use one of these abilities, you must have:

1 of each category of card

OR

3 of one category

You must discard all three cards used to achieve the three card combo after playing one of these abilities. Each ability may only be played once per week. 1. Forward Operating Base:

As part of your refund phase, you may purchase a Forward Operating Base (FOB) with your three card combination. Your FOB purchase must be announced by Monday SBT in the Risk Forum along with your Defensive Moves and Refunds.

The FOB will function as a smaller HQ, allowing you to place up to 2 divisions on the territory where it resides during your refund phase. FOBs can not be used the turn they are played; you must wait a week before "construction finishes" and the building is ready. If the territory is captured, the FOB is destroyed.

2. Sabotage:

Destroys a Forward Operating Base. A Sabotage must be announced in the Risk Forum by Friday SBT. The FOB will be destroyed on Friday SBT; a sabotage announced on Saturday will take effect the next Friday.

3. Incite Rebellion:

Must be played when attack is announced. Attacking Army takes the territory Capital upon taking the territory. Note: Last Stand cannot be played on a territory that has been targeted by Incite Rebellion.

=Theaters= A theater is a group of five connected and geographically grouped territories.

Theater Bonuses

 * Capturing all territories in a theater grants a bonus to the controlling army, measured in world control points. Note: WCP is not the same as divisions. But they are part of the formula that determines how many divisions you get.
 * Theaters will all be worth 3 WCP bonus points.
 * Theaters:
 * Canada
 * North America
 * South America
 * Western Europe
 * Eastern Europe
 * Middle East
 * Africa
 * South Asia
 * North Asia
 * Australia


 * Theater bonuses do not go into effect until the attacker's next attack turn after capturing all zones in the theater.
 * Theater bonuses are terminated immediately after the opposing empire captures a territory located within the theater.

=Victory Conditions and World Control Points=
 * Each Territory held is worth 3 WCP
 * Each Capital City held is worth 2 WCP

An army can achieve victory in three ways:
 * 1) By gaining control of at least 70% of the World Control Points and remaining at or above 70% WCP through the opposing army's next attack turn.
 * 2) By forcing the opposing army to surrender.


 * An army may surrender by announcing its decision to the Tournament Admins at any time.


 * Any army with consistently low attendance over the span of a minimum of three weeks will risk automatic forfeit of the campaign. Execution of this forfeit will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Tournament Admins.

'Campaign system and rules are subject to change during campaign. Changes, if necessary, will be announced in the forums, and come in effect instantly. This page is the final authority on campaign system and rules information.'