Revision as of 17:30, 15 April 2014

Introduction

Preamble

Battlefield 4 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 70% of the territories and capitals available on the Campaign Map 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 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 4 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.

• 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.

• Islands are not able to be drafted by either army. They will be neutral upon campaign inclusion. (See Risk Rules below)

Map Selection Process

It is up to each HC to choose a BF4 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.

• Maps will be assigned to Islands by the Tournament Administrators a reasonable time after the Naval Strike DLC has released to all players. Once maps are assigned to these territories, they are now "In Play" and can be attacked during battle days.

Campaign Map Placements

Map Placement

• After the territories and maps have been selected, the HC’s will place their maps on their territories as they see fit.
• Maps will be assigned to Islands by the Tournament Administrators a reasonable time after the Naval Strike DLC has released to all players. Once maps are assigned to these territories, they are now "In Play" and can be attacked during battle days.

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.

Territory Battle Days

General Rules

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
    1. If many tickets remain or it's very close, cancel the round and add time on at the end
    2. 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.
    • If the attacks on a territory have not finished (eg only 1 round played before time ends), the attacking army will have the option to CONTINUE their attack on their next attack day, or to attack a totally new territory.
  • 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.

• The army with the attack initiative must announce their first attack by Friday SBT before the battleday.
  • 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.

• Every round will start with a 120-second countdown. To be counted as live, it must start with a TA announcing "LIVE LIVE LIVE" over all chat, and also over teamspeak.
  • 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 territory they are attacking from, and the territory being attacked.
  • An army cannot re-attack a territory until their second attack turn following their initial attack on that territory. (ie, it is "blocked" for a week)
  • Islands can be attacked at any time and do not need an origin location specified. The re-attack rule applies for "Owned" Islands, but NOT for "Neutral" Islands
• Territory battles will be conducted as follows:
  1. 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 exception to this is NEUTRAL Islands. Neutral Islands will play best 2/3 with ROTATING sides. The defending army will get to pick starting sides.
  2. The number of winning rounds required for a successful outcome is best two out of three.
  3. Maps will be played at 75% ticket count, but ticket counts may be modified based on agreements between TAs and HCs in the interests of fair and fun play.
     • The bleed rate will be adjusted to 60%

Risk Cards

Risk Card Draw Phase

• Risk cards are drawn once a week by both armies
• Each army may only hold up to 2 cards in their hand at any time.
• If they have 2 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.
• A maximum of 1 cards can be drawn during the Risk Card Draw Phase.
• Cards will be drawn by Tuesday SBT+2 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.

• Examples:
  • Paradrop has to be announced with your attack when you attack
  • AA is a card that can be played as a counter to paradrop
  • Modifier card must be played WITH your other card

Basic Card Details

1. Paradrop:

• Allows you to "jump" one territory on your attack.
• Card is played as you announce your attack. You must state source and destination territory.
• Can be played only ONCE per battleday.
• Paradrop can not be used as your first attack for the day.
• Modifier: Allows paradrop "jump" two territories.
• Has a 45% Draw Chance

2. Anti Air:

• Played as a counter to "Paradrop"
• Card changes victory conditions. Attackers have to win 2/2 rounds instead of 2/3. If defenders win one round, they have defended the territory.
• Modifier: Completely destroys paradrop in all instances. Including a Modifier Enhanced Paradrop.
• Has a 35% Draw Chance

3. Modifier Card:

• Played at the same time as other cards
• Provides a bonus to Paradrop and Anti Air Cards
• Does not combine with itself.
• Has a 20% Draw Chance

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.
• Theaters will be scored using a stacking bonus. Consult the following table to see your WCP bonus:

• 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.
• The islands are not counted as a theatre

Victory Conditions and World Control Points

• Each Territory and Island held is worth 3 WCP
• Each Theater held is worth as per the above table.

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.