my next Tournament plans

Fellow Illyrians. What I’m about to say, I do not take lightly. I am a player who played and loved illyria for 2 years and left. I am back because I was unable to find another game that had all of the wonderful qualities of Illy. This is truly a special game. It is special because of it’s design, but more so because of its community of players. However, many otherwise wonderful players leave our ranks every day. I believe they depart because at some point, Illy becomes boring to them. 

I believe that this need not be so.

The game of illyriad has all the makings of a challenging, deep war game. The community, to it’s credit, has chosen a peaceful path. This is wonderful in the general sense and sets illyriad apart from other games. But it also contributes to our down fall. 

Close your eyes. Imagine the same Illy that you have always known. Welcoming to noobs. Respectful alliances. Peaceful. 

But…with one key difference.

THE OPTION OF Full on (but friendly) competition using all of Illy’s tools - magic, diplomatic attacks, sieges, feints and blockades….

This is the part of illy that we rarely see and when it is used it is often in ugly disputes.

This would be different. Competition.Player vs player, team vs. team or alliance vs. alliance variety. 

I’ve outlined how I think it could work. I would greatly appreciate input from those with far more experience than I. I’m sure others have done this type of competition before. I simply think that as a community, we can make it a more integral part of what occurs in Illy. Ongoing tournaments…perhaps culminating each year with an Illy wide invitational resulting in the crowning of that years “Champion."

So without further ado, here is my vision of what we could create. 

Rules for Tourney’s:

1. Prior to the start of the tournament a player must designate all of their cities as either “ACTIVE”, “SAFE” or “OUT”. This is done by appending the appropriate term to their city name.
2. Winner is determined by score. Each successfully sieged city or cities that go from a state of “ACTIVE” to “OUT” result in 1 point being awarded to the other team. Points may also be awarded to the other team for rules violations. 
3. Siege is considered "successful" when the cities wall is sieged down to 0 OR the player (owner of the city) declares the city “OUT” - whichever comes first. No excessive sieging. There is some lee way here as we understand that it takes time to cancel a siege. Excessive is up to the judgement of the referree.
4. Player can exclude/protect any of his/her cities that they want. There are two forms of protection for a city. A city can participate as a resource supplier to combatant cities. This is made so by appending “SAFE” to the city name. These cities can be subject to blockades and feints as well as certain diplo attacks (scout, spy, theft) and magical attacks in the form of blights.  Assassinations and Sabotage in SAFE cities is forbidden. Thievery and spy craft is allowed in SAFE cities. A SAFE city may launch any of the diplomatic attacks that may be used on it. A SAFE city may only attack a blockading force of that city.
5. The second form of city protection is “OUT”. An out city can not supply troops to any other cities involved in the tournament including “SAFE” cities.  This prohibition includes cities successfully sieged or otherwise knocked “OUT” of the competition but also cities that a player designates as “OUT” at the onset. 
6. Resources from cities designated “OUT” to “ACTIVE” or “SAFE” cities is forbidden. An alliance/team/player found guilty of this is penalized by the 1 point (equivalent to having one city knocked out) so cheat at your own risk. Remember that blockades may make this behavior obvious.
7. Players may move a city to “OUT” status from either “SAFE” (not considered a point) or from “ACTIVE” (which would be considered a point). 
8. A player may not move a city from “SAFE” or “OUT” to “ACTIVE" under any circumstance once the competition begins
9. No outside troop help, including no hiring of mercenaries. Resource support from SAFE cities is allowed.
10. Each tournament will have 2 designated referrees and their decisions on game play are final and binding.
11. Players put up gold for an "entry fee" which is held by the referees and the winner(s) get the pot. Of course, the primary prize is bragging rights.
12. Teams of players are set in advance of competition. Once tournament begins no additions to teams are allowed

Player vs. Player and Team on Team Tournaments. For Team on Team there will be maximum number of players and max number of cities involved. These terms will be agreed to prior to the start of competition. 

Iteration #1 Alliance vs. Alliance

• Rules are intended to provide an opportunity for alliances with smaller number of players to compete AND to allow players in alliances to opt out
• Each Alliance designates 100 cities that are ‘in play’ (see rules above) or “ACTIVE” cities.
• There is no limit to the number of “SAFE” cities. (These cities can engage in supplying resources and be subject to blights and diplomatic attacks)
• All alliance cities not designated in their city name as “ACTIVE” or “OUT” are considered “SAFE"
• A point is awarded for each city sieged to walls zero OR having the owner of the city change the city from “ACTIVE” to “OUT”. All offensive attacks on the city should end as soon as possible after the change of a city from “ACTIVE” to “OUT”. Any attack initiated on a city AFTER the declaration of that city as “OUT” will result in the other alliance being awarded one point.
• The winner is first alliance to score 15 points OR have the other alliance surrender.

Iteration #2 Player vs. Player

• This is one on one fight. 
• The players should agree on an equal number of “ACTIVE” cities to start and agree on criterion for winning
• Players must not be in the same alliance or Confed/NAP alliances for obvious reasons
• Options for winning are:
• Scoring the number of points specified
• Surrender
• All other rules are the same as for other iterations

Iteration #3 Team vs. Team

• Prior to start or the tournament the teams should agree to both the number of players per team and the number of “ACTIVE” cities
• Teams should agree on the criterion for winning as first team to a number of points
• All other rules are the same as for other iterations