Print Page | Close Window

31JAN20 - REGULAR SEASONAL TOURNAMENTS

Printed From: Illyriad
Category: News & Announcements
Forum Name: News & Announcements
Forum Description: Changes, patch release dates, server launch dates, downtime notifications etc.
URL: http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=10751
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 08:52
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: 31JAN20 - REGULAR SEASONAL TOURNAMENTS
Posted By: GM ThunderCat
Subject: 31JAN20 - REGULAR SEASONAL TOURNAMENTS
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 17:31

Quarterly Tournament Header

Hi Everyone,

INTRODUCING REGULAR SEASONAL TOURNAMENTS & REGIONAL TOTEMS

In honour of Illyriad's 10-year anniversary (the game launched in Public Beta on Feb 22nd, 2010 - I had to look it up on google!)... we're extremely excited to introduce regular King of the Hill-style tournaments to Illyriad with a truly worthy reward - REGIONAL TOTEMS. These totems introduce further potential for long-term, alliance-level, inter-regional, military- and production-based strategies.

The Seasonal Tournament runs 4 times a year, every year, covering the entire months of:

  • February
  • May
  • August
  • November

The tournament squares will randomly move within each region at around 10 minutes after midnight (Server Time - UTC) on:

  • 31st January - for the February (Spring) tournament
  • 30th April - for the May (Summer) tournament
  • 31st July - for an August (Fall) tournament
  • 31st October - for a November (Winter) tournament

TOURNAMENT RULES

These are our signature king-of-the-hill tournaments, one tournament square per region - but with a major addition: totems.

The following rules are the same as they've always been for dev-run tournaments, and you can skip down to the REWARDS section if you're fully aware of how our king-of-the-hill tournaments traditionally run.

From one second into the beginning of the tournament month, through to Midnight on the last day of the tournament month, any member of any alliance in occupation of these squares receives credit for holding the square. Occupation credit and details will be shown on the ingame tournament pages, as usual.

Credit is based on the length of occupation of each square. Time occupied by an alliance on each square counts towards the Alliance total.

This credit is on an alliance basis - individual players cannot receive rewards from participating in these tournaments.

You are not allowed to leave your alliance, or be kicked from your alliance while you have any armies present on one of the Tournament Squares.

All NAPs, Confeds etc are suspended for the duration of this tournament for any military interaction on the Tournament Squares. The Peace of the Camp rule will not work on these Tournament Squares.

The alliance that holds each individual regional square for the longest period of time during the tournament month is declared the Regional Winning Alliance for the tournament.

All activity on these tournament squares in each region will also be aggregated, so the top 3 alliances that overall have the most amount of possession across all squares will be the Global Winning Alliances, ranked First, Second and Third.

All tournament activity will be summarised on the tournament pages ingame, as usual.

THE REWARDS

The First, Second and Third Global Winning Alliances will receive a medal customised for their level of victory (Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively), as well as the Season and Year of victory embedded into the medal design.

Spring Medals
Summer Medals
Autumn Medals
Winter Medals

However, the really serious reward here is for each Regional Winning Alliance.

INTRODUCING REGIONAL TOTEMS

Each Regional Winning Alliance will get to choose a REGIONAL TOTEM - an incredibly powerful and valuable landmark that will operate until a later winner chooses to change it.

Once chosen, each region's totem provides an effect on ALL CITIES located in the entire region, until replaced.

Please note that - once chosen - the totem CANNOT BE CHANGED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES until the next regional winner of the next tournament chooses to change it.

THE REGIONAL TOTEMS & BONUSES

TotemNameBonus
Verdant Growth+10% Wood
imgEarth's Marrow+10% Clay
Ferric Flow+10% Iron
Heart of Stone+10% Stone
Cornucopia+5% Food
Inactive TotemNo bonuses

So, to summarize... as the Regional Winner of any one of these tournaments, you can set (or remove) an additional bonus that applies to all cities in the entire region you won. That's pretty powerful!

There will also be a new satellite button off the World Map icon on the top of your screen, which will take you to the Regional Summary page.

image

This page will summarise (once the first Regional Tournament is completed) the current Regional Winning Alliance, the totem they've chosen, who precisely (in the Regional Winning Alliance) chose the totem, and when it was chosen. There will also be a link to a Regional Detail page, which will summarise the entire totem history for each region. This satellite button and link are not yet live.


FAQs

Q. Wait! This bonus will apply to all cities in the region once it's been chosen?
A. Yep, all cities - not just those of the Regional Winning Alliance. However, the Regional Winning Alliance gets to make the choice of totem for the entire region.

Q. If we win multiple regions can we have different totems in each region?
A. Yes, absolutely! Each region may have different needs, and so it's entirely up to the Alliance making the choice for each region.

Q. If our alliance wins a region, do we have to make the choice of totem within a certain time period?
A. No, you don't. If you don't make a choice, then whatever the existing totem is will continue to run for that region until a choice is made, or until the next tournament - where a different alliance might win the region, and wins the right to choose a new totem.

Q. If our alliance wins a region, who in the alliance gets to make the choice of totem for that region?
Any of the Regional Winning Alliance's SuperUser player accounts will be able to choose the totem for the region after the region has been won.

Q. Alliance SuperUser X made a mistake in choosing our totem! Can we choose again?
A. No. This is VERY important; the first Regional Winning Alliance SuperUser who chooses the totem has cast the die for the whole alliance - and for the whole region - until the next tournament, where they can choose again if they win, or some other winner can choose the totem differently. There's a big "ARE YOU SURE?" popup to confirm the selection. You can't come back to the dev team and say "But we really wanted X totem, this person messed it up!". That's tough luck; and perhaps that person shouldn't be an alliance SuperUser :) Choosing the totem and bonus for all player cities in the entire region is a great responsibility, and shouldn't be taken lightly.

Q. I don't participate in tournaments, why should another alliance have a say in what bonus I get?
A. This is why the totems are either neutral or positive bonuses, rather than penalties. They have to be this way, because they apply to ALL cities within the region. We don't want to penalise players who, for whatever reason, choose not to participate in a tournament. In the end, everyone either stays resource neutral (if the "Inactive Totem" is chosen)... or they get something distinctly useful, chosen by the Regional Winning Alliance. As a neutral/non-tournament-participant you get status quo - or upside, but no penalty.

Q. I'm not a Regional Winning Alliance SuperUser. Why shouldn't I have a say in which totem is chosen?
A. That's the perk of being a leader of the Regional Winning Alliance. However, we can certainly imagine different alliances may implement their own internally-decided ways of deciding what totem to implement for a particular region - ranging from autocratic self-interest through direct democracy all the way to anarchistic random choice. It's up to the SuperUser of the Regional Winning Alliance to choose the totem for the entire region by whatever method they see fit.

Q. Why is the February tournament called Spring as that seems more like Winter to me, same with the August tournament for Fall?
A. This is because the tournaments run for a month before the next Illy season and environmental bonuses kick in. So the change of totem matches the Illy seasons.

The Illy Seasons are:

  • Spring is March thru May; so the Spring tournament is held in February
  • Summer is June thru August, so the Summer tournament in held in May
  • Fall is September thru November, so the Fall tournament is held in August
  • Winter is December thru February, so the Winter tournament is held in November

Q. When the quarterly tournament is not running, do these totem squares function as regular tournament squares?
A. Yes, with one caveat... These squares continue to function as tournament squares with the concurrent suspension of NAPs and Alliances on these squares, in order to facilitate (eg) a player-run tournament or perhaps some 'friendly' inter-alliance combat practice. However, outside of the official Regional Tournament Months, players can quit or be kicked from their alliance, even if they are in occupation of these tournament squares. Please get in touch via petition if this is an issue for a player-run tournament you wish to operate, and we can potentially accommodate.

Q. Does this mean that the tournament squares are going to rotate reliably every 3 months?
A. Yes. We think this is a great idea, as sometimes alliances organise their own mini-tournaments or battle practices on the tournament squares, and we've had player-run tournaments in the past. So, having a reliable tournament schedule is important for players to know, so that they can be confident that we won't just rotate the squares in the middle of something they've organised themselves, be that battle practice, or a war.

This means that 4 months of the year are given over to these dev-run Regional Tournaments, and 8 months of the year are provided for interested alliances to run their own tournaments or combat practice on these squares.

Q. These totem bonuses are great and all, but they're pretty generic resource-driven ones. Will there be more interesting totem bonuses available in the future?
A. Yep. We're just starting with these ones as proof of concept; but we have plans to introduce different totems with radically different regional effects in the future.


We hope you all enjoy this new feature of Illyriad, and thank you for your continuing support!

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Regards,


GM Stormcrow, GM Cerberus, GM Thundercat




Replies:
Posted By: Hucbold
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 17:52
Excellent


Posted By: Cat
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 17:56
This is awesome sauce!

*wiggles*


Posted By: DeliciousJosh
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 18:14
Wooooot!
What a great addition to an already great game. Lovely.
+5 food inc

-------------

PublicRelations
HumanResources


Posted By: Lagavulin
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 18:38
This is one of the best ideas in years. A wonderful roll out for your 10th anniversary!


Posted By: eowan the short
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 18:52
Awesome idea! I'm looking forward to being able to compete!

One... slight issue. The inability to be kicked for a month seems like a potentially abuseable thing if people know it will happen regularly. 

As an example of how this could be abused, let's say Arion Splintspur were to become dissatisfied with the leadership of Bob Diamond. 

In the past, if Arion then proceeded to trash the alliance in GC or attempted to cause significant diplomatic issues, Bob could kick Arion and the problem would be somewhat solved. Rather than being a player from that alliance warning all the new players to stay away it would be some unconnected player, and any diplomatic issues Arion caused would now be Arion's problem rather than Bob's.

However, now Arion could wait for a tourney, stick a whole bunch of troops on the tourney square that his alliance has won for the past 5 seasons in a row, and then Bob would have to wait a month to kick Arion. During this month, Arion would be able to do whatever he wanted to harm the reputation of that alliance.

Could there be some way for an alliance leader to force recall a player in that alliance's troops from a tourney square or some other way of dealing with this?


-------------
This is the thread that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend. Some person started it, not knowing what it was, and we'll continue posting on it forever just because...


Posted By: Eros
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 19:54
Agreed Laga, a grand initiative, bravo! 

-------------
It's late on Ash Wednesday. An Asian teenager in a slammed-out Acura offers you a plate of chicken vindaloo


Posted By: Grom
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 21:25
I agree with Huc and Laga. That  probably  means this is an update with near universal appeal. LOL


Posted By: BrianN
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2020 at 22:43
Hi, my name is "Near"


Posted By: Eros
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2020 at 00:01
Totems can not be 'turned off'?

-------------
It's late on Ash Wednesday. An Asian teenager in a slammed-out Acura offers you a plate of chicken vindaloo


Posted By: GM Stormcrow
Date Posted: 01 Feb 2020 at 00:13
Originally posted by Eros Eros wrote:

Totems can not be 'turned off'?

Sure, if the Regional Winning Alliance chooses the 'Inactive Totem'.  

As above, in the FAQs:

In the end, everyone either stays resource neutral (if the "Inactive Totem" is chosen)... or they get something distinctly useful, chosen by the Regional Winning Alliance. 

Cheers,

SC


Posted By: GM Stormcrow
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2020 at 13:03
Originally posted by eowan the short eowan the short wrote:

One... slight issue. The inability to be kicked for a month seems like a potentially abuseable thing if people know it will happen regularly. 

[snip]

Could there be some way for an alliance leader to force recall a player in that alliance's troops from a tourney square or some other way of dealing with this?

It's an interesting question, but I do rather see this as an edge case.  This scenario has been possible in any other previous tournament we've run, and hasn't happened before.  It would seem to me that a possible workaround would be for the alliance who wish to be rid of the player to simply recall all their own armies just before a large hit on the tournament square, leaving the disruptive player to take the hit on their own, and thus leaving them without any troops on a tournament square, and the ability to be kicked.  That is, if kicking someone from the alliance is deemed more important to the alliance leadership than potentially winning or losing the square. 

I think it's unlikely that we'll implement such a 'forced recall' process.  Alliances are responsible for their own recruitment and vetting procedures, and I'm not sure the dev team should be spending time on providing people with easy solutions to problems of their own making :)

Regards,

SC

EDIT: typo


Posted By: Starry
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2020 at 15:23
Thanks for the tourney, current and future.    We're looking forward to regular tourneys in Harmless. :)

Happy 10th Anniversary Devs!!!  :)    Wow, I can't believe I've been playing for almost ten years...(next month).    


-------------
CEO, Harmless?
Founder of Toothless?

"Truth never dies."
-HonoredMule



Posted By: Jadefae
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2020 at 17:33
My friend and I are having a debate. I know there are medals for top 3 times. Are there medals for regional wins?


Posted By: GM Stormcrow
Date Posted: 02 Feb 2020 at 17:41
Originally posted by Jadefae Jadefae wrote:

My friend and I are having a debate. I know there are medals for top 3 times. Are there medals for regional wins?

No, no medals for regional wins, but the more awesome reward of getting to choose the regional totem.

Best, 

SC


Posted By: kodabear
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2020 at 08:40
This is awesome idea 


Posted By: Fanuidhol
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2020 at 14:26
Yay Thumbs Up 




Posted By: Snook
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2020 at 04:33
Can devs make a listing for all tourneys stats so we can see how they progress please
and like last tourney i think it was the largest be nice to see and know all this 


Posted By: Morgweneth
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2020 at 01:22
I think that The Cornucopia is the most obvious choice at the moment but perhaps the Devs might like to consider other options in the future like a boost on a particular building type, or say a speed up in one troop or dippo type, magic range and efficiency etc etc.
Or a second positive if you select a suitable/corresponding negative.
There are plenty of possibilities that could make the choice more interesting and also difficult.
But all in all its a nice enrichment from the Devs.


Posted By: Starry
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2020 at 01:47
Thanks for a great tournament and congratulations to everyone that won a square or participated in the tourney.   It was great fun, our members loved it and we look forward to the Summer Tournament.

Great idea Devs!  Thumbs Up


-------------
CEO, Harmless?
Founder of Toothless?

"Truth never dies."
-HonoredMule



Posted By: Hiei
Date Posted: 01 Mar 2020 at 20:30
Greetings Illyrians,

I firmly believe that if you are going give regional bonuses to alliances it should be to the regional winners alone to give them a competitive edge and increase the chances that players will participate in the next upcoming tournament.

Not everyone needs a piece of candy, mkay?

Hiei


Posted By: Dungshoveleux
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2020 at 22:10
My alt enjoyed taking part, but since everyone has chosen food, what is the point of winning since ALL towns in an area get the bonus, even the losing towns. Logically, it would be better to ignore the tournament and just assume that the food bonus will stay.  The only reason to affect the outcome of the totem would be to prevent someone else keeping it inactive.


Posted By: Rikkos
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2020 at 22:22
I agree with Hiei!


-------------
Illy playername: Tamerlane. Used to play as Rikkos


Posted By: Skorg
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2020 at 01:48
not everyone chose food, just most


Posted By: zolvon
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2020 at 05:29
All this food will have a big impact on many market prices.

Just a thought!


Posted By: Yitshak
Date Posted: 01 May 2020 at 09:36
https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/World/Herald" rel="nofollow - https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/World/Herald

Sooo - any hint as to what these "New choices in totemic enchantment are"


-------------
Remember to be nice to the squirrel.


Posted By: Wartow
Date Posted: 02 May 2020 at 19:51
Originally posted by Yitshak Yitshak wrote:

https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/World/Herald" rel="nofollow - https://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/#/World/Herald

Sooo - any hint as to what these "New choices in totemic enchantment are"

My speculations:

+ Mana Production
+ Research Point Production
+ Rune Effectiveness

Less likely speculations:

+ Blight Effectiveness
+ Geomancer Effectiveness 

Most unlikely speculations:

+ Diplo Visibility
+ Diplo bonuses (offense or defense)
+ Military bonuses (offense or defense)
+ Any type of production (other than basic res, mana, research) or crafting bonus.
+ Scribe of Allembine movement speed


-------------


Posted By: theElderKing
Date Posted: 04 May 2020 at 00:09
Well I agree with your research bonus thing. If we look at totem figures on Herald Page( http://assets.illyriad.net/img/herald/new-totems.png" rel="nofollow - here ), we can see that centre figure is a vial, containing a green liquid. Research is represented in game by a flask containing green liquid. So most likely this totem will give research bonus. Research speed up maybe? Hopefully? Makes sense if we see it that way that only that city will get research speed up bonus which is located in the region where research totem is selected by winning alliance.

Anyway if we look at figure to the left of centre, we see a armoured warrior carrying two swords in the likeness of Men. 

Leftmost figure is heavily armoured carrying axe and definitely has beard. A dwarf !

Figure to the right is aggressive, certainly not-good-looking and wearing crude light armour and carrying rugged, cruel spears. Typical of Orcs Smile

Rightmost is fair looking...thing. With arrows and light armour but well crafted. And those sharp, keen eyes. ''Legolas what do your elf eyes see?'' LOL

Also consider second sentence from Herald Page.

...very minds and bodies of every denizen living in the affected region.

''every denizen in regions'' Well every denizen includes Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and Men.

I guess that it has something to do with races. Most likely attack/defense bonuses. Not sure though. Bonus can be anything but it has something to do with different races.




Posted By: theElderKing
Date Posted: 04 May 2020 at 00:39
Originally posted by theElderKing theElderKing wrote:

Well I agree with your research bonus thing. If we look at totem figures on Herald Page( http://assets.illyriad.net/img/herald/new-totems.png" rel="nofollow - here ), we can see that centre figure is a vial, containing a green liquid. Research is represented in game by a flask containing green liquid. So most likely this totem will give research bonus. Research speed up maybe? Hopefully? Makes sense if we see it that way that only that city will get research speed up bonus which is located in the region where research totem is selected by winning alliance.

Anyway if we look at figure to the left of centre, we see a armoured warrior carrying two swords in the likeness of Men. 

Leftmost figure is heavily armoured carrying axe and definitely has beard. A dwarf !

Figure to the right is aggressive, certainly not-good-looking and wearing crude light armour and carrying rugged, cruel spears. Typical of Orcs Smile

Rightmost is fair looking...thing. With arrows and light armour but well crafted. And those sharp, keen eyes. ''Legolas what do your elf eyes see?'' LOL

Also consider second sentence from Herald Page.

...very minds and bodies of every denizen living in the affected region.

''every denizen in regions'' Well every denizen includes Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and Men.

I guess that it has something to do with races. Most likely attack/defense bonuses. Not sure though. Bonus can be anything but it has something to do with different races.



Okay..I just realized my mistake. Orc and Elf figures are to the left of centre and Men and Dwarf figures are to the right. I have absolutely no idea how to edit posts so....


Posted By: BrianN
Date Posted: 10 May 2020 at 22:54
Illy Iz Racist!!!


Posted By: LadyLuvs
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2020 at 12:35
Weird question but I have noticed a lot of alliances placing armies on squares before the tourney is active.  What happens to those armies when the tourney goes active?  Do they stay?  Do they die?  Do they get sent back home?  Just curious about that aspect of the tourney rules.

-------------
LadyLuvs
Raven, Murder of Crows Alliance


Posted By: GM ThunderCat
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2020 at 12:46
Originally posted by LadyLuvs LadyLuvs wrote:

Weird question but I have noticed a lot of alliances placing armies on squares before the tourney is active.  What happens to those armies when the tourney goes active?  Do they stay?  Do they die?  Do they get sent back home?  Just curious about that aspect of the tourney rules.

The squares change 24 hours before the tournament start so there is only 24 hours notice where to send the armies.

Armies on the squares will stay there, but occupation and combats will only be counted from the start of the tournament. 


Posted By: Wartow
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2021 at 23:16
Any new wrinkles in the works for the May tournament?

-------------



Print Page | Close Window

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Copyright ©2001-2019 Web Wiz Ltd. - https://www.webwiz.net