Magic Box Blood Bowl - Forum Open League dode74 - Jan 03, 2012 - 04:32 PM Post subject: Forum Open League
What is Forum Open League?
It's the largest managed matchmaking league in Cyanide Blood Bowl. We have 9300 teams currently involved, with over 2000 coaches active in Season 6. On average, 150 games a day have been played in FOL since its inception, with over 35,000 games played total so far.
What's the format?
The basic format is much like Naggaroth, but with a few extras.
Seasons - each season is about 60 days long, and the rankings get reset at the end of the season. Your team stays the same, but you get another chance from a clean slate to be top of the pile over the next 2 months.
Tournaments - At the end of each season the top teams (usually the top 16) with at least 15 games played get to play in the Open Leagues Championship where the best of FOL play the best of Middenheim (another open league for private league members). We're also looking at several other tournament formats for top racial teams.
What else does FOL do?
Moderation - we have about 10 admins running the league and they are from various timezones. This means that on application your team should be accepted within a few hours at most. The best thing about this though is that we police the league for any form of cheating, abuse, disconnectors or exploitation.
Season summaries - once we get the server dump we are able to apply and post Elo rankings for the coaches and the teams, as well as ascertaining stats for races and race vs race matchups. We also get lots of other data which we can parse at will.
We've also got rid of the 40 sec game option, as that is abusable to get recovery and farming games. Otherwise it's classic rules (ignore the display bug in the in-game bit which tells you otherwise) with Spiralling Expenses set by default to the 1750 standard with 150 steps. DoubleSkulls has also, several times, applied the NAF ranking formula to the results.
[*]Forums - www.FOLeague.com/Boards is the place we use to get in contact with many of our coaches. It is also used to run the end-of-season tournaments and will be used to run the FOL Open, a single-elimination tournament any FOL team can apply for, which is intended to encourage winning over pure survival in the online environment.
How do I apply?
After making your fresh team you should use the league finder to search. Don't bother entering any search parameters - we're the third one down just below Naggaroth for size. Go to the league info screen and apply there. No password required. You can have as many teams as you like in FOL at any TV and of any race. The only restriction is that they must have not played a game previously unless they are ex-Amorica or ex-Tournament teams (these tournaments will specify if you can rejoin FOL).
What are the rules?
Basically, play clean, fair and sportsmanlike.
Don't use exploits such as the 12-player bug (nominate your extra man and put him in the corner) or the leap bug (don't use the extra MA it gives you). Use of exploits WILL result in your team being banned permanently from FOL, and may result in you being banned. This also covers farming attempts.
Don't disconnect. If you're not enjoying the game you're playing then concede using the menu option. Disconnecting makes your opponent wait 5 minutes to get his due win, and is a system which can itself be exploited. We get the server records from Cyanide so we know exactly who disconnects and which games they disconnected from.
Don't be abusive. This is a game, and it's meant to be fun. We like the atmosphere to be pleasant in FOL, and you'll generally find that games in FOL tend to go that way. Sure, swear at Nuffle every now and again, but don't overdo it and don't direct it at your opponent.
Don't act like an ass. Basically, treat the other coach as you would wish to be treated - with respect. That means not leaving the game running while you go get a meal, that kind of thing. It also means getting in touch with your opponent if you do have a legitimate disconnect - it may prevent them from reporting you!
Think of the children! Kids play this game too, so bear that in mind when making your team. Your team may be ejected from the league if the name is offensive. Also, just use standard characters when naming your team - difficult characters (e.g. the TM logo) can screw up our rankings, and we don't want those teams
T16 fouling and stalling (i.e. not scoring until the turn you are ready to do so) are perfectly acceptable. Please, please remember, though:
THE ADMIN TEAM CAN ONLY KNOW ABOUT A RULES INFRINGEMENT IF YOU REPORT IT TO US!
If we don't know about it then we can't do anything about it (although we do periodic checks on top teams).
How will I report a cheat? Send an e-mail to FOLeague at gmail dot com containing the replay file and, if possible, the logfile for the game you think cheating happened on. If you send them straight away it will probably be the right logfile - delays in reporting may prevent us getting the right logs.
Logfile: C:\Users\Name\Documents\BloodBowlLegendary\BB_LE000.log - there may be more than one log there (BB_LExxx.log), so if you send them all we can sort through for the right one.
Replay: C:\Users\Name\Documents\BloodBowlLegendary\Saves\Replays\ReplayDateandTime.db
The admins will review the case and make a decision. Don't expect it to be a snap decision, but one will be made.
