Tournament fans!

In this blog we want to go over the timeline of this year's Alliance Tournament, how your alliance can apply to take part, and last but not least...what the rules are be this year!

(To discuss the contents of this blog please head over to this comment thread)

There will be more information coming soon, including a blog about this year's prizes. But right now we want to give you the information you need to start planning and signing up!

As we discussed at Fanfest when we announced Alliance Tournament 2018, we've entered a partnership with EVE_NT to co-produce the tournament with us this year and broadcast all four weekends...as well as the feeder rounds weekend (yep we're doing, feeder rounds again!)

The Tournament broadcasts will be of the highest quality as in the past and will have commentators from both sides of the Atlantic as well as from CCP.

EVE_NT & CCP will then host a finals viewing party in Nottingham on the last day of the tournament (details about how to attend will come later)

Participation and sign-ups

To fly with an alliance in the Alliance Tournament 2018 you will need to have been a member of that alliance by downtime this Tuesday (2018-05-22, 11:00 UTC). As we are giving a window for players to move themselves to their home alliance, we will not be making any exceptions for anyone that has not joined their alliance after this date. If you are unable to move alliances before the deadline, please eve-mail the character ‘IGC Alliance Tournament’. If you have other membership issues (such as being kicked accidentally from corp) after the deadline, please also contact this character. As always, each alliance may only field one team.

Sign-ups for teams are open as of this blog, and prospective teams can have their alliance executor fill out this form. Signups are open until 2018-05-27 23:59 UTC. We will be offering places similar to last year, with the top 16 teams returning from the last Alliance Tournament having the option to directly enter the tournament at a cost of 2500 PLEX. Executors must complete this form to claim their top 16 place. Any slots unused by returning teams will be distributed in the secret auction.

16 additional spots in the tournament will be available in a secret auction that opens as of this news item and closes on 2018-05-27 23:59 with the team signups. Minimum bid for the secret auction is 2500 PLEX, and bids are only accepted in increments of 250 PLEX. Initial bids are made via the signup form. In the event of tied bids, the bid submitted first will be accepted. Auction results will be announced on 2018-05-28.

The final 32 positions in the tournament will be awarded based on feeder rounds using the AT XV rules (including a maximum team size of 10 pilots) but with minor differences. The format of the feeder rounds will depend on the number of teams entering. These rounds will be played on 2018-06-09 and 2018-06-10 on Thunderdome. Entry to the tournament through the feeder round costs a 2500 PLEX deposit, which will be refunded if the team competes and does not win their matches in the feeder round.

Teams (including all those participating in the feeder rounds) will be granted access to Thunderdome as soon as possible so that teams can practice. For more information on Thunderdome and its availability in the lead up to the feeder rounds and the tournament, please keep watching the EVE Alliance Tournament Discussion forum. If you have any issues signing up or have other questions, please eve-mail the character ‘IGC Alliance Tournament’ in game.

*P.s. Please note that the official tournament character and point of contact, ‘IGC Alliance Tournament’, is co-operated by CCP and EVE_NT leadership who are under contract and NDA with CCP.

P.p.s Also note that as before, any attempts to impersonate official characters for any reason (let alone to scam or phish for information) will be met with extreme prejudice.*

IGC Alliance Tournament - Eagerly awaiting to hear from EVE's best PVP alliances

IMPORTANT DATES

Team Signups Open: Now!

Alliance Member Cutoff: 2018-05-22 @ 11:00 UTC

Team Signups Close: 2018-05-27 @ 23:59 UTC

Feeder Rounds: 2018-06-09 & 2018-06-10

Alliance Tournament XVI: Weekends during 2018-07-28 to 2018-08-18

RULES

This is a single-stage, double elimination tournament with 64 teams allowed to enter.

As a player, you may only compete for a single alliance, regardless of how many player-accounts you own.

All competing pilots must be members of the alliance for which they are competing and have been a member of that alliance by May 22th 2018 at 23:59 UTC.

All alliance members are eligible to compete in any match in which their alliance is taking part, subject to all applicable rules; team lineups do not have to remain the same between games.

Please note that both the format and match rules are subject to change. It is strongly advised that participants watch the tournament forum regularly for announcements.

Summary of major changes from the previous Alliance Tournament

This tournament is sponsored by the Society of Conscious Thought in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the dawn of the capsuleers age. SOCT ships have a reduced point cost

The maximum number of copies of any given ship that may be brought by a team in a match has been reduced to one

Point costs have been adjusted for a number of ship groups

All matches in the main tournament will now have 3 bans per team. The feeder rounds will continue to operate with 2 bans per team

Combat drones are once again limited to T1 only

The rules surrounding flagships have been changed significantly (T2 BS allowed as flagships, flagships count towards the single unique ship per team composition limit, changes to the module groups that are allowed to be upgraded on flagships to give the Bhaalgorns a year off)

Abyssal (Mutated) Modules are not allowed except on flagships within the module groups that may be legally upgraded to high metalevels

Triglavian ships are allowed and are considered to be tech one for point values

The tournament schedule has been adjusted this year to reduce the total number of days by one. The elimination bracket finals and grand finals will occur on Saturday August 18th alongside a finals day party in Nottingham, UK which will be advertised in more detail later

The two series on the final day of the tournament will have an extra wrinkle added to their rules: in each series whenever a team wins a match they will be banned from using any of the ships they fielded in that match for each of the other matches of the series (resetting after each series and before the fourth match of the grand finals series)

Note on changes to ship and module balance

Changes to ship and module balance for EVE will always follow their own schedule independent of the tournament schedule and will never be delayed to avoid the tournament. This means that major changes can occur in the period between the release of tournament rules and the tournament itself, or even during the tournament period. All teams are impacted equally by such changes and the ability to quickly adjust to such changes is part of what separates the best tournament teams from the rest.

Teams should keep this in mind when making their plans and keep a close eye on CCP communications for the earliest look at potential changes.

Collusion rules

Each team must be working towards its own victory in each match and in the tournament overall, not the victory of any other team.

“B Teams” and two teams acting as one team are NOT allowed.

Since collusion rules are inherently susceptible to being gamed, the final authority on all issues of potential collusion is the CCP tournament staff. We strongly advise teams not to try to push to the edges of what may be considered appropriate.

Teams are allowed to scrimmage against each other in order to practice for the tournament if they wish.

Setting up “house rules” for matches in the Alliance Tournament will be considered collusion and is NOT allowed.

Shared leadership, shared theorycrafting, shared planning, shared logistics, and free sharing of resources between teams are all NOT allowed.

Making deals with other teams to split prizes if either team wins is NOT allowed.

In cases where two alliances represent one political entity in the game and wish to compete as one merged entity in the tournament, alliance executors may contact the character “IGC Alliance Tournament” and request that they be allowed to enter the tournament as one team. CCP will consider all such requests on their merits.

Match rules

Teams can field up to ten pilots on the battlefield.

Fights are limited to 10 minutes. If a fight reaches time, it will be stopped and whichever team has the higher total points value will be declared the winner. See "Victory Conditions", below.

Intentional pod killing is NOT allowed and may result in the offender being punished. All podkills will be reimbursed.

The match simulation is taken as is. Teams are advised to spend the pre warp-in time to verify that their ships are completely operational.

Penalties

A player found breaking any rules can be penalized to various degrees, depending on the severity of the offence. All penalties are incurred at the tournament referee's discretion. Decisions are final. Penalties may be levied against a player or team and may include, but are not limited to:

Points deduction

Reducing the offending ship(s) shield / armor / hull / capacitor to 50%

Involuntary moving of the offending ship(s)

Removal from the fight

Ban from competing for one or more matches

Ban from competing for the remainder of the tournament, and/or any future tournaments

The referees can call a match null and void or declare a result if they believe that one of the teams is not competing. This tournament is designed to showcase the talents of pilots and should be entertaining.

Format

The format of the tournament will be a modified double-elimination setup which will culminate in a best-of-5 match final. The third place will go to the loser of the final Elimination bracket match.

Feeder round specific rule variations

The feeder round taking place on the weekend of June 9-10 2018 and will use these ATXVI rules with the following exceptions:

The tournament structure of the feeder round will be determined by EVE_NT and CCP staff based on the number of teams that apply.

The feeder round will take place on the Thunderdome event server instead of the Tranquility live server

Flagships are not allowed in the feeder round

All unique special edition ships are banned in the feeder round

Each team in the feeder round matches will have 2 bans

Place & Tactics

Captains must be online and available 45 minutes prior to the match to make their ban choices. Further details on bans can be found in the subsection Ships and bans.

Participants should be prepared, in their chosen ships, and in a fleet 20 minutes before their scheduled fight time. Prior to being teleported to the match system all pilots must be docked in a station, not in an Upwell structure or undocked in space. Teams will be brought by a GM to a solar system in uncharted space and designated as Team 1 and Team 2. If you are not ready within this time allocation, you will be disqualified from this match and the opposing team will be given an automatic win.

There are eight entry locations in the system which serve as start off points. Four entry locations are marked for Team 1 and four marked for Team 2. Teams will be moved to the entry location of their captain's choosing. Once the teams are in system, all instructions will be given by the referee in local chat. You must keep an eye on that channel at all times once in system.

Once word is given, teams warp in to the arena beacon specified, at a range of their choosing, up to a maximum of 50 km. Team members are allowed to warp in at different ranges.

Once instructed to warp by CCP staff all team members must warp promptly to the arena. Soon after allowing teams to warp the referee will once again lock warp functions and any team members that have not yet initiated warp will be subject to penalties at the referee’s discretion. This rule is enforced to prevent teams from scouting out the opposing team with some of their pilots before deciding on the warpin distance for other team members.

The arena will measure 125 km radius around the central beacon.

The arena contains nine Mobile Micro Jump Unit structures, one placed in the center and eight placed 87km away from the center in the direction of each of the eight team beacons. These outer structures form a cube around the center of the arena with sides approximately 100km in length. These Mobile Micro Jump Units are indestructible and usable by all.

The host will begin a countdown. When the countdown ends, the host will break target locks of all ships in the arena.

If a player warps out/leaves the arena, his/her ship will be destroyed. This includes disconnection emergency warps. This rule is in effect before and during the match.

Warping within the arena is NOT allowed.

Boarding a ship during the match is NOT allowed.

Deploying cargo containers, anchorable items, upwell structures or mobile structures into space is NOT allowed. Dropping regular jettison containers is allowed.

The following restrictions are in place after teams have warped to the arena beacon, until the match begins:

Locking players before the match starts is NOT allowed.

Activating aggressive or targeted modules before the match starts is NOT allowed.

Launching drones before the match starts is NOT allowed.

Moving before the match starts is NOT allowed.

Beginning the activation cycle of a Micro Jump Drive or Mobile Micro Jump Unit before the match starts is NOT allowed.

Activating Command Bursts before the match starts is allowed

Ships & Points

Each team has 100 points with which to select their ships. Each team may have up to 10 ships on the battlefield. Teams may field no more than 1 of a given ship. This applies to specifically named ships only and not ship hulls. For example, 1 Merlin, 1 Hawk, and 1 Harpy would be legal. Teams may field no more than 1 logistics cruiser, or 1 tech one support cruiser, or 2 T1/T2 logistics/support frigates in each match. Teams may field no more than one unique special edition ship or flagship in any given match. The current list of unique special edition ships includes: Apocalypse Imperial Issue, Armageddon Imperial Issue, Megathron Federate Issue, Raven State Issue, Tempest Tribal Issue, Guardian-Vexor, Mimir, Adrestia, Vangel, Etana, Moracha, Chameleon, Fiend, Rabisu, Stratios Emergency Responder, Gold Magnate, Silver Magnate, Freki, Utu, Malice, Cambion, Chremoas, Whiptail, Imp, Caedes, Victor, Virtuosso Ship point values are as follows. Ship types not listed in the table are not allowed. The Nestor, Marshal, Enforcer, Pacifier, and Monitor are NOT allowed. Previous Alliance Tournament prize ships that have both T2 and Faction status fall under their T2 classes for point values.

Battleship, Pirate Faction - 23

Marauder - 22

Battleship, Navy Faction - 21

Black Ops Battleship - 20

Battleship (other than the Praxis) - 19

Command Ship – 18

Praxis - 17

Logistics Cruiser – 17

Strategic Cruiser – 15

Combat Battlecruiser, Navy Faction – 15

Combat Battlecruiser (other than the Gnosis) - 13

Heavy Interdictor – 13

Tech 1 Support Cruiser – 11

Attack Battlecruiser - 11

Gnosis - 11

Recon Ship - 11

Heavy Assault Cruiser - 11

Cruiser, Pirate Faction - 10

Cruiser, Navy Faction - 8

Command Destroyer - 6

Tech 1 Disruption Cruiser – 6

Tactical Destroyer - 5

Electronic Attack Frigate - 5

Assault Frigate – 5

Cruiser - 4

Frigate, Pirate Faction - 4

Covert Ops Ship - 4

Interdictor - 4

Logistics Frigate – 3

Frigate, Navy Faction (including Navy Disruption Frigates) - 3

Tech 1 Disruption Frigate - 3

Stealth Bomber - 3

Interceptor - 3

Destroyer (other than the Sunesis) - 3

Tech 1 Industrial Ships - 2

Frigate - 2

Rookie Ship, Pirate Faction – 2

Tech 1 Support Frigate – 1

Sunesis - 1

Rookie Ship - 1

Fitting restrictions

All T1 and T2 modules are allowed, with the following exceptions:

All Remote Armor Repair modules and Remote Shield Transfer modules are NOT allowed, EXCEPT on ONE of: A Logistics Ship, a Tech 1 Support Cruiser; or on up to TWO Tech 2 Logistics Frigates or Tech 1 Support Frigates..

A combination of T1 and T2 repair frigates is allowed if desired (so ONE T2 logistics frigate alongside ONE T1 support frigate is allowed)

Note that Strategic Cruisers are NOT allowed to fit remote repair modules in this tournament.

Only ONE Remote Capacitor Transmitter module is allowed per ship.

The Ancillary Shield Boost module will be restricted to a maximum of one per ship.

Warp Disruption Field Generators are restricted to a maximum of one per ship.

Activating a Warp Disruption Field Generator module without a script loaded is NOT allowed.

Micro-jump field generators are NOT allowed.

The Bastion Module is NOT allowed.

Cloaking devices are NOT allowed.

Target Spectrum Breakers are NOT allowed.

Faction, COSMOS, deadspace and officer modules are NOT allowed (except within specified groups on a flagship).

Abyssal (Mutated) modules are NOT allowed (except within specified groups on a flagship).

T1 Rigs are allowed. T2 Rigs are NOT allowed

Cap Boosters are allowed.

Micro-jump drives are allowed.

Polarized weapons are allowed.

Stasis Grapplers are allowed.

Command Bursts are allowed.

All T1 and T2 ammunition, missiles and charges are allowed, with the following exceptions:

Remote Sensor Dampener and Weapon Disruptor Scripts are NOT allowed

Pirate Faction ammunition is NOT allowed.

Navy Faction ammunition, missiles and capacitor boosters are allowed.

T1 (Tech One) combat and sentry drones are allowed. T2, faction, augmented and integrated combat and sentry drones are NOT allowed. The Gecko is NOT allowed.

Only T1 logistics drones are allowed. T2 logistics drones are NOT allowed.

All electronic warfare drones are allowed.

Attribute Enhancers that give bonuses to anything other than perception, intelligence, willpower, memory, and charisma are NOT allowed.

Genolution "CA-" implants are NOT allowed.

With the exception of Leadership Mindlinks, ONLY Hardwirings that have a name ending in "1", "2" or "3" are allowed.

All Leadership Mindlinks (including navy mindlinks) are allowed.

Boosters (drugs) are NOT allowed.

Flagships

NOTE: The Flagship rules have changed significantly this year

Any T1 battleship, T2 battleship, or faction battleship may be designated as a flagship.

Team captains must indicate to the host managing their match if they intend to use their flagship in any given match, and which pilot is flying the flagship.

Flagships may ignore meta level restrictions for the following module types (this means they may fit faction, officer, cosmos, deadspace, and abyssal (mutated) versions):

Turrets and Missile Launchers

Smartbombs

Afterburners and Microwarpdrives

Warp Scramblers, Warp Disruptors, and Stasis Grapplers

Target Painters

Sensor Boosters and Signal Amplifiers

Overdrives, Nanofiber Internal Structures, and Inertial Stabilizers

Weapon and Drone Upgrade Modules

Armor Plates and Shield Extenders

Damage Controls

ONE Shield Booster or up to TWO Armor Repairers

Flagship ship types must be decided in advance and their ship type submitted to the character named “IGC Alliance Tournament” via EVEmail no later than June 30th 2018. The fittings for a flagship do not have to be disclosed. The names of flagships do not have to be disclosed or remain constant. Fittings may also be changed from match to match.

All flagship hull types will be published in the flagships section of the EVE Online Alliance Tournament site following the deadline date.

A flagship may be fielded in any match, even if its ship type has been banned, and counts as a normal ship in every way other than the ones defined above.

A flagship counts towards the limit of one unique ship per team, meaning that if a flagship is fielded no unique special edition ships may be fielded alongside it.

Flagships must still follow all non-metalevel based fitting restrictions, including any restrictions that ban module types or limit the number of a certain module that can be fitted.

A flagship costs the same points value as for a normal ship of its type.

You are under no obligation to field your flagship in any given match.

If your flagship is destroyed, it may not be fielded again during the tournament.

Victory Conditions

During a match, a team scores points for each enemy ship it kills, equal to the tournament points value of that ship. The team that has scored the most points at the conclusion of the match, or that destroys the entire opposing team, is the winner.

If a team chooses to field less than 100 points, non-fielded points count towards the opponent's score.

If a fight is tied after 10 minutes, time dilation will be used to progressively speed up the tournament solar system and encourage a prompt end to the match.

In the very unlikely case that a fight is tied after 15 minutes, the victory will be awarded to the team that had more collective potential team DPS at the beginning of the match, as measured by the tournament automated “attack bar”.

Ship Bans

Banning of ships will occur before all matches.

Team captains must be online and available to conduct ship bans 45 minutes before the start of each match. At 44 minutes before each match if the captain is unavailable their team’s bans are forfeit.

In the feeder rounds each team gets two bans.

In all four weekends of the main tournament each team gets three bans.

The way the banning phase works is as follows:

The team which starts the banning phase is decided randomly.

All ships that are eligible for competition are eligible for banning.

In the feeder rounds bans are done in 1 – 2 – 1 order. For example: Team A will take the first ban, Team B will take the second and third ban, and Team A will finish the banning phase with the fourth ban.

In all four weekends of the main tournament bans are done in a 1 – 2 – 2 – 1 order.

Each ban has a time limit of one minute; if no ship is selected within that timeframe the ban is forfeit.

Once the bans start, a drop down menu will appear where you select the ship to ban. You can type the name of the ship to speed up the process.

Please be aware that banning a ship will not remove it from the list. Selecting the same ship type twice is a wasted ban.

Each ban targets a specific ship type and not a ship class or other hull. For example, banning the Harpy would not exclude the Hawk or frigates in general.

Teams should endeavor to have multiple ship setups available as bans may impact your primary team setup. No additional time will be given if teams do not have eligible ships available.

During the final day of competition, some matches will require teams to be ready within 15 minutes after the completion of banning. We expect that many teams will find this time limit challenging. The best teams in New Eden will be the ones that can adapt quickly.

All bans apply to both teams equally.

Additional Rule Variation for the Final Day