



After incredible, truly incredible 17 years of continuous clan leagues in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, RTS League enters another era, an era where the community moves ahead with its game and a new competition is desired - after 41! seasons where you could have seen all the top players of any given time, all the way back from 2001, fight for the prestigious Titles and Banners of the RTS League Champions, we're resetting the counters and beginning from 1 again. Don't shed a tear though, as we all know it's really the Season 42, just trying to be fancy and young again, exactly as the game is attempting to be - and RTS League cannot let its life-long friend and compatriot Age of Empires II win, can it?



With the onset of one of the greatest things the community has achieved in recent years - mod WololoKingdoms allowing the wide-spread use of the new expansions in the competitive community on Voobly, interest is now firmly in this area of the game, as we have confirmed already during last season's sign-ups in our questionnaire. And so we follow, as we always have - RTS League has always been the competition for the players, by the players, and as such has served to support the community over the years in all kinds of times - all those times high and low, higher and even lower, have taught us one simple thing that is the cornerstone of what RTS League is, its spirit and at this point also a mission - think of the players first, and they will return the favour.



We are glad for your continued support and that you find your fun and enjoyment with RTS League's Clan Leagues, and so we hope to give you more of the same, with a new name and a few other things as well - let's see what the new age will bring as we open sign-ups for



RTS League's Age of Empires II: Rise of the Rajas Clan League, Season 1



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What Is New, What Is the Same, What Will the New Season Be



As we have said, Season 42 is not really that far off the mark - we're not doing summersaults with the format or the rules, we know what you like and why you play RTS League, and we're certainly not going to do away with that - seeded group stage, playoffs, 2 games each round, home map choosing from the random maps, all that remains as you like it, we just updated things for the new expansions, and in the process used the opportunity to address a few more to improve your quality of experience. We have prepared a thorough list of rule changes and provided an explanation why we undertook them and what we aim to achieve with them - we really cannot recommend enough to read through them all, and the whole set of rules, as we are a different competition from all others in the community, and at least one of the new things is now distinct from before, and it's also one you'll encounter in every match - it pertains to arriving to matches on time. I'm pretty sure you already know what it could be talking about



Overall though our main aim with the premiere season is to be a true, real litmus paper as to the state of the game and the competitive community in all its facets, seeing what the true meta is and what the strong and weak points look like. If you follow the competitive scene (well, you wouldn't be here if you didn't), you know that pretty much most of the tournaments bend the game in one way or another - be it special maps, civ drafting or even down-right modding of the game, so realistically the balance of the civilisations and the game overall is mostly based on incomplete information. Since RTS League has always been signified by a free-to-play approach, allowing clans and players to utilise many different weapons at their disposal coming naturally with the game, we hope to serve the community as a way to see, confirm, disprove all kinds of ideas about the gameplay.



As always, we will be bringing you the games live on our channels twitch.tv/RTSLeague and RTSLeague2, with many other streams across the community as usual (RTS League is the haven of PoVs and we support them as we can), and we will do our best to push the uploads to YouTube as fast as possible, but besides that, we aim to provide a regular, diverse coverage of the games and clans on our community Facebook and Twitter to engage everyone who loves Age of Empires - follow us to be in the know and what things are going on with your own clan or the favourites you support, or if you just like the competitive scene Expect more announcements on the extracurricular activities as well.



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So, How Do You Sign Up for RTS League Season 1?



To take part in Season 1 and have a chance at the fun (and the Banners ), your clan will need to fit a few conditions to ensure you would be a positive contribution to the League.



First you will need a Clan Operator - the guy/gal representing you in the competition, scheduling your matches with the opponents and communicating with League staffers on your behalf. This person should be reliable, responsible and available regularly, every day if at all possible. Proper and timely communication is the key here. You can, of course, have more than 1 Clan Operator to cover for each other (it's actually recommended, or at least have a designated back-up within your clan)



Then you must have at least 6 active players ready to participate - this is to ensure you are able to complete your matches regularly even if some of your heroes happen to be temporarily unavailable. We are also a clan competition, not team competition, therefore the players need to be your true clan members, not random guest players you just asked a day before to play with you in RTSL.



Further you need to be familiar with the League rules and all the novelties for this season posted above and in the explanation. Read them carefully - ignorance is no excuse. Really not, help save both you and us a headache of potential disputes. We are different from other competitions, for example in no vetoes.



Lastly, during seasons, we unfortunately also uncover foul play and need to take proper action, so here are the administrative decisions active for Season 1 you need to be aware of:





- Sick Tacticz clan is on probation for the next active season - serious transgression can result in immediate disqualification.

- 'sT_Mike is on probation for the next active season. He is also recommended not to be a Clan Operator.

And when you've checked all these points and you're ready to join, then again make sure that your clan meets the criteria listed above and within the rules and simply post the following sign-up form (if you're new and need an account first, follow the instructions up top under the menu and we'll get it done). This time, everyone needs to fill a full sign-up form, even returning clans - we're turning a new leaf here.





Clan Tag:

Clan Name:

Clan Website:

Number of Active Members:

Clan Operator Nickname and Contact:

Clan Leader Nickname and Contact:

Clan Operator has read the rules and agrees to them:

Please sign your clan up only if you seriously want to take part in the League, do not sign up inactive or fake clans or clans with too few players to actually meaningfully compete. Clans that drop out during the season will be excluded from the next one/s.



Sign-ups will be closed on Friday 27th July, then we usually need about a week to set things up, and Season 1 would start after - start of August sounds interesting (we regularly encounter very tricky situations that need to be resolved before putting things up).



If you have any further questions, feel free to contact our AoC staff members or any other staffers.



Looking forward to having you in the League then, and spread the word - the more clans, the more fun for everyone!



You can check the games played in RTS League at RTS League's Replays Archive or in the dedicated forum at AoEZone where you can also discuss them. Visit our YouTube or Twitch channels for previously streamed League matches, including the epic 5.5-hour battle between RFR and nC.



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Would You Like to Get Involved and Help Us and the Community?



We're always on the lookout for engaged players, new active staffers can help us run the competitions better, artistically gifted people would make things nicer, technical skillers could make our web and services to the community so much better!



If you think you can help, give us a hit (don't forget to change the addressee nick to Black Adder) and we can talk it through, we would especially be super-glad for assistance with the web, as we're sure you can see for yourself



About us:

RTS League is the foremost and longest running "Age of" clan competition ever, with a history of hosting numerous other strategy games (like StarCraft II, Empire Earth, and Dawn of War) in the past. Fun and friendliness are the prominent aspects of RTS League, with the unquestionable prestige and fame the triumph brings to the top finishing clans following close behind.



