The general idea of a ladder competition is that each player occupies a "rung" on the ladder and players challenge each other to games. If the higher ranked player wins, there's no change in the ladder. If the lower ranked player wins, they move up the ladder to the rung immediately above the defeated player. Since our games can take months to play, we'll only take into account the positions of the players at the time the result is reported.
The New Civ3 ladder will be divided into three sections, Elite, Veteran and Conscript. All players who have reported a victory will be in the Elite section. If the victory is over a player who is not in the Elite section, the victor is placed at the bottom of the Elites otherwise they assume the rung of the defeated player. All players who have reported a loss but no victories are in the Veteran section and ranked by the number of results. All players who have not yet reported a result are in the Conscript section and are unranked.
Because the administration of this competition takes place on the league mailing list, C3PBEML-List@yahoogroups.com, all Civ3 ladder players must be members of the Yahoo! group. If a player unsubscribes from the mailing list, they will be removed from the ladder.
Once a player has Civ3 installed and is ready to play by email, they should post a message to the mailing list indicating they wish to join the ladder. The administrator will add their name to the Conscripts section of the ladder.
Players from the Original Civ3 Ladder who wish to join the New Civ3 Ladder should post a message to the mailing list. If the player has a ladder victory from the original ladder, the player will be placed in the Elite section and will maintain his or her relative position from the original ladder. If a player has a ladder result but no victories from the original ladder, he or she will be placed in the Veteran section. If a player has no game results from the original ladder, he or she will be placed in the conscript section. Any original ladder games in progress may be moved to the new ladder if both players chose to join the new ladder. The wins and losses on new ladder page will include wins and losses from the original ladder.
Any player may challenge any other player to a game. Challenges must be accepted if the challenger is immediately below the player challenged or if the player being challenged is not currently involved in any ladder games. If neither of those conditions is met, the challenge may be declined or deferred. Of course, players may play as many ladder games simultaneously as they desire.
If the player challenged does not respond to the challenge within seven days, the challenger should post a message to the mailing list announcing the situation. If another seven days pass without a response to the original challenge then the challenged player will be removed from the ladder. If the player returns, that player is penalized one ladder position per month of unexplained absence from their former position in the ladder.
Once the challenge is accepted, the game will be announced on the mailing list by the challenger and the administrator will update the ladder competition web page to indicate that each player has a game.
As soon as a victory condition is achieved in the game or a player resigns, the game result will be announced on the mailing list by the winning player. The administrator will then update the ladder competition web site with the results.
If the AI achieves a victory condition then human with the higher Civ score at the end of the game is declared the victor.
The two players will negotiate a setup which is acceptable to both. If they cannot come to agreement then a third party will create the game using the default ladder competition setup:
Standard Un-modified Rules Game Type: Play By Email Game Mode: Standard Turn Timer: None World Size: Small Barbarian Activity: Roaming Land Mass: Random Water Coverage: Random Climate: Random Temperature: Random Age: Random Difficulty: Regent Four tribes, all Random: Player 1: Challenger Player 2: AI Player 3: Challenged Player 4: AI With the following flags turned on: Allow Domination Victory Allow Space Race Victory Allow Diplomatic Victory Allow Conquest Victory Allow Cultural Victory Allow Civ-Specific Abilities Preserve Random Seed Accelerated Production Allow Cultural Conversions
If a player chooses to withdraw from the ladder they must post a message to list announcing their withdrawal. Each of their opponents then has the following options:
If the withdrawing player returns then if they were in the Conscript section when they withdrew, they are restored to the Conscript section and are encouraged but not required to continue any games posted to the Files section. If they were in the Veteran section when they withdrew, they are restored to their former position based on the number of games played and are encouraged but not required to continue any games posted to the File section.
If the withdrawing player returns and they were in the Elite section, they must decide whether or not they are willing to continue any games in the Abandoned Games folder. If they are unwilling to continue any of those games then they will be restored to the ladder at the bottom of the Elite section. If they're willing to continue all of their games in the folder then they will be restored to the Elite section of the ladder at the rung immediately below their relative position when they withdrew. If some of their opponents are unwilling to continue, then those games are considered void.
If a player does not respond to a move within fourteen days, their opponent has the option of declaring the game abandoned. The opponent must post a message to the mailing list requesting the declaration and if the absent player does not respond on the list within three days they are removed from the ladder and each of their opponents has the following options:
If the absent player returns then if they were in the Conscript section when they abandoned the ladder, they are restored to the Conscript section and are encouraged but not required to continue any games posted to the Files section. If they were in the Veteran section when they abandoned the ladder, they are restored to their former position based on the number of games played and are encouraged but not required to continue any games posted to the File section.
If the absent player returns and they were in the Elite section, they must decide whether or not they are willing to continue any games in the Abandoned Games folder. If they are unwilling to continue any of those games then they will be restored to the ladder at the bottom of the Elite section. If they're willing to continue all of their games then they will be restored to the Elite section of the ladder and penalized one ladder position per month of absence. If some of their opponents are unwilling to continue, then those games are considered void.