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.
Because the administration of this competition takes place on the league mailing list, all ladder players should regularly monitor its postings.
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.
Once the challenge is accepted, the game will be announced on the mailing list by the challenger and I will update the ladder competition web page to indicate that each player has a game.
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. The default setup is:
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
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. I 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.
Any new players who join begin at the bottom of the ladder.
If a player chooses to withdraw from the ladder they must post a message to list announcing their withdrawal. If at a later date that player would like to return to the ladder, they will be restored to the rung immediately below their former position in the ladder assuming any games in progress at the time of their withdrawal are continued, otherwise they are treated as a new player and positioned at the bottom of the ladder.
If a player does not respond to a move within fourteen days, their opponent has the option of declaring the game abandoned. The player 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, the game is abandoned and the absent player removed from the ladder. If the absent player returns and is willing to continue the abandoned game, that player is penalized one ladder position per month of unexplained absence from their former position in the ladder. If they are unwilling to continue, the returning player is treated as a new player and positioned at the bottom of the ladder.