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- Playing in the Tournament
Power Auction & Selection Procedure
Ambition & Empire: Blind Auction
For the first round of the Tournament Through Time, Ambition & Empire, Dynasties will declare their preferences for power assignments via blind auction. Each Dynasty has 200 bid points to divide between the ten Great Powers:
- BH - Great Britain & Hanover
- DN - Denmark-Norway
- FR - France
- HA - Habsburg Empire (Austria)
- OT - Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
- PR - Prussia
- PS - Poland-Lithuania & Saxony
- RU - Russia
- SP - Spain
- SW - Sweden
Additionally, multiple bids from the same Dynasty/player may not be the same value. Each bid must be unique, which forces you to apply some order to your preferences. You cannot, for instance, bid 100 on your first choice, 92 on your second choice, and 1 point on each of the remaining choices.
Your bids can add up to less than 200 bid points, but I recommend allocating all 200 of them.
The order in which you list your bids has no impact on the auction.
Bidding No Preference
If you have no preference at all, I will assign 20 bid points to all ten choices on your behalf. This is the only exception to the aforementioned rule where bids must be unique. You will automatically bid no preference if you either forget to submit bids or submit an invalid set of bids that go uncorrected before the deadline.
Due Date
The Primary Player for Ambition & Empire from each Dynasty must submit these bids via private message to the GM by Thursday, Dec 28 @ 1900 EST (2400 UTC).
Do not publish your bids publicly or otherwise discuss your preferences with anyone other than the GM and your fellow Dynasty members.
Resolving the Auction
Once I receive all Dynasties' bids, I will begin assigning powers in order from highest bid to lowest, assisted by a random number generator (via Microsoft Excel) to resolve the priority of same-valued bids (across and within powers). Once a Dynasty has "won" the auction for a given power, all of their remaining bids are ignored.
Sample Bids
Because some people have trouble with math, here are four example strategies for how you can allocate bids that are unique and add up to 200.
- Code: Select all
Top-heavy Two-faves First-&-mix Any-but-3
1st pick 100 83 100 31
2nd pick 64 81 40 30
3rd pick 8 8 20 29
4th pick 7 7 15 28
5th pick 6 6 8 27
6th pick 5 5 6 25
7th pick 4 4 5 24
8th pick 3 3 3 3
9th pick 2 2 2 2
10th pick 1 1 1 1
1812 Overture: Last-First Draft
Selecting powers for 1812 Overture will begin immediately after Ambition & Empire ends. This is the first variant where some Dynasties will not participate; they will take a "Bye" for this game. Because each Dynasty will have exactly one Bye during the three middle variants, those four Dynasties that take a Bye during 1812 Overture are guaranteed to play in 1900 and 1936. Likewise, the six Dynasties that play 1812 Overture will be required to take a Bye for either 1900 or 1936.
Power / Bye Options
These are the options for playing powers or taking a Bye in 1812 Overture:
- (Up to 4 Dynasties) Take a Bye / Skip this game
- (Up to 3 Dynasties) Play one of the Attached pairs of powers:
- British Empire
- BR - Britain
- CA - Canada
- French Empire
- FR - France
- RH - Rhine
- United States of America
- RE - Republicans
- FE - Federalists
- British Empire
- (Up to 3 Dynasties) Play a Detached pair of powers:
- Choose one from Europe
- AU - Austria
- DN - Denmark-Norway
- RU - Russia
- And choose one from North America
- CH - Cherokee
- NS - New Spain
- SH - Shawnee
- Choose one from Europe
- No preference, but would like to play (no Bye)
- No preference at all (either play the game or take a Bye)
Draft Order
Dynasties will receive their choice of the aforementioned options in order by the score they received from playing Ambition & Empire. This will be a Last-First Draft, meaning that the Dynasty with the least amount of points receives first pick, the second least amount of points receives second pick, and onward, with the highest-scoring Dynasty receiving last pick.
If two or more Dynasties are tied for points, and their draft picks conflict, priority will be given to Dynasties that bid "No Preference" during the Ambition & Empire preference auction. Further ties will be resolved by order of finalized draft pick submission.
Preferences for this draft may be submitted either through a forum-based private message to the GM or via a Slack message to the GM. Please do not announce your picks publicly.
In order to prevent the selection process from taking too long, the GM may set a maximum number of hours per pick for each Dynasty as well as a final deadline for all picks. This timer begins as soon as the GM contacts your Dynasty to let them know it is their turn in the Draft. A Dynasty that misses its turn/pick can still submit late, but they are not guaranteed to be resolved in the intended least-to-greatest score order; in other words, if your Dynasty isn't paying attention and misses its turn to choose, you may lose your place in line.
Draft Picks Submitted in Advance
To speed up the selection process and avoid losing your picking order, draft pick lists can be sent to the GM at any time in advance of each Dynasty's turn to pick a power/Bye. I highly recommend that each Dynasty send their picks in advance. These may even be submitted as soon as the prior game (Ambition & Empire in this case) begins.
If none of the picks on a Dynasty's draft list are available at the time of its turn, the GM will attempt to contact the Dynasty to make a new pick (assuming there is time remaining in the Draft).
Based on the amount of time remaining before the final Draft deadline, the GM reserves the right to require that all remaining Dynasties provide a list of draft picks by that deadline. Unsubmitted or unresolved preferences will be treated as votes for "No preference at all."
If necessary, at the end of the draft, any remaining "No Preference" picks will be resolved via random number generation.
Practical Example: Advance Draft Picks
For example, the Q Dynasty came in 4th place by score in Ambition & Empire. This means they will have the 7th turn to pick during the draft for 1812 Overture. They think they would like to play Britain & Canada in 1812 Overture, but they're not as interested in other powers. They might want to play Austria or Russia if they don't get the bye.
This is their Draft Pick list:
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Q Dynasty
1812 Overture Draft Picks
(from highest to lowest preference)
Britain & Canada
Take a Bye
Austria & Shawnee
Austria & New Spain
Russia & Cherokee
Because up to four Dynasties can take a Bye in 1812 Overture, there is a decent chance that the Q Dynasty will receive either their first or second choice. Under normal circumstances, this would be a good list.
However, let's assume that the following picks were already made by other Dynasties:
- Code: Select all
Z Dynasty - Take a Bye
Y Dynasty - Take a Bye
X Dynasty - Austria & Cherokee
W Dynasty - Take a Bye
V Dynasty - Britain & Canada
T Dynasty - Take a Bye
If this were the case, then none of the Q Dynasty's listed Draft Picks can be resolved. All four slots for taking a Bye are filled. Britain, Austria, and Cherokee are all unavailable. Assuming time remains in the Draft, in this scenario, the Q Dynasty will be contacted by the GM to make a new pick from the remaining choices. Otherwise they will be treated as having No Preference.
1900: Last-First Draft
The power/Bye draft for 1900 will operate under much the same rules as the one specified for 1812 Overture, but with the changes listed below.
Subject to any schedule changes set by the GM, the power/Bye draft for 1900 will begin immediately after 1814 Autumn phases for 1812 Overture.
Power / Bye Options
These are the options for playing powers or taking a Bye in 1900:
- (Up to 3 Dynasties) Take a Bye
- The four Dynasties that took a Bye during 1812 Overture are not eligible for this option.
- The three Dynasties that played in 1812 Overture that take a Bye in 1900 are guaranteed to play 1936.
- Likewise, the three Dynasties that play in both 1812 Overture and 1900 will be required to take a Bye in 1936.
- (Up to 7 Dynasties) Play 1900 as one of these powers:
- AH - Austria-Hungary
- BR - Britain
- FR - France
- GE - Germany
- IT - Italy
- RU - Russia
- TU - Turkey
- No preference, but would like to play (no Bye)
- No preference at all (either play the game or take a Bye)
Draft Order
Draft picks will be made in order according to the aforementioned rules for 1812 Overture, though with the following amendments.
Priority will be based on each Dynasty's cumulative predicted score, the grand total of all points received in completed games added to the points that would be received in all ongoing games. For ongoing games, this prediction is made by pretending that the game ended in a draw immediately after the most-recently-completed Autumn phases (likely 1814), using those newly adjusted SC counts as a basis for rank and SC points. This predicted score will not be used outside of determining picking order for this draft.
For the 1900 draft, Dynasties that took a Bye during 1812 Overture will have zero predicted points from that ongoing game. This is intentional.
In case of ties between Dynasties for cumulative predicted score, preference conflicts will be resolved first by giving priority to Dynasties that have most often picked/bid "No Preference" (of any type) for prior games. Further ties will be resolved by draft pick submission time; draft picks can be sent to the GM in advance as early as the start of 1812 Overture.
Update (03/15/2018):
For the 1900 draft, a firm final Draft deadline will be set in advance, and all Dynasties are required to submit lists of draft picks by that date and time. Unsubmitted or unresolved preferences will be treated as votes for "No preference at all."
1936: Last-First Draft
The draft for 1936 will also operate under much the same rules as those specified for 1812 Overture and 1900, but with the changes listed below.
Subject to any schedule changes set by the GM, the draft for 1936 will begin after 1812 Overture terminates. If 1812 Overture ends considerably earlier than expected, the draft for 1936 will wait until the end of the 1901 Autumn Phases in 1900 (after the second game-year).
By the time of its draft, it will already be known which three Dynasties will be required to take a Bye during 1936. Therefore, only the Dynasties competing in 1936 will participate in this draft.
Power Options
These are the draft pick options for 1936:
- BR - Britain
- FR - France
- GE - Germany
- IT - Italy & Nationalist Spain (NS)
- PO - Poland
- SU - Soviet Union (Russia) & Republican Spain (RS)
- TU - Turkey
- No preference
Draft Order
Draft picks will be made in order according to the aforementioned rules for 1900, though with the following amendments.
Each Dynasty's cumulative predicted score will now include scores for both completed games (Ambition & Empire and 1812 Overture) added to the predicted score from the most recently completed Autumn phases of the ongoing 1900 game.
In case of ties between Dynasties for cumulative predicted score, preference conflicts will be resolved first by giving priority to Dynasties that have most often picked/bid "No Preference" (of any type) for prior games. Further ties will be resolved by draft pick submission time; draft picks can be sent to the GM in advance as early as the start of 1900.
Update (03/15/2018):
For the 1936 draft, a firm final Draft deadline will be set in advance, and all seven participating Dynasties are required to submit lists of draft picks by that date and time. Unsubmitted or unresolved preferences will be treated as votes for "No preference at all."
Dissolution: Last-First Draft
The draft for the final round, Dissolution will also operate under the same rules as those specified for the three middle variants, but with the changes listed below.
The draft for Dissolution will begin after 1936 terminates. At that time, based on time remaining in the year, the GM will announce the maximum number of game-years that Dissolution may be played.
Power Options
These are the draft pick options for Dissolution:
- EG - Egypt
- ET - Ethiopia
- IR - Iran
- KA - Kazakhstan
- PA - Pakistan
- PO - Poland
- RO - Romania
- SA - Saudi Arabia
- UK - Ukraine
- YU - Yugoslavia
- No preference
Draft Order
Draft picks will be made in order according to the aforementioned rules for the three middle variants, though with the following amendments.
Each Dynasty's cumulative score will now include only the final scores for all prior rounds.
In case of ties between Dynasties for cumulative score, preference conflicts will be resolved first by giving priority to Dynasties that have most often picked/bid "No Preference" (of any type) for prior games. Further ties will be resolved by draft pick submission time; draft picks can be sent to the GM in advance as early as the start of 1936.
