The aim of this tournament is to create a Thunderdome experience similar to Tranquility's "Alliance Tournament". While much of the tournament's structure follows the existing Alliance Tournament ruleset, some rules have been added, removed, or altered for the change of server and staff, and to 'freshen up' the AT meta. Subsequently, all participants are advised to read this document thoroughly.
This is a single-stage, double-elimination tournament with up to 32 teams competing. Despite the structure inherited from the Alliance Tournament, previous alliance and player histories will not feed into this tournament and seeding for all alliances will be reset.
The dates for the tournament will be the weekends of November 14th & 15th and 21st & 22nd.
Please note that there is currently no plan to offer Thunderdome access for teams to practice before the tournament starts. EVE_NT and CCP are working towards offering this as an option, however teams are advised to plan for this not to be the case.
As a player, you may only compete for a single alliance, regardless of how many player-accounts you own or allegiances you claim. Each competing alliance must submit a roster of up to twenty (20) pilots, and all registered pilots must;
Registering pilots will require players to log-in via ESI to our custom built web app that will request access to character information and skill sheet. Thunderdome will give all players characters with 'all level 5' skills, however characters will only be allowed to fly ships that they are skilled for on Tranquility with the registered character. The app is in development and we will give more information on this near the pilot registration deadline, however you are strongly encouraged to plan to register with the highest skill-point characters you have available.
The Alliance Open is designed to be a display of the best piloting and theorycrafting of players representing established communities in New Eden. Opening an Alliance specifically to circumnavigate this intention will be allowed only on a case-by-case basis and only where teams can demonstrate to the administrators that they will not be violating the collusion rules. Any team that seeks clarification on their specific circumstances should contact the administrators.
Please note that both the format and match rules are subject to change. It is strongly advised that participants regularly check the eve-nt.uk website and EVE_NT Discord server for updates.
_Changes to ship and module balancing within EVE Online will always follow its own schedule independent of the tournament and will never be delayed to avoid the tournament. Subsequently, major changes may occur in the period between the release of tournament rules and the tournament itself, or even during the tournament period. EVE_NT does not expect changes to the Thunderdome server beyond those outlined here, however all teams would be impacted equally by such changes and the ability to quickly adjust to change is part of what sets the best teams apart. EVENT has requested that the most up-to-date version of Eve Online be patched to Thunderdome before the start of the tournament, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Since collusion rules are inherently susceptible to players' interpretation, the final authority on all issues of potential collusion is EVE_NT in consultation with CCP. We strongly advise teams not to try to push at the boundaries of what may be considered appropriate.
Each team must be working towards its own exclusive victory both in the match and the tournament overall. "B Teams", two teams acting as one, and any other forms of collusion are expressly forbidden. This includes, but is not limited to, shared leadership, shared theorycrafting, shared planning, shared logistics, sharing of resources between teams, and making deals to split prizes with other teams.
Teams are allowed to scrimmage against each other in order to practice for the tournament if they wish, however the setting up of "house rules" for matches in the Alliance Open will be considered collusion, and is expressly forbidden.
Previously in the Alliance Tournament, CCP has allowed two alliances to fly as one in exceptional circumstances. EVE_NT will not be allowing this, and if an organisation is spread over multiple alliances, pilots forming the roster for the team must be divided into the alliances which are registered for the tournament prior to the cutoff.
The format of the tournament will be a modified double-elimination setup which will culminate in a Best-of-5 match final. The finals of both the winners and loser bracket will be Best-of-3. The loser of the final Elimination bracket match takes third-place.
NOTE: This is slightly different from The Alliance Tournament, with Best-of-3 removed for the semi-final bracket match ups, and a true Bo5 for the final.
Matches will be scheduled primarily in the 'EU' time zone - typically between around 14:00 and 20:00 eve time - this may vary when the final schedule is compiled.
Intentional pod killing is expressly forbidden and may result in the offender being punished. 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.
For the grand final, each time a team wins a match they will not be allowed to bring any of the ship types they fielded in that match for the rest of the matches of that series. The losing team in each match may bring the ship types they lost with again if they wish.
Captains must be online and available 45 minutes prior to the match to make their ban choices.
Participants should be prepared, in their chosen ships, and in a fleet 20 minutes before their scheduled match 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 the system containing the Arena for their match. If you are not ready within this time allocation, you will be disqualified and the opposing team will receive an automatic victory.
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 the system.
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.
Once instructed by the referee, teams must warp into the arena beacon specified, at a range of their choosing up to a maximum of 50 km. Team members may warp in at different ranges within this limit. 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 prevents teams from scouting the opposing team before deciding on the warp-in distance for other team members.
The referee will then begin a countdown. When the countdown ends, the referee will break the target locks of all ships in the arena.
The following restrictions are in place after teams have warped to the arena beacon, until the match begins:
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, and the referee's decision is final. Penalties may be levied against a player or team and may include, but are not limited to:
A referees can call a match null and void or declare a result if they believe that one of the teams is not competing or collusion is evident. This tournament is designed to showcase the talents of pilots and should be entertaining.
Each team may have up to 10 ships on the battlefield, up to a total of 100 points.
Teams may field no more than 3 of a given hull size, e.g. No more than 3 Battlecruisers (2 Navy Brutix and 1 Astarte would be legal, 2 Navy Brutix and 2 Astarte would not). All logistics ships (T1 and T2 variants of both cruiser and frigate size) are exempt from this rule, so 3 Orthrus and 1 Scimitar would be legal, as would 3 Vengeance and 2 Inquisitors.
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.
With the exception of the Wildcard rule, Praxis, Gnosis & Sunesis, special edition ships are banned - the current list is as follows: 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, Hydra, Tiamat.
Use of the Nestor, Marshal, Enforcer, Pacifier, and Monitor is in all situations forbidden.
Currently, the use of the frigate escape bay on battleships is not allowed as we are still exploring whether it will be compatible with the tournament referee tool. We will make an announcement if this changes.
Non-Precursor ship point values follow. Ship types not listed in the table may not be used. Classes have been added for clarification, with Logistics ships noted separately.
| Exact type | Points cost | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Battleship, Pirate Faction | 23 | Battleship |
| Marauder | 22 | Battleship |
| Battleship, Navy Faction | 21 | Battleship |
| Thunderchild | 19 | Battleship |
| Black Ops Battleship | 19 | Battleship |
| Battleship | 19 | Battleship |
| Command Ship | 17 | Battlecruiser |
| Logistics Cruiser | 17 | Logistics |
| Combat Battlecruiser, Navy Faction | 15 | Battlecruiser |
| Strategic Cruiser | 15 | Cruiser |
| Combat Battlecruiser | 13 | Battlecruiser |
| Heavy Assault Cruiser | 12 | Cruiser |
| Heavy Interdictor | 12 | Cruiser |
| Tech 1 Support Cruiser | 11 | Logistics |
| Attack Battlecruiser | 11 | Battlecruiser |
| Recon Ship | 11 | Cruiser |
| Cruiser, Pirate Faction | 10 | Cruiser |
| Cruiser, Navy Faction | 8 | Cruiser |
| Stormbringer | 6 | Cruiser |
| Command Destroyer | 6 | Destroyer |
| Tech 1 Disruption Cruiser | 5 | Cruiser |
| Electronic Attack Frigate | 5 | Frigate |
| Cruiser | 4 | Cruiser |
| Tactical Destroyer | 4 | Destroyer |
| Frigate, Pirate Faction | 4 | Frigate |
| Covert Ops Ship | 4 | Frigate |
| Interdictor | 4 | Destroyer |
| Assault Frigate | 4 | Frigate |
| Logistics Frigate | 3 | Logistics |
| Frigate, Navy Faction | 3 | Frigate |
| Tech 1 Disruption Frigate | 3 | Frigate |
| Stealth Bomber | 3 | Frigate |
| Destroyer | 3 | Destroyer |
| Tech 1 Industrial Ships | 2 | Industrial |
| Interceptor | 2 | Frigate |
| Frigate | 2 | Frigate |
| Rookie Ship, Pirate Faction | 2 | Corvette |
| Skybreaker | 1 | Frigate |
| Tech 1 Support Frigate | 1 | Logistics |
| Rookie Ship | 1 | Corvette |
In line with EDENCOM's wishes to restrict the display of Triglavian hulls, they are limited to a maximum of three (3) per team in total per match. Their points values are as follows:
| Exact type | Points cost | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Leshak (Battleship) | 25 | Battleship |
| Zarmazd (Logistics Cruiser) | 18 | Logistics |
| Drekavak (Combat Battlecruiser) | 17 | Battlecruiser |
| Ikitursa (Heavy Assault Cruiser) | 17 | Cruiser |
| Rodiva (Tech 1 Support Cruiser) | 12 | Logistics |
| Draugur (Command Destroyer) | 11 | Destroyer |
| Vedmak (Cruiser) | 10 | Cruiser |
| Kikimora (Destroyer) | 8 | Destroyer |
| Nergal (Assault Frigate) | 7 | Frigate |
| Damavik (Frigate) | 5 | Frigate |
All T1 and T2 modules are allowed, with the following exceptions:
All T1 and T2 ammunition, missiles and charges are allowed, with the following exceptions:
We are replacing the Flagship rule with the Wildcard rule. Teams can play their Wildcard in any one match during the tournament. Teams must announce to the referee that they wish to use their Wildcard after bans have been exchanged, but before being moved into the arena.
If a team chooses to play their Wildcard, they are allowed to pick one Cruiser or two Frigates from the following list of special edition ships. The frigates do not have to be of the same type.
Cruisers: Guardian-Vexor, Mimir, Adrestia, Vangel, Etana, Moracha, Chameleon, Fiend, Rabisu, Stratios Emergency Responder, Victor, Tiamat.
Frigates: Silver Magnate, Freki, Utu, Malice, Cambion, Chremoas, Whiptail, Imp, Caedes, Virtuosso, Hydra.
A Wildcard ship costs the same points value as for a normal ship of its type. E.g. a Virtuoso is a Stealth Bomber and therefore costs 3 points. A Wildcard ship counts as one of the 3 ships of a hull size that a team is allowed to field, with the exception of the Etana and Rabisu which count as the team's allowed Logistics ship. The Hydra and Tiamat are 4 and 11 points respectively and count towards the teams allowed allocation of Triglavian ships.
A Wildcard ship may be fielded in any match, even if its ship type has been banned, and behaves as a normal ship in every way other than those defined above, including that Wildcard ships must adhere to the same fitting restrictions as all other ships.
For the Grand Final Best-of-5, both teams' Wildcards are reset, meaning regardless of whether or not their Wildcard has been fielded, they may play it again this series.
Teams must decide before scheduled downtime on Friday 6th of November what their Wildcard ship choice will be. These must be submitted by evemail to the character 'EVENT Alliance Open'. Only submissions made in this way will be accepted, and any team that does not submit by this deadline will not be eligible to use the Wildcard rule. Each team's Wildcard ship choices will be published publicly on the EVE_NT website at the earliest opportunity.
The entrance fee for the Alliance Open is 500 PLEX, which contributes to the overall prize pool.
To simulate the 'real' sense of loss that competitors felt from losing ships in prior Alliance Tournaments, we are requiring each team deposit an additional 2000 PLEX when securing their place in the tournament. This deposit will be returned at the conclusion of the tournament, less the hull value (at close of tournament, excluding wildcard ships, and to the nearest PLEX) of any ships lost during the tournament, which will instead be added to the prize pool. However, should a team lose more than the value of their deposit, they will not be required to contribute any extra ISK/PLEX beyond said initial deposit.
If a team forfeits a match because they are unable or unwilling to compete, their deposit will not be refunded and will be added to the prize pool instead.
Registration is divided into two parts, alliance registration and pilot registration.
The first 24 places in the Alliance Open will be allocated to the first 24 teams to FULLY complete the registration process. The remaining 8 places will be allocated by draw, live on stream, by EVE_NT staff from the remaining teams that have completed the registration process. Any team that does not receive a place as a result of the draw will have their entrance fee and deposit refunded.
Registration will be open from 01/08/20 until 31/08/20.
To complete registration of an alliance for the Alliance Open teams must complete two steps;
If a form has incomplete or incorrect details, or the incorrect amount of PLEX has been contracted, or the form has been completed but no PLEX contracted, this will only count as partial registration.
Once an Alliance is fully registered the team Captain & Executor will receive confirmation by evemail. Team Captains and co-Captains are expected to join the EVE_NT Discord and check regularly for announcements and updates.
Teams will be required to select a roster of up to 20 pilots (one person per account) with the deadline for this process being 31/10/2020.
Teams will register their pilots using EVE_NT's web app, access details of which will be provided to alliances as soon as possible. One Thunderdome account will be provided to each registered pilot, and account sharing and multi-boxing will be strictly prohibited. CCP will be assisting EVE_NT with monitoring this and ensuring a fair competition.
Substitutions
After the close of registration of pilots, substitutions will only be allowed in exceptional circumstances and at the administrators' discretion. Competing pilots will be expected to manage their scheduled commitments ahead of time and ensure they are available to play their matches. Requests for substitutions can only be made via Captain or Co-Captain.
CCP Employees
CCP Employees are welcome to compete in the tournament, and we encourage them to make use of changes in CCP's policy that allow employees to take a more active part in the community.
EVE_NT Staff
EVE_NT staff will be allowed to compete in the tournament, except those who will serve at any time as referees or administrators. EVE_NT staff will be strictly prohibited from logging onto their staff and competitor accounts at the same time and this will be monitored closely.
Please note that CCP has committed to contributing to the prize pool below in the form of SKINS and PLEX - more details to come in this soon!
Prizes are split into groups with different distribution methods, PLEX, MEDALS & SKINS.
The currency for the prize pool of this tournament will be PLEX; Prize value is therefore in flux based on the current Tranquility market price. Since contributions to the prize pool will come from multiple sources, there will be two running totals updated as regularly as feasible. As the payouts are fractions of this total amount, they are fixed from the beginning of the tournament.
(updated 31/07/2020)
Minimum guaranteed prize pool:
EVE_NT contribution: 125,000 PLEX
Received donations: 4,100 PLEX
TOTAL: 129,100 PLEX
Potential prize pool:
Entry Fees for 32 teams: 16,000 PLEX
Ship-loss Deposit Deductions (up to): 64,000 PLEX
Promised donations: tbc PLEX
TOTAL: 80,000 PLEX
GRAND TOTAL: 209,100 PLEX (current value approx. 544 billion ISK)
Payout of PLEX prize pool upon the conclusion of the tournament will be as follows;
1st Place: 50% PLEX
2nd Place: 25% PLEX
3rd Place: 12.5% PLEX
4th-8th Place: 2.5% PLEX
TBD
Upon conclusion of the tournament, medals will be directly applied by the CCP Community Team to all competing characters. These will display on their in-game character sheet.
03/08/20