THE KESSEL RUN (parsec tournament)

[Reier]

figured someone would have tried a small test tournament with parsec by now but I guess not.

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Basically what I am thinking, subject to change with feedback:
8 entries.
1v1, Bo3, double elimination. 3 min.
Major havoks will have the match restarted as necessary.
Octagon or Metal Skull. One of the benefits of human driving is that we aren't stupid and can dodge and use hazards. Use this to your advantage in both designing your bot and driving it. Hazard lethality has been increased to ironforge standards.
US entrants only. Sorry to the others. Let's keep the lag to a minimum, at least for now.

Building rules:
Ironforge [HW]
DSL-S ruleset, to make it competitive
No external programs allowed except for skinning (BFE, RA2CF, Ro7B)
Entries must show a high degree of controlled movement.
Be creative. Not a rule per se but this is the first online tourney since like 2004! Try to make something to be remembered. Preferably something that is difficult to AI. Build something crazy that works. Go nuts!
No joke entries. This tournament is a showcase to push the envelope of what new designs work in RA2. I’m not going to waste a slot on a bot that isn’t designed to win.
I reserve the right to deny any bot for any reason.

Build well. Skin well. Drive well. Let’s make this a tournament to be well remembered, because a lot may ride on it. Online tournaments have the potential to extend the life of RA2, let’s try our best to make this one work.
Make a good and cool bot.

SIGNUPS (Note: NOT OPEN UNTIL I POST THE TOPIC):
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Backups:
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I would love love loveeee to enter but I’ll sit this one out. My latency may be an unfair advantage, and it’s already gonna be hard enough to organize AND host this thing.
but one of you better host one of these after me so i can enter im serious

For me to accept your entry, you would need to send me a PM with ALL of the following:
TWO IDENTICAL copies of your bot (one with keyboard controls, one with gamepad). The inputs can be whatever you want. Learn how to drive well with either, as you will likely be required to.
Do you have access to a gamepad? I technically won’t bar you from entry you if you don’t but would help out TREMENDOUSLY if you do. It simplifies the parsec experience if one player uses a keyboard and one uses a controller, and that way there is no risk of control sabotage by one player to another.
If you do have a gamepad, state your control preference (keyboard or gamepad, keep in in mind you may have to drive with either).
USA Timezone (Pacific, EST, etc)
Times and days available to fight(be generous please). Saturday and Sunday if at all possible. I will try to work with what you got. But remember that you have the potential to fight any entrant, so the more time you have available, the better. Fights under ideal circumstances shouldn’t last more than 10 or 15 minutes, but plan for perhaps up to 45.
Parsec user ID [link to register]


I would not accept your entry until ALL of the above had been submitted and the bot is approved.

Note: The builder of the robot doesn’t necessarily have to be the driver. Not everyone is good at both, and that’s ok. If you are planning on driving someone else’s bot, you need to say who built it and I also need a PM from the builder giving their blessing.
Once I check and accept all the bots I’ll make a public google spreadsheet with the timezones for all participating members, and we can set the bracket and fight times from there. I’m fully aware we may need to reschedule some. I’ll give people notifications of their fight times & dates as far in advance as I can.

POTENTIAL QUESTIONS (subject to change with feedback)

SPECTATORS: In theory this event could have live spectators, but for my first outing I’m going to stick with closed fights and uploading the videos later since that’s what I’m familiar with. If I get the format locked down, I may consider opening it up to twitch or something in addition to videos in another tourney.
VOICE CHAT: TBD. Will definitely not upload the voice chat audio to youtube if I do allow it.
JUDGES: TBD. Likely will just use the stock rules for this. (standard WBP, KO, immobilization, etc.) Not sure what I should do about pinning.
I DON’T HAVE A CONTROLLER!: TBD. I hope you do.

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an online tournament has the potential to be way more fun to build for, partake in, and watch than any AI tournament. better for all parties involved, assuming it works. I fully expect it to have some hiccups but every failure is a learning experience to make it better for next time. I just want to give it a shot and hope you will too.

Any major things I missed? Suggestions are welcome. I want to try to make this work as painlessly as possible.
Post if you're from the US and interested just so I can see who is willing to give it a shot. I may or may not enter. I may lower the tourney size if not many people can make it, but 8 will be the max.

[Badnik96]

hell yeah im in

[kix]

Well ****...

[Reier]

Well ****...

the USA requirement is just to make this test tourney as painless as possible. I'm sure if it takes off there will be EU tournies as well.

on the bright side, an online tourney will be much more fun to watch for everyone.

[kix]

Well ****...

the USA requirement is just to make this test tourney as painless as possible. I'm sure if it takes off there will be EU tournies as well.

on the bright side, an online tourney will be much more fun to watch for everyone.

Ye ik i did few parsec matches.
Another thing that should be implemented is voice chat. Believe me, its sh** w/o chat (i did a vid). And for trust thing. You can enable only RA2 to be seen for clients
Biggest achievement would be DSL IRL (incl extendebots), and all regions. And who knows? Maybe one day we wont need ai tournaments!

[superbot13]

Can I have someone else control my bot

[pokebro14]

Can I have someone else control my bot

That defeats the point of this tournament

[Dreamcast]

Can I have someone else control my bot

That defeats the point of this tournament

Eh, old Ra2 events did have that happen IIRC.

[pokebro14]

Can I have someone else control my bot

That defeats the point of this tournament

Eh, old Ra2 events did have that happen IIRC.

Huh shows what I know

[pokebro14]

I would take part. I have had a few matches on it and it's fun.
My only issue is the time that matches will be held as I would need to it a specific time. I'm available from around 4:30pm - 9:00pm UK time so I dont know If that is the best time for me to do it. Or at least I would need matchup against others who do it at that time frame.
Edit: ok just realized it's for US players

[superbot13]

Wow I was right lol

[8bean]

I really like this idea. It's just the dates and times that might cause an issue although the doc would help tremendously with sorting that out.

[Mystic2000]

while this is heavily making me annoyed at being french, if this works out and people actually ****ing do this, might be worth ressurecting Artemis after that

[superbot13]

You can just have someone drive it for you

[FightingBotInformal]

You can just have someone drive it for you

I think that isn’t how it works
Also dude don’t be lazy and just drive your own bot. Simple task

[superbot13]

You can just have someone drive it for you

I think that isn’t how it works
Also dude don’t be lazy and just drive your own bot. Simple task

It doesn't say you have to drive your bot in the rules. And maybe somebody doesn't want to

[FightingBotInformal]

You can just have someone drive it for you

I think that isn’t how it works
Also dude don’t be lazy and just drive your own bot. Simple task

It doesn't say you have to drive your bot in the rules. And maybe somebody doesn't want to

If you don’t drive your own bot then why bother entering.
Online tournaments are meant for the builder to drive their own bots against others’ own bots, not lounge back and expect someone else to drive your bot. I think you’re pretty much the only person here too that wants someone else to drive your bot.
Also your bots are quite neat and I think you’d do quite well driving them (no sarcasm).

[Qo--]

while this is heavily making me annoyed at being french, if this works out and people actually ****ing do this, might be worth ressurecting Artemis after that

As a Brit I'm also annoyed you are French. Will be fun to watch actually competent driving though!

[superbot13]

You can just have someone drive it for you

I think that isn’t how it works
Also dude don’t be lazy and just drive your own bot. Simple task

It doesn't say you have to drive your bot in the rules. And maybe somebody doesn't want to

If you don’t drive your own bot then why bother entering.
Online tournaments are meant for the builder to drive their own bots against others’ own bots, not lounge back and expect someone else to drive your bot. I think you’re pretty much the only person here too that wants someone else to drive your bot.
Also your bots are quite neat and I think you’d do quite well driving them (no sarcasm).

I want to drive my bot but I think it would be a good idea for people with bad internet or who are far away

[superbomb122]

You can just have someone drive it for you

I think that isn’t how it works
Also dude don’t be lazy and just drive your own bot. Simple task

It doesn't say you have to drive your bot in the rules. And maybe somebody doesn't want to

If you don’t drive your own bot then why bother entering.
Online tournaments are meant for the builder to drive their own bots against others’ own bots, not lounge back and expect someone else to drive your bot. I think you’re pretty much the only person here too that wants someone else to drive your bot.
Also your bots are quite neat and I think you’d do quite well driving them (no sarcasm).

I want to drive my bot but I think it would be a good idea for people with bad internet or who are far away

What state do you live in? If you're closer to Arkansas it should run better