I'm still learning the game and have only played in one tournament. However, I did end up going 3-1 in that tournament but still finished at #17 overall based on MOV. In all three of my wins, my opponent conceded before the end of round 6 or before the clock had expired. In all three cases, we both added up points destroyed and all three matches ended with a small MOV on my side.

In one case, it was in round 6. I destroyed one of his two ships. He then pointed out that I couldn't catch and damage his other ship in that turn and I agreed so he conceded at that point and we got lunch. In another game though, I destroyed my opponents center piece ship in the first blow of round 5. He then said he had no path to victory so he conceded at that point. We calculated points on ships killed and it resulted in another narrow victory for me.

I don't remember the game state of the other win.

Being my first tournament, I wasn't sure of what to expect and I didn't really understand MOV. However, after going 3-1, I was thinking I was in the top 10. I was disappointed when I came in at #17 because of MOV but was still VERY VERY pleased as I didn't expect to win a single game going into the tournament.

After the tournament, I reread the tournament rules from FFG to understand MOV and noticed the section about conceding:

"Concession: A player concedes the match. All of that player’s ships and squadrons are destroyed. The players determine their scores."

In my round 6 victory, it was obvious that all ships that could be destroyed were destroyed and no more points could be gained, I don't feel it would be sporting to say that his concession sould destroy all ships and squadrons. However, in my 5th round win, there were other ships I could have destroyed to give me a higher MOV.

So, my question is, what is the etiquette involved in conceding?

“Don’t.”

"Concession: A player voluntarily concedes defeat at any point during the game. The conceding player receives a loss worth 0 tournament points and a Margin of Victory of 0. If his or her opponent has a Margin of Victory of 140 points or more, the opponent receives tournament points and a Margin of Victory as outlined in 'Tournament Points' on page 9. Otherwise, the opponent receives 8 tournament points and a Margin of Victory of 140."

While the first game seems legit (both players agree that nothing else will happen in the game that will change the score), the second seems like the player conceded only to mitigate the size of his loss, which is the wrong answer. That player should have received 0 tournament points (which essentially means their ability to place well is gone) and you should have received at least 8 tournament points and at least 140 MoV. That is why the concession rules exist, to prevent players that are losing from conceding to prevent a bigger loss by making that concession hurt.

Its not a concession to agree what else is going to die before game end. It is a concession to just give up.

Best thing to do is just play it out. It's more fun for you anyway

24 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

Its not a concession to agree what else is going to die before game end. It is a concession to just give up.

This, pretty much.

If someone "concedes" and wants to only count points currently destroyed but you think you have a shot at destroying more things before the game is over, please point that out and ask if they agree or not. If they don't, then you need to ask if they want to concede concede. Chances are they don't, and they'll play it out.

In tournament games I've never been on either side of a concession (I've seen concessions in semi-finals/finals where win/lose is all that matters, of course) that was a "real" concession. It was "here's how I see it, the game is basically over and these things are getting away and those aren't. Is that okay with you?" and just speeding up the end of the game. That's commendable, as it saves both players' energy for future games and gives them some time to go to the bathroom, go grab lunch, etc. But it requires mutual agreement from both players.

Concessions are one of those big problem areas for Armada's tournament setting. It's certainly not the only problem, but it's one instance of the basic issue: Since it's not just about wins and losses, but rather the degree of those wins and losses, a lot of things can contribute to swings in the MoV that means final tournament results won't necessarily reflect the "best play," but can over-inflate other elements that contributed to a game result.


The basic problem is this:

Armada is too long of a game to allow a sufficient number of rounds for Swiss-style pairings to rank players just on W/L record alone
Armada is too long of a game to allow for a cut to single-elimination elimination games
therefore, Armada needs something else to rank players by
MoV fills that gap as the metric by which to rank and reward players
MoV tracks degree of win, but it certainly does not always track quality of win
therefore, Armada tournaments do not reward players for the quality of their wins


Squeaking out a narrow 6pt victory against an incredibly skilled opponent should be worth more than clubbing a baby seal or having someone concede because they just signed up to get the participation card so they could drop, but instead it is worth less (much less, given that a 10pt win is worth 150% of a 6pt win).

Concession: A player concedes the match. All of that player’s ships and squadrons are destroyed. The players determine their scores.

Weird thing is that phrase only exists in the non-picture version of the tournament document, while the hi-res version leaves out the bit about ships being destroyed.

The problem is that it doesn't seem fair for a player to conceed in R1 giving a 10 point / 400 MOV to their opponent, but it also isn't fair for an "obviously" dead ship to not be destroyed in R4 or R5 because your opponent did the equivalent of "taking their ball and going home".

And both are different from both players going "this is how the remaining turn(s) play out, do you agree?"

I'd say call over a Marshall if there is any issue with how a player is conceding. Let them make the final call.

I thought, in response to the many players who were doing things like dropping at the start of games at Gencon just to get participation prizes, FFG moved to a rule that a concession was a flat 8-0 victory. Am I completely mis-remembering that?

If the MOV is 140 or more, you score according to the MOV to the victor, and a score of 0 points and 0 mov to the one who concedes.

If the MOV is 139 or less, it is 8 tournament points and a score of 140 to the victor, and a score of 0 points and 0 mov to the one who concedes.


Otherwise, if players come to an "agreement" about what will or will not die as ships and squadrons are flying away from each other. That's up to them to reach a conclusion about score and MOV, and as mentioned, saves time for both players.
Can that system be abused? Sure, but anything can. Any TO will be able to tell if someone is intentionally trying to game the outcome.

Quote

Concession: A player voluntarily concedes defeat at any point during the game. The conceding player receives a loss worth 0 tournament points and a Margin of Victory of 0. If his or her opponent has a Margin of Victory of 140 points or more, the opponent receives tournament points and a Margin of Victory as outlined in “Tournament Points” on page 9. Otherwise, the opponent receives 8 tournament points and a Margin of Victory of 140.

@Admiral Calkins and @Karneck

where are you finding the part of the concession rule about the MOV of 140 or more.....?

My copy of the tournament rules only have what I quoted in my original post.

2 minutes ago, drail14me said:

@Admiral Calkins and @Karneck

where are you finding the part of the concession rule about the MOV of 140 or more.....?

My copy of the tournament rules only have what I quoted in my original post.

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/1d/6c/1d6cc7e0-0515-46e9-8156-1335083c4767/swm_tournament_regulations_v32.pdf

End of round
Page 8


OR in the non PDF (texy only ) version. It is on page 16

IMO a concede should always go along with a drop from the tournament (at least in the swiss rounds).
Conceading is always bad for all parties. It is bad for the winner, because he might get denied points and MOV, it is bad for the looser, because he get 0 points, instead of at least 1 for a 1-10.
There is only one reason for a concede. If you have to leave or if you want to manipulate the game/standings.

During the elimination it does not matter, and here it is fine. But in the swiss rounds, no one should ever concede.
I mean a real concede by the rules. If both agree what is dying in the next round, and just want to speed it up, it is ok, and not a concede via the rules.