The... what?

I've heard the complaints. The last live Vassal tournament we did (Cap'n Brunson's Oops All Travel Cancelled Tournament) got a lot of complaints for being set up for the US Eastern time zone. Well, what if we did a tournament and it was in every time zone at once?

Friends, welcome to The Big Dumb 24 Hour Live Vassal Tournament. How does it work? Well, the answer is that the rounds keep going, and you can play whichever rounds you want. Want to play in Round 1, 2, 5 and 8? Sure. Go ahead. Want to procrastinate and play in 5, 6, 7 and 8? Okay. Gotta go fast! Playing 1, 2, 3, and 4? Why not? The key is you need to play 4 rounds. As long as you play 4 rounds, you've completed the tournament!

Can you play 5 rounds?

Once you've hit 4 rounds, you're done. But if someone wants to go the distance... Everyone is allowed to enter twice. Even if you played a terrible Round 1 and just want to reset your fleet. But if you do, you have to specify which fleet you're playing on for the round.

But play fast. Rounds start at the top of every 3rd hour, and end 2.5 hours from the start of the round. If you run out of time, and then take too long finishing the timed out round, you won't be available to play in the next round!

Rules:

Structure: Custom - 4 Rounds at Various Times
Tier: Relaxed - Anyone can participate
Points: 400
Rules: Standard Except As Follows

To sign up to play, submit a fleet any time from now up to seconds before Round 5 begins. Fleet Submission Form

Fill out the "Check-In / Round Submission" form before a round you want to play. **Check-In / Round Submission Form To Come**

Be on Vassal to be matched up against your opponent. Fly fast and win big!

You may submit up to 2 fleets. If you submit a 2nd fleet you must specify which fleet you are flying (even if one fleet is at 4 games played). Failure to do so will involve not being scheduled for that round. There will be no leniency on this rule.

If your round has not finished by the time a new round is set to begin, you will not be allowed to participate in that round. There will be no leniency on this rule. Fly fast. Win big.

Enjoy your games against other players from around the globe!

**Moved to May 2nd/3rd to give more time to schedule, plus to honor our most holy of days, May 4th.**

Schedule:

FLEET SUBMISSION

Round 1 - May 2nd, 1200 GMT
Round 2 - May 2nd, 1500 GMT
Round 3 - May 2nd, 1800 GMT
Round 4 - May 2nd, 2100 GMT
Round 5 - May 3rd, 0000 GMT
Round 6 - May 3rd, 0300 GMT
Round 7 - May 3rd, 0600 GMT
Round 8 - May 3rd, 0900 GMT

**reserved for scoreboard**

**Submit Your Fleet Here!**

On 4/15/2020 at 7:21 PM, BiggsIRL said:

**Moved to May 2nd/3rd to give more time to schedule, plus to honor our most holy of days, May 4th.**

So anyway, what do you get if you play all 24 hours? Well, here's something to sweeten the pot. I will donate $1 for every player that plays 4 games to Project C.U.R.E. which provided medical supplies and equipment to the developing world (and also the US after we got hit with COVID-19), up to a $50 maximum.

Delivering health and hope
Thousands of people die every day in the developing world because local hospitals & clinics don’t have the medical supplies and equipment needed to save lives in their communities. Children are missing the chance to get an education and live a full life due to illnesses that would be treatable if they had access to proper health services. It’s Project C.U.R.E.’s mission to change that. Together we will deliver health & hope to the world. And now, due to COVID-19 we are actively supporting local healthcare systems in the U.S. including donations to hospitals, EMS and governments in Denver, Nashville, Houston, Chicago, and Phoenix.

But that's for players that play 4 games. For every player that plays all 8 games (4 games each with 2 different fleet entries) I will donate $5 up to a $50 maximum. So there is your prize support! There may be other prize support.

By playing you are providing donations to a good cause!

Edit: This is in addition to the $1 for each of the times they played 4 games, so effectively $7!

On 4/19/2020 at 6:16 PM, GiledPallaeon said:

I'll match @BiggsIRL dollar for dollar.

On 4/19/2020 at 6:17 PM, geek19 said:

I'll match you @BiggsIRL AND put in $5 for every game @MandalorianMoose plays as Leia.

Quote

rasproteus says:

What the heck, I'm in
I'll match @geek19 and throw an extra $5 for every game he WINS.

34 minutes ago, geek19 said:

Besides already agreeing to match Biggs dollar for dollar, I'm now planning on going even HARDER. Bring a Leia list to the tournament and I'll donate an extra $5 on top of what I'm already doing. No max on this, so 2 Leia list entries means $10. Let's all help out a good cause, remind @BiggsIRL of his greatest triumph, and remind everyone that it's gonna be Lei-a.

If I get 10 Leia entries this is a success to me.

Quote

dread_lord_loki Last Saturday at 6:46 PM

Can you sign me up for that donate a buck for every person playing yer tournament thing?

Donation Totals:

Play 4 Rounds - $1 x 5 Pledges = $5 (Max $500!)
Play 24 Hours - $5 x 4 Pledges = $20 (Max $400!)
Play with Leia Organa (Commander) - $5 x 1 Pledge = $5 (NO LIMIT!)
MandalorianMoose plays Leia Organa (Commander) each game = $5 x 2 Pledges = $10 (Max $80 - if he plays all 8 games)
MandalorianMoose WINS with Leia Organa (Commander) each game = $5 x 1 Pledge = $5 (Max $40 - if he wins all 8 games)

21 minutes ago, BiggsIRL said:

Want to play in Round 1, 2, 5 and 8? Sure. Go ahead.

I feel deliberately called out for the rounds i suggested.

Also, i'd love to play but i'm getting the hang of Vassal, so not THIS tournament (he says with foreshadowing)...

21 minutes ago, geek19 said:

I feel deliberately called out for the rounds i suggested.

Also, i'd love to play but i'm getting the hang of Vassal, so not THIS tournament (he says with foreshadowing)...

Play anyway.

You have my attention

Oooooooh. Maybe I should get some practice in.

This is a great idea.

I can play round 1, sleep through 2 to 5, and then play 6 to 8.

Fantastic.

Good thinking Biggs!

Do we have to find our own opponent for each round, or are they assigned?

Most excellent idea. I’ll try to arrange my work schedule so I can make this!

6 hours ago, LTD said:

This is a great idea.

I can play round 1, sleep through 2 to 5, and then play 6 to 8.

Fantastic.

Good thinking Biggs!

Do we have to find our own opponent for each round, or are they assigned?

They will be assigned by swiss!

Can Europeans give an indication of how likely they are to play in round 6 please.

15 hours ago, BiggsIRL said:

Play anyway.

Presuming I'm in town.... I mean, will I even HAVE a list ready by then?

2 hours ago, geek19 said:

Presuming I'm in town.... I mean, will I even HAVE a list ready by then?

Looking forward to seeing your Leia list wipe the floor with these doubting Thomases.

6 hours ago, BiggsIRL said:

They will be assigned by swiss!

How does that work for folks entering halfway through the game, who won't have a score yet? Do they start with a presumed BYE 8-3? Or Whatever the current average score is? Or start at 0 (which seems a bit rough to someone who had played a few rounds and lost them - playing against someone who is possibly quite a bit better)

1 hour ago, xanderf said:

How does that work for folks entering halfway through the game, who won't have a score yet? Do they start with a presumed BYE 8-3? Or Whatever the current average score is? Or start at 0 (which seems a bit rough to someone who had played a few rounds and lost them - playing against someone who is possibly quite a bit better)

I'd imagine you start at whatever points you have. So if you enter round 5 you wont be playing someone who entered in round 2, but you WILL be matched up against either another round 5 entrant or if you're the only one, the lowest score at that point.

3 hours ago, flatpackhamster said:

Looking forward to seeing your Leia list wipe the floor with these doubting Thomases.

Me???? Play Leia????

Oh, that WOULD be interesting

😛

44 minutes ago, geek19 said:

I'd imagine you start at whatever points you have. So if you enter round 5 you wont be playing someone who entered in round 2, but you WILL be matched up against either another round 5 entrant or if you're the only one, the lowest score at that point.

Dunno, I think we need a better plan for that.

Even within 1 round you'll have a problem if there are an odd number of new players - sure most of the new-to-that-round get paired against each other, but the odd man out gets to play against the worst loser at that point. Pretty easy match for him, and another bad match for the last-place player.

But that's looking at just a single round. Let's say we skip the problem, there - we have an even number of players joining in the 4th group, great, every score-0 plays another score-0. That round finishes, and I did AMAZING as my first game - I pulled a 9-2 win! Theoretically (and in a normal tournament) I should be paired for my next around against another 9-2 winner for a much tougher game. Here? I could be playing the event's current last-place player, on his final match after three disappointing 3-8 losses. We both have the same score of '9', after all. Obviously I crush him, as he's having some kind of bad day or running a terrible list or whatever, and with another 9-2 on this round I'm up to 18 total points...for my 3rd match potentially playing someone on their 4th who had eked in a trio of 6-5 technical wins.

This is not ideal.

Perhaps matching can be based on tournaments points averaged by number of rounds?

We'll figure something out. No need to panic.

Remember the tier is relaxed. The aim is to have fun.

how does one speed up games in vassal? I've played a few and they seem to take much longer than a real game would! The moving seems to be the worst!

20 minutes ago, boow said:

how does one speed up games in vassal? I've played a few and they seem to take much longer than a real game would! The moving seems to be the worst!

For me, memorizing the shortcuts really helped. Know which keys to press to place the maneuver tool, left and right side, move the ship up, and make the tool disappear.

One fun casual thing we've done in the X-Wing community is the Jank Tank Open. I can see it being translated to Armada pretty easily.

Each player gets two random lists, one for each faction. They choose one and throw away the other. They then may remove one upgrade card. They then may add one upgrade card. (I'd say you can't change your admiral, since then everyone would change theirs, and that's not the spirit of the event). Lists must still be legal!

Then you play one game a week with your janky weird list vs other janky weird lists. You'll use ships, upgrades, (and missions!) you've never used before. It's fun.

Biggs: Come play the BIG DUMB tournament!

People: But what about *incert*!

Biggs: It'S ALREADY BIG, and its ALREADY DUMB. What more can I add?!?

21 hours ago, Truthiness said:

Perhaps matching can be based on tournaments points averaged by number of rounds?

That could be easy to do with a bitmask added to the score. IE., each round adds a multiple of ten for your score.

So on round 1 (0010), your lowest score ending the round would be 11, highest 19. Round 2 (0100) lowest possible score (losing both games 1-10) would be 102, highest possible 120. Round 3 (1000) finishes you can have from 1003 to 1030. Obviously you don't need to worry about the bitmask on round 4 as there is no more games after it, so just take the final score from there and you are done.