Date: 	Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:19:41 +0100
From: Tournament Headquarters 
Subject: W2WT: Practice Round Info

Greetings, Warlord!

Your army has been eight days on the march since you received the
Practice Round scenario information from Tournament Headquarters.
You know that you have almost reached your destination, and the
excitement is building inside you, yet the warm summer sun and the
rhythm of the march still lull you into a peaceful reverie, and you
recall the scene of your departure:

	... you find yourself astride your mighty charger,
	an immense warhorse decked out in the finest colors your kingdom
	has to offer.  From this potent perspective you survey the massed
	ranks of your armies, and give the order that will start the great
	adventure for which you have waited so patiently and so long:

		"To the Tournament!!!"

	And with the thunder of a thousand hooves and stomping of several
	thousand boots, your army begins its march to the Practice Round!

As you recall the thunder of the hooves your mind returns to the present,
for the sound is the same - your army is still on the march.  But
now you certainly know you are almost to the land of the Practice Round,
for a mighty warrior approaches you, flying aboard an immense pegasus,
flying the banner of the tournament in the air behind him!

If he has not already hailed you, he will do so soon, for he is
your Moderator, and he will supervise you during the Practice Round
and help you train your armies to fight most effectively in the tournament.
When you hear from him, he will introduce himself, let you know which
game you are in, and indicate which side you will be playing in the
upcoming Practice Round...

Meanwhile, you feel a throbbing, humming vibration in your saddlebags,
and realize that it is your crystal ball asking for your attention!
You pull it out to have a look.  Instead of the usual WarBOT information,
it instead displays the following message from Tournament Headquarters:

-> The Practice Round is about to begin!  Game assignments have gone to
-> the moderators.  If you were Activated by Saturday, you will soon
-> hear from your moderator (if you haven't already).  At the moment we
-> have 172 active players, 4 newly-activated players ready to be subs,
-> 20 additional "backup" players willing to play an extra game,
-> 24 newly-registered players who have not yet been Certified, and
-> 17 highly-qualified players who will be serving as Moderators.
-> 218 people are currently active in the tournament!!!

[ You realize that with 172 warlords converging on the Practice Round,
  camping space will be a bit tight for your armies, so you urge them
  to march faster and in order to get the best camp site! ]

-> All of the moderators have extensive playtesting
-> experience, and most of them have also moderated playtesting games in
-> the past.  We had a shortage of PC-Deluxe moderators so some Mac-CD
-> moderators will be moderating PC-Deluxe games.  This should not be
-> a problem - all of those Mac-CD Moderators have already moderated
-> cross-platform playtesting games.
->
-> Those of you who are still getting certified or were only recently
-> activated will be used as substitutes (in the order in which you
-> get certified/activated) for any players who disappear; once the
-> main set of games gets underway we'll create additional games for
-> whoever is left.  Everyone will play!
->
-> PC players who will be playing White will be asked to choose a hero name.
-> (Because we had to custom-edit the ruin contents, there's an official
-> gamefile already set up at the start of White's move, and you won't
-> get to choose your hero's name unless you tell your Moderator so it
-> can be custom-edited.)
->
-> Some reminders and useful information:
->
-> *** A. At this time you should make absolutely sure that:
->
-> (1) You have the scenario installed properly.
->     [ Download:  http://www.pixgen.com/elam/warlords/tournament.html ]
->
-> (2) You have the latest WarBOT *from Elam's site*
->     (veteran playtesters, be *sure* you've upgraded!!!)
->     [ Download:  http://www.pixgen.com/elam/warlords/tournament.html ]
->
-> (3) You have the fully-updated version of your flavor of Warlords:
->         * PC-Deluxe players should have version 2.2.4 or later
->         * PC-Classic players should have version 1.11 or later
->         * Mac-Classic players should have version 1.0.7 or later
->         * Mac-CD players don't need to worry (only one version!)
-> [ http://www.heeter.net/w2home/tournament/Rules.html#Prepare ]

[ You consult with your wizards.  Are you ready? ]

-> *** B. Some important (and not-so-important) Practice Round rules info:
->
-> (1) Practice Round games will last at most 10 turns or 2 months from the
-> date of the "Let the War Begin" message starting the game.  That is about
-> the time it took for our playtesting games to run 10 turns.  Once the
-> Practice Round ends, the first official round (Round A) will be started!

[ You notify your lieutenants that this will certainly be a short campaign.
  They smile, thinking that you are confident you will vanquish your foes
  in short order when the fighting starts! ]

-> (2) The default tournament rules will be used in this game, with
-> the Razing option set to "Off".  There is one special rule:  we ask that
-> you do not rename any cities or change the text on any signposts. Here's
why:
->
->   * Keeping the city names makes it easier for everyone to understand the
->     game history file that the Remailer creates from players' turn
reports.
->     If we all play with the same map and keep the same city names, we can
->     all read each other's games afterwards and understand them.
->
->   * Keeping the signposts ensures that no one will get needlessly confused
->     about any of the special information that is on the signposts in
->     this "Practice" scenario.

[ You instruct your lieutenants not to rename anything in the fair and
  wondrous lands they will soon visit! ]

-> (3) We have just completed another (fairly minor) update of the Tournament
-> Rules.  There were some minor additions to the tiebreaker criteria and
-> minor wording changes in some of the other rules.  There is nothing that
-> you need to worry about for the Practice Round.  But here is the list of
-> changes, for the fanatical players out there:
->
-> Rules Changes from "Final Beta Version (18-May-97) to
-> "Practice Round Version" (20-July-97)
->
-> II. Overview of the Tournament
->   A. Registration/Practice Round
->     - Italic comment at end of first paragraph revised.
->   E. How to Win the Tournament
->     - Inserted a new tiebreaker criterion #3:
->         Number of sides you lasted through on the turn you died.
->         So if 2 Green players in 2 games are eliminated on Turn 16,
->         but one is eliminated by Blue (side 4) and the other is
->         eliminated by Orange (side 2), then the first player
->         survives 15 turns and 3 sides, while the other survives 15
->         turns and only 1 side.  The first player gets the better rank.
->     - Inserted a new tiebreaker criterion #5:
->     	Your position within a game (1st, 2nd) is now
->     	the main tiebreaker *after* city fractions.
->     	So if two players playing Orange in two different games
->         end with 25% of the cities, but one finishes 2nd and
->         the other finishes 3rd, the player who finished 2nd
->         is ranked higher, regardless of his army strength, gold. etc.
->     - Adjusted tiebreakers #4-8 to apply also to players who are eliminated
->         during a game.
->
->
-> IV. Taking Your Turn
->   A. Receiving Gamefiles
->    - Added some info on which saved-game slot PC-Classic players should use.
->
->   B. Fundamental Rules
->    - The first fundamental rule was clarified slightly.  It now reads:
->
->      1. Anything you can do WITHIN the Warlords application is LEGAL
->      (except as restricted elsewhere in these rules), BUT the only changes
->      allowed in the official gamefile sent to the next player
->      are those from playing your own turn.
->
->         This specifically allows you to:
->
->         * Revert moves in the official game to improve outcomes.
->         * Save unofficial copies to peek at other players' upcoming turns.
->
->      You are NOT allowed to adjust another's side in the official game file;
->      this includes changing another player's "enhance" setting.
->
->