America's Army Tournament Mode Guide
From AAManual
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Overview
America's Army features a fully functional tournament server mode to support competitive play. This new Tournament Mode was designed by the development team with the help of competitive AA players, and the direction of ladder organizations including TWL and CAL to provide a new user-friendly system for configuring and facilitating America's Army tournaments and competitive team matches.
Within the America’s Army community there are over 650 organized teams (often called ‘clans’), each of whom prides themselves on how they play the game as an organized group, rather than as individuals. Head-to-Head competitive game-play is central to the AA experience. Conducting America’s Army Tournaments, by LAN and over the Internet, has become the means of furthering team identity and esprit de corps within the AA community.
America’s Army Tournament Mode provides teams, individual server administrators, and third-party gaming organizations (like TWL, CAL and CPL) a simple yet flexible tool for creating and managing Tournaments. Tournament mode now includes Official tournament setups endorsed by TWL. Tournament mode may now be accessed through the Admin Command Post in-game graphical user interface (GUI) and official server setups may be created through the America’s Army Server Management application (AASM).
In the Tournament Mode Manual we will be using the following acronyms:
- TM - Tournament Mode
- TA - Tournament Administrator
- TC - Team Captain
- GUI - Graphical User Interface (Tournament mode GUI)
- AASM – America’s Army Server Manager
The manual is written in chronological order. How one setups an America’s Army TM server, join that server, and then either plays on or administers the TM server.
Tournament Server Configuration and Launch
America’s Army Server Manager (AASM)
The America’s Army Server Manager (AASM) is the America’s Army official application for configuring, maintaining, monitoring, and launching America's Army servers (tournaments and normal play servers).
The America’s Army Server Manager is a separate application from the physical game. AASM is a wizard-based tool that provides an intuitive way to easily configure, launch and manage an America’s Army server or tournament. The AASM will walk the user through all the many server configuration settings step-by-step ultimately launching the server for play.
AASM also provides tools allowing server administrators to remotely control access to their America’s Army game servers; customers can stop, start, configure, and administer their server remotely.
The AASM is the officially recommended application to configure and launch your Tournament Mode server.
The AASM application can be found in the ‘Program Files\America's Army Server Manager’ directory.
NOTE: If this AA version was patched from a previous version (and not a clean full install), you must run the 'AASM 1-X Setup.exe' file to install the America's Army Server Manager application. This file can be found in the root America's Army directory.
IMPORTANT: For the purposes of this manual, we will not cover the specifics of using AASM to create or host America’s Army Tournament Mode server setups, please refer to Getting Started with AA Server Manager (AASM).
TM Server Configuration Settings: AASM
In order to run a America’s Army server in Tournament Mode, the following server configuration settings can be set by the AASM or manually in the server configuration file:
NOTE: It is suggested to use the new America's Army Server Manager (AASM) for setting up and configuring your tournament server.
1. Enable Tournament Mode – this setting sets the server to run in Tournament Mode. NOTE: A server administrator in game can now enable Tournament Mode by accessing the new and improved AA admin Command Post.
2. TM server password – this setting sets the TM server password. This is the password required to join the TM server (if enabled). This password is separate from the team password. This TM server password is not required but is suggested.
3. Allow Team Captains – this setting lets whether or not the tournament will allow TC (and their abilities) to function on the TM server. Allowing Team Captains is recommended.
4. Number of rounds in a match – this setting sets the number of rounds that make up the tournament.
5. Tie Rules – determines whether:
a. ties are allowed
b. ties are broken by score
c. ties are broken by sudden death
d. b, then c if needed
6. EndEx Rule – this setting sets whether or not the ‘EndEx Rule’ (End of Exercise) is in effect during the tournament. This setting determines if the tournament is over when one team has mathematically eliminated the other team from the possibility of winning.
7. Swap Limit setting – this setting sets the swap limit setting. This swap limit is the number of rounds before the teams are swapped (switched sides). If the Swap Limit is set to 0, the teams will never swap unless manually swapped by a TA.
8. Swap Time setting – this setting sets the swap time allowed by the tournament (in seconds). This swap time is the number of seconds each team or TC has in order to set up their team’s player class roles after a team swap. Once this time has expired the tournament will continue.
9. RequestDelayTime – this request delay time setting sets the number of seconds after a TC makes a request until that TC can make another request.
10. Mission Planning Phase duration – this setting sets the planning duration time of the tournament (in minutes). If the planning time is set to 0, there will not be a mission planning phase.
11. Team passwords – this setting sets the individual Team Passwords. These are the passwords required to join a specific team. If no passwords are set, then players will not need to enter a password to join either team.
12. Team names – These are the names of both the Home Team and the Away Team. These names can be filled out prior to the TM server launch in the server configuration file, or they can be filled out in-game by the TCs or TAs on the Team Roster Page.
13. Random team assignment – This is a setting to determine if the teams will be randomly assigned to a side (assault or defense) at the beginning of the tournament. If this setting is enabled, then the Home and Away teams will be randomly assigned to a side. If this setting is disabled (the default setting), the Home Team will always start on Defense (currently ‘team1’).
14. Tournament Admin password – this setting sets the TA password. This is the password required to join the TM server as a TA.
15. Round Delay Time – this setting sets the round delay time which is the amount of time (seconds) in between each round. The TC can make team player class role adjustments during this time on the Team Roster Page. However, when this round delay time expires, the next round will start and any player unassigned will be automatically assigned to a player class role by the server.
16. Player Class Roles Availability – this setting sets whether or not the teams will be able to select any player class role available on the map regardless of player count or only just the player class roles available based on the number of players on the team (default).
17. Scoreboard Display Settings – this setting sets the rules for when the tournament scoreboard is displayed. This setting can be set to run the tournament scoreboard in one of 4 different ways; always on, always off, at the end of every round, or only at the end of the tournament.
TM Server Configuration Settings: Admin Command Post
The Admin Command Post: Introduced to America’s Army in version 2.5.0, the Administrator Command Post utility provides the ability to launch TM from the graphic users interface. Please see the America's Army Command Post Guide for additional information.
Figure 1: The Tournament Tab of the Admin Command Post.
Figure 2: Click this button to activate tournament mode as an admin.
To activate Tournament Mode click the Tournament tab in the Command Post (typically bound to “F12”) after inputting the parameters for your tournament. The Command Post parameters for TM are an abbreviated version of that available within AASM setups. This new arrangements makes it possible for leased server administrators to setup Tournaments on their servers without the need for the AASM RCU (Remote Control Unit).
Figure 3: Once in Tournament Mode, click this button to return to standard play.
To change your server back to standard play simply click Standard Play in the Command Post.
Figure 4: You can select the mission to play on the Mission tab.
Figure 5: Use the Configuration Tab to configure your server settings.
For your convenience we’ve added a screenshot of an official CAL tournament setup. For more examples of tournament setups or TWL setups please use AASM. More official configurations are added with the updated version of AASM.
Figure 6: You can set the rules for your server using the Rules tab.
Figure 7: You can set your spectating rules using this pull down box.
Figure 8: Darkened settings must be set during initial server setup, before the server is started.
Rounds per match and round time limits will become unavailable during match play. Please consult an AASM official configuration (shortcut) or visit the TWL, CAL, or CPL website for official rules for AA tournament setups.
Figure 9: The Players tab allows you to administer your server.
The Admin Command Post allows for standard server administration during tournament play. Please consult the Command Post Guide document located in your ‘America’s Army\Help’ folder for more information.
Figure 10: The Ban List tab allows you to ban/un-ban players from your server.
The America’s Army Admin Command Post allows graphical viewing of ban lists. This ncludes the ability to add players to ban lists for set periods or indefinitely. Please consult the Command Post Guide document located in your ‘America’s Army\Help’ folder for more information.
Figure 11: An example Tournament configuration.
In this example of a test conducted by the AA beta team, team Dragon (or team jojo) faces Team Hellfire (or team TUFFENUF) in a test tournament. (Team jojo won, of course, in a complete landslide.)
The server administrator can configure their tournament however they wish using this interface. Many competitive gaming ladders or leagues have a standard set of rules they use for their tournaments/matches.
Figure 12: Some option selections open up additional settings.
Un-checking the “Require Team Passwords” option will make the team password boxes unavailable. Team passwords help insure that tournament opponents cannot join the wrong team by accident.
Disabled Server Configuration Settings
When running a server in Tournament Mode, several of the server settings which work on standard play servers will be disabled for tournaments. These features are disabled either to reduce tournament disruptions or to prevent any tampering with a fair competitive environment. Disabled settings are in accordance with ladder requirements. The settings that will be disabled while running a TM server are as follows:
1. ROE kick settings (including ROE limit) – All server kicking of any kind will be disabled in a TM server (except admin kicks by a Tournament Admin).
2. Idle kick settings – All server kicking of any kind will be disabled in a TM server (except admin kicks by a tournament Admin).
3. Vote kick settings – All server kicking of any kind will be disabled in a TM server (except admin kicks by a Tournament Admin).
4. Autobalance settings – Autobalance automatically balances the number of players on each team after every round and match. This feature will be disabled in a TM server to eliminate the chance that this setting would alter the team’s manual setups.
5. Cheats settings – Cheats will be disabled in TM no matter what setting is set for them in the server configuration file.
6. ‘PlayerAdmin’ settings – The PlayerAdmin functionality will be disabled for servers running in TM. If a player is listed as a PlayerAdmin in the server’s configuration file, they can still join the server – but they will not be a PlayerAdmin.
Joining the TM Server
Once the TM server has been launched all players (both teams) will be provided the server IP and password(s), as warranted, in advance (either via AA Web site, third party Web site or some other means of notification not germane to this document).
Players launch America’s Army game client and select “DEPLOYMENT” button in the main GUI.
- If Tournament is LAN-based, players will select LAN server browser to locate their TM server.
- If Tournament is Internet-based, players will select Internet server browser to locate their TM server.
Figure 13: America’s Army servers which are running in Tournament Mode will display the 'tournament' setting as '1' in the server browser.
Once TM server has been located in corresponding server browser players will double-click that server to physically connect (or highlight and press “JOIN” button).
Team Select
Upon successful join players are presented the Team Select GUI page. This page displays the mission briefings for each side (assault and defense).
Figure 14: The Team Select GUI page is displayed upon joining a TM server.
Players choose one of the following options:
- Join ‘Away’ Team (Team 0 - i.e. Assault)
- Join ‘Home’ Team (Team 1 - i.e. Defense)
- Join as a Spectator
NOTE: The team names may have already been set by the team captains or during the server set up – those specific team names will be displayed on this Team Select GUI page rather than ‘Home Team’ and ‘Away Team’.
If the TM server has the ‘Team Passwords’ set in the server configuration file – before the user selects either team, they will be required to enter a password in the corresponding textbox in order to join that team. The team password will be entered into the textbox located next to the team select buttons. If the password is incorrect, they will be brought back to this Team Select Page.
Figure 15: The 'Team Password' text box used to enter your team's password to join your team.
NOTE: If the user joins the server via the console command with the team password included, that player will automatically join the correct team upon server connection.
Player Class Role Assignments
Once players have selected teams (does not apply to spectators or admins) they are taken to the Team Roster GUI page.
Figure 16: The 'Team Roster' GUI page where players get assigned to a player class role.
Any player can select the Team Captain role via the checkbox option (this may also be de-selected at any time). The Team Captain’s player name will switch to a blue color in the GUI when they have selected the Team Captain Position.
Figure 17: A player may select to be the team's Team Captain by selecting the checkbox in the bottom left corner of the Team Roster page.
NOTE: There is not a voting system or other means of unseating a Captain once selected, and we assume Team Captains will be decided prior to a match starting. Team Captains are usually the squad leader designated previously by the team.
The above process is the same for both teams.
If the user is the ‘Team Captain’ they can select the ‘Team Captain Lock’ button in order to lock the player class role selections so that only the Team Captain can assign player class roles.
Figure 18: The Team Captain can select the LOCK button to allow it so that only the Team Captain can assign the team’s players to class roles
Figure 19: Message showing that <username> has selected Team Captain.
Figure 20: The LOCK button displays 'Lock' when the team roster is unlocked.
Figure 21: The LOCK button displays 'Unlock' when the roster is locked. The Team Captain can unlock the roster at any time.
If Team Captain does not select the ‘Team Captain Lock’ team members may select their own class roles individually.
NOTE: When players are being assigned to their player class role, the Team Captain must choose in order from top to bottom on the right side pane of the Team Roster GUI page. Only the player at the top of the list of all players in this pane can be assigned to a player class role.
Figure 22: The top player on the right side pane in this Team Roster page is always the player currently selected to be assigned.
Figure 23: Players are assigned to a player class role by selecting the 'Select' button next to the player class role they are being assigned to.
Figure 24: Once players are assigned to a player class role, they can always be removed by selecting the 'Remove' button next to their name. Once removed, the player will return to the player list on the right side pane of the Team Roster page.
The Team Captain always has the ability to ‘swap’ class roles at any time (regardless of the ‘Team Captain Lock’).
The Team Captain will also enter a unique ‘Tournament Team Name’ (the name of his team) into a text box in the top right portion of this Team Roster page.
Figure 25: The Team Captain can enter the name of his team using the text box at the top right of the Team Roster page.
Team Captains are represented by the color blue (as opposed to Admins who are red), the TC’s name will appear in blue on both the main Scoreboard and the Team Roster Page.
Figure 26: Team Captains will be shown in blue, admin’s in red and players in white.
If the user is not the ‘Team Captain’:
- If the ‘Team Captain Lock’ is not enabled, players will select their own class role (i.e. Rifleman, Grenadier, etc.) and select medic ability (if qualified).
NOTE: When players are assigning their player class role, the players must select their player class role in order from top to bottom on the right side pane of the Team Roster GUI page. Only the player at the top of the list of all players in this right pane can be assigned to a player class role.
Figure 27: Only the player at the top of the list on the right hand side of the screen can select a weapon slot.
If the ‘Team Captain Lock’ is enabled – players cannot select roles; Team Captains will assign class roles. Players may still select medic ability.
Teams Ready
Once all the users on this team have been placed into player class roles (either assigned by the Team Captain, or individually selected) – the Team Captain is responsible for selecting the ‘READY’ checkbox signaling to the other team that their team is ready to start the tournament.
Figure 28: The Team Captain selects the READY button in the bottom center portion of the Team Roster page when his team is ready to begin the tournament.
Figure 29: When both Team Captains have selected this READY button, the tournament will begin.
Figure 30: The ready button will change to a cancel button for use if your team is no longer ready.
Figure 31: Once a Team Captain has pressed the READY button, the other Team Captain will receive this message.
NOTE: Both Team Captains and Administrators can communicate with just other Team Captains and Administrators by using the Tournament Command Chat. The command chat can be used by entering ‘csay <your message here>’ into the console. TC's chat text in the console will appear in orange when using the Command Chat system.
Figure 32: The Team Captain can use “csay” to message the other team captain or an admin. Text will appear in an orange color in the console area.
Once both Team Captains have selected READY, the team setups will be locked in place and the tournament will start.
Either a 10-second countdown message is displayed to all players signaling the start of the tournament in 10 seconds; or the “Mission Planning Phase” begins – if applicable.
Mission Planning
This is an optional feature, which is specified in the Server Setup, including the duration of the Mission Planning Phase. The Mission Planning Phase allows both teams to spawn into the game before the tournament officially starts in order to do the following:
- To allow the players to run through the map for the first time to preload the specific map’s textures into their video cards RAM. This reduces the risk of pauses or other interruptions that may be caused by caching occurring during live tournament play.
- To do any pre-match communication or planning in the specific tournament map.
- To run through the current map in order to get their bearings and preview the map before the tournament starts.
Figure 33: A message is displayed to all users that the Mission Planning Phase has started. The time on the round clock in the upper right corner of this screenshot displays the time left in the Mission Planning Phase.
Figure 34: This message is displayed at the beginning of the Mission Planning Phase.
The planning phase plays just like the normal game except with the following restrictions:
- No damage will be taken by any players.
- Flashbangs will have no effect on players.
- No one can take objectives and end the round during the planning phase.
At the completion of the Mission Planning Phase a 10-second countdown message is displayed to all players; after which the tournament officially begins.
Figure 35: This message is displayed upon the completion of the Mission Planning Phase.
Tournament Play
Tournament Begins
Once the TM server is running and teams are selected and set up the tournament will begin either after the Mission Planning Phase or immediately after both Team Captains have selected the READY button (if the TM server is configured without a Mission Planning phase).
At the start of a tournament a 10-second countdown message is displayed to all players; after which the tournament will begin.
Figure 36: This message is broadcasted to all players in the tournament and will countdown to 0 after which the tournament will begin.
Figure 37: LivePlay message is displayed in 3 locations once the tournament countdown has reached 0 seconds.
Figure 38: The tournament has official begun.
Figure 39: Tournament status indicated in upper left info area.
Figure 40: Tournament status indicated in the console area.
Rounds play out exactly the same as standard America’s Army multiplayer mode, with the exception that teams and positions are specifically assigned.
After each round has ended, a message is displayed showing the tournaments score thus far and a countdown until the next round starts.
Figure 41: After each round has ended, a message is displayed showing the tournaments score thus far and a countdown until the next round starts.
Figure 42: This message is displayed immediately before the next round starts.
Tournament Scoreboard
The scoreboard displayed during the tournament is similar to the scoreboard displayed during AA regular server play. The main differences being that the teams’ names are displayed above the players’ names, and the team score and round count are displayed.
Figure 43: The tournament scoreboard.
Swap Teams
This feature allows the TM server to automatically (or manually) switch all players to the opposite team – or ‘swap’ teams. This feature is useful in tournaments where it is standard practice to have both teams play both sides of any given map. This feature can be activated in two ways:
- By setting the Swap Limit setting in the server configuration file. This setting is the number of rounds which take place before the tournament teams are swapped.
- By having the TA or both TCs select the ‘Swap Teams’ button on the Tournament Tab UI page.
Once the ‘swap limit’ has been reached and that round is over, the server will automatically ‘swap the teams’ to the opposite side and there will be additional time before the next round begins for both teams to make team player class role adjustments. Thus, if your team was on Assault, you will now be playing on the Defense side.
Figure 44: In this case the teams swapped sides after the 7th round of a 14 round tournament.
Figure 45: The duration of time the teams get to adjust their rosters before the next round begins after the teams swap is a server configuration setting.
NOTE: Instead of waiting until the swap set up time reaches zero, Team Captains can choose to both hit the READY button and the tournament will immediately resume.
Figure 46: After the teams swapped, the other Team Captain has signaled that his team has finished adjusting their team roster and is ready to resume the tournament.
After either both Team Captains have selected the READY button, or the swap time runs out – the tournament will resume after a 10 second countdown.
Figure 47: After the teams swapped sides, the tournament resumes in a mission planning round after a 10 second countdown.
Figure 48: The tournament resumes after the teams swapped sides.
Tournament Victory Conditions
There are many conditions associated with how Victory is declared during a tournament running in Tournament Mode.
The basic premise is that the tournament is set for a finite number of rounds and the team to win the most rounds is the tournament winner. However, there are some unique situations that require some additional considerations in order to determine the tournament winner – such as a tie or the ‘EndEx rule’.
Figure 49: This message announces the winner of the tournament.
Figure 50: Tournament results are saved to each players hard drive. Default location is: /Program Files/America’s Army/TournamentResults.
Forfeit:
If all the members of one team disconnect during a tournament, that team forfeits the tournament.
Figure 51: This message is displayed if a team forfeits the tournament.
The ‘EndEx Rule’:
The ‘EndEx Rule’ (End of Exercise) is when one team has mathematically eliminated the other team from the possibility of winning. A simple case of this would be a tournament set for 10 rounds. If any team wins 6 rounds before the 10th round, that team is instantly declared the tournament winner due to the EndEx Rule. After one team had won 6 rounds, it is impossible for the other team to win the tournament. The EndEx Rule is a server configuration setting that can be set by the server host in the server configuration file prior to the TM server launch.
Figure 52: This message is displayed when a match was ended by the EndEx Rule.
‘Tie’ Conditions:
There exist four separate tie condition possibilities - whether or not to allow a tie, to break a tie by score, to break a tie by sudden death, or to break a tie by score first then sudden death (if still tied on score).
Figure 53: At the end of the tournament the teams are tied.
Figure 54: This message is displayed when the tournament is tied.
Tiebreak by Score:
If the option to break a tie by the total team score is enabled, the total accumulated score for each team will be compared. The total accumulated team score will be determined by adding up all of the individual team members' score. The team with the highest total team score will be declared the tournament winner. If the teams have the same total score, the tournament will be declared a tie.
Tiebreak by Sudden Death:
If the option to break a tie by going to sudden death is enabled, the teams will again face off one round at a time on the same map. If a ‘swap limit’ has been set in the server configuration settings (i.e. the teams have been swapping during the tournament), then for the first sudden death round, the team’s side will be randomly chosen. If the ‘swap limit’ is 0, the teams will stay on the same sides as they were currently on.
The teams will again go to the Team Roster Page and team setups will take place. When the Team Captains signal they are ready, the match will start with a mission planning round prior to Sudden Death Live Play.
The teams will then play the first sudden death round. If the teams are still in a tie after this round, the teams will again swap sides and go back to the Team Roster Page for team setups. This process will continue (swapping after every sudden death round) until a tournament winner can be declared at which time the tournament is over; each side swap will be followed by a mission planning round for team setup and planning.
Figure 55: A mission planning round takes place before Sudden Death begins.
Figure 56: This message announces that the mission planning round was discarded as a non-scoring round prior to 'sudden death'.
After the tournament has ended in a tie, the teams can be set to swap teams again in which they will get the swap time duration to make sudden death roster adjustments. Once that time is up the tournament will countdown until a sudden death round.
Figure 57: The tournament will resume with a 'sudden death' round.
Figure 58: The tournament has resumed play in a 'sudden death' round.
Tiebreak by Score then Sudden Death:
If the option to break a tie by the total team score is enabled, the total accumulated score for each team will be compared. The total accumulated team score will be determined by adding up all of the individual team member’s score. The team with the highest total team score will be declared the tournament winner. If the teams have the same total score, the tournament will then go into sudden death (see above).
Tournament Results and Stats
Once the tournament is over and a winner (or tie) has been declared – the game will output a text log file to the ‘Tournament Results’ folder (a new folder located in the ‘America’s Army' directory) for everyone who is connected to the TM server.
Figure 59: This message indicates that the tournament has ended and the results/stats have been logged on your machine for viewing.
This text log file should contain the following information:
- The final results listed by team name and number of rounds won by each team.
- The total scores for each team
- All of the individual scores per player, separated by teams. This includes not only the player’s total score but also their score category breakdown (i.e. Scoreboard data).
- A list of all players, administrators, spectators present during the tournament (even if they were only present for some of the time).
- All of the TM server configuration settings in place during this tournament.
The tournament results log will be named by the tournament server name, the time, and the date.
These results will get saved in a new folder entitled ‘Tournament Results’ in your America's Army directory.
Once the tournament is over and a winner (or tie) has been declared – the game will also upload the results of the tournament to the Auth Database.
Once the data is stored in the Auth Database, this data can be pulled from the Auth DB and displayed on a ‘Tournament Results’ webpage for community viewing (coming soon).
Tournament Administration
Tournament Tab Page
This is the GUI page completely unique to tournaments and is only visible when running a server in Tournament Mode. This GUI page tab is available for viewing to everyone involved in the tournament process, all players, spectators, and administrators. This page is the central hub of all information relating to the tournament at hand. However, only tournament administrators and Team Captains can utilize the additional functionality on this page.
Figure 60: The Tournament Tab Page displays all pertinent tournament information.
A pane showing all of the relevant buttons in which TAs and TCs can use to administer the tournament. These buttons are only visible to TAs and TCs. These buttons are dynamic and become usable (or change function) based on the current state of the tournament. For TAs, these buttons function immediately after the initial button push is confirmed by a dialogue box that pops up asking the TA to confirm their selection.
NOTE: For Team Captains, these buttons must be confirmed by both Team Captains prior to functioning. These dynamic function buttons are listed below:
1. Start Tournament button – Pressing this button will start the mission planning phase immediately. Upon activation of this button it will change to restart tournament and activate the other function buttons.
Figure 61: This button is used to go immediately into the Mission Planning Phase, each captain must activate to start mission planning. The admin can also activate this button to immediately start the mission planning period.
2. Restart Tournament button – Pressing this button will restart the match immediately. This Restart Match button can be pushed at any time by a TA and the server will instantly restart the match beginning with the pre-match setup (Team Roster Page).
Figure 62: Once the tournament starts, the button changes to indicate it can be used to restart the tournament.
Figure 63: This indicates that the other Team Captain or Admin have requested to restart the tournament.
Figure 64: If your TC agrees to this request by also pressing the RESTART button on the Tournament Tab page, this message will appear.
3. Pause Tournament button – Pressing this button will pause the tournament until Ready is pressed on the roster screen. While the game is paused, the game will unlock so that substitute players can join the appropriate team. NOTE: The tournament can only actually be paused in between rounds not during game-play. So if this button is pressed it will queue a pause for after the current round ends.
Figure 65: This button is used to pause or immediately resume the tournament.
Figure 66: The other Team Captain has requested to pause the tournament.
Figure 67: Your Team Captain can agree to pause the tournament by pressing the PAUSE button on the tournament tab page.
Figure 68: This message indicates that the tournament has been paused.
Figure 69: This message indicates that both Team Captains need to hit the READY button on the Team Roster page.
Figure 70: After both Team Captains have selected READY to resume the tournament after a pause, the tournament will enter a mission planning period after a 10 second countdown.
Swap Teams button – this is displayed at all times. Pressing this button will automatically swap the teams to the opposite side and then display the Team Roster Page for everyone. The teams can only actually be swapped in between rounds not during game-play. So if this button is pressed during play by either both Team Captains or the administrator it will queue a swap after the current round ends.
Figure 71: This button is used to manually swap teams.
Figure 72: Opposing Team Captain has requested a side swap.
Note: Refer to section 8.3 of this document for additional side swap information.
Tournament Tab Discard Rounds
The Discard Round Button has been added to the Tournament Tab to facilitate the easy discard of rounds (at the agreement of both Tournament Captains) within tournaments, without having to restart.
Figure 73: The Discard Round button can be used by TC's or TA's to make a round a 'non-scoring' round in the tournament.
The Discard Round Button – is displayed at all times in the Tournament Tab. Pressing this button will automatically discard the current round and restart the round without having to restart the tournament or the server. The option to discard a round may be invoked by the Tournament Captains or the server administrator. The Discard Round Button is a key feature of the new AA Tournament Mode and is designed to help competitive clans run their tournaments much more efficiently.
Figure 74: This message indicates that the other Team Captain has requested that this round be discarded.
Discard Round Request message is displayed once a Team Captain invokes it. Both Team Captains must invoke “Discard Round” before a round is discarded.
Figure 75: This message indicates that the current round will be discarded.
Figure 76: This message is displayed at the end of a discarded round.
Figure 77: The discarded round notification also displays in the console area.
After a discard round, match play will continue without a mission planning round. If a mission planning round is required, use the pause command function.
Figure 78: A match continuing after a discarded round.
Figure 79: The notification that the tournament is continuing.
Tournament Administrator
The Tournament Administrator (TA) is very similar to the current ‘SuperAdmin’ already in the game with these 2 major differences:
- The TA is not a silent admin – their connection to the server is announced to all and their name is visible on the Scoreboard (listed in red).
- The TA has the same unique abilities as the TC.
Figure 80: The Tournament Admin is always visible to everyone on the server and their name is displayed in red.
Setting up a server to allow a Tournament Administrator is done the same way as the current “SuperAdmin.” To log in a super administrator in AA you must use the administrator password instead of no password, or a player password (if your server is passworded for players to join). The TM server will detect the regular SuperAdmin password and automatically set them as a TA. NOTE: TAs are purely tournament administrators and cannot play in the tournament. TAs also will only take up an ADMIN player slot, not a SPECTATOR slot.
TAs are represented by the color red (as opposed to TCs who are blue). The TA’s name will appear in red on the main scoreboard. TA’s chat text in the console will also appear in red.
The TA has several abilities which can be accessed on the Team Roster Page. During tournament setup, the TA will be able to set up each team manually as though he were the TC for both teams. The TA can look at each teams’ roster by changing the team view on the Team Roster Page using the team pull-down box to select a team to view.
TAs also have the following abilities on the Team Roster Page:
TAs can either allow their team’s players to individually select their own player class roles, or the TA can select the LOCK button on the Team Roster Page to lock out any other team members from selecting player class roles themselves. If they choose to select the LOCK checkbox, the TA or TC is the only one who can assign team roles.
Figure 81: Tournament Administrators can manage and adjust both teams by selecting the team to adjust using the pull-down box at the top of the Team Roster page.
Figure 82: Selecting the other team on the TA team select pulldown box, the Team Roster page will refresh to show that team's information.
Tournament Administrators may enter the teams' names into a text box located on the Team Roster Page. NOTE: This team name text box is only visible to the TC and TA.
Figure 83: Tournament Admins can enter and change each team's name.
TAs can push the READY button (same functionality as the TC READY button) to signal that each team is set and ready to start the tournament or planning phase. There will be an indication that the team is ready for both teams.
Figure 84: Tournament Admins have the same team options as the Team Captains, but for both teams.
TAs can use the Command Chat system for communicating to other TAs or TCs.
The TA also has several unique abilities which can be accessed on the Tournament Tab Page. All of these buttons are visible to TAs and TCs. These buttons are dynamic and become usable (or change function) based on the current state of the tournament.
The TA can access all of the regular SuperAdmin commands available through the Command Post (see the game manual).
During play the TA will have the same abilities of a normal SuperAdmin. They can watch the action from any spectating viewpoints or from any player.
Tournament Command Chat
Both TAs and TCs can chat via a new Command Chat feature. This new chat feature allows all TAs and TCs to communicate to each other at any time during the tournament. This chat system will only broadcast messages to TAs and TCs. This will help with coordinating the administration of the tournament by those in command. All text displayed when using this Command Chat will be shown in orange. This command chat can be accessed by either a TC or a TA by using the following console commands:
csay <insert tournament command chat message here>
For example: csay I am just waiting on one more player until I hit ready
NOTE: This csay console command can be bound to a key for quick use.