Twilight Struggle Ladder Rules and Procedures
SIGNIFICANCE OF LADDER STANDINGSThe TWS Ladder is a rank ordered listing of the Ladder's competitors. The person currently occupying the first position in the list (the top rung) is considered to be the current Ladder Champion.
CHANGE OF LADDER STANDINGSPlayers move up/down the Ladder by winning/losing games against other competitors. These games are played in rounds in which each participant plays a game of TWS against an assigned opponent. Upon the conclusion of a round, all winners are moved to the top of the Ladder while maintaining their relative order. Likewise, all losers are dropped to the bottom of the Ladder while maintaining their relative order. Any player exercising his right to skip one round (see below) retains his current rung on the Ladder, though not his relative position. (I.e., winners and losers will move past him, as he retains his same numerical position on the Ladder.) Any new member to the Ladder enters at the bottom of the Ladder, in order of entry.
PAIRINGSPairings for each round are made by the Ladder Moderator. An opponent is normally someone adjacent in the standings (i.e., Rung 1 plays Rung 2, Rung 3 plays Rung 4, etc.). However, there may be occasional exceptions made, at the discretion of the Moderator, to accomodate players skipping rounds, facilitate the playing schedules of players, or to initiate a round prior to the completion of a previous round. (In making these exceptions, the Moderator seeks to balance competitive fairness with the goal of timely progress of the Ladder from one round to the next.) Any player in an odd Rung at the end of the Ladder, or any player joining the Ladder in mid-round, may be paired against a volunteer "eliminator". If an eliminator is a Ladder member, his service as eliminator has no bearing on his Ladder position. His game counts as a normal Ladder game for his opponent, but only as a Quick Round game for himself.
ASSIGNMENT OF SIDESThe side each competitor plays in a regular Ladder game is assigned by the Moderator. Assignments will be made using the following guidelines.
1. The current Ladder Champion must always switch sides relative to his previous Ladder game, and his opponent must play the opposite side.
2. For all other normal Ladder games: The Moderator tracks the number of times a player has played each side in all Ladder games. When two players meet, the player with the most excess plays as the US will be assigned to play USSR. If the two players are tied in this respect, then the higher rung player switches sides relative to his previous Ladder game.
3. In Quick Round games, a similar algorithm is followed, except there is no higher rung to break ties. In the event of a tie, side assignment will be at the Moderator's discretion, normally decided by players' expressed preferences or a coin flip.
VARIANTS
Beginning with the Quick Rounds of Round 7, players may play the Chinese Civil War (CCW) variant for any regular Ladder or Quick Round game. Side assignments are made before this option can be invoked. CCW can only be used if both players agree before the start of play. The Ladder Moderator must be notified that CCW is being used, as the statistics for this variant will be maintained separately from regular play. See below for play balance implications.
PLAY BALANCEAll games on the Ladder (including any Quick Rounds) will be played either with the normal Second Edition rules, or with the Chinese Civil War (CCW) variant. For the normal game, an automatic bid of influence to ensure uniformity of play balance (both for competitive equity and statistical purposes) while avoiding the time spent on bid negotiation. For a normal game, the current automatic bid is 3 influence, given to the US player, to be played after initial influence placement but before the first headline phase. For the CCW variant, players may either use a bid of 0 or 1 given to the US. Bid influence can be placed only in countries where the US already has influence, and cannot be placed to achieve "overcontrol" of a country. [Note: It is possible and legal to partially circumvent this restriction on overcontrol by placing your normal initial influence in Western Europe to achieve overcontrol of a country, as those placements are not so restricted. Thus, in a normal game, placement of influence to overcontrol Italy is a common US tactic, while overcontrol of Iran is not possible under the placement rules.]
In addition, the US is considered to win all tied games for Ladder advancement purposes (though not for AREA rating purposes.)
These play balance choices for the normal game have been made based on best currently available statistics of TwS game outcomes. An analysis of 205 games played in the recent BPA tournament shows the following (bid is IP payed by USSR to be placed by US in countries already containing influence without overcontrol.)
Bid ... US record
6 ........1-0
5 ........3-2
4 ........10-3
3 .......38-46
2 .......21-39
1 ........7-9
0 ........5-19
-2 .......1-1
To summarize
Bid > 3 US wins 73.7% (19 cases)
Bid = 3 US wins 45.2% (84 cases)
Bid < 3 US wins 33.3% (102 cases)
So a bid of 3 appears to be the most balancing bid as the game is currently played. The play balance choices may be altered in the future at the discretion of the Moderator in order to maintain a fair Ladder. Any such adjustment must be announced prior to the commencement of a round in order to apply to that round.
Note: Through 316 games, US winning percentage for the Ladder and its associated Quick Rounds is 47.5%.The play balance choice for the CCW variant is based on estimates of the balancing power intrinsic to this variant. As statistics accumulate, the automatic bid may be adjusted as needed by the Ladder Moderator.
CONDUCT OF GAMESNotifications of assignments for each round will generally be made by e-mail, and posted on this thread.
Ladder games should be contested on ACTS. All normal Ladder games will be moderated, usually by the Ladder Moderator or the Assistant Ladder Moderator. No participant in a game may moderate his own game. Games should be named according to the following format:
Ladder Round N USSRPlayer v USPlayerwhere "N" is the ladder round number, "USSRPlayer" is the last name of the person playing the USSR and "USPlayer" is the last name of the person playing the US.
Ladder games will have a typcial time limit of 3 months from the date the Round is announced. The limit for a given round can be more or less at the discretion of the Ladder Moderator but must be announced at the start of the round. Players are strongly encouraged to play without delay. The next round will start as soon as the current round is completed, so if all games finish early, then the next round can start right away. Most players prefer playing to waiting, so please keep your Ladder compatriots in mind, especially if you are in a game that looks like it is going to go the full 10 turns.
Players wishing to enter after the start of a round may do so, but must still adhere to the deadline for the current round's completion.
Any games that are not completed within the time limit will go through the following procedure:
- The players will be asked to agree on an outcome.
- If no agreement, then the players will be asked to submit a final game state (or the Moderator may deduce this from the ACTS log) and given an opportunity to make a statement regarding assessment of the position, and the timeliness of play by both sides. The game will then be adjudicated by the Moderator (generally seeking a third party opinion) taking all these factors into account. Decisions will be final. No one game is more important than the timely progress of the Ladder to the next round.
Players may track their game by any mechanism they find convenient. Most common are the TWS Excel Workbook developed by Russ Hewson, et al. (available at
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/51332/excel-spreadshee...), Cyberboard, Vassal and the tactile but tippable real board. Players are encouraged to use the Excel workbook utility as its built in functionality is good for spotting errors and it can greatly facilitate adjudication.
SKIPPING ROUNDSA member of the Ladder may skip any round while maintaining his position on the ladder as long as he notifies the Ladder Moderator. The procedure for this is that the skipper is removed from the ladder, the round is contested, the competitors sorted based on wins/losses, and then the skipper is reinserted at his prior rung, dropping all equal and lower rungs down one. An exception occurs for the top rung. If the competitor at Rung 1 skips a round, he will be reinserted at Rung 2, and any streak of consecutive rounds at the top will be deemed to have been broken. (Thus, each round will always generate a Ladder Champion from the contestants active in that round.)
A competitor may skip 1 consecutive round without notifying the Ladder Moderator, and still keep his rung. However, any further skips without communication will be treated as losses, with the skipper repositioned on the ladder appropriately. Anyone who has missed at least 3 consecutive rounds without communication may, at the discretion of the Moderator, be removed from the ladder to a list of inactive players. Inactive players may be polled (also at the discretion of the Moderator) for participation in future rounds, but must re-enter at the bottom of the ladder.
QUICK ROUNDSQuick Round games will normally be offered to players finishing a round early. Quick Round games play under the same automatic bid rules as regular ladder games. Quick Round games do not affect a player's standing on the ladder, but are recorded for statistical purposes. It is possible that some form of recognition will be given to successful Quick Round players. When a player serves as an eliminator, his performance counts as a Quick Round game for himself (and, of course, as a normal Ladder Game for his opponent.)
STATISTICSThe Ladder Moderator maintains statistics on Ladder and Quick Round outcomes and will, from time to time, make them available to those in the Twilight Struggle community that are interested in questions of play balance, frequency of different game outcomes, etc. A separate set of statistics will be maintained for games played under the CCW variant.
RATING OF GAMESMost games (including Quick Round games) will be submitted to the AREA rating system at the conclusion of each round. Occasionally, exceptions will be made in the case of games conceded or dissolved before either side has established a clear advantage. Decisions on whether games will be submitted for rating are at the sole discretion of the Moderator (though any decision will normally be discussed with the players and possibly third parties to be sure it is equitable.)
JOINING THE LADDERThose wishing to join the Ladder should contact the Moderator directly. Please put the words "TWS ladder" in the subject line.
The current Ladder Moderator is Ron Jacobsen:
ronljacobsen@yahoo.com
The Assistant Ladder Moderator is Philip Thomas: philipthomas693@hotmail.com
Last edited on 2010-02-06 07:45:55 CST (Total Number of Edits: 59)
Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 6:33 pm
