Bonesea & Mercedini
official bid for
Baptism of Fire 64
official bid for
Baptism of Fire 64
Welcome
Welcome to Bonesea & Mercedini’s bid to host Baptism of Fire 64. We present to you a bid that we feel observes the expected standards of the community for this important competition, which may be a debut for future champion RPers and therefore requires quality management and input. At the same time, whilst not stepping too far outside the boundaries of expectation, we hope to provide a feature-added competition which the EWCC will find attractive and the participants will enjoy being a part of.
The Hosts
The user behind Bonesea is a returning WCC & EWCC member who, as Wight, hosted a World Cup (64) and Cup of Harmony (54) as well as editions of several minor competitions - World Cuppet, World Indoor Soccer Championships, a short period running the Cygnus Cup and founding & hosting three editions of the RP challenge competition the Brevity Challenge Cup. Strong support for RP development and reliable scorination has been the trademark of Wight/Bonesea’s hosting duties, which now includes the foundation of the new non-regional Independents Cup beginning before the Baptism of Fire.
Mercedini may seem like a new and inexperienced nation on the block, but has hosted several events and tournaments in its short existence. Mercedini hosted the inaugural Mercedinian Open (tennis) as well as the 52nd WorldVision Song Contest, both of these events delivered on time, with efficiency and without error or delay. The user behind Mercedini also has good knowledge of the scorinating process, as he has scorinated games for his domestic league as well as Great Palkia's NS Gold Division/Premier League. The user is also very active on NS Sports which means time can be put into the tournament to ensure that the Baptism of Fire can run efficiently and ensure that all users are involved in the tournament as much as possible. He will be fully supported by his bid partner to make the step up into WCC-sanctioned events and become a regular quality host on NS Sports.
Format & Schedule
We note an optimum number of 32 participants for the ideal tournament size, with groups of 4 leading to a sixteen-team knockout phase, but of course we are willing to go larger if sign-ups require it; we would be prepared to go up to 48 (32, 36, 40 & 48). 40 would suit groups of 5, then 48 with groups of 6 which would be our limit.
On culling where numbers don’t fit the required formats; as bid winners we would start to place markers in the sign-up thread when milestones are reached, so rather than cut back, we are clear that additional teams are on a wait list until the next milestone of sign-ups. For example - "we have 32 teams for the BoF; further sign-ups will be on wait and only accepted if we reach 36" etc. It keeps it transparent for new entrants.
Start-up of the competition will be co-ordinated with World Cup hosts, WC officals and WCC nations to start in a timely manner when sign-ups are sufficient and plateauing. We expect this is likely to be around second week of January; we can respond according to the concensus in the community. The tournament will last two weeks maximum, depending on sign-ups and group sizes. Where possible we will look to scorinate every 48 hours throughout the tournament, but if the size means reducing to a 24-hour cycle we will obviously advise in advance.
Scorination & RP Bonus
The tournament will be scorinated by way of xkoranate 0.3.3 SQIS formula using XK additive style modifiers. There will be generous RP bonuses emphasising quality over quantity and beginning with the initial roster post. Extra challenges and RP fodder provided for tournament participants (see below) are not requirements of RP and participants can choose to ignore them without penalty.
Group tie-breakers will be as follows;
1. Points
2. Overall GD
3. H2H Points
4. H2H GD
5. Tie-Breaker Match
We prefer overall GD to H2H because it is a group campaign and where possible we want campaign superiority to trump individual match superiority. We have left out goals scored and H2H goals scored entirely because that favours users who select a higher attacking modifier, which breaks the inherent trust we have in the scorinator that all styles are equal under Margaret.
We will factor time into the schedule for the unlikely scenario that a tie-breaker match is required; generally as stated above we will look at 48-hour breaks between matches, at least from the knockout stages, and there will be room there to have a tie break 24 hours between end of the group stage and the round of 16. There is close real-life precedent for those who favour realism with replays in the plan for 1934 & 1938 World Cups, and used in the latter tournament (albeit there weren’t groups so the replays were after knockout draws). We propose that should such unlikely occurence be necessary, this tie-breaker game does not count toward KPB, as per WC qualifying play-off matches.
Extras
We plan to provide extra IC detail of the tournament to help new RPers. It wouldn't affect structure, but as participants we really like to work off a good hosts' provision of details, as inspiration. It seems only right in a starter tournament to pass that encouragement on where we can.
Who knows what’s going on in the host nation better than the host? Providing some additional material which people can use or choose to ignore will be part of the process for us; first in the OP(s) with lots of detail about the host nations. And then each cut-off is a chance to add a little colour through host updates about the competition, or the country, or the weather. We are not committing to huge host RPing - let the participants do that - but a few snippets, each cut-off, as extra material for participants to work with. This might be especially useful in the BoF with many new RPers finding their feet, and will be things like the first two or three lines of the major in-country news story of the day; national VIPs & celebrities spotted at matches; weather & transport updates; places to go/see/drink/dance/fight etc. Just a few examples.
We will also revive an additional offer from Wight & NMS’ World Cup hosting days: goal of the tournament. We as hosts will pick out & nominate the best described goals - as in the description is the best, not necessarily the goal itself - and then at the end of the tournament put up a shortlist for vote to the community. It was quite well supported last time *although controversy reigned when Val Kylx failed to even make the shortlist.
Closing Notes
Gift watches, rare stamp collections, hotel suites, development grants and overpaid job offers for close family members notwithstanding, we hope the EWCC enjoy our BoF bid and we will endeavour to answer any questions you may have.
