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Asiafortress

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1. Teams and Players

1a. Registration

Teams are to register for the AsiaFortress Cup in the designated Registration Thread, adhering strictly to the format provided in the opening post of the thread. Registration must be posted by the captain of the team.

Registered teams are to observe the following restrictions:

A minimum of six and maximum of ten total players, inclusive of team captains.
A maximum of one primary captain, maximum of two secondary captains. Captains are responsible for all aspects of team management, including but not limited to scheduling, attending matches, and liaising with AsiaFortress administration in the event of a dispute. The primary captain will be our main point of contact and the secondary captains will be contacted in the event they are uncontactable.
Rostered players must not be subject to an active AsiaFortress Cup ban.
Rostered captains must not be subject to an active AsiaFortress Cup captain ban.
Rostered players must have never received a VAC ban for Team Fortress 2.
All teams and rostered players must have appropriate names. If a name is deemed to be inappropriate, the team captain will be informed at the earliest convenience and be given until Division seeding is announced to submit a different name to the AsiaFortress administration. Should the team captain fail to do so within the given timeframe, the AsiaFortress administration will select a different name at their own discretion.
Each player may only be on one team's roster.

1b. Roster Lock and Transfer Windows

Upon conclusion of registration, rosters will be locked until the Transfer Windows. The first Transfer Window will take place during the fourth week of the regular season, while the second will be during the last week of the regular season.

Roster changes take effect only after the conclusion of the Transfer Window. In other words, players obtained in the first Transfer Window will only be on the roster from Week 5 onwards, while players obtained in the second will only be on the roster for playoffs. In any given Transfer Window, a maximum of two players may be added to the roster.

1c. Disbanding

Teams will be considered inactive and disbanded upon forfeiting three or more of their regular season matches, or upon informing AsiaFortress Administrators of their intent to disband. If a team is disbanded in this fashion, all of their previous opponents will be granted retroactive forfeit wins. We encourage teams having internal troubles to contact a Division Administrator either for aid in resolving said issues or to inform them of the team's disbanding. If Administrators deem (on a case-by-case basis) that a disbanded team has failed to take steps towards avoiding disbandment, the captain will be held responsible by being barred from captaining any AsiaFortress team for one season.

2. Tournament Format

2a. Divisions

Teams will be seeded and then split into 3 divisions based on their players' experience and past results in AsiaFortress competitions. While you may indicate your team's preferred division on the registration form, be aware that this allocation is ultimately done at the discretion of AsiaFortress administration in the interest of maximising competition and is therefore non-negotiable.

2b. Regular Season

The regular season will consist of seven weeks, during each of which teams will play two maps. Map ties may occur during the regular season; as such, no Golden Caps will take place during the regular season. The top four teams in each division will proceed to the playoffs.

Division 1 will play the regular season in a round-robin format, where each team plays each other once. Teams will be ranked first by map wins, then (in the event of a tie) the head to head result between tied teams, then (if said result was also a tie) total round wins.

Division 2 will play the regular season in the Swiss format, where the next match is determined by the results of previous matches. Teams will be ranked first by match wins, followed by map wins, then (in the event of a tie) the head to head result between tied teams, then (if said result was also a tie) total round wins.

2c. Playoffs

The top four teams in each division will enter the playoffs, after being seeded according to their results in the regular season. Playoffs will be in the double elimination format.

Each playoff match will be a best-of-three, with the exception of the grand finals for Division 1, which will be best-of-five. Teams will alternately ban and pick maps from the provided pool to determine what maps are played in what order. Every map must have a winner, hence Golden Cap rules will be enforced during playoffs.

3. Pre/Post-Match Responsibilities

3a. Scheduling

Match threads will be posted on each division’s respective subforum on the Monday of each match week. Team captains are to discuss with each other over a medium such as Steam Chat or Discord in hopes of finding a suitable time for the match. Upon agreeing on a time, team captains are to post chat logs on the match thread, clearly indicating the date and time of the match and the agreement of both teams.

Should the opposing team captain fail to respond, team captains may also propose a date and time for the match on the match thread. The responsibility then falls on the opposing team to counter-propose an alternate timing on the match thread before whichever of the following timings is later:


Friday 23:59 (UTC+8) of the match week
24 hours before the proposed match time


Should the opposing team fail to respond by the stipulated time or reject the proposed match time without counter-proposing, the match time will be fixed at the initially proposed time. In the interests of allowing teams sufficient time to respond, all proposed timings must be a minimum of 24 hours from the time of the proposal post.

If neither team leader makes a scheduling post on the match thread by Friday 2359 (UTC+8), a division administrator will post a match time on the thread. This time will be taken as final unless both team leaders are able to agree on an alternate timing and post chat logs on the thread.

3b. Match Postponement

The AsiaFortress administration provides key dates prior to the season, and hence teams and players are expected to plan around them and ensure they are free at least once a week for the entire duration of the tournament. As such, postponing matches to be played at a date later than the stipulated match week is strongly discouraged. However, if absolutely necessary, approach one of the division administrators to discuss the postpone as soon as possible, and it will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

If a team wishes to postpone a match, the team leader must make a post on the match thread before a time is fixed. In other words, the postpone must be done either within the stipulated response time to the opposing team’s match proposal, or in the event of the other team not proposing a time, by Friday 2359 (UTC+8). The team postponing must clearly state:

When they wish to postpone to (a specific date within the following week)
The reason for their postpone
Chat logs showing the other team's agreement to playing the match in the indicated week


3c. Forfeits

In the event that a team fails to attend or is unable to both attend and postpone any given match, a forfeit win will be awarded to their opponents. A team that forfeits greater than two matches will be treated as inactive, and thus disqualified from the tournament. A team disqualified in this way will then be treated as though it had disbanded, and will face similar penalties.

3d. Map Selection

As mentioned earlier, teams must pick and ban maps for each playoff match. Bans and picks will be done from the whole mappool, with the home team banning one map followed by the away team banning one map. The away team will then pick the first map, followed by the home team picking the second and third map. In the event of a best-of-five series, the away team will decide the remaining map order. This process must be completed by 24 hours before the stipulated match time, else the division administrator will select map order himself and post it on the match thread. If this occurs, map order will then be non-negotiable; it is thus the duty of the team captains involved to ensure that the map selection process is completed in a timely fashion. If the opposing team captain fails to respond within a reasonable timeframe, contact your division administrator. A forfeit will be reported as a 1-0 for each map on the challonge brackets.

3e. Score Reporting

Upon completion of the match, the team captain of the winning team is to post the results on the match thread. Score posts should clearly state the winner, scoreline, and if necessary, mercenaries used for each map, as well as link to the logs of the match. If logs are unavailable, a screenshot of the scoreboard at the end of the map should be provided. Score report posts should be done immediately after match completion.

Please note that scores will be finalised and no longer subject to change 24 hours from the first report post. Team captains are responsible for confirming the correct scoreline is submitted before this deadline — late disputes will not be entertained.

4. Matches

4a. Punctuality and Attendance

Each team is expected to have all their players in the server by at most twenty minutes after the scheduled match time. Should a team fail to adhere to this timing, their opponents may opt to claim a forfeit win.

4b. Mercenaries

In the event that a team cannot field a full team at the stipulated match time for whatever reason, they may elect to bring in an unrostered player to act as a mercenary for said match. During the regular season, mercenary usage is subject to the following restrictions:

A maximum of two mercenaries may be used in any given match (i.e. a team must field a bare minimum of four players to play the match)
Mercenaries may be used a maximum of six times total throughout the season. Take note that using two mercenaries in a single match will be counted as two usages. Using more will result in a team being treated as inactive, and disbandment penalties will apply.
Mercenaries may be chosen without the consent of the other team if they are registered in a team participating in a lower division. Players who do not fulfil this condition may still be brought in as mercenaries, but only subject to the approval of the opposing team.
In all cases, the team using a mercenary must clearly and honestly communicate both the identity of the mercenary and the reason he is being employed.
In no circumstance may a mercenary be employed in place of an available rostered player.
Mercenaries must be reported together with the scores in the match thread.


During playoffs, a further restriction applies. A maximum of one mercenary per match may be used, and mercenary usage must be approved by the division administrator prior to each usage.

4c. Servers

Any server that has been can load the latest AFC configs and maps may be used. Ideally, a server should have minimal choke, loss, stuttering and ping difference between the two teams. If a server satisfactory for both teams cannot be found, they are to use an official AsiaFortress server that provides the lowest average ping difference.

4d. Unlocks, Map Pool and Rule Set

AsiaFortress competitions use the global whitelist. Please refer here to familiarise yourself with the weapons allowed.

Classes are limited to two each of Scouts, Soldiers, Pyros, Snipers, and Spies, and one each of Demos, Heavies, Engineers, and Medics.

The map pool can be found in the key dates thread. In the event that the server being used is not running the latest version of a given map, an older version may be played provided that both teams agree.

At the time of this writing, all AsiaFortress maps are either in the 5CP or KOTH format. 5CP maps are to be played to either a time limit of 30 minutes or a difference of five rounds, whichever happens sooner. KOTH maps are to be played as a best of five rounds, with no time limit.

During the regular season, map draws are allowed, hence for 5CP maps, the scoreline at the end of thirty minutes is to be taken as final. During playoffs, each map must have a conclusive winner; in the event of a tie after thirty minutes, a Golden Cap is to be played. The Golden Cap is a single round with no time limit, and whoever wins it will win the map.

4e. Pausing

Each team is allowed one pause per map at any time for technical issues. These can include:

Player losing connection
Server issues

The reason for pausing must be clearly communicated to the other team before any player on the server may pause.

Each pause may last a maximum of 5 minutes unless given consent by the opponent team. Once the pause limit is up, the opponent team is allowed to resume the game. The pausing team will face penalties if they do not adhere to the pause limit.

The game cannot be resumed without giving proper warning to the opponent team.

5. Offenses and Penalties

5a. Cheating

Cheating of any kind in an AsiaFortress competition is strictly forbidden. Cheating, here, is defined as either exploiting unintended aspects of the game or employing third-party software to gain an unfair advantage over other players. This includes, but is not limited to:


Using HUD elements to remove the sniper scope
Changing loadout to move back a spawn while retaining Ubercharge
Using glitches to deliberately exit the normally playable area of the map
Any form of aim assistance


In addition, receiving a VAC ban for TF2 at any time will be treated equivalently to being caught cheating in an official match, and similar penalties will apply.

5b. Alternate Accounts

Usage of alternate accounts is not necessarily forbidden; it is, however, discouraged and subject to a number of restrictions. Alternate accounts may not be used to circumvent active AsiaFortress bans, nor may they be used to disguise one's identity to play in a division lower than their actual skill. Account sharing is also strictly prohibited; a single account may not be used by more than one player in AsiaFortress matches. Conversely, players are also not allowed to have more than one account participating in the same competition. Any violation of the above rules will lead to the player in question and possibly his team being subject to penalties.

6. Post Season

6a. Receiving of Medals

Successful completion of an AsiaFortress Cup season earns players in all participating teams medals. To be eligible for a medal, a player must:

Be rostered on a participating AsiaFortress Cup team that did not drop out mid-season
Play at least TWO FULL MAPS for the team they are rostered on

This rule also applies to players acquired through the two Transfer Windows. Thus, if a player decides to transfer to another team, they must play at least one match for the destination team to be eligible for the medal that team receives.