THE NEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Sign Ups Now OPEN!
Posted: 01 Mar 2019, 02:36
If you would like to attend the live audiance, please purchase your tickets ASAP! https://escapetv.uk/nwc/
Ladies & Gentlemen,
This July, EscapeAoE is hosting a four day LAN tournament with $4000 in prizes! Eight players from around the world will be flown to our Manchester studio, all expenses paid, to compete for the title of ‘New World Champion’ and the following prizes! There’s plenty of room for guests too - everyone’s welcome and food & drink will be provided on site. Stay up-to-date with this event on Discord!
- $1400 - 1st
- $800 - 2nd
- $600 - 3rd
- $400 - 4th
- $200 - 5th - 8th
Qualification Tournament,
Sign ups are now open! The top signups will battle it out in a sixty-four player double elimination qualification tournament. This will play out normally until all but eight players are fully eliminated. The survivors will compete in the LAN Playoffs! You have until March 30th to register! Then on March 31st, players will be seeded by a mix of EP & JP Elo.
A) Current EP Elo (1v1) - A player’s ESOC Patch Elo rating at the time signups close.
B) Max JP Elo (1v1) - a player’s highest ever achieved JP Community Elo rating.
Calculated as follows: (A x 2 + B) / 3. The player with the highest calculated rating will be the top seed, the second highest rating will be the second seed and so on.
[spoiler=Why This Elo Weighting?]Competitive AoE3 tournaments have been played on ESOC Patch for the past four years. So we wanted current skill on that patch to be the most important factor in determining the seeding of the bracket. However, it is also customary to acknowledge a players highest rating of all time. For this we decided to use JP Elo as it has been tracking data since 2010 and encompasses competitive games played across all balance patches including previous EP versions. This makes it a much stronger indicator of overall historical skill level which felt appropriate to consider given the gravity of this event and the returning players that may want to compete.[/spoiler]
Activity Requirements:
To be eligible, signups must play a minimum of 15 rated 1v1 games on ESOC Patch during the signup period. This is to ensure seeding accuracy and to give anyone looking to improve their Elo the opportunity to easily find matches.
The ESOC Patch installer can be downloaded here. ESOC Balance changes are detailed here.
Tournament Overview:
Sign ups OPEN! Register here!
March 1st - March 30th
Bracket seeded
March 31st
Qualification Tournament - 7 weeks
[spoiler=April 1st - May 19th]Qualifiers Week 1 - Round of 64 (BO5)
April 1st - April 7th
Qualifiers Week 2 - Round of 32 (BO5) / Lower Bracket Round 1 (BO5)
April 8th - April 14th
Qualifiers Week 3 - Round of 16 (BO5) / Lower Bracket Round 2 (BO5)
April 15th - April 21st
Qualifiers Week 4 - Round of 8 (BO7) / Lower Bracket Round 3 (BO5)
April 22nd - April 28th
Qualifiers Week 5 - Lower Bracket Round 4 (BO5)
April 29th - May 5th
Qualifiers Week 6 - Lower Bracket Round 5 (BO5)
May 6th - May 12th
Qualifiers Week 7 - Lower Bracket Round 6 (BO7)
May 13th - May 19th[/spoiler]
Top 8 Discovered - Visas, flights & accommodation are finalized
May 20th - June
Arrivals Day - Players, casters & guests will arrive in the UK
Wednesday, July 10th
LAN Day 1
Thursday, July 11th
LAN Day 2
Friday, July 12th
LAN Day 3
Saturday, July 13th
LAN Final Day
Sunday, July 14th
Community Hang Out - A day of sun & relaxing before we head home!
Monday, July 15th
SCHEDULE UPDATED:
Wednesday, July 10th: Arrival Day - Players, casters & most guests will arrive in the UK
Thursday, July 11th: LAN Group Stage Day 1
Friday, July 12th: LAN Group Stage Day 2
Saturday, July 13th: LAN Semifinals
Sunday, July 14th: LAN Third place match and GRAND FINAL!
July 15th & 16th: No Stream & studio closed - Most people will travel home - though everyone’s invited to hang out a bit longer!
UPDATED:
Qualifiers: Format, Rules & Settings:
- Standard Supremacy: All series will be played on ESOC patch using standard game rules. This means the Trade Monopoly Victory will be possible on all maps with 3 or more trading posts.
- Civilization rules: Once you have won with a civilization, you may not use it again for the rest of the series. For the 1st game in a series, players will agree on a civilization matchup. For each subsequent game, the winner of the previous game will select their civilization first.
- Series length: All series will be best of 5 except those which will qualify players for the LAN.
- Map Pool: The nine maps below have been selected for The New World Championship. All series will be played on maps drawn from this pool.
- Map Veto Rule: Players may veto one map each per series.
The full rules are outlined here.
Guests Welcome!
Join us in person for the first AoE3 LAN in over ten years! Please be advised that purchasing a ticket (£60) will be necessary to attend - we’ll use the funds to supply refreshments and make an ‘all you can eat’ food van available each evening for dinner! Join the Discord server to stay up to date with the event (even if you can’t come!).
What’s On?
- Four days of awesome Age of Empires 3 LAN tournament action.
- Interviews, an analyst desk and live commentary from Interjection, Mitoe, _H2O & WickedCossack.
- Meet and greet the whole community!
- Party Games
- Studio Tour
- Food & drink provided on site
- 6 PCs on a separate dedicated network for guests to play whatever they fancy
We’ve put together this handy document with all of the transport, accommodation & local information you could ever need to know! We’re located just outside of the city in a town called Leigh which isn’t an expensive place to visit and has great transport links.
By all means book your flights & accommodation! (though please let us know on Discord if you’re coming!)
Map Pool
Summer Kamchatka:
AoE3’s quintessential tournament map. The “bread-and-butter” of competitive 1v1. Since its inception in 2014, Kamchatka has seen some incredible games and has a warm place in our hearts as the first map in a series. A watercourse divides the region and forks in the centre to form an island. Shallow crossings offer passage but only in predictable locations--a keen awareness of your opponent will be rewarded as they can only approach you from limited angles.
[spoiler=Kamchatka Minimap]NOTE: Please enjoy this winter version of the map! Hopefully we'll have the summer variant to show you soon! As of EP6.0, only the Summer variant will spawn until after July 2019.
[/spoiler]
Baja California:
Baja California is an arid peninsular region where colonies are divided by a mountain range. Players must control the wide central mountain pass, or sneak through narrower backdoor chokes as they vy for control of a winding trade route and the surrounding resources, or else spread their influence on the sea.
[spoiler=Baja California Minimap][/spoiler]
Deccan:
Players start on opposing sides of a closed central plateau containing abundant wildlife and natural minerals. Your homecity has taken an interest in the wealth of this region and its valuable trading routes so has supplied your colony with additional starting resource crates to jumpstart your influence in the area and put a wider array of strategic options at your disposal.
[spoiler=Deccan Minimap][/spoiler]
New England:
Players begin on the shores of the New World surrounded by dense forest, lakes, and beautiful unspoiled wilderness. This classic Age of Empires 3 map boasts some unique naval options where warships can play an important role in influencing the mainland and controlling the central trading route. The island just off the coastline offers an excellent strategic position for anyone casting an eye to the surrounding fish stocks.
[spoiler=New England Minimap][/spoiler]
Thar Desert:
Shifting sands and rolling dunes cast long shadows across the Thar Desert. This vast open landscape is far from barren though -- gold is plentiful, and although food is not scarce either, the wild elephants are not easily controlled! Settlers will quickly find themselves out in the open as they venture away from their town in search of food. There is no passing trade in the desert, and the native Udasi offer little by way of alliance--acting mostly as an obstacle which makes controlling the centre of the map much more difficult than it would first seem.
[spoiler=Thar Desert Minimap][/spoiler]
High Plains:
High Plains is a throwback to the classic vanilla Great Plains: a fairly open map where large, plentiful herds of bison roam freely. A long trading route spans across the map; monopolizing this is a surefire way to a powerful economic victory making fierce competition over each post an essential factor in remaining a relevant power in this the region.
[spoiler=High Plains Minimap][/spoiler]
Fertile Crescent:
A pair of rivers divides the Fertile Crescent - your settlement is positioned on the outskirts of the central plain and is faced with a decision... the center represents a solid strategic position, but offers no trade and little in the way of resources compared to the surrounding east and west. Influencing these three regions as well as two seperate trading routes is tough, you can’t be everywhere -- absolute control over the Fertile Crescent is exceedingly challenging.
[spoiler=Fertile Crescent Minimap][/spoiler]
Pampas Sierras:
Wild llamas roam the western Pampain mountains, and new colonies must choose whether to invest into the wealth of livestock, or take their chances picking out the first treasures in the lowlands. This semi-arid region offers no trading routes, though native Incan and Mapuche tribes populate the landscape -- player should watch out for potential alliances that can offer a variety of early aggressive options as well as valuable lategame technologies.
[spoiler=Pampas Sierras Minimap][/spoiler]
Florida:
In the race to colonize the Americas, new arrivals are settling the East Coast quickly! Neighboring trade flows through this bustling region and directly into your new colony. Starting on top of the route, you begin with a market and two trade sites within arms reach. A strong early economy is ensured, especially with coastal fishing up for grabs too, but expanding your trade into the opponents territory will be very challenging. Native Seminole and Carib tribes offer some incredibly powerful archer technologies - beware!
[spoiler=Florida Minimap][/spoiler]