1 - General info

1. These rules are specific to the Seasons of the NSL on NS2.
2. General rules apply, just as for any contest of the NSL.
3. The season is scheduled to start on the 1st of September 2013, and end the 3rd of November 2013.
4. Teams from all over the world will be divided into skill based divisions, based on previous results, As an example, Premiere Division gathers the 8 best-seeded teams from the seedings, the top 4 will go on to the playoffs. Division 1 will consist of the following teams on the seeding list and will consist of 8-16 teams, depending on number of signups. Division 2 and following Divisions will always consist of 16 teams, split into 2 groups of 8 teams, where the top 2 of each group goes on to the semifinals and plays teams from the other group. The buttom Division might be an 8 team division if it seems to fit.

2 - Structure

2.a - Season

1. Each team of each division will play against every team of its division group, playing one game per week.
2. Every week, two maps will be chosen. All the matches of that week will have to be played on these two maps, in the given order on the match page. In a match TeamA vs TeamB, as shown on the site. TeamA start playing as Marines.
3. Winning one round will earn your team one point. You can earn up to 4 points in a match.
4. In case of a tie on points between teams in a group for the top 2 or top 4 placements, it needs to be decided who has upper placement by following order: a) Results in direct comparison b) "Best of 1 map" tie breaker match. Which are played similar to the finals and 3rd deciders(see 2.b.4 - Final phases), starting with a coinflip.
5. Note that the admins can punish your team by reducing your number of points if rules were to be violated by your team or your team members.

2.b - Final phases

1. If your division consists of two groups, the top 2 teams of each division group will make it into the final phases. The 1st placed team from Group A will meet the 2nd placed team from Group B, and the other way around.
2. If your division consist of just a single group, the top 4 teams will make it into the final phases. The team with the 1st place will meet the 4th place while 2nd place will meet 3rd place.
3. The first part of the final phases is the semifinals. The semifinals are played as "Best of 3 maps", which means you can win the match by reaching 4 rounds won before the 3 full maps are over. If the teams tie after 3 full maps, they keep playing another full map until there is a winner, you have to be in the lead with 2 rounds to win. The winning team has to win with both aliens and marines at some point in the match. In the semfinals there are no coinflips. The 'higher placed team' of the matchup will be considered 'coinflip winner' and will decide either a map OR race(alien/marine), while the 'lower placed team' gets the other pick. The races switch every round, even across several maps. Every map is played twice so both teams play every race once per map. The choice of map switches from team to team every map, regardless of who picked the first map. Each map of the mappool can only be picked once, unless the entire mappool have been played. The same map can't be picked twice in a row in case the entire mappool have been played.
4. The winners of the semifinals then goes into the finals of the division. While the losers plays 3rd place decider bronze match of the division. Finals and 3rd place decider matches are "Best of 3 maps", which means you can win the match by reaching 4 rounds won before the 3 full maps are over. If the teams tie after 3 full maps, they keep playing another full map until there is a winner, you have to be in the lead with 2 rounds to win. In both finals and 3rd decider matches there will be a coinflip to decide the coinflip winners, and then procedure will be the same as semifinals.

2.c - Ups and Downs

1. If your division consists of 8 teams in one group, only the top team(except in the top division) of the division will play up/down match against the buttom team of the division above.
2. If your division consists of 16 teams and 2 groups, top 3 in your division(except the top division) and Buttom 3 of the division above you(except the buttom division) plays eachother after the season is over, and before the next season. This is to be able to move seedings across divisions for the next season.
3. If the upper division is cosists of 8 teams and the lower division consists of 16 teams, then the procedure is like 8 teams in one group. (see section 2.c.1) Only one team from the lower division gets the ability to move their seeding into the upper division.
4. Buttom placements are found by the team having least points in the division, disbanded teams will cause less up/down matches.
5. The matches are played like regular group matches. 2 maps 4 rounds.
6. Teams decide one map from the mappool each, the team from the upper division decides first map and plays marines first.

• Coming from the lower division, winning the match 3-1 or 4-0 gives you the seed just above the team from the upper division.

• If it's a tie, the team coming from the lower division gets the seed just below the team from the upper division. The top team from a division(the one from the lower division) can also get this placement by losing 1-3.

• If the team from the upper division wins 3-1 or 4-0, the seeds are unchanged, unless the lower division team was division winner, then this would only happen if the upper division team wins 4-0.

2.d - Seeding matches

1. New teams that havent played in the season before are considered unseeded, they can however play any teams from the previous seasons to aquire a seeding so we can place you in the correct divisions. We recommend trying to find equal opponents as we can't estimate much from 0-4 losses. We will contact unseeded teams to help them find some opponents.
2. You can set up a maximum of 2 seeding matches, but you only need 1 seeding match with a tie or a win to aquire a seeding. Start low on the list and use the second match for climbing up or further down.
3. Your opponents always have to be aware that it's a seeding match as we will confirm the result with them. Practice matches will NOT be considered as seeding matches!
4. Seeding matches are played just like Ups and Downs (check section 2.c). with the new team being considered the team from the lower division. If you only play a single seeding match with a tie or win, your seeding placement will be made like the Ups and Downs. If you play both seeding matches, seeding placement will vary from results and opponent strengh, since there might be several games to judge from.
5. To find a team to play against, look at the Current seedings and the signup list for the season to find out who you should play against to get placed in your desired division. Try not to overestimate or underestimate your own team, we know this is hard, that's why we allow for 2 seeding matches. Try to start off with a team just around the low/middle-end of the list, depending on how you percieve your own team. Then you can use your second match to either crawl down on the list or climb up, again depending on how your previous match went and how you percieve your team.
6. PM swalk with results from these matches.
7. If these matches are not played before the signups for the season closes, your team will be given the lowest seed of your region, shared with other teams with no seeding. We do not recommend anyone to do this. Your division will become random skill level instead of equal opponents.
8. If a team that has a seeding decline to play seeding matches and are signed up for the upcoming season, they will get a point punishment in the group play, unless they have played at least 2 seeding matches already. Please report any declines on seeding matches by PM swalk

2.e - Matches

1. Once you know your weekly opponents, contact them as soon as possible to set up the match. Make a good habit out of contacting your opponents at least some days before the default time.
2. If you cannot arrange a date and time with the opposing team, contact a referee to get help to sort it out. Due to having teams from all over the world, some teams must play at inconvient times depending on the timezones. That will obviously limit alot of teams to playing matches with a big timezone difference to during the weekends. You can't expect the other team to be able to play around the default times due to the many timezones. We don't expect teams to set up times during their nighttime, but during daytime you have to be flexible.
3. If the match under no circumstances can be played during the week, it is possible to play it later in the season. Don't forget to inform the admins about it via the match comments.
4. Confirm the match times on your match pages! You can find the links on each weeks news post. Both teams must confirm time and day of matches in the comments, even if they choose not to use it as a communication platform! It is also required if you are playing at the default time we have set! It is needed for admins, referees and casters. Matches that does not have a schedule or communication on the match page a week past the default time will get forfeited. If the teams can't agree on a time, it's a double forfeit. If only one team tried to communicate on the match page, they will win by forfeit. Forfeited matches can be played later in the season if the teams agree to play the match. Remember, there is no honor in winning by forfeit.

3. Maps

1. The following maps are in this seasons mappool: 

• ns2_nsl_biodome (ModID: A8C04E7) by ObliviousSight
• ns2_nsl_descent (ModID: 7d527cc) by Mendasp
• ns2_nsl_jambi (ModID: 9d2eabc) by xtcmen
• ns2_nsl_summit (ModID: 735cebc) by Mendasp
• ns2_nsl_tram (ModID: 7741098) by Mendasp
• ns2_nsl_veil (ModID: 78ac3ed) by Mendasp

4. Servers

1. Teams have to agree on a correct server for their matches.
2. Don't forget that the servers must have the NSL-enforced modifications else the match may be discarded.
3. If possible, try to use the NSL Official Servers instead of a clan's server, that way you can be certain about the server settings.
4. The server must have the NSL Mod (ModID: a2ddae8) installed. Follow this link for a feature list.
5. Server location can either be home/away format. Where each team can use a server from their region for one of the two maps, which must also be chosen to minimize ping for the other team. Or you can agree on a middleground server for all the maps.
6. Server consistency checking must look like this:
   {
   
   "restrict": [ "lua/entry/*.entry" ],
   "check": [ "game_setup.xml", "*.lua", "*.hlsl", "*.shader", "*.screenfx", "*.surface_shader", "*.fxh", "*.render_setup", "*.shader_template", "*.level", "*.dds", "*.jpg", "*.png", "*.cinematic", "*.material", "*.model", "*.animation_graph", "*.polygons", "*.fev", "*.fsb", "*.entry" ]
   
   "ignore": [ "ui/crosshairs.dds", "ui/crosshairs-hit.dds", "ui/exosuit_HUD1.dds", "ui/exosuit_HUD4.dds", "ui/marine_minimap_blip.dds", "ui/minimap_blip.dds" ]
   
   }
7. PROTIP: How to set your server up.
   

5. Joining a team

1. You can change your team's line-up throughout the whole season.
2. After the signups close, new members to the team have a one league-week waiting period before they can play for your team. Join date and default times are taken into account. This rule is to prevent abusive clan-jumping. As an exception; new players can join a team during the first week without the waiting period, as long as they weren't signed up for another team in the season. The waiting period can be overridden by the substitutes rules, see section 6 below.

6. Substitutes

1. A team may use up to two substitutes for a given match (as many rounds as necessary)
2. Subs should be of inferior or roughly equal skill level to the members of the team he will play with.
3. As a consequence, if the sub is member of another NSL team, his team must be in the same division or in a division below the team's division.
4. Subs are allowed only if the other team agrees on the players substituting. Dismissing players of roughly equal skill level with the opposing team is considered unsportsmanlike, a referee or admin can override the decision if nessesary.
5. Substitutes must be registered on the ENSL website.
6. NSL would like to remind teams that it is more fun and challenging to beat a 6-man team than a 5 or a 4-man team, and that you should allow substitutes as long as they seem fair.

7. During the match

1. Don't forget to be on time! You may receive a forfeit loss if your players are too late and the other team has its players.
2. Players must use the same nickname ingame as on the ENSL website. Using your team's tag is also mandatory.
3. All players need to record their matches, and keep the demo for at least one week. Exception: if both teams mutually agree to not record their match AND a referee is spectating the match, demos are not required. In that case both teams need to confirm this agreement on the match page. But please remember that the administration possibly can't validate a post request/complaint without demos.
4. If a player can not provide his demo one week after the request by NSL admins, he will get a punishment.
5. Alt+Tab breaks recordings, so if you Alt+Tab during a match, you have to disconnect, "stop" your demo in console, and start a new demo.
6. PROTIP: How to record a demo

8. Punishments

1. Major exploits : Match loss, depending on the case.
2. Racism, excessive swearing, insults : after warnings, if the player does not change his behaviour, a 1-week ban will be enforced. Repeated offenses will call for longer bans.
3. Cheating : 1-year ban

9. Prohibited known exploits

1. Enabling silent mode as a Marine thanks to a ladder.
2. Placing buildings where it should not be possible.
3. Full speed during cloak bug.
4. Placing gorge tunnels in vents.
5. Macros or scripts, for example to fire pistol faster.

10. Prohibited client modifications

1. Any modification giving an unfair advantage, ex.: model-changing, colour-changing, etc.
2. ONLY custom crosshairs, transparent maps/map colour changes are allowed.

11. Referees and Shoutcasters

1. Any referee or shoutcaster attending for a match MUST be registred on the ENSL site as such and must also be signed up for the match.
   
2. If there is a shoutcaster or referee present at your match that is not registred on the ENSL site, or someone else that does not belong there, you should report it immediately to the admins.
3. Any livestreams must have a delay of minimum 3 minutes/180 seconds, always be certain this is the case when you are doing livestreams. Many teams are often watching the stream on another computer while they play. Having no delay is not acceptable.
4. Only one referee may be present at a match. Several referees is not ideal, it leads to confusion for the teams so it is not allowed. It needs to be clear for the teams who is in charge, being a referee is not a free spectator slot. If you run into problems as a referee, consult with the season admin/head admin/other admins/another referee depending on availablitity in the written order. In other words, the season admin is the admin of the contest. That is your go-to guy if he is available.
5. Referees are not allowed to referee in a match in which their own team is playing.

All the above rules may change during the season at Season Admin's discretion.