BF3 Campaign 3 System

Introduction

Preamble

Battlefield 3 is a tactical first-person shooter set in the modern era, and is developed and distributed by EA Games.

At Global Conflict the multi-player aspects of the game are utilized to simulate a conflict between two organized corporations. Members join a side and agree to abide by the rules of that corporation and to participate in the campaign as outlined in the Campaign System that follows. The Campaign is played out using the original (vanilla) BF3 and the Back to Karkand (B2K) expansion pack.

Each corporation is headed by a High Command (HC) that will be comprised of well known and respected members, selected prior to the start each new campaign. The HC is responsible for the smooth running of their army. The HC will accomplish this through the delegation of authority in a manner of their choosing. This authority will not extend to breaching the Rules of Global Conflict and in any case will not supercede the authority of the Tournament Admins or of the Executive.

The guiding principle of the campaign shall be an attitude and display of gentlemanly and sportsmanlike conduct. If any rule in its interpretation or implementation should breach these generally accepted principles then this rule must be adapted to comply. If any rule is unclear in its interpretation then it must be applied with this guiding principle determining its intent and outcome.

The rules behind this campaign are based in part from borrowed elements of the board game ‘Risk’ and other rules developed by our community. The goal of the Campaign is to gain control of either 70% of the territories available on the Campaign Map or all of the opposing corporation's military bases, or to force the other side into surrender. The Campaign Map will be illustrated and hosted on the home page of Global-Conflict.org. As the campaign progresses the campaign map will be updated to reflect the ebb and flow of each corporation's divisions and territories.

Definitions

• Corporation: One of two factions competing for world domination on the campaign map. Sometimes referred to as "army", "empire", or "PMC", which stands for "Private Military Corporation."

• Map: a Battlefield 3 map in a specific game mode and size, e.g. "Caspian Border, Conquest Small"

• Territory: A tile on the campaign map, corresponding to one Battlefield 3 map.

• HQ: Headquarters are the supply center of a corporation. New divisions are trained at headquarters. Each corporation will have two corporate HQ's.

• Division: A game piece on the campaign map which represents the amount of military strength in a territory. Each division is represented by one round of play in game. Divisions are sometimes referred to as "armies."

• Net Worth, WCP: Net worth represents the total financial and military power of a corporation. Net Worth is measured in World Control Points. Each territory is worth 1 WCP.

• General, HC: Because each corporation is effectively a private army, their leaders are traditionally referred to as generals. The highest-ranked officers in each corporation are referred to as the high command (HC).

• TA: Tournament Administrators are a group of dedicated GC veterans who run the day-to-day functioning of the campaign. They are the "referees" who police the fairplay rules and administer all aspects of the tournament.

• Executive Senate: The Executive Senate (sometimes called "execs" or "senators") is Global Conflict's highest governing body, made up of veterans who have been active in the community for years. Whereas the TA's run the tournament itself, the Executive Senate is responsible for the overall health of the community. Its members select the TA's and generals, and have the final say in all disputes.

Campaign Initialization

Before a campaign begins, the Executive Senate will select volunteers from the community to serve as Generals and Tournament Administrators. From here, the TA's and HC's will set a timeline for the following steps

1. Selecting territories
2. Selecting maps
3. Drafting officers
4. Drafting players
5. Initial campaign map placements

Territory Selection Process

To set the initial owners of territories on the campaign map, the TA's will meet with both HC's for the territory draft.

A coin toss will determine first pick, and each HC will alternate picking one territory at a time until all available territories are claimed.

Map Selection Process

It is up to each HC to choose a BF3 map corresponding to each territory on the campaign map.

The TA's will create an official maplist for the campaign. This list must specify a game mode/size for each map, and a map may be duplicated.

Once the list is created, and after the territory draft, a map draft will be held. First pick will go to the loser of the coin toss from the territory draft, and corporations will alternate selecting maps from the list.

Campaign Map Placements

THE FOLLOWING STEPS WILL BE TAKEN BY EACH HC WITHOUT THE OTHER HC’S KNOWLEDGE

Map Placement

• After the territories and maps have been selected, the HC’s will then place their maps on their territories in private. This allows each corporation to protect critical territories with maps they can confidently hold, while creating fog of war for the enemy corporation.

Once map assignments are submitted to the tournament admins, they can never be changed. However, the TA's may allow exceptions at their discretion, for example if new patches fundamentally change the balance of a map.

With each map assignment, the HC must also announce which in-game side it will defend from. The defending side may be changed at any time, but there is a five day "relocation time." Changes must be announced by Monday SBT before the battleday it will take effect.

If the territory is attacked within that time, the defender will play from the original defending side. The defending side is always revealed when the map name is, and any changes are broadcast to the other army once it's been revealed.

Division Placement

• Each corporation will receive 55 divisons for each territory that it holds. These divisions will be placed by the corporation's HC. Every territory must be occupied by at least one division. Additional divisions are used to reinforce territories at the discretion of each HC.

• • Along with division placements, each corporation will place it's two headquarters.
  • Once placed, these headquarters can not be moved for the remainder of the campaign.

Territory Battle Days

General Rules

Timing

• Territory battles begin every Saturday at SBT.
  • TA's and HC's can agree to skip a Saturday for holidays or other reasons
  • If an attack starts late because the attacker was not ready, this time is not refunded at the end
    • However, if the attack starts late for some other reason (e.g. server issues), the time is refunded at the end
  • If the server crashes during a round, the TA's will decide whether to
    1. If many tickets remain or it's very close, cancel the round and add time on at the end
    2. Otherwise, declare the army that was ahead in tickets the winner of the round
  • After SBT+5:45, no new round can begin, unless time is added on by the TAs due to earlier delays. Any round in progress can continue and still counts.
  • The attacker must take a 30 minute break between SBT+2.5 and SBT+3.5, but can decide where it falls in that time (but they're encouraged to aim for SBT+2.75). After the break, we swap servers.

• Each battleday has one attacker, who chooses which territories to assault, and one defender, who must protect territories for the whole battleday.
  • The corporation with the attack initiative tries to attack as many territories as it can
  • The defender tries to stall the attacks, limiting the damage.
  • This means attackers set the tempo. They announce when a round should be live and can take as long or as little as they need to prepare.
  • Defenders always get 30 minutes before the first map, and 10 minutes before each subsequent map, to prepare. After that, the attacker can request live at any time.
• Should the battle day end prematurely due to a lack of numbers on the defensive side, then this side will be required to forfeit one round for every thirty (30) minutes lost before the scheduled end of the battle day.
  • This forfeit will be rounded upwards.
  • Should no attacking move be declared, the defensive side may choose which divisions to forfeit.

• The corporation with the attack initiative must announce their first attack by Thursday SBT before the battleday, at which point TA's will announce the map on it.
  • If attackers miss the 48-hour deadline, they will be told the map at SBT-30 min.
  • Defenders are never told the attack until SBT-30 min.
  • If the attackers announce after SBT-30 min, defenders are entitled to 30min of setup time. Attackers can sacrifice one division to play immediately at SBT.

• Every round will start with a 120-second countdown. To be counted as live, it must start with a TA announcing "LIVE LIVE LIVE" over all chat.
  • An attacker cannot cancel a live round partly through, but the TA's can rule a "false start" if needed

Risk Rules

• For each attack, attackers must announce the destination territory, the number of divisions being used, and the source territories
  • A corporation cannot re-attack a territory until their second attack turn following their initial attack on that territory.
  • An attack can be amassed with divisions from multiple territories. These territories must be in direct contact with the territory to be attacked, unless the para-drop rule is invoked
  • A territory can never be left empty. One division must always be left on it at all times.
• Division number limits
  • The number of divisions defending a territory will not be revealed until at least one round has been won by the attacking corporation.
  • The first attack of a battleday must use at least 3 divisions
  • Every territory has a max attackers limit of 5 divisions.
  • Every territory has a max defenders limit, which is 5 divisions for most maps but can be set lower by TA's for heavily defender-biased maps.
• Territory battles will be conducted as follows:
  1. The corporations will play the same side for all rounds on a map, they will not alternate sides. The defender's side will be chosen in the initial map placements.
  2. The number of winning rounds required for a successful outcome is equal to the number of opposing corporation divisions in play.
  3. Maps will be played at 175% ticket count, but the TAs reserve the right to alter the ticket count of any map as needed.

Attack Sequence

THE ATTACK TURN FORMALLY BEGINS WHEN THE PREVIOUS TURN ENDS AT THE END OF SATURDAY'S BATTLE.

Step 1: Opening Moves

This is the attacking corporation's movement of divisions to amass them for attack.

• The attacking corporation can redistribute it's divisions to any adjoining occupied territory.
  • All territories must remain occupied at all times by at least one division.
  • Each individual division can only move one territory in preparation to attack.
  • Divisions can move between checkpoints without penalty.

Step 2: Attacking

This is the phase in which the attacking corporation moves its divisions into the defending corporation's territory for the purpose of capturing it.

• The attacking corporation will state how many divisions it is attacking with.
• For each round played the loser of the round must remove one division and place it in the "refund" pool for later re-distribution.
• The attack will continue until one side has run out of divisions, or until the attacker calls for a retreat.
  • The defender is obliged to defend to the best of its ability. There is no retreat option available to the defender.
• If the attack is successful, the remaining attacking divisions are moved into the territory and ownership of the territory is transferred to the attacking corporation. If the attack is unsuccessful no change is made other than the removal of lost divisions.
• An attacking corporation may continue to move on and attack any adjoining territory from the one just conquered and occupied. This is known as the Blitzkrieg Effect (aka "Blitz").
• After the battleday, TAs will announce the number of refunded divisions as soon as possible.
• From this announcement, each corporation has 24 hours to announce its moves for steps 4 & 5.

Step 3: Refunding

This is the phase in which defeated divisions are redistributed between the two corporations.

• Divisions lost by both corporations during the battle day are put into the Refund Pool. At the end of the battle day, these lost divisions will be redistributed between the two sides. Each side's refund is a function of its net worth.
• The divisions in the refund pool will be redistributed according to the following criteria:
  • The corporation with the lower net worth will receive:
    • One (1) division for a net worth between 40% and 44.99%;
    • Two (2) divisions for a net worth between 35% and 39.99%;
    • Three (3) divisions for a net worth below 34.99%.
    • (percentages are an indication of the side's WCP score in relation to the total world score
  • The remaining divisions will then be refunded based on the percentage of the WCP's held, e.g. an corporation holding 75% of the WCPs will receive 75% of the divisions in the pool.
• The rounding of point values will always go in favor of the side with lower net worth.
• Refunded divisions can only be placed at a headquarters that has been controlled by an corporation for at least one full attack turn.

Step 4: Defensive Moves

This is the phase in which the attacker may reposition their forces at the end of a day

• The attacker may reposition its divisions following the conclusion of the Battle Day.
• The attacker can move its divisions to any adjoining occupied territory.
  • However, each territory must always remain occupied by at least one division.
  • Each division can move by one (1) territory.
• Due to battle fatigue, any division used in an attack cannot be moved until the next turn.
• A newly occupied territory may only be reinforced by up to 50% of the number of occupying divisions (rounding up)
  • For example: the attacking corporation conquers a territory and only has 3 divisions remaining. The HC can re-enforce 1/2 that number (1.5 divisions) which when rounded up equals 2 divisions. So up to 2 divisions that were not already involved in an attack and are adjacent to the newly conquered territory, or fall within the Para-drop re-enforcement rules, can be moved there to fortify the territory against counter attack.
• Defensive moves must be turned in to the TAs within 24 hours of step 3.

Step 5: Placement of New Divisions

This is the placing of the refunded divisions on each corporation's military base of choice.

• Please note: This is the last thing that occurs during a turn and is the only post-battle day step a defending corporation participates in.

• The locations of newly placed divisions must be turned in to the TAs within 24 hours of step 3.

• The defending corporation may turn in their placement locations when they submit their "Opening Moves."

THE ATTACK TURN IS NOW OVER.

• The defending corporation will now become the attacker.

Attack Maneuevers

Para-Dropping

• Once per turn a para-drop maneuver may be utilized by the attacking corporation to allow for the attack or fortification of an isolated territory.
  • If used for attack, this move must take place during the battleday
  • If used for fortification this move must take place after the battleday (during step 4 "Defensive Moves" )

• This maneuver will allow an corporation to drop a maximum of 3 divisions behind enemy lines at the cost of 1 division.
  • The sacrificed division is immediately placed into the refund pool.

• The following conditions must be met for a Para-drop to be used:
  1. The divisions which are to be used must reside within a three territory radius of the territory being para-dropped over.
  2. An unbroken supply line between a HQ and the territory to be para-dropped from must exist.

• The Para-dropping maneuver can skip over one enemy territory, one checkpoint, or both.

• Para-dropping may be used to reinforce a Blitzkrieg attack.
  • All normal para-drop rules still apply.

• There is no retreat option for the para-drop maneuver.

• In the event that a para-drop maneuver is unfinished because of time constraints, the remaining divisions will be returned to the territory they attacked from. They will not be allowed to move in the redistribution for defense phase.

• HQ's have advanced air defenses. If an attacker tries to paradrop on an HQ, the defender can choose to stop the attack.
  • If the defenses are activated, the HQ is revealed. The attackers' plane will have to turn back, at which point they can choose a new territory to paradrop on. This does not count towards the one paradrop or deplete an airlift mission, and doesn't count as an attack. The downside of using the air defenses.
  • If the defenses are not activated, the paradrop goes ahead but the HQ can stay secret assuming no rounds are won.

Retreating

• An corporation with the attack initiative may retreat from a territory. When a retreat is announced the attacking corporation shall either:

1. Play one more round and retreat at its conclusion regardless of the outcome.
2. Forfeit one division and retreat immediately. This forfeit refers to surrendering the division to the refund pool.

• Retreats must be announced between rounds. A conquest game can never be stopped mid-round.

• No more than half the divisions used in the attack can retreat. For example, if the attacker uses 5 divisions, they must wait until the second round to announce the retreat and play a third retreating round.

• If the retreating attacker wins the retreat round the defender loses a division.
  • In the event that no divisions remain on the attacked territory, the defender will be allowed to move a division into the territory to re-occupy.
  • The attacker can not gain control of a territory on a retreat round.

• A defending corporation cannot retreat.

Headquarters

• New divisions may only be placed at headquarters.

• Headquarters can be acquired or re-acquired through conquest. If a HQ is re-acquired the controlling corporation must remain in possession for one week before new divisions can be placed there.
  • The exception is if the newly captured HQ is that army's only headquarters. In this case the new divisions can be placed immediately.

Black Ops Battledays

General Rules

• Every week, there are two Black Ops Battles
  • European Black Ops (EUBO): SBT+2 to SBT +5
  • North American Black Ops (NABO): SBT+8 to SBT+11
  • No new live round can start after 2:45 hours in, except in case of server crashes or delays -- the rules here are the same as Territory battledays.
  • Incomplete maps from EUBO are completed at NABO before a new map begins

• The corporation with the attack initiative will attack for the full length of battleday.
  • It must announce its first attack at least 30 minutes in advance to the Tournament Admins, who will announce it to the opposing army.
  • Additional attack moves will remain undeclared until the completion of the previous attack.

• Attackers must state which type of mission they are conducting, the target of the mission and the map to be used.
  • For Recon and Assassination missions the targeted territory will not be revealed to the defender.
  • For Airlift, the target of the mission can be decided on Saturday and does not need to be announced on Tuesday

• Black Ops battles will be conducted as follows:
  1. The TAs will submit a map list to both HCs at the beginning of the campaign. The HCs will select maps from this pool when making their attacks.
     • No map can be selected for a second time until the entire list has been used.
  2. For each map, the defenders have 2 minutes to choose which side they'll play.
     • The empires will play the same side for all rounds on a map, they will not switch sides.
  3. All attacks will be played best 3 out of 5 rounds.
  4. Maps will be played at 150% ticket count
  5. The TAs reserve the right to alter the ticket count should it be in the interest of fair play.

Mission Types

Recon

The objective of the recon mission is to reveal the territory, map and division count of a territory. It will also reveal a HQ if one is there.

• The defender will not be told which territory has been targeted.
• Recon missions may be conducted on any enemy territory.

Airlift

The objective of the airlift mission is to fly over enemy territories and checkpoints

• An airlift works exactly the same as a paradrop, except that:
  • Multiple airlifts can be used per battleday, there is no limit
  • There is no penalty in terms of lost divisions
  • At most 4 divisions can be used at once
• If the airlift is not used, the mission is wasted and cannot be rolled over to the next attack

Assassination

The objective of the assassination mission is to eliminate a division from a targeted territory.

• If successful, the eliminated division will be considered immediately removed and placed in the refund pool.
  • The defender will not find out which division has been eliminated until the territory is attacked, or the next refund phase, which ever occurs first.

• Assassination may be conducted on any enemy territory.

• The attacker cannot gain control of a territory during an assassination mission.
  • If the last division dies, the defender will be informed 30 min before Saturday's battle
  • The defender must then move a replacement division in from a neighboring territory. If this isn't possible, they can teleport a division from anywhere else.

• No more than 3 assassinations may be used per week.

Theaters

A theater is a group of connected territories loosely corresponding to a continent. Controlling theaters provides a bonus, and attacking across theaters requires crossing checkpoints.

Checkpoints

Checkpoints are critical points that restrict movement between two theaters. They are placed on the campaign map by the TA's, and each one is associated with a Rush map that is selected by the TA's at the start of the campaign map and remains static for its duration -- unless the TA's choose to switch maps later, e.g. after a patch changes balance or introduces new maps.

When at least one division used in an attack crosses a theater boundary, the attacker must win the Rush map associated with that border. If multiple borders are being crossed, the attacker can choose which checkpoint to attack through.

To win, the attacker must destroy all MCOM pairs on the map. Rush maps are played with 1000% tickets, and the attack fails if these tickets are exhausted. Attackers can also abort the attack at any time, ending the round immediately. Failing to destroy the MCOMs, or aborting, will cost the attacker one division and block passage.

Once crossed, a checkpoint is "controlled" for the course of the day and more divisions can pass through it. However, the attacker may not attack the same checkpoint more than once per day if the first attempt fails. After the battleday, all checkpoints reset to neutral.

Attackers can avoid checkpoints by paradropping or airlifting over them.

Theater Bonuses

• Capturing all territories in a theater grants a bonus to the controlling corporation, measured in world control points. Note: WCP is not the same as divisions. But they are part of the formula that determines how many divisions you get.
• The bonus for each theater is
  • Australia, 2
  • South America, 2
  • Middle East, 3
  • Africa, 4
  • North America, 5
  • Europe, 6
  • Asia, 6

• Theater bonuses do not go into effect until the attacker's next attack turn after capturing all zones in the theater.
• Theater bonuses are terminated immediately after the opposing empire captures a territory located within the theater.

Victory Conditions

An corporation can achieve victory in three ways:

1. By capturing all of the opposing corporation's headquarters and holding them through the opposing corporation's next attack turn.
2. By gaining control of at least 70% of the World Control Points and remaining at or above 70% WCP through the opposing corporation's next attack turn.
3. By forcing the opposing corporation to surrender

• An corporation may surrender by announcing its decision to the Tournament Admins at any time.

• Any corporation with consistently low attendance over the span of a minimum of three weeks will risk automatic forfeit of the campaign. Execution of this forfeit will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the Tournament Admins.