Appendix:Rules

Rules for the 4chan Cup.

Appendix

• "Official tournament" refers to any 4chan Cup event including the Summer Cup, Winter Cup, Spring Babby Cup, Autumn Babby Cup and any qualifying events connected to these tournaments.
• "Season" refers to the phase of the year during which one official tournament is the primary focus. A season begins on the day following the previous season's final tournament day and ends on its own final tournament day.
• "Team" refers to a football side connected to a 4chan Cup board (e.g. /3/, /a/, /an/, etc.).
• "Manager" refers to a person nominated to provide tactical input during official tournament matches for a 4chan Cup team.
• “Tester” refers to a person involved with tactical input for a team while not assuming the manager role.
• "Board representatives" liaise with a board and seek feedback on matters regarding but not limited to aesthetics, tactics and squad selection.
• “Export” refers to files containing all data relevant to a team’s tactical properties.
• “The game” refers to Pro Evolution Soccer 2014.

Chapter I: 4chan Cup Committee (4CCC)

1. The 4CCC is the leadership body of the 4chan Cup. The main purpose of the 4CCC is to scribe rules and make executive decisions.
2. The committee is headed by the individual who assumes primary hosting responsibility for 4chan Cup events - referred to as the “host” or “commissioner.”
3. The size of the committee is left to the host's discretion.
4. The host reserves executive right regarding all decisions relating to the cup.
5. The host may not manage a team during his tenure.

Chapter II: Staff

1. “Staff” can refer to testers, managers or board representatives who liaise with their board. An individual is not limited in how many of these roles they may assume.
2. Any person wishing to represent their board and provide tactical input in real time during official matches must go through the verification process.
   1. Immediately following verification a manager must place their name and tripcode in the infobox on their team’s page on the wiki using Template:Anonymous.
   2. The secure tripcode must not be shared with anyone else under any circumstances. If the manager encounters difficulties involving the tripcode then a member of the 4CCC should be consulted so that manager can be assisted and a new tripcode generated if necessary.
3. A manager is forbidden from taking up a management role at more than one team whether under a single name or a pseudonym.
   1. Any manager wishing to move from a management role at one board to another must forego participation in the official tournament following resignation. The manager can assume his/her new role on the first day of the season following the foregone tournament.
4. Managers are forbidden from resigning during an official tournament if the team to which they are affiliated is participating in that tournament.
5. When resigning managers must remove their name from the infobox of their team’s wiki page, leaving an edit summary of “resignation” or similar. Any other resignation announcement (e.g. on 4chan) is allowed but not required.
6. Each board can have an unlimited number of staff but it must be made clear to the host which member(s) of staff assume primary responsibility for the management of a board.
   1. Primary responsibilities refers primarily to giving tactical information to the host.
   2. Only one staff member may relay tactics to the host during a match.
7. During tournament time no single person or group may challenge and override the authority of a participating team’s management.
8. If an intra-staff disagreement takes place which acts to the detriment of decision making capability in tournament time then it is at the host's discretion to either decide whose commands take precedence or run the team using default tactical input for their upcoming matches until consensus between staff is formed.

Chapter III: Squad

1. Each team must have 23 players in a squad
2. A squad must contain at least:
   1. Two goalkeepers (GK)
   2. Two players of any defensive position (RB, LB, CB)
   3. Two players of any midfield position (DMF, CMF, RMF, LMF, AMF)
   4. One player of a forward position. (RWF, LWF, SS, CF)
3. A single player of each squad must be assigned the role of team captain.
   1. Goalkeepers are forbidden from taking the role of team captain.
4. The combined height of each squad cannot exceed 4,200cm, with the specified number of players falling into the following height brackets:
   1. One player of 200-205cm
   2. One player of 195-199cm
   3. Two players of 190-194cm
   4. Six players of 185-189cm
   5. Seven players of 180-184cm
   6. Three players of 175-179cm
   7. Two players of 170-174cm
   8. One player of 165-169cm
5. All players 179cm and below in height have their Weak Foot Usage/Weak Foot Accuracy setting set to 8/8. For players 180cm and above, it is set to 4/4.
6. 19 of the players must be designated regular players. All regular outfield players have 77 in all stats, except Defensive Prowess, which is set to 88.
   1. All goalkeepers have 77 in all stats except for Saving, Goalkeeping and Jumping, in which they have 66, and Defensive Prowess, in which they have 99.
7. Two outfield players must be designated as silver and be rated 88 in all stats.
8. Two outfield players must be designated as gold and be rated 99 in all stats.
9. The Form setting is set to 8 for all players in the squad.
10. A team cannot have more than 25 "cards", known in the game as Player Skills in total, under the following restrictions:
    1. Each regular player can have at most 2 cards.
    2. Each silver player can have at most 3 cards.
    3. Each gold player can have at most 4 cards.
    4. Each team’s captain gets a free Captaincy card. This card does not count towards any previous limits. As a team has only one captain, only one captaincy card is allowed. Only the captain may have the Captaincy card.
11. Each player in the squad may be attributed a Playing Style.
    1. Playing Styles do not count towards the card limit.

Chapter IV: Tournament

1. Preparation
   1. Each official tournament is preceded by two deadlines
      1. The first deadline is on the Friday the week preceding the start of an official tournament at 23:59:59 UTC. Verified staff of each team must have placed a link to a valid export on their board’s team page on the wiki by the specified time. Any submission after 23:59:59 UTC of deadline day will not be accepted.
      2. Following the first deadline all exports may be checked for rule-breaking faults by an external body but it is the primary responsibility of team staff to ensure any errors, rule-breaking or otherwise, in their export are made clear on the appropriate Save Fixes page on the wiki.
      3. The second deadline is on the Wednesday following the first deadline at 23:59:59 UTC. Verified staff of each team must have made their save fixes clear by the specified time. Any submission after 23:59:59 UTC of deadline day will not be accepted.
2. Aesthetics
   1. The host can appoint someone who will help to handle all aesthetics, herein referred to as "the helper". The current helper is Test Pony !!YXbPlZYbUui.
      1. The helper will have the same rights as the host regarding changing, fixing and rejecting aesthetics.
      2. The helper is allowed to announce rules regarding uploading aesthetics (e.g. all kits needing to be in the DDS format)
      3. The host maintains executive right over the helper.
   2. Only the team's manager is allowed to submit aesthetics for its own team.
      1. The manager can appoint a non-manager or a manager of a different team to take care of its own team aesthetics after notifying the helper.
   3. All aesthetics relating to teams should be submitted by the first deadline.
      1. Aesthetics submissions are permitted at the helper's discretion after the first and before the second deadline, on the condition that the helper is notified about such a submission before the first deadline.
      2. Aesthetics submitted after the second deadline may be accepted and applied to the game at the host’s discretion after a check by the helper.
   4. All general cup aesthetics not relating to teams should be submitted between the first and second deadline.
      1. All general cup aesthetics will be handled by the helper.
   5. Submitted aesthetics should work after copy and pasting - no raw files and requests to the host or helper to fix it for them.
   6. If the manager has problems (time, problems getting them working) with aesthetics, he should notify the host or helper in time about this and they will try to find a solution.
   7. The host or helper reserve the right to apply any aesthetics updates at their discretion. If an aesthetic element is thought to affect game stability then it will not be applied or removed from the game.
   8. Team attire
      1. As a minimum a team must have one home kit, one away kit and one goalkeeper kit.
      2. A team’s home and away kits must be aesthetically distinct, i.e. they must not clash.
         1. A kit clash can be regarded as any combination of kits which would make it difficult for the viewer to distinguish each team on the pitch during a match.
      3. The primary preference for kit selection for official tournament matches is as follows:
         1. Home team plays in home kit, away team plays in home kit
         2. Home team plays in home kit, away team plays in away kit
         3. If clashes persist after these selections then the host may select any combination of kits (including third kits or other alternatives) at their discretion.
         4. Team staff may request to use a special kit (i.e. third kit, etc.) in an upcoming match. If both teams in a match ask to use a special kit then the home team takes priority in the event of a kit clash.
         5. Staff may not request to have a particular kit not used for an upcoming match.
3. Tournament conduct
   1. The communication mediums to be used when giving real time tactical instructions to the host are Skype or the appropriate IRC channel.
      1. Managers may give purely textual instructions or may use pictorial instructions if necessary.
      2. All instructions must be clear and concise. Failure to produce instructions satisfying this condition will result in those instructions being ignored.
      3. No instructions may leave tactical decision-making the responsibility of the host. Such instructions will be ignored.
   2. If a team is unable to nominate a manager to provide real time tactical input for a match then a manager for that team may submit clear written and/or pictorial instructions in an easily accessible format for the match before the scheduled kickoff time.
      1. If the host is unable to decipher said submitted written and/or pictorial instructions then they will be deemed invalid and ignored.
      2. If a team fails to provide written and/or pictorial instructions by the stated time and no nominated manager is in attendance to provide instructions in real time then that team will forfeit all offers of tactical input for the duration of the match.
   3. If a nominated manager fails to supply pre-match tactical instructions by the time stated in Chapter V Section 1 but arrives during the course of their match then that manager’s ability to provide any tactical instructions for the remainder of the match will be at the host’s discretion.

Chapter V: Tactical

1. A manager must supply tactical information in full to the host before pre-match tactical preparation for their match has begun. The host may choose to disregard any tactical information supplied after the previous match has ended.
   1. In the event that the manager is on a tight schedule or cannot provide tactics on the day of their match, they should send them in advance to the host's Skype.
2. For the first group stage match managers of each team are not allowed to make any tactical changes in pre-match beyond changing their sliders, selecting a starting preset and switching players in or out.
   1. The managers may request the host use the lineup by ability option to take care of their conditions - it will not be used unless the manager has requested it.
      1. If this option is used and it misplaces a player on the pitch (e.g. switching sides on the pitch), the manager may point it out so the host can fix it.
   2. In the event of five-team groups precipitating a staggered schedule, the last team to play their first group stage match will be able to make pre-match tactical preparations without restriction.
3. During the match, each team’s manager has two timeouts to use to change their tactical setup at any point (with some restrictions - see Section 4) in the game.
   1. They are encouraged to be expedient as the host reserves the right to continue the match if he deems the pause too lengthy. It is wise to know what you want to change prior to calling a timeout.
   2. Only the team who called the timeout is allowed to make tactical changes during the timeout.
   3. Teams are given a free voluntary timeout to use at any point in the match (with the aforementioned rules still applicable) if they wish after:
      1. Conceding a goal
      2. A dismissal (red card) for a member of their playing squad
      3. An injury which leaves a player in their squad unable to continue play for the rest of the match.
   4. For the free timeout to not count towards the timeout limit, the manager must call it within 5 minutes of regular playtime (in-game timer) resuming after the triggering event. After that, any timeout called (assuming previous conditions are not fulfilled again in that time) will count towards the global timeout limit.
   5. Both teams are also given a free voluntary timeout at half time, to change their tactics should they wish to do so. They must let the host know if they intend to do so before the referee has blown for halftime. The timeout is only valid during the halftime break and cannot be saved for later.
      1. This also applies should the match go to Extra Time. Both Extra Time pauses work the same as the halftime pause.
4. Timeouts (not counting free timeouts as specified above) may not be used until at least 20 minutes of match time has elapsed.
5. During a timeout a manager may change sliders and move players about the pitch.
6. Changing presets during a match does not require a timeout nor does it count toward the timeout limit.
7. Substitutions, should they be done manually, do not count towards the timeout limit.
   1. An outfield player may never be substituted for a goalkeeper and vice-versa.
   2. No tactical changes may be made in the substitutions pause.
8. Combination play settings and set piece settings (aside from the “players to join attack” option) will not be changed manually - what is in the export is what will be used.