Right, so the Battlefield 2 AGASA competition is around the corner. SSG has decided on the two teams that we will be putting forward and have for the past 2 weeks now, been practising together on one of the clan servers provided by SGS/AGASA/Telkom. Obviously because of the new additions, learning each others game play styles is crucial to playing well together. Although some may think this is just a game, and shouldn’t be taken so seriously, but if you want to win, you need to dedicate yourself to learning the strategies and understanding teamwork. Playing BF2 on any normal server with any bunch of random players is very different when you only have 4 control points and 8 players per side. Each player has a specific task they need to carry out for the duration of the game, either Tank driver, mechanic to repair the tank, medic to keep your squad alive and a few others to help bring down the enemy armour and infantry. This can get quite intense especially when the game isn’t going your way, and if you don’t take control of your necessary points in a timely fashion, you will lose and lose quickly as well.
The general team makeup consists of 1 commander, 2 squads. 1 tank squad which will consist of a mechanic and a tank driver, possibly one other player to drive the APC, depending on the map. The other squad will consist of the remaining teammates who will make up the infantry division. The infantry needs to be very pro-active in terms of taking out the enemy and capturing opposing points, communicating constantly over Teamspeak with the rest of the team, they can update others on enemy positions and movements. Without this communication each player will effectively be battle blind and wont know where to turn when the bullets start flying. The primary function of the armour squad is to keep their armour occupied for the duration of the game, preventing enemy armour from taking out friendly infantry and then moving onto capture our primary points. The commander has one of the most crucial roles to play, which he can only accomplish if his squads listen to his orders and follow through with them. The commander has the ability to spot enemies as well as dropping Artillery on their positions and supply crates for friendlies. Together the above roles form a very dynamic team which should be able to effectively neutralize the enemy.
Ive decided to put up the general rules and regulations of playing Battlefield2 on the local servers. Some people may not be aware that there are strict rules in place to prevent games from going nasty. Unfortunately there are new players who dont fully understand whats right and whats wrong, and when their actions fall into the “wrong” section then the player on the receiving end of the rule breaker (noob) ends up having a really horrible and annoying time. This is something everyone needs to adhere to, to make the game more enjoyable for all.
To start, I think its important to list unsportsman like behaviour:
1) You may not use any offensive or sexually explicit language in chat or voice mode.
1) Derogatory language and slander involving race, gender, sexual preference, religion or creed, including negative use of otherwise harmless words is not tolerated. This policy is enforced across the board. If a bigot feels the need to express his views on our server, they are creating a hostile environment for our other players. We do not feel the need to provide free servers to hate-mongers.
3) Offensive and pornographic sprays may not be used.
4) Offensive nicks used in-game will not be tolorated. The use of someone elses nick is also not allowed. If you think you are using another persons nick, please confirm this in the online stats before continuing to use the nick. This rule also applies to CLAN TAG’S.
5) Players that deliberately hinder their team will be removed. However, a player that is intentionally (and sadistically) disabling their own team goes against the idea of the ’serious gamer’, and is therefore not welcome on our servers. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action.
6) Team killing, (Tk’ing) is also a major act of immaturity. Once or twice on accident is forgivable. But team killing intentionally for revenge or for fun, is an immature act and is not tolerated. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action.
7) You may not use any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable language toward any other player. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action.
You may not harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress, unwanted attention or discomfort to another player. This includes imature actions like Teabagging. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action.
9) A little healthy trash-talk is fine and appropriate to gaming, just as it is to almost any other sporting event. However, prolonged and unsolicited harassment may be grounds for removal. In the event that a player feels the need to continually harass another gamer, they will be requested to cease immediately. If they continue, they may be removed. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action.
10) You may not post or communicate any player’s real world personal information. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action.
11) You may not accuse others of cheating, if you feel that someone is cheating please report it to the Ban Master.
12) Spoonerisms may not be used in ingame chat as well as part of your player name ingame. Spoonerisms are words or phrases in which letters or syllables get swapped.
13) SGS reserves the right to deny service to any people or persons that they deem are reckless, causing damage, or disrupting the use of the game servers for other people.
So as you can see alot of the rules above are common sense type rules, have respect for your fellow players and the game as a whole. And of course dont cheat, although I think its pretty difficult to cheat with Punkbuster these days.
Below Ive listed the Battlefield2 specific ROE (Rules of Engagement):
1) Code
Stealing armour in uncaps is allowed provided that you are seeing to leave the area after stealing the asset. Camping in armour in an uncappable area is bannable
Ban reason
Armour in Uncappable flags.
Evidence needed for SGS ban action (SGS Admin or Community action when reporting the incident to Ban Master)
Event Info:
The offenders nickname
Server IP
Date and time
And
1 Screenshot:
The screenshot must contain proof that the player killed someone with the armour while in the flag and it must say “player killed other player with tank”
2) Code
Repeated (offence occurred more than once at a specific time) bombing or strafing of aircraft hangers/runways/chopper pads (uncappable and cappable). It is a spoiling tactic if no attempt is made to capture a flag (cappable areas). In the case of uncappable areas it is an attempt to get easy kills.
Ban Reason
Repeated bombing or strafing of aircraft hangers/runways/chopper pads
Evidence needed for SGS ban action (SGS Admin or community action when reporting the incident to Ban Master)
Event Info:
The offenders nickname
Server IP
Date and time
And
2 Screensshots
The screenshots must contain proof that a player was bombing/strafing areas, and it must say “player killed other player with jet/chopper”
3) Code
No artillery is allowed on uncappable flags, it’s only an attempt to get easy kills.
Ban Reason
Artillery on uncappable flags
Evidence needed for SGS ban action (SGS Admin or community action when reporting the incident to Ban Master)
Event Info:
The offenders nickname
Server IP
Date and time
And
1 Screenshot:
The screenshot must contain proof of player using arty on uncap areas, and it must say “player killed other player with artillery.
4) Code
Spawn raping a spawn point without capturing it is an attempt to get easy kills. However if this is done with the intention to protect your fellow players who are on your side while they try and capture the flag this is not regarded as spawn raping.
Ban Reason
Spawn raping
Evidence needed for SGS ban action (SGS Admin or community action when reporting the incident to Ban Master)
Event Info:
The offenders nickname
Server IP
Date and time
And
2 Screenshots:
The screenshots must contain proof of a player killing a person(s) at a known spawn point at a specific time.
5)Code
Queue jumping or vehicle stealing, it is impolite, and unfair (there is a queue for a reason).
Ban Reason
Queue jumping or vehicle stealing
Evidence needed for SGS ban action (SGS Admin or community action when reporting the incident to Ban Master)
(Action against offenders will be taken based on demo evidence and only if the evidence is sufficient to prove that the said person is spoiling the game)
Event Info:
The offenders nickname
Server IP
Date and times this offence occurred
::ROE Rule 6.6(Team Killing)
The game designers have created an ingame punishment system which can be used by a player if he is team killed. Intentional team killing of a player for his equipment or the intentional blocking of vehicles resulting in another player being punished is considered unsportsmanlike behavior.
Code
Intentional team killing for a vehicle/Vehicle Blocking, it’s impolite and unfair
Ban Reason
Intentional team killing for a vehicle/Vehicle Blocking
Evidence needed for SGS ban action (SGS Admin or community action when reporting the incident to Ban Master)
Event Info:
The offenders nickname
Server IP
Date and time
And
2 Screenshots:
1 screenshot must be of said player team killing the other player. The other screenshots must be of said player in vehicle afterwards.
Note:
SGS will not ban offenders for the in game rules above if the evidence is insufficient or logged incorrectly.
If SGS admin(s) are present on a server they are allowed to warn or kick (at their discretion) offenders for any of the offences listed above, but it’s not necessary to receive a warning before ban action is taken.
The key rules above which I continuously see broken are spawn raping, killing in uncaps and bombing of airstrips and helipads. I must say that since these rules have been updated you see less of it happening, but there are still some people who are unaware that they are not allowed to do it. If you are one of those people, please make sure you read and understand the rules like the back of your hand. I dont want to be on the receiving end of your stupidity.
Ok so after browsing some forums and digging for more info on how the league is going to work, I find out many other people are asking the same thing. One of our local SGS (SAIX Gaming Services) forum admin and part of the AGASA team, TetraSpektra decided to step in and give us a clue. I quote…
All divisions in the 2009 League system will have a 12 team cap. We have set time frames that we need to work within to co-exist with major LAN events (i.e. rAge/BattleLAN…etc) as well as other online tournaments. If we get more than 12 teams, we will split the competition into 2 similarly-sized divisions, based on previous qualifying results.
If this is indeed the case, we will use a similar system to what was used in Call of Duty 4 this year. Teams will be promoted/relegated according to their results in each leg. The League will be contested over 3 legs with a final Playoff to be held at a LAN event (and if you look at the Calendar, I’m sure you can work out where thats planned to be held ).
The Leagues themselves will be based solely on the results of standard league games. As I’m sure many will agree, it is silly to have 8 weeks of matches and then pretty much disregard those results and instead hold a “semi-/finals” in 1 week, to decide the winner. I do understand the “vibe” created by having a close final is something that you guys really enjoy, so I will try and use some scheduling trickery to try and ensure that some of the exciting matches are held in the last 2 weeks of each Leg.
We are planning to use the results of the legs to seed teams for other competitions which we will announce later in the year. So, those of you desperate for a single-/double-elimination tournament will likely see one during the course of 2009.
This indeed sounds fun, I just hope I can be around enough to fully participate, traveling is limiting. I really hope we can get enough teams. The following clans are possibilities at this point…
You may not harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress, unwanted attention or discomfort to another player. This includes imature actions like Teabagging. You may report such incidents to our Ban Master for action. 
).
