For future captain prospects: (IF ANY)
Since my team's playoff hopes have just gone down the tube, it's share time:
The following is all the steps that I remember that I had to do, as I manned my beauty of a trainwreck. This is simply informative, not a strategy sharing/bashing post (MAYBE LATER LOL)
~~~~ S6 CAPTAIN gogogo ~~~~
LOCKED IN:
STEP 1: Agree with tourney admin to possibly captain; he will check IRC the week before draft, probably around usual match time, to see if you are still there and will commit. Being somewhat responsive on IRC is a requirement. If you don't have IRC and/or don't know how to find/PM Rayne, you probably have a problem meeting the captain requirements.
After committing, you will need a team name and team tag (symbol). The tag can be before or after the player name. It must be 12 characters maximum, including the very first space. This will be entered (by you) into the tourney site. The admin of that site will ask if the tag is before or after. It can't be changed after some point.
You will also be given access to the captain's channel along with the others and the admins.
Admin will give a link to vote on the maps, from the TWL packs and from the custom maps. This will be yes/no for each and every map. Hopefully you've seen every map. Some maps will have variants, TWL2_Woody or S5_Woody. Most popular maps will be at the top; followed by least hated maps, in case there aren't many yes votes. The variants, the most popular one is chosen.
DRAFT:
On draft night, there will be a cutoff before draft start. Last season, the cutoff was two hours previous. Some surprise last minute additions and subtractions will occur. Admin will let you know which ones are valid. Do check what the primary position for each player is, as well as any availability notes. (Recommend adding official checkmark for "will play any position" or "will only play positions listed")
Everyone goes on ventrilo or TS3 for draft party, to get draft instructions. Draft commences. Strategy is up to you.
Before/during the draft you may want to make a team channel, so that available players can join and participate. I did not invite anyone in, as to tried to follow my initial plan without distraction; but dibs somehow got in anyways, lol. Invite anyone else on IRC in when ready, or PM them. Some will not be around (maybe bad sign?). Give IRC ops to your new teammates, and/or register the channel or auto-ops.
After the draft, post the names of your teammates on the TWL forums, and what your team channel name is on IRC. This is so your players that are afk can later post their status, if they are out of state or on business. They will check in when they can... or not check in.
Shortly after draft, the maps and team schedule will be randomized by computer and announced in captains channel. Try not to draw Gunnah, Hexy, or ZP for the vehicle maps, unless they are on your team. Also, there will be a captains vote on what are minimum team sizes, under which the AFK team must use subs or forfeit. This is a guess by the captains of availability, and may have been included in their strategy.
FIRST WEEK:
You will face all other teams one time, during the first phase of the tournament. You will get points for each win or draw. The top four scoring teams will advance to an elimination phase. Match scores, total points, and player statistics will be updated automatically after a delay.
Post the maps for week 1 in your channel in IRC, along with the sides, match date, and opponent. For example: /topic #yourchannel these maps and sides suck | stay later for candy :>
The other captains will look at their sides and try to set up scrims with a team with the opposite side. Scrims are officially tues/thursday. Some players and teams are more available than others, and a team that cannot get 8 or 9 together has to use subs or tell the players to sub for others. Getting the players to actually show up for the scrim and matches may involve a lot of reminders and PMs or text messages, promises, threats, etc. Easier going if you pick enough players that are always active on IRC, and seem to have no life. Not implying anyone in particular.
The admins will give you a list of tag tokens, so you can PM them one at a time to your team members. Recommended not to share the entire list, you will only get one token per player. New tribes accounts may not work with the tag system, there's some sort of cutoff date for recent accounts. Tokens are used in the tag server hosted by Thyth, which goes up and down so best used now while all attention is on the new teams.
A Ventrilo server has been provided to all teams, likely thanks to Bran. They will tell you the address, which you will then tell to your team. You will be asked by the admin for a channel name and vent password. TS3 is also popular among the players and if you have a TS3 server instead, you can try to get everyone to use that. Some of your players may not have mics, or working mics; try to get them to remedy that.
Try to get everyone in at least one scrim, so the tags and ventrilo bugs can be found out/worked out. Instead of during the first match.
PREGAME:
You will be given superadmin access to the tourney servers, which are turned on for the new tourney, and labeled tourney 1-4. Only maps actually in the tourney are loaded. CTF practice mode is also available, for things such as 999 ammo and teleport pads. Admin can be given by you to your players, either permanently (after re-join) or temporarily, so they may access some goodies when you are not there.
When its scrim/match time, try to be in your IRC channel an hour before the match, and start rounding people up. Many are in/around their computer but not checking IRC, and not aware of the time. Maybe pubbing, maybe house chores, maybe phone, etc. Get their attention and get them into vent with you, type in IRC which tourney servers to join.
Both competing teams usually practice in different servers, but 10EST everyone will start to combine into one server and practice is effectively over. You may have a mixed server until then, because there are more teams than servers. Some players simply practice in goons/SCP/the public server of the year.
The order of the maps is set by the tourney site, although both captains can agree to a different order. But plan on the original order, and make sure your team knows it beforehand also.
CRUNCH TIME:
At match start (ideally 10EST but usually 10:10 at least as players trickle in for both sides) make sure everyone knows what they are doing, if you haven't discussed it with them before. Take stock of who you have, you may have holes in your roster, sometimes all over the place if you picked too many afk players. You will have a very short time to realize who is actually there at 10EST, and who can play and who has to sit depending on the OTHER team's size.
At a bare minimum, figure out an offense/defense split for each map, after both teams know how many they can play/are going to play. 11 players for both teams: 6 O, 5 D, for instance. Specific duties can then be set: FARM HOF LOF HD LD LO HO CAP. After that, specific tasks can be given if the captain actually has a plan, or is a micromanaging sort. Then, usually last, the list of five players who will be taking out inventories (the first run only). Depending on the team and the captain and the missing players, a lot of arguing and delays may occur on this step, unless worked out long before (this assumes expected roster shows up).
Any innovation, flexibility, or changing-of-plans of course is up to the captain's abilities... and his previous decisions (read: bad picks).
Some other things to do: mic check, to see if anyone unplugged their microphone or if ventrilo/ts3 bugged out. Reminder of demos, if you or some of your players want them. Reminder of buddy points or player waypoints; this requires a leave/re-join if you want to do the entire team fast.
You may have to repeat the above for each and every map; some players will be dropping and others just arriving, new team size!!! If not your team, then the other team...
GO GO GO:
At some point there is match start, and 30 second countdown. GL GG. Watch out for the cancel match button troll.
Since my team's playoff hopes have just gone down the tube, it's share time:
The following is all the steps that I remember that I had to do, as I manned my beauty of a trainwreck. This is simply informative, not a strategy sharing/bashing post (MAYBE LATER LOL)
~~~~ S6 CAPTAIN gogogo ~~~~
LOCKED IN:
STEP 1: Agree with tourney admin to possibly captain; he will check IRC the week before draft, probably around usual match time, to see if you are still there and will commit. Being somewhat responsive on IRC is a requirement. If you don't have IRC and/or don't know how to find/PM Rayne, you probably have a problem meeting the captain requirements.
After committing, you will need a team name and team tag (symbol). The tag can be before or after the player name. It must be 12 characters maximum, including the very first space. This will be entered (by you) into the tourney site. The admin of that site will ask if the tag is before or after. It can't be changed after some point.
You will also be given access to the captain's channel along with the others and the admins.
Admin will give a link to vote on the maps, from the TWL packs and from the custom maps. This will be yes/no for each and every map. Hopefully you've seen every map. Some maps will have variants, TWL2_Woody or S5_Woody. Most popular maps will be at the top; followed by least hated maps, in case there aren't many yes votes. The variants, the most popular one is chosen.
DRAFT:
On draft night, there will be a cutoff before draft start. Last season, the cutoff was two hours previous. Some surprise last minute additions and subtractions will occur. Admin will let you know which ones are valid. Do check what the primary position for each player is, as well as any availability notes. (Recommend adding official checkmark for "will play any position" or "will only play positions listed")
Everyone goes on ventrilo or TS3 for draft party, to get draft instructions. Draft commences. Strategy is up to you.
Before/during the draft you may want to make a team channel, so that available players can join and participate. I did not invite anyone in, as to tried to follow my initial plan without distraction; but dibs somehow got in anyways, lol. Invite anyone else on IRC in when ready, or PM them. Some will not be around (maybe bad sign?). Give IRC ops to your new teammates, and/or register the channel or auto-ops.
After the draft, post the names of your teammates on the TWL forums, and what your team channel name is on IRC. This is so your players that are afk can later post their status, if they are out of state or on business. They will check in when they can... or not check in.
Shortly after draft, the maps and team schedule will be randomized by computer and announced in captains channel. Try not to draw Gunnah, Hexy, or ZP for the vehicle maps, unless they are on your team. Also, there will be a captains vote on what are minimum team sizes, under which the AFK team must use subs or forfeit. This is a guess by the captains of availability, and may have been included in their strategy.
FIRST WEEK:
You will face all other teams one time, during the first phase of the tournament. You will get points for each win or draw. The top four scoring teams will advance to an elimination phase. Match scores, total points, and player statistics will be updated automatically after a delay.
Post the maps for week 1 in your channel in IRC, along with the sides, match date, and opponent. For example: /topic #yourchannel these maps and sides suck | stay later for candy :>
The other captains will look at their sides and try to set up scrims with a team with the opposite side. Scrims are officially tues/thursday. Some players and teams are more available than others, and a team that cannot get 8 or 9 together has to use subs or tell the players to sub for others. Getting the players to actually show up for the scrim and matches may involve a lot of reminders and PMs or text messages, promises, threats, etc. Easier going if you pick enough players that are always active on IRC, and seem to have no life. Not implying anyone in particular.
The admins will give you a list of tag tokens, so you can PM them one at a time to your team members. Recommended not to share the entire list, you will only get one token per player. New tribes accounts may not work with the tag system, there's some sort of cutoff date for recent accounts. Tokens are used in the tag server hosted by Thyth, which goes up and down so best used now while all attention is on the new teams.
A Ventrilo server has been provided to all teams, likely thanks to Bran. They will tell you the address, which you will then tell to your team. You will be asked by the admin for a channel name and vent password. TS3 is also popular among the players and if you have a TS3 server instead, you can try to get everyone to use that. Some of your players may not have mics, or working mics; try to get them to remedy that.
Try to get everyone in at least one scrim, so the tags and ventrilo bugs can be found out/worked out. Instead of during the first match.
PREGAME:
You will be given superadmin access to the tourney servers, which are turned on for the new tourney, and labeled tourney 1-4. Only maps actually in the tourney are loaded. CTF practice mode is also available, for things such as 999 ammo and teleport pads. Admin can be given by you to your players, either permanently (after re-join) or temporarily, so they may access some goodies when you are not there.
When its scrim/match time, try to be in your IRC channel an hour before the match, and start rounding people up. Many are in/around their computer but not checking IRC, and not aware of the time. Maybe pubbing, maybe house chores, maybe phone, etc. Get their attention and get them into vent with you, type in IRC which tourney servers to join.
Both competing teams usually practice in different servers, but 10EST everyone will start to combine into one server and practice is effectively over. You may have a mixed server until then, because there are more teams than servers. Some players simply practice in goons/SCP/the public server of the year.
The order of the maps is set by the tourney site, although both captains can agree to a different order. But plan on the original order, and make sure your team knows it beforehand also.
CRUNCH TIME:
At match start (ideally 10EST but usually 10:10 at least as players trickle in for both sides) make sure everyone knows what they are doing, if you haven't discussed it with them before. Take stock of who you have, you may have holes in your roster, sometimes all over the place if you picked too many afk players. You will have a very short time to realize who is actually there at 10EST, and who can play and who has to sit depending on the OTHER team's size.
At a bare minimum, figure out an offense/defense split for each map, after both teams know how many they can play/are going to play. 11 players for both teams: 6 O, 5 D, for instance. Specific duties can then be set: FARM HOF LOF HD LD LO HO CAP. After that, specific tasks can be given if the captain actually has a plan, or is a micromanaging sort. Then, usually last, the list of five players who will be taking out inventories (the first run only). Depending on the team and the captain and the missing players, a lot of arguing and delays may occur on this step, unless worked out long before (this assumes expected roster shows up).
Any innovation, flexibility, or changing-of-plans of course is up to the captain's abilities... and his previous decisions (read: bad picks).
Some other things to do: mic check, to see if anyone unplugged their microphone or if ventrilo/ts3 bugged out. Reminder of demos, if you or some of your players want them. Reminder of buddy points or player waypoints; this requires a leave/re-join if you want to do the entire team fast.
You may have to repeat the above for each and every map; some players will be dropping and others just arriving, new team size!!! If not your team, then the other team...
GO GO GO:
At some point there is match start, and 30 second countdown. GL GG. Watch out for the cancel match button troll.