I have a proposal I'd like taken under consideration. See attached for a PDF of the below (it has better format I think). I will fund this first event proposed with a minimum of $250 USD if you wish to proceed, tell me where to PayPal the funds if interested. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, please let me know. Thank you for your time and consideration.

EDIT: I have updated this document to include language relating to how byes will work if necessary and included the new version in the attachment. The posted text below here may be outdated and recommended to download and refer to the document attached (version 1.1 12-30-20).

CRUSADER CUP LEAGUE SEASON I: A CALL TO ARMS

This is a proposal for a recurring Deathmatch league for Age of Empires II: The Conquerors on Voobly servers with season one beginning March 1st, 2021 and ending April 26th, 2021. Each recurring event will have possible setting changes such as Civ wars, Team random, Hidden Civs, 1v1 or Team competition, changes in maps or other setting changes based on community polls and feedback. The initial Crusader Cup League (CCL) will feature a 2v2 Team competition with settings listed further below.

Overview

Crusader Cup League consists of a set period of time (season) in which participants compete against each other on a weekly basis, gaining points for wins. Pairings will be determined by utilizing either a Swiss system or Round Robin system depending on number of participants. At the end of the season final point tallies are made and winners are determined and prizes awarded. The league will vary at times from 1v1 to Team competition. Each season will have modified settings, for example one season could feature “Frank war” and another season could feature “Team random”, or vary from 1v1 to Team competition. Community input will be used to influence the direction of the following season’s settings based on polls. Prizes are determined and announced each event by moderators and acquired from either entry fees of participants, sponsorships, community donations, or a combination of such. All prizes must be acquired for the event prior to the announced start date of the event. Any prizes acquired after the start date of the event must be put toward the following event. All financial and other prizes generated towards the event are to fully be given in prizes as appropriated by the League moderators.

Goals

1. Highlight the Deathmatch game mode of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
2. Incentivizes Deathmatch game mode participation through formal competition and earning prizes from it
3. Grow the Deathmatch community on Voobly servers

Season I Settings

All games are to be played on the Voobly servers in the Age of Conquerors Deathmatch Lobby and rated. Matches taking place must include the game title tag “CCS1 (participant or team name) v (participant or team name} Rd (current round number)”. This is a 2v2 Team competition with “Team random” as the Civilization choice each game.

Map: An arabian type of map will be played (precise map TBD and included here)
Map Size: Small
Civilizations used: All games will be played as Team random
Difficulty: Easiest
Resources: standard
Starting Age: Post Imperial
Game Speed: Fast
Reveal Map: Explored
Population: 200
Victory: Conquest
Lock Teams: Yes
Lock Speed: Yes
All Techs: No
Allow Cheats: No
Record Game: Yes

Normal gameplay exclusions: No Bombard towers or walls are allowed, no aggressive wildlife (map will exclude them).

Rules

NOTE: All Voobly policies and regulations apply or supersede those given here if in conflict with Voobly policies and regulations. Participants are solely responsible for complying with Voobly policies and regulations at all times when using Voobly servers. League moderators have the right to add, remove, or modify event rules at any time so long as participants receive advance public warning of such changes.

I. Participant Eligibility

A. To be eligible as a participant you must have a Voobly account with an established rating. We define established as having played a minimum of 30 rated games in the category in question ( DM 1v1 or DM Team Games ).
B. Participants who have been flagged by either Voobly or League moderators (i.e. cheaters or "sandbaggers") are ineligible to play (See section VIIA. Cheating Policy).
C. To register, all teams/participants must complete the registration form, regardless of participation in previous seasons.
D. The League Moderators will either confirm or deny registrations in writing. If denied, a statement as to why will be given.
E. Participants must use a single Voobly account during events. Registering and playing under multiple accounts is prohibited.

II. Teams (if applicable)

A. Teams will consist of 2-5 eligible participants depending on team requirements (2v2/3v3/4v4).
B. Teams are encouraged to have one alternate on their team. Alternates count as part of the team and must be registered with the team during initial registration. Alternates aren’t guaranteed any games so choose carefully when agreeing to be a team’s alternate.
C. Teams are allowed to register usernames as long as they meet the participation requirements (See I. Participant Eligibility) and must not “sandbag” events (See VIIA.1 Cheating).
D. Captains:
1. Each team must choose a Team Captain.
2. The Team Captain will be responsible for ensuring Team registration and that their team schedules their games during the event, and correspondence between other Teams and League moderators will go through the Team Captains unless unusual circumstances occur and/or a participant is given a yellow/red card, in when the participant is likewise notified by League moderators. Team Captain can be changed during a tournament by notifying a moderator. Give 24 hours for moderators to make the change official.
3. If a participant cannot play on any given week and they have an alternate registered, the Team Captain will be responsible to notify both teams for the match and coordinate with their alternate.
E. Each team must choose a team name. The team name cannot violate the Voobly ToS, cannot be hostile or offensive, and cannot be unreasonably long.

III. League

A. The Crusader Cup format will be as follows:
1. An open tournament with eight rounds/matches. Each match consists of 3 games (all games must be played regardless if Match was decided before the 3rd game).
2. For each game that a team/participant wins, they accrue 1 game point. For each loss, 0 points.
3. Any team/participant with more points than their opponent wins that round/match, and receives 2 match points. Moderator decided unplayed match draws are awarded 1 match point to each team and no game points. Any team/participant with fewer points loses, and receives 0 points.
4. All rounds will be paired using the Swiss System or Round Robin
5. Initial seeding of teams/participants will be determined by team average rating/ participant rating.
6. If necessary, the following tiebreakers will be used to determine the winner:
a. Match points
b. Game points
c. Head-to-head score
d. Average opponent rating

B. Moderators will make binding decisions regarding:
a. Disputes between participants or teams
b. Rule clarifications
c. team/participant forfeiture
d. Any other issue of importance to the League as a whole
2. In the event of a dispute involving one of the Moderators, that Moderator will not have the power to decide the issue and will be left out of deliberations.
3. In the event of a dispute involving a team of which a Moderator is a part of, that Moderator will not participate in the discussion or ruling of the issue.
4. In the event of a dispute involving two of the Moderators, the two sides of the dispute will agree upon a neutral third-party to decide the issue.

IV. Scheduling

A. Once the pairings for a round have been released, each team/participant should attempt to contact their opponent as soon as possible. Each pairing will have their own dedicated Forum to communicate for scheduling. teams/participants must make initial contact within 24hours of pairings being released, and have 24 hours thereafter to respond to their opponents until an agreed time to play has been reached. Multiple times can be scheduled for the match, all games do not have to be played at one scheduled time.
1. This MUST be done on Voobly’s Tournament forum dedicated to that match for scheduling. participants may also attempt to contact unresponsive opponents on Voobly messenger or in lobby rooms, but must move to the official forum as soon as possible as nothing is binding unless posted on that forum.
2. All games must be completed by 00:00 UTC on Monday. As a reference we suggest that the last game time be scheduled at least 3 hours in advance of this time.
B. Each team/participant must make an initial offer to their opponent, consisting of a minimum of 3 distinct times on at least 2 separate days.
1. Note: This means to qualify for reasonable effort, each team/participant should give 3 distinct times on 2 days. If you are the second to respond, the best response would be, “No, those do not work for me. I am free ___” and provide your three times. Distinct times must be at least 2 hours separated. For example, "Wednesday 18:00 until 19:00 and Thursday 19:00" does not constitute 3 distinct times. However, "Wednesday 18:00 until 20:00 and Thursday 19:00" does.
C. If a participant is not available at least 3 different times on at least 2 separate days, or if they cannot play that week’s game for any reason, it is the responsibility of the team captain to update in the scheduling forum that an alternate will be playing (if multiple alternates are registered, specify which alternate will be playing). Note: in 1v1, all participants are expected to be reasonably free with at least 3 different times on at least 2 separate days or will risk forfeiture of the match if the match can not be scheduled.
D. If an agreed time cannot be reached after both teams/participants have made their initial offer, both participants should continue to offer times until an agreed time is found.
E. If, after making a reasonable effort, two participants cannot find a suitable time to play, they may request moderator intervention, at which time the moderators will deliberate for awarding an unplayed match with 1 match point going to each team/participant and no game points awarded for the match.
1. The Moderators will determine if each team/participant has made a reasonable effort (see IV.B-D for how to determine your reasonable effort).
2. Teams/participants who wish to agree to a draw must contact a moderator of this. At this point, moderators will refer to rule IV.E to approve the draw.
F. If one participant does not make a reasonable effort to find a time, they may forfeit their match at the Moderators’ discretion.
G. If neither participant provides a reasonable effort to find a time, both will forfeit the match.
H. All teams/participants must confirm their scheduled game time. It is not acceptable to not acknowledge your opponents time offer and say you planned on playing at that time.
I. All scheduling times must be posted in UTC time format to avoid confusion by all parties involved in the process. Use Google to convert your time offerings to UTC if unsure before posting/accepting times. Team Captains who offer/accept schedule times for their team are binding on their team and opponents are not obligated to reschedule once agreed upon. Only Team Captains may offer or accept scheduling times officially.

V. No-response policy

A. If one team/participant cannot make contact with their opponent after 24 hours, the team Captain/participant should reach out to moderators and inform them.
B. If the offending team/participant does not respond within 24 hours after moderators are informed, they forfeit the match. Only Team Captain responses count as responding in Team matches. The other team/participant receives full benefit of having won all theoretical games to be played in the match and the match points. If the offending Team/participant responds within the 24 hours after moderators are notified, moderators will give a yellow card and warning to that team/participant. If such happens twice in the same event, that team/participant forfeits the second match it occurs and all matches going forward in the event and the Team Captain/participant receives a Red card and can not play in the next event.
C. In order to claim a win by forfeit, the claiming team/participant must contact the Moderators.
D. If a team/participant does not respond on Voobly scheduling forums within 24 hours of the release of pairings, the Moderators will issue a yellow card (see XI. Penalties) to the offending team/participant.
E. Please remember that above all, we value games! So while these rules exist, the more games played the better.

VI. No-show policy

A. If either team/participant is not online at the appointed time, they will have a grace period of 20 minutes to appear, otherwise they will forfeit the match.
B. If either team/participant is online, but does not join the game room so that the game can be launched, or stall the game from being played over 20 minutes past the scheduled time they will forfeit one game or match if they continue to delay.
C. After the 20 minute grace period has expired, the team/participant may proceed to claiming a forfeit. In order to claim a forfeit, the claiming team/participant must attach screenshots in the scheduling forum for that pairing of the main lobby and game lobby showing the team/participant is not there/ready to play at the appointed time.
D. If the team/participant can prove that they were online, available, attempted to play or in any other way refute the no-show accusation, their OPPONENT shall lose by forfeit.
E. Any team/participant forfeiting a game will receive a yellow card (see XI. Penalties).

VII. Cheating policy

A. A cheater is defined as someone who:
1. artificially increases/decreases their rating. “Sandbagging” is the act of artificially decreasing your rating and/or creating a username with ratings far lower than your actual rating/skill. Similarly, “point trading” or artificially increasing a username rating to get a higher seeding may likewise face consequences. While usernames are allowed please beware the use of usernames to try and manipulate the system has risks for this criteria. It is best to use your known or most established username for participation in Crusader Cup events.
2. receives any assistance (outside of themselves or their team that is playing) from any third party source during play.
Note to streamers: assistance from stream chat is not allowed, please make this clear to viewers or do not read chat during the game.
B. Please report all accusations of cheating to Moderators using the designated private Complaint forum on Voobly for the event. Do not publicly accuse others of cheating.
C. Moderators will determine validity of claim and take action if deemed valid.
D. If action is taken, all games in the current season played by offending participants will be forfeited.

VIII. Game play policy

A. All participants are required to use Fair play during games. This means no external assistance to assist them, either persons, 3rd party software, or other technology that is not approved for use on Voobly or the event. Communication among team members playing such as Discord/Zoom is allowed. Ask moderators if you have any questions or concerns about this, ignorance is not an excuse.
B. If for any reason Voobly crashes, the game crashes, or loss of connection is had by one or more participants during a game and saving and restoring is available, participants are required to do so and continue play from the saved game ASAP. If for whatever reason the game can not be immediately resumed (such as a participant suddenly not having internet), contact a moderator and explain the situation.
C. If the game is not able to be restored and resumed one or more moderators will review and determine the winner of the game or declare a game to be restarted with participants playing the same civs they had in the game that crashed.
D. Participants are not allowed to pause the game during the first 2 minutes of game time for any reason. If such occurs the game must be restarted with the same civs each participant had that game and a yellow card will be given to the offending participant if proof is given to the moderators (such as screen shot).
E. If for any reason the game must be paused, it may only be paused for 2 minutes maximum. After 2 minutes, any participant may notify all participants ingame by saying “unpausing” and unpause the game without penalty. Excessive pausing may be subject to a yellow card or even risk expulsion from the event if repeatedly occurring in games. Send screenshots to League moderators of such violations for action to be taken.
F. All game results must be reported in the Scheduling forum with a link to the saved game on the Voobly game history of any of the participant’s profiles.
G. Respect rule: we encourage participants to take their game as seriously as possible in order to respect their opponents and their team. League moderators will warn participants if they notice that the games are not taken seriously and participants can be removed from the event altogether if their behaviour doesn't change.

IX. Alternate policy

A. All teams are encouraged to have an alternate for their team and register them along with their team’s registration for the event. Alternates are subject to the same eligibility requirements as the rest of the team. Team average rating is calculated as the lowest team average, if an alternate rating is lower than the lowest team members rating, their rating replaces it. Abusing Alternate policies to try and manipulate the pairing system can result in registration being denied. Try to find Alternates at least around your team’s lowest rated player whenever possible.
B. In the event that an alternate is required, it is the responsibility of the captain of the team that requires an alternate to update that an alternate is being used for the game/match in the Scheduling forum. Teams can notify in the scheduling forum that an alternate is being used even right up to when a game/match is scheduled to be played, but must post in the scheduling forum concerning it prior to the game/match being played. Only participants that were registered with the Team’s registration are acceptable to be used as a team’s alternate(s).

XI. Penalties

A. Most participants avoid the need to worry about penalties by abiding to the above rules and having clear communication with the moderators when issues arise.
B. This league has adopted a yellow card/red card system where a yellow card indicates a warning. 2 yellow cards = a red card and suspension from participation in the current season and next season at minimum.
C. Participants and Team captains will be notified when they receive a yellow card from the League moderators.
D. Participants who consistently receive cards over several seasons may be banned from future Crusader Cup events.
E. Teams that have a participant removed during an event and had not registered an alternate with the Team forfeit the rest of their matches for the event. Participants removed in 1v1 event forfeit the rest of their matches for the event. Highly recommended to have an alternate for Teams!
F. Participants removed for cheating violations forfeit all matches for the event. If on a Team, that team forfeits any games/matches participant was playing in for the event. If a Team has no alternate registered to continue the event, see XI.E Penalties above.

Lets do it! I'm in

I think this is a great idea!

thats such a great suggestion Fynn_! and has big potential to be done since you already thou of everything.

I will be in talk with you and some other cohost to make it happen.

anything dont hesitate to Pm me or join us over discord: [You must login to view link]

Good to hear, look forward to working on implementing this and all comments/feedback, suggestions.

i am in

Awesome, glad to hear it. Please spread the word!

This is a great proposal. I'm very interested!

Looking forward to it. DM for any help needed

Thanks for supporting this proposal everyone. I have updated the proposal document attachment and inserted language describing how byes will be assigned if necessary. I welcome any feedback to the document including any noticeable errors or inconsistencies (I make mistakes!).

Edit: I also welcome any suggestions on the map, or if someone would be interested in creating one specifically for this event, with the criteria outlined in the document (Settings Season I), let me know.