Vast Empire Stormtrooper Corps: Elite Squad Competition 2009

General Information

The Elite Squad Competition has not been conducted for almost eight years. The last (and only) squad to wear the blood red stormtrooper armor of the "Elite" was Iron Horse. With six active squads and coming off two of the best Platoon Competitions on record, the AHC has decided to determine who the best of the best really is. The competition will be graded on four (4) categories: Writing, Gaming, Graphics and Miscellaneous.

The competition will be run from after the July 19th meeting until an hour prior to the beginning of August 30th Meeting.


Writing - 50%


Grader

1st Lieutenant Angel


Summary

The focus of the ESC will be the storyline. As the goal of this competition is to determine who the ELITE squad is, the AHC saw fit to ensure that the shortcomings of one squad would not affect the progress of another. As such, each squad's storyline will be completely independent of all other squad's. To prevent confusion and to keep better track of squad progress, each of the six squads will have their own thread to post in. There will also be a seventh thread where Angel will maintain the overall story plot.

The story will have three phases, each two (2) weeks in length. Each phase will in turn be comprised of up to three objectives per squad. When an objective is completed, the SL or ASL will be required to make a post on the Progress Thread stating their completion. Within 24 hours either Angel, Rizzit, or Cosmic will make a post detailing the next objective for that squad.

If a squad completes all three objectives of a phase, it will have to wait until the current phase ends. Phases will be posted at the following dates/times:

• Phase I - July 19th, 1:30pm PDT (4:30pm EDT)
• Phase II - August 3rd, 7:00pm PDT (10:30 pm EDT)
• Phase III - August 17th, 1:30pm PDT (4:30pm EDT)

If a squad finds itself having to wait to post until a new phase is up, they would do well to play games, do wiki work, or design graphics to ramp up the extra points.

Rules

• Each Squad has Fifteen (15) posts per objective. This is the maximum number of posts that will be graded. Any additional posts will be counted as zeros.
  • This forces communication and coordination between squad members. (A definite MUST for any squad who wishes to be called Elite.)
• An objective must be written to completion before the next one is posted.
  • If the objective is not finished by the 15th post, the squad will have to continue posting until it is completed. All of those posts will receive a grade of 0.
• There is a maximum of 2500 words per post.
  • This is prevent a zerg post at post #15 to complete half an objective.
• There is no minimum word length, however it is inadvisable to waste valuable posts with 100-300 words
• If a squad completes all three objectives of a phase in 15 posts or less for each, they will receive bonus points. (See Grading Section below)
  • Note, this does NOT mean under 45 total posts for the phase. If obj. 1 took 20 posts, and obj. 2 took 15 and obj. 3 took 10 for a total of 45, the squad would not qualify for bonus points, despite averaging 15 posts per objective (45/3=15)

OOC:

If it is determined that the Fifteen (15) post limit is too restrictive for a squad during the first phase, the post limit may be increased to 20 or 25 per objective. This is at the sole discretion of the AHC, so please have faith in our abilities.

Grading

Each post will be graded on a scale of 1-10, based on the following criteria. Posts will NOT be graded on a word count basis. The emphasis of the Corps is "Quality over Quantity." If a post is 2000 words, but poorly written, it will receive the around same score as an equally poorly written 500 word post. The converse is true. A fantastic 2000 word post will receive around same score as a 500 word post of the same quality. The "around"-ness of the score most likely would come from the additional story progression inherent in a longer post.

• Grammar/Spelling - 2 points: Every post starts with 2 points for spelling/grammar. Points are deducted at a rate of .5 points per the criteria below
  • -0.5 points: Between 1-5 spelling mistakes
  • -0.5 points: Minor grammatical mistakes (punctuation is included in grammar)
  • -1 points: More than 5 spelling mistakes
  • -1 points: Major grammatical mistakes (punctuation is included in grammar)
• Story Progression - 2 points: Every post should advance the plot. The following points scale will be applied:
  • 2 points - Adequate story progression
  • 1 points - Minimal story progression
  • 0 points - Little to no story progression
• Formatting - 1 point: This is an all or nothing point for properly formatting a post. Criteria that must be adhered to include
  • Paragraphs - New one with every change in topic, speaker, or setting.
  • Dialogue - " " on spoken dialogue, italics on internal dialogue.
  • Extra line break in between paragraphs.
• Quality - 5 points: The most important aspect of a post is its overall quality. These factors can be difficult to determine, but generally include but are not limited to: descriptiveness, realism, flow, creativity, readability, use of other characters, etc. All factors will be blended to determine the quality of a post on a scale of 0-5. The average will be set at 3 points, with 5 points for only the most exceptional of posts.
• Bonus Points: At the end of a phase, if a squad had completed all their objectives in less than Fifteen (15) posts EACH, they will be rewarded by the following formula where: Final Score = F, Total Score (unadjusted) = T, and Number of Posts = P. This effectively works out to be the squad receives a bonus of three (3) additional posts equal to the average score of that phase.
  • F = T + (T/P)*3

There are provisions made to have an absolute score of 0/10 for a post. In order for a post to be scored as a 0, it will have to:

• Quote Post - The writer more or less copy/pastes the previous post at the start of their own, repeating dialogue and actions.
• Plagiarize in some way, shape, or form. This includes plagiarizing ideas from other squad stories. Angel will be grading all of the posts, so he will know when an idea has be duplicated.
• Make the grader physically ill when reading it.

Gaming- 25%


Grader

General Rizzit


Summary

Gaming for the ESC is going to be VERY strict on the rules. There will be NO LOUNGE GAMES ALLOWED that are NOT Star Wars related. This means you CANNOT play pool, chess, checkers, and such for the Elite Squad Competition. We are a STAR WARS club, we're GOING to start acting like it. However, to compensate for those that do not have any Star Wars games, we will allow a good variety of non-star wars games. iSketch will be allowed (see additional rules below) as well as ANY "Military" game for the PC/360/Wii/PS3/etc. However, it is at the sole discretion of General Rizzit if the game will be counted or not so it would be a good idea to check first. Some good examples of non-Star Wars Games are:

• Combat Arms
• Call of Duty
• Resident Evil
• Rainbow 6
• F.E.A.R.
• Too Human

Rules/Scoring

Star Wars Games:

• Winner receives 2 points
• Second Place (if more than 2) receives 1 point everyone else receives nothing.
• At least one other participant must be from another squad/division.
• NO FORCE ALLOWED unless in the DJO (except in the case of Jedi Outcast/Academy where you cannot play properly without jump. (Jump may be 1/4 way filled)
• NO LIGHTSABER (or Jedi Units) unless in the DJO. This means Guns NF! ZOMG Real Stormtrooper action!
• Game MUST be logged into the VEBattleBoard to count and a screenshot MUST be e-mailed to [email protected]
• No modding/cheating. Game will be considered invalid

Individual Game Rules:

• Jedi Knight/Outcast/Academy: Match must be agreed upon prior to start. Good numbers to play to are 15, 20, 25.
• Galactic Battlegrounds: Play until only one person is left standing. (Disable win by monument/holocrons/anything not combat related) Remember, NO Jedi usage!
• Battlefront/Republic Commando/Empire at War: Play until one person is left standing.
• Naval Fighter Games: Match must be agreed upon prior to start.

Non Star Wars games:

• Winner Receives 1 point
• Second Place (if more than 2 players) receives 1/2 a point.
• At least one other participant must be from another squad/division.
• Complete the game through the various method you agreed to with your opponent.
• Take a screen shot showing who won and lost and submit it to [email protected]
• If playing iSketch:
  • Room must be set to the "Star Wars" word set
  • Three (3) people must be playing.
• If playing on a gaming console, each player will need to record ALL scores and submit them to [email protected] clearly outlining who won (this way it can be confirmed) unless the game has a website in which games may be tracked. (It is YOUR job to provide said website and info)
  • If games cannot be validated, they will be considered invalid.

Single Player Games:

For those that cannot play multiplayer, the following single player missions have been added. These are supposed to be challenging in nature and give a fairly generous amount of points as well.


Jedi Outcast Levels (2-4 points each based on performance):

You are allowed two completions per level and there MUST be a screenshot and timestamp included. Force powers and lightsabers may be used in SP games. Levels may be downloaded from http://www.massassi.net

• Spice Mines on Kessel
• Occupation (Version 2)
• Occupation 2 - Antaean Assault

Jedi Knight Levels (2-4 points each based on performance):

You are allowed two completions per level and there MUST be a screenshot and timestamp included. Force powers and lightsabers may be used in SP games. Levels may be downloaded from http://www.massassi.net

• The New Empire
• PotE Level 1
• Empire’s Industrial Revolution

Galactic Battlegrounds (5-10 points based on performance):

Complete Campaign 4 (Darth Vader) on hard mode. I must have a score visible (press F4) and a timestamp (F10). A screenshot must be taken after EACH completed campaign. Lack of timestamp and/or score makes the entry null and void. Also, do not send screenshots one by one. Send them in all at once.


Game Completion (PC only):

ANY Star Wars games that can be COMPLETED (Screenshot after every level) all the way to the end on hard mode receive AT LEAST 15 points. Any means necessary may be used to complete the game (except modding/cheats) but you will receive at least 15 points for games like JO which are fairly short or a good deal more for longer games like Rebellion .

ALL SCREENSHOTS MUST BE SUBMITTED TO [email protected] FAILURE TO SUBMIT SCREENSHOTS WILL RESULT IN NO POINTS FOR YOUR GAME!

Also please note the points listed above are for normal circumstances. If an exceedingly longer game is played (for example Jedi Outcast set to 200 kills, or a game of Rebellion) I'd be taking that into consideration when awarding points.

Furthermore For X-Box live games callsigns need to be registered with General Rizzit so he can track their games.

Finally, Cross-Divisional Play is not only acceptable, it's welcome!


Graphics - 15%


Grader

The Department of Development (CoD & CoD:A)

Submit all graphics to: [email protected]

All e-mails must include Callsigns (just copy/paste your ID-line) in order to appropriate the scores.


Grading

Each entry will be graded upon four (4) criteria. Each criterion will have a scale of 0-5 points.These scores will then be averaged and multiplied by 10 to obtain the score of the graphic (out of 50).

• Effort (0-5) - How much effort can be seen in the piece of work? Is there a large amount of detail to the piece?
• Relevance (0-5) - Is the work related to the competition? Does it reflect something that has happened in the story?
• Creativity (0-5) - Is it unique or has something very similar already been posted?
• Originality (0-5) - Is the work something that was crafted by hand or is it a simple copy and paste job that really took no thought?

Rules

1. Any piece of work that is found to be plagiarized will be marked as a zero (0) and still counted in the overall grading average.

2. Comics are permitted, but be aware that they will be graded primarily upon the graphics rather than the words, and should be relevant to the story side of the competition. There is a story portion of the competition for a reason. So don't make a graphic with a post attached.

3. Stick figure art is something that is at the artists discretion. Understand that submissions of this type are at risk for low scores and will be difficult to score high marks with.


Miscellaneous - 10%

This category will be used to award (or detract) points for all the other things possible during the competition. Examples are:

• Recruitment
• Sportsmanship
• ESC Related Wiki-work
• Website Development
• General Conduct and Behaviour (excessive trash-talking, CoC violations, whining and general emo behavior will NOT be tolerated)

Please note that it IS POSSIBLE to receive negative points in this category. We're all in this to have fun, so please conduct yourselves in a mature and professional manner.


Determining a Winner

Since each category has a unique % value of the total points and it's own grading scale, each raw score will need to be regulated to a common scale. This is done by the following:

The highest score in any category sets the maximum value. This maximum value then receives the full points for that category. The other squads then receive points equal to the % of the maximum score they are. However, graphics are unique in that

OOC:

Example:
--------
Raw Points
Jester - 1000 points writing
Raiders - 900
BlackJack - 800
Wraith - 700
Paladin - 600
Iron Horse - 500

MAX = 1000
Writing Weight = 50%

Weighted Points:
Jester - 1000/1000 = 1*50% = 50
Raiders - 900 = 900/1000 =.9*50% = 45
BlackJack - 800 = 800/1000 = .8*50% = 35
Wraith - 700 = 700/1000 = .7*50% = 30
Paladin - 600 = 600/1000 = .6*50% = 25
Iron Horse - 500 = 500/1000 = .5*50% = 20

Once all raw scores from each category have been properly regulated and weighted, they will be summed together for a final score out of 100 points. In order for a squad to receive a 100%, they will have to obtain the MAX score in each category.


Competition Rewards

The Elite Squad Competition has rewards beyond those usually handed out during competitions. Yes, there will be promotions and medals on an individual merit basis. However, it is important to remember that this is a SQUAD competition, and will be rewarded as such.

The winning squad will be given the following honors:

• Blood Red Stormtrooper Armor (it's not just for looks either).
• Title of "Elite" added to their squad name on the roster.
• New Positions:
  • Elite Squad Leader (ESL)
  • Elite Assistant Squad Leader (EASL)
  • Elite Trooper (ETRP)
• Position Pay Raise consistent with the above.

Also, in typical competition fashion, individual accomplishments will be rewarded in the following categories:

• Overall MVP - Awarded to the trooper who accumulates the most points in the competition
• Best Gamer - Awarded to the trooper who accumulates the most gaming points.
• Best Graphic Artist - Awarded to the trooper who accumulates the most graphics points
• Mr/Ms Congeniality - The person who best embodies the spirit of the competition and make it enjoyable and fun for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I play (insert game) for the (insert console) and earn points for my squad for Single Player Mode Completion?

A: No. Star Wars games are the ONLY games where single player mode will be an acceptable form of earning points. Furthermore, as stated above you must be playing it for the PC and in hard mode. You are however welcome to find people to play the non-Star Wars games in multiplayer mode with you.

Added the following to the gaming section:

OOC:

• If playing iSketch:
  • Room must be set to the "Star Wars" word set
  • Three (3) people must be playing.

OOC:

• Phase I - July 19th, 1:30pm PDT (4:30pm EDT)
• Phase II - August 3rd, 7:00pm PDT (10:30 pm EDT)
• Phase III - August 17th, 1:30pm PDT (4:30pm EDT)

The dates of the Phases has been shifted to compensate for technical difficulties.