This page provides a list of Frequently Asked Questions about MWC99. If your question is not in the FAQ, ask it on the MWC99 Discussion Forum. If you do not receive a reply there, try emailing the Triumvirate directly.

Q: My order is too small to field a full team. Can we combine with someone else to make a MWC99 team?
A: Yes. Although one of the rules for the bungie.net Tournament Circuit has traditionally been that each team has to be made up of a single Bungie-registered order, we asked Bungie about this and they said "The original rule was designed to promote orders in general and as long as that goal is accomplished, the spirit of the rule, if not the letter, is supported." So go for it.

Q: Why not use the built-in Myth scoring system?
A: For many game types, the Myth scoring system does not provide a spectrum of possible outcomes (e.g. in Assassin or Last Man on the Hill you either win or you lose, and in Capture the Flag ties are common). Also, many game types that have such a spectrum (Territories and Captures) can lead to ties that Myth treats as victories/defeats. The MWC99 scoring system was devised to remedy these problems and to make all game types worth roughly the same amount in competition.

Q: Why Double-Elimination?
A: One complaint about the MWC98 tournament was that many teams were eliminated early. In the double-elimination format all participants remain until they are defeated twice, meaning more matches and hopefully more fun for everyone!

Q: How does Double-Elimination work?
A: The Top Bracket (for undefeated teams) works just like a standard elimination ladder: teams play matches with the winner advancing to the next round until only one team remains undefeated. The difference is what happens to teams that lose a match in the Top Bracket: instead of being eliminated from the tournament, they move to the Bottom Bracket. The Bottom Bracket is also a ladder, and one in which a loss means elimination from the tournament. However, since new teams are arriving in the Bottom Bracket after each Top Bracket round, the Bottom Bracket must play matches twice as often to make room. This is why the Bottom Bracket matches are only 3 games long. Once only one team remains in each of the Top and Bottom Brackets, these two survivors advance to the Grand Final.

Q: Why so many rules?
A: It's important to make things as clear as possible so that during the tournament disputes can be resolved quickly and fairly. Trying to close all possible loopholes and combat cheating or exploitative behavior often requires a lot of rules. Check out the Rules Overview if you want a summary of the main points.

Q: Will the Judges be playing in the MWC99 tournament?
A: No.

Q: What happens if a Judge is a member of an order involved in a rules dispute?
A: Judges will not vote on questions directly affecting teams to which they are affiliated.

Q: Why is the Capture the Flag scoring so complicated?
A: Because CTF's normal scoring system is so oriented towards win/lose gameplay (with no degree of variation), a lot of effort has been invested in our CTF scoring system, and we have come up with a set of rules that we feel reward aggression and strong play. Otherwise, teams with a lead in a match could camp on their flag to guarantee a tie, which is boring.

Q: Why do some game types award points according to how much of your army survives?
A: Again, this is to provide a broader spectrum of possible results. The idea is that achieving the game objectives while taking only 10% losses is a better showing than achieving the same objectives while taking 75% losses. It also helps differentiate a close game from a total pummelling.

Q: Why don't you provide fast hosts for all MWC99 games?
A: Because of the sheer number of matches that must be played. During the qualifying round almost a hundred matches will be played per week. Lining up hosts for that many matches just isn't practical. If possible, in later rounds fast hosts may be provided.

Q: If teams are responsible for scheduling their own matches, why have a separate deadline?
A: Otherwise teams that can't agree on a match time could drag the process out indefinitely. The MWC99 tournament structure requires that all matches be completed in a timely manner so that future matches can be determined.

Q: Why are Double-Elimination matches decided based on points rather than on games won?
A: Because it allows a come-from-behind win by a team that loses the first two or three games, and because it makes a dominating win worth more than a narrow victory.

Q: Why so many different game types?
A: The MWC99 tournament is intended to identify the best all-around team. That means being able to do well at a wide variety of different game types, as well as being able to adapt to new situations.

Q: Why are the Top Bracket matches 5 games long and the Bottom Bracket matches only 3 games long?
A: After the first couple of rounds, teams in the Bottom Bracket must play two matches every week while the Top Bracket teams only play one match. This keeps the numbers of games played per week roughly equal for teams in either bracket.

Q: Why are points gained in CtF based on the trading point value of the units involved?
A: This is an attempt to assess the likelihood of the assault on the flag being successful, and to reward aggressive tactics over sitting back and camping on your flag. The ratio of trading point values can be determined exactly by counting heads, which lets the Judges avoid making subjective judgements on how likely an attack was to succeed.

Q: Why is a team whose host legitimately crashes during a game penalized 50% of their points during the replay?
A: Since it's impossible to be sure when a host disconnection is legitimate, there needs to be a substantial penalty to deter potential abusers. The risk of incurring this penalty through an accident is offset by the advantage gained due to the host's not having any lag.

Q: Why must neutral hosts be "sponsored" by a team, and why is that team penalized if the host crashes?
A: Because it's impossible to know for certain if a "neutral" host is in fact neutral or is in cahoots with a team and ready to disconnect if that team starts to lose. Yes, we have suspicious minds. But that's a good thing.

Q: Why are tied matches in the DE rounds awarded to the higher-seeded team rather than using a tiebreaker game or some other system?
A: Teams may not realize they are tied if they miscalculate their point totals, and so won't know a tiebreaker is necessary. We think we're unlikely to see any tied matches in any event. Also, this provides an added incentive to do as well as possible during the QR (to get a good seed).

Q: My opponents didn't show up at the time that we arranged! Do they forfeit?
A: No, because an MWC99 official has to be on hand to determine any forfeits. You will have to turn up at the assigned fallback time. (Why do we do this? Because the alternative is trying to figure out which team got the time wrong, and that requires sorting through email correspondence etc, which is just silly.)

Q: You're only using Badlands maps! What are you, some kind of imperialist lackeys?!
A: When selecting third-party maps to be used in the game set for MWC99, we evaluated maps from a wide range of sources. It just happened that all of the maps which we chose are Badlands maps because, well, the best maps to date have been made by them. If you have any suggestions for maps, then let us know ASAP; we may consider changing game selection.

Q: You suck! You screwed up my order's registration information!
A: Yes, we do suck. We're sorry. But in our defense, we've been working long hours processing those registrations and mistakes do happen.

Q: Where can I get a screenshot program?
A: If you have a Macintosh, try Snapz Pro from Ambrosia Software. If you have a PC, try HyperSnap-DX from Hyperionics.

Q: Why did you pick BC Trow as a game type?
A: Because it's an important part of the complete Myth experience. And besides, it can be fun and exciting if played between two skilled orders. If you don't believe us, check out this film!

Q: Why did you move the maps to The Mill?
A: Because people downloading maps were accounting for 60% of the total bandwidth being used by the entire MacObserver website, that's why. And it costs a lot of money. Besides, it's not our business to provide plugins... why should we when classy sites like The Mill exist that specialise in it?

Q: We want to report our first match's results. Where's the match code in the email we were sent?
A: Uh... we goofed. It's not there. Sorry. Just send the results in and tell us what pool you were in and who you played.

Q: Exactly how does the scoring work for these three games in the Qualifying Round?
A: We've had quite a few people ask about this, particularly about Stampede scoring. So here is a nice capsule summary.

• Game 1 (Cracks): Each team gets 1 point per flag. If one team has more flags than the other, they win the game and get another 5 points. If both teams have the same number of flags, it is a tie. If a team is eliminated, the other team wins the game immediately, as if they had tagged all the flags (they get maximum points, 15-0).
• Game 2 (Empire): Each team gets 4 points per flag. The team that wins the game gets another 5 points. No ties are possible. If a team is eliminated, they still get points for all the flags that they tagged.
• Game 3 (Stampede): Each team gets 3 points per 20% of the maximum number of tradeable pigs that they get in (or fraction thereof). Because you can get up to 30 pigs on Desert, this means that you get 3 points for every six pigs (or fraction thereof) that you get in. The winning team also gets another 5 points. If neither team gets any pigs in, it is a tie.

Q: Do we have to have v1.3 to play?
A: Yes, starting in Round 3 (when it was released).