Congratulations to lurkerleader on ratifying 26 of the 35 chapters!! It's not enough to join the EU, technically, but it's enough to win you the tourney!! Congratulations again!!
This tournament is based on the Community Acquis - the criteria that countries have to meet to be considered for admission to the European Union. More info about the Acquis can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_acquis (NOTE: we will be using the 6th enlargement version, with 35 chapters).
I have divided the first 34 chapters into 9 "categories" (finance, science, trade, etc.) - and each category will have its own map and settings (see next post). The last chapter, "other issues", will be ratified by the winner of the final game, and therefore the tournament. I tried to find maps and settings related to the topics, but I don't know if I was completely successful.
For each category, players will be randomly sorted into groups. Each group will have one more player than the category has chapters (example: since the "finance" category has 5 chapters, each group for that category will have 6 players). Groups will be rearranged after each category, because there will usually be more than 1 player advancing from each group.
For each category, you will play one 1v1 game against each other player in your group. When you win a game, you earn a point (which means you have satisfied one of the Acquis' criteria). At the end of each category, all players will be ranked by TOTAL number of chapters ratified (including previous categories), and a certain number of players at the bottom will be eliminated (that number will be determined by how many people sign up and so the remaining players can be grouped evenly for the next category).
TIEBREAKERS - Scores from individual categories - most recent first.
If that fails, head-to-head record between the tied players.
If the tiebreak is to determine who is eliminated, and if head-to-head doesn't break the tie, all players still tied will play one game on the Europe Map and players will be eliminated from the tournament as needed in the order they are eliminated from that game.
If there are too many tied players for one game, tied players will play round-robin, with round-robin head-to-head records hopefully breaking any remaining ties.
If the tiebreak is just for ranking purposes, then after head-to-head record, players still tied will be ranked in alphabetical order.
After the 9th category has been finished, players with the best total score will advance to the final:
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE EU: One game, winner-take-all, on the Europe Map.
PREMIUM ONLY, PLEASE. I'm sorry, but you will be playing 5 games in each of the first two rounds, so in the interest of time, this will be a premium-only tournament.
I will send out 3 sets of invites for each round. If you have not joined your games after 3 invites, you will forfeit all your games for that round, and if you were to advance to the next round, you will be replaced in the next round by a reserve.
If your opponent forfeits a game by missing his invites, you WILL be awarded a win for that game.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
