StarCraft Tournament Rules

Tournament Rules

• No entry fee
• No prizes
• All replays will be made publicly available after the contest
• StarCraft Brood War version 1.16.1 will be used for all games
• StarCraft is a trademark of Blizzard Entertainment
• Participants are required to own a legal copy of StarCraft and the Expansion
  1. We will confirm that participants own a legal copy of StarCraft by requiring participants to log on to battle.net as part of the registration process
• Blizzard will not held liable for any damage caused
• We will not be held liable for damage caused
  1. This includes getting your CD key banned on Battle.net due to running a 3rd party StarCraft launcher
• Entries must use the version of the Brood War provided on this site
• Bots that perform malicious behavior will be disqualified and banned from all future contests. This includes but is not limited to:
  1. Intentionally crashing StarCraft
  2. Installing worms/viruses/malware on the host machine
  3. Malicious utilization of resources such as sockets, files, zombie processes (Using 100% RAM and 100% CPU is permitted)
  4. Spamming the in-game console
• Programs that attempt to cheat will be disqualified
  1. Bots must disable the perfect information flag in tournaments 1,2 and 4
• Games in which an agent crashes StarCraft will be counted as a loss
  1. A few weeks before the contest begins, there will be a round of testing to ensure that entries run correctly on the competition machines
• Bots will be ran in a native Windows XP/Vista environment
  1. Entries should be tested on native Windows XP/Vista before submission
  2. We will not be held responsible for entries that crash StarCraft due to our configuration of the system
• Games will be ran in a semi-automated fashion, see the Tournament Configuration page for details
• Internet access is forbidden, bots will be ran on a LAN
• Only 1 entry is permitted per affiliation. Different bots can be submitted for each of the tournaments.
• Bots must not slow down the game speed
  1. Games will be ran on the Fastest setting, which is 24 fps
  2. See the details on writing a remote process for your AI here
  3. Games in which a bot slows down the game speed significantly for a long duration will be counted as a loss
• Participants are not required to disclose source code
  1. A DLL can be provided, see the Submission page for full details
  2. However, entries are required to provide a short description of implementation details
• Entries are allowed to make use of open-source and closed-source components
• Entries are allowed to utilize a single socket to communicate with a remote process
  1. The remote process must be a 1-click to run application (e.g. we are not going to install a lisp compiler on the host machine to run a bot)
  2. Additional details on writing a remote process are available here
• Programs are allowed to write files to the local directory
  1. Bots are allowed to maintain state between games in a set
  2. These files will cleared out after every set (best of 5)
• Bots are not allowed to pause the game, games in which a bot pauses the game will be counted as a loss
• The following StarCraft bugs/tricks are permitted:
  1. Plague on interceptor
  2. Units pressed through
  3. Drops to defuse mines
  4. Mineral walk
  5. Manner Pylon
  6. Lurker hold position
  7. Observer over turret
  8. Stacking air units
• All other bugs/exploits are forbidden. Bots caught attempted these exploits will be disqualified. This includes but is not limit to:
  1. Flying drones and templars
  2. Terran sliding buildings
  3. Stacking ground units
  4. Allied mines
  5. Gas walk, to get through blocked entrances or ramps
• Bad mannered in game behavior is discouraged, but not forbidden

These rules are based on the ORTS 2009 rules