1 General Regulations

1.0 Rules

The RO:Ladder reserves the right to change or extend the rules if necessary. If there are any cases that aren’t covered by the ruleset, please contact an admin to point this out.
RO:Ladder admins are allowed to decide with fairplay in behalf in cases that aren’t covered by the rules.

1.1 Users

With registration, the user declares that she/he has read and understood the rules, owns a legal copy of the game and is obliged to follow these rules.
Every user is allowed to join multiple teams, but it's forbidden to join the same competition with more than one team.
If you have a duplicate account (problems with original etc.) you must contact an admin.
Your Steam account must be linked to your user profile.
Player name must be the same or very similar to the name used in game.
Your uploaded user avatar has to be G-rated.

1.2 Behavior

All users must be courteous and respectful of other users at all times within the RO:Ladder Community. The following items are strictly forbidden on the site:

Racism
Insults
Player names with known war criminals
Rascist symbols

Orders given by the administration must be followed. Suggestions, criticism or complaints will be accepted and dealt with by the administration.

1.3 Teams

1.3.1 Registration

When participating at a competition, make sure your roster has enough members registered to meet the minimum playerlimit for this competition. You are allowed to create several rosters for your team but it is forbidden to register multiple accounts for one team. Also you have to fill in following fields at the registration:

Team name
Clan Tag
Clan logo (G-rated) and a short description

1.3.2 Leadership

The user who registers a team is automatically leader of this team. It is possible to grant leadership level up to three players for each team. Furthermore it is possible to promote one player for each roster to a organiser so he is the spokesman and can manage activities relating to that specific roster.

1.3.3 Transfers

Please have a look at the specific ruleset for the competition you're participating.

2 Matches

2.1 Team sizes

Please have a look at the specific competition ruleset for further details to read what team sizes are allowed at the competition you're participating.

If an opponent can’t field the minimum number of players for that competition you are free to decide to play with lower player amount but equal sides (eg. 5on5) or reschedule the match. It is not allowed to force a team to play with fewer players than your team. If you don’t agree to reschedule or play with equal sides, you’re free to create a protest ticket, so the opponent gets a punishment for not fielding enough players.
If an opponent turns up with less numbers than originally agreed the minimum number for that competition will be assumed.
If a match has started, and one team drops players who can't return, this team can forfeit. This means the remaining rounds to be played will automatically be default win. In the result of surrender, an Admin must be informed by the surrendering team.

2.2 Maps

Please have a look at the specific ruleset for the competition you're participating.

2.3 Match sequence

Please have a look at the specific ruleset for the competition you're participating.

2.4 Match Reporting

Every match has to be entered in the RO:Ladder website challenge system before it is played. Otherwise it can’t be accepted as an official RO:Ladder match.

The winner must report the match. In the result of a draw, the team first listed at the match details is responsible for reporting.
Screenshots must be added by using the RO:Ladder upload form.
Screenshots have to be at least 800x600 and have to be in JPG or PNG format and no other modifications besides compressing and converting are allowed.
A copy of the server log file or a screenshot showing the IDs of all players has to be send to staff@roladder.net by request.
Match must be reported and accepted within 24hours of the match concluding.
Once a match is reported and accepted by both sides, that match is deemed as closed.

2.5 Cheating & Exploiting

Cheating and Exploiting within the ROLadder community is strictly forbidden. Exploits and Cheats will be handled on an individual basis based on severity.

If you are not sure whether your gameplay is a valid tactic or considered an exploit raise a ticket and contact an admin.

2.6 Protests

If a problem occurs during a match, we recommend to create a protest ticket at the RO:Ladder website.
A protest must be opened within 48 hours after the start of the match and the match itself has to be not accepted yet. If you accept a match, you aren’t allowed to create a protest ticket afterwards.
Participating parties of a match protests are the involved teams and an admin in charge. It is strongly recommended that only one person per team takes part as a spokesman for his side.
Match protests have to be made in proper English and it is also required to fill in the exact details about the occurred problem.

2.7 Match media

Each player participating at any competition has to record a demo for every round.
Recorded media from the match (demos, screenshots, logs etc.) have to be stored by all participating players for four weeks after the match.
If requested by RO:Ladder admin all media needs to be uploaded at the RO:Ladder demo uploader.
Demos given to an admin have to be named with this scheme: TEAM-NICKNAME-MAP-ROUND

2.8 Substitution of players

Please have a look at the specific ruleset for the competition you're participating.

2.9 Intercontinental matches

The first named team’s map is played first, followed by opponents map.
First side (two rounds at Countdown) is played on the first named teams server.
Second side is played on the second named teams server.
This procedure starts from the beginning for the second map, only that the other team is free to choose their side.

2.10 Unpunctuality

A team has to wait up to 15 minutes after the set starting time for the opponent team to show up. Any time after that period the waiting team may decide to set a new date for the match or if the enemy team should be punished accordingly.

2.11 Challenging

Please have a look at the specific ruleset for the competition you're participating.

2.13 Special Agreements

Both teams are free to set up additional agreements if they don’t violate any of the rules. As the admin team is unable to confirm any additional agreements made, admins won’t enforce any of these.

2.14 Broadcasting

It's not possible to refuse a match broadcast for any team involved.

3. Server

3.1 Server configuration

3.1.1 Red Orchestra settings

Please have a look at the specific ruleset for the competition you're participating.

3.1.2 Anti-Cheat and mutators

Server must use PunkBuster and be VAC secured
Other mutators running on a match servers have to be on the list of RO:Ladder approved additions. At the moment there are no mutators listed.

3.2 Server location for intercontinental matches

Especially for an intercontinental match it is mandatory to both teams to test servers before the match. To provide the best possible gaming experience the server has to be located in following areas.

When US teams play in an European league an UK server must be used. When EU teams play in an American league an NY or Washington server must be used.

3.3 Server problems

3.3.1 Ping problems at continental matches

3.3.1a Before match

Both teams have to check if they have packet loss on the server before the match.
If two or more players experience packet loss before the round starts, it is up to the team that provides the server to get another server ready.
This may not take longer than 15 minutes from the match start.
If teams don’t get another decent server it’s up to the teams to reschedule, play at the first server (if both teams agree) or to create a match protest at the RO:Ladder website.

3.3.1b During a match

The round must be completed even when players experience packet loss during the round. However, if one round remains, the team experiencing the problems can ask for a server change.
Server crashing during the round results in that round being replayed (no matter when the crash happened)

3.3.2 Intercontinental matches

A new server can be requested under the following conditions:

If one teams total ping has a difference of over 100ms.
Packetloss for two or more players

If the servers cannot be agreed, teams have to create a protest ticket as soon as possible.

3.3.3 Connection problems during a match

If a player drops out of the game he may re-enter at any time and the match has to be paused by a server admin immediately.
The round can stay paused for no more than 5 minutes.
Only two pauses per round are permitted unless both teams agree otherwise.
If that player is not able to re-enter the game another team member may enter the game.
Only one backup player is allowed (see rule 2.6).
Once the backup player has entered the match, the dropped player may not re-enter the match until the next round.
If the team does not have a backup player then it is the opponent teams choice if the remaining rounds will be played with less players on both sides or if the game will be replayed on another date.
If you don’t agree to reschedule or play with equal sides, you’re free to create a protest ticket, so an admin will decide on this special case if there will be a punishment or not.

3.4 Server Responsibility

The team who named first at the match details is responsible for supply the server for the match. If the server is deemed unfit for a war, then another server can be proposed. In the situation where no agreement can be met, the teams should contact an admin, who will then try to secure a playable server for the match.

4 Punishments

A list of all punishments is available here