NetStorm: HQ: Bounty rules

Island Bounties: Search, Defeat, Sacrifice.

1. Island Bounty Introduction:

The Hunting for Islands is a new feature for NS entertainment. All players from the NS community are welcome to try and take part in this challenge if they accept all the rules and conditions that are listed here. The Island Bounties Challenge accepts the general tournament contstitution but it's generally independent from all other tournament challenges. The Island Bounty is still being improved and enhancements will come along as we try to make this challenge as good as we can to suit the to the NetStorm player community. The NetStorm Tournament/Events Director and Bounty managment along with guild of AoD will oversee bounty hung challenge and its development and has the full responsibility for this project as well. You can read basic info about this challenge on the Bounty Introduction Page.

2. Island Bounty's Terms:

2.1 Bounty Island
Bounty Islands are commanded by undecover Dark Lords from the Alliance of Darkania guild. There are three kinds of bounty Islands:

2.1 a) Wanted Bounty Island
This is the most wanted island in the skies of Nimbus. If announced, the exact island has to be tracked, caught, and of course, defeated. It will be announced randomly on NSHQ and/or server news, these islands could have secret identity and it can be anyone if selected. The selection process is random and done before launching the Bounty by the NetStorm Tournament Director and Bounty managment (AoD). There is one rule that each time a new Bounty Island has to be selected, but there's no limits how many times could one become and how many wanted bounty islands can be released at once. Each Wanted Bounty Island has one or more respawns which indicates how many kills are required to defeat the Bounty Island. There is ussually a 500 point reward for each kill, more in scoring 3.6.

2.1 b) Bonus Bounty Island
Bonus Darklords have infinite respawns, but ussually less reward for each kill. You can also check Guardian Darkania challenge in section 3.3b and bonus Dark Lord challenge in 3.3c.

2.1 c) Support Bounty Island
There are other Darklords supporting their fellow released "Wanted Bounty Dark Lords". You can play them occationaly, but you won't recieve a reward for sacrificing them.
They can host for their brother Dark Lords or even join them in Team fights. They count as a Dark Lord Team but again, you won't get nothing for sacrificing them, unless there is a price set for a particular support Darklord too.

Ussually the main supporting AoD Dark Lords are the Dark Lord Officers, under the command of Lord of the Storms with his commanders and generals. They are focusing mainly on general observation of the Bounty Hunt, hosting games for Wanted Islands and recruitment for AoD. If you want to become a Dark Lord, you can talk to them.

You can check all of the current active Bounty Islands, wanted, bonus and support in Bounty Island News Info page.

2.2 Hunter
Any Player who wants to hunt down the current Bounty Island. All successful hunters will be added to the Island Hunting Score Board (IHSB). If the hunter follows all the rules, conditions and details (if announced), his award will be approved. There are no limits on how many bounties can one hunter accomplish. If you are ranked as top hunter, you may fight the last LOTS challenge after each couple of hunts - see section 3.3a.

2.3 Hunting Team
You and your mates can create a hunting team. This new feature will help you to find the bounty island sooner, as you can get more time covered by deploying each member of the hunting team for a different hunt time. You can also challenge the bounty island with your team members, but in those cases the bounty island can set extra rank for himself. On the other hand, all of your team mates will be awarded accordingly.
The maximum number of the hunters registred in the hunting team is currently 5. The registration of the hunting team is done on nshq bounty forums, where the hunting team leader will post a new thread this way:

a) the name of the thread will represent the hunting team's name (for example: "The Cool Hunters Team")
b) the hunting team leader will post a list of players in the team, maximum number of registred hunters is 5
c) any changes in the hunting team should be reported in that thread asap, the hunting team leader is responsible for any possible misconceptions
d) all approved registred hunting teams will be put on the IHSB and once there, the team is authorized for a team hunt in the island bounties challenge
e) all registred hunters in the hunting team have to be registred on the NSHQ, having a valid name that matches with the player's name used in the hunting challenge and they have to confirm their validation in team by posting a confirmation reply on their team's topic - without that players cannot join a hunting team
f) NSHQ and its staff keeps the right to elinimate any hunting team, or removing the hunting team's members, if the situation is reasonable enough
g) the bounty island will only play the team hunters that are registred on the IHSB, other hunters will be set automatically as independent

Note, that the scoring is different for a hunter team and for a independant hunter. All members of the winning hunting team will be awarded, but not the same way as the successful hunter alone. It also depends which hunting team members were present when the bounty island was defeated by that hunting team. All members who were present in the challenge ring when sacrificing the bounty island will recieve the silver award, the rest of the team will recieve the white award (but only if they allready have some award) . The golden award goes only for individual hunters. If one member of the team will strike and kill the bounty island alone, he will have the honour and right to recieve the full award for an awarded hunter. The rest of the team will NOT be awarded with rank and other players (if allready awarded) will recieve white stars. When attacking a bonus Dark Lord, the award will be shared within the present Hunting Bounty Team members.

3. Island Bounty Hunt's Game Conditions:

3.1 The announcement
The Bounty Hunt will start after the announcement of the Bounty Island here on NSHQ and/or server news. The Bounty Island is then authorized to come randomly in zones once or more times per day. After the announcement, there are no sign ups for hunters. A hunter could be anyone, even another under cover. However, the IHSB will deal only with the name of the current hunter's name, no change ups later. Undercover Hunters can be rejected by Bounty Islands, so be sure to hunt with your proper ussual name.

Once again all the Wanted Bounty Islands are displayed on the Bounty Island News Info page and also on the Bounty Hunt Info side menu on the right side on NSHQ.

3.2 The basic hunter selection
The first hunter that will caught the Bounty Island in island chasies and/or asks the Bounty Island for a challange, will have the chance to fight him. However, the first hunter who challenges the Bounty Island can also ask for Bounty Team game (2v1), if available - it all depends on the certain conditions regardless of any matter or future complaints. However, the first hunter who has accomplished all the tasks needed, can keep the right for a fight in a close future - if he wasn't selected first. Same conditions are set for team hunting, one hunter of the team can challenge the hunter and other team members may join the ring. They have to be approved on the IHSB, otherwise the bounty island won't let them join the ring or they can be considered as independent players (no silver awards, no preset alliances, breakable alliances, no sends... see more in game settings 3.5).

Refusing:
Hunter cannot challenge the same Bounty Island more than two times within one day (24 hours +-6 hours tolerance).
If the Bounty Island refuses you more than three times and you didn't loose to him for more than 24 hours, please report it on NSHQ bounty thread and/or bounty managment.

Be aware, that the Bounty Island isn't responsible for this system and he/she will not answer to any of your comments or complaints even. Observers or server watchers are not needed and its recommended to the Bounty Island that he doesn't let anyone else in the challange ring. Bounty Island or another Support Dark Lord are the only ones allowed to serve a match.

3.3 Special Bounty Hunts

3.3 a) LOTS Challenge
After each few hunts, The Lord of the Storms himself will arrive and seek the best awarded hunter (most kill awards atm - look in IHSB for the top player). When he finds him, he will deal a match dedicated only for him, however, if the hunter is in a hunting bounty team, he can request help from any present huntint team mates.

Sometimes the main Dark Lord can play more top hunters at once if they are present, depending how successful they were during past hunt and if they agree. Anyone who sacrifices LOTS in this challenge will get the award.

You can try to play LOTS before this challenge however you won't get the full award in case you do manage to sacrifice him. However you may be awarded in Guardian Challenge, Bonus Darklord Challenge.

LOTS is the ultimate Dark Lord, ussually he will be one of the current strongest Dark Lord undercover as well in this challenge. His settings are the most advanced and he will be allowed to use all special features during the gameplay. Playing LOTS may be different than standard netstorm experience.

Scoring:
The best hunter has the chance of acquiring the Hunter's Trophy Cup, in case he defeats Lord of the Storms. The Dark Lord Cup will reset all the hunter's awards, but all the Cups will be permament as the ultimate bounty award. If the selected hunter fails to defeat LOTS, another player from the IHSB ladder will get the chance and so on. The current hunter nominated for the LOTS challenge will be indicated on the IHSB with the marked score.

3.3 b) The "Guardian" challenge (Dark Lord bot game)
Guardian of Darkania, the pure Darkness summoned by the Lord of the Storms is a very special Darklord indeed. He can be played as single Darklord almost anytime for practice. He may also help other Darklords, but mainly his Overlord, Lord of the Storms. Consider Guardian Darkania as permanent Bonus Darklord.

Guardian of Darkania can set any type of battle (meaning that section 3.5 is not valid for this challenge). He can set himself a rank according to Bounty Rules, but then again he doesn't need to if he doesn't wish.

Scoring:
If you sacrifice this Darklord you won't recieve a kill star, but you can gain +60pts or +300 pts (if there is another support Darklord fighting with Guardian) if you already are awarded on IHSB. If not, you won't get anything so be sure to join bounty team or hunt a wanted Darklord on your own first before attempting this challenge. There is a one day limit for this challenge per one hunter. That means you cannot get more awards for Guardian challenge, just one per 1 day. On the other hand if you are already awarded that day you can still help other players.

3.3 c) Bonus Darklords challenge
Bonus Darklords are randomly picked by Darklord Generals, they are mostly the old defeated Wanted Bounty Islands. If you sacrifice them you will get award according to latest Bounty News, but no star and no hunting team bonus for other team hunters, however the award will be split along the Bounty Hunting Team if they are present. Bonus Darklords can be sacrificed once per day per one hunter/team. They have infinite respawns until they get inactive. They should follow the standard settings posted and they can also set themself a rank according to Bounty Rules. Scoring is different for each bonus Dark Lord and can be found on IHSB.

Once again more info about these challenges can be found on IHSB or Bounty Island News Info page.

3.4 The Bounty Hunt Challenge Game Conditions:
Hunters can only succeed if they sacrifice the Bounty Island's priest! If the hunter doens't succeed in first battle, he/she can ask for a revenge, but only once and if he/she is not already sacrificed by the Darklord before that day! If he/she doesn't succeed for the second time, the Bounty Island can choose another hunter or leave the zone entirely. Every hunter has a right for one match and rematch for every 24 hours. Same rule goes for team hunts - hunting teams.

3.5 Game settings and ranks:
They can be announced, but in most cases, it will depend on the current Bounty Island as he/she has the right to be either the Battlemaster or tell the Support Dark Lord Battlemaster his settings and thus sets the conditions whatever he likes to according this section.
There are current battlemaster's settings restrictions which will be valid if the current restriction isn't approved for the current bounty hunt. You can use this guide to help limit the settings combinations so your challenge can be as fair as it can be:

GAME RING POSSITIONS
The wanted Bounty Island is allways serving and/or playing from the red (support host and/or play from purple). The hunters can pick thier place from the south possitions, but they cannot pick the next spot to the bounty island, even when multiple players are in the ring. Allied bounty islands can only take north possitions, which means posstions orange, red and purple are ALWAYS for Dark Lords. Single hunts are allways played blue vs red.

ALLIANCE SHIELDS
Dark Lords are always allied. Independent Hunters are not being set as allied players, but they can declare alliance in game (and break it too). Hunting Team Players, if present, can be set as alliance before the game starts.

GAME TYPE
All game types are approved besides the geyserless mode. All games should have geysers included.

GAME OPTIONS
Bridge Slots, Unit Rate and Generator Range: 2 bridge slots or slow unit rate or short generator range or their combinations cannot be set on large or XL maps. On small or medium maps they are free to be used.
Map Mode: The single island is restricted to be used on small and medium maps. It can be only used on large or XL maps. In single island mode outposts are forbidden to be used on the main island. Archipelago mode is free to be used.
Map Size: It's ok to use all the map sizes with archipelago mode.
Map Density: It's free to be used unless there are injections set. If there are exact injections with 30 sec respawns, the extreme density is forbidden to be used.
Spells: Are free to be used in any way.
Alliances: All hunting teams should be allied before starting the game. Independent players are not set as allies and can fight for the bounty island, even break alliances, so breaking alliances are always on when multiple independent hunters play the Battle. Oterwise they are set off.
Allow Sending Money: Allways NO when there is only one bounty island. If there are more, it is free to be set.
Starting Cash: Free to be set.
Kill Reward: 100% and 150% KRs are not allowed.
Geysers: It's ok to set them in any way of placement or storm power amount. Setting Geysers Placement to none is not allowed.
Injections: 5000 injections are excluded from the settings. Other injections are approved.

EXCLUDED

!!! IN CASE THE BOUNTY ISLAND (OR HUNTER) HAS ADDITIONAL RANK, EACH EXCLUDED SPELL, UNIT OR BUILDING WILL DECREASE THE BOUNTY ISLAND'S RANK BY ONE LESS SETTING !!!

Spells are free to be choosed, allthough Bridge Harden spell is not allowed to be used frequently in game. Either exclude this spell or do not use it to block players in game.
Units are limited to be excluded this way: max 3 per fury and max 5 overall. Sun disk throwers, sun cannons and any of the generators cannot be excluded. Also we have one new important rule: Acid barricades cannot be excluded if the bounty island recieves rank 20 or more (for multiple hunters/rank).
Workshops are limited to be excluded this way:
-sun workshop cannot be excluded
-when excluding 3 shops, other unit excludes are not allowed
-when excluding 2 shops, the maximum ammount of other excluded units is 2
-when excluding 1 shop, the maximum ammount of other excluded units is 3
Temples are not allowed to be excluded.

HANDYCAPS
Ranks are set from 1, 2, 3... - 11, 16, 21, 26,... for both the Bounty Island(s) and hunter(s) , and since there are limited combinations how ranks are set, here are all ussual listed possibilities, how to set the ranks accordingly:

3.5 a) Ranks for Awarded Hunters in Single Matches:
Bounty Island can set a rank for himself when he plays the awarded hunter, and the additional rank he can get is:

(+2) for each ,
(+1) for each ,
but the maximum rank he can set for a hunter in the single match is (11).
It doesn't matter if the hunter is from the team or not.

There are no ranks added for the Dark Lord cups award.

3.5 b) Ranks added for Team Members and multiple Bounties:

Are given in those cases only when multiple Hunters (independent or from the registred hunting teams) are challenging the Bounty Island(s), or multiple Bounty Islands are fighting one hunter. For each extra Hunter present in the Bounty Hunt challenge ring, the Bounty Island will recieve 5 ranks. In case the Hunters fighting the Bounty Island have already been awarded with gold star, the Bounty Island(s) get additional +5 rank bonus.

In those cases when multiple Bounties are present, and there's no team around to fight them, single hunters can choose to fight a Bounty team alone if the bounty team agrees. A hunter will recieve a 5 rank bonus for each Bounty Island playing. Single Hunter can also choose which units to exclude according to rules in section excluded settings (but he will loose rank). Hunter cannot decide the map settings.

All valid combinations are listed here:

Present Bounty Islands:	Present Hunters:	Max. Rank given to Bounty:	Rank icon:
single	single	depends if he's awarded (3.5a)
single	team (2)	1+5+5=
single	team (3)	1+5+5+5=
single	team (4)	1+5+5+5+5=
single	team (5)	1+5+5+5+5+5=
team (2)	team (2)	depends if team has awarded hunter(s) (3.5c)
team (2)	team (3)	1+5=
team (2)	team (4)	1+5+5=
team (2)	team (5)	1+5+5+5=
team (3)	team (3)	depends if team is awarded (3.5c)
team (3)	team (4)	1+5=
team (3)	team (5)	1+5+5=
Present Bounty Islands:	Present Hunters:	Max. Rank given to hunter:	Rank icon:
team (2)	single	1+5+5=
team (3)	single	1+5+5+5=

3.5 c) Additional rank handicaps for teams:
Bounty Island can set a various combinations of handicaps for the current team in the ring, based on how many awards does the current team in the ring have:

-> if the team has any members in the ring awarded with , the Bounty Island gets additional +5 rank bonus

-> Bounty Island can set additional handicap for awarded teams as well (at least two hunters with are required in Battle ring). The Bounty Island gets additional +5 rank bonus

Here is a short example:
Bounty plays 1 on 3, the basic rank for this game is , now, the team has one awarded hunter with goldstar(s) so the Bounty's rank is increased by 5, into . The team has also two hunters with a silver star, so that means the handicap can be increased +5 = max rank is .

Please NOTE that the game settings restrictions are used in order to prevent the game abuse and to improve the gameplay. However, if the hunters find out later that some restrictions were abused, they cannot complain later.

Every hunter is approving the settings no matter how they are set by clicking on the check box in battle list.

You can allways check theese rules and if you see there is restriction abuse, the bounty island must change the stats in order to validate the settings with the current restrictions. Thats why the bounty island is asking players if they know the rules before starting the gameplay.

3.6 Scoring
If the Hunter or Hunting Team accomplishes all the conditions and neutralizes the Bounty Island by sacrificing his priest, the Bounty Island will announce the name of the hunter to the NSHQ. After that the Hunter's name or the name of the Hunting Team will be added to the IHSB.
The scoring is provided there in the added information.

4. Additional
Rules for Basic Island Hunting:
Only one Island Hunt can be active at the time (which doesn't limit the number of bounty islands - only current active hunts).
The Bounty Island can be active whenever within a day and its completely random - it doesn't matter from anyone, only from the Bounty Island.
The bounty Dark Lord cannot last more after his respawns are minimized to zero; otherwise he can escape without awarding any player. The requirement for the bounty island to escape is to accumulate enough "souls" (50), and after approovement of Lord of the Storms.
Escaped Bounty Islands can return to any hunt without the additional announcement! If they are still on the Bounty News Page they can be still hunted down!
PLAYERS CANNOT USE OTHER HUNTER'S NAMES TO PLAY the bounties. Doing so will resolve ending their awards or penalizing the player from the challenge. Everyone can be the hunter, if all the conditions are accepted. One of the condition is to battle with real name.
Hunting teams are organized on NSHQ on the bounty forums. The leader of the team will manage their personal changes, approven by the Tourney Director, but not more than twice a day.
The Bounty Islands are selected randomly and each time the Bounty Island is different - however, the true ID of the Bounty Island stays in secret. Revealing his ID is punnishable under certain circumstances depending on the regarded events.
No one is allowed to go under cover using the ID of the announced Bounty Island - doing this will result by fort banning from the server
Every player caught pretending to be the selected Bounty Island will have his fort banned depending on the mercy of the current active admin.
Server admins, the head NSHQ admins and Dark Lord officers cannot be hunters. However, they can play the Bounty Islands under cover.
Netstorm Tourney Director keeps the right to cancel the current Island Hunt or update the rules or details if needed.
Unofficial Island Hunts will not count as real and will not sumarize any score or events as well An official hunt is always announced.
NSHQ isn't responsible for any other challenge beyond this matter. Every comments are done on the General Discussion Thread on this forum.
Lord of the Storms, his commanders and his generals are in charge of Darklord Guild (-=AoD=-), and its recruitment. You can join the guild by talking to one of them.