Planets League 2024

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Games for the new league season are ready to join now! 

There are a few notable changes for the new season which were announced at the Planets Con in December:

  • VHS, HS, Team, Melee with Epic rules 500 planet maps (same as before)
  • Standard and beginner with new standard/beginner maps, with reduced planet counts and ship limit. 
  • VHS, HS, Standard, Beginner diplomacy reduced to 1 Share Intel, 2 Safe Passage
  • No limits to standard/beginner/short format game joins
  • -1 point penalty for any player knocked (or dropped) out of a long format game (except beginner) 
  • Scoring change:  top 3 long formats count, top beginner, top 2v2 blitz, top 1v1 blitz, top dogfight
  • Blitz and 2v2 Blitz = end at turn 30 or when one side has less than 1 planet per player

All games will use the updated standard rules for 2024, namely Super Transport Freighters reduced fuel usage and full allies of Crystals not being effected by web mines (only relevant to team games).

The event dates for this season are the same as last:

  • May 1st - Long format game cutoff. Unfilled games deleted, except for melee games (Melee madness week begins)
  • May 8th - Melee madness week ends. No more melee games created. Current game will start if at least 20 players.
  • Nov 1st - Short format games stop being created.
  • Dec 1st - Hard end date. Any still running games will end on the next host run after this date.

There has been one change to the scoring:

  • Only the top 3 long format game finishes from each team will count toward a teams score.
  • Only the top dogfight, beginner, 2v2 blitz and 1v1 blitz finishes will count toward a teams score. This change adds the top beginner game as one that is included outside of the other long format games, adding an incentive for a team to recruit a newer player to compete for the additional points.
  • Total points will be used for tie breaks.

Game formats are also the same as last season, but are listed below for reference.

Long game formats:

Very High Standard - Min-Rank Rear-Admiral - Races randomly assigned
Max team joins: 1
Points by rank: 28, 20, 15, 11, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

High Standard - Min-Rank Captain - Races randomly assigned
Max Team Joins: 2
Points by rank: 20, 15, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Standard - Min Rank Commander - Races randomly assigned
Max Team Joins: Unlimited
Points by rank: 15, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Beginner Standard - Max Rank Commander - Races randomly assigned - Beginner ruleset - 8 players
Max team joins: Unlimited
Points by rank: 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

7 Teams of Three
Max team joins: 1
Points by rank: 42, 27, 21, 15, 9, 3, 3

Note: the points are counted "per player" so each winner in a team of 3 game would have a 14 point finish to count toward their total team score.  

7 Teams of Two
Max team joins: 1
Points by rank: 28, 18, 14, 10, 6, 2, 2

Note: the points are counted "per player" so each winner in a team of 2 game would have a 14 point finish to count toward their total team score.  

Giant Campaign Melee - Including Horwasp
Max team joins: Unlimited
Points by rank: 24, 15, 11, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 for all remaining participants.

Special: If multiple players from the same team are in the same melee then all players on the team will receive points equal to the average of the points scored by all team members (rounded down). For example: 4 players from the same team enter the melee and finish 1st, 3rd, 4th and 15th. They would earn 24 + 11 + 8 + 0 = 45 points / 4 = 11 points each.  

Short format games:

1 v 1 Blitz - 2.5 Points * opponent modifier (rounded) for a win
2 v 2 Blitz - 4 Points * opponent modifier (rounded) for a win
8 Player Dogfight - Points by rank: 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 * opponent modifier (rounded) 

Opponent modifier is the same calculation as difficulty modifier but excludes you and your team.  

Teams can join an unlimited amount of short format games..