Hosted by T-West
Admins: Lord Patito, Ornlu, and Rbase96
The Cartographers Discord

Grab your compasses, telescopes, and sextants, because the Cartographers is back with another edition! Find a teammate and prepare to chart 21 maps while competing for a $15,000+ prize pool. The event will be streamed on twitch.tv/TWestAoe.

This time, the main event will be split into two categories: a Gold league and a Silver league. To allow as many players as possible to participate, we will be running community leagues for all Elo levels. We're also partnering with Age of Queens to run a low Elo tournament for the AoQ community.

The event will feature a 9-Villager start across a wide variety of 2v2 maps. Prepare to discover the waters of Sumatra, survive being shipwrecked on Stranded, protect your Town Center on Canberra, and withstand the chaos of Four Seasons.

Don't forget, keep exploring the map!

Table of Contents

1. Timeline
2. Prize Pool Donations
3. Signup and Seeding
4. Tournament Format
5. Maps
6. Drafts
7. Team Rules
8. Game Rules
9. Lobby Setup
10. Scheduling and Communication
11. Content Creation
12. Prize Pool Distribution

Timeline

• Signup Deadline: Friday, May 30th, 23:59 GMT
• Bracket Reveal: Sunday, June 1st, 23:59 GMT
• Gold League: June 2nd–June 22nd
  • Play-In: June 2nd–June 7th
  • Round of 16: June 8th–June 14th
  • Quarterfinals: June 15th–June 20th (Broadcast June 19th and 20th, 15 GMT)
  • Semifinals: June 21st (Live, 15 GMT)
  • Finals: June 22nd (Live, 17 GMT)
• Silver League: June 2nd–June 22nd
  • Play-In: June 2nd–June 7th
  • Round of 16: June 8th–June 14th
  • Quarterfinals: June 14th–June 17th
  • Semifinals: June 18st (15 GMT)
  • Finals: June 22nd (Live, 15 GMT)
• Community Leagues and Queen's Edition: June 9th–July 13th

Prize Pool Donations

World's Edge is sponsoring $15,000 for the prize pool and $2,000 for covering admin costs. Until the end of the tournament, 50% of all donations on T-West's stream will be added to these funds. Additionally, the T-West will increase the prize pool if the following goals are met:

• 15k Twitch Followers: +$500
• 20k Twitch Followers: +$500
• Partner Plus Tier 2: +$1,000

Signup and Seeding

Signups close Friday, May 30th at 23:59 GMT. Signup through the Cartographers Discord.

The Gold, Silver, and community leagues all use the same signup form. Teams must consist of 2–4 players. Seeding is based on a mixture of 1v1 and TG Elo rating at the end of the signup period. First, the weighted Elo per player is calculated for all players on a team using the following definition:

• ${A =}$ Average of the top 2 Current TG Elo ratings from the player's team.
• ${B =}$ Average of $A$ among all teams.
• Weighted Elo ${= \frac{A}{B}}$ · (0.66 · Current 1v1 Elo + 0.34 · Highest 1v1 Elo).
• Each team's seeding score is the average of the top 2 weighted Elo ratings per team.

The formula is based on the seeding method from Nations Cup 2023. The fraction $\frac{A}{B}$ is an estimation of the strength of each team $A$ compared to all other teams $B$ on the team game ladder. Most values of this fraction fell between 0.7 and 1.3 for NC2023. The formula is intended to reward team game ladder activity and performance while still requiring strong 1v1 players to achieve the highest seeds.

Tournament Format

The Cartographers 2 main event features two leagues: Gold and Silver. Both feature a single elimination bracket with 24 teams.

Main Event: Gold League: The top 24 teams will qualify to play in the Gold League. The top 8 teams will get a bye to the Round of 16. Of the remaining teams, the 8 that win the Play-In advance to the Round of 16 in the Gold League, and the other 8 will drop down to the Silver League. The 16 remaining teams battle for first place in a single elimination bracket.

Main Event: Silver League: Teams seeded 25th through 40th will qualify for the Silver League. They play one round to determine which teams make it to the Round of 16, to be joined by the teams that are relegated from the Gold league. That leaves a total of 16 teams to battle for first place in the Silver League in a single elimination bracket. Note the accelerated timeline compared to Gold.

Community Leagues: The community leagues will have a different format. Teams are placed in 8-team brackets, split into 2 groups of 4. After a round robin group stage, the top 2 teams per group qualify for the semifinals. No teams that made it to the Round of 16 or better in the Silver League are eligible to play in the Community leagues.

Low Elo Queen's Edition: The Queen's Edition will be open to members of the Age of Queens community and friends. The format is the same as the community leagues: teams are placed in 8-team brackets, split into 2 groups of 4. After a round robin group stage, the top 2 teams per group qualify for the semifinals. Sign up in the Cartographer's Discord. Teams must follow the following guidelines:

• Teams consist of 2–4 players, at least half of whom are members of AoQ.
• Accounts must have at least 10 ranked 1v1s.
• Teams must have an average current 1v1 Elo of at most 1300.
• Each player must have a highest 1v1 Elo of at most 1450.

Players may participate in both the Queen's Edition and a Community League. Be sure to fill out the separate sign up forms.

Maps

There are 21 maps split into 7 categories. Subscribe to the mod Cartographers 2 Maps. All maps use a 9-Villager start, except for Fortress and Valley of Kings, which use a standard Regicide start. The maps nerf slinging, increasing the base sling tax to 50% (from 30%).

The 9-Villager start:

• Reduces starting resources by −30 Wood and −100 Food.
• Adds two Houses.
• Gives a large explored area around the Town Center.

Arina uses 1,800 HP Stone Walls in the Feudal Age (DE's Arena uses 1,080 HP).

Set Reveal Map to Normal for all maps except Black Forest (E), which uses Explored.

Use the Random Map game mode for all maps except:

• Canberra ‐ Sudden Death (SD)
• Fortress ‐ Regicide (R)
• Valley of Kings ‐ Regicide (R)

Play the following maps (C) as Blue (1) and Green (3) vs Red (2) and Yellow (4):

• Four Seasons
• Jungle Rumble (1+2 on the inside, 3+4 on the outside)
• Outcrop (1+2 are flanks, 3+4 are pockets)
• Sumatra (1+2 on the mainland, 3+4 on the islands)

Chaos 🔥

Forest 🌲

Hybrid 🏞️

Nomad 🥾

Open ⭕

Walled 🧱

Water 💧

Canberra (SD)

Black Forest (E)

Golden Lakes

African Clearing

Chicken Arabia

Arina

Islands

Four Seasons (C)

Forest Pond

Hamburger

Nomad

Outcrop (C)

Fortress (R)

Mediterranean

Valley of Kings (R)

Jungle Rumble (C)

Spiral

Stranded

Socotra

ZeWall

Sumatra (C)

Drafts

The highest seed chooses to be the host or guest. Teams keep their initial seed throughout the tournament. Maps are drafted first, then civilizations. Draft links:

Map Drafts

There are three parts to the map draft:

• Pick a map. This removes the category's remaining maps.
• Ban a category. You must click all 3 maps from the same category.
• Mutually ban a map from the final category. Game 1 is played randomly on one of the remaining maps.

The losing team from the previous game picks from any of the remaining drafted maps.

🗺️ Best of 3: Community and AoQ — Group Stage

🗺️ Best of 5:

• Gold League — Round 1, Round 2, Quarterfinals
• Silver League — All sets
• Community and AoQ — Knockout Rounds

🗺️ Best of 7: Gold League — Semifinals

🗺️ Best of 9: Gold League — Finals

• Games 1–7: Use the best of 7 map draft.
• Game 8: The team that is behind picks any unplayed map.
• Game 9: The other team picks any unplayed map from a different category than Game 8.

Civilization Drafts

All civilization drafts follow the same pattern:

• 10 random bans.
• 2 mutual bans.
• 2 mutual picks.
• A serpintine draft following the pattern A pick, B pick, B pick, A pick.

Best of 3's select 8 civs, best of 5's select 12 civs, and best of 7's select 16 civs.

The Gold League finals use the best of 7 civilization draft. Games 8 and 9 are hidden free pick of any civilizations (even those already played or banned) with two restrictions:

• Each team must select two different civilizations for each game.
• All Game 8 civilizations cannot be used by any player in Game 9.

Team Rules

Teams: Teams consist of 2, 3, or 4 players. Teams are allowed to switch players between sets and between different games in the same set.

Communication During Sets: All voice communication during sets, including drafting and strategizing between games, must be done in a dedicated voice channel in the Cartographers Discord. During the draft and between games, all players may be in the voice channel. During games, only the 2 players in that game may be in the voice channel. If one or more team members is unable to use Discord, the team must contact an admin.

Defeats: If a player is defeated but their teammate wishes to continue playing, they must immediately leave the voice call without sharing any information about the state of the game.

Game Rules

Game: Participants must own a genuine copy of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Owning the DLC's is not required; if you don't have access to a civilization, ignore it while drafting.

Mods: Players are allowed to use any graphical or UI modifications publicly available in the official mod workshop. Any game modifications that change gameplay are not allowed.

Restarts: Players may pause and request an admin restart during the first 5 minutes of game time if they notice a bugged map. If a restart is called, players must re-host the game on the same map and with the same civilizations and colors.

Slinging: All forms of slinging are allowed. Note that the map scripts increase the base tax of slinging (without Coinage or Banking) from 30% to 50%.

Nomad Starts: If enemy players place their Town Centers in range of each other, the game must be restarted. Players may not intentionally position a TC in order to force a restart.

Draft Errors: If a team does not ban 3 maps from the same category, the draft must be restarted, with the same picks and bans up until that category ban. The draft resumes with the category ban.

Ineligible Civilizations: If a game is launched with an ineligible civilization (was not drafted, or was already played), the game must be restarted, and the opposing team picks a replacement from the team's unused civilizations.

Drops and Restores: If a game drops, follow these steps:

1. If a fair restore file is available, use that to finish the game.
2. If no file is available, an admin will attempt to create a restore file from a recorded game.
3. If no restore file can be created, admins will decide whether to restart the game or to award an admin win.

In the event of a disconnect, players must leave the game without looking at the map, and may not watch back a recorded game before attempting to restore. Set the spectator delay to 2:00 minutes (a restore defaults to 10:00).

Cheating: Cheating is not allowed in any form. This includes, but is not limited to: using software hacks, use of scripts or macros to issue multiple commands with few actions, collusion with other players, stream sniping, impersonating another player, receiving information from outside the game, utilizing bugs, glitches, or errors in the game, and/or any other form of unfair or unethical behavior.

Lobby Setup

All players are equally responsible for making sure the lobby settings are correct. Wrong settings may result in a game having to be replayed. Be sure to have Allow Spectators and Hide Civilizations enabled. Lobbies must also have a spectator delay of 2 minutes.

Server: Players should find a server that is fair for everyone. If teams cannot agree on a server, they must alternate between the two fairest servers. The higher seed picks the server for game 1, and the team picking the map picks the server for the remaining games.

Scheduling and Communication

Scheduling: Players are placed in a private room in the Cartographers Discord server and must use this room to schedule. Scheduling must begin as soon as possible once a matchup is determined. If players are unable to schedule during the set timeframe, they should notify admins immediately to attempt to work for a solution to get their games played.

Uploading Match Results: Teams must post the drafts, recorded game files, and result of each set to the match-specific channel after their set is completed. Either team can upload the recordings. If not all games were played, a random save file (or files) should be included in the recording file upload as a placeholder. This can be any other recorded game that is renamed to look like it belongs with the other games. Rename and place replay files into a ZIP folder before uploading.

Late Penalty: If a team is unable to start on time, they will receive 1 game loss for every 10 minutes of delay, and a full series loss after 30 minutes. This rule applies to the start time for drafts, the time between drafts and the first game, and the time between games. If teams have at least two players available, those players have to play, and the team may not wait for another player to show up.

Conduct: All participants, broadcasters, and administrators are expected to show good sportsmanship and be respectful of all other parties at all times. Poor behavior including but not limited to insults, racism, or sexism will not be tolerated and will result in disqualification.

Content Creation

Everyone is welcome to cast games, stream their point of view, or make other content. Logos and other graphics are available in the Cartographers Discord if you wish to use them.

Players must use a stream delay of at least 2 minutes. Communication with non-admins is not allowed; chat and alerts should not be visible while playing. The quarterfinals are broadcast at set times on June 19th and 20th. If teams cannot schedule during these times, they may play their games early and submit recs, but cannot stream their point of view live. The semifinals and finals must be played live.

Prize Pool Distribution

The $15,000 prize pool will be distributed as follows:

*Teams that finish 17th–24th in the Gold League will drop down to the Silver League. Prize money won in the Silver League will be in addition to this value.

Donations towards the prize pool will be distributed such that the prize pool percentage per placement remains constant. Players will need to submit an invoice at the conclusion of the tournament. Payment will be made within 30 days of the tournament host receiving the payment from Microsoft.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition @ Microsoft Corporation. The Cartographers 2 Handbook was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. For more info, please see Game Content Usage Rules.