Funny I'm being called an alt account right away. I just took a big break and ended all tournaments I was in. I'm just too busy these days to bother with warlight, but I will make an exception for the nation cup, since I really liked it last time.

About the 5v5, cause it is straight round it will make it a huge work to count it out. There is so much going on with that template that you just can't do all the work alone. Puppeting all players would be too much to handle and no fun anyway. That is why I think it takes a lot of skill. Also since you got so many picks that is often pretty equal when starting.

PS If most agree with it, that doesn't mean that it is true. Also, you should play the template before judging.

A bit late, but here is my humble opinion:

My preference would be:
3 1v1 (1pt)
2 2v2 (1pt)
1 3v3 (2pt)
1 5v5 (2pt)
total = 9pt

The 3 1v1 makes sense if you have a #1 and #2 player in each team. You get A1-B1, A1-B2 and A2-B1.
I'm also OK with 1 2v2 for 2 points, I'm against 2 3v3's. If there are more than one 2v2, 3v3 or 5v5, it should be with different settings (including a different map).
The 5v5 settings of last time were very good, I see no reason to change a successful template. I'm not a fan of 3v3 Europe, but that's just me. 1v1 strategic may be boring, but is the standard, I see no reason to change that one either.


Side-note:
@ Gnuffone: I'm pretty sure that Monkey is not an alt. If he was, it would have been very strange that his main account didn't join the Nation's cup.
I am certain that none of the other members of our team could have been him as there was a too consistent difference in style of writing and dialect between all the different team members which you can't fake.

So what is the desired amount of teams, total?

If we have too many do you simply separate all team 1's (for each region/country) and do team 2's, 3's, etc in another tournament?

If you really want to know: Monkey is my brother (which is why he took some games over for me when I left for Australia. Right now, however, all my open tournaments have finished but I'm still eager to play like one or two games while travelling. The Nations Cup would be ideal to fill that in.

Also, Frank has relieved me from that awkward captain position so he's gonna be cap of NLF1 instead of me. He's in a much better position to organise, so that makes a lot of sense.

And yeah, the 5v5/7v7 games were easily the best part of the Nations Cup, so please leave that template as it was and keep the emphasis on that in points. Not only from a strategic view is that a logical move, but this is the one game where the whole team matters, not just the skill of an individual or two. The NC is there to value the skill of a country or region as a whole, and should not be dominated by the 1v1 skills of a single individual. Since if that's the case, we might as well just hold a strat 1v1 tournament under the NC moniker...

ok np mate ;)
Anyway pls don't give too many importance to 5v5.
Pick lottery is too important for a game like that, and this is luck.

Indeed not to many importance should be given, but you are giving it not enough Gnuff :p
Even though picks are partly decided by luck (or do we use random start positions?) it still is the only game for the whole team to participate. A good nation shouldn't only have good single players, but should be (as a team is supposed to) good, or even better, at teamgames.

My point:
1) Lottery picks
2) For doing better, best player on team have to puppet other, so don't say is a really teamgames :D
3) don't put a map too big or will take ages.

My point
1) Picks are actually really balanced, cause you got a lot of players and a lot of good picks. The income is pretty even the first 3/4 turns.
2) The map is way too big to puppet the others. There is so much going on all the time, that it is just too hard and too much work to puppet all the players.
3) It takes like max 15 turns to complete the 7v7. With 5v5 we only had one game, which took 8 turns. With 5v5 it is probably faster than the 7v7, so it isn´t that bad.

If you say that picks are balanced in a 5v5, you don't understnad how work the algoritm for pick!
About puppet, already on last nation vup, a lot of nation tell me that on 7v7 they play like puppet...
About that usually take very long, just look past 7v7 of last nation cup ;)

Yeah, i dont agree with this pick thing too. You have to work with all possibilities, and no matter what you have to be prepared, if you dont A you get B and C, its easy and logical, and very very fair.

I dont agree either with myhand or gui when they say there is no challenge in 2v2 strategic, is just picks luck. I suppose that is correct if you dont mirror, because if you mirror, you always know exactly what you are going to get, and specially, which player gets what.

The 5v5 or 7v7 is similar, and i believe luck play even less. Its not about 1 or 2 players getting A or B because 2 bonuses will decide the game, its about positining, safety, baseing, comboing, attacking, defending. What makes the luck play so much is playing FFA in a team game.
If you end up getting beat after picking stage i doubt your picks were correct all the way, otherwise you are hoping for you get all you want, you just forgot to warn your enemy.

My team did talk a lot in the 7v7/5v5 games, but we talk and decided as a team, that is a part of the game. And the 2 games we lost was clear as water our flaws and what lead to defeat, and it wasnt luck, at all.


But i suppose 3 points is too much
i was thinking about something else
3 players each team playing 1v1 games worth 1 point, (9 points total)
2 2v2 games worth 2 points
2 3v3 games worth 2 points
1 5v5 games worth 2 points
this way 19 points total.

OK dunga.
+1 about games/point.
And i am ok for play Strategic 2v2 ladder settng ;)

Those points and games seem fair Dunga :D No problem for me with them.

Didn't see an answer to my question.

What is the desired amount of total teams?

I'm just curious if there would be a separation into two 'cups' if there were too many.

there is no team limitation chris

Thanks for that, dunga. I think your game settings are pretty solid, save for the fact that two 3v3 games seems a bit much. Three 1v1, two 2v2, one 3v3 and one 5v5 seems optimal to me. Last time it were the 3v3 games in particular that wore everyone on my team out and at the end it was hard to gather enough people to play two of those games.

Three different players on 1v1 is a great idea as well. It's good to get everyone on a team involved in different games and not just the 5v5. It's a team effort after all!

Are there any strict time limits in Nations Cup? What if one team has longer vacations?

@titron: last time the pacing was pretty slow with plenty of time for vacations. I don't expect much of a difference to that this time around. If you know before starting a round that you'll be gone for an extended amount of time then it's probably best to get a reserve to play for you instead so things can go a lot quicker.

Kingu: the same team can play both 3v3.

Gnuffone:
I think the idea was that many people like playing one of the 3vs3 games, but prefer not to play two 3vs3 games at the same time (and, at the same time as all the other games).