-=- OVERVIEW -=-
This is a Super Turbo league hosted on 2DF (www.2dfighter.com) with player ratings that represent an approximation of skill level. The higher the rating, the stronger the player. It starts each Sunday at 6 p.m. Pacific / 9 p.m. Eastern and lasts 2 hours.
In to the handicap setup used, you usually race to a different number of game wins depending on each player’s rating, so one player might need 5 game victories to win the match while the other might need only 2. (The emulator automatically keep track of the number of wins for each player.) Ratings are adjusted by +25 points for the winner and -25 for the loser.
You’re allowed to play whoever and whenever you like. This means you can show up late, leave early, miss weeks entirely, play only opponents that you know you have a good connection with, or whatever. And because the ratings are based on a version of the Elo system, you can’t “farm” rating points, because playing a lot of games doesn’t give you an advantage. (Unless it helps you learn to play more skillfully!)
-=- CURRENT RATINGS -=-
See the current player rankings. There are too many to list on one page, so click the numbers at the bottom to see different pages of player listings.
If a player has been inactive for a long time, s/he may be removed from the active rating list. Any such player may begin playing again anytime with their old rating.
-=- SETTING UP ON 2DF -=-
All you need to do is get on 2DF and jump in the Super Sundays room at the appropriate time. Be sure to put the Mode menu option (at the top-left) to Private.
Here’s the stuff you’ll need to play on 2DF:
– Windows operating system
– Microsoft .NET 3.5 (or 3.0 works too, if you have that already)
– Create a 2DF account
– Super Turbo game ROMs, World version. (I can NOT tell you where to find these, sorry.)
– Port 27886 UDP open and forwarded if you want to be able to host games and challenge people. (You can still be challenged if this isn’t open.) --> Port-forwarding thread
– (If using FireFox) FFClickOnce add-on
-=- JOINING THE LEAGUE -=-
Why do I need a starting rating? With the handicap system in place, it’s important that each player’s rating accurately reflect their ability so that matches are fair. We don’t want any “ringers” (rated way too low) or “lame ducks” (rated way too high). That’s why we can’t just throw people on randomly with any old rating.
How do I get a starting rating? You get one by playing a few exhibition games against one of the trusted members of the Super Sundays community so that they can make an estimation of your skill level. If you haven’t bumped into one of us in casual games ahead of time, you can just show up at the event and say you need help getting a starting rating. We try to be available 15 minutes or so before Super Sundays starts to take care of this.
People with the ability to give starting ratings include Raisin, Little Mac, damdai, brian, JMS, djfrijoles, rashreflection, krost, and possibly others.
We’ll try to estimate your initial rating as accurately as we can. Don’t worry if you think it’s slightly off at first; your rating will quickly self-correct itself and gravitate to your true level as you play ranked matches.
-=- LEAGUE RULES -=-
[list][]Game Speed: Set to Turbo 2. (F2 = default service menu key, submenu #3 = system configuration, game speed = Turbo 2)
[]Who Picks First: Higher-ranked player has to choose character first for the initial game.
[]Character Switching: The loser of a game is allowed to change characters between games. The winner has to stick with the same character, at least until he himself loses.
[]Banned Character: Akuma is a no-no.
[]3P and 3K Buttons: These control settings are allowed.
[]Play It Out: Once a game starts, it’s on for good. Play through any lag or stuttering, and type at your own risk.
[]Cancelling Matches: After being started, a match can only be cancelled if both players agree to it for a good reason (really bad connection, one player has an emergency come up, etc.) Otherwise, leaving an unfinished match will result in a forfeit. If you’re unsure about the quality of the connection with someone, have someone mess around in 1P mode against the computer for a minute to gauge it.
[]Freezes: If a match freezes mid-game, the players are to replay that individual game no matter who appeared to be winning at the time of the freeze. Any finished games that happened before freeze still count towards match victory.
[*]Sportsmanship: Players are expected to display sportsmanship. Joking between friends is one thing, but things like excessive taunting or deriding your opponent aren’t allowed.[/list]
This setup is provided by and for the ST players’ community, and they are expected to conduct themselves with honor. Don’t smurf, throw matches, or cherry-pick opponents with the intention of artificially inflating your rating. In the case of a dispute, talk to Raisin, Little Mac, or damdai for arbitration. We reserve the right to modify the rules as we see fit.
-=- HOW THE RATINGS AND MATCH WIN REQUIREMENTS WORK -=-
Feel free to skip this section. You do NOT have to memorize or even understand this list to participate in Super Sundays. It’s simply provided for those who are curious. Remember that ratings are based on the Elo system for the most part. The important difference is that…
In normal Elo:
–The competition itself is balanced. (Win the chess game, outscore the other team in a soccer/football match, etc.)
–The ratings adjustments are handicapped. (A 3:1 favorite might risk 30 rating points if it lost and only win 10 points if it won. And that 1:3 underdog would only lose 10 rating points if it lost and stand to gain 30 points if it won.)
While in Super Sundays:
–The competition itself is handicapped. (A 3:1 favorite needs 3 times as many game wins to win the match.)
–The ratings adjustments are balanced. (Each side always stands to win or lose the same amount [25] regardless of the outcome.)
Chart format is: (difference in rating) – (Elo’s expected winning percentage of games by the higher-rated player) – (Listing of games required to win the match)
Note that: (higher-rated player’s goal number of victories) / (sum of higher-rated and lower-rated players’ goal victories) = as reasonably close to Elo’s expected winning percentage as possible.
000 – 50% – Both players need 4 victories
025 – 54% – Higher-rated player needs 5 victories, lower-rated player needs 4 victories
050 – 57% – Higher-rated player needs 4 victories, lower-rated player needs 3 victories
075 – 61% – Higher-rated player needs 6 victories, lower-rated player needs 4 victories
100 – 64% – Higher-rated player needs 7 victories, lower-rated player needs 4 victories
125 – 67% – Higher-rated player needs 6 victories, lower-rated player needs 3 victories
150 – 70% – Higher-rated player needs 7 victories, lower-rated player needs 3 victories
175 – 73% – Higher-rated player needs 5 victories, lower-rated player needs 2 victories
200 – 76% – Higher-rated player needs 6 victories, lower-rated player needs 2 victories
225 – 79% – Higher-rated player needs 7 victories, lower-rated player needs 2 victories
250 – 81% – Higher-rated player needs 8 victories, lower-rated player needs 2 victories
275 – 83% – Higher-rated player needs 10 victories, lower-rated player needs 2 victories
300 – 85% – Higher-rated player needs 6 victories, lower-rated player needs 1 victory
325 – 87% – Higher-rated player needs 7 victories, lower-rated player needs 1 victory
350 – 88% – Higher-rated player needs 8 victories, lower-rated player needs 1 victory
375 – 90% – Higher-rated player needs 9 victories, lower-rated player needs 1 victory
400 – 91% – Higher-rated player needs 10 victories, lower-rated player needs 1 victory
What’s this list mean? Well, the important figure is the first column, the difference in player ratings. You subtract the lower-rated player’s rating from the higher-rated player’s. If Joe (rated 1200) wants to play a match against Corey (1200), they have the same rating, so their ratings difference is 0. Now if Cathy (1750) wants to play Mike (1625), the ratings difference for that match is 125.
Now you take that ratings difference and look at the chart. Say two players have a ratings difference of 0. Elo predicts that each player will win about 50% of the games in the long run. Since they’re expected to split games, they play to the same goal number of wins when they have a match.
Suppose a very slight ratings difference of 25. On the chart, you can see that Elo predicts that the higher-rated player will win about 54% of the time. So the number of games required to win reflects this. The higher-rated player needs 5 wins before the lower-rated player gets 4. If you do some quick math, you can see that 5/9 is 55.5%, which is in line with what Elo expects.
Now assume a ratings difference of 150. Elo’s expected winning percentage for the higher-rated player is 70%. Here, the higher-rated player needs 7 wins and the lower-rated player needs 3. Checking the math, you can see that 7/10 lines up perfectly at 70%.
In Super Sundays, 400 is the largest allowable difference for players to play a ranked battle. It is possible to accurately reflect matches with bigger ratings discrepancies, but the problem is that they become so lopsided that their length isn’t very practical. (For example, a rating gorge of 600 means the stronger player is expected to win 97% of the time, and requiring the stronger player to win 33 times to the weaker player’s 1 is going to lead to some marathon matches.)
