Total Battle Ball 2198
*So this is what I have so far. I welcome all insights and rule change request
The crowd of hundreds of thousands in the stand sing anthems for five and a half hours only for your team to be tied with your arch rivals. You have five grunts left on the field with your star player benched for illegally exploding a trap before his opponents were in legal proximity. Fortunately you've received a penalty charge against nine players. Your second string transporter holds the light weight nanite quantum ball behind his teammates who tackle like mad to give him a shot at the goal zone. One by one they finally fall until he's left alone to face the monstrous tackler imported from the colonial league on Mars. He fakes a right direction run and before the Martian can respond his foot is already sliding his forehead down a notch and then he leaps off into the goal zone for the winning goal.
Welcome to the late twenty second century. The cyberpunk existentialism of the previous century has given way to the enthusiasm of enlightened corporate governance on Earth while the orbital and lunar utopias, democracies, and technocratic communities grow in peace under the CisLunar Compact (2079). With the absence of major warfare and the abundance brought by new technology, humankind turned its attention toward the emerging Battleball game that was exciting crowds and viewers in United States and China. Developed by engineers and sports enthusiasts, Tommy Long and Taylor Jackson it was designed to merge the ball sport with combat and tactics. It spread from the United States to China and then to Europe and finally to the rest of the planet and CisLunar space.
You take on the role of a battle ball manager in the eighty ninth year of the Solar Association Battleball Federation (SABAF)'s existence. The game will take place solely in the Platinum League which is the highest level of battle ball outside of the inter polity competitions. Players will be able to choose a club at game start but if you fail for three consecutive seasons you will become unemployed and must petition for a new job based on accrued reputation.
Laws of the Game
Building Your Team
As you can see your manager, training facilities, staff, and players provide bonuses toward the die roll. A match is divided into three die roll rounds equalling to the number of times that you can alter tactics and strategy in a match. It is based on a 500 sided die and every team starts off with a 50/50 chance of succeeding in these periods. Die roll bonuses tip the advantage for your team and so its important to have your units performing well and star players playing to their potential along with good staff and facilities. Things like home advantage or a player is playing heroically also provides bonuses.
So Metasoft has a collective bonus of over +200 meaning that say you roll a 250, your bonus will be added to that number pushing your roll to 450+ over the 250 mark mark to succeed at your die roll. If the other team wins their roll then the side with the highest roll will win. Your players may be playing poorly but finely find their form from my random rolls based on quality of role-play and tactics/strategy.
But also your tactics and strategy must make sense and be well role-played to succeed as well.
*So this is what I have so far. I welcome all insights and rule change request
The crowd of hundreds of thousands in the stand sing anthems for five and a half hours only for your team to be tied with your arch rivals. You have five grunts left on the field with your star player benched for illegally exploding a trap before his opponents were in legal proximity. Fortunately you've received a penalty charge against nine players. Your second string transporter holds the light weight nanite quantum ball behind his teammates who tackle like mad to give him a shot at the goal zone. One by one they finally fall until he's left alone to face the monstrous tackler imported from the colonial league on Mars. He fakes a right direction run and before the Martian can respond his foot is already sliding his forehead down a notch and then he leaps off into the goal zone for the winning goal.
Welcome to the late twenty second century. The cyberpunk existentialism of the previous century has given way to the enthusiasm of enlightened corporate governance on Earth while the orbital and lunar utopias, democracies, and technocratic communities grow in peace under the CisLunar Compact (2079). With the absence of major warfare and the abundance brought by new technology, humankind turned its attention toward the emerging Battleball game that was exciting crowds and viewers in United States and China. Developed by engineers and sports enthusiasts, Tommy Long and Taylor Jackson it was designed to merge the ball sport with combat and tactics. It spread from the United States to China and then to Europe and finally to the rest of the planet and CisLunar space.
You take on the role of a battle ball manager in the eighty ninth year of the Solar Association Battleball Federation (SABAF)'s existence. The game will take place solely in the Platinum League which is the highest level of battle ball outside of the inter polity competitions. Players will be able to choose a club at game start but if you fail for three consecutive seasons you will become unemployed and must petition for a new job based on accrued reputation.
Laws of the Game
I. Your Team and Positions
You must field one hundred players at the start of a match. You must keep five players on the field to not be disqualified from the match.
Fields vary in dimension and layout and are randomly provided by SABAF each match. The objective of the game is to take a quantum nanite ball to the opponent's goal zone. There are also randomly spawned goal zones that are much smaller that appear on the field during the match which provide 15 points. Scoring in the primary goal zones provides 10 points. Penalty charges provide 3 points.
The match consist of two teams of one hundred players armed with stun rifles and stun explosives must carry and defend possession of the ball and bring it to the goal zone. There are three sections to the field in relation to your team deployment. You have the Upper Field, Mid Field, Back Field. Upper Field is closest to your opponent's goal zone. Midfield is the largest section and splits the upper and back fields, its where the majority of the game will probably be played due to the neutral territories which win you no points by holding them but are necessary to take to get to the goal zone.
Players caught out of a territory after ten minutes will force a reset of the game with the opposing team winning possession of the ball at their most forward held position.
These are the standard positions. The team is split up between Transporters, Tacklers, Ghosts, Supporters, and Coordinators.
Transporters are not allowed to hold weapons but are able to hold the ball with no time restriction on holding the ball. They are typically fast, agile, and clever. Transporters are found everywhere on the field.
Tacklers are also found everywhere and are the armed players that defend positions and escort transporters. They are not allowed to carry the ball for longer than 5 minutes. Tacklers are not as swift as transporters but are strong and talented in combat.
Ghosts are specialized hackers that cause havoc with opponent communications but also transmit orders from the manager's comm. They are imperative for the success of any battle ball team. Their hacking abilities are also used to disable opponent traps and defenses.
Supporters construct defenses and set traps. Their experience and speed at accomplishing their designs are important for the team.
Finally we have the Coordinators. They are your captains and possess the intel feed for the entire match. They are the only ones who can direct the team often by the orders of the managers. They designate where defenses, traps, and strikes land. They provide inspiration and leadership to the whole team.
II. How To Win
Players are forced out of the game by being stunned by an opponent. While your team struggles to stay in the game you must score goals. Ties exist only in non-knockout games.
Your team may be divided into squads or kept as one depending on your strategy and tactics.
Before the match the opposing teams will submit their first orders. They consist of your roster and substitutes, deployment (you're allocated three defense positions but may take neutral defense positions during the course of the game), and squad movements. The match will be divided in real life by three order rounds to emulate a continuous game. 1st Orders cover the first three hours of the match. You may provide two instructions to your coordinator for two squads. Then we have Half Time where you may provide instructions to all your squads. Finally we have 2nd Orders which covers the last three hours. You may provide two instructions to two squads.
Match Days will have all our relevant matches played out and may last several real life days depending on how fast you get your orders in and such. There are 20 games per club every six month season. In the tournament competitions you will play 3 matches in a group phase and one per knockout round.
The object to score the most points by scoring goals in either your opponent's goal zone or a random spawned goal zone. In the first fifty years of SABAF history the game has been dominated by the conservative defensive play of entities worried about losing billions in their investments in the upstart sport. Strategies and tactics are governed by the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents. There aren't any formations but instead there are deployments that based on the given field situation of a match.
The dominant strategy has been to double or triple up as they say the squads on a defense position which are unlimited. Neutral conquest is done but is considered incredibly risky and heroic to attempt. This is because quite naturally you can't sacrifice the back line for anything when your assaulting squads are failing. Hopefully though we can create some divergence from this attrition/possession kind of play.
III. Field Of Play/Ball
Gravity Ball is played on customized fields best suited for the home team's style but there are some universals. A gravball field must be ten by ten miles with goal zones always designated and shown. There must be three goal zones with penalty boxes and gravity baskets.
All defenses and trap locations must be provided to the referees before each match. Defenses, terrain augmentation, and traps must be approved for use before each match. Approval requires that the obstacle must be passable or defeat able according to the laws of gravball (as GM and Commissioner I will make sure this is so).
Deadly obstacles are only allowed in tournament competition with one deadly obstacle per team allowed.
There are four sections of the field for a team to deploy on. Back Field, Mid Field, Upper Field, and Transitionals.
The gravity ball is a perfect sphere equipped with anti-gravity tech.
IV. Conduct Rules and Referee
Fouls are given when a player performs an unnecessary act against an opposing player which harms the player more than that is required in that moment. There is a system of Purple and Red cards that enforce the rules. A player can take 3 purple cards before being suspended for a 1 thru 3 games. A red card is an automatic suspension of 2 games but the manager can choose to keep the player on the field for the game the card is given or remove them to have the same game counted against the 5 game total.
Insults and antagonism without violence is perfectly allowed.
There shall be thirty referees keeping an eye on thirty separate zones of the play field. Replay and slow motion technology is readily used. They must wear a glowing orange light producing device to show that they are referees. Referees can be professional or amateur for league matches but tournament referees must be professional with at least ten years of experience.
V. Squad Numbers and Kit
There must be at least 5 players on the field to not forfeit and there is a maximum of 100 allowed on the field for one team at a time. A club may only have 100 players declared for the First Squad and 50 for the Second Squad for each match. For a season a team is only allowed 200 players total on the roster.
A manager may wear casual wear and traditional clothing of their origin. Players must wear a nano fiber body suit, concussion armor, concussion helmet, and anti-gravity capable footwear. The emblem of your club or polity team must be visible on all of these.
VI. Duration/Tie Breaking
A gravity ball match will last for six hours with a thirty minute half time.
In the event of a tie at the end of the game it will end in league competition. In a knockout round there shall be an hour Extra Time period and then Penalties after that. A team have 5 shots each for penalties.
Game play will not be halted for any reason. Stoppage time is provided with a maximum of twenty minutes at the end of a time period.
VII. Game Flow
A match always begins with the two teams deploying onto the field in a legal fashion. They have ten minutes to execute this.
The away team always receives the ball first. If a ball cannot fall into an out of bounds area due to forcefield barriers.
VIII. Set Pieces
In the event of a foul outside of a penalty area there will be awarded a Free Pass where the rewarded team may pass the gravity ball without an attempt at a tackle against the passer. The passer may choose to keep the ball. After the passer makes a move with the ball or releases the ball from his hands the defense may make attempts at the passer.
A Goal Pass is similar to a Free Pass except that the passer may be charged.
IX. Field Augmentation and Obstacles
The home team may design the field to best fit their needs. This includes making the field muddy, grassy, or rough in someway. Pathways and corridors can be freely determined but there must be at least three paths connected to the goal zones.
High Elevation (hills, cliffs), Fortification (titanium bunkers), Shock Gate (stuns those who try to pass before disabling it) are the current obstacles available in the sport.
Mine Fields, Space Monster, Forcefield Cage are the current traps allowed. Defenses are known by both teams while traps are allowed to be kept secret from opposing teams.
Teams are allowed to have three defenses and three traps on the field.
So now that we've gone over the laws of the game how do you actually build and play your team on the field?
X. Players and Team Behaviors
So most of your players will be no names known as "grunts" in the game. They will have a quality rating but they will be unknown until you land a good die roll and one emerges as a star player.
Your squads are commanded by your star players although they can be replaced by a grunt if they get knocked out of play.
Your squads are a collective of players and so they will possess a Play Rating and Morale stat. They must number at least 5 players but have no limit to how many can be in. Star Players have a Talent, Play Rating, Morale, and Leadership
You must field one hundred players at the start of a match. You must keep five players on the field to not be disqualified from the match.
Fields vary in dimension and layout and are randomly provided by SABAF each match. The objective of the game is to take a quantum nanite ball to the opponent's goal zone. There are also randomly spawned goal zones that are much smaller that appear on the field during the match which provide 15 points. Scoring in the primary goal zones provides 10 points. Penalty charges provide 3 points.
The match consist of two teams of one hundred players armed with stun rifles and stun explosives must carry and defend possession of the ball and bring it to the goal zone. There are three sections to the field in relation to your team deployment. You have the Upper Field, Mid Field, Back Field. Upper Field is closest to your opponent's goal zone. Midfield is the largest section and splits the upper and back fields, its where the majority of the game will probably be played due to the neutral territories which win you no points by holding them but are necessary to take to get to the goal zone.
Players caught out of a territory after ten minutes will force a reset of the game with the opposing team winning possession of the ball at their most forward held position.
These are the standard positions. The team is split up between Transporters, Tacklers, Ghosts, Supporters, and Coordinators.
Transporters are not allowed to hold weapons but are able to hold the ball with no time restriction on holding the ball. They are typically fast, agile, and clever. Transporters are found everywhere on the field.
Tacklers are also found everywhere and are the armed players that defend positions and escort transporters. They are not allowed to carry the ball for longer than 5 minutes. Tacklers are not as swift as transporters but are strong and talented in combat.
Ghosts are specialized hackers that cause havoc with opponent communications but also transmit orders from the manager's comm. They are imperative for the success of any battle ball team. Their hacking abilities are also used to disable opponent traps and defenses.
Supporters construct defenses and set traps. Their experience and speed at accomplishing their designs are important for the team.
Finally we have the Coordinators. They are your captains and possess the intel feed for the entire match. They are the only ones who can direct the team often by the orders of the managers. They designate where defenses, traps, and strikes land. They provide inspiration and leadership to the whole team.
II. How To Win
Players are forced out of the game by being stunned by an opponent. While your team struggles to stay in the game you must score goals. Ties exist only in non-knockout games.
Your team may be divided into squads or kept as one depending on your strategy and tactics.
Before the match the opposing teams will submit their first orders. They consist of your roster and substitutes, deployment (you're allocated three defense positions but may take neutral defense positions during the course of the game), and squad movements. The match will be divided in real life by three order rounds to emulate a continuous game. 1st Orders cover the first three hours of the match. You may provide two instructions to your coordinator for two squads. Then we have Half Time where you may provide instructions to all your squads. Finally we have 2nd Orders which covers the last three hours. You may provide two instructions to two squads.
Match Days will have all our relevant matches played out and may last several real life days depending on how fast you get your orders in and such. There are 20 games per club every six month season. In the tournament competitions you will play 3 matches in a group phase and one per knockout round.
The object to score the most points by scoring goals in either your opponent's goal zone or a random spawned goal zone. In the first fifty years of SABAF history the game has been dominated by the conservative defensive play of entities worried about losing billions in their investments in the upstart sport. Strategies and tactics are governed by the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents. There aren't any formations but instead there are deployments that based on the given field situation of a match.
The dominant strategy has been to double or triple up as they say the squads on a defense position which are unlimited. Neutral conquest is done but is considered incredibly risky and heroic to attempt. This is because quite naturally you can't sacrifice the back line for anything when your assaulting squads are failing. Hopefully though we can create some divergence from this attrition/possession kind of play.
III. Field Of Play/Ball
Gravity Ball is played on customized fields best suited for the home team's style but there are some universals. A gravball field must be ten by ten miles with goal zones always designated and shown. There must be three goal zones with penalty boxes and gravity baskets.
All defenses and trap locations must be provided to the referees before each match. Defenses, terrain augmentation, and traps must be approved for use before each match. Approval requires that the obstacle must be passable or defeat able according to the laws of gravball (as GM and Commissioner I will make sure this is so).
Deadly obstacles are only allowed in tournament competition with one deadly obstacle per team allowed.
There are four sections of the field for a team to deploy on. Back Field, Mid Field, Upper Field, and Transitionals.
The gravity ball is a perfect sphere equipped with anti-gravity tech.
IV. Conduct Rules and Referee
Fouls are given when a player performs an unnecessary act against an opposing player which harms the player more than that is required in that moment. There is a system of Purple and Red cards that enforce the rules. A player can take 3 purple cards before being suspended for a 1 thru 3 games. A red card is an automatic suspension of 2 games but the manager can choose to keep the player on the field for the game the card is given or remove them to have the same game counted against the 5 game total.
Insults and antagonism without violence is perfectly allowed.
There shall be thirty referees keeping an eye on thirty separate zones of the play field. Replay and slow motion technology is readily used. They must wear a glowing orange light producing device to show that they are referees. Referees can be professional or amateur for league matches but tournament referees must be professional with at least ten years of experience.
V. Squad Numbers and Kit
There must be at least 5 players on the field to not forfeit and there is a maximum of 100 allowed on the field for one team at a time. A club may only have 100 players declared for the First Squad and 50 for the Second Squad for each match. For a season a team is only allowed 200 players total on the roster.
A manager may wear casual wear and traditional clothing of their origin. Players must wear a nano fiber body suit, concussion armor, concussion helmet, and anti-gravity capable footwear. The emblem of your club or polity team must be visible on all of these.
VI. Duration/Tie Breaking
A gravity ball match will last for six hours with a thirty minute half time.
In the event of a tie at the end of the game it will end in league competition. In a knockout round there shall be an hour Extra Time period and then Penalties after that. A team have 5 shots each for penalties.
Game play will not be halted for any reason. Stoppage time is provided with a maximum of twenty minutes at the end of a time period.
VII. Game Flow
A match always begins with the two teams deploying onto the field in a legal fashion. They have ten minutes to execute this.
The away team always receives the ball first. If a ball cannot fall into an out of bounds area due to forcefield barriers.
VIII. Set Pieces
In the event of a foul outside of a penalty area there will be awarded a Free Pass where the rewarded team may pass the gravity ball without an attempt at a tackle against the passer. The passer may choose to keep the ball. After the passer makes a move with the ball or releases the ball from his hands the defense may make attempts at the passer.
A Goal Pass is similar to a Free Pass except that the passer may be charged.
IX. Field Augmentation and Obstacles
The home team may design the field to best fit their needs. This includes making the field muddy, grassy, or rough in someway. Pathways and corridors can be freely determined but there must be at least three paths connected to the goal zones.
High Elevation (hills, cliffs), Fortification (titanium bunkers), Shock Gate (stuns those who try to pass before disabling it) are the current obstacles available in the sport.
Mine Fields, Space Monster, Forcefield Cage are the current traps allowed. Defenses are known by both teams while traps are allowed to be kept secret from opposing teams.
Teams are allowed to have three defenses and three traps on the field.
So now that we've gone over the laws of the game how do you actually build and play your team on the field?
X. Players and Team Behaviors
So most of your players will be no names known as "grunts" in the game. They will have a quality rating but they will be unknown until you land a good die roll and one emerges as a star player.
Your squads are commanded by your star players although they can be replaced by a grunt if they get knocked out of play.
Your squads are a collective of players and so they will possess a Play Rating and Morale stat. They must number at least 5 players but have no limit to how many can be in. Star Players have a Talent, Play Rating, Morale, and Leadership
Building Your Team
As you can see your manager, training facilities, staff, and players provide bonuses toward the die roll. A match is divided into three die roll rounds equalling to the number of times that you can alter tactics and strategy in a match. It is based on a 500 sided die and every team starts off with a 50/50 chance of succeeding in these periods. Die roll bonuses tip the advantage for your team and so its important to have your units performing well and star players playing to their potential along with good staff and facilities. Things like home advantage or a player is playing heroically also provides bonuses.
So Metasoft has a collective bonus of over +200 meaning that say you roll a 250, your bonus will be added to that number pushing your roll to 450+ over the 250 mark mark to succeed at your die roll. If the other team wins their roll then the side with the highest roll will win. Your players may be playing poorly but finely find their form from my random rolls based on quality of role-play and tactics/strategy.
But also your tactics and strategy must make sense and be well role-played to succeed as well.
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