This is a temporary spot for the rule changes for the upcoming IDL season. The official rules page will be updated soon.<br /><br />[quote]IDL RULES - PRE-SEASON XIII CHANGES (Oct 26)<br /><br />League Composition<br />Structure<br /><br />The IDL is currently a single group league consisting of eight teams. Teams are composed of one captain and three players. As the head of their teams, captains have the power (and often the responsibility as the rules require) to:<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Dismiss players<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Submit team availability for games<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Trade with other teams<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Name their teams<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Captain Removal<br /><br />Captains can resign at any time, however they&#039;re strongly discouraged from doing so during a season. A captain can be dismissed by the administration&#039;s majority vote for serious objective reasons, such as damaging the quality of the league, at anytime. A possible commissioner&#039;s veto has to be overruled by a 4/5 majority.<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Invitation<br /><br />After captains are assigned, players register during a sign-up period determined by the commisioner. Registration can take form of an open forum post or a message to a member of the IDL administration. After the sign-up period, the administration confirms the IDL roster. Removal of a registered player has to be confirmed by a majority vote. Excluding captains, all players on the IDL roster are then considered free agents.<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Draft<br />...<br />Should two or more teams have identical records, the following procedures will be used to determine draft order:<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Non-playoff teams pick before teams that earned playoff berths;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Playoff teams are chosen in the order in which they lost during the playoffs;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Outcome of the head-to-head matches, the loser teams pick first;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Strength of schedule;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Flags for;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Flags against;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Number of infrictions against match rules;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Coin toss.<br /> <br />--------<br /><br />Playoff Homefield Selection<br /><br />A playoff match&#039;s map is the top-seeded team&#039;s chosen homefield. For example, TBA and MAD are in the semifinal game, TBA is ranked 8th and MAD is ranked 4th. That game will be played using MAD&#039;s homefield map.<br /><br />Each team chooses a playoff homefield map and an optional fallback map from that season&#039;s IDL WAD in the reverse of draft order, and the following restrictions apply:<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Teams cannot choose that season&#039;s MasterBowl map.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Teams cannot choose a fallback map that was previously selected that season by a different team.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; <br /><br />The fallback map becomes a team&#039;s homefield if their primary map pick has been chosen by a lower ranked team that has qualified for the playoffs.<br />Homefields must be selected before the conclusion of Week 6 of regular season play. Homefield selection position can be traded.<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Season Gameplay<br /><br />The IDL has four seasons:<br /><br />Preseason<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; The period of time between the end of the draft and the first regular season week. <br />Regular Season<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; A seven week period where games are played weekly. Determines the seeding for the playoff season and the next season&#039;s draft order (in most cases). <br />Playoff Season or Postseason<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; A three week period where games are played weekly (Wildcard Playoffs, Semifinals and the MasterBowl respectively). Determines that season&#039;s champion and, in some cases, draft order. <br />Off Season or Offseason<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; The period of time between the end of playoff season and the draft.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; <br />--------<br /><br />Playoff Season<br /><br />Playoffs consist of three rounds: Wildcard, Semifinals, and the MasterBowl. Top five teams of the league qualify for playoffs. The top ranked team faces the winner of the Wildcard round.<br /><br />Should ties occur between two or more teams, they will be broken using the following procedures:<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Head-to-head (a mini-ladder consisting of head-to-head matches of the tied teams);<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Best total won-lost-tied percentage;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Strength of victory;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Flags for;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Flags against;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Number of infrictions against match rules;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Coin toss.<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Game Structure<br /><br />Each IDL game is played in a best-of-three fashion. A standard IDL round is 3 vs. 3 at ten minutes each, with a five flag limit. When the time or flag limit is reached, the team with the most flags scored is the winner of the round. If the amount of flags scored is equal, that round is a tie. If no team wins both regular rounds, a third tie-breaker round is played. During the regular season, the result of this round ties up the outcome of the game based on rounds won. During the postseason, such tie-breaking rounds are played until one of the teams wins two rounds total. <br /><br />---------<br /><br />Game Location<br /><br />... In the event of server disputes, or should no discussion take place, [IDL] Chicago will be used. ...<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Waiver Wire<br /><br />... Tie-breaking procedure is used to determine claim precedence, however, once a team acquires a player through a claim they are sent to the end of the order. ...<br /><br />--------<br /><br />Versions of Odamex Client and Server Programs<br /><br />The official IDL servers run version 0.6.X of the Odamex server. The IDL recommends running the latest stable version of the Odamex client. Consequences resulting from the use of other client versions are the responsibility of the player, not the IDL.[/quote]