INFINITY News & Rumors - September Releases on pg. 414!

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**Mathieu Raymond**

Yes, in the Tournament Packs section. That mini will cost you 40 euros though.

**PsychoticStorm**

I really, really, really, like it!

**Alpharius**

Kanluwen wrote:
Here is a link to the tournament pack for the current ITS season

There are different "levels" of the tournament packs and it looks like only the 39.95 Euro one includes the tournament model.

Thanks Kan - I'm work-blocked from there now, so I'll check it out later tonight.

The link has "espanol" in it, but I'm guessing there's an "inglés" version too?

**Mathieu Raymond**

There is, but the homepage in ingles gives my Chrome a 404 error.

**Kanluwen**

Alpharius wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Here is a link to the tournament pack for the current ITS season

There are different "levels" of the tournament packs and it looks like only the 39.95 Euro one includes the tournament model.

Thanks Kan - I'm work-blocked from there now, so I'll check it out later tonight.

The link has "espanol" in it, but I'm guessing there's an "inglés" version too?

The link is actually for the "ENGLISH" version.

I think they just futzed up with the URL. It's not unheard of for Corvus Belli.

**Barzam**

That tournament figure is really nice. What is she supposed to be? Is she a Sanctioned Bounty Hunter or does she belong to a faction?

**Erasoketa**

She is another bounty hunter.

**Empchild**

Damn you Kan and Alph because now I'm tempted in just ordering the package for that mini.

**Absolutionis**

For what it's worth, you get 2 random minis and a random pack of weapons alongside the ITS-exclusive mini. Those justify the cost somewhat.

**Barzam**

3 minis, some weapons, and a bunch of other junk? I suppose it isn't too bad when you consider it's nearly the same price as a starter.

**-Loki-**

Barzam wrote:
3 minis, some weapons, and a bunch of other junk? I suppose it isn't too bad when you consider it's nearly the same price as a starter.

Yeah, I've gotten worse value for $60au than a fantastic limited edition model, a few random models, bits and assorted other collectibles. I might have to jump on this next year, it's a fine looking mini.

**Alkasyn**

From the official forums:

Official Forums wrote:

Are your ready for ITS 2014?
The next season of the Infinity Tournament System (ITS), Infinity’s Organized Play program, will begin in January. Throught the following weeks we will show some of the new features so players and organizers can get ready.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
Infinity’s players community grows constantly. So much they no longer fit in just one ranking! There will be 3 Regional Rankings for the new season: Spain’s Ranking, United States’ Ranking and International Ranking.
That means that, when the season ends, there will be prizes for the best three players in Spain, the best three players in the United States and the best three players in the rest of the world.
In the following season we will add more Regions as the communities in other countries grow.

NEW EXCLUSIVE MINIATURE
In this season we will maintain all the Tournament Packs that are already available. The only change will be the new exclusive miniature for the Classic Tournament Packs. Than means that all the previous Tournament Codes will still work during the new season!

NEW ITS RATING SYSTEM
With the new rating system, based off the know ELO system, the rating will go up or down depending on the player’s performance: When the organizar sends the tournament results, the system will calculate the expected position for every player using the results from previous tournaments. If the actual position of the player is equal or better than the expected one, his ITS Rating will go up. If the actual position is lower than the expected, his ITS Rating will go down. The greater the difference between the expected and the actual positions, the greater will be the modification.
Who will be able to stay on top?

TOURNAMENT TIERS
One of the most asked features for this new season was to add some variety to the Army Lists’ Points for tournament. Our response is the Tournament Tier.
To keep the organized structured that brought the last season but give some liberty to organizers, there will be 3 Tournament Tiers:
Low-Tier: The smallest of the tournament tiers is perfect for introducing the ITS to new players. In this Tier, players have up to 200 Points and 4 SWC allowance for their Army Lists. This Tournament Tier is more indulgent with new players, so it’s outcome will have a lesser impact on their ITS Rating.
Mid-Tier: This is the standard level known by most of the players: 300 Points and 6 SWC allowance.
Top-Tier: This tier will test veteran players and allow them to deploy more miniatures in the table. In the Top-Tier, army Lists have 400 Points and 8 SWC allowance. This Tountament Tier is ruthless, but also offers a greater reward for the ITS Rating.

NEW FORMATS
During the last season there were two Tournament Formats. In ITS 2014 there will be a total of five different Tournament Formats.

STANDARD TOURNAMENT
The classic format for four or more players playing one versus one games along three or more tournament rounds.

SPEC OPS TOURNAMENT
Last season’s great success. In this format, players are allowed to include one Spec Ops with 12 Experience Points in their Army Lists.

SHOWDOWNS TOURNAMENT
For express tournaments. In this format there is only one tournament round. Perfect for mid-week tournaments or even to let every game count towards yout ITS Rating combining it with a Mini Tournament Pack.

CAMPAIGN TOURNAMENT
This new format adds the Campaign Rules introduced in Campaign: Paradiso to the tournament. After each tournament round, players can use the Objective Points gathered to improve their army lists or their Spec Ops.

JOINT OPERATIONS TOURNAMENT
Tournament for pairs! This format is perfect to let the veteran players help the newcomers. There are two different modes: every team shares their turn or alternate turns for each player.
All these new formats are compatible with the current Tournament Packs. You only have to choose!

ITS ESCALATION LEAGUES
Leagues are one of the best ways to support the game in a community. Players play against each other along 8 jorneys, beginning with very reduced lists (just 120 Army Points), perfect for beginners, and raising the bar little by little until playing ITS Scenarios with 300 Points.
As leagues are official ITS events, the results for each journey will modify the ITS Rating for each players but, as leagues are designed primarily for beginners, this modification will be very low (even lower than Low-Tier Tournaments). The best way to begin with Infinity and prepare for ITS Tournaments.
To organize an ITS Escalation League organizers just need a League Pack. From the beginnign of the season there will be availables the following League Pack models:

L0001 – CLASSIC LEAGUE PACK (44,95€):
A pack with prizes and an exclusive miniature for the winner.
Contents:
1 Winner Pack (1 exclusive miniature, 2 limited edition pins and a resin base from Micro Arts Studio).
8 Diplomas, one for the winner of each journey.
1 Limited edition patch
2 Random patches
1 Weapons Blister
2 Random Blisters
4 Posters.
10 Random pins.
10 Illustration cards.
8 ITS Codes, one for the results of each journey.

L0002 – LOWCOST LEAGUE PACK (29,95€):
The economic alternative to the Classic League Pack, without the exclusive miniature.
Contents:
8 Diplomas, one for the winner of each journey.
1 Limited edition patch
2 Random patches
1 Weapons Blister
2 Random Blisters
4 Posters.
10 Random pins.
10 Illustration cards.
8 ITS Codes, one for the results of each journey.

L0003 – VIRTUAL LEAGUE PACK (19,95€):
For the organizers that want to put their own prizes. This pack is completely virtual and delivered by email, avoiding shipping costs.
Contents:
8 ITS Codes, one for the results of each journey.

We will release more details very soon. Stay connected!

**Casey's Law**

Oh man, that's actually quite a tempting offer whether your running a tourney or not...

**Alpharius**

Kanluwen wrote:
Here is a link to the tournament pack for the current ITS season

There are different "levels" of the tournament packs and it looks like only the 39.95 Euro one includes the tournament model.

Any idea when the ITS4 pack will be available?

I don't want Max Scorpio as much as I'd want that new mini...

**Scrub**

Ah nice, other than the silly looking heels that female bounty hunter is a rather nice model, would be a great Sarah Kerrigan model to put amongst the new Tyranids

**-Loki-**

Yeah, that new pack is good value for anyone who wants bits and bobs. I know I'll put the posters to good use in my game room.

**Knight**

You can always ask the winner of the tournament, if he's willing to sell the model. Hunt the e-bay perhaps? The 3D model looks nice, Nomad weapon aside.

**Pacific**

Was going to run a tournament early next year.. think I have found something that will help sign on attendees

**PsychoticStorm**

That's fantastic!

I really cannot wait to start the tournament season.

**Alpharius**

I'm counting on someone letting me know when the ITS4 pack and that model is available.

Thanks!

**Savnock**

Everything looks great, can't wait to play!

...except the ELO ranking system. Looks like it raises the bar for the best players, essentially introducing a curve effect that will make it ever-harder for them to pull ahead of the pack, the better they have done to date. Is that correct? Dunno if I like that.

**Sangarn**

ELO ranking is a good thing, its already used in a lot of game like SCII LoL etc ..

**Knight**

No game uses the same Elo system. Roughly speaking it's a system that measures your (my emphasis) current skill. Finer systems use Elo decay, showing that your Elo is lower in case of a period of inactivity. Finally after a period of time the system is reset. This is done to eliminate the data that are having no relevance (inactive players) and to get clearer picture of the system.

In case of a reset, your Elo ranking is decreased (or increased) by some magical formula that not all companies share publicly. Typically it just compares your Elo with the average of the system and then subtracts or adds some numbers.

Well... Looks like you guys need a chillax post.

Tournament Tiers are just about adding options that the players asked us to introduce into the ITS. That has been the (second) most requested change during 2013, so we delivered a way to let organizers set their tournaments to lower and higher points. (Yes, the top most requested had to do with Emergency Transmission ).

About the rewards... I understand your fears. Some of you have nightmares about CB becoming "evil" and changing our practices to get more of your money sacrificing the quality of the game because that's what you've seen in the past with other companies. Don't fear. We are talking about a 15% bonus and very low point quantities for each tournament.

As I said in the announcement, the system calculates the expected position for every player and then compares it to the actual position reported by the organizer. What does that mean? That means that if you were expected to end up 10th and you end up 9th your ITS Rating will go up, but if you were expected to end up 1st and you end up 2nd, your ITS Rating will go down.

The most important factor when calculating the ITS Rating reward is the size of the event. Actually, the same player with the exact same results will win more points in a Low-Tier 14 player standard tournament (+11.9 maximum) than in a Top-Tier 10 player standard tournament (+11.5 maximum). And let me insist: that's a maximum. To win that quantity you must be the expected loser of the tournament but end up 1st.

About 400 points games: try them and then decide. As you can see, you don't need to play Top-Tier events to win the ITS, so just play the format you enjoy the most. In the end, Infinity is just a game, and games are meant to be fun.

Hooray for Emergency Transmission. I don't think any of us had any fun playing it.

**-Loki-**

What's this about 400pt games?

**Absolutionis**

-Loki- wrote:
What's this about 400pt games?

There are three "tiers" of ITS tournament games going into the next season. Tiers one and two are the accepted 200 and 300 respectively. There is a new third tier of 400pt games and people are thinking CB is possessed by the spirit of GW or something.

**-Loki-**

Edit so that wasn't a double post. How embarrassing.

I wouldn't mind seeing how 400pts changes things, and it's not like its hard putting another 100pts together.

**PsychoticStorm**

People ask repeatedly CB about higher point games, CB delivers, people complain.

Sounds about right.

400 pts doesn't fundamentally change much, 10 models is still the best course, simply the lower tier models will be replaced by higher tier.

**Pacific**

-Loki- wrote:
Edit so that wasn't a double post. How embarrassing.

I wouldn't mind seeing how 400pts changes things, and it's not like its hard putting another 100pts together.

Yes me too. And, it's optional from the sounds of things, so at least the tournaments aren't going to be shoe-horned into one points value.

**Knight**

What amazed me is the amount of negative feedback on the official forums. We all know game plays differently at different point levels, though I share the frustration at the thought of facing warband spam. It's something that can happen below 400 points. I feel CB will eventually respond, if it becomes the problem. Yet, I remain optimistic. I have no idea how to run my Acontecimento at 400 but I'm sure my regular MO and CA opponents have already made few interesting lists.

I'd like to have my rules for Bipandra. :(

**Savnock**

PsychoticStorm wrote:
10 models is still the best course, simply the lower tier models will be replaced by higher tier.

ISS player here beggin very much to differ. Warband spam will become even more common like Knight says, perhaps balanced by an extra Total Reaction unit or two to protect that larger order base.

On the upside, I bet we see a LOT more TAGs, which is usually fun.

Also my 5-man Hsien team will finally see the light of day, woot!