PFEU

PFEU Races

The PFEU are pleased to announce a new stream of events, whose development and implementation was sponsored by Entropia Estates. The PFEU Races combine exciting cash prizes with the challenge of off-road racing and will take place on Arkadia, Calypso and ROCKtropia. Annually, on each of the selected planets, there will be twelve rounds of Spear racing culminating in a final thirteenth round which will place the top qualifiers for the year in a special vehicle race with a much higher level of difficulty.

All PFEU Races will take the form of a vehicle slalom which is conducted as a sequence of cannonball runs navigating a series of checkpoint zones which reset a 10 minute elimination count down attached to each of the vehicles used in the race. During the twelve annual rounds hosted on any of the selected planets, 6 fuelled Spear Mk. IV (L) all-terrain-vehicles will be made available to all drawn participants for the duration of the race. During the finals, other vehicles (to be announced) will take the place of the Spears

PFEU Spear Race: Standard Prize Pool
		Place	Prize
		1st place	10 PED
		2nd place	7 PED
		3rd place	5 PED
		4th place	3 PED
		5th place	2 PED
		6th place	1 PED

Registration

Registration for the race will commence one hour prior to the scheduled start of the race to allow a random draw of 6 race participants from the pool of registrants. To register, just type your full avatar name into chat once registration is open in the following chatroom:

        http://chatzy.com/14705161211662

Please note that the above chatroom is the venue for all PFEU event registration irrespective of event type or planet where the event takes place. For more details see the latest race-grid drawing

PFEU Spear Race Schedule
Thursday, ISO: 2024-April-18, 09:11 hours, UTC.
Round 1
Date	Planet	Registration	Race Start	Route	Winner
2015-Sep-26	Arkadia	12:00	13:00	As the Spear flies	TBA
2015-Oct-03	Calypso	09:00	10:00	Kessel Run	TBA
2015-Oct-10	ROCKtropia	09:00	10:00	TBA	TBA
Round 2
Date	Planet	Registration	Race Start	Route	Winner
2015-Oct-17	Arkadia	12:00	13:00	TBA	TBA
2015-Oct-24	Calypso	09:00	10:00	Wind Race	TBA
2015-Oct-31	ROCKtropia	09:00	10:00	TBA	TBA
Round 3
Date	Planet	Registration	Race Start	Route	Winner
2015-Nov-14	Arkadia	12:00	13:00	TBA	TBA
2015-Nov-21	Calypso	09:00	10:00	Har-Boreal Run	TBA
2015-Nov-28	ROCKtropia	09:00	10:00	TBA	TBA
Finals
Date	Planet	Registration	Race Start	Route	Winner
2015-Dec-12	Arkadia	12:00	13:00	TBA	TBA
2015-Dec-19	Calypso	09:00	10:00	TBA	TBA
2015-Dec-26	ROCKtropia	09:00	10:00	TBA	TBA

Race Rules and Procedures

Personnel
Thanks to the imponderables of connection stability, and occasional lack thereof, it is necessary for at least two people to oversee each race. To this end, PFEU races use the services of a Race Official and Race Deputy.

Logistics
Registration begins one hour prior to the race to allow time for the arrival of participants, allocation of vehicle driver privileges, replacement of participants who fail to show up within 10 minutes of the draw, summary of participant requirements - all prior to the scheduled race start. The first thing to take place, on the arrival of participants, is invitation to the racing team. To facilitate the process of allocating vehicles, participants are asked to set their team target on any untargeted vehicle and stand behind the vehicle as soon as possible. This vehicle will be, then, allocated to the player whose team target is currently on the vehicle and the team target is not to be removed until the vehicles are retrieved at the end of the race. The Race Offical will screenshot the grid and verify the team targets and allocated drivers before the commencement of the race. A list of waypoint links will then be posted in the #racing channel.

Commencement
All races begin with a shot across the bow, with either a rocket launcher or combustive nanochip, by the Race Official. The stopwatch will be started at this point (the Race Official will hit the 'u' key) and the exact time (UTC) noted, by the Race Official, on a paper log. If a participant crosses the start line before the starting signal, a false start will be signalled, first, by a shot in the direction of race travel and, second, by a "FALSE START: 30 second warning" declaration in the #racing channel. Participants not back on the starting grid when the race is restarted, 30 seconds after a false start, will be disqualified. It is, therefore, imperative that all participants join and observe the #racing channel throughout the race. Immediately following a successful race start, the Race Official will make a declaration taking the form of "PFEU Calyspo Race #37 started 2016.0123.0230:01"; specifying the planet on which the race takes place and using the time logged with the 'u' key. The Race Deputy will then note the start time, from the #racing channel, on a paper log and check for any significant error.

Checkpoint Zones
Once the race has commenced and the start is correctly announced, the Race Official and Race Deputy will make their way to the first checkpoint by teleporter or, where necessary, teleportation chip. Due to the current game mechanics, there is a 10 minute elimination countdown set on each vehicle from the last time it passes beyond 200m from the designated vehicle owner (in this case, the Race Official). Resetting this 10 minute elimination countdown requires the driver to pass within 198m of the Race Official or, perhaps, closer, depending on lag and vehicle speed. As a safety margin, it is strongly advised that race participants pass within a maximum of 165m from the Race Official as there is no confirmation of elimination countdown reset other than the appearance, brief or otherwise, of the yellow dot on radar that corresponds to the Race Official.

Checkpoint Window
Once the lead vehicle passes beyond 200m of the race official (disappearing off the race official's radar), the race official will wait for a maximum of 3 minutes before "closing the gate" and teleporting directly to the next checkpoint. If a gate closes before you can reach it, your elimination countdown is not reset and you must reach the checkpoint after the one just closed - before that countdown ends. Otherwise, your assigned vehicle will automatically disappear and you will, thereby, be eliminated from the race by gate closure.

Disconnected Officials
Occasionally, it is to be exprected that a Race Official will disconnect during the course of the race. As mentioned, above, this is why we've also have a Race Deputy on duty during a race. When a Race Official disconnects, the Race Deputy is to announce the disconnection in the #racing channel and announce the official's reconnection once the Race Offical has logged back in. If participants appear on the Race Deputy's radar before the Race Official has logged in, the Race Deputy is to call a temporary halt to the race upon reaching her or his location in the #racing channel. For example; "PFEU Calypso Race #37 will halt and hold temporarily at Jurra Plateau until the Race Official returns." If participants reach the Race Deputy while the Race Official is disconnected, the Race Deputy is to log and take note of the time at which each participant arrived. Participants are to stop there and await the return of the Race Official who will restart the race from that point with final race time calculated from all legs at the end of the race. If the race official does not return within 10 minutes, consequently disbanding the race team, the race terminates at the location of the Race Deputy with the times noted, by the Deputy, standing for participant placement when the Race Official does log back in.

Eliminations & Casualties
A number of regions are dangerous to traverse (even in a vehicle) because the combination of broken terrain and high level beasties is as deadly to vehicles as are beasties that are faster than the vehicle (e.g. riptors, tezlapods, thugs) over open terrain. When planning a route between race legs, be sure to take these factors into account because running the gauntlet of such threats may result in your becoming a race casualty. Neither eliminations nor casualties get a linear velocity recorded on the Leaderboard. However, both eliminations and casualties fill available race placements beginning with last place, then second-last place, etc. Prize-money attached to places filled by eliminations and casualties is generally still awarded unless, as in the case of long races, it is necessary to pay for third party rescue in the event of an elimination or casualty becoming trapped at an outpost.

Places & possible future Leaderboard
First place goes to the first participant to run down the race official with the supplied vehicle - at which point the Race Official logs the time with the 'u'-key and, where necessary, takes a screenshot to distinguish placement of closely finishing participants. At this point, it is also the job of the Race Deputy to log finishing times with the 'u' key as this will become an important backup if one of them disconnects. The team target will be used to facilitate the identification of participants at the finish - particularly in difficult situations such as those requiring a screenshot to resolve. Photo-finish screenshots will, thus, be compared with starting grid screenshots to ensure the correct identification of participants at the finish. Finishing participants have a mean linear velocity calculated and recorded for the race in question and, in the annual thirteenth round, participants will be drawn for a larger more difficult race in order of best recorded mean linear race velocity on record for the year.

Finals
On any given planet where the PFEU Races take place, there will be one special race at the close of the racing year. This race is, naturally enough, called the final. The final race is set up with a longer course, higher level of difficulty (although not impossible), and may use different vehicles and offer special prizes depending on availability and at Race Official discretion. Participants in the final race are not chosen at random unless the grid placement cannot be made from leaderboard place-holders on the day. Of the registrants available for a final race, those with the top 6 Linear Vector-Sum Race Velocities (LVSRV), recorded for the year in question, will be selected for a place on the grid.