Alliance Selection

Alliance selection is where the top-ranked teams from qualification matches form the alliances that play in eliminations. The Alliance Selection page on the host computer works out how many alliances your program calls for, tracks which teams are eligible, walks you through each pick, and locks the alliances in so the elimination bracket can be built. The page is available to the Admin role only. Every qualification match must be scored first; while any are unscored, the page shows Qualification Matches Remain because the rankings could still change. Teams marked Not Present at check-in are left out of the rankings on this page, so check in every team that is at the event before you begin.

How Each Program Forms Alliances

The count is always between 2 and 16. It is a recommendation that the Admin can change, and for ADC changing it shows RSM approval required because the change needs approval from your RECF Regional Support Manager.

Preparing the Selection

When you open the page, the Prepare Alliance Selection panel sits beside a table of every ranked team with its Rank, Team, Red Cards, and an Eligible checkbox.

[Screenshot: Prepare Alliance Selection panel with the ranked team table and Eligible checkboxes]

A team is eligible unless it has 3 or more Red Card violations. Use Eligible to override that rule in either direction, for example to restore a team whose red card was overturned. Changing eligibility recalculates the alliance count.

Under Number of alliances, the panel shows the count the game manual requires or recommends, the round eliminations start at (ADC only), and how many matches the bracket will play. A range means some rounds need more than one win to advance. Type a different count and press Enter or click away from the field to save it. If Not Enough Eligible Teams appears, the alliance count needs more teams than are eligible, and the last alliance may be left without a partner and dropped when you finalize.

The panel also estimates whether the bracket fits the Elimination Bracket block on your schedule. If it reads Only time for X matches, but the bracket needs Y, lengthen the block or shorten its cycle time before you create the matches. See Schedule.

To help the audience and captains follow along, print Alliance Selection Signs from the Teams menu of the Printouts card on the Overview page. Each ranked team gets a landscape sign with its number, name, rank, and record to hold up during the ceremony. Print them once every qualification match is scored so the ranks are final. See Reports and Printouts.

Running a Captain Pick Ceremony

1. In ADC, PRO, or ACH, check the Eligible boxes and Number of alliances.
2. Click Start Selection. The highest-ranked eligible team is seated as captain of Alliance 1 and the picking board opens.
3. Find the captain's pick. Type in Search teams to filter by team number, name, or organization, and use Rank, A-Z, or Numeric to change the sort. Press Enter to invite the team whose number matches exactly, or the only team left in the list. Otherwise click the team's card.
4. In the Alliance [n] invitation dialog, click Accept or Decline. Accepting seats the team, and if that fills the alliance, the next highest-ranked available team is seated as the next captain automatically. A declined team cannot be invited again but can still captain its own alliance. Cancel closes the dialog without recording anything.
5. Repeat until Selection complete appears.
6. Click Finalize Alliances, then Create Elimination Matches. Competition Control opens the Matches page. See Eliminations.

Mistakes are easy to correct. Undo reverses the last step, whether that was a seated team or a decline, and the undo history is stored on the host computer so it works from any Admin device. In the Alliances list, use the remove control on a partner to take it off the alliance; removing the captain disbands the alliance, and the page then shows Alliance [n] needs a captain until you click Seat [team] as captain. Under Declined Teams, click a team to undo its decline, and turn on Show declined teams to see declined teams on the board. Edit Eligibility returns to the preparation panel without losing alliances, and the start button there reads Resume Selection while alliances exist. Reset Selection clears every alliance after you confirm Clear all alliances and start over?, unfinalizes the alliances, and deletes unscored elimination matches.

Auto-Assigning Alliances

1. In ENG or INS, review eligibility and Number of alliances.
2. Click Auto-Assign Alliances. For ENG, ranks 1 and 2 form Alliance 1, ranks 3 and 4 form Alliance 2, and so on. For INS, each alliance is one team seeded by rank.
3. If you remove a team afterwards, Alliances are not fully assigned appears. Click Auto-Assign Alliances again to fill the open seats.
4. Click Finalize Alliances, then Create Elimination Matches.

Finalizing and Unfinalizing

Finalizing locks the alliances. While they are finalized you cannot add, remove, invite, or decline teams, change eligibility, or change the alliance count. Any alliance still missing a partner with no eligible team left to fill it is dropped, so a single-team alliance never reaches the bracket (except in INS, where alliances are one team by design). The No partner badge warns you in advance.

To change the alliances afterwards, click Unfinalize Alliances. This deletes every elimination match so the bracket can be rebuilt. It is refused while any elimination match has a saved score, so unfinalize those scores from the Matches page first. The Alliance Selection display screen follows the ceremony live, including the pending invitation and declined teams, so put it on an audience display for teams to follow along. See Display Screens.

Important

Unfinalizing or resetting alliances deletes the elimination matches. Do this only before elimination play starts, or after you have unfinalized every elimination score you need to discard.

Keyboard Shortcuts

While preparing the selection:

During the selection:

When an invited team is responding:

Note

On macOS, Alt is the Option key.