The Wipeout HD Cup

[Jav]

I think going from allowing 3 ZBs to allowing just 1 is a bit radical. If 2 of 3 races are going to have to be single races, 5 of 7 plays will be single races. The better single racer has a huge chance of winning that.

Here's what I suggest. You basically only have 2 options:

Racer set-up
Single Race - Weapons ON - Track A
Single Race - Weapons OFF - Track B
Zone Battle - Track C

or

Zoner set-up
Single Race - Weapons ON/OFF - Track A
Zone Battle - Track B
Zone Battle - Track C

Let's go through all 3 possible match-ups:

Racer vs. Racer
You will have 5 single races and 2 zone battles. That's fair, I think, since it's a racer vs. racer match-up. The mode they both like most is played 5 out of 7 times, but they do need to show a bit of their Zone skills in the remaining 2. Well balanced, no?

Racer vs. Zoner
In this one you get 3 zone battles and 3 races during regular play. Then if it is undecided, the game goes to a deciding race on Anulpha Pass. Still, Anulpha Pass isn't a particularly hard track (in fact, the easiest) and I'm sure every Zoner knows their way around Anulpha. So if it should end 3-3 it will be a pretty fair deciding race.

Zoner vs. Zoner
Here we have 4 zone battles and 2 races during regular play. Meaning the zoners can play their beloved game mode but they do need to play at least 2, and if it is then still undecided, 3 single races.

Every 'set-up' needs to contain 3 different tracks [A, B, C]. Player 1's choice of tracks is irrelevant to player 2's choices. This means player 2 can also pick [A, B, C] if he wants to. But a combination [A, C, E] or 3 whole new tracks [D, E, F] is of course allowed. The ONLY condition is that every player picks 3 different tracks.

A player is not stuck to the 'pack' for the whole tournament. Rather, the player chooses the set-up he wants for that particular match. This means you can switch between Racer and Zoner during the tournament. Of course, you're not stuck to the tracks you choose either.

Finally, indeed, this means that players who do not have Fury cannot participate. But I think there's no other way. If the non-Fury players were to be allowed into the tourny, there would be match-ups in which solely single races are played, and no ZBs at all. Sorry, but I'm sure we all want a bit of diversity. 7 single races is simply too tedious.

In that case, because of the exclusion of the non-Fury pilots, I think we should aim for 128 players.

Feel free to comment on this proposal...