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WEC is up and running again with a new round starting on the 1st May. We are looking to add to the nine Squadrons that are already signed up. What is WEC about? Then read on…

WEC is proud to announce the launch of the long awaited IL2 1946 WEC Tournament. This will commence on the 2nd September 2005. Squadrons are now invited to sign up for tournament.

The WEC tournament focuses very much on team spirit and the easiest way for people to participate in the WEC would be to either join a squad or set up a squad by themselves. Signing up a squad only requires that they fill in a squad profile which must contain a valid e-mail address, HL name of a responsible CO (Hyperlobby, hyperfighter.sk ) and listing which pilots in the squad that are participating and are subject to being challenged.

Most of the information required should be available at the WEC site wechallenge.com-centra...ews.phpand if not feel free to post any questions here on the WEC message board. The WEC can also be contacted directly by mail at WEC wec_admin_il_2 @ lycos.co.uk

What is WEC?

WEC stands for Weekend Challenge and is a tournament where all squads that enjoy the thrill of competition and plain old fun can get together and compete in IL2. As the name suggests, the WEC takes place only on the weekends. The tournament is split into six weekends of open challenges followed by a three-weekend bracket style playoff.

During the initial six weekends, you may challenge any of the participating squadrons. The idea is for squads to issue challenges against other squads whenever they happen to have enough players online. Likewise, they are subject to being challenged. The results of each match game are reported at the WEC site and are compiled into the squad?s standings in the tourney. So it?s all about showing up on HL Friday, Saturday or Sunday and risk getting your six all shot up!

After the initial six weekends comes a three-weekend bracket style playoff. The top 8 squads in the standings who have met the minimum game requirement are given a specific match up for each weekend. It is left to them to define the day and time they will meet. Each weekend half the squads are eliminated with the final two squads battling it out the final weekend to determine the WEC champion.

Previously, only the champion was crowned, but with the length and hard work it takes to participate in this tournament it could be kind of anticlimax for those that didn't reach the final goal. Therefore, awards are given to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in recognition for the hard work it takes to come that far. Hopefully this will make it more exciting by giving squads more of a chance to come away with an award.

The rules and settings.

The rules and settings can be found here:

wechallenge.com-centra...pper_id=10

We highly recommend that you get to know the rules well. A number of test matches have been played and as such the rules have been amended to how they read now. Unless there is a major flaw in them, the rules will stand for the first tournament and any changes that need to be made will be done afterwards.

How are matches arranged?

Most challenges are issued during normal squad presence on HL. You pop in, have some of your squad buddies online and you look to see what other participating squads are on at that time. You then issue a challenge.

Another option is to use the challenge functionality at the WEC site. When using the challenge feature, the WEC database will send an email to the challenged squad. In this email there is a link identifying the challenger and when the challenged squad clicks the URL, they are redirected to the WEC site at a page for accepting the challenge. Once the challenged squad confirms the challenge this way, the challenge will appear on the challenge list. The match itself will have to be arranged via email using the address provided. The challenger also receives e-mail from database if challenge has been accepted.

When and how was WEC started?

The very first round of the WEC started in April 2001. The key players that started the WEC were never known to the public and did not advertise their identities. They were a few dedicated CFS enthusiasts who did a lot of hard work setting up the concept of the tournament as well as actually doing the score keeping and web site updating which all was done manually. After a while, a few new CFS enthusiasts took over the duties of the WEC Admin and worked out a new system where most of the hard work of handling the match game results was now taken care of automatically using a database system. The database takes care of almost everything from the very beginning where squads sign up and fill in their squad profile data, through the tournament where the losses for all games are reported and standings instantly updated, till the very end where the top 8 squads are found. The final playoff is still handled manually, but the workload is comparatively small.

The first WEC challenge held by the new WEC Admin was in September 2002. Since then, WEC has gone from strength to strength and in early 2005, in conjunction with a number of Squadrons who had made the transition from CFS to IL2, WEC has finally come to IL2.

In Conclusion.

As stated above, WEC is now open for Squadrons to sign up. The maps and the WECT (Weekend Challenge Timer) are now available for download. Instructions are in the form of a ?readme.txt file. There are three maps, a land, an island and sea based map (which only carrier aircraft can be used). And of course, the forums are now open for discussions.

Once in a while a few individuals and squads have criticized the WEC competition, but the fact is that the administration group and all the squads flying in the WEC are enthusiasts that love the game. It can?t be ruled out that some dirty tricks will occur, but considering the amount of games expected to be played in each round, the issues brought to the WEC Admin should be very few. Some take it too serious and get carried away, but by the next weekend they go hunting again. The WEC Admin would like all squads that are interested in a fair and exciting top notch competition, to sign up for the WEC for some enjoyable hours with squad buddies from all over the world. Win or lose, in the end it?s just a challenge. A challenge that so many have enjoyed for so long, yet every fight still can be a new experience in the art of aerial war without anybody getting hurt for real.

WEC_Admin