Knights and Merchants(1998)

Rules

Updated 1 year ago by cmowla

Firstly, to make sure that we are all on the same page, please see this post/guide, as it contains download links to ALL single maps AND ALL campaign missions listed on this site. If you are sure you have the maps that you want to speedrun already, that's fine. But if you're unsure, it's there for you!

Secondly, TAS (tool-assisted speedrun) is mentioned quite a bit on this page. This guide explains what a TAS is in KaM.

Rules for (Normal) Runs of Campaign Missions in Steam Version

Objective: Finish an individual mission of the campaign you have selected as fast as you can.

[Rule 1]

A video showing your entire play and your end-game statistics screen is required for run submissions.

[Rule 2]

You are allowed to save, reload, fast forward and/or pause during the run, (because, as stated above, it is your endgame statistics time that is counted), BUT you must:

Show the end-game statistics at the end of the video, otherwise your run will be rejected automatically.
Show your entire play (there is no need to spend time editing out saves -- unless you want to), not just the end-game statistics!)

[Rule 3]

You may NOT submit "runs" with a hack/bug like this (or anything even remotely related)!
But it is acceptable to use fallacies of the game, such as the invulnerable builder glitch.

[Rule 4]

It is tricky to calculate in-game time (IGT) down to the second in versions that are not the Remake, as the endgame statistics screen only shows the completion time rounded down to the nearest minute. However, we can calculate this. It is good if we do, so that we can compare times with the Remake's best run times. But more importantly, we can separate two players who have completed a mission in the same minute.

Watch the video below for instruction.

Rules for (Normal) Runs of Single Maps in Steam Version

N/A. As you can see, there is no tab to select "Steam" in the Single Maps category. Maybe in the future we will support single maps in the Steam version, but not at the moment!

Rules for (Normal) Runs of Complete Campaigns (Any%) in Steam Version

Objective: Complete ALL missions of the campaign you have selected in the minimum total time that you can!

After you have submitted runs for ALL missions in a campaign, (and after all such runs have been verified!), then you may submit the sum total of these times in this section ( https://www.speedrun.com/kam/full_game ) for the campaign you have selected.
No video is necessary, as this run submission will be the sum of your best times for each mission in this campaign that have already been verified.
For those who are wondering if we expect you to prove that you played ALL missions for this campaign in ONE sitting, the answer is NO.
We know it is not realistic for you (and un-trackable from our end to see if you actually did) play ALL missions of a campaign in one sitting!
So we apologize for those who actually are willing (or have actually already gone through the trouble of) playing an entire campaign in one sitting, but it's overkill for this game in particular.

Rules for (TAS) Runs in Steam Version

N/A. Just ignore the "TAS" tab when selecting an individual mission of a campaign of the Steam Version! Sorry about that.

Rules for (Normal) Runs of Campaign Missions in KaM Remake

Objective: Finish an individual mission of the campaign you have selected as fast as you can.

[Rule 1]

Do NOT truncate the very top of the Remake's game window from your screen recording. https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=DwEG3LAOKp8&t=40s

You must record the full-window of the Remake in your screen recording to show which version of the Remake you played in.

Accepted Remake versions: r5503 and r6720. (r6720 is the preferred version, if you don't already have existing runs in r5503. )
You may not use a later version than r6720. We apologize, but the single player campaigns in later versions are not sufficiently tested for single player.
When Rey's final version comes out and is well-tested, we will allow that version as well. (But until things stop changing, there is no way we will be able to verify with certainty the legitimacy/fairness of a run compared to other Remake versions.)

[Rule 2]

For LIVE game play (where we can both see and hear the commands that you do -- NOT a replay), you are allowed to save, reload, fast forward and/or pause during the run, because it is your endgame statistics time that is counted.

You must show the end-game statistics at the end of the video, otherwise your run will be rejected automatically.
But you must also show the entire play as well, not just the end-game statistics.

[Rule 3]

If you choose to show a replay (rather than LIVE play), then you must:

Show the replay.
Go and reload the save which shows your exact win time (down to the second!).

REASON: the duration of the replay is almost never the same as the actual time the mission was completed. If you fail to do this for replay submissions, they will be rejected!

See the following video clip, for an example. .

[Rule 4]

A video showing your entire play and your end-game statistics screen is required for run submissions.

If you choose to show a replay (rather than LIVE play, where we can hear and see all of the commands you do), then you must show every part of the map at which something significant happens.
You may NOT simply zoom out to the max to "technically show" what's going on on the entire map, as we need to (and would like to) see things up close (the default zoom distance) for verifying purposes.
As an extreme example of desired game coverage, see the second half of this video: . (Usually a speedrun will not be THAT involved as to show everything separately like that, but we will not object to in-depth coverage)
You may use a split screen (if you like video editing) if you wish to show up-close what's happening on different parts of the map simultaneously for maps, but simply making the video longer, showing each part of the map (where something significant happens) part-by-part is acceptable.
You MAY play the replay at a speed greater than x1 (x3, x6, x10), but for short missions, x3 is preferred and x10 for longer missions is preferred (but you need to slow it down to x3 or maybe even x1 at times when a lot is happening.

[Rule 5]

You may NOT modify the map in the map-editor in any way, including (but not limited to):

Changing the winning conditions
Modifying the landscape/terrain
Modifying AI players home base
Modifying the map's script file (if it has one)

(We will know if you do, and we will reject your runs and disqualify you for future submissions!)

[Rule 6]

You may NOT slow down the game time speed in normal runs as you are allowed to with TAS runs. Submit those type of runs as a TAS (rather than a Normal) run (to be fair).

Rules for (TAS) Runs of Campaign Missions in KaM Remake

A TAS is a tool assisted speedrun.

Objective: Complete a mission of the campaign you have selected as fast as you can by using the aid of slowing down the game time during game-play.

See this guide on how to do this and why it might be interesting (despite that such runs CANNOT be counted as Normal runs).

But here are a few comments about doing TAS runs.

This makes it possible to control many things at once which are impossible to do at normal game speed.
Obviously, this is only for the Remake, as this cannot be done in the Steam version or the original game.
This allows for significantly shorter win times for missions and is cool to see, but such runs only belong in this category and not the regular remake category!
All rules for the regular remake version apply to this as well. The only difference is slowing down the game time clock speed is acceptable here.

Rules for (Normal) Runs of Single Maps in KaM Remake

The same rules for Normal Runs of Campaign Missions apply to Normal Runs of Single Maps.

Rules for (TAS) Runs of Single Maps in KaM Remake

The same rules for TAS runs of Campaign Missions apply to TAS Runs of Single Maps.

Rules for (Normal) Runs of Complete Campaigns (Any%) in KaM Remake

Objective: Complete ALL missions of the campaign you have selected in the minimum total time that you can! (Where they ALL must be non-TAS/Normal wins!)

After you have submitted runs for ALL missions in a campaign, (and after all such runs have been verified!), then you may submit the sum total of these times in this section ( https://www.speedrun.com/kam/full_game ) for the campaign you have selected
No video is necessary, as this run submission will be the sum of your best times for each mission in this campaign that have already been verified.
For those who are wondering if we expect you to prove that you played ALL missions for this campaign in ONE sitting, the answer is NO.
We know it is not realistic for you (and un-trackable from our end to see if you actually did) play ALL missions of a campaign in one sitting!
So we apologize for those who actually are willing (or have actually already gone through the trouble of) playing an entire campaign in one sitting, but it's overkill for this game in particular.

Rules for (TAS) Runs of Complete Campaigns (Any%) in KaM Remake

Objective: Complete ALL missions of the campaign you have selected in the minimum total time that you can (using the tool of slowing down the game time speed)! (Where they ALL are ideally TAS wins, but they don't ALL have to be, but it will probably hurt your true potential TAS total time if too many are not TAS wins!)

After you have submitted runs for ALL missions in a campaign, (and after all such runs have been verified!), then you may submit the sum total of these times in this section ( https://www.speedrun.com/kam/full_game ) for the campaign you have selected.
No video is necessary, as this run submission will be the sum of your best times for each mission in this campaign that have already been verified.
For those who are wondering if we expect you to prove that you played ALL missions for this campaign in ONE sitting, the answer is NO.
We know it is not realistic for you (and un-trackable from our end to see if you actually did) play ALL missions of a campaign in one sitting!
So we apologize for those who actually are willing (or have actually already gone through the trouble of) playing an entire campaign in one sitting, but it's overkill for this game in particular.