Early Access version 86

The **Galactic Cup **is here! This is a new competitive mission structure that works as follows:

Galactic Cups start every 10-15 days. Each cup is split into three phases:

• Qualification (duration: 3 days): A single qualification mission is assigned to all recruits. Participation is open. You can play the mission multiple times, but only your last attempt counts. At the end of the qualification, the top scores advance to the next phase. The game will try to fit as many players in as possible (up to a maximum of 256).

• Group: Recruits are randomly split up into groups, and matches (“fixtures”) are arranged within each group daily. There are two fixtures you need to fly each day. Each fixture gains you points (0 if you lose badly, 100 if you barely win, 200 if you obliterate your opponent). Points are summed in the group standings. At the end of this phase, the top two recruits in each group advance to the next phase.

• Knockout: Recruits are paired off in brackets, and fight each other to the death! Well, not really. But this **is **an elimination phase, so one loss and you’re out of the cup. Each round lasts for one day.

The Galactic Cup is still experimental, and rules might change significantly in the upcoming updates. This means that:

• You won’t find an invitation to participate in the qualification phase in your inbox. You must manually select the “Galactic Cup” button in your Profile screen.

• The first qualification phase is only 2 days (instead of the regular 3)

• No medal will be awarded to the winner (there will eventually be one for subsequent cups)

• Translations: Cup-related text is not translatable yet.

More details about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-86/17538