Background

Clans universally abhor waste, particularly in combat.  Therefore, typically only those forces necessary to win an objective are committed to battle.  That minimum level of force is often decided by a bidding process between commanders.  The commander bidding the fewest resources earns the honor of leading in battle, but potentially faces dishonor should his numbers be insufficient to win.  Therein lies the balance between force declaration and personal honor.

A similar bidding process can optionally be followed in CDS' internal Trials between individuals, provided all parties are willing to participate.  All Trial rules of engagement define maximum chassis tonnages that can be used by each participant, but no participant is required to use that maximum.  Because of this, there is an opportunity for a Warrior to gain more personal honor in combat.

A victory is considered more prestigious for the winner if he or she can defeat an opponent while piloting a lesser weight chassis than the opponent or by taking less than the maximum allowable tonnage.  To do so illustrates a conservation of resources (tonnage) admired by the Clans.  Should a Warrior win a battle using a heavier mech than the opponent, the outcome of the Trial will remain as indicated by the rules of engagement, but that victory may be viewed as slightly less honorable. 

Procedure

In individual combat, a bid is a formal declaration of what tonnage chassis a contestant will take to battle.  However, bidding may also include any other rules of engagement such as weapons loadouts or electronics options.  For example, a bidder may declare that he will use no energy weapons or will use only passive sensors in efforts to pressure the opponent to do the same.  All CDS Trials will be fought augmented, so bids must include at least one mech chassis for every Trial participant, including points.

Such bidding between contestants can occur any time before the combat drop and typically involves one or more alternating tonnage bids by each Warrior in an iterative fashion until all are satisfied with their tonnage choice.  Any contestant may volunteer to start the bidding process, else the contestant with the lowest rank will declare his bid first.  Each successive bid by the same contestant must be of a lesser tonnage or more restrictive engagement option than his previous bid.

After each bid is declared, an opponent may either 1) match the bid for an even contest, 2) undercut the bid, or 3) reject the bid.  If matching the bid, combat begins immediately using the mutually agreed upon configuration.  During a cut down, a lesser tonnage is bid, and the process repeats; the original bidder may then replace his earlier bid with a more restrictive bid in efforts to maintain personal honor. If an opponent thinks that matching a bid would make that contest unwinable, he is not obligated to do so.  In that case, all contestants are bound by their most recent bids, even if there are tonnage discrepancies.

The bidding process requires each contestant to carefully balance familiarity with a given chassis, available weapons loadouts, the opponent's skill, the desired outcome of the Trial, and a need for personal honor.

Multiple-Officer Trials

In the case of a Trial of Entrance or Trial of Position where one Candidate potentially faces three Officers, a given Officer is not bound by the bidding of another Officer. All Officers may bid independently, and the Candidate must bid resources sufficient to defeat the desired number of Officers without respawning.