Penalties

Ranked is a team game; behaviour that ruins a match wastes your teammates’ and opponents’ time. That’s why the penalties below apply while penalties are active. One rule applies even when they aren’t: a player who leaves a match loses that match.

When you get a penalty, the game shows the reason and the time left (“Queue ban”). During the ban the ranked queue is closed; Custom lobbies stay open. When the time is up, the queue button unlocks on its own.

Penalties are account-wide

Penalties are tied to your account, not your character: a queue ban applies to all characters on the account, and the penalty step is counted per account. Switching characters doesn’t get you around a penalty.

Types of penalty

Situation	Result
Leaving a match — pressing “Forfeit match” or disconnecting and not coming back	The match counts as a loss, extra LP loss and an escalating queue ban: 5 min → 30 min → 24 h
Declining the ready check, or seeing the window and letting the timer run out	Escalating LP loss and queue wait
Not showing up for a match you accepted	Same steps as declining (both share one counter)
Missing the ready check without seeing it, or being unable to accept because you were in combat	No penalty the first time; a short queue wait if it happens again soon
Repeated connection problems while being moved into a match	No penalty for the first few; one step of the no-show ladder if it keeps happening

Leaving a match

Once a match has started (including the countdown before a round), pressing “Forfeit match” or disconnecting and not coming back counts as leaving. A player who leaves:

• loses the match — even if their team wins;
• isn’t protected by the promotion shield or the 0 LP buffer, and can drop a division straight away;
• loses extra LP (no extra LP is taken in placement matches);
• gets a queue ban. The ban gets longer with each leave: the first, second, and third and later leaves give 5 min → 30 min → 24 h respectively;
• gets no match reward, and the match doesn’t count for arena quests.

While penalties aren’t active, the extra LP loss and the queue ban don’t apply; the other points always do. If you play for a while without leaving, the step resets and the next leave starts from the first step again.

Declining and not showing up

• Declining the ready check, letting the timer run out after seeing the window, and not showing up for a match you accepted all advance the same penalty ladder. Each step brings a bigger LP loss and a longer queue wait.
• This LP loss never demotes you a league or division; it stops at the bottom of your division.
• In placement matches no LP is taken, only the wait applies.
• If you stay clean for a while, the step resets.
• Missing the ready window without ever seeing it (for example while the game is in the background) isn’t counted as declining; it’s handled as a “miss” (see the table).

No penalty

• Leaving the queue before a match is found, or the maximum queue time running out.
• A match being cancelled because another player didn’t accept — those who accepted go back to the queue keeping their place.
• Your group dropping out because a member didn’t accept — group members who accepted aren’t penalised.
• Being unable to accept because your ship was destroyed.
• Mass disconnection: if many players lose their connection at the same time because of a server problem, they aren’t penalised.
• Matches cancelled due to maintenance, server problems, the end of the season or staff intervention.

Note: The steps of the leaving ban (5 min → 30 min → 24 h) are fixed in the game. The extra LP loss, the LP and wait values of the declining/no-show ladder, and the reset times can change with the season settings.