In last year’s game, during playoff matches, actions that would normally earn that alliance a ranking point would earn that alliance a certain number of points. Is that true for this years game as well? or would the actions just not do anything to change score?
There is nothing in the manual about it. I imagine that such a major facet of the game would not be forgotten, so I think that it is not the case that RP -> match points this year.
Section 4.2 notes that there are no playoff bonuses this year.
In the section of text preceeding the scoring table on page 38:
There are no RP, or comparable point bonuses, in Playoff MATCHES.
It actually does directly state that there are no point bonuses at the top of page 38.
An ALLIANCE can earn up to four (4) Ranking Points (RP) per Qualification MATCH, as described in
Table 4-1. There are no RP, or comparable point bonuses, in Playoff MATCHES.