Choices for our next challenge

[timmy_t]

2024 Save!

[bruins72]

2024 Save!

I'm going to leave the polls open for at least a few more days but as it stands right now, that's where we seem to be heading.

[batdad]

How is their history from 2024 backwards to 2019. Is this season a one off bad year or are they bad?

[bruins72]

In an 11 year span, they've made the playoffs 5 times. They have missed the playoffs the last 3 years in a row. They got rid of Chiarelli early on, after the first time they missed the playoffs. From then on it seems like they changed GMs every 2 or 3 years. They've actually re-hired Joe Will who was their first GM after Chiarelli. He was fired after a couple seasons and traveled around GMing for the Flyers, Devils, and the Providence Bruins two different times before coming back to the Bruins.

I can tell you that they're in real need of a goaltender. They've got a 35 year old Jonathan Bernier and he doesn't look all that great. They've got 4 other goalies under contract but assigned to the minors. 2 are 24 years old and look okay but not good. The other two are 22 and 20 and I can't see all of their details. They've got a few players with names I recognize but they're all old now. This team is going to need some work.

[Peter_Doherty]

Sounds like a good challenge.

[batdad]

Excellent. 2024 Boston sounds like a great choice.

[bruins72]

Are you actually going to participate again, B-diddy?

[batdad]

Provided I have time, and can figure out the save game loading I think I will.

(Will mean a break from my Flyer game maybe, but this one looks like fun.)

[bruins72]

Actually, it should be pretty easy to load the save. And I started them using the CSD patch, so they'll be using real dates but you won't have to use any utilities to launch it.

[batdad]

Really? I will not have to use the CSD patch or Art Money or any of that garbage to play in the challenge with a save game that started on those things? WOw. That would be cool.

Note-I tried CSD exactly once, and have not got any interest in trying it, so if I do not have to I am definitely in.

[smokey]

I vote for the CHL, the OHL and the Sudbury Wolves.

All kidding aside the CHL is by far the most fun leagues to coach in the game, with enough challenge, drafts + all that youth development. Fantasy leagues (or leagues simmed past the retirement of all currently known players) just don't do it for me. Besides if all you want is a proper challenge, you could take say the 2014 Hawks, dump the entire roster on waivers, sim to draft day and share the save.

[timmy_t]

Really? I will not have to use the CSD patch or Art Money or any of that garbage to play in the challenge with a save game that started on those things? WOw. That would be cool.

Note-I tried CSD exactly once, and have not got any interest in trying it, so if I do not have to I am definitely in.

Yeah Batdad, once you get past the first season with the CSD you don't have to use it anymore.

[bruins72]

Looking at the 2024 save, I think I'll have to sim past the draft, maybe start at July 1st. I was hoping to let folks run their own draft to start the challenge but it appears that there's no scouting info by the team your taking over. We'd have to draft without scouting reports and a full view of the player's attributes. We'd have to trust our scouts and AGM recommendations and/or look at the player's previous seasons' stats. I don't know if it would be worth it to us to bother. It might just be better to take over the team after the draft.

[batdad]

And ... I would say leave it with no scout info. Take into account who scouts say to pick and rankings and attributes. Makes more fun. . And just as good a chance of getting a player as letting AI do it.

[bruins72]

Really? Most of the players we won't see their attributes. I know I looked at the #2 overall ranked player (where we'd be picking) and didn't see his attributes. All I got was his playing stats. If the simmed ahead option remains at the top (the Canadian Junior option is right behind it in the voting), I'll try to get a consensus on whether people want to control that first draft or not.

[timmy_t]

July 1st would be best. You'll get a full season to scout the draft and learn about your team.

[batdad]

Yeah...if you have a chance to manually draft your players, no matter what you can see etc, it is still more fun than if you do not. The first draft players are going to be on the edge of being relevant to the challenge anyway. And I would rather have the chance to draft that special player than let the freaking computer do it for me.

I just do not see the rationale in wanting to wait til after the draft. The more drafts, regardless of information the better.

Plus would you not like to have the added challenge of seeing if you can draft that gem without knowing everything.

When i took over the Flyers in the game, that draft without any info was super fun. Poking around and looking to find the gem was not easy, but it was fun.

BTW--I think I scored some decent players. Only my last two picks are not rated as at least core guys for the future as I went in to training camp.

Hard yeah...impossible no.

[timmy_t]

What is the actual save date of the game? Even if you have a month you can find a lot of info for the draft. Batdad may be right.

[jesterx7769]

Did the updated rosters not make Torey Krug garbage

[bruins72]

The actual date of the save is June 10th 2024. So you'd really only get a couple weeks of scouting. I did it to that point figuring the team's scouts would have already been out scouting, so we'd be able to draft based on their info. If people want, I can sim forward another year and stop in late May or something like that, giving us just enough time for a brief draft scouting. Thoughts?

Sorry Jester. This games was based off the 6.1 rosters and as of that point, Krug hadn't been re-rated. I think that's part of the big re-rating project the roster guys are working on.

[batdad]

I am good with simming another year, but really do what the guys want done. I am fine with having no scouting, as I never listen to those guys anyway!

[bruins72]

Yeah, I don't usually listen to the scouts either but I do get to see the player's attributes after they've scouted them.

[Peter_Doherty]

Don't you have several saves of the same game? (u know, bruins_1 bruins_2 etc a new save every week, dont know how to explain)

[bruins72]

I would normally do that over the course of playing a challenge or something like that. When I set this game to sim into the future, I went on put my GM "on vacation" until a date that I set. So I've got 2 saves, each in early June, one in 2019 and one in 2024. I didn't have any affect on the "game world" over the course of time. I had a dummy GM take over the Tulsa team in one of the lower minor leagues and let the Assistant GM and coach do everything.

[timmy_t]

While I think it would be awesome to be able to pick the guys in our first draft, I think it might be more "realistic" if we took over on July 1st. Basically the team brain trust has had enough of the GM and his drafting/team building and decided to can him and allow a new GM to take over.

So excited for the challenge. It's been a long time for me!