Challenge Ideas

[Joe]

This talk about a 5 season challenge kind of gave me an idea. How about a dynasty challenge? Maybe 5 or more seasons for a dynasty. You may lose the first season, but you could rebound the 2nd season and sort of redeem yourself and make up for lost bonuses in the previous season.

I think this would put an even greater emphasis on our skills as GMs. Now we also have to resign key players and maybe make more important trades since we are playing multiple seasons.

[timmy_t]

I like that idea (the dynasty challenge).


I also thought that we could just pick the SJ Sharks for our next challenge team.

[Danny]

I was definitely going to suggest some non-nhl teams for the next challenge, however I'm not sure how many people would be interested in it

I would definitely be up for a CHL (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) Challenge! I'm know there are a few others here that play junior leauges regularly (if not all the time!) I haven't dabbled too much outside of North America though, so I'm not too familiar with the Euro leagues.

Cheers.

I'm not a big fan of this idea

I usually only play with teams that I'm interested in in real life as well. So FM with Liverpool and EHM with Bruins, sometimes I take a really naff team in EHM because it's fun to rebuild, but I don't think I'd have any motivation to play with a team outside the NHL where I neither know the teams nor any players

[batdad]

I really like this dynasty idea. It could prove very interesting. I do have concerns about how many would be patient enough to carry on, but it does seem alot more people are showing up here now. I do also like the thought of playing in another league. Although, as Danny stated it could be difficult to get people to do this when they really know nothing about the leagues and players. In my case, I think it is fun, and would like to learn more about these leagues.

[CatchUp]

I'm in for the dynasty game via our blogs. Love the idea.

Here's something to think about:

What about starting in the CHL with the aim of getting an NHL job. Bonus points to GM's who make it within a certain time frame. This would require all players to set their "previous experience" to the same pre-set level.

Thoughts?

Cheers.

[batdad]

Also would have to start with the same junior team, or at the most be given an option of 1 team in each league. To me that team should be a weak one. My suggestion for the WHL is the Prince George Cougars...they suck in the game! Plus, their organization is messed up!

[Joe]

I'm in for the dynasty game via our blogs. Love the idea.

Here's something to think about:

What about starting in the CHL with the aim of getting an NHL job. Bonus points to GM's who make it within a certain time frame. This would require all players to set their "previous experience" to the same pre-set level.

Thoughts?

Cheers.

Not a bad idea at all. But like what was previously said, I don't think many members play in the Juniors, so it might be tough to get enough people.

[Danny]

Is there a possibility of running 2 challenges at the same time ? I don't know how much work there is behind it so bear with me, just a question

[Joe]

Is there a possibility of running 2 challenges at the same time ? I don't know how much work there is behind it so bear with me, just a question

Since I've been a member here, there has always been at 2 challenges going on at once, but they didn't start at the same time. The beginning and end of challenges seem to overlap each other.

[Minstrel]

Usually midway in the second season of one Challenge overlaps with the next new Challenge; for example we have Columbus and LA going right now. We get new ones started when people don't have a new one they could get in on pretty much, it's not an exactly scheduled thing though, we play it by ear. The decisions are up to Calv the Challenge Master now

As for the dynasty thing it sounds fun, I don't know if the CHL -> NHL thing would provide too much of a random element for a fair competition though. I just don't know enough about making that transition in-game though. I wouldn't want to reward/punish people for having better luck landing a job first.

[Calv]

I'm in for the dynasty game via our blogs. Love the idea.

Here's something to think about:

What about starting in the CHL with the aim of getting an NHL job. Bonus points to GM's who make it within a certain time frame. This would require all players to set their "previous experience" to the same pre-set level.

Thoughts?

Cheers.

I think this would work with blogs, as it suits that format, but it won't be part of the challenges

[Joe]

This topic kinda died...so I guess back to the Dynasties, is there anyone that can think of a reason that this wouldn't work? Besides not having enough people, or people dropping out in the middle of the challenge...

[Calv]

This topic kinda died...so I guess back to the Dynasties, is there anyone that can think of a reason that this wouldn't work? Besides not having enough people, or people dropping out in the middle of the challenge...

It would be too hard to score for one, do we give people the same amount of points for getting easier teams? What about if for some reason a really big club sakcs their manager and you happen to get the job, whereas in someone else's game they can only get a job at a smaller club, it's unfair. We also are trying to keep a level playing field for everyone this means same team, same points etc... We will definitely do a 5-year challenge at some point but it will be with the same team, this will be announced after the 7.1 challenge has finished and once I have sorted out scoring for it.

[bruins72]

I was just thinking of the challenge scoring and had an idea for the future maybe. Would it be feasible to expand our scoring to cover more things? For example, some people play a more defensive or physical game. Why not record hits, shots blocked, take-aways, and goalie stats? Some of us make their teams offensive powerhouses (guilty here!) and benefit from that in the challenge because we record players with most goal, assists, and such. This would be a way to make up ground for the players who take pride in winning their hockey games with old school 2-1 or 3-0 scores.

What do you guys think?

[Danny]

I'm all for it if it doesn't add TOO much to the workload.

[bruins72]

To be honest, this stuff is listed right in the "Team Leaders" box of the main Front Office screen. Should be easy to record.

[Calv]

I'm also thinking maybe save% and a GAA bonus points as well? What do you guys think of that?

[bruins72]

Most definitely!

[batdad]

No problem here, cept I suck at blocking shots. Apparently St Louis does not. They had 65 blocks in a game against my Blue Jackets challenge team. Funny thing is, I had 65 shots too. Final score was 9-0. They had 8 shots, and I blocked 6.

System I used that game--NEUTRAL ZONE TRAP.

[bruins72]

I've noticed that the defensive stats seem to change with the various version of the game. I think we were running 3.03 at the time of that challenge and IIRC, that version produced an insane amount of blocks. In 3.04 the blocked shots are down but there are much more hits registered.

[batdad]

I think it is time to bring this one back

1. Dynasty challenge and use of blogs during a "longer-term" challenge..say 3 to 7 years, would be a very interesting idea to me.

2. Discussions of "blacklists", "limited # of trades", and "people playing with the same guys all the time" are very interesting. I think blacklists are bad. Don't want to force people into not having Marleau, Nitty...limiting the # of trades is iffy too...but what if there was a way to be sure that people did not trade away the whole roster? What if there was a way to allow you to make alot of moves, but still have to do alot of new things?

3. Development of prospects, resigning of star players for seasons at a time, learning more about other players and developing your own prospects that are on your team... We should be learning about new guys/new teams..it makes things more interesting and more fun.....

These are all things that have been discussed in this thread.

I think now that EHM is no longer being made...we should really look at having people participate in a longer, more gradual team improvement challenge....

One thing I noticed (especially with the Leafs) is that the challenges the way they are are getting really easy.Very many are winning the Prez trophy in year 1, and virtually everyone is winning the Stanley Cup. Records are being smashed left and right. It is getting kind of silly...to me anyway.

I think for the time being we should stick with the NHL but...

I wonder ... is there a way to make these challenges

1. More thoughtful
2. Keep the same level of interest in them
3. More difficult to succeed, without making it too hard
4. Keep the same level of flexibility, or at least near the same level.
5. Allow us to learn about other players/teams and develop some in-house prospects to strong positions in the NHL


There has to be a way....

[kuulapaa]

Just happened to mention Challenge #9 in other thread, so I'll participate in this discussion no matter I've been quiet and not taken part in challenges for a while. Batdads thoughts are good (not all his thoughts, I know) and developing is important. In fact these kind of "competitions" should be developed continuosly, they are never ready.

I've noticed too that folks are successing surprisingly well (too well?) in challenges. If it comes from doing things in one and same pattern time after time it is not good. I try different approaches most of times (and I'm ready to admit that it's mostly due to that I haven't found the pattern) and I usually avoid even getting the same prospects or coaching staff even if they have done well in my earlier games. That's part of the realism of EHM for me. And it is also easier to explain why I don't make so well in EHM

I ran to a guy last spring who happened to tell me he plays some sports games too on his computer ( EA's NHL series, if I can recall). He had gone so far that he played the games as they were in the games schedule. So he started his season in the beginning of October and if he got to playoffs he played last games in next May or June. There was something in his story, but I wouldn't take it that far. But to make the challenges more challenging and to get rid of the patterns I would take more rules and restrictions in the Challenge. The black list isn't a good idea though, 'cause if it is in the game that one get's Marleau so easy and he plays tremendously well for the team, then why should this move to be black-listed.

I think the way to encourage players to explore other ways to succeed in challenges is to reward them for not making so many trades and also, if we are speaking of long-term challenges, highly reward them for developing their own prospects in roster players. It would take a few seasons, I know, but it would be a great to see how patient developing pays out after - let's say - six seasons and the straight-to-quick-success pattern players were left without all developing bonuses.

One thing that got to my mind was that there could be some smaller challenges in the Challenge. So that we could for example pick up some prospects of the chosen Challenge team and try to get the best out of them. Then you could choose to throw the youngster to play with your stars and get him to make more points but in the same time your team could struggle for scoring less goals. Or you could choose to put your promising blueliner to play in the first defense pairing for more minutes on ice and better +/- scores and it would cause your team to lose more games. Ther would be more decisions to make and more choices to choose from and it would make the Challenge harder and hopefully more interesting.

What comes to using the blogs in part of a Challenge, I think it would (or at leat could) be fun, but it also takes a lot of time. You can't even imagine how long it takes from me to write these lines in English. I, on the other hand, can imagine how long it would take from you to read my blog in Finnish

[archibalduk]

You have some excellent suggestions there, Kuulapaa. I agree, the challenges need to be made a little more realistic without sacrificing the freedom users have to mould their teams. Users are currently overhauling their teams so that few of the original players are still on the roster, and so that they can bring in their usual "challenge players", such as Marleau (ahem Catchup ).

If we play with the likes of the Blue Jackets or the Kings then we shouldn't be aiming to win the Playoffs (like many users actually did in our Challenges) but the aim should be who can actually make it into the top eight. We need to make it so that the Challenge team we chose influences everyone's targets, rather than always aiming to win the Playoffs every time.

[batdad]

Kuulapaa....very well said. I think that we need to, in particular, develop some prospects on our own and see how they go. Your idea on this is very interesting.

The only issue we have is adding more bonus pt. scoring things could be difficult...so we need to find another way. I think that we can do this.

Archi-Yeah that is what I am getting at that I hate the most. The same team over and over...The freaking Columbus Sharks, LA Sharks, Toronto Sharks...in our last 3 challenges.

[Shadd666]

More realism should be a very good thing.

In fact, this lack of realism is the main reason why i didn't play in any challenge yet. I tend to role-play my games, and so try to keep it realistic, no matter if i'm on the loosing side.

For example, when i played with the Habs (see my dead blog for more details), i kept the Sammy-Koivu-Kovy line even if i knew there wouldn't be of a great help coming playoff time. I managed to have all of them at 100+ points and then been smashed down in the second round. I lost, but had tons of fun with this game! Far more than if i changed the whole team! And with a look back, i even think i made far too many trades.