PREVIEW of new challenge option!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:54 pm

This is just a preview of a new optional method of play that we're initiating for Challenge 10. This will probably be re-worded before being put into the official rules but I figured I could give everyone a peek at it. This will give everyone some time to think about whether they want to play it this way or stick to the standard method.

Introducing...

NT/NB the No Trade/No Budget method!

The main (or only) benefit of this method is that you are not held to the TBL Budget. You may go over your team's budget as much as they allow you but you may not go over the NHL Salary Cap. If you choose this method, you must declare it from the start, when you post your core roster choices. You cannot chose to play this method after the start of the first season. You are not allowed to sign ANY free agents unless they are one of your own players who's contract has expired (RFA and UFA). You can't sign a UFA that did not play with your team in the season immediately prior (and had to be on the team at the end of the season...ie not waived and claimed by someone else).

You are not allowed to make any waiver claims unless you lose a player for the season due to an injury. If you lose a player for the season (and that doesn't mean a player going out for a few weeks at the end of the season, I mean one of those LONG injuries) and you drop below 4 players of a given position, you are able to claim a player from waivers so you don't have to ruin a farm player's homegrown eligibility. This is the one time that you will be allowed to sign a UFA as well but you may not sign a UFA of any reputation higher than "Good" A screenshot of your depth chart and the injury to the player you are replacing must be made at the time of the waiver claim or free agent signing to prove this.

No trades will be allowed with this method of play. You may not trade players. You may not trade prospects, signed or unsigned. You may not trade draft picks. The only way a player may make his way onto your team is by being drafted by your team and then signed. The only way a player can leave your team is to have his contract expire, retire, being released, or to be waived and claimed by another team. While playing this method, you must still follow the TBL Core Roster requirements. If you do make a trade of any sort, you will be required to be within the TBL budget by the next 20 game segment. If you make a trade at game 52, you must be within the TBL budget by the 60 reporting period. If you make a trade during the off season, you must be within the TBL budget by the start of the next season.

Anyone playing by the No Trade/No Budget (NT/NB) Method must post a screenshot of the transactions (players in) page at each reporting period.

NT/NB rules outweigh any regular rule. ie If you're allowed to do something in the normal rules and the NT/NB rules say you can't... you've got to follow the NT/NB rule. No looking to exploit possible loopholes!

So there you have it! That's an explanation of the new method of play that we're going to make available for Challenge 10. Many people find the challenges to be too easy and this is a way of making it a little trickier and in my opinion, more interesting. I'll be playing the challenge this way and I encourage others to as well!

Please feel free to discuss this new method here and ask any questions you might have.

Post by **timmy_t** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:17 am

Wow! This puts the "challenge" in the TBL Challenge ..!!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:12 am

Trust me... it's going to be VERY CHALLENGING! We tested this method using the teams that looked to have no chance at winning the vote for the challenge 10 team and there were a real challenge. Depending on the team, it can be even worse. Looking at what you get to work with on the Coyotes... we're going to have our work cut out for us.

This method of play is not for those who are only concerned with winning the challenge, getting the best record, and the most points. This is for people who really want to prove something to themselves, really challenge themselves and to learn even more about EHM. Playing this way will really teach you how to develop a team and not exploit the game to make a Stanley Cup winner out of a cellar dweller in one season. I hope we get a few people to join in and try this out with us.

Post by **timmy_t** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:34 am

This is for people who really want to prove something to themselves, really challenge themselves and to learn even more about EHM.

You know that's how I like to play! I'm pretty excited to play in this challenge!

Way cool !!

Post by **batdad** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:45 am

I will warn you...I started the testing on this with the Islanders...and I was in first place after 20 games. With only 2 or 3 regulation losses. And the Isles were ranked 30th of 30 teams.

But I did not have a high scoring guy. Satan led the way 11-11-22 or something like that. My PK was awesome and my PP sucked..as always.

But it was a grind to get the best out of this team. 10 games went at least to OT and I lost 4 or 5 of them in a shootout.

It is a very interesting way to go though. Dealing with injuries will not be easy. Calling up bums from the minors, because that is all we have. But such is life.

If I have time I will be giving this a good go. And will stick to it. I really believe in my tactics. Except my sucky pp one.

Post by **Lidas** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:07 am

How about NTNB and staff? Is it allowed to fire and bring in new staff? Any restrictions here?

Post by **timmy_t** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:38 am

Do we still have to declare the Group A, B, C players? (Since we're keeping the whole team) I understand the Home Grown is important.

Loosie · Post by **Loosie** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:13 pm

I like this idea and think I may try this....give me a chance to really learn the Pratice and Tactics sections as I used to be a GM type player in EHM.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:17 pm

Staff changes ARE allowed. In the case of the Coyotes... you're really going to need to replace most of the staff. They're terrible! And since the idea of these long challenges is to develop talent, you're going to need the right staff to do that.

As for the core players, yes we do still need to declare our Group A, B, and C players. The reason for this is because we've got a minimum number of games attached to each of these groups. Plus, contracts expire and the core is going to force you to have to re-sign some of these players. With NTNB, you're going to have to do some serious roster management. You're going to have to always be thinking about the next season, and the season after that, and the season after that, and so on. You've got to look at your contracts and when they expire so you can plan out when player players will be taken out of your core all the while keeping in mind that you've got to work in your homegrowns.

Coyote of the Sea · Post by **Coyote of the Sea** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:42 am

are you still allowed to play with San Antonio as well? and if so do the rules only apply to the Coyotes and not the AHL team?

Post by **batdad** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:44 am

Yes you can play with San Antonio. And yeah it is okay in the minors for San Antonio GM to sign a few guys to fill out the roster if you want.

Of course, Looking at the Yotes today...I really see no reason. The entire Yotes team belongs in San Antone.

But remember..it must be San Antonio GM...those are not PHOENIX GUYS. So even if SA Gm signs someone, the Coyotes cannot. Still considered an UFA not with COyotes

Hypnotist · Post by **Hypnotist** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:30 pm

I've got an idea...You are stuck with the rosters you inherit and players you draft! No trades, FAs, no nothing! Sheesh.

You guys realize that I was being sarcastic when I suggested this right? Honestly, this option sucks all the fun out of the game. But oh well, have fun with it. Looks like a second unofficial challenge is in the works.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:35 pm

It's an option and you don't have to play with that option. Don't be so dramatic. You're not interested in playing that way. Several other people are.

Post by **CatchUp** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:14 pm

Hypnotist wrote:
I've got an idea...You are stuck with the rosters you inherit and players you draft! No trades, FAs, no nothing! Sheesh.
You guys realize that I was being sarcastic when I suggested this right? Honestly, this option sucks all the fun out of the game. But oh well, have fun with it. Looks like a second unofficial challenge is in the works.

Wow Hypno, thanks so much for your input.

As B72 said, NTNB is an OPTION for people who are interested in trying to learn and develop their skills in EHM. There are quite a few people who have already signed up that would disagree with you on the 'sucks all the fun out of the game' point.

I hope you can appreciate that as mods and admins around here, we spend a lot of time preparing the challenges and trying to make sure it's a positive experience for all users. The general sense has been that the Challenges have not been 'challenging' enough. So, we came up with the NTNB option for people who were interested in a bit more work than in your average EHM game.

If you have some rule changes that you'd like to put forward for the next Challenge to make it a little less fun-suckingly-terrible, we are all ears. From your sarcastic comment above, I take it that this type of thing is not your cup of tea. That's fine - go enjoy your unofficial challenges.

Post by **Shadd666** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:26 pm

I'll be redundant here and say (again!) that the NTNB is just an OPTION!!!

You don't want to play that way? Fine. You're totally allowed to do otherwise. Personnally, i won't play with the NTNB either. I'm already well enough challenged by the 'normal' rules, and therefore won't look for a harder mode until i've progressed. It's my choice. It seems it will be yours too. Good. But other people aren't challenged enough by the 'normal' rules and want something harder. It's their right. They'll be more challenged, and therefore will have more fun playing. As the main objective of the challenges is to HAVE FUN, this NTNB rule is perfect for them. And as it's just an option, everyone can select the way they have the more fun with. And that's exactly what we tried to do.

So please tone down with your comments... If you don't like the option, it's your right, and therefore you can just choose to not use that option. Period. No need to be insulting toward all the hard work that has been put into this in order to give fun to several people not challenged enough yet.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:31 pm

Yep we realized that it was sarcaastic. But we also decided it was interesting. So I guess...

1. You are the reason for it. Be proud, stand tall!!!
2. You should learn now to be careful what you say...someone else might like your sarcastic idea.

Now for the real reasons:

Why we did it? To make things harder than they have ever been. Harder than they ever will be. Some of us don't want to finish first ALL THE TIME. Some want to have to work at it to finish first. Some want to actually use guys we have never used and learn about them...guys noone else would ever use like Freaking Mike Zigomanis. To see what they develop like.

It places an emphasis on different aspects of being a GM...not trading, and no UFA's forces you to do the parts of GM work that recently real life GM's got fired for (Dave Nonis). You have to develop players and you have to draft well. You have to hire good coaches and overcome the shortcomings of Phoenix to do so.

But meh..you don't care. Once again you just fail to see the light. You have a choice here..you don't have to play this way. Up to you.

It is getting to the point now where I am going to just not read your posts. You don't appear to like anything we do.

That being said, Challenge 11 is likely going to be a non NHL challenge... as it will have a 50-50 shot. So..I am going to be playing around with some teams outside the NHL anyway in the near future, to better learn what these teams are like and how to take one of them to a challenge.

At one point I was going to ask you for your help with Challenge 11, as you have been the non-NHL team challenge guru here for us. Not sure I see the point in that now.

Oh well...enjoy EHM and the Blueline..we mods are not going to be everything to all people.

Funny one of our biggest critics on challenges is all over NTNB and one is ready to walk out the door with his candy bag. I dunno. What do you do?

Post by **archibalduk** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 5:01 pm

It's a shame that's how you feel, Hypno. I think we've reached a darn good compromise with how we're running the Challenges for numbers 10 and 11. We've taken on board your (and other people's) desire for a non-NHL team Challenge by giving users the opportunity to vote for a non-NHL team for Challenge 11. This will give us enough time to test how the rules need to be adapted for a non-NHL team before Challenge 11 starts.

We've also tried to make the Challenge more challenging for the more experienced users by introducing NTNB, but we've also made it accessible for newer users by giving everyone the option not to play NTNB. Thus users have the choice as to how challenging the game is. I don't know how we could be more accommodating. I'd very much like to hear your suggestions as to how we could further improve things.

As for an unofficial challenge - feel free to use the Competitions & Games Forum like you did last time. I'm happy to make it a sticky thread for all to see.