Challenge Questions & Feedback Thread

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:05 pm

I just wanted to remind everyone that season 2 starts July 1st 2007. You make your trades and signings starting at that point and that stuff goes with your season 2 data, not your final season 1 data.

Also remember that you aren't required to post screenshots of your UFA signings. We just suggest that you take the screenshots and keep them on your computer in case the validity of the signing is called into question. We're really trying to limit how many screenshots people have to post. We want to make life easier for everyone.

Salming · Post by **Salming** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:11 pm

bruins72 wrote:You can sign a player that's in Europe as one of your signings this season but he won't come over until the next summer. What you should do, is take a screenshot of the news item where he agrees to the contract to show that you signed him during the UFA signing window. Also take a picture of his info so we can see his rep.

It's kind of an awkward situation. This is the best way I can think of to handle it.

ok ty

there are many nice players in europe so this will not be first question about this i think

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri May 15, 2009 7:18 pm

It's the first question about this but probably not the last.

I saw several players I was interested in signing but they were in Europe and wouldn't transfer over for a year, so I passed on them. I had a hole that needed to be filled and I couldn't wait a year for it to happen. Good luck though! I hope it works out for you.

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Mon May 18, 2009 1:10 pm

As I'm beginning to wait to get fired, I would like to ask about that 5% rule. Is it about the Total Annual Player Salaries and Player Budget (p/a) from which the percentage is counted?

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon May 18, 2009 2:47 pm

It's the Averaged Club Salary and the Player Budget. Basically, if you get fired for over-spending, you can re-add yourself to the challenge. If you get fired for poor performance, it's okay to get re-added. What season are you in? I think it's pretty unlikely that you'll get fired in those first two seasons. Have you been getting warnings from the board?

kuulapaa · Post by **kuulapaa** » Mon May 18, 2009 6:45 pm

I haven't got any warnings and directors are pleased to me. But Milwaukee's GM got fired without a warning few games ago, so I started thinking that the wind can change pretty quickly. Of course it was a different situation as he was both Head Coach and GM of the team.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon May 18, 2009 6:48 pm

I think you'll be okay. Let us know if you do get fired and we'll take things from there.

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue May 19, 2009 5:16 pm

We currently can't add any Challenge stats to the database/site at the moment because we need Octavian (who very kindly hosts TBL) to renew our licence with our webhosts. So I've been going through the stats in our recording thread to see what position people have been finishing in the Conference at the end of season 1:

4th: 1
5th: 2
8th: 1
10th: 1
11th: 1
12th: 1
13th: 1
14th: 2
15th: 4

It's good to see that the majority are falling outside of the top eight (71% of users). I think that's a realistic position for the Preds. I think this is probably the first time for a long time (or perhaps, ever) when we've had the majority of users finish in a realistic position - and nobody made it past the first round of the Playoffs. Great stuff! I do really think these new rules are going to really help bring more variety to the Challenges.

Although my Preds team are really struggling and my ongoing injury crisis is making me want to hurl my laptop out of my flat, I'm still having a lot of fun with this Challenge. The fact that nearly everybody else is struggling in their first season is kind of reassuring in a way and makes you realise that winning every game isn't everything. I've always felt the pressure in previous Challenges to make it at least to the first round of the Playoffs - but that's really not the case with this Challenge. I'm quite content finishing in the towards the bottom of the conference!

Post by **Asher413** » Wed May 20, 2009 2:44 am

I'm looking to jump into this, but I have a few questions (and I apologize in advance if they are anwsered, after an hour last night about about 30 mins today I can't read any more rules and keep them all straight

1- Is the only step I need to complete to sign up to post in the challenge thread?
2- How many seasons does the challenge go (between current and old threads I see anything from 2-22 if enough people play)
3- Head Coaches- found the restriction on hiring them, but is there a restriction on firing them outside of that?
4- Affiliate- are their any restrictions on the personnel moves with your affiliate? Can you trade, sign, fire and hire staff at will?
5- Firings- If you get fired from your affiliates, are there restrictions on how to get re-hired?
6- Waivers- Can you place any player on waivers? (I know you can't cut $750k+ players at specific times, but does that apply to waivers as well?)
7- RFAs- can you accept compensation if another team makes an offer to your RFA's?
8- Player/Coach- are their any restrictions to players with both roles?
9- Minimum rosters- have the minimum minor league rosters been removed? Also, I doubt it's likely, but what if you resign all of the preds that you can, but you fall short on players at a postiion (ie, too many D-men retired or refused to resign, and I've used my FA bids, and I only have 5 healthy?)
10- Are you still required to coach each game live?
11- Are you allowed to be any nationality as a GM?

Sorry for all of the questions, though I have no aspirations of winning, I want to make sure I follow the rules so I can earn last place fair and square

Post by **Asher413** » Wed May 20, 2009 2:59 am

I couldn't find the edit, so my apologies for a second post-

Also, can you have a GM for both your affiliates in Nashville's case, or just one?

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed May 20, 2009 3:31 pm

Much of what you're asking is already in the rules and I encourage you to go back and read them over again or I'm pretty sure you'll run into problems during the challenge.

That being said, I'll address your questions.

1. You don't actually have to post anything saying you're going to compete in the challenge. In the rules you're instructed to declare that you've read and understand the rules when you post your first set of results to the stats thread.
2. There isn't a limit on the number of seasons. We have a cut-off date. It's shown in the Challenge forum and on the challenge announcement. You play as many seasons as you can during that time. We'll count as many seasons as we can that have at least 4 players participating. I'm pretty sure this is in the rules.
3. I suppose you could fire your coach right away but you wouldn't be able to hire anyone for 6 months and even then it would have to be somebody that's already a member of your staff.
4. Your affiliate can do whatever it wants. Just keep in mind that you (the NHL GM) must still follow the rules when signing players. If you want extra players (beyond the UFA's and your own prospects that you have signed under the rules) to play for one of your affiliates, have your affiliate GM sign them.
5. Affiliates really aren't restricted like that.
6. It's in the rules... 5.5 You may place players on the waivers at any time.
7. This hasn't ever come up. I don't think the game does this.We'll have to discuss it and get back to you. But honestly, I'd be amazed if it happened.
8. You don't really ever see this in the NHL. Usually the guys that want to do both aren't good enough in the NHL. If you wanted to sign a player/coach, you would have to follow both the player signing rules and the staff rules. Honestly though... it's unlikely to come up.
9. We have done away with the minor league roster requirements. A little common sense and planning will ensure that you've got enough players at each position for your NHL roster. If not, you'll have to suffer the repercussions. Really, it's unlikely you'll run into this problem if you pay attention to your team. You've got a lot of assets to start with. You just might be stuck with a player on your NHL roster that you didn't really want to have there. If you've only got 5 defensemen in your entire organization, you deserve whatever failure you might have.
10. Yes, this is in the rules. Please go back and re-read them.
11. Yes, you can be whatever nationality you want. That doesn't affect anything. Just be sure to follow the rest of the setup rules.
12. It's in the rules... 3.5 If you wish, you may add a second/third GM in your game to coach your affiliate team(s). You do not have to have any involvement with their day-to-day games if you choose not to.

Please make sure to go back and read the rules thoroughly. We've really simplified things so that it's not a whole lot to read.

jbsnadb · Post by **jbsnadb** » Wed May 20, 2009 4:57 pm

As far as #7 is concerned. I have never seen over the last few years and countless seasons/franchises and RFAs signed by CPU teams from other organizations. You should not have an issue with this.

Post by **Manimal** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:39 am

I just had a trade confirmed on sunday morning the 15th of July. That is a couple of hours on the wrong side of the deadline, right?

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:52 am

I have actually seen a computer offer an offersheet. I've seen instances where the computer matched and where they let it go. They have never messed with my RFA's. I generally don't let them get that far though.

Post by **archibalduk** » Sat May 23, 2009 10:52 am

Manimal wrote:I just had a trade confirmed on sunday morning the 15th of July. That is a couple of hours on the wrong side of the deadline, right?

Could you provide a screenshot of the news item where your offer was accepted by the other team and also of the news item confirming the trade?

Post by **Manimal** » Sun May 24, 2009 6:45 pm

Here you go. I thought it would get done in time but no such luck.

accepted

confirmed

Post by **archibalduk** » Sun May 24, 2009 11:07 pm

Technically it's a breach of the rules but it's an honest mistake as you just don't know when the game will confirm the trade. So as far as we're concerned, it's nothing to worry about.

This is a good example of where providing screenshots will help you out if you or a fellow user or Mod thinks you may have broken a rule. If you can provide screenshots then you'll usually be alright

Post by **Manimal** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:19 am

archibalduk wrote:Technically it's a breach of the rules but it's an honest mistake as you just don't know when the game will confirm the trade. So as far as we're concerned, it's nothing to worry about.

This is a good example of where providing screenshots will help you out if you or a fellow user or Mod thinks you may have broken a rule. If you can provide screenshots then you'll usually be alright

Thank you very much!

mulla14 · Post by **mulla14** » Mon May 25, 2009 1:19 pm

just a few quick questions

1) i assume its not too late to start this challenge?

2) when posting my quarterly stats can i post them all togther? in other words could i post 1st quarter in one post then the 2nd in a new post seconds later etc or do i have to post the quarters as soon as possible before i get to the 2nd quarter? (hope that made sense!!)

3) is it mandatory to take any screen shots?

thinks thats it and thanks in advnce for any reply, im almost certain ill make a mistake on my first challenge but ya live to learn!!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Mon May 25, 2009 3:44 pm

1. Nope, it's not too late to start the challenge. We've still got about a month left.

2. You should have a post for each segment of 20 games. I know some people here seem to post 3 or 4 segments of 20 games at a time but it's really not a good idea. It takes just a couple minutes to post your data. I can't see how someone can play through 20 games so quickly that it's too much trouble to take a few minutes to post their data and then get back to it. Anyhow, the reason we like people to post their data 1 segment at a time is because if we see any problems in what they're reported we can hopefully correct the issue before they've gone on too far ahead.

3. Yes, there are some screenshots that are mandatory. Read the rules and you'll see a section all about that.

mulla14 · Post by **mulla14** » Tue May 26, 2009 10:44 am

one last question,
Screenshots?
i can get them on a word document but is that good enough to put on here? just let me know how its all done

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 26, 2009 10:57 am

Press ctrl-alt-print screen when you have your EHM window open, then you paste it into paint and save as a .jpeg-file and upload it at for example http://photobucket.com/ . You need to register, but it's free and good to have as you can use it for future challenges as well and your "bucket" can keep more pictures than your gallery here at TBL.

Post by **timmy_t** » Wed May 27, 2009 12:16 am

Quick question: If I promote an assistant coach to be my head coach, and then fire one of the other assistant coaches, can I then hire 2 assistant coaches as replacements? This is in season 2 and I had the assistant for all of season 1.

thunderbug · Post by **thunderbug** » Wed May 27, 2009 1:36 am

Timmy, this is covered by 9.2. You may fire 1 assistant coach per season and may hire as many assistant coaches as you like.

Post by **timmy_t** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:20 am

Got it

Thanks!