EHM The Blue Line

Me and some friends are looking for a fun hockey GM game to play, and want to know how the multilayer is in this game. My questions:

- How quick can you play through a season (we prefer quicker so we can get through multiple seasons, say like a couple hours per seasons)
- Is multiple seasons supported? (so you would need to plan long-term with trades, picks, etc.)
- Can you choose to be just the GM and leave coaching decisions to a coach (we like to just do simple GM tasks, just focus on getting the right guys in, trading, draft picks, etc. not into managing arena hot dog sales and details like that)
- Can you start with your own team names or have to choose from the actual 30 teams?
- Can you start with a full startup draft so no team has any players or advantages over another? (we like to start off from the same starting point)
- Can you go back in time to start a draft from earlier years or have to start from the current actual time?

Thanks in advance!

xerxes84 wrote:- How quick can you play through a season (we prefer quicker so we can get through multiple seasons, say like a couple hours per seasons)

I don't think an entire season in a couple hours is possible (I've never played that way or seen anyone post about playing that way. Typically EHM online leagues have a "host" who has the game running 24/7 and the human GMs can enter into the game at anytime and give directions/make offers/etc (i.e. do the things a GM does) & once a day the game is simmed (usually 4 days of ingame time at a time, taking about 5-10 minutes of IRL time to sim.....a season takes 2-3 IRL months).

You could play for a couple hours, stop/save/close and then have the game not running until you gathered together again to play. You could play a season in "hours" but exactly how fast will depend on quality of sim selected/number of leagues selected/computer quality + how much interaction wanted as a GM/how long it took GMs to make moves

Also, my understanding is there were some issues with "live sims" with the new EHM; I'm not sure of the current status

xerxes84 wrote:- Is multiple seasons supported? (so you would need to plan long-term with trades, picks, etc.)

Yes
There is still an EHM05 League going that started back in 2005! (they're currently in 2052)

xerxes84 wrote:- Can you choose to be just the GM and leave coaching decisions to a coach

Yes, you can leave decisions regarding Lineup/Lines and/or Tactics and/or Practice to the Head Coach (you can even leave some GM responsibilities to an AGM)

xerxes84 wrote:- Can you start with a full startup draft so no team has any players or advantages over another? (we like to start off from the same starting point)

Not sure. There is a fantasy draft, but I don't know of anyone trying to use it for an online game (and I've never used it myself).
With some significant editing effort it could be done manually.

xerxes84 wrote:- Can you start with your own team names or have to choose from the actual 30 teams?

I think you could, but it would require some editing efforts to do so

EHM covers hockey worldwide, with around two dozen different playable leagues that you can pick from (you don't have to play the 30 team NHL)

xerxes84 wrote:- Can you go back in time to start a draft from earlier years or have to start from the current actual time?

You can choose any start date from 1970-2015
You could use the Blank DB and select all the options for creating Players/Staff and choose any year from 1970-2015 to start from (with fictional players)

Or you could use one of the "retro" databases
The most complete is the 2006 DB (from the last official release of the game, before the 2015/current version).
Next I'd say would be the 1974 database.....and then there's a few "works in progress" (1979, 1992, 1998)
There's a new/updated version of the 1998 DB that should be released in a couple/few months

Thank you for the detailed response! I wasn't able to find any detailed guide/info for the new EHM (specially for multilayer). This is very helpful and much appreciated!

Couple of follow ups:
- what we prefer is a game where we would get together once a week or two for about 2-3 hours, so how quick we can get thru seasons is important for us since we can't spend that much time on the game. the continuous simulation (like the one you described in the first answer) might work, but we would prefer a game that would be saved and loaded since given our busy schedules, we're not sure if we can play consistently every day or week. Might have to put a month long break for example.

- for the Coach/Assistant GM, can you set it so players CAN'T manage them even if they wanted to (to level the playing field and make sure everyone is just focused on GM work)? And will it be so you as the GM then have to hire/fire coaches and assistant GMs?

- for the retro databases: so if you start from a previous season, you get real players for that year and fake players for future years or are the database is setup so real historical players come up in their real life draft years and with close to real life skills/potential?

Again, thanks in advance!

xerxes84 wrote:- for the Coach/Assistant GM, can you set it so players CAN'T manage them even if they wanted to

I don't think so
Each individual GM will set their "GM Options" that tell the game "who to listen to" - the human player OR the AI AGM/Head Coach in five areas #1 roster (AGM) #2 lines (HC) #3 tactics (HC) #4 practice (HC) #5 contracts/signings (AGM)
Each GM will have to set theirs to be human/AI as desired and then leave it alone

xerxes84 wrote:And will it be so you as the GM then have to hire/fire coaches and assistant GMs?

Yes (and you also hire/fire scouts and trainers)
And send out Scouts, and negotiate all player contracts

xerxes84 wrote:- for the retro databases: so if you start from a previous season, you get real players for that year and fake players for future years or are the database is setup so real historical players come up in their real life draft years and with close to real life skills/potential?

The most updated version of the 2006 database http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... hp?t=11330 is from a few years ago, and IIRC has prospects up until that time

The 1974 database http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... php?t=9915 (created for EHM07, but useable with the newEHM1) has about 20 years worth of IRL prospects. I'll probably have prospects added to it this summer to bring it up-to-date.

The updated 1998 DB that's coming http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... &start=175 will have prospects up to current


FYI rosters are all volunteer work, done for free, by a very small group of people (including myself)