EHM The Blue Line

This is going to be a big undertaking for me, but I'm considering creating a whole new database full of different players (with same NHL teams) and was wondering if anyone would be interested in playing it when I finished.

I know people are able to do fantasy drafts with different player names, but I find a lot of stats get befuddled and you end up with star players with '5' speed and '2' agility that are 23 years old. What I want to do is create a whole new NHL full of players you've never heard of and will have no idea how good they are or who they are designed after. Kind of like an NHL full of regens but not as easy to decipher.

Teams will not have the same amount of star players in them as they do currently. There will be no gaurantee that Washington has an Ovechkin and that the Pens will have a Crosby or Malkin. I assure you though, that there will be similar amounts of players; for example there will be a player similar to Ovechkin and Crosby (although they may not be the same nationality). It will be something new and fun to discover for anyone that plays the database.

I'm not sure how long it will take to re-do everything; coaches and scouts will most likely remain the same and anyone born before 1965 (which makes them 41) will not be edited as they are retiring anyways.

If you are interested in this database and would like to receive it when I finish, please post in this thread. It will make me want to complete it even more. The more people that want it too, will also make me put more and more effort into it.

I will also accept player ideas for this database. If you want me to create a player (whether it is you or someone you want) let me know the following:

Name:
Height:
Weight:
Birth Place:

Position:
Type of Player:


Everything else will be done by me. That means I will select you age (you could be a future prospect or a current player), your potential, CA, team, and your attributes. If you ask to be a sniper, I will tailor your player towards being a sniper (but that does not mean he will have a 19 wristshot) and so on.

This isn't really a game as I doubt I will be able to put the amount of work Calv did into his, with screenshots, etc. Your participation will just help stop writer's block in regards to names and players.

When I am done the database I will put it up for download and you will then be able to play with your player if you wish and edit him to your liking afterwards (if you are unsatisfied).

Let me know, thanks!

(Please keep posts in this thread and not by PM)

I'm certainly interested. It would be quite a challenge but it would really be different with no known names so scouting and decision making would be key. Will you also be doing non player personel too or just players?

I'd be really interested. I love stuff like this. But why don't you also change all team names? That would actually be the easiest part of the whole process and would create a whole new universe.
Have fun with it and don't give up. I know what it takes to do something like this. The 79-80 mod took me several weeks (over 1000 players changed) but I actually had all day to work on it because I was ill at the time.

when you create a game, you can chose to do it, but I would still play this one for sure

Name: Maxime Levondu
Height: 6'6
Weight: 240
Birth Place:

Position: Left wing
Type of Player: great in scoring goals, do alot of big hits and great in defense





thx

pens66 wrote:I'd be really interested. I love stuff like this. But why don't you also change all team names? That would actually be the easiest part of the whole process and would create a whole new universe.
Have fun with it and don't give up. I know what it takes to do something like this. The 79-80 mod took me several weeks (over 1000 players changed) but I actually had all day to work on it because I was ill at the time.

I've actually played the 79-80 mod and was amazed at all the effort put into it; it was amazing. I think the most time consuming part of editing this database for me has been (and will be) all the player history. For every player I want to make sure they have a precise and detailed history (including junior if they played) tallying all goals, etc.

To shoot for the stars, I'm also planning on writing a short story (2 pages maybe) detailing the new league, where it is from, the star players, gossip between players (to figure out why someone dislikes another) and allow you to know what is going on.

I kinda want to create a completely different setup for people who might be getting bored/used to the current setup.

I've decided to keep a similar number of star players throughout the league, ranging from a couple young phenoms to aging veterans. Also, going to create players to be drafted for the next 4 years including a couple suprises (maybe the next Gretzky is developing). And so on...

Sounsds like a good way of mixing things up. However, if you did a fantasy draft and used fictional names when starting a new NHL game in EHM, wouldn't it achieve broadly the same result? Perhaps it might be worth going for a historical database as this will appeal both to people who want a new original DB and those who are interested in hockey past. Even if you were just to use the historic players names but inaccurate attributes, I think that would be quite cool. And it would mean you wouldn't have make up thousands of player names!

Anyway, just some ideas for ya

From what I remember from the "fictional names" fantasy draft is that while the player's names change it leaves their draft information (allowing you to identify them easier) and also fiddles with their stats to a crazy degree. I've had the fictional Ovechkin come out of the draft with a 19 wristshot, 3 speed, and 5 agility. Thornton never seems to keep any of his stats and it seems like people draft high reputation players that have absolutely horrible stats (because of reputation).

jtilson23 wrote:From what I remember from the "fictional names" fantasy draft is that while the player's names change it leaves their draft information (allowing you to identify them easier) and also fiddles with their stats to a crazy degree. I've had the fictional Ovechkin come out of the draft with a 19 wristshot, 3 speed, and 5 agility. Thornton never seems to keep any of his stats and it seems like people draft high reputation players that have absolutely horrible stats (because of reputation).

Are you sure you're not confusing regens with "fictional names"? When you're playing a regular game and have players retire, they regenerate (that's why we call them regens) with a new name, but keep some stats and the potential along with country of birth and position. That's where you see the funky stats like you mention above. As far as I am aware, if you start a new game with a fantasy draft and "fictional names" (actually, it's just unchecking "Use Real Names") it should just mix up the player names so that you don't know who they are. Does unchecking "Use Real Names" also randomize attributes? I've never really bothered doing it because I like using real players.

Nope. I know what regens are.

I've done a couple fantasy drafts and it seems like it does exactly what you said at the end. It takes their attributes and randomizes it a bit (including consistency). I've had Ovechkin (with his new name)... you can check before the draft when you pick the team you GM to see what every player looks like, have his consistency drop to 9 and his agility and speed disappear. And it seems like Crosby loses half his skills in a fantasy draft.

jtilson23 wrote: I've done a couple fantasy drafts and it seems like it does exactly what you said at the end. It takes their attributes and randomizes it a bit (including consistency). I've had Ovechkin (with his new name)... you can check before the draft when you pick the team you GM to see what every player looks like, have his consistency drop to 9 and his agility and speed disappear. And it seems like Crosby loses half his skills in a fantasy draft.

Isn't that a good thing? I mean, the point of not having real names is to have new players. If you already know who the players are then you might just as well have real names

jtilson23 is defenitely right. When you uncheck the real player names box the game does indeed randomize some attributes. Most of the players will only have their names changed, but for others you won't be able to tell who his real counterpart is.
I'm not sure why this happens. But I did start games without real player names with my 79-80 mod as a base. Originally, there are only a few dozen American players on the NHL teams, but without real player names there are A LOT more. Maybe EHM tries to balance things a bit when you go with that option? Like in balancing the game universe to have a reasonable amout of players within certain potential/current ability ranges and from the top hockey nations. Maybe it's something like that.

Manimal wrote:
Isn't that a good thing? I mean, the point of not having real names is to have new players. If you already know who the players are then you might just as well have real names

Well, it's a good thing because you don't know who the players are, but there are a few negatives to it:

Positives
- Don't know who players are

Negatives
- Player stats get VERY screwy. Players end up with ridiculous skating stats (3 speed, 4 agility), or horrible consistencies such as 4. This is on players that have "Superb" and "Star" reputations.
- Lose all stats of players prior career (meaning no track of how good a player is, no records, etc)
- It seems the number of high attribute players decline
- Reputations remain "star", "superb", even if their attributes are ECHL quality.




I guess there's not as much interest for this as I thought, but I don't mind. I'm going to keep on working on it and I'll keep updating you on the progress.

Ill be interested

I'm interested too!
Just quit a fantasy game because of the screwy stats and all of the other problems.

Name: Andreas Sundell
Height: 5'7
Weight: 130
Birth Place: Surahammar, Sweden
Position: Left wing
Type of Player: Defensive, really speedy player who works hard and likes to hit, but sadly can't handle a puck even if my life was at stake!

Name: Greg Jambrosich
Height: 6'1
Weight: 190
Birth Place: Stoney Creek, ON, Canada

Position: C, LW
Type of Player: Fast Skating Playmaker

Name: Jan Petrik
Height: 6'1
Weight: 200
Birth Place: Chomutov, Czech Republic

Position: RD
Type of Player: Offensive defender (like N. Lidström or T. Kaberle)

Name: Ryan Thomas
Height: 6'1
Weight: 205lbs
Birth Place: Courtenay, BC, Canada

Position: RD
Type of Player: Two-way defenseman (good passer, average shot (therefore, a high pass tendency), reads play well, superb stick use and positioning, great at one-on-ones, pretty good checker, average stamina, average speed, not a fighter but can be a little dirty at times)

Sounds like a refreshing change.

Name: Kyle Homen
Height: 5'8
Weight: 185lbs
Birth Place: Toronto, ON, Canada

Position: RD/RW
Type of Player: Brave. Defends team mates and is moderately good at fighting. Mike Richards type player who is good at everything but doesn't exceed in any real area. Tenacious work rate and determination, and unfathomable loyalty. Bro just loves to play and loves to play hard.

How does the work progress?
I'm REALLY skinny compared to you guys
I better lift some weights

Name: Robin Shore
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 223lbs
Birth Place: Halifax,NS

Position: RW,R
Type of Player: PowerFwd (like clark gillies, shane doan)