Season 4 is already at an end! It seems like it just started, and we're already back to crazy recruiting and new teams time again. 
That means it's about that time where I give a run down of what's going to be new for the next season, and what our next project is going to be, so here goes:
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ISN'T UPLOADED AT THE MOMENT, SO DON'T GO LOOKING FOR IT.
I've been hinting at this for a while: the training system overhaul.
One thing I've disliked about our training system for quite a while is that it's been less about building your player and more about just getting to 100% energy for every game. I feel strongly (and others have agreed!) that the current system really detracts from one of the more fun aspects of the player side of the game, which is choosing how your player progresses, and getting some visual feedback on that.
So, the new system is as follows (here come the "I fear change eyebrows"
):
- Every night, every player gets his daily XP, no matter what. You don't need money or anything special. It's just the normal daily XP gain to simulate the player growing over time.
- Energy is now de-coupled from the training system. Every night every player gets set to 100 energy for the next game. You will still get to see how far you went down during the game. In fact, the energy bar will 100% reflect the player's ending freshness level. Energy's effect on performance will be dialed up little by little over the course of the season to encourage the use of depth (Injuries are also on the horizon now). Since it's not coupled with training any more, we are free to do more with it.
- You cannot be assigned to a depth chart if you played a game for a different team within the last day. Because of the energy change, no same-day or next day games; since this is a bonus XP loophole. Plan your trades accordingly. Just think of it as the player requiring a day to get to your team and get settled in.
- Training no longer directly affects your stats every time you train. Instead, it fills up a little bar of "training progress" for each stat you train, which shows up under your current attributes. When that bar reaches 100%, you gain a +1.
- Training no longer processes nightly as a 2-3 hour event, except to deal with salary and the daily XP gain. Should be quicker to process.
Wait, what??? How does it work then? See below:
- There is a new currency for training called training points. You gain 2 training points per day automatically.
- You can stockpile up to 10 points (amount subject to change if needed) and they carry over from season to season.
- You can use these points to do your training updates when you see fit, when you log on, using a new training interface kinda like the skill points interface.
- Relaxed training is gone. There is now "normal" and "intense" training.
Normal training costs 2 training points, $40 x your level, trains 1 attribute, and gives you the option of a "secondary" activity to do with it. More on that below.
Intense training costs 5 points, $120 x your level, trains 2 attributes at once, and gives ~ 25% bonus more points than normal, but does not allow a "secondary" activity. It does, however, give you a "bonus token." More on those below as well.
- There's some small randomness involved in each training as well, with the chance of a "big breakthrough" training happening that gives a larger bonus and some "yay!" feedback when it happens.
- Attributes are still are harder to train the higher they are. The curve for training gains has been moved a bit thought to be somewhat shallower.
- I am currently working on an interface for people who have a ton of players to be able to view and choose all of their players' training options at once and update them all simultaneously, since I want to try and keep it user friendly for everybody.
Secondary Activities
- When choosing normal training, you can also choose a secondary activity. These options will increase over time as we add more ideas, and work fame into the mix more. Feel free to suggest ideas for additional secondary activities if you come up with them.
- Right now the major one to look at is "go shopping." Choosing this option gives you the opportunity to visit the new item store and get some of the new advanced gear. More on that below.
Bonus Tokens
- When choosing intense training, you are rewarded with a bonus token. You can stockpile as many as you want, but only 5 can carry over to the next season.
- You can turn in 4 bonus tokens to get a +5 temporary boost for your next game to any attribute you like, and at the same time be awarded 1 Skill Point to spend as you like. Only one temporary boost from bonus tokens can be active at a time, and it doesn't count toward playoff games. You can still get the +1 SP though.
- You can also turn in 10 bonus tokens along with some cash to upgrade one of the new advanced items with a +1 to an attribute.
New items
We have decided to embrace our RPG roots and expand the equipment some. No +1 crossbows of haste, but you can get "gloves of catching" or similar.
- There is a new "advanced" item store. The equipment in this store give starting bonuses, as opposed to the "blank" basic items in the regular store.
- These items can give more than the standard +X to attributes. You can also gain +'s to SA's, even if they aren't on your position's SA tree. Also, there are some special "+X% to chance to catch the ball," or "+X% chance to force fumble" etc. items as well.
- These items cannot be upgraded with cash alone. You also need Bonus Tokens, as described above. Upgrades to them can occur at the same intervals as normal gear (level 8/16/24 etc).
- When you visit the store, 3 items that are level and class appropriate are randomly generated. You don't have to buy them. They will stick around until you "refresh" the store or choose to buy one.
- Also when you visit the store, you are also given the opportunity to purchase a "one time use" item. These are food/drink items like "energy drink" etc that give you a +3 temporary boost to an attribute for your next game. Only one boost can be active at a time, and you can't use them during playoffs.
- When you choose "go shopping" as your secondary training option, you get a "shopping token" that gives you one opportunity to "refresh" the advanced item store.
- We will be expanding the item selection over the season to include some special unique items that are very rare, as well as some items that work together in "sets" to give you an extra bonus if you have the whole set. If you've played other RPG's, you know what we're talking about here.
- No "bling" yet, but it will be added as a way to increase morale and fame.
Fame
- We're going to be starting very small with the fame update, and will work in more options and bonuses gradually. I'm going to start with bonuses from winning trophies, championships, and reaching certain season milestones, and add bonuses for various stuff here and there.
- Basically, fame will affect your mimimum salary requirements, and give you access to some additional training options and items as we add them in, as well as offers for endorsement deals.
- If you're currently waiting for your fame update before signing with a team, I would just sign with the team lest you miss out on an opportunity to play. It will be a few more days before I have the script ready to process all the current trophies and such for a starting value.
Team Training Fund
- Should be ready to go shortly. Check the post in the suggestions forum about it. It's basically a bank account for players to pull money from to upgrade equipment.
What have I got in store for the sim?
- At the end of this season, I started working some more on the elusive juking problems. Getting closer to a good solution, I think. I'm combining some of the ideas that have been presented here to help smooth out the movement.
- Some tweaks to fake liklihood on certain things, percentages here and there, some bug fixes, etc. I basically made a bunch of random minor fixes to address some of the stuff that's been posted. Things should go a bit smoother this preseason, though, since AI didn't just come out.
What's the next project(s)?
- We'll be adding more unique items and working with the fame stuff, as I mentioned, throughout the season.
- Finish the marketplace, with a "teams looking for players" section that will kinda combine with a trading block.
- Get started on doing something with both of Drifter's suggestions, "locker room attributes" and "veteran skills."
- I want to add some more offensive plays to the playbook. I would like to solicit the community to submit or come up with some that we can put in. This came up before, but it didn't get very far. Maybe I could come up with a play designer... Once we get more plays put in, we can expand the offense AI options.
- I plan to get some of the newbie-centric FAQ type stuff done as soon as I can as well, such as a PM to them when they sign up, etc. I'm also writing up a training FAQ for the new system.
- Will be setting up some auto-pruning on some of the forums (especially recruiting) soon.
- Figure out the best method to do injuries and implement it for season 6.
- Get 2 pt conversions in play and improve special teams tactics options.
- The main thing I want to focus on, though, is figuring out a good way to deal with sold gutted teams so we can have it ready to go for next season's promotions and relegations. I want to be able to reset them and send them to a bottom tier, but I will have to figure out the logistics, as I've been trying to do for a while.
- And last but not least: We will have a new Admin starting in a couple of days to help us out with forum patrol. He doesn't have a name picked out yet, but I'm sure you'll all show him the courtesy you do to the rest of us.
That means it's about that time where I give a run down of what's going to be new for the next season, and what our next project is going to be, so here goes:
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ISN'T UPLOADED AT THE MOMENT, SO DON'T GO LOOKING FOR IT.
I've been hinting at this for a while: the training system overhaul.
One thing I've disliked about our training system for quite a while is that it's been less about building your player and more about just getting to 100% energy for every game. I feel strongly (and others have agreed!) that the current system really detracts from one of the more fun aspects of the player side of the game, which is choosing how your player progresses, and getting some visual feedback on that.
So, the new system is as follows (here come the "I fear change eyebrows"
):- Every night, every player gets his daily XP, no matter what. You don't need money or anything special. It's just the normal daily XP gain to simulate the player growing over time.
- Energy is now de-coupled from the training system. Every night every player gets set to 100 energy for the next game. You will still get to see how far you went down during the game. In fact, the energy bar will 100% reflect the player's ending freshness level. Energy's effect on performance will be dialed up little by little over the course of the season to encourage the use of depth (Injuries are also on the horizon now). Since it's not coupled with training any more, we are free to do more with it.
- You cannot be assigned to a depth chart if you played a game for a different team within the last day. Because of the energy change, no same-day or next day games; since this is a bonus XP loophole. Plan your trades accordingly. Just think of it as the player requiring a day to get to your team and get settled in.
- Training no longer directly affects your stats every time you train. Instead, it fills up a little bar of "training progress" for each stat you train, which shows up under your current attributes. When that bar reaches 100%, you gain a +1.
- Training no longer processes nightly as a 2-3 hour event, except to deal with salary and the daily XP gain. Should be quicker to process.
Wait, what??? How does it work then? See below:
- There is a new currency for training called training points. You gain 2 training points per day automatically.
- You can stockpile up to 10 points (amount subject to change if needed
) and they carry over from season to season.- You can use these points to do your training updates when you see fit, when you log on, using a new training interface kinda like the skill points interface.
- Relaxed training is gone. There is now "normal" and "intense" training.
Normal training costs 2 training points, $40 x your level, trains 1 attribute, and gives you the option of a "secondary" activity to do with it. More on that below.
Intense training costs 5 points, $120 x your level, trains 2 attributes at once, and gives ~ 25% bonus more points than normal, but does not allow a "secondary" activity. It does, however, give you a "bonus token." More on those below as well.
- There's some small randomness involved in each training as well, with the chance of a "big breakthrough" training happening that gives a larger bonus and some "yay!" feedback when it happens.
- Attributes are still are harder to train the higher they are. The curve for training gains has been moved a bit thought to be somewhat shallower.
- I am currently working on an interface for people who have a ton of players to be able to view and choose all of their players' training options at once and update them all simultaneously, since I want to try and keep it user friendly for everybody.
Secondary Activities
- When choosing normal training, you can also choose a secondary activity. These options will increase over time as we add more ideas, and work fame into the mix more. Feel free to suggest ideas for additional secondary activities if you come up with them.
- Right now the major one to look at is "go shopping." Choosing this option gives you the opportunity to visit the new item store and get some of the new advanced gear. More on that below.
Bonus Tokens
- When choosing intense training, you are rewarded with a bonus token. You can stockpile as many as you want, but only 5 can carry over to the next season.
- You can turn in 4 bonus tokens to get a +5 temporary boost for your next game to any attribute you like, and at the same time be awarded 1 Skill Point to spend as you like. Only one temporary boost from bonus tokens can be active at a time, and it doesn't count toward playoff games. You can still get the +1 SP though.
- You can also turn in 10 bonus tokens along with some cash to upgrade one of the new advanced items with a +1 to an attribute.
New items
We have decided to embrace our RPG roots and expand the equipment some. No +1 crossbows of haste, but you can get "gloves of catching" or similar.
- There is a new "advanced" item store. The equipment in this store give starting bonuses, as opposed to the "blank" basic items in the regular store.
- These items can give more than the standard +X to attributes. You can also gain +'s to SA's, even if they aren't on your position's SA tree. Also, there are some special "+X% to chance to catch the ball," or "+X% chance to force fumble" etc. items as well.
- These items cannot be upgraded with cash alone. You also need Bonus Tokens, as described above. Upgrades to them can occur at the same intervals as normal gear (level 8/16/24 etc).
- When you visit the store, 3 items that are level and class appropriate are randomly generated. You don't have to buy them. They will stick around until you "refresh" the store or choose to buy one.
- Also when you visit the store, you are also given the opportunity to purchase a "one time use" item. These are food/drink items like "energy drink" etc that give you a +3 temporary boost to an attribute for your next game. Only one boost can be active at a time, and you can't use them during playoffs.
- When you choose "go shopping" as your secondary training option, you get a "shopping token" that gives you one opportunity to "refresh" the advanced item store.
- We will be expanding the item selection over the season to include some special unique items that are very rare, as well as some items that work together in "sets" to give you an extra bonus if you have the whole set. If you've played other RPG's, you know what we're talking about here.
- No "bling" yet, but it will be added as a way to increase morale and fame.
Fame
- We're going to be starting very small with the fame update, and will work in more options and bonuses gradually. I'm going to start with bonuses from winning trophies, championships, and reaching certain season milestones, and add bonuses for various stuff here and there.
- Basically, fame will affect your mimimum salary requirements, and give you access to some additional training options and items as we add them in, as well as offers for endorsement deals.
- If you're currently waiting for your fame update before signing with a team, I would just sign with the team lest you miss out on an opportunity to play.
It will be a few more days before I have the script ready to process all the current trophies and such for a starting value.Team Training Fund
- Should be ready to go shortly. Check the post in the suggestions forum about it. It's basically a bank account for players to pull money from to upgrade equipment.
What have I got in store for the sim?
- At the end of this season, I started working some more on the elusive juking problems. Getting closer to a good solution, I think. I'm combining some of the ideas that have been presented here to help smooth out the movement.
- Some tweaks to fake liklihood on certain things, percentages here and there, some bug fixes, etc. I basically made a bunch of random minor fixes to address some of the stuff that's been posted. Things should go a bit smoother this preseason, though, since AI didn't just come out.
What's the next project(s)?
- We'll be adding more unique items and working with the fame stuff, as I mentioned, throughout the season.
- Finish the marketplace, with a "teams looking for players" section that will kinda combine with a trading block.
- Get started on doing something with both of Drifter's suggestions, "locker room attributes" and "veteran skills."
- I want to add some more offensive plays to the playbook. I would like to solicit the community to submit or come up with some that we can put in. This came up before, but it didn't get very far. Maybe I could come up with a play designer...
Once we get more plays put in, we can expand the offense AI options.- I plan to get some of the newbie-centric FAQ type stuff done as soon as I can as well, such as a PM to them when they sign up, etc. I'm also writing up a training FAQ for the new system.
- Will be setting up some auto-pruning on some of the forums (especially recruiting) soon.
- Figure out the best method to do injuries and implement it for season 6.
- Get 2 pt conversions in play and improve special teams tactics options.
- The main thing I want to focus on, though, is figuring out a good way to deal with sold gutted teams so we can have it ready to go for next season's promotions and relegations. I want to be able to reset them and send them to a bottom tier, but I will have to figure out the logistics, as I've been trying to do for a while.
- And last but not least: We will have a new Admin starting in a couple of days to help us out with forum patrol. He doesn't have a name picked out yet, but I'm sure you'll all show him the courtesy you do to the rest of us.
Last edited Sep 11, 2008 20:42:56
