Challenge Questions & Feedback Thread

[bruins72]

Actually, the $5M signing is going into season 4. I agree with the sentiment though. There's still restrictions but these new rules allow a little more team building without the worry of people going crazy and exploiting the game's weaknesses.

[Stastny26]

I'm sorry, but where are the new rules can be seen?
On the first page of this topic first post last modified in 2009.
I can not find the new rules, please tell me where to find them.

[Manimal]

Here:
http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... php?t=4462

[Círyatan]

OK, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but to make it clear: in the TBL Rosters v. 5.1 download thread it is mentioned that it is advisable to start the game with the earliest start date possible to minimise the chance of crashes. The Challenge rules state that we're to start with the NHL start date (when playing an NHL team). I won't be using the CSD patch. Which start date do I choose?

[bruins72]

Use the NHL start date.

I know on my challenge games I've left all of the European leagues set to standard and the North American leagues set to Enhanced (those required in the challenge rules) and started on the NHL start date. I have yet to have a problem.

[joehelmer]

I used a start date in August, as I have all leagues set to "Enhanced" and didn't want to experience any crashes, is this against the rules?

[bruins72]

I guess it really can't be because of the date issues with the CSD.

[Mattias.William]

Question...

I went wild on the UFA market and gave my best offer to a whole load of players, and not one of them signed with me, and there isn't anyone left that is worth anything.

I still want to be able to use the Tier 1 option for next year, can I use the waiver signing or Tier 2 for this season, and then still try for Tier 1 next season? How exactly does that work?

[bruins72]

Each off-season, you're allowed to choose either the tier 1 or tier 2 option for UFA signing or you can go with the waiver claim at any time during the season. Once the next July 1st hits, it's a new season and you can take your pick of which option you want again. Each off-season it re-sets and you can make whichever choice you want. If you wanted to you could choose tier 1 every off-season.

[jesterx7769]

Question:

This rule is in the rules section but now that the draft pick for player was added can we trade unsigned prospects as counted in the player deal? 6.9 You may not trade in or out any draft picks or unsigned prospects at any time.

Also, why no RFA offers or RFA rights trades?

[Manimal]

NO you may not trade unsigned prospects.

The reason we're against RFA offerings is that the AI rarely (if ever?) matches the offer and it is too easy to exploit the AI

[jesterx7769]

Thank you.

Why is season 4 picked as the one time you can sign UFA for more money? And I am assuming the answer is "No" or it would be clearly stated but does the $5m season also up the amount you can spend on 2 UFA's instead of $2m?

[watts555]

Can we get the challenge pyramid re-upped?

[bruins72]

I'll have to ask Archi to redo the Pyramid graphic. I don't know why photobucket has blocked it.

As for the Season 4 UFA rule... we changed things to allow for a big UFA signing in season 4 to reward people that stuck with the challenge that long and kept it going. It is $5M for one player, not $5M combined for two players.

[jesterx7769]

What sort of penalty am I looking at if I sign a $5m player instead of $3m player in season 6?

[bruins72]

That's a tough call. Did you just make a mistake and do it or did you just really want the player? I think there's a pretty substantial difference between a $3M and a $5M player in this game. I'll have to talk it over with the other mods.

[jesterx7769]

Just want to sign someone as I just started the new season/FA after 6 seasons its tough to find real holes without making a lot of changes. Since $3m guys aren't worth it, its either sign two depth/penalty kill line type guys for the cheap 500K or sign Spezza/Stamkos as they are free agents and I need a better second line center to help get over the hump. Just figured I would ask since the penalties aren't listed anywhere. Guess I can not be a d*ck and just not do it

[batdad]

For me...signing a guy over the limit tends to mean you should have no chance at winning any points for at least two seasons. You knowingly went outside the challenge rules, and that means you knowingly igored them in season 6. To me that ends the challenge, since it defeats the whole purpose of the challenge. TO say the $3 million guy is not worth it...well then do not sign anyone, and deal with your holes.

[timmy_t]

For me...signing a guy over the limit tends to mean you should have no chance at winning any points for at least two seasons. You knowingly went outside the challenge rules, and that means you knowingly igored them in season 6. To me that ends the challenge, since it defeats the whole purpose of the challenge. TO say the $3 million guy is not worth it...well then do not sign anyone, and deal with your holes.

Agree with batdad. That's what makes the challenges hard.

From the your posted stats you have a pretty good team, so you probably didn't need whomever you signed.

[jesterx7769]

yeah yeah, I ended up just grabbing two depth guys and traded for a better center instead.

[bruins72]

If it were done earlier in the challenge, there might be some sort of harsher consequence. I know in the past we made a person release the player and made it so that they didn't earn any bonus points that season (or maybe they didn't get points that season?). Since it's season 6, it's unlikely that you're going to find that many people (if any) playing the challenge team that far. At that point I'd just say that you wouldn't get credit for that season. Thankfully, you didn't sign him.

[timmy_t]

General challenge question: Any chance to calculate the winners of the latest challenges? I didn't know if the stat uploader program can calculate them or if you have to do them by hand.

[bruins72]

The big problem has been that the bonus points have to be calculated manually. It's a complex mathematical formula that I believe is only known by Calv. Archi has mentioned having Calv get him up to speed on it but Archi has had his hands full with FHM research and all of the EHM projects he's juggling. Hopefully we'll get those done soon. I think moving forward that we'll have to drop the bonus points so that we can make the process easier and quicker.

[archibalduk]

Yeah the challenge points desperately need to be updated. Back in December I started work on upgrading and redesigning parts of the site so that news and content sections have a more distinctive look rather than looking like the rest of the forums. Part of this work involved re-working the Challenge pages so that the points are automatically calculated and also so that we can setup the challenges to run with EHM and/or FHM (so we can run it with both or just one of the games). Unfortunately I had to put it on hold due to what was essentially a 3 month exam period - and since this finished, the DB work on FHM has really ramped up. It's still my intention to get the new site design finished, but it's hard to say when exactly.

Having said that, we really do need to get the points awarded. Equally as importantly, we need to ensure that points are awarded promptly for future challenges too. With that in mind, I'm looking into writing an automated script to calculate the points. This will make it much easier to award the points and will be something that can be copied across to the new site design once that is ready too. I'm working on this as a priority and so hopefully it won't take too long (but I'm not making any promises about time-scales).

[timmy_t]

I appreciate the reply guys; I honestly figured it was something like you both described.