Feedback on the simulation

[Alessandro]

I notice teams are dressing 8 dmen with 12 forwards. I don't recall ever seeing that in real life.

With all the due respect, how can you say such a thing?

Because i don't watch hockey outside of North America.

Yes, I got it, but if you watch hockey in 1 country, then you can't say "I don't recall blablabla".

[krownroyal83]

Well North America is more than one country for starters and secondly i do watch some international hockey like the world juniors, world hockey championships ect but when i say i don't recall something it means i don't remember ever hearing about teams starting 8 defense-men in their lineup. For example i've never watched star wars but i still know things about it just like i know things about international hockey but evidently i didn't know they start 8 d-men in some leagues.

[krownroyal83]

Is it just me or does it seem like too many star players go into free agency every season. I know you usually have some big names every year but it seems like way too many great players don't get signed to their team. I'm not sure what the reason is, but if it's not a cap issue the AI should being doing everything it can to keep their best players.

[batdad]

It is just you.

[helmespc]

Is it just me or does it seem like too many star players go into free agency every season. I know you usually have some big names every year but it seems like way too many great players don't get signed to their team. I'm not sure what the reason is, but if it's not a cap issue the AI should being doing everything it can to keep their best players.

I kind of feel the same way.... too many big names hit free agency and take forever to sign on with another team. It makes it easy for a human owner to come in and snipe them.

[Filip Croatia]

I like speed of the in - game game on fast...enough fast so it is over quick and slow enough that you can actually see some of the actions

[krownroyal83]

I still think goal scoring is a too high and should be tweaked, although goaltending stats seem to be on par though. In my gave 24 players had 40 or more goals compared to 3 in real life this year and 3 in real life last year. Over 50 players had 30 or more goals in the game compared to 15 in real life this year and 21 last year. I think it should be fixed. I think assists are fine and over all points are fine as well. Maybe once the TBL rosters get updated (Because they are too many players that are better in the game than real life) things will look more life like as far as goals because that's what we are going for realism, right?

[comatose]

I still think goal scoring is a too high and should be tweaked, although goaltending stats seem to be on par though. In my gave 24 players had 40 or more goals compared to 3 in real life this year and 3 in real life last year. Over 50 players had 30 or more goals in the game compared to 15 in real life this year and 21 last year. I think it should be fixed. I think assists are fine and over all points are fine as well. Maybe once the TBL rosters get updated (Because they are too many players that are better in the game than real life) things will look more life like as far as goals because that's what we are going for realism, right?

This varies season/save to season/save it seems. I've literally not seen more than 5 40 goal scorers in a season since the original scoring tweak.

[batdad]

Yes it does vary alot and also depends on things like using quick sim or not, whether you are controlling a team or not etc etc. It is really hard to tell. If the average goals per game thoughout the league is close to what the real life is that is all you can ask. How you use your team affects it as well. So many variables.

But I am barely seeing more than 2 40 goal scorers per year in my games. And hardly anyone ever gets 100 points, and I have heard that in several places from others as well. It seems that it varies so much, that we will continually hear...too many goals, not enough goals, too many, not enough. So in reality...might be just right on average.

[Alessandro]

The problem is that imho shooting percentage for top guys is insane. In both NHL and Europe.

EDIT: for example have a look here http://community.sigames.com/showthread ... als-scored and the thread I link in my reply.

[comatose]

Hmm, once again I am not seeing that so a problem for some is not for others. Hopefully sigames would not be quick to make a 'fix'. I see a league average of around 10.6% or so in my current save, and more or less same in others

[krownroyal83]

I didn't want to start a new thread about this but i noticed that i no longer receive an email stating who won the draft lottery. I remember that I did when I first started playing the game back in April. Also has the draft lottery been fixed? Because there seemed to be some bug where the team that finished last in the standings would never win the first over all pick. I remember doing tests before and there were weird treads on who would win. For example i did a test where i would save the game a day before the lottery. Go ahead one day, find out the winner, then close the game and open the game back up again via game save the day before the lotto. Did this 20 times and it seems teams that where in certain positions were winning way more then they should. 29th won 9 times, 18th won 7 times. Not once did 30th over all win the draft lottery.

[batdad]

1. Still getting my email.
2. Nope--Have a look at the poll in the challenge forum. Team that should win the lottery has won it 29% of the time. Considering that each time it is done the last place team has a 20% chance of winning the lottery those numbers are fine.
3. So maybe just bad luck.

[memeticwheat]

I've simmed several different teams; for all of them I've used the 7.3 database (the psuedo-start of the season, except for a couple seasons with the Flames I used Vanilla). I've tried both Enhanced NHL, AHL, ECHL (View-Only for all other leagues), and Enhanced for all leagues; that didn't seem to make too much of a difference. I have only tried managing franchises in the NHL. Overall I have about 150 hours in-game, and I've reached year 2020 with one franchise and year 2019 with another. Several problems I've noticed have already been discussed in this thread.

1. Draft
a. As mentioned, the drafts are usually weak.
b. AI teams will draft awful, awful prospects, even with top picks. This happens at least a couple times every draft.
c. As mentioned in that excellent post a few pages ago, the stats are polarized.
d. Half-decent goalie prospects are especially scarce, and some draft classes seem to have no good goalie prospects.

2. Contracts
a. I can't figure out how to sign someone after I draft them for the upcoming season and NOT the current season. Maybe I'm stupid/blind.
b. Signing drafted players to entry-level contracts is an odd experience. They either ask for the minimum 525k, or for the maximum 975k. I've never seen anything in between, and it isn't even correlated with player caliber. I've seen bad players ask for the maximum, and I've seen a potential 1st liner ask for the minimum after a great junior season.
d. There's not a strong correlation between how well players perform, or how good their stats are, and how much they ask for (is this the reputation thing people have mentioned?)... and there's DEFINITELY no logic when everyone hits free agency. For example, if there are tons of forwards but only a few d-men available in free agency, the d-men should get better contracts because they are a scarce resource. That doesn't happen. I recognize this could be very difficult to code for.
e. I've seen top 10 goalies (UFA) sign for under $5mil in the prime of their career. This seems strange, considering how many players end up with unusually expensive contracts.
g. Rarely, I will be trying to sign a UFA that a lot of other teams are interested in. He will pick another team, but then the team will back out and the contract will be cancelled/not signed. This process will repeat several times with the same player and the same team.
h. I wish I could see a list of when my unsigned players' rights expire. Am I missing it, or does it really not exist?

Development/Practice
a. I've read here that the AI develops players better. This has also been my experience.
b. It doesn't matter how much I change my tactics, lines or practice time for special teams. My PP is consistently in the bottom 5, even when I win the President's Trophy or the Cup. I'm almost always 2nd most SH goals against. Maybe this is the only stat that accurately reflects the quality of my team?

Personnel
a. It is very difficult to find a replacement scout. It is also very difficult to find a decent assistant coach, unless I poach a victim of the overeager AI GMs that love to fire people left and right. I don't see much growth of AHL coaches; their stats still look bad 5 or 6 years later. None of my assistant coaches ever aspire to become a head coach at the end of their contract.
b. The AI GMs fire everyone and everything, all the time. Every season it seems 5 or 6 GMs lose their jobs, and closer to 10 coaches. I know
this has already been brought up, but it is really weird.

Miscellaneous
a. I feel like injuries are perfect. They are frequent enough but not too frequent, long enough on average but not too long. About once every other season I get hit with a 2-3 month injury to an important player. I think I average about 5 or 6 players who manage to play every game in a season, and over the course of 3 or 4 seasons only one player (maybe two) was uninjured the entire time. I hope this never gets tinkered with, I can't say enough about how perfect it feels.
b. I've got my average attendance at over 90% total capacity and the option to ask the board to expand the facilities is still grayed out. Is perfect attendance for a season the requirement?
c. Overall, this game is amazing. There's always room for improvement, but it is so much better than 2007.

I know some of this might not be exactly on-topic, but hopefully I haven't strayed too far from archibalduk's original questions.

[Saapas]

What seems very strange to me is that several times in one game players pass the puck to own goalie. Only time I remember seeing such thing is when Niinimäki passed the puck to his own empty net for some odd reason

[jackknife77]

What seems very strange to me is that several times in one game players pass the puck to own goalie. Only time I remember seeing such thing is when Niinimäki passed the puck to his own empty net for some odd reason

Ryan O'Byrne.. infamous brain cramp when he was in Montreal..

[Saapas]

I think my earlier message may have been misleading since the passes to goalie in the game happen in the own defensive zone, also there seems to be too many nobrain passes going across the defensive zone right in front of the goalie. Sometimes on the other side there isn't even any own players.

[batdad]

For those posting draft weakness over and over and over.

IT IS DEPENDENT UPON RESEARCH to get the original ones right and accurate, so the first 3-4 years in particular. Then when the new gens come in it is dependent on the way the game generates players. This needs improving for sure. But the researchers have a ton on their plate and it is hard to get anything past at absolute most 2 seasons of projected picks in the game. So there is the lag in year 3-4 in particular.

2. Passes to goalie etc long shots...the 2d in the game is not 100% accurate guys. I would not count on that as being what really was happening, same as the shooting the puck into your own corner. DO NOT TRUST the 2D 100%. Too much going on to make it 100% accurate. I have never trusted it, and follow only what i think is right for my players.

3.Contracts--they roll over to the next season if they are junior players, if euros...be careful...but you get a transfer window for just drafted guys after July 1 to sign them.

Yes contracts need some tweaking.This will happen eventually.

Yep I always have bad PP....but that is not the game, because others have good PP, that is me with the horrible tactics and not being able to make it work with my players.


If your team does not own the building...may not be able to expand facilities.


Yeah it is known the AI develops player better than the human teams.

[Manimal]

2. Contracts
a. I can't figure out how to sign someone after I draft them for the upcoming season and NOT the current season. Maybe I'm stupid/blind.

Wait until July the 1st?

[memeticwheat]

For those posting draft weakness over and over and over.

IT IS DEPENDENT UPON RESEARCH to get the original ones right and accurate, so the first 3-4 years in particular. Then when the new gens come in it is dependent on the way the game generates players. This needs improving for sure. But the researchers have a ton on their plate and it is hard to get anything past at absolute most 2 seasons of projected picks in the game. So there is the lag in year 3-4 in particular.

Ah, so is there a lag between old players retiring and the game generating new players to replace them? I guess if I'm 5-6 years in then I'm right at the end of the weakest drafts. Thanks for your reply.

Yep I always have bad PP....but that is not the game, because others have good PP, that is me with the horrible tactics and not being able to make it work with my players.

Glad to know I'm not alone.

[batdad]

YEah there has always been a lag, and I hope that is what it is in the game right now. Have not simmed anything far enough ahead myself to say, but it in theory...should get better.

[redmongoose]

YEah there has always been a lag, and I hope that is what it is in the game right now. Have not simmed anything far enough ahead myself to say, but it in theory...should get better.

I'm in 2041-42 and I would say that the drafts vary in quality as you go along, just as they do in real life. They are probably a bit weaker than they should be, generally speaking, and there aren't enough quality players coming out of them. The goalie prospects are as you guys have mentioned - few and far between as prospects. The thing about that I noticed though is that sometimes a nothing goalie prospect turns into a good goalie once you actually get him playing. In fact, I'd say nearly all of the goalies in my league at this point are like that - very, very few of them were obvious choices during their respective drafts.

I'm still on my original save, without all the updates, but the one thing that really, really irritates me is the fan and board reaction to trades. It doesn't effect anything, of course, so it isn't a big deal as far as gameplay goes, but in 27 seasons I have had one trade - ONE - that the fans reacted positively to. No matter what I do now, 90% of the time (at least) they rage. Otherwise, they say nothing. It doesn't matter, but am I ever sick of it. You'd think after 19 Cups, they would trust me a bit. Stupid computer people, always like " "

[Saapas]

Didn't know where to post this and I decided to post here. Do the updates affect old saves or only new saves? I understand that db updates only affect new games but how about the ui updates or game engine updates?

[archibalduk]

It varies by the nature of the update. However, most issues are fixed gradually in saved games (i.e. over time). So you'll only really get the full benefit when starting a new saved game.

[krownroyal83]

AI needs seems to not understand the concept of rentals. Taken from reddit: "I'm trying to trade Vlasic(he's 34 with one year left on his contract) to the top teams of the league but they all refuse and say they refuse because they are not interested in a pending free agent such as Marc-Edouard Vlasic."
This should be looked at and fixed.