Status of Penguins

[Goffie]

It appears that no matter what type of team the Pens build a first round exit is unavoidable. Last year we were said to be too stacked...maybe too young...this year I took a step back ratings wise and added some sim savvy vets. The results were another first round playoff exit. Cue the 36 power plays for the Flyers in their home games 0 for the Pens. No matter what lineup, what strategy used the sim decided we were going to be penalized relentlessly and therefore never realistically had a chance to win.


Being so competitive and putting so much time into something that I obviously have no control over no matter what strategy I use is frustrating. Taking the time to make trade after trade in a landscape that is getting harder and harder to trade in for what amounts to basically nothing is taking its toll. I could take on the strategy of a few GMS here and do nothing with their team and hope that the sim likes my crappy on paper team enough to make it win and roll the dice. But that is not my style. Watching teams with AHL calibre teams win and teams with well built rosters that were well constructed and thought out lose is frustrating.


Randomness and having something outside my control is not something I am sure I can deal with. Seeing teams with poor rosters move on and teams like mine and the Wild lose is hard and pointless. If upsets happen here and there than it would add a lot of excitement to the game, but the fact that the sim prefers to let the weaker teams consistently flourish is not only frustrating but it breeds a trade environment where weaker teams sit on little assets and won’t make big moves and the stronger more active teams are forced trade amongst the same 4 or 5 guys over and over. I understand that nobody can control the sim and that it is not an issue the league can deal with but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating all the same.


I am at a crossroads as to whether or not I want to play this game seriously anymore or hang them up and let some new blood in here. I am not sure I can stay on and just go through the motions so it is all in or fold my hand and let someone else step in.


I am heading to Cuba on Saturday for a week and will hold off on making a choice on what is best for me and the CPHL. I won’t be around much for the next couple weeks and will check in when I return from vacation.

[TurdFerguson]

Hard to argue with that.

Get some sun, have some rum, smoke some cigars, drive some old cars and we'll see ya at the draft!

[JiriHrdina]

I certainly understand the frustration. I think we all play in sim leagues (as opposed to standard pools or keeper leagues) because of the degree of randomness that it provides. Its not all about stats, you have to figure out how to put the pieces together. But no doubt that this sim seems too random.

I'd be curious to hear from GMs who are in other leagues, to find out if they are experiencing these problems too. Certainly from my digging - it seems that it is fairly widespread with no real dependable solution yet.

[Swayze11]

I am in another league and it seems pretty realistic.

The best teams seem to be the best teams and the bubble teams seem to be fighting for a playoff spot near the end of each year.

In terms of players stats, the best players seem to be at the top as expected ie: Malkin, Crosby, Kopitar, Datsyuk, etc. were the best forwards in the regular season.

The other league doesn't seem to have "sim performers".

[JiriHrdina]

What sim are you guys using? Like what version on the engine?

[Swayze11]

2.1.8.8

[JiriHrdina]

Yes but within the sim - what engine is being used. 2.0 or 2.1?

[Swayze11]

2.0

[Cheese]

Probably should know which stats package they are using as well.

[JiriHrdina]

Not sure what you mean by stats package - unless you mean the rest of the attribute settings.

2.0 is what we use as well. I've thought about trying 2.1 - but it seems like an even more extreme version of the sim.

[Cheese]

^^dont you d/l someone else s version of the player stats to start the year off? Maybe those are significantly different?

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Cheese

^^dont you d/l someone else s version of the player stats to start the year off? Maybe those are significantly different?

Oooh the ratings package.
Actually I'm assuming Pat is talking about BJ's league and if so, our ratings packages are pretty close. We used theirs as a basis for ours, only making minor tweaks.

But yeah there are 3 things (that I know of) that could impact the sim:
- Which engine you are running
- Ratings
- Sim settings

The one thing that I think we should take a hard look at is turning OFF coaches. Take away one of the aspects that we don't really have an idea of how much an impact it has.

Lots to talk about in the off-season.

[Swayze11]

Another weird thing I never understood was morale. It isn't as dynamic as I would have hoped (ie: Player X gets traded to a contender, his morale should increase... instead it decreases).

So every single time you make a trade, the player you are acquiring takes a morale hit, and so does your team, therefore the teams that don't make many trades benefit.

Is there any way to turn off or at the very least decrease morale's impact on the sim?

[JiriHrdina]

Right now I've got
Coaches: 30
Fights: 30
Goals: 45
Injuries: 40
Morale: 15
Penalties: 40
Shots: 45
Hits: 45

So Morale is set pretty low.

EDIT: There is an option to disable Morale completely, which we can do as well if people want.

[dsavillian]

is it possible to sim entire seasons fairly quickly so we can experiment in the offseason?

edit: not we as in GMs, but we as a league.

[JiriHrdina]

Yeah I think there are ways to do that. Challenge in past off-seasons has been that teams don't have complete rosters. I could try and save a seperate version with rosters as is to experiment with though.

[dsavillian]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Yeah I think there are ways to do that. Challenge in past off-seasons has been that teams don't have complete rosters. I could try and save a seperate version with rosters as is to experiment with though.

I'd be interested to see the results of entire seasons simmed out based on different slider settings (like taking the coach out of the equation)

Might give us the opportunity to create a slider configuration that is more in line with expectations.

[MJK]

Originally Posted by dsavillian

I'd be interested to see the results of entire seasons simmed out based on different slider settings (like taking the coach out of the equation)

Might give us the opportunity to create a slider configuration that is more in line with expectations.

In theory this makes sense but based on what rosters...current? And if current rosters are used, and when results are released the Jackets win...you won't be seeing me make any trades next year!

[MJK]

I would volunteer to be a 'sim tester' and I use to do it all the time using the old sim. Basically sim 100 seasons with different settings but tracking what you do. If you get something that looks normal with Sid, Malkin, OV, Stamkos near the top, sim the exact same thing 2 more times to check for consistency.

[TurdFerguson]

It would be interesting to try and form some kind of consensus on what indicates a proper or desired sim season results. Is it the individual performance of star players, the success of what are perceived to be (by there rosters) top and bottom teams?