Version 1.6.2 Game Update Now Available

[geckon]

Originally Posted by JeffR

If that's the case, they're not going to sign for the qualifying amount unless they're not very good.

I know and I think nobody would expect that. On the other hand, I think that they probably do ask for a little too much.

[AlpineSK]

Of course you shouldnt.. Its a 12 year old game at least. That'd be like comparing Mass Effect to King's Quest.

Originally Posted by dmytron

As for me, I don't like OOTP 5 UI. I think it's edgy, too many white color, buttons are not easy to push (in OOTP 8 better) and so on. Should I speak about OOTP 2?

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by geckon

I know and I think nobody would expect that. On the other hand, I think that they probably do ask for a little too much.

I'm asking Malte to speed up the rate at which players decide to resume broken-off negotiations. That'll give a little cushion against negotiation failures, since the player will be more willing to lower his demands at that point, and the user will have access to the more-agreeable player sooner.

[thepete]

Originally Posted by JeffR

If that's the case, they're not going to sign for the qualifying amount unless they're not very good.

It's not that they don't sign for the QO's - I didn't expect them to, I just qualified them to keep their rights. It's that they refuse to negotiate more.

Edit: I qualified Adam Larsson, he refuses to negotiate more, I try to resume negotiations, tabled offers that went far beyond what he asked for -> he signs in Russia for less than he asked for initially.

Game. Breaker.

[geckon]

Originally Posted by JeffR

I'm asking Malte to speed up the rate at which players decide to resume broken-off negotiations. That'll give a little cushion against negotiation failures, since the player will be more willing to lower his demands at that point, and the user will have access to the more-agreeable player sooner.

That should help, thanks. But still, don't you think that the young RFAs demands are a little too high?

[geckon]

Originally Posted by thepete

he signs in Russia for less than he asked for initially.

That is another big problem - why should they sign in a worse league for even less money than I offer (even when it's not what they demand)?

[thepete]

Originally Posted by geckon

That should help, thanks. But still, don't you think that the young RFAs demands are a little too high?

I don't know what the AI needs in order to demand this or that, but for reference: Larsson had 70p in 180 career games - he had 32 assists, 0 goals, -8 in the last year of his ELC (and the first FHM season). He did play pretty big minutes (on the 4th worst team in the league..) but he goes out and asks for 6 x 5. That's fine I guess, as a starting point for negotiations, if he comes down to maybe wanting 3 x 3 as a bridge deal...but the problem is the AI treats it as "sign or bust".

Andrei Loktionov who mostly played 3/4 C in his 6th year as a pro, also asked for 6+ AAV. I can "understand" this better, because he's Russian. He gets 4 million at home (signed in KHL for 4.3) so he can ask for the moon initially. However, there's no IRL precedent for young Swedes to want to sign in Russia. AFAIK, the only one below 25 currently playing there is Niclas Bergfors, and that's after he exhausted every NHL opportunity and bounced around all over the place.

[Empach]

Going to agree with everyone here. The UI will need some work. Jeff/Sebastian when you come to that point definitely take a look a Archi's comments. I think that will get things on the right track.
It's less the look of the game. That's all right if nothing special. It's more functionality. Making stats easier to read, finding relevant information quicker. Reducing clicks. Maintaining sorting and list positions through navigation. Stuff like that.


Contracts need more work. I noticed pretty much any young forward at 7 ability or more was getting at least $5mil over the first two off seasons. That's not completely crazy but I was really getting curious what the average salary was at that point. Negotiations need work too. I had a minor forward who I was very close to in negotiations get angry and for straight seasons won't resume talks. He did sign in Europe so that might be part of it.

I imagine contracts will always be a work in progress. Contracts in the NHL are constantly changing, so there will always be adjustments to be made.

[umwoz]

Same comments as above... 22 year old forwards coming off 40 point seasons asking for 5M plus for 6+ years

[asilvermtzion]

just to further illustrate the second contract thing:

jonas brodin after seasons of 82gp 6g 31a 37pt +12 and 74/2/24/26/+5 gets 5 years at 6.565million

zemgus girgensons: 59/8/11/19/+6 and 82/16/27/43/+24 gets 4/6.48million

brendan gallagher: 82/27/28/55/+3 and 70/19/30/+14 gets 4/5.41million

val nichushkin: 75/29/23/52/-3 and 82/27/35/62/+1 gets 4/7.78million

and vlad terasenko, after slightly better than nichushkins numbers gets 4/6.48million, yakupov after numbers slightly worse than girgensons gets 2/6.14million, alex chiasson with yakupov numbers gets 4/5.35million and the best one, mikhail grigorenko, who played in the ahl for 10 more games than he did in the nhl, 26/2/6/8/-2 gets 4/4.94million.

i think these are probably the extremes, as i didnt go looking for every 2nd contract that was signed, but there are enough of them that something seems off.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by asilvermtzion

just to further illustrate the second contract thing:

jonas brodin after seasons of 82gp 6g 31a 37pt +12 and 74/2/24/26/+5 gets 5 years at 6.565million

zemgus girgensons: 59/8/11/19/+6 and 82/16/27/43/+24 gets 4/6.48million

brendan gallagher: 82/27/28/55/+3 and 70/19/30/+14 gets 4/5.41million

val nichushkin: 75/29/23/52/-3 and 82/27/35/62/+1 gets 4/7.78million

and vlad terasenko, after slightly better than nichushkins numbers gets 4/6.48million, yakupov after numbers slightly worse than girgensons gets 2/6.14million, alex chiasson with yakupov numbers gets 4/5.35million and the best one, mikhail grigorenko, who played in the ahl for 10 more games than he did in the nhl, 26/2/6/8/-2 gets 4/4.94million.

i think these are probably the extremes, as i didnt go looking for every 2nd contract that was signed, but there are enough of them that something seems off.

First of all, keep in mind that the cap increases significantly in the first offseason, and by lesser amounts thereafter. Going by the guys you're mentioning, these are signed in the summer of 2015 or 16, when the cap is probably up around at least $72-73m. $5m in that environment is about 6.9% of a team's cap, equivalent to $4,4m against the 2013-14 cap. So that has to be considered when evaluating contracts:

Brodin: his deal works out to about $5.8m against the current cap. Tyler Myers and Oliver Ekman-Larsson got similar second contracts in real life. Brodin's game is different than theirs, but they're all former high first-rounders playing on their team's top pair in their contract years.

Girgensons: about $5.75m. High for his production, but Jeff Skinner did get a similar amount coming off a couple of seasons with similar point totals. And I think I was probably a little generous with his potential, that's bumping his price up a bit higher than it should be.

Gallagher: about $4.8m. Seems to have had an off-year, but his his 3-season production would right around where Ryan O'Reilly's was when he held out for $5m on his second deal.

Nichushkin: about $6.9m (maybe a little less, is this from a year later than the others?) Last season's production was about the same as Kopitar's when he got his $6.8m deal (at a time when the cap was only $56.8m, so that'd be equivalent to $7.8m now.)

I'm assuming these are all AI signings, too. The computer is aggressive about retaining it's RFA's now; there were previous complaints about how easily they let them get away, so they now try to get those guys re-signed quickly. A human player, if he's smart, can wait a little longer and let the demands decline a bit. I'm not saying the amounts are perfect, I can probably move the range down slightly, but they're in the right ballpark.

[thepete]

Jeff, what's the weighting like for the AI? Meaning, what do they value when they make their demands? Because average time on ice seems like a very big one?

[asilvermtzion]

Originally Posted by JeffR

First of all, keep in mind that the cap increases significantly in the first offseason, and by lesser amounts thereafter. Going by the guys you're mentioning, these are signed in the summer of 2015 or 16, when the cap is probably up around at least $72-73m. $5m in that environment is about 6.9% of a team's cap, equivalent to $4,4m against the 2013-14 cap. So that has to be considered when evaluating contracts:

Brodin: his deal works out to about $5.8m against the current cap. Tyler Myers and Oliver Ekman-Larsson got similar second contracts in real life. Brodin's game is different than theirs, but they're all former high first-rounders playing on their team's top pair in their contract years.

Girgensons: about $5.75m. High for his production, but Jeff Skinner did get a similar amount coming off a couple of seasons with similar point totals. And I think I was probably a little generous with his potential, that's bumping his price up a bit higher than it should be.

Gallagher: about $4.8m. Seems to have had an off-year, but his his 3-season production would right around where Ryan O'Reilly's was when he held out for $5m on his second deal.

Nichushkin: about $6.9m (maybe a little less, is this from a year later than the others?) Last season's production was about the same as Kopitar's when he got his $6.8m deal (at a time when the cap was only $56.8m, so that'd be equivalent to $7.8m now.)

I'm assuming these are all AI signings, too. The computer is aggressive about retaining it's RFA's now; there were previous complaints about how easily they let them get away, so they now try to get those guys re-signed quickly. A human player, if he's smart, can wait a little longer and let the demands decline a bit. I'm not saying the amounts are perfect, I can probably move the range down slightly, but they're in the right ballpark.

that makes total sense when its explained that way. thanks, jeff.

o'reilly was offer sheeted by the flames, thats the only reason his $ was what it was.

[umwoz]

I myself had Sven Bartschi asking for 6 years at 6.9 after a 44 point season.

That said I had no idea Negotiating moods could improve so I'll wait further into the season and see. Also, I have to say I kind of like the idea that you might have to move the occasional RFA because you can't agree on terms. Not often but once in a while.

Also, and this just might be me. I've always hated using a mouse in any text sim. I use JoyToKey and a 360 controller, and I have no problems with the interface. Perhaps more hotkeys would be nice.

[glb2687]

Played all last night...could not seem to drag myself away.
Is it perfect?...No, but we would all like some things to improve. As has been pointed out for all the people who keep comparing it to OOTP14...be real it is 14! Thus it started all with things that people thought should be changed and has gone through changes too numerous to mention.

A couple things....I think the Firings are a little quick trigger. I played as the Bracknell Bees and was hired with the expectations to avoid the bottom quarter. I signed a couple of decent free agents and managed:

1) 1st in the league in wins with 33
2) 2nd in the league in points by 1
3) Had the top GAA with a 1.95
4) Had the top scorer in the league
5) Had the top Plus/Minus player
6) Lost the 1st Game of the playoffs

and was FIRED....not quite sure I understand...was told in the press conference that the team was going in a different direction.

Just pointing it out....still fun but wondering whose leg I had to hump to stay on as General Manager.

Also I set the messages to "Entire World" and it keeps setting it back to only 'Personal Messages". Anything I am missing?

Great start...love the scouting...training...and new reports. Keep up the good work!

[Crombeen]

Looks like the Trade bug is back.

As soon as you add draft picks at both sides it doesn't work.

Me Philly trying to trade S. Mason for Buffalo's R. Miller and switch both 2nd rounders.

The response is that the trade is fair but I can't push the Ask for Response button because it's white. So I submit the trade to Buffalo but never get any response in the Mail on this. Waiting 20 days now and have submitted this trade for like 3 times.

[djskek]

The salary demands of the North American Free Agents are much too high. Impossible to pay as a European club.

[Mordrehl]

Originally Posted by JeffR

If that's the case, they're not going to sign for the qualifying amount unless they're not very good.

See, I complained about this in the previous versions as well.

Unless the player is coming off a very good 3 years on his Entry Level Contract, he should NOT be holding out for 6+ million a year. That doesn't even make sense. I could go dig up recent contract history that proves this.

An example from the last time I bothered playing FHM (and haven't touched it since) ... Lars Eller on Montreal

From memory ... 7.5/7.5 ability/potential
Coming off three years of around 40pts

Demanding and refusing to sign for less than 6m/year. That is just unrealistic.


Sure your first round draft pick who led the team in goals in his final year of the ELC probably gets that, but your other rookies who averaged 0.5ppg should be asking for less than 6m/year and signing for between 2.5-5.0m/year depending on how good they are.

[BlackIce]

Scouting reports are pretty cool excellent work !

When you have a physical player being scouted, is there a chance your scouts can let you know what players are not afraid to dropping the gloves as well and separate the Power Forwards or players who occasionally fight to the Enforcers who's job is the fight ?

Power Forward Style ( examples : Lucic, Getzlaf, Iginla, Simmonds)
Physical Players (examples: Bouma, Wilson, Miller, Ott, Hartnell, Rinaldo, Neil)

"The player occasionally fights to protect his teammates, when the moment arises or try and gain momentum in the game for his team"


Enforcer Style (examples: McGrattan, Sestito, Thornton, Reaves, Kassian, Bordeleau)

"The player will often seek out the other teams Enforcer and uses his strength and fighting ability to gain momentum in the game or come to the aid of a teammate"

[djskek]

Help me, what ist Shooting Range?

please describe in english or explain to German

I can not find correct German translation for it.