AI Behaviour after 2030

tk43 · 11-26-2023, 04:54 AM

Hi Jeff,

Just wanted to give a bit of heads up on the modern day NHL as that's all I play.

The trading system is by far the best I experienced! I set it to "much, much harder" and it is refreshing that I can't trade for superstars in their mid 20's just by offering a high end prospect and one or two 1st round picks (which are usually very late picks too... unless a player is on the trade block and there is room to trade for them, very realistic great job and works well up till about 2030 when the AI is starting to make weird moves.

1.,Trading away your 1st round pick just to waive the player on the same day?
2.,Don't accept 4 1st round picks from me together with a 22 year old 4star player with 4.5star potential (RFA) for 3.5star player with 4.5star potential.
3.,Offering 12mil/year to a free agent and letting a better player from their team to walk as a FA who ends up on a 7.5mil contract.
4., Draft classes are getting worse by the year, the last one had one 4 start potential player, by the time I picked on the end of the 1st, there were only 2star potential prospects left.

It all seems to kick off with these issues in 2030...

treestreetgaming · 11-27-2023, 04:35 PM

This is the same AI problems from past versions of the games. Though it seems the latest update may have fixed or at least delayed some from happening in game.

belial1134 · 11-28-2023, 02:59 AM

I'm only in 2026-27 (standard game) and don't recall too many shocking waivers until last night when Owen Power was waived. He's currently 23 years old with 3 ability/4 potential.

The team that waived him, Power would likely be the 3rd best Defenseman (2nd best LD). He has 5 years remaining on his contract (the one he signed in real life) at 8.35 mil/year. Contract quality says "bad".

They day he was waived, Buffalo traded 2 picks away (2 separate trades) for 2 wingers. One was 2.0/2.0 at $2,710,000 and the other 3.5/3.5 at $2,090,000.

So I'm guessing they had to waive him due to the salary cap but you would think they would have tried to trade him for something (or even better, waiving other players)..

But as it's been said many times, it's hard to get the AI to do what a human would do in simulation games...and I now have a D pairing of Power and Erik Karlsson

tk43 · 11-28-2023, 04:11 AM

I got Rasmus Andersson a similar way from Calgary in my save. Was in year 2 or 3 of the save.

Owen Power and Jake Sanderson (Ottawa) are two young players that get waived a lot in my various saves.

Scottababc · 11-28-2023, 11:16 AM

So my theory on this is actually that the draft classes in 2030 are more realistic. Too many of the early prospects develop. In very few draft classes do players all the way into the 3rd/4th/5th round become regular NHL starters. And so the game keeps a certain quantity of quality is my assumption, and so it stops making higher end prospects because there is such an overlog of high end players. So I have the opposite suggestion, of, nerf development. Very few 7th rounders ever hit their potential. Allow for more middle ground and high potential players, but significantly improve upon the development algorithm to make it less likely for players to hit their full potential.

Javs · 11-28-2023, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottababc

So my theory on this is actually that the draft classes in 2030 are more realistic. Too many of the early prospects develop. In very few draft classes do players all the way into the 3rd/4th/5th round become regular NHL starters. And so the game keeps a certain quantity of quality is my assumption, and so it stops making higher end prospects because there is such an overlog of high end players. So I have the opposite suggestion, of, nerf development. Very few 7th rounders ever hit their potential. Allow for more middle ground and high potential players, but significantly improve upon the development algorithm to make it less likely for players to hit their full potential.

I agree

drummerJ99 · 11-28-2023, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottababc

So my theory on this is actually that the draft classes in 2030 are more realistic. Too many of the early prospects develop. In very few draft classes do players all the way into the 3rd/4th/5th round become regular NHL starters. And so the game keeps a certain quantity of quality is my assumption, and so it stops making higher end prospects because there is such an overlog of high end players. So I have the opposite suggestion, of, nerf development. Very few 7th rounders ever hit their potential. Allow for more middle ground and high potential players, but significantly improve upon the development algorithm to make it less likely for players to hit their full potential.

The problem comes when the first two rounds have no potential superstars. If the best rated player in the draft is a 2-3 star potential, that's not realistic.

belial1134 · 11-28-2023, 05:12 PM

Since I'm only a few years in, draft classes have been crazy good. I have a slew of prospects in the AHL who are already at 2.5 ability with 3.5 or higher potential. A lot were even 6th or 7th round picks. A couple could be moved up the NHL but I don't really have room for them.

It didn't hurt that I accumulated a bunch of extra picks (the AI seemed to give away their 6th round picks for not too much) clearing out my roster to my liking and with deep drafts, those 6th round picks seemed more like 2nd rounders.

In 2024-25, I had 13 picks, 7 of which were rounds 6 and 7. Of those 7 players, only one has potential of 2.5. The rest are 3.0 or 3.5

I think maybe AI stop claiming waivers too (or they are can't claim anyone due to 50 contracts or salary cap). I even upped the salary cup to 88.5 before starting this current season to see if that helped the AI sign free agents (I think it did but they are likely stuck again due to caps).

treestreetgaming · 11-29-2023, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by belial1134

Since I'm only a few years in, draft classes have been crazy good. I have a slew of prospects in the AHL who are already at 2.5 ability with 3.5 or higher potential. A lot were even 6th or 7th round picks. A couple could be moved up the NHL but I don't really have room for them.

It didn't hurt that I accumulated a bunch of extra picks (the AI seemed to give away their 6th round picks for not too much) clearing out my roster to my liking and with deep drafts, those 6th round picks seemed more like 2nd rounders.

In 2024-25, I had 13 picks, 7 of which were rounds 6 and 7. Of those 7 players, only one has potential of 2.5. The rest are 3.0 or 3.5

I think maybe AI stop claiming waivers too (or they are can't claim anyone due to 50 contracts or salary cap). I even upped the salary cup to 88.5 before starting this current season to see if that helped the AI sign free agents (I think it did but they are likely stuck again due to caps).

This game is a great cap constraint simulator.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scottababc · 11-29-2023, 10:25 AM

I should also add a clarifier of - I heavily edit the nation quality generation factors for the key countries to try to keep quality in the game longer, so I'm in I think 2033 and still get top 3-4 guys (none of them ever have good skating) I have to edit them myself But then end of the first round is all like 1 star guys

11-26-2023, 04:54 AM	#1
tk43 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: May 2013 Location: Ireland (via Slovakia) Posts: 203	AI Behaviour after 2030 Hi Jeff, Just wanted to give a bit of heads up on the modern day NHL as that's all I play. The trading system is by far the best I experienced! I set it to "much, much harder" and it is refreshing that I can't trade for superstars in their mid 20's just by offering a high end prospect and one or two 1st round picks (which are usually very late picks too... unless a player is on the trade block and there is room to trade for them, very realistic great job and works well up till about 2030 when the AI is starting to make weird moves. 1.,Trading away your 1st round pick just to waive the player on the same day? 2.,Don't accept 4 1st round picks from me together with a 22 year old 4star player with 4.5star potential (RFA) for 3.5star player with 4.5star potential. 3.,Offering 12mil/year to a free agent and letting a better player from their team to walk as a FA who ends up on a 7.5mil contract. 4., Draft classes are getting worse by the year, the last one had one 4 start potential player, by the time I picked on the end of the 1st, there were only 2star potential prospects left. It all seems to kick off with these issues in 2030... Attached Images

11-28-2023, 11:16 AM	#5
Scottababc Minors (Single A) Join Date: Oct 2019 Posts: 69	So my theory on this is actually that the draft classes in 2030 are more realistic. Too many of the early prospects develop. In very few draft classes do players all the way into the 3rd/4th/5th round become regular NHL starters. And so the game keeps a certain quantity of quality is my assumption, and so it stops making higher end prospects because there is such an overlog of high end players. So I have the opposite suggestion, of, nerf development. Very few 7th rounders ever hit their potential. Allow for more middle ground and high potential players, but significantly improve upon the development algorithm to make it less likely for players to hit their full potential. Last edited by Scottababc; 11-28-2023 at 11:18 AM.

11-27-2023, 04:35 PM	#2
treestreetgaming Minors (Single A) Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: Maine Posts: 71	This is the same AI problems from past versions of the games. Though it seems the latest update may have fixed or at least delayed some from happening in game.

11-28-2023, 02:59 AM	#3
belial1134 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 390	I'm only in 2026-27 (standard game) and don't recall too many shocking waivers until last night when Owen Power was waived. He's currently 23 years old with 3 ability/4 potential. The team that waived him, Power would likely be the 3rd best Defenseman (2nd best LD). He has 5 years remaining on his contract (the one he signed in real life) at 8.35 mil/year. Contract quality says "bad". They day he was waived, Buffalo traded 2 picks away (2 separate trades) for 2 wingers. One was 2.0/2.0 at $2,710,000 and the other 3.5/3.5 at $2,090,000. So I'm guessing they had to waive him due to the salary cap but you would think they would have tried to trade him for something (or even better, waiving other players).. But as it's been said many times, it's hard to get the AI to do what a human would do in simulation games...and I now have a D pairing of Power and Erik Karlsson

11-28-2023, 04:11 AM	#4
tk43 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: May 2013 Location: Ireland (via Slovakia) Posts: 203	I got Rasmus Andersson a similar way from Calgary in my save. Was in year 2 or 3 of the save. Owen Power and Jake Sanderson (Ottawa) are two young players that get waived a lot in my various saves.

11-28-2023, 05:12 PM	#8
belial1134 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 390	Since I'm only a few years in, draft classes have been crazy good. I have a slew of prospects in the AHL who are already at 2.5 ability with 3.5 or higher potential. A lot were even 6th or 7th round picks. A couple could be moved up the NHL but I don't really have room for them. It didn't hurt that I accumulated a bunch of extra picks (the AI seemed to give away their 6th round picks for not too much) clearing out my roster to my liking and with deep drafts, those 6th round picks seemed more like 2nd rounders. In 2024-25, I had 13 picks, 7 of which were rounds 6 and 7. Of those 7 players, only one has potential of 2.5. The rest are 3.0 or 3.5 I think maybe AI stop claiming waivers too (or they are can't claim anyone due to 50 contracts or salary cap). I even upped the salary cup to 88.5 before starting this current season to see if that helped the AI sign free agents (I think it did but they are likely stuck again due to caps).

11-29-2023, 10:25 AM	#10
Scottababc Minors (Single A) Join Date: Oct 2019 Posts: 69	I should also add a clarifier of - I heavily edit the nation quality generation factors for the key countries to try to keep quality in the game longer, so I'm in I think 2033 and still get top 3-4 guys (none of them ever have good skating) I have to edit them myself But then end of the first round is all like 1 star guys