FHM 11 - Wishlist & Suggestions

[Zebbmann]

More international leagues/teams/players in historical mode!


Particularily from the big hockey nations, like Sweden/Finland/Russia.


Playing the Swedish hockey league from 1975 for example, or even it's predecessors all the way back to 1922, would be amazing!


Basically just more international stuff in Historical.

[matt#5]

Thank you Sebastian for starting this conversation

First of all I have to push some already made suggestions:

from tomkmb´s list:
3)
7)
11) * perhaps it´s better to show a range/category ('prefers bridge deal' / 'long term deal') and an approx. salary value (league min., league avg., top earner) instead of in-detail values
12)
13) * would be a huge improvement, perhaps we could reduced the saved data to last 5 or 10 games (should be enough to see the trend after changing tactics or changing linemates)
14)

from landru22
1) * schedule of custom leagues neeeds an urgent improvement.
when you create smaller leagues (<= 20 teams) the schedule is packed with back-to-backs
would be best to have an wizard to define main weekdays to play (e.g. friday / sunday) and alternative weekdays (wednesday) and season start / season end date. FHM should schedule games between these dates and fill main weekdays first, if there are games left: fill alternative weekdays


Here are my suggestions:

Contracts / Free Agents
a) add an option to declare interest in upcoming free agents (could be as a loose talk with players during the season to say 'hey, we are interested in you as a 'player role' (depth player, top 6 FW, .starting goalie, ...) and we could offer a long term deal - what do you think?'
player could turn down your interest or if interestet: reduce probabilty to resign with his current club and join free agency.
should be a spam all players option - perhaps limit number of possible 'declare interest actions' to 2-3 per month

b) add relegation clause to contracts
in relegation/promotion leagues it´s very frustrating to see good players with long contracts sitting in lower league (contracts are signed long term in higher league, team gets relegated and those good players eat up all the budget due to existing contracts)
in real life those relegation clauses are pretty common for good / top players in leagues

c) get contract offers as HeadCoach/GM for next season
irl HeadCoaches/GM´s get offers during actual season and sign for next year.


Lines screen
a) in the screen where you set up your lines, there is the player list on the left with only information about overall ability. There should be more information (combined ratings (Shooting, Skating, Playmaking, ...), stats) available to set up your lines

player profile's
a) add some visualisation to player ratings instead of having only the numbers for e.g. getting open, speed, ...
Radar Chart with the combined ratings (shooting, Skating, ...) would be huge and a massive eye-catcher in those a little bit old fashioned screens ;-)

scouting
a) have different scouting reports (one per scout for example) for one player. In EHM you could check different scouting reports from different dates / scouts which makes it more fun to find out the 'truth' about a player

stats
a) offer a comparision of player stats between last seasons per game average (goals/game, blocks/game, shots/game, ...) and this seasons per game stats (helpful to better check improvements in players game.
Could be visualised more or less as we have in player comparision screen (left side actual season, right side prev. season, in the middle the difference per stat)

b) offer comparision for team stats between last season per game and this season (perhaps add a chart)

c) offer comparision for two teams stats for current season (could compare your next opponent with your stats or prepare for playoff opponent) (perhaps add a radar chart)

d) add an option to see stats of last 5 games compaired to last 6-10 games (for team stats and player stats).
Would help to compare performance of player/team after adjusting tactics/line combinations

post game screen
a) better visualisation of data
this screen is so packed with data but kind of 'unsexy'
Why not show game flow based on shots per period as a line chart
Or allow to compair data of the two teams (shots, blocks, hits, ...) in a better way (highlight the better values, not only those packed tables)

b) in the game journal (where we have the list of goals, penalties with their play time,) - add filter to show only goals (would be the list easier to read)

general options / setup
a) add a user profile
everytime we start up a new save we have to select / define a lot of data
It would be very helpful and a massive save of time if we could save some data in a user profile and apply this saved data when setting up a new save game:
Could be: name of your GM, stettings for Ratings from Stats, selected leagues, start on 1st July, GM or HC style, in game settings as Commissioner Mode active, Assistant settings (Assistant should take over finances, training, ...), player peak ages, ...

[hurricanekevin]

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

Is that something different than "Random Debut" we have in FHM? And if so, what exactly does it do in OOTP?

It sounds the same, where is that available? I've never seen it available in fictional league creation but maybe I'm missing it?



Thanks for the response!

[Cammy1885]

Some great points already raised.

Some of my personal wants.

1) Improved UI: Basically just have to copy FM’s UI. It’s easy to navigate (ok, takes some learning initially) but it’s not the maze FHM UI’s seems to be at times. There’s some great screens I’ve found like squad comparison, team comparison vs rest of league, positional rankings etc but there’s some hoops to jump through - make it easier.

2) Contract: No auto-renewal. Give me the option to “leave at end of contract” if I want to pursue something else and not have to “resign” the day after being given a new long term deal.

3) Player Contracts: Some wages get absolutely silly. Boys want 50,000 to join a top SHL team but will sign for some garbage lower tier US side for like 10,000. Just make it a bit more sensible.

4) Confused About Role - great that this is here but tell me what he’s confused by. Is it the whole role? Is it something I’ve altered purely for him? How can I help if all I get is a “talk to him” “don’t talk to him”

5) NCAA Hockey - I sense this will see improvement but I find it very clunky at present.


I do appreciate the devs behind this are far fewer than FM but basically just copy FM and re-skin it for hockey. Every other sim tries to re-invent the wheel but there’s a blueprint that has sold several million copies

[spb06]

-A better way to control the salary cap/floor (and floor should be able to go over $100m) - possibly as a pop-up on July 1?

-Trading on draft day needs to act like trading on the trade deadline day.

-In GM only mode, allow the GM to set the lineups. Then have Head Coach modify the lines based on who is hot or not. Also, coaches adaptability needs to be a factor (can they shift their system based on the players, shuffling lines in-game, etc)

-Allow more customizable rules/rule changes.

-Increase roster size in June to allow for signing prospects before FAs come off of your roster.

[Dpaps69]

I got a few small things, Ive been playing since FHM7 and enjoy rebuilding in CHL or other Jr leagues but mainly the WHL.

- The WHL drafts players a year younger and you cannot sign 15 year olds. In the WHL 15 year olds sign contracts and I could be wrong but I believe they can get 15 games before their u18 team is eliminated from playoffs where they can then play as much as the team wants. In those cases it would be nice to sign a 15 year old and call them up from u18 to cover for an injury or just to call them up for experience.
-I’d also like to see a way to send players eligible for u18 down to that level instead of sending to Jr B. Obviously players 18 and older would go to the Jr B, but being familiar with the WHL it takes realism out of the game for me when they play Jr B at 16 and are mad at you for being at the wrong level.

-Exceptional status would also be really cool but I’m not sure how that’s even work as it’s very rare to see.

I’m not sure what the programming would be for that but it’s something I see as a small feature that would go a long way for somebody like me!

[Rookee]

Short and sweet wish:



Let us see future draft pools like the sister game please!

[Javs]

I would like to see existing issues get fixed, such as:

- U Sports OUA East "Pre-Playoffs" not happening.
- NHL players on International Duty do not count against the cap, causing massive player recall during the olympics and a massive waiver dump after the olympics.

And real roster / league rules being implemented, among other things:

- Actual NHL waiver rules.

A player does not need to pass through waivers if the player has not been on the NHL active roster for a cumulative 30 days since last clearing waivers, OR has not played in 10 or more NHL games. CBA Reference 13.2(b) (Despite the CBA reference saying 30 days AND 10 games, the rule is actually 30 days OR 10 games)

- NHL teams having LTIR and regular IR, with ony LTIR counting against the cap.
- Minor pro leagues utilizing "Veteran" status instead of the U26 player rule.
- CHL (Canada) teams having an underage player limit (4).
- CHL (Canada) having appropriate waiver system.
- CHL (Canada) having a more realistic affiliate system.
- North American youth leagues being actual leagues, not generic. With Elite Prospects on board this maybe wouldn't be so hard?
- North American U16 leagues.
- Players in Canada being generated on realistic teams based on their birth city for provinces with more than 1 U15/18 league.

I would also love to see better relative talent ratings for CHL leagues. Currently players are being drafted at 4.0-5.0 relative talent in the OHL / QMJHL and even worse in the WHL (because they are a year younger). Players in the CHL are 3 stars with a relative rating of only 6.2 at times. I also believe this makes it difficult for the AI to work properly for these leagues.

And one last thing:

- Playable Jr.A leagues in North America. We already have college, so next step is junior!

[machomike]

Wishlist items from a multiplayer/online league perspective:

(1) Bug fix - In multiplayer, when a player gets injured, the game often automatically defers recovery on behalf of the GM and the player remains Game Available while not recovering. The only known fix to trigger recoveryin our league is for the commissioner to remove the player from IR then put them back on IR.

(2) Bug fix - On many common display resolutions, the NTC team list on a player's contract screen is cut off after 9 teams - leaving the 10th team as a mystery. Over half of my multiplayer league has this issue on their display and commonly have to ask to figure out the 10th team.

(3) Request - Add per-league rookie eligibility to the CSV exports. My league uses Python and a Discord bot to post stats, but other than manually tallying up who is/is not a rookie using player_skater_career_stats_rs.csv, I don't see another more simple way.

(4) Request - Allow commissioners more ability to edit annual finances or each team's points budget. We've had some issues with bugs destroying a franchise's finances (examples being stadiums getting randomly built or selections not taking), and it would be nice if commissioners could undo or even just throw a budget point lifeline when this happens.

[machomike]

Additional wishlist items from a mostly multiplayer/online league perspective:

(1) This is my #1 actually - please nerf the first three draft classes that immediately follow the present day. These classes completely oversaturate the NHL's talent pool. When testing, I've found these classes generate 3.5x more NHL-level players than the average IRL draft.

---> Edit: Just wanted to add here that I vehemently disagree with the reply saying all game-generated classes should just be like these first three. Although they're on the weaker side, the game-generated classes are much closer to reality than the first three classes. In a perfect world, the game-generated classes would be strengthened by about 40% and the first three classes would be nerfed to match this draft class strength.

(2) In multiplayer, allow GMs to offer staff similar to how they can already offer free agents

(3) In multiplayer, allow commissioners the ability to increase the minimum salary. Note: this may be possible but I couldn't find it lol. To be clear, I'm not referring to "Entry level max", this is "Minimum salary" which appears uneditable and impacts the cap relief amount when sending down.

[Javs]

Originally Posted by machomike

additional wishlist items from a mostly multiplayer/online league perspective:

(1) this is my #1 actually - please nerf the first three draft classes that immediately follow the present day. These classes completely oversaturate the nhl's talent pool. When testing, i've found these classes generate 3.5x more nhl-level players than the average irl draft.

yes please

[JPL86]

1) Schedule creator in custom league needs help. Every season I have 20 to 25 back to backs. That's 40 - 50 of the 82 games are part of a back to back.

2) Add LTIR (where the salary will not be included in the Salary Obligation for the team)

3) Salary Retention in trade screen does not work. Click it and nothing happens. No options for retaining salary as part of trades (This is in custom league).

[Javs]

I should add, realistic staff salaries. As a GM, when I take over a CHL (Canada) team, my salary can be as low as $1200 per year. It is frustrating to see teams with such bloated staff budgets that pay there staff so little and then have way too many staff members than usual as a result.

[GMO123]

Greater differentiation between 3 star and 5 star goalies.

Have the number of 1st, 2nd, 3rd stars a player receives put into career stats.

Have Fen rel, Fen rel% put into career stats.

[GMO123]

More highly rated, or rate higher, defensive defencemen.

[GMO123]

For ECHL and other similar leagues, being able to modify the rule for the minimum number of players under the age of 26 per team.

[victorqc]

- control over farm team in online leagues
-agree that ai need work in trades and roster management. Also it's a bit dull that 99% of AI trades teams exchange the same number of asset (1 player for a pick, 2 player for player for 2 player, 1 player one pick for 2 players etc.)
-regarding trades I'm under the impression ai calculate the value by averaging the assets. It would make more sense by being cumulative value
-i'd like players to be more flexible on the length of contract in negotiations. They seems to be very stubborn on that. Would be ok if they were asking long or short term instead of x years and never change their mind on the course of a negotiations

[stlcardinals19]

• A checkbox next to players on certain views so we can multi-select multiple players

• A way to better segment Goalies ratings. Despite being considered elite, elite goalies still are far too close in individual ratings from average and even bad goalies (A goalie that has all his attributes at 16 comes out as a 9.3 talent, but a goalie at all 15s is a 7.5, which is slightly above avg, and a goalie at all 14s is considered a 6.2 talent despite being only 2 pts away in all categories. There just isn't enough separation, from the cream of the crop and why I'll see backup goalies and 2star goalies winning Vezinas and beating out the Hellebuyck's and Vasilevsky's for PT and performance)

• Simple options (from something like Extreme down to Minimal, with other settings in-between) to toggle shot total amounts and goalie fatigue for leagues, like how we see in OOTP for certain things (Pitcher Stamina being raised or lower and whatnot)

• Being able to add secondary and tertiary languages to countries in the Edit Nation screen. In addition to the main language, allow users to add secondary or tertiary languages at a ratio, and players generated in that country will be generated w/those languages already fluent/good on them

I feel like mine don't seem as higher stakes as the other suggestions, but they're just 4 things that have nagged me deeply for a while now

[drummerJ99]

*I really just want to be able to filter by position on lineup screens. Not sort by position. Not sort by overall. Let me filter out everyone that doesn't play C. OOTP does it and it works brilliantly.

*On the pregame lineup screen give us an indication of who's dressed and who's not. I don't seem to see anything indicating that. Overall feel lineup screen could use some work. Maybe click on a player and highlight every line he's in or something.

*Allow us to create hockey cards at any time, like OOTP.

*Allow us to do GM/Manager like OOTP. I really only want to do GM but don't want to be forced with using my coaches lines. In OOTP I can play as GM only but still edit lineup.

*Filter stats by date. Why can't I see who scored the most goals in December? Or which goalie had the best stats for January?!? Or who was has most goals form January 1st to 15th??

*official CSV converter or html export. We shouldn't have to rely on the community to make a converter like we do right now. Or heck throw a few bucks at daigle91 and hire him to do it and have it ready at release of FHM11.

[Spartacus70]

Originally Posted by stlcardinals19

• A checkbox next to players on certain views so we can multi-select multiple players

• A way to better segment Goalies ratings. Despite being considered elite, elite goalies still are far too close in individual ratings from average and even bad goalies (A goalie that has all his attributes at 16 comes out as a 9.3 talent, but a goalie at all 15s is a 7.5, which is slightly above avg, and a goalie at all 14s is considered a 6.2 talent despite being only 2 pts away in all categories. There just isn't enough separation, from the cream of the crop and why I'll see backup goalies and 2star goalies winning Vezinas and beating out the Hellebuyck's and Vasilevsky's for PT and performance)

• Simple options (from something like Extreme down to Minimal, with other settings in-between) to toggle shot total amounts and goalie fatigue for leagues, like how we see in OOTP for certain things (Pitcher Stamina being raised or lower and whatnot)

• Being able to add secondary and tertiary languages to countries in the Edit Nation screen. In addition to the main language, allow users to add secondary or tertiary languages at a ratio, and players generated in that country will be generated w/those languages already fluent/good on them

I feel like mine don't seem as higher stakes as the other suggestions, but they're just 4 things that have nagged me deeply for a while now

I suport that! Particularly 2nd point.