I was thinking about this and there should be a world where there is no Sim AI. I feel like the game would be so much fun with no Sim AI. There would still be the same number of teams but the head of WiS would make a world where like 500 (or however many teams there are) people agreed to join and then he’d fill in the rest of the 5% with Sim AI. Just an idea. Thoughts?

It would be cool to have a full world. I think right now the most full world is Iba. It is certainly the most active/competitive.

some time ago, populations were higher - much better for the game - maybe some promotions this fall

People won’t tolerate all the losing that goes with full or nearly full worlds.

Opening a new world would almost certainly create a rush, as folks would race to get to the prime D1 spots like UCLA, Duke, Syracuse, and Kansas. It would eventually settle out, after a few dozen seasons, to about where most of the worlds sit, more or less.

Thats not to say there isn’t room for more coaches in existing worlds - there certainly is. But I suspect getting even much past half full is going to start being a drag on retention, as folks start stepping all over each other for recruits and jobs, etc.

Posted by shoe3 on 9/16/2018 12:30:00 AM (view original):
People won’t tolerate all the losing that goes with full or nearly full worlds.

Opening a new world would almost certainly create a rush, as folks would race to get to the prime D1 spots like UCLA, Duke, Syracuse, and Kansas. It would eventually settle out, after a few dozen seasons, to about where most of the worlds sit, more or less.

Thats not to say there isn’t room for more coaches in existing worlds - there certainly is. But I suspect getting even much past half full is going to start being a drag on retention, as folks start stepping all over each other for recruits and jobs, etc.

I feel like I would love this idea just because it’d be more competitive. Every game would matter because your actually playing a real person and if you don’t gameplan well you could lose virtually every game.

Recruiting would be really different but a lot better because D3 schools wouldn’t have a shot at D1 guys and it would be a lot tougher to get D2 guys so D3 would be a lot more about gameplan and finding projected D2-D3 gems and developing them.

The most winningest coaches would have first choice of the teams they choose. I don’t think it would settle out quick because people would have the most fun with it and people would be eager to join. I think there could also be job firing where if your not doing a good job, you’re gone.

But the most important thing is I think it eliminates the fact that in D3, you have to wait till the last 24 hours of the second signing period to get D1 guys. I don’t see why it makes sense for that to be a rule.

It would be like Hardball Dynasty, which is really cool to have a full world with no Sim AI.

It would be. But it doesn't last. I was around when they created the last new world (I forget which world it was, one of the 2x worlds). And for the first couple seasons it turned out like that. The world filled up rather quickly. Everyone racing to get to those top spots like shoe said. But the problem is, YOU may like that idea and want to stick it out. But it's not easy to expect hundreds of other coaches to stick to the same agenda.

if this is truly your first season or two, wait for a couple more seasons to pass. And you'll understand. You will start having different thoughts yourself. Maybe taking a different job. Coaching at a different level. Getting more teams. Quitting completely out of frustration of not competing. Things like that. It happens to us all over time. It's not as simple as getting hundreds of coaches to fall in line with the same thinking

Hardball Dynasty only requires 32 guys to fill a world, vs ~900 for 3 levels of HD. And of course, losing can be part of the long term strategy in HBD; go young, build your farm system through draft picks, there’s some built in competitiveness there. In HD, prestige and preference advantages heavily favor already successful programs. Turning a doormat around is hard enough in a full conference, imagine a full world with no simAI to pick on in non-conference. Expecting folks to pay money for that experience is probably not very realistic.

The good news is that full and near full conferences exist, and are great fun for folks who enjoy that kind of atmosphere.

”...in D3, you have to wait till the last 24 hours of the second signing period to get D1 guys. I don’t see why it makes sense for that to be a rule.”

It isn’t perfect, but the alternatives are generally much, much worse. As a D3 recruiting D1 projected players - which is a choice you have to make, it’s not the only way to build a competitive D3 team - you are knowingly targeting players who should probably expect to be going to higher level schools. So you’re a last resort for them. The “red light”, as it’s been lovingly called since beta, has always been controversial, but I haven’t seen a better proposal for handling multi-divisional recruiting in a multiplayer game, with the possible exception of just removing player projections entirely, and individualizing when a recruit will consider signing *with your team* (IE, early for UConn, last 24 hours for Stevens Tech); that would obviously be a massive change in scouting and recruiting, and would require extensive beta testing, and I doubt there is much interest in that kind of change this close to the launch of 3.0.

Join Little East Super Conference in Smith. Got 3 spots left. Super competitive and ton of fun playing all humans during conference games

" ... a world where there is no Sim AI ..." would certainly solve the problem of job changes. There would be no open jobs to move to.

Posted by topdogggbm on 9/16/2018 10:12:00 AM (view original):
It would be. But it doesn't last. I was around when they created the last new world (I forget which world it was, one of the 2x worlds). And for the first couple seasons it turned out like that. The world filled up rather quickly. Everyone racing to get to those top spots like shoe said. But the problem is, YOU may like that idea and want to stick it out. But it's not easy to expect hundreds of other coaches to stick to the same agenda.

if this is truly your first season or two, wait for a couple more seasons to pass. And you'll understand. You will start having different thoughts yourself. Maybe taking a different job. Coaching at a different level. Getting more teams. Quitting completely out of frustration of not competing. Things like that. It happens to us all over time. It's not as simple as getting hundreds of coaches to fall in line with the same thinking

That's true. And yes it is my second season so you make a strong point.

Posted by zagsrulez on 9/16/2018 9:33:00 PM (view original):
Join Little East Super Conference in Smith. Got 3 spots left. Super competitive and ton of fun playing all humans during conference games

If/when I get a second team, I will.

Posted by l80r20 on 9/16/2018 11:40:00 PM (view original):
" ... a world where there is no Sim AI ..." would certainly solve the problem of job changes. There would be no open jobs to move to.

There would be job firings which would be controversial, but I think it would make the game more realistic.

Posted by shoe3 on 9/16/2018 3:37:00 PM (view original):
Hardball Dynasty only requires 32 guys to fill a world, vs ~900 for 3 levels of HD. And of course, losing can be part of the long term strategy in HBD; go young, build your farm system through draft picks, there’s some built in competitiveness there. In HD, prestige and preference advantages heavily favor already successful programs. Turning a doormat around is hard enough in a full conference, imagine a full world with no simAI to pick on in non-conference. Expecting folks to pay money for that experience is probably not very realistic.

The good news is that full and near full conferences exist, and are great fun for folks who enjoy that kind of atmosphere.

”...in D3, you have to wait till the last 24 hours of the second signing period to get D1 guys. I don’t see why it makes sense for that to be a rule.”

It isn’t perfect, but the alternatives are generally much, much worse. As a D3 recruiting D1 projected players - which is a choice you have to make, it’s not the only way to build a competitive D3 team - you are knowingly targeting players who should probably expect to be going to higher level schools. So you’re a last resort for them. The “red light”, as it’s been lovingly called since beta, has always been controversial, but I haven’t seen a better proposal for handling multi-divisional recruiting in a multiplayer game, with the possible exception of just removing player projections entirely, and individualizing when a recruit will consider signing *with your team* (IE, early for UConn, last 24 hours for Stevens Tech); that would obviously be a massive change in scouting and recruiting, and would require extensive beta testing, and I doubt there is much interest in that kind of change this close to the launch of 3.0.

You make a strong point too. I disagree with your final paragraph because I think a better alternative is that it isn't impossible for a D3 team to sign a D1 guy early, but it should be virtually impossible. I feel like if a D3 team is the only team a D1 guy is considering and they promise him 25 minutes, a start, and 20 home visits, he should sign. I also disagree with your point that you can win in D3 without D1 guys. That's very hard.

Posted by Sportsbulls on 9/17/2018 7:14:00 PM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 9/16/2018 3:37:00 PM (view original):
Hardball Dynasty only requires 32 guys to fill a world, vs ~900 for 3 levels of HD. And of course, losing can be part of the long term strategy in HBD; go young, build your farm system through draft picks, there’s some built in competitiveness there. In HD, prestige and preference advantages heavily favor already successful programs. Turning a doormat around is hard enough in a full conference, imagine a full world with no simAI to pick on in non-conference. Expecting folks to pay money for that experience is probably not very realistic.

The good news is that full and near full conferences exist, and are great fun for folks who enjoy that kind of atmosphere.

”...in D3, you have to wait till the last 24 hours of the second signing period to get D1 guys. I don’t see why it makes sense for that to be a rule.”

It isn’t perfect, but the alternatives are generally much, much worse. As a D3 recruiting D1 projected players - which is a choice you have to make, it’s not the only way to build a competitive D3 team - you are knowingly targeting players who should probably expect to be going to higher level schools. So you’re a last resort for them. The “red light”, as it’s been lovingly called since beta, has always been controversial, but I haven’t seen a better proposal for handling multi-divisional recruiting in a multiplayer game, with the possible exception of just removing player projections entirely, and individualizing when a recruit will consider signing *with your team* (IE, early for UConn, last 24 hours for Stevens Tech); that would obviously be a massive change in scouting and recruiting, and would require extensive beta testing, and I doubt there is much interest in that kind of change this close to the launch of 3.0.

You make a strong point too. I disagree with your final paragraph because I think a better alternative is that it isn't impossible for a D3 team to sign a D1 guy early, but it should be virtually impossible. I feel like if a D3 team is the only team a D1 guy is considering and they promise him 25 minutes, a start, and 20 home visits, he should sign. I also disagree with your point that you can win in D3 without D1 guys. That's very hard.

Sorry if this comes of as rude, but on what grounds can you disagree with shoe regarding winning at D3 without D1 players? I assure you it’s very much possible. Obviously if you can get better D1 players, go for it, but winning with D2 players is more than possible.

Yeah you can definitely win at D3 with D2 projected players.

Christopher Newport

All the teams starting with season 100 (I think) were D2 projected players - including cubcub's final four.