I coach E. New Mexico, a DII with a B+ prestige and just lost a recruit to a DIII with a higher prestige. I just don't get it.

I actually played DII basketball and wouldn't have intentionally chosen to play at a DIII rather than a DII, so in reality, something like this would rarely, if ever, happen.

Can really only happen with "late" preference guys thanks to the "red light" rule. It's a little weird but not terrible for the game, especially since it can only happen with 1 out of every 4 players.

blame the og dev for the stupidity behind it from how it used to be

D2 vs D3 isn't a good RL comparison anyway, since there are no full ride scholarships in D3. If we want a RL counterpart, D3 really shouldn't exist at all in this game, except maybe as a stand-alone sandbox that doesn't cost anything to play, and doesn't get any credits either, like a permanent working beta. This is especially true, since the conferences are (and always have been) wonky, and only a fraction of the RL schools exist in this game in the first place.

But with the stratified game structured the way it is, the only way to make the economics functional is to have it possible for good teams at the top of the lower divisions challenge you for recruits you want, under certain conditions. As long as it's going to be primarily an economic sim, we need everyone to feel competitive pressure for desirable recruits.

So in the history of college basketball, there hasn't been one single d3 player good enough to play d2? I just had 2 graduate last year at the high school I coach. They were a shoe in for most d2 schools in the state but decided to go to a d3 because they were offered starting spots right away.

Posted by shoe3 on 8/8/2023 1:00:00 PM (view original):
D2 vs D3 isn't a good RL comparison anyway, since there are no full ride scholarships in D3. If we want a RL counterpart, D3 really shouldn't exist at all in this game, except maybe as a stand-alone sandbox that doesn't cost anything to play, and doesn't get any credits either, like a permanent working beta. This is especially true, since the conferences are (and always have been) wonky, and only a fraction of the RL schools exist in this game in the first place.

But with the stratified game structured the way it is, the only way to make the economics functional is to have it possible for good teams at the top of the lower divisions challenge you for recruits you want, under certain conditions. As long as it's going to be primarily an economic sim, we need everyone to feel competitive pressure for desirable recruits.

I really like that idea about D3 costing nothing to play. If you want to move up then you need to pay the normal fee but realistically talking to friends about this game, the price tag is too high, even though I've played on and off for 10 years. I have several friends who want to try but dont want to pay to try it out. An influx of coaches into D3 trying the game sounds incredible. If you want to play with the big boys, pay the price.

Posted by shoe3 on 8/8/2023 1:00:00 PM (view original):
D2 vs D3 isn't a good RL comparison anyway, since there are no full ride scholarships in D3. If we want a RL counterpart, D3 really shouldn't exist at all in this game, except maybe as a stand-alone sandbox that doesn't cost anything to play, and doesn't get any credits either, like a permanent working beta. This is especially true, since the conferences are (and always have been) wonky, and only a fraction of the RL schools exist in this game in the first place.

But with the stratified game structured the way it is, the only way to make the economics functional is to have it possible for good teams at the top of the lower divisions challenge you for recruits you want, under certain conditions. As long as it's going to be primarily an economic sim, we need everyone to feel competitive pressure for desirable recruits.

Love the D3 sandbox idea. I like eligible D1 guys signing D3 even less. The one thing the earlier vision of HD got right was D3 vision of recruits. You could not recruit who you could not see.
Sandbox mode would be a real nice solution.

Posted by damonh1992_ on 8/9/2023 3:25:00 PM (view original):
So in the history of college basketball, there hasn't been one single d3 player good enough to play d2? I just had 2 graduate last year at the high school I coach. They were a shoe in for most d2 schools in the state but decided to go to a d3 because they were offered starting spots right away.

I work in a D3 college athletics department and we regularly recruit kids away from D2 and even very small D1 schools. We can offer two things that some of those higher level schools can't - a better education and immediate playing time (and in some cases, a better campus experience). There's a widely used phrase around D3 - "You can't win a title at the Division 3 level without a couple Division 1 players." That's 100 percent true across all sports, not just basketball.

That said, I find it extremely unrealistic that a D3 coach in WIS can routinely recruit players ranked from 110ish to 170ish at their position. One or two of those players might end up at a D3 in real life every few years, but not even close to the extent that they do in this game.

Posted by shoe3 on 8/8/2023 1:00:00 PM (view original):
D2 vs D3 isn't a good RL comparison anyway, since there are no full ride scholarships in D3. If we want a RL counterpart, D3 really shouldn't exist at all in this game, except maybe as a stand-alone sandbox that doesn't cost anything to play, and doesn't get any credits either, like a permanent working beta. This is especially true, since the conferences are (and always have been) wonky, and only a fraction of the RL schools exist in this game in the first place.

But with the stratified game structured the way it is, the only way to make the economics functional is to have it possible for good teams at the top of the lower divisions challenge you for recruits you want, under certain conditions. As long as it's going to be primarily an economic sim, we need everyone to feel competitive pressure for desirable recruits.

Huh. I didn't know that. Then I wish they had added 1-2 Canadian colleges. Would have been a little bit of fun for us Canucks.

Posted by cubcub113 on 8/7/2023 11:30:00 AM (view original):
Can really only happen with "late" preference guys thanks to the "red light" rule. It's a little weird but not terrible for the game, especially since it can only happen with 1 out of every 4 players.

I just landed a D1 recruit, as a D3 school with B+ prestige, over a D2 school with B+ prestige. The recruit's preference was by end of period 1. I was the only school on him for the longest time. The D2 school shows up the cycle right before D3's can sign D1's. I then pushed all my chips in to see if I can pull it off. I signed him on the very first cycle - winning the roll of the dice with 32% odds to the D2's 68%.

Posted by Area51man on 8/21/2023 12:17:00 AM (view original):

Posted by cubcub113 on 8/7/2023 11:30:00 AM (view original):
Can really only happen with "late" preference guys thanks to the "red light" rule. It's a little weird but not terrible for the game, especially since it can only happen with 1 out of every 4 players.

I just landed a D1 recruit, as a D3 school with B+ prestige, over a D2 school with B+ prestige. The recruit's preference was by end of period 1. I was the only school on him for the longest time. The D2 school shows up the cycle right before D3's can sign D1's. I then pushed all my chips in to see if I can pull it off. I signed him on the very first cycle - winning the roll of the dice with 32% odds to the D2's 68%.

This really illustrates the kind of advantage you have at a higher level in the first place. If they only appeared a cycle before the red light was lifted, it is very unlikely that they could have done anything other than attention points and a scholarship offer - which in cases where the D3 is scared off and doesn't invest anything, is obviously enough to get the guy. That alone was enough to stand up against all your effort and whatever AP you had stacked, and force you into a significant underdog position. If they had just come in 2 cycles ahead instead of 1, and put in a promise or two, or saved resources for a couple visits, you'd have been toast.