now that I look at Rucci, he's probably better than Beauregard. Cheaper too.

probably a stupid question, but what's the difference between a defensive forward and a defenseman? guys will play wherever you put them, right?

i guess a young guy with a decent defensive rating and some potential should be a checking forward and a guy with big defense ratings/experience should be a defenseman?

Posted by sergei91 on 7/19/2011 9:31:00 AM (view original):
probably a stupid question, but what's the difference between a defensive forward and a defenseman? guys will play wherever you put them, right?

yeah, you decide where they're best suited to play. I'm really the only one that obsesses about the difference.

I got the idea from looking at the skills on the lines page that defensemen went DEF- STR - SPD, and a checking forward went DEF- SPD. I like to have a couple (look at Bogdanov and Hilyar on my team, they're my Maltby and Draper) for PK purposes. I think special teams are big in this game, so I want 10 offensive guys to fill out my power play units and 8 defensive guys to fill out my PK units. The checking forward was my concept for getting those last two defensive guys into the lineup, and what I wnated them to look like.

And no ****, that team is looking pretty solid. That's a good effort for an expansion team. Speedy's powerhouse is going to kill it tonight, but it could be a playoff team.

what other stuff do i need to do before tonight's game? what time do games sim? i have my 22 players and coach. anything else i should know about before **** gets started?

Posted by briandnlo4 on 7/13/2011 2:15:00 PM (view original):

Posted by pttsbrghkid on 7/13/2011 1:21:00 PM (view original):
That's one of my favorite things about my experience in the superleague is seeing brian and probie both dominate with different approaches.


I think it's now safe to say speedy is in the mix there as well.  Curious to see if he can repeat and be a fulltime member of the big dog clan.



Meanwhile, I wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Hoping I've got the right mix, anxious for them to mature into a force to be reckoned with, eager for a breakthrough season that may never come considering the big brains on my counterparts.

That IS an insanely cool part of this game, whether by accident or design. There's no 'cookie-cutter' (like the hockey SIM).

I won Superleague Season7, Probie Season 8, and Speedy Season 9. And none of us do anything like either of the others.

Probie says offensive guys are forwards, defensive guys are defensemen. I say fast guys are forwards, strong guys are defensemen. He traded me his 4th-line center, I made a top pair defenseman out of him. If I were to trade him Kirbo (1st line C) or Lacio (2nd line RW) from the Maroons, he'd make defensemen out of them.

Probie has no problem picking up older players I think should retire.

Probie says coach's intelligence wins close games. I think it's stamina. I wont have <80 stamina on either of my top two line or my top D pair, and the higher the better. His brainiac coach has two Cup wins, my dumbass has three.

Speedy and I had a sitemail discussion about the draft (Wylie was on the clock ahead of me and I didn't want to post my pick openly). We traded top-3 lists, not one player was on both. We discussed it, he looks for exactly the opposite things in young prospects as I do. I draft size and speed, figuring the offense, defense and shooting will go up faster because they also improve through game attribute up. I don't worry a whole bunch about potential, I figure a draft pick has near unlimited potential with or without the number. Speedy wants offense, defense and potential, and if his guy's offense and defense go through the roof while he's slow and weak, he's OK with that. His philosophy.

It can be hard to do trades among us, because we value our own and each other's players so differently. I've tried to get Drenner from Speedy in the Superleague 1000 times, and made him what I thought were damned good offers. He sent a sitemail back telling me I was offering ****, and had to do WAY better if I wanted Drenner. When I cut my backup goalie with my starter still hurt, Probie offered me his backup goalie for my 1st-line LW. Probably thought he was being generous. No way I was making that deal. Counter-offered my top-line LW for his 4th line C, he probably thinks he robbed me, but from my point of view, I got an OK deal, my top-line LW for a top-pair defenseman. Also five years younger and less than half the salary.

this was said when Hamilton44 joined the Deuce and we were doing the newbie hints and tips thing.

There's more than one way to win this thing. My way isn't the only way. It's not like "draft Warren Young, win Cup in a month-and-a-half. There really IS no "cookie-cutter"

what do the little icon thingies mean next to the player names?

Posted by sergei91 on 7/19/2011 9:46:00 AM (view original):
what other stuff do i need to do before tonight's game? what time do games sim? i have my 22 players and coach. anything else i should know about before **** gets started?

you have to set your lines. There's a page for that on the left hand side. "dress" your coach (everyone forgets him), two goalies and 18 skaters, and assign them to lines and special teams, pick a starting goalie.

Set your ticket prices and **** on the finances page. Your advisors will tell you if you're charging too much, not enough or whatever. Tweak the prices until all your advisors have to say is "your ticket prices are good"

Then game tactics. Offense (try to aviod picking an offense that's weak against front defenses - almost everyone plays a collapsing defense in this league), Defense, everyone plays a collapsing defense in this league, and power play, I would pick between shooting and umbrella becausethe overload is weak against front defenses and everyone in this league plays a collapsing defense. LOL.

The game manual on the team strategies is pretty useful.

Games are run at 7:00 or 7:30 Eastern (the game server is set to mountain time, don't let that screw you up) and you can watch the game live if you want.

Also set a training schedule for the rest of July and August. Training SHORT every day (even game days) won't hurt anything. If I get games on back-to-back days, I don't practice before the 2nd game to rest their legs. If I get two days off in a row, I practice medium the 1st, short the 2nd, then short on gmae day and kill someone that night. During the offseason, or while the playoffs are going on and I've been knocked out, I practice medium every day. When I'm IN the playoffs, it's a game every day, so I don't practice at all to rest their legs.

Posted by sergei91 on 7/19/2011 9:47:00 AM (view original):
what do the little icon thingies mean next to the player names?

them are special skills. You don't want a guy who sucks except for having an icon, but they're a neat little bonus if they have one.

For example, the "sniper" icon always shoots at the goalie's weakness (glove-hi, glove-lo, stick-hi, stick-lo or 5-hole).
The "grinder" icon is supposed to be known for hustle and checking.
The lightning agility icon is supposed to get more breakaways.
The PP icon is a special teams wizard that might well also be good at even strength (I have a d-man with one who's scored 3 SHGs).
The power shot is the 5th one, I don't know what it's supposed to do , but they always seem to have a lot of game-winning goals.

the Dickfers are gonna be tough to score on. Beninati is proven in this league, and has some proven guys in front of him. Ethen is a former 1st-round pick of SSS. Marke was a 1st rounder by Steel City. Mussell scored a lot of big goals for me, I just needed to get the younger guys with more potential ice time. I almost signed Gartenhaus and Tastet a few times myself. You're light on scoring pop, but you done OK.

how 'good' are using the recommended lines and stuff?

the worst idea you can think of will be better than anything the auto assign comes up with IMO

Posted by briandnlo4 on 7/19/2011 10:07:00 AM (view original):
the Dickfers are gonna be tough to score on. Beninati is proven in this league, and has some proven guys in front of him. Ethen is a former 1st-round pick of SSS. Marke was a 1st rounder by Steel City. Mussell scored a lot of big goals for me, I just needed to get the younger guys with more potential ice time. I almost signed Gartenhaus and Tastet a few times myself. You're light on scoring pop, but you done OK.

i wanted to make sure we didn't embarass ourselves by getting lit up every night. defense wins championships!!!

Posted by briandnlo4 on 7/19/2011 10:13:00 AM (view original):
the worst idea you can think of will be better than anything the auto assign comes up with IMO

goddamnit! that means i gotta do more work.

Beninati is a horse - best stamina in the league, I'd be riding him, and looking for a stud goalie when the draft rolls around.