Posted by thewizard19x on 7/1/2023 12:36:00 AM (view original):
Also, due to the number of human coaches at D-1, it would also make it much more harder to recruit for a fastbreak/ and/or fullcourt press team, but in one sense a smart coach would know to eliminate that strategy, but in another, it would near possibly eliminate using that o/d, giving you two less options. The unintended consequences of having a 324 human coaches at D-1 could be disastrous.

When they created 3.0, I'm guessing they didn't take into consideration that this could happen(having this many coaches), but I also really wasn't on as a beta tester before it rolled out, so can't be certain.

I don't really have a horse in this race, just got to Drexel last season and hasn't really impacted my team, at least not yet. Just giving my unbiased opinion.

Not at all. Even as unbalanced as tempo is - slowdown has no negative consequences, and uptempo hurts FG% and turnover rates even when you have ungodly high stamina - FB/P teams are strong in every world I play, to the point where I run my UConn team as if it was FB/P (though I do redshirt guys, so I run 11, not 12) so I can punch Kimball's team in the mouth when we run into each other. To some extent, it forces you out of the mindset of locking in on 3 or 4 battles, and rolling the dice on them. You have to fill scholarships, so you take your shots on quality, but you also invest in some sure things every year.

But I don't think anyone thinks this game is designed for 324 human coaches at D1. I don't think that's the intent, and I don't think it's realistic. The big thing is the price point is just too high. You'd be asking 275 coaches to pay full or mostly full price for this game every season, which at $13 a pop is way too much. They'd have to move off a pay-as-you-go / credit system, and adopt a one-time-per-world fee (I've always said like ~$30/world would be a reasonable start) to get there.

I know Ive said this a billion times, and its an unpopular take, but if D2 schools could only recruit D2 recruits I think that would solve a lot of problems.

Then you could still go all in on a recruit while working on a suitable backup and if you lose the roll, pivot to your backup option.

The way it is now, you cant pivot to your backup option because there are already A+ D2 schools in on the recruit and you have very little resources left to overtake those D2 schools.

I usually sit back on general HD conversations, but this one hits me and I feel the need to speak up.

Recruit gen is a major, major issue within a game I returned to a few years ago after a 10-year absence and otherwise enjoy thoroughly. The process of recruiting is a blast. It's hard, but it's supposed to be challenging and I appreciate that angle.

However, the past several seasons in Phelan have been an absolute disaster with regard to incoming recruits. Specifically, the world has been INSANELY short on quality guards on the east coast. I'm at Richmond (C+/B- prestige, good conference), and finding decent guards within 300 miles has been a nightmare. One has no chance at the few impact players, and the lower-tier Big 6 schools are fighting with the upper-tier mid-majors for the rest of the scraps. Add in that recruits are generally well-balanced by state but not by locations within states (New York City is SHOCKINGLY low on quality players most seasons, for instance, while upstate NY has a bunch), and it's not a great system.

The easiest solution: Concentrate the players where they actually are, location-wise, and add 20 or so mid-level D1 players at each position. 550-575 overall, varying potentials, and scattered around the country at an appropriate ratio. I think that fixes a TON of problems without being too invasive as to how the game is actually played, and I can't imagine it would require too much effort beyond a programming tweak or two within the HD recruiting interface.

i agree with shoe here. opening up D1 has changed the strategy for everyone in a way that increases competitiveness and makes it much more difficult to maintain a consistent dynasty. since the change was made, i’ve had to adapt my strategy at high D1. it’s often frustrating to have mid-prestige schools nipping at your heels, especially out west where recruits are a bit thinner, but it’s added a new learning curve and isn’t that the point of playing a game? once you’ve mastered it, what’s the fun?

i still advocate for reducing the number of teams that can be in dice rolls, however. i think making a max of 2 or 3 teams per dice roll would reduce the frustration of a super-low % team coming out ahead of 2 programs who invested much more.

maximize competitiveness while reducing the extent to which randomness can overrule strategy. that’s the key to making and keeping the game fun

Posted by shane182436 on 6/29/2023 11:12:00 AM (view original):

Posted by shoe3 on 6/29/2023 9:16:00 AM (view original):
This is an economic distribution model, set against a college basketball backdrop. Supply and demand changes, and every choice coaches make in response is strategic, based on our evaluation of the available commodities, and tolerance for risk. There is always luck involved, when you have multiplayer games simulating decisions that aren't supposed to be up to us, but that's life, and it wouldn't be realistic (or fun) otherwise.

Imagine real life coaches complaining about elite recruits attracting more than 2 serious programs. Most of those kids have way more than 2 teams pursuing them at a high level, many attract more than a handful. It's not good for the game to suppress competition among coaches, to encourage coaches to back off or sit back when they see bigger fish, and to just try to slot in where they will fit with no friction. This is not supposed to be a draft.

All that said, 5 team battles are still pretty rare in this game, and usually only happen because of the nature of this cycled system, where we all make our decisions at about the same time. It ends up being a big game of chicken some times. I'm sure none of those 5 coaches loves being in a 5-team battle, if they've all invested resources already. But again, that's life sometimes, and it's also how our strategies play out when you end up there.

That's a fair comparison in a vacuum, but if the Head Coach at Kentucky loses a battle for a 5 star recruit they aren't forced to settle for a 2 star or not fill the spot at all. I would think that most people playing this game are looking for the most realistic simulation of running a college basketball program possible, not a semi accurate economic supply and demand simulation. Recruiting is broken.

I agree. Particularly don't care for the part where potential programs can silently pile up AP points and then in the last cycle spend all their HV's, the campus visit and offer a scholly and leap past a program that has been on the kid from the jump. That crap ruins the experience as well, in particular because of the lack of time/resources to redirect efforts after having that happen.

Current model is about as anti-strategy as it gets. The only thing strategy related is if you think you have enough preferences to keep up in the dice roll probability. Then you dump your maximum allowed resources on a recruit and wait for the dice roll decision. That's not a strategy.

You may counter that the strategy is avoid the top guys and get the next tier guys, but that's not any different than the prior system. At least under the prior system you had to calculate what resources you thought the opposition would put into the recruit and how much they could afford to put. Then calculate how much you can put, how much you'd need to put, and if you're willing to do that.

Honestly, I'm probably not far behind Benis in hanging it up. We just A- Matyland jump on a couple of D-2 recruits. Not faulting the coach here. The more coaches there are the more it becomes about a game of luck. It would be more fun spending my money in Vegas. At this point, there is more strategy day trading in the stock market than in this game.

Hoops Dynasty is not a simulation, it is a fantasy game. By definition, it is not trying to duplicate the conditions in real life. People have this misconception that it IS a simulation and then become frustrated when a Kentucky can't pull in a Top 5 classs every season.

Right or wrong, that's not the way the game is designed.