That's very creative, Mike. I've never even thought along those lines so I don't have a complete response for you. I would need to think about it before I do. My only comment right now is, and I can't tell based on your phrasing, is whether the reduction occurs before scouting begins or after signings. I would not like, as a DIII coach, recruiting a 45 DEF player in the green just to have him turn into a 45 DEF in the black after recruiting is over. However, if during scouting, the same player is seen differently by a DI coach as opposed to a DIII coach, then that is an interesting concept...probably a ***** to program but interesting.

My initial thought is after. But, as a D3 coach, you already know you're not getting a "green" from a D1/D2 rated prospect. However, the way you suggest is fine too. That way, for all these new users we're trying to protect, they don't see "green/blue" from higher level recruits.

But it was better in 2.0

I mean....I like the idea. Sounds fair.

Posted by Arfy on 6/21/2017 8:07:00 PM (view original):
But it was better in 2.0

Benfy?

Arfis?

Anyway, zorzi's contention is D3 teams are just too good and veterans steamroll n00bs because of it. Preventing vets from building D1-recruited powerhouses at D3 is handled with this idea. zorzi should love it.

I actually think this idea has some potential. I genuinely think that this could be implemented with some touch ups. However, does it matter that players are better throughout lower divisions now? It's equal footing in all of DIII.

zorzi's contention is that new users don't know to pull down D1/D2. So, after getting steamrolled for a season or two, they quit. I think he believes people cannot learn and quit before they do learn. I personally think experienced users are gonna steamroll new users under any circumstance but whatever. zorzi isn't the only one who thinks capping is a good idea.

Cap it. It kills location advantage and makes D2 , different from D3.

540 D1
580 D2. Still over what we pulled down before, way higher. It could be lower.

Why not just make it way more difficult to recruit up a division? If it required twice the AP for D3 to unlock offers/visits on D2 players, and three times the AP to unlock D1 players, it would be a much greater risk to recruit the higher level players. This way you wouldn't have classes full of D1 players on D3 teams. You may have 1 or 2 D1 guys and a handful of D2, but the core would be D3 players.

As it is right now, you can recruit as many D1 guys as you need on a D3 team and even have D1 players as backups in case a higher level team swoops in.

If you're in a fight with a school in a higher division, you already screwed up.

Some thoughts, just for variety's sake and to add to the discussion...

1. How about WIS applies the effects of potential BEFORE assigning a projected division level to recruits? As it stands now, we have recruits labeled D1 who REALLY ARE D3 level players...and in at least a couple cases I've encountered people I wouldn't even sign to a D3 program I coached...but they're sitting there at D1 and being recruited by D1 teams, generally Sim. WIS needs to recognize and apply the potential that's there (given how old potential is, it floors me that they don't already...), then apply their default Player Roles formula (which I'm thinking is a good chunk of how divisions are assigned now to generated recruits) and assign player division projections based off the scores using what the player could develop into with potential accounted for.

While this might sound insignificant, I think it would have an important subtle effect on the game -- Sim D1 teams would now attempting to draw players from the correct pool of recruits -- ones who will actually DEVELOP INTO D1 players. Human coaches still blow Simmy out of the water in most instances to win the top prizes, but now the D1 Sims are pulling more of the upper-echelon talent-to-be into their rosters, reducing their flow down to D2. Elite D2 human coaches with lots of openings and good location/preference advantages will still be able to out-battle Sim D1's for players, but I don't take that as an altogether bad thing from time to time. But they would likely encounter greater interference as the pool of Sim teams will now be funneled onto worthy players rather than getting sidetracked onto people that no human coach would ever consider for D1. The same would occur in D2 with D3 human coaches...humans will reach up but Simmy would pull from players that will actually develop into D2 caliber players within the engine. Sim teams get stronger overall within divisions and humans reaching up encounter greater resistance due to the distribution of Sims being on divisionally-appropriate recruits, where it should be.


2. I'd like to see a situation whereby the second session is staggered somehow so that D1 starts/ends 1 day before D2, which starts/ends 1 day before D3...D1 Sim teams that were unable to fill their scholarship allotments will pull the "best available" D1 identified players from the unsigned D1 player pool to fill their rosters...these players would still receive walk-on status. Human coaches could either receive the same or be victims of their own inability to fill the roster (or their strategy of not wishing to fill a roster up to 12) and receive the same randomly generated walk-ons that we get now. At the end of this D1 session, all remaining D1 players are automatically reassigned into the D2 pool as D2 recruits, allowing them to automatically be offered scholarships by D2 teams with no unlock necessary, and the process repeats itself in 24 hours as eligible D2 players are divvied among schools needing to fill out their rosters and all remaining players are then assigned D3 status for the final 24 hour window of recruiting. The start of D2 Session 2 and D3 Session 2 would similarly be delayed by 24 and 48 hours respectively from the start of D1 session 2, which allows for human D1 teams with new coaches and coaches dealing with EE's or a rough go things in Cycle 1 a chance to "catch up" to lower division coaches stopped at the red light between Sessions 1 and 2.

3. Sim AI needs to be more aggressive at attacking lower division coaches. As it stands now, I don't think a D1 Sim distinguishes between a D2 or a D3 when coming onto a recruit. It absolutely should.

Your first point is spot on. Recruit generation should have been fixed with the 3.0 rollout.

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/21/2017 9:00:00 PM (view original):
If you're in a fight with a school in a higher division, you already screwed up.

yup