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The promotion boost. I think "something exists", but I'm not sure exactly what I would call it or how much it helps... and there are other factors at play. I have kind of viewed it as a momentum carryover. We all know that teams and players can be streaky so it's possible that some teams who have recently promoted are still riding that hot streak. We saw it last season in Cage where an SHL level team was top of the league after the first 15-20 games, then fell back to Earth and was relegated. But like I said, there are other factors here. I have also seen recently promoted teams maintain a solid level of play throughout the season because they built a good enough team that works within their tactics. And we have also seen recently promoted teams who do nothing in the offseason and win <10 games, so the momentum doesn't necessarily help everyone. Who knows what is really happening. I think part of the beauty if this game is that every manager forms their own opinions based on observations, but none of us really know for sure what is happening behind the scenes. It gives everyone a unique experience.

So I was asked by Chris to come back and contribute a dynasty type save for one of the Wolverine Studios games. I actually downloaded DDSCB2020 today so thought I'd oblige him. I have been involved in sim leagues (text based mostly) since BBCF debuted back in 2005 and currently run four teams as GM in a couple of leagues. I am also in my third year with a small You Tube channel with a focus on Football Manager with daily content (Mon-Sat). Anyway, if you are unfamiliar, a "journeyman" is where you start off with a small team and effort to work your way up the ladder to the big time programs; much like a real career path would occur. So with that in mind I am firing up the game for the first time and will see what transpires. I won't be playing this daily as it's a "third choice" option for me with my other stuff I'm involved in but we'll give it a whirl for you guys here at GM Games. Here's the league setup if you are curious...I am running the College Mod Version 1.10 found on the developer's website under the mods section on the forums. EP0: Game Discussion, How to Import Real Schools Mod, Pre Dynasty Setup "This first episode is just a general episode discussing and walking through the league setup and a discussion on the Real World mod available at Wolverine Studios. We setup our coach for the series and give a brief discussion on what the goals of the series are. This will be a “journeyman” style save where we start off as a brand new coach and attempt to have a career where we develop as a coach, build our skills up and progress to new jobs at higher prestige schools."

Found this on Reddit, loving this project!

Hello all. My name is Grant and I was recently accepted to be a staff writer here at GMG. I figured I would jump on the forums as well. I have a long history of writing, gaming and avidly following sports and I am excited to be here. If you ever need anything let me know.

That Big Delta team is lookin' solid!

Also, in the West last year, only 59 points separated 1st and 13th place. Thats a very competitive environment.

I wouldn’t be so cocky about the boost thing, both of you, my friends. Not taking anything away from the Riverdale results - they are impressive. But Superb missed out on any good free agents and have close to an SHL-level team, as do Natashquan and the other promoted team in the East. That is why they are bad, no boost will help them. In the West, you are conveniently overlooking the fact that Metairie, another promoted team, has more points than Riverdale, and a CONSIDERABLY better defensive record, 2nd best in the conference, in fact. And they have a slightly better squad, but not that much better. Certainly not one built on some particular strategy, just the best they could get at the moment. So let’s wait and see. From my observations, the boost, if it exists, drops off around mid season, so very soon we will find out who is making the correct arguments. I am looking forward to it.

Endurance is definitely an issue with my team and one of the 3 main weaknesses that I can point to right off the bat. That problem stems from my early perception that it didn’t matter all that much. It has especially impacted me with goalies. I seem to manage it well with forwards and Dmen by regulating their ice time, but endurance being a cause of my late season struggles is an interesting suggestion that could very well be true. The only thing I’ll say is that in earlier seasons, my team had better endurance and we still collapsed. Season 1 for example, my top line endurance was 99, 99, 99 and my goalie that season was 95. They all still disappeared late season and into the playoffs.

Nice start! Good luck with your recruiting.

Played Madden for years without playing the actual game. Spent all of my time simulating seasons, drafting and signing free agents. As the game took morer and more away from the franchise mode, I was hoping there was a game out there that did only what I was into doing, Turns out there's a bunch. Most suck. But every once in awhile you find a keeper

Pigskin Empire is a straight up scam. Don't waste your time or money. OOTP is by far the best for baseball. Front Office Football for football. Wolverine Studios has a product for basketball. I wasn't a fan of their football products though

Awesome!

The way I see spirit is along the lines of what is described here from 7:50 to about 8:05 and I'd rather have a team that fits what is said here than pretty much any other kind of team. Basically I see spirit as how much effort the player puts into the play, how willing they are to give the extra effort, et cetera. I'd rather have a team like the 2000 Wild or the late Bruke lead Flames team where they are known for how hard working and playing the team is, how committed they are, how willing to do the extra stuff, et cetera. That is just how I like my teams though and how I would rather my teams be known for no matter how they otherwise might play.

Take a look at Endurance on your team, Paul. I would not be surprised to see a hidden Endurance meter that depletes throughout a season and is impacted by a player's Endurance score. Your team isn't exactly top in Endurance, especially your goaltenders - that may account for the late-season slides. Good assessment of my weaknesses - and I agree with the loose definition of "weakness", as well as seeing them as challenges to defeat. I just did a massive high-risk, high-reward trade in Buzzer that is going to bring new issues for my team - and I've never felt more alive . The size issue with my D-men I've solved since the beginning of the season by pairing them with larger counterparts - worked well so far. Goaltending...is complicated. Lie's stats are 2.86/90.2% - which is decent for a backup. Baudoin, on the other hand, isn't even in Top 20 in SV%, despite having 8 shutouts (Tied for 1st). That's how streaky he, or his cocaine supplier, is. I am nearly sure I've identified the exact issue with him (not Anxiety, surprisingly), but have not yet decided now to fix it. The Spirit comment is interesting. Never was a fan of the "winning = who has the most heart" argument, but winning teams have had high-Spirit players often (i.e. Kegashka). I have some lower-Spirit players the past two seasons because of trades, and I have been worse defensively, so reasonable guess. But my offence has fired up as a result, and I like that exchange. For now, at least. I will keep an eye on this going forward, though - good observation.

this is an incredible project. thank you so much!

South Region--Sweet 16 Iowa's upset of #1 seed Florida State was the biggest news coming from the South Regional. #2 seed Creighton took care of business, but #3 seed Oregon and #4 seed Maryland both were defeated. The BYU-Maryland game was close and exciting throughout and the victory up in the air until the final few seconds. Dynasty Threads:

peyton is my favorite qb of all time, always thought he was better.

Oh - and going back to a discussion that hasn't been had in quite some time. Roster Limits!!! I have always felt for GHL level it should be 30. Maybe offer a bit more leeway for the lower leagues, but I can't imagine why any GHL manager would need more than 30 spots. This would be the ultimate measure against hoarding players and creating a larger FA pool. 6 C - 11 F - 9D - 4G = 30 players. Easy peasy. You can even get creative and do 7C and 12F and 2G, the options are endless.

Just re-read this part and I see what you're saying. Personally, I think the problem is contracts. Players are signing way too cheap. I had hoped that the release would have solved that - for example, players in the 90s should sign for 6M+. I see some signing for less than 3M, which allows managers to hoard (along with potentially getting a team of all 90+ players, but that's another topic). If hoarding is keeping other managers from getting players, then it seems like an effective tactic to be honest. I personally don't agree with it because having too many players on your roster, especially on one way deals, will kill your confidence as those players would become anxious - and having too many salaries prevents managers from splurging on those top tier players. I think if the contracts were fixed it would solve a lot of this.

Definitely agree with everything you said, rain. I just understand the mentality behind managers finding comfort in signing their own players. Many might think the current roster is good, they just need 1-2 more pieces to make it all work. Season 3 FA was a great example for me. I placed a 2nd/3rd line player on waivers to go after Rackley in FA. That plan didn't work out and I lost the player to waivers, having my worst season so far. But overall you are right. I think the FA market will continue to get better each season. In S2 it was awful. Got a little better for S3 and this past season there were plenty of players there for signing. As new players continue to pour in, more players will become available - managers will start doing exactly as you said above in hopes of signing "better" players and improving their teams. Just a bit limited at the moment. I think we are a few seasons away from the FA pool being really good. In terms of trading, I think there are a fair amount of moves made each season. Almost every manager has made a trade or two at this point. But trading is tough in general. You need to find a fair balance and also offer something that the other manager needs, taking into account team tactics and cap space. If you find value in a player on another team, chances are that manager also values that player and it will take a bit to move them. I thought the trade between Cedar and Slaughter was a great example of a fair trade benefiting both teams. I also think the trade between me and Cedar was a benefit to both teams. Cedar got the younger, better, bigger player on a cheaper contract, so on paper it looks lopsided, but I was up against the cap and it provided me some breathing room to make moves in case of injury... and it provided me positional balance in that I now have a C who can fill in in case of injury - and I already had depth at D. I needed to move Obeng after this season anyways and Kozak is a great example of a player that will walk without a contact next season. I've offered quite a few trades for G this year as well to no avail - and some of the offers I thought were really good, but can understand why they were rejected.

While there might be some truth to it there is a massive negative drawback that goes along with it. Holding on to those players is an active restriction to what you can do in FA while also being an active handicap to your teams performance. You are holding on to a player, bringing several detrimental side effects to your team in the process, just for a, most of the time, modest trade value. It isn't worth holding back your team because of that. Yet the reason the latter part of 2 and the entirety of 3 is true at all is because managers hoard players that don't work for them when they shouldn't. If they let them go to FA the FA pool would have many more players in it and so long as you went in looking for what you needed rather than strictly the best overall player there wouldn't be many bidding wars. The only getting lucky there would be would be in outbidding for the top players. Which, to be honest, should be how that sort of goes anyways. It is literally a self perpetuating issue. The fact that there is no real cap crunch for the really deep GHL teams only serves to add to it. If I had this same mindset I never would have gotten any of my current 4th line players. A 4th line that is, performance wise, one of the best 4th lines around. I traded better overall players for Stubna, Stang and Reason. I traded those players because they weren't working in the role that I had them filling. I didn't trade for Stubna, Stang and Reason knowing, or even thinking, that they would be as good as they are. I traded for them thinking that they had the skill set to perform good enough on the 4th line for the duration of the contracts that they were on. Meaning that they would fill that role until I let them go and filled their spots with better players. Some of those players were from AI teams. The rest Anders created because the player pool that was generated at the start was strictly to fill the teams meaning that there were no extra players to go around at any level. As I said above though, if managers weren't hoarding players that they didn't need or players that weren't performing for them the FA pool wouldn't be nonexistent. Top end players would still be a rarity, as they should be, but quality 2nd and 3rd line players would be notably more abundant if managers didn't unnecessarily hoard players. This is really going to become a pointed problem in the GHL the further we go because teams with great depth are allowed to keep their rosters due to players not increasing their salary demands enough. It was a serious problem in the past and it will be a problem in the future too if the two faster leagues are any indication.

People just hate those that are good. I am not a Pats fan but you gotta recognize greatness

I hate games like that Paul. I get that they will happen but I still hate them none the less. You did end up getting the consolation of a 1-0 loss rather than a bad blowout.

Alex I don't think your backup is good enough to really be a good backup at the GHL level. He is a really good overall goalie regarding his skill set but 86 reflexes is bad when a lot of the shooters facing you have 95+ shooting. This is because a number of managers resign pretty much everyone on their roster, usually until they get really old, no matter their actual performance. It is, frankly, a stupid practice. If your team has issues why are you going to keep bringing back the same players and the same team and expect something different? If there is an issue with the performance of a player trade them or let them go when their current contract is up. I don't mean to bad mouth Erzac but his team is a prime example. After his S1 championship his team has been struggling to get the results despite the talent. At what point do you stop banging your head against the wall and accept that you need to change up the roster in some way? You don't have to go chasing 'better' overall players to get better results either. If I had his team I would have turned over almost the entire lower half of that roster a season ago because many of them are just playing poorly for whatever reason. Too many managers get too overall focused and also get too locked up in the team that they have. As for your goalie issues, I think it is down to a lack of endurance in both goalies. Your backup is actually playing rather well on the whole. When both goalies have low endurance giving adequate rest for your starter is quite difficult when the backup has an occasional bad game. When my buzzer team was in its second season, down in the IHL, my starter and backup both had low endurance and a chain reaction happened where both goalies ended up yellow tired. Both of them got hurt in the next game that they started. In my opinion, finding a goalie you wouldn't mind splitting starting time with Amick would be the way to go. Try to get a two goalie system where your second goalie has more endurance and can play a few extra games like what I have with Wilcot.

It is funny how each team seems to have their own unique problems and it's relatively consistent over multiple seasons. Probably not an ideal scenario unless you are developing a goalie, but have you considered signing some scrub to play in the affiliate to act as a 2nd backup? When Amick needs a rest, which is often... and I mean OFTEN lmao, I'll recall Loiselle to play backup in case of goalie pull so that Amick doesn't get thrown into the game. Even some 78-79 guy for like 400K. For what it's worth, the last place Alligators beat me earlier this season when they started their 78 overall goalie. It was a glorious moment for both teams.

Brees is a better QB than Brady, simple

TOM BRADY ONLY HAS 6 RINGS. He must suck.

Loved watching Merlin. In fact, have watched it several time through. I find myself going back to watch shows that have already run its course. Currently watching Psych and Monk all over again. CH9

Tom Brady is the goat

Yep, agreed. While clearly not an elite level QB any longer, he is still a player that likely every other team would want leading them.

I agree, but Anders is one dev. Debugging something like this, making changes in code, testing, is not a simple process in such a complex sim. If there was a larger userbase, perhaps he could afford to hire another dev. Or perhaps a fan of the sim is a dev and can volunteer to work on bug fixes or at least QA some work.

Happy you like the game, Zyrok, and good luck to your Huelva team ;)

We like this game as well, it can be voted on here https://gmgames.org/section/football-soccer-management-games/

Only question here is regarding Big Games. What is considered a "big moment"? Playoff games?... games toward end of season?... games against top teams?... 3rd period?... figure it out for myself?...

So I was wondering if, in the future, it would be possible for us to manage our affiliate teams too. It kind of sucks when a free agent or bad player is getting better playing minutes over a prospect that I want to grow. I also think it would make the developing system a little better as if you want to work on a player's defense, you can play them in a more defensive role as opposed the the computer tossing them wherever. I know training is partially available to do this, but being able to make a player more well-rounded in the aspects we want would be cool by setting up and managing affiliate team lines. Also, I saw in a different forum, the idea of adding national teams. To expand on that, having a world cup would be really cool and it would also add something else for us to follow when our team gets eliminated from the playoffs, as there is only so much you could do with scouting and contracts at the end of the season. Just a couple of suggestions. Hope to see these added, but otherwise, I've been liking 2.0 so far

Was pushing this about a year ago for prospect development. One thing that used to baffle me was players would be playing out of position. I'd have top defensemen prospects playing as centers because they were the highest overall on my affiliate while my center prospects were playing wing. As far as I'm aware the only way to improve faceoff rating is by the player taking a high volume of faceoffs. So my centermen would always be left in my affiliate longer because I could get them almost 800 faceoffs in the minors as opposed to only 300 when playing in my bottom six. As for players getting stuck behind bums in your affiliate. If you have the ability to create a second affiliate I'd be sending the older players to the bottom affiliate while having only top prospects on the top affiliate. That allowed my top prospects to all get top 6/top 4 minutes.