Paul T

A rare shootout win. I'll take it.

This isn't meant as a complaint... just a general comment in that I am going to be absolutely ECSTATIC when my team can use its strong winner instinct and finally win a 1-goal game!! In games where the score is decided by 2 or more goals, the Def Leppards are 12-0. One goal games... 0-4. C'mon boys, get it done!

Actually, turns out it was upset week in BHL. This is just crazy!

I try not to get too salty after losses because I love the parity, but holy shit! How did I lose this one?

/\ This! I haven't looked at the trade that sparked this debate, so don't have an opinion on that, but I see both sides of the CPU trading debate. It is frustrating when other players exploit the CPU via trade. Hell, I've seen a few trades between two managers that were questionable. When I joined in S9, I didn't realize you could trade with CPU teams until I saw a few managers do it toward the end of S10. Then I made a few trades myself in S11 (I thought they were fair). Especially when a few teams went after a player who I had shortlisted, so I thought it was fair game and didn't want to miss my opportunity. We all want to gain an advantage/win, but at the same time, we want to keep the game fun and fair. I have read quite a few old posts around this topic and feel like these arguments could go on forever. Also, CPU trading hasn't been banned yet and per Anders, it will remain part of the game (I agree, it should). So what is the solution? I should first say that in my experience, trading with the CPU wasn't easy. I gave up a lot and had to make sure my own assistant felt the trade was lopsided the other way. That's not to say that it can't still be exploited... it definitely can. But from what I've read and my own experience, the system has improved. So what can we do to suggest further improvements (if any are even needed) to keep the game fair, but also keep that level of competitiveness? One suggestion would be that CPU teams do not give up picks or prospects. The draft pick system can be exploited, especially if you get one from a team who is ready to promote. Also, if a team doesn't have a manager, a future manager wouldn't be as concerned with current success as it would with future success. So trading picks or prospects to a CPU team for a better player makes sense, but giving up picks/prospects does not. A good example of this was the SHL Rhinos last season (now Chattanooga Kings in Biscuit). Many teams gave them picks and prospects for established players. I remember thinking this team was set up good for the future and now with a new manager, they are crushing it. Another suggestion would be to lock a team from trading for a certain period after a manager resigns (say 5-10 days). At the very least, it would give all other managers time to prepare their CPU trades, rather than have certain managers go at it right away.

Yeah, I thought that was kind of cool as well. Also what a change from S11. Last season the Italians would have been an average BHL team. This season, a dominant BHL team and competitive SHL team - with the addition of 18 year old C Marco Ilan 88 OVR and 18 year old F Federico Poli 83 OVR. If Italy can keep producing young talent at that rate, another 15-20 more years and we will be challenging the Canadians and Americans for world champion.

This is related to the National Teams thread from S11: http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/8229-s11-national-teams/ I figured I would keep this updated in case national teams are ever introduced to the game. Dibs on Italy. This is updated for S12. Update for Season 13 below.

Do "Concerned" players perform worse? I apologize if this has already been answered somewhere, but after searching the forums, I couldn't find an answer to this exact question. It is noted that "Frustrated" players perform worse. Just wondering if a player being concerned has a negative impact on game performance. I will add that a "Concerned" player led my team in scoring last season, and he wasn't my highest rated player... so based on that small sample... I think the answer is no, and I'm hoping the answer is no. Thanks, Paul

rainsilent, you are right. I was simply providing data without actually digging deep into it. I hope no one thinks I am trying to prove solid conclusions with my data. That's why I add comments like "(in my own mind)" and stated you probably know much more than I do. Still, I like to provide facts where I can and offer opinions on certain subjects, even if they aren't solid facts. If others have facts to either support or reject my data, then great. While I'm at it, I don't actually think that the goalies being Tough were the main factor for the upsets. I hope everyone was able to see the sarcastic humor in my comment. I actually made this comment to bouncer a few weeks ago. This doesn't really relate to the "traits" topic, but I have noticed (with both my team and a few others) that teams perform a bit worse immediately after trades. Teams appear to "slip up" for a week or two after a trade, then get back to form. This probably has something to do with the player's confidence not being full, or possibly another factor - and could support my opinion in my original post that a team's Confidence & Teamwork are more important than Winner Instinct. Again, this is mere opinion based on observations and not solid fact to say that is how the game is coded. Probably a discussion for another thread.

Odd, major-underdog, upsets in Season 11. SHL Tomahawks over GHL Trojans. GHL finals and semi-finals with Marauders beating Vandals/Protons. What do the Marauders and Tomahawks goalies have in common? They are both TOUGH. I think I'm onto something... (goes out and signs all tough players regardless of skills...)

My team was 10-6 in games decided by two or fewer goals (excluding OT/SO). 4-2 in games decided by 1 goal (excluding OT/SO). In shootouts we were 1-4. Compared to my overall record, my Strong winner's instinct didn't really help me in the closer games, so the jury is still out on it's supposed impact (at least in my mind). In games decided by 5 or more goals I was 17-0. But you have much more experience with this game than I, so I'll take your word for it. I am from Boston and the team I grew up watching was the "Big Bad Bruins". Of course I want my team to play like that! That being said, my top point scorer over the past two seasons was "Tough". He is only a 79 OVR and I have a few players in the 80's with better offensive abilities. I have also noticed a few other players who are Tough/Agitator getting better game results than the Gentle dudes. Again, I could be making false assumptions based on my own team's results... but I'm OK with that until I realize otherwise. When I lose, I'll just blame the refs like Canadiens fans... Agreed. Like I said, I'm very curious about all of this, but think it's better left to be figured out on our own.

I am curious about traits as well, but part of me also likes the mystery and having to figure it out. I'm torn 50/50 on whether or not I'd like Anders to tell us what the hell is going on but on second thought, I'm leaning towards the mystery/having to figure it out. From personal experience, below are my thoughts on each trait. Some might agree, some might disagree, but it is what I have seen with my team. EGO - haven't noticed much in terms of in game results for specific players, but Ego affects Teamwork as a whole. My team performs MUCH better when my Teamwork bar is green (and Teamwork/Confidence is more important than Winner Instinct - at least for my team, maybe not for others). DIRTY - I prefer Tough/Agitator players, but that's partly because of my preference in real life (I love players like Wayne Simmonds, Lucic, Gudas, Marchand, etc). I have noticed that my Tough players perform better, but also take more penalties, so it's a double-edged sword - but that could all depend on your tactics as well. On the flip side, taking more penalties cost me a few games this year, but I'll take my chances. LEADERSHIP - I don't care about this at all, other than picking captains. BIG GAMES - I have noticed a "slight" upgrade in performance from Determined to Nervous players. i.e. Assuming the players are similar, I would probably take an 80 OVR Determined player over an 81 OVR Nervous players, but maybe not an 82 OVR Nervous player. I'd rather have the skill when it is multiple notches higher. Big Games is more noticeable for team's Winner Instinct... but I still haven't figured out when Winner Instinct is that important. AMBITION - Here is where I may disagree with most. Two of my players who improve the most are Lazy - more-so than my Ambitious and Enthusiastic players. So I am either getting extremely lucky with my Lazy players, or completely screwed with my Ambitious players. Right now I don't value this trait at all, other than the thought that it might change in a future release.

Alright! I made it through the BHL playoffs this year. I'm looking forward to seeing how my team stacks up with an SHL team. On paper I look like an extreme underdog. And I'm not sure whether I should be bummed out that my 2nd line Center is injured another 4 games and will miss the remainder of the playoffs, or excited that I only have 1 major injury at this point.

Love it! Maybe a 16-team single elimination tournament that runs simultaneously with the playoffs. NT managers are limited to choosing players who are NOT playing in their team's playoffs. Or the other option is to run it during "Silly Season" and all players are eligible. Checking through the top players, the following 16 countries could field teams. Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Rep, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine, Denmark, Austria, Latvia, Belarus (OK, that's 17...) How to convince Anders \/ \/ \/ http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/8062-want-to-support-the-game/

Do you have an example of the wording? I started looking into the post game comments around team tactics this season to try and make sense of a lot of things. I even changed a bunch of tactics/lines from game to game and had other managers send me what it said about my team to see where it was different. I think I had most of it figured out, but then put my research on the back burner (busy job, wife, 3 kids sometimes demand priority ). I'll pick it up again shortly.

Alright! Cool to see my boy Kantarik represent the Leopards and BHL.

Amazing idea for a post! Love this type of stuff. Although I am from the United States, I am of 100% Italian descent. Therefore I have put a team full of Italians together. Forza Azzurri! And even though we would probably get relegated to IHL by mid-season, we have the most beautifully sounding team. CENTER Federico Lavezzi - 33 yo - 83 OVR - L (Vandals GHL) Salvatore Zanetti - 24 yo - 79 OVR - L (Grizzlies GHL) Alberto Edu - 24 yo - 78 OVR - L (Guardians SHL) Laurent Diego Alves - 27 yo - 77 OVR - R (Broncos BHL) FORWARD Cesare Scoppa - 36 yo - 83 OVR - R (Wolf Pack GHL) Giampaolo Mingazzini - 32 yo - 81 OVR - L (RUHL) Ivan Caggiano - 27 yo - 78 OVR - R (Eagles BHL) Fabio Chris - 24 yo - 78 OVR - L (Union SHL) Moussa Gastaldello - 36 yo - 77 OVR - L (Mohawks SHL) Trevor Trotta - 24 yo - 77 OVR - R (Thunder Cats SHL) Marco Bellusci - 21 yo - 76 OVR - L (Minutemen GHL) Felice Curci - 27 yo - 75 OVR - L (CHHL) DEFENSE Davis Bonanni - 35 yo - 87 OVR - R (Breakouts GHL) Federico Pozzi - 23 yo - 81 OVR - L (Thunder Cats SHL) Simone Stefanutto - 30 yo - 79 OVR - L (CHHL) Leandro Gi Gennaro - 23 yo - 77 OVR - R (Union SHL) Mathieu Lorenzetti - 27 yo - 73 OVR - R (CZHL) Daniele Ustari - 20 yo - 72 OVR - L (Battlin Bears IHL) GOALIE Alessio Floccari - 32 yo - 86 OVR - L (Mohawks SHL) Maximiliano Riso - 37 yo - 80 OVR - L (CHHL) Leandro De Muner - 28 yo - 80 OVR - L (Eagles BHL) * I realize I did not follow the 6-10-8-3 roster format, but I could only click through so many pages to field a full team. Ha!

Nice. I must have missed that earlier. Congrats! As a follow up to my post above, the Highland Troopers ended up breaking the BHL record with 158 points. Congrats to Ozzy. I ended up with the 3rd highest point total in Biscuit this season. Unfortunately the top 2 teams were also in BHL, so I'll have to try and promote via playoffs.

If he was assigned, then only 10% of his salary counted towards your cap for next year. If you cut a player, 50% of their cap counts towards your cap next year. For this reason, it makes more sense to keep a player in the minors (if possible) vs. cutting them.

With 11 games remaining in S11, the Biscuit single season team points record is on watch for two separate leagues. GHL The Protons currently have 128 points and are looking to break their own single season record of 150 points set in S7. (potential points 161) BHL The record of 153 points is currently shared by two teams - Grizzlies in S1 and Rhinos in S6. The Panthers currently have 131 points and have won 31 of their last 32 games. (potential points 164) The Troopers currently have 128 points and are not far behind. (potential points 161) /\ /\ And if it wasn't for those two Sons of B's, I would be feeling pretty confident about promotion right about now.

Haha... I was thinking that. But then I realized that guys who were able to play a full 60 games last season are suffering long term injuries this year. Sorry to keep posting the injuries in this thread. I just checked my play by play from last game and to add insult to injury, my player was injured with 30 seconds left in the game... and below are the sequence of events... wins faceoff/gets hurt/takes shot/game over.

The only players I have ever seen tired are 2 of my defensemen who play both ways on PP/PK (and my goalie of course), but even that is rare. I have my lines spread out fairly evenly. When they appear tired, I decrease training and lower their playing time. Oddly enough, my 1 player who gets tired the most has not been injured yet this year (jinx, crosses fingers, caresses lucky rabbit foot and holds breath...). A few weeks ago I had lowered all my training to Easy and Medium, but the injuries kept comin'. I don't want to give out my play style secrets but I rotate this based on opponent. I can honestly say that I play Hard very rarely and have only played Dirty once last season (I'm not a jerk... ha!).

Day 53: 3rd line C, out 3 games Dude....

Day 52: 2nd line F, out day to day

I'm sure it is already common knowledge that teams get a boost when playing at home. I decided to do some quick research into how much of an advantage the home crowd gives their team. I know there are many variables that could affect this such as injuries, starting goalies, etc - but my results seemed directionally consistent. First, I took a look at home winning percentages for all GHL, SHL & BHL teams. For the purpose of a percentage, I considered OT/SO win a win and OT/SO loss a loss. The average home record and win percentages are below. GHL: 11 - 2 - 2 - 8 = 56% SHL: 12 - 2 - 1 - 7 = 63% BHL: 12 - 1 - 1 - 9 = 56% Second, I took a look at my own team's history to determine how my home record compared to my overall record. For example, my Win % this year is 80%. My home Win & is 83%. An advantage of 3%. Last year, my Win % was 72% and my home Win % was 83%. An advantage of 11%. When averaged out from Season 1 - 11, my average home ice advantage was 6%. This falls in line with the GHL/BHL results above where home ice seems to add a 6% advantage. SHL seems to be the outlier. Finally, I tallied all goals scored in BHL this year (I did BHL since that's the league I'm in). On average, the home team is scoring 3.8 goals per game, while the visiting team is scoring 3.3 goals per game. The home team is scoring 53% of the goals. I did the same for GHL and the results were 2.66 Home for 2.27 Away. The home team is scoring 54% of the goals. These numbers seem a bit lower than the first two sets of results. For now, until I have a chance to do more research and understanding that there are many variables that could sway these numbers, I will conclude that the home team gains a roughly 5% advantage.