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Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury



The Sequel to Football? What's a Football?

Huh?
I really enjoy NCAA 14, but I've tried to come up with ways to make things more interesting: Integrating house rules regarding recruiting, playing in "coach mode" (CPU runs everything, I only call plays), making edits to stats (like in the link above--everyone starts as a 40 OVR with severely nerfed recruiting classes), and generally mucking about as much as I can, since a new NCAA is most likely never going to see the light of day, and IMO, Madden sucks.

So what are you doing here
Another experiment I've done in the past is creating a relegation, euro-soccer style league. If you're unfamiliar with what that is, here's a brief summary:
-Teams that finish at the top of their divisions move up to more difficult, more prestigious leagues
-Teams that finish at the bottom of their divisions move down to less difficult, less prestigious leagues

I've basically taken all of the conferences in NCAA, made them 12-teams leagues (except for two, and I can't completely empty ANY "conference", including independent), and run a Dynasty with teams rising and falling as the seasons go on.

How are you doing this?
The 126 teams are divided up into conferences like so (divisions are simply in alphabetical order as listed in the game to make things easier for me)
  • ACC (League 1)-12 teams
  • American (League 2)-12 teams
  • Big 10 (League 3)-12 teams
  • Big 12 (League 4)-12 teams
  • C-USA (League 5)-12 teams
  • MAC (League 6)-12 teams
  • MWC (League 7)-12 teams
  • Pac-12 (League 8)-12 teams
  • SEC (League 9)-14 teams
  • Sun Belt (League 10)-15 teams
  • Independent-1 team (National Champion)
I THINK I can edit those names in the EA DB editor and have the names show up in-game. It's not something I've experimented with, so I'm not certain. the logos will stay, though, so it might not look great if I do. each conference is split into 2 divisions and I can name those, so if you have ideas there, I'd love to hear them!

Relegation works as follows:
  • The top 3 teams from each division move up one division. "Top teams" is determined by division record. If there's a tie, then overall record is the tiebreaker. If it's still tie, then points for.
  • the bottom 3 teams from each division move down one division. "Bottom teams" is determined by worst division records, with ties broken by worst overall record and least points for.
  • Relegation is determined BEFORE bowl games
  • Teams in Division 1 cannot move up without winning the National Championship, and teams in Division 10 cannot move any lower (I wish I could replace teams that finished at the bottom of Division 10, but I do not have a modded 360, and therefore cannot replace assets that are already in place at the start of a Dynasty)
  • The Independent teams moves into Division 1 if they do not win the National Championship
  • Any team that wins the National Championship automatically becomes the Independent team, regardless of current division placement (based on schedule strength, there PROBABLY won't be a team from the lower divisions playing for that, but weird things happen...)

The roster, current team rankings, and almost all other data will be coming from data logged in the previous dynasty. I managed to dig up a backup from the beginning of a season, and just simmed out a few years. I'll be plugging in those players, recruits, and records here as much as I can, since that will make things more interesting.

What's in it for us?
lovely football, for one...

...but if that isn't your thing, you get to help run the team! Things like naming recruits once they're on our team, picking playbooks, recruiting strategy, contract options--almost any decision I have to make I'll be putting in your hands! I'll be playing the games, but really I'll be listing to y'all as to what to do in almost every other regard, if you have opinions.

You said it was a sequel. What happened to the first thread?
The short version is: Technical problems. I'm pretty sure I have those issues taken care of now, so I'm confident the same thing won't happen again here! (Famous last words)

When do we start?
Season 2 starts Sunday, Oct. 25--you can claim players up 'til the Saturday before. Here are the positions (number will change as spots are claimed)
WR: 2
TE: 1
C: 1
LE: 1
RE: 2 (1 non-starter)
Dt: 3 (1 non-starter)
LB: 4 (2 non-starters)
CB: 2
FS: 1
SS: 1
P: 1

:cabot: :siren: SEASON 1: WELCOME YOUR VERMONT CATAMOUNTS! :siren: :cabot:

:bubblewoop: SEASON 2: EARNING OUR KEEP :bubblewoop:

Preseason recruiting/scheduling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDW6Fld9bA

Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Oct 17, 2020

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Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

MagusofStars posted:

Vermont seems like it would be interesting. Not much of a local recruiting base, but you're at least a reasonably driveable distance to PA/NJ and the DMV, so there's at least a theoretically viable path to improving over time.

I would like to be a punter named Longfoot Starsaria.

Not to be an rear end, but Idaho has a FBS football team in Boise State...and a pretty damned good one too; with more wins in the past decade than everybody not named Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson. Which, tbh might be an interesting challenge since we'd be competing with an existing successful team in a state with limited in-state talent. But per the parameters of "no existing team", I think we need to cross it off the list.

EDIT: I actually didn't see the previous post choosing Vermont before I started writing my post, but apparently great minds think alike. :cheers:

You're not a dick, I'm just stupid for totally forgetting about Boise State :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

I think it's just the name "catamounts" that's getting y'all. :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

I would watch the Vermont Space Laser Beers any chance I get, just to hear people have to say it on commentary.

....I mean, I probably can rename them as the Vermont Space Laser Cats. I can't change the logo, though, so Bears with a.cat logo wouldn't make sense

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

If multiple players be a possibility to claim, then I request an HB by the name of Dennis Mitchell be put in.

I'd like to try and keep it to one per person, but if no one else comes in and wants a running back, I guess I could do it.

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Nick Buntline posted:

Catamount is a great word, so I will also throw a vote to Vermont (just a shame they can't play out of the Catskills). Kruger Dunning also seems like a very appropriate coach for a relegation series.

And let's just go ahead and name the QB Tom Grimalkin. Gotta get the puns going early!

Looks like the QB is already out. I could still fill in the #2 on the depth chart with that (no guarantee of playing time, though), or I could move you to a different spot. I tend to throw to TEs a lot--would that be okay?

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

NiftyBottle posted:

I’ll take a wide receiver called Nick Bort, and if a second winds up being available, someone on the defensive line called Ned Bottcher.

...but now I have to have another guy on the team named Bort to make the joke :v:


Nick Buntline posted:

Sure sure, TE's fine, anything that gets puns on screen as much as possible is good. Apologies for missing the other claim!

No worries. I'll make sure he shows up on the roster--maybe as a WR because I saw upthread a request for TE and I'm trying to get as many starters out there as possible.

EDIT: Just reviewing the thread so far, I have a couple of overlaps, especially at HB/FB positions. I'll do my best in trying to slot people to what y'all have been requesting.

Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Jul 29, 2020

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Well, it looks like the votes are in! We're Vermont, and our coach is Kruger Dunning! I've put all the names into their positions, and I should be able to record over the weekend and post Week 1 by Monday!

I've made some stadium tweaks, and I can control quite a bit about the look of our home field! After the first week, let me know if there's anything I should change. It's not going to look very impressive right now--the Board of Trustees has assured us that they'll build the facilities if we build the program and start bringing in fans(money) to the school :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Here we go! First weeks in the books! :bubblewoop:

Pre-season: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BR7_-dhwmI

Week 1(v. UTSA) and 2(bye): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBzi9DSqGvA

So, give me some feedback! What's good? What's shite (besides my passing ability)?

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

whowhatwhere posted:

My only request at the moment is that you up your voice volume a bit. I'm having a hard time understanding you sometimes, especially when the horns come in loud during the scouting segments.

I will make sure that is better balanced next time! Some minor tweaks in my mic's volume should take care of it.

BraveLittleToaster posted:

That's a good first game to start out on.The team's functioning swimmingly, and only two injuries. Surely it can only be uphill from here!

Famous last words...

NiftyBottle posted:

That was a nice catch at the ankles from Bort.

He had a good game. During my practice no one could catch anything, so I was okay with the end results in the air.

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Week 3 sees us roll into Texas Tech's home turf. I kinda dig their stadium, especially the logo-shaped scoreboard! :v:

Anyway, get wrecked, tech! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2cxFPuL1I

What do you guys think of the team so far? Any things you'd like me to change/alter?

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

The team looks nice. And Fletcher is really putting in that good work these first few games.

drat right he is! I think he's the fastest guy on the team, too.

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

grill youre saelf posted:

Things are looking good this season. I'm ready for Ed Pazong to take the Heisman! I'm predicting an undefeated season

Undefeated, maybe. I think we might be a ways off for a Heisman right now.


mercenarynuker posted:

It physically hurts to see WMU getting dragged in the Trash Division. But gently caress yeah Space Laser Beers! Maybe they'll even wind up ranked like really low at some point!

Possibly! The game looks at things weird in terms of rankings, so who knows?

Anyway, another game up! This one v. Utah State in more Trash Division action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXzfpoRK2tM

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

The defense on our team doesn't seem to have very good reaction times. And they're thwarted by the opponents' offense regularly swapping around plays.

Well, the problem lies in running the defense itself. If a team has guys with speed (where a lot of my defense doesn't), then I have to try and play some more to not get torched on 1 v. 1 matchups. If I drop to zone, the CPU can run certain routes that put receivers either in the spac s between zones (slants for example), or just overload one side of the field. I'm still working on adjusting, as I am not good playing defense. Maybe changing the d playbook might help in different personnel and matchups.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

finally watched the preseason video (oops) and goddamn it a catamount is a cougar!!!!

Who are we?
The wildcats!
Who are we gonna beat?
The wildcats!

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

So apparently there were some encoding errors on the latest video where the intro was kinda screwed up and the commentary got phased back because of it. I've salvaged 99% of the vid and re-did the cuts. I'll leave both up for posterity's sake (the old one will go unlisted), but here's the new link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld26cnxCB9o

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

...and we're back with another home game! Lots of claws as the Wildcats take on the Wildcats! :v:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy0Vbtr9Ae0

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

Well, the defense got flattened a little less badly this time around! And Fletcher's still making those big returns.

At least Bottowski gets plenty of chances to kick balls around.

Things are getting tougher here with a few of these teams. I need to keep making adjustments so that I can hopefully better defend the pass.

That game wasn't great, but a win's a win

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

....and Week 7 is in the books! We play Tulsa and their 6th-ranked passing offense! Can we figure them out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-QSjkbwQc

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

Turns out, couldn't figure them out. Mostly because they couldn't figure their own plays out.

And Fletcher is still the best offensive defensive player around, will he continue his hot streak?

I'll just repeat what I said on the video I'm absolutely mystified by Tulsa just refusing to actually throw passes. Maybe they had a fluke game with 54 attempts, but that probably doesn't account for the high average. Maybe they keyed in to early success running and just...never adjusted? I'm not sure how dynamic the AI is. It's not like I'm playing on easy stuff either--its Hiesman difficulty using OperationsSports' community sliders with the only change being quarter length I think (games are already long enough). So, yeah...an absolute drubbing to a team that should've put up WAAAAAAAAAAY more points than 6

Since Fletcher is the fastest guy on our team, he'll continue to be the return man until someone pulverizes his spleen on a kickoff. :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

Maybe the black helmets that keep showing up are a good luck charm.

Could be...but where'd it come from? And why are they wearing it around the sidelines?

Theories, people! :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

...and the next game is in the books! Week 8 vs. the Iowa State Cyclones!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBHuvEra5tc

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

That was a floppy first quarter, for sure. Like everyone on both sides woke up on the wrong side of the bed simultaneously and went to play ball.

At least the Special Teams are scoring points as good as ever.

Well, there's a bit of role reversal in Week 9's match-up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPo98OdI58I

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Livewire42 posted:

Given your Heisman hype and how much you've been stomping the competition; how much long until the Catamounts are nationally ranked?

I dunno. Probably not this year would be my guess. I might have an undefeated season, but my schedule strength is an F, so I don't see it happening.

Such is the price you pay for being in the trash division! :v: (also recruiting problems, but that's a different story)

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

The trash division can't contain the Catamounts for long, surely.

It's a lock, more or less, at this point!

...and here's our next game against Kent State!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGhqfiLRgPI

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

whowhatwhere posted:

So obviously this team is far better than its division, but I'm not sure how much of that is your play and how much your team. Are the team stats just as good as everyone else in the division or did you luck out a bit?

Statistically speaking, our team is on par with the top teams in the division. I nerfed the TeamBuilder school's original stats by a bit to bring them more in line. Honestly, I should've probably tweaked them more, as we ended up better than most (EDIT: all) teams in the Trash Division. We should definitely start hitting roadblocks in the future, as we move up divisions and hit teams that have performed better and better. I might mess with some slider settings after this season to make things a little more challenging.

I mean, if we really want to screw around with starting me from the absolute bottom we could find the lowest overall (Tulane, I think) that offers us a contract and take it once this season ends. I'll leave that discussion to the thread, and a little later in the season--probably once we get to the conference championship.

I think some of it is my playstyle, too. I'm perfectly okay with eschewing big plays for more guaranteed yardage, and running the ball more than passing. I have been trying to get more throwing yards simply as a practice mechanism for when things get tougher.

Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Aug 29, 2020

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Livewire42 posted:

Daniels on every play. Run up the score. Get that Heisman.

Well...we'll see. I thought about doing a run-only playbook for this one, but decided against it.

Anyway, here's week 11!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9veZLIk-uSA

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

Not sure why there's such a frequency of yellow flags during our kickoff and punt returns, but another win for the Catamounts!

Skill, really. The crappier the players, the more likely they get called for clipping. Not sure what rating that specifically it applies to, but there's absolutely a correlation.

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

whowhatwhere posted:

It might partially be that Duck is pushing harder for big returns than the other teams are, which would lead the AI blockers to try and help out as things go unexpectedly, while almost every AI kick/punt return is a fairly normal 15-30 yard run. Like, the flags rarely happen when Duck is running for a small gain.

It's all about angles. Trying to make sweeps leads to my guys being behind some players, which then then block and get flagged for. Their stats seems to correlate to how often they get flagged for it.

If I just tried to wrecking-ball the return, I might get the occasional flag, but then I wouldn't get any return touchdowns :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

whowhatwhere posted:

Wait, so it's possible they're still blocking illegally and are just better at getting away with it?

Since this game uses canned animations for player interactions, it's a matter of when those animations get triggered. A good example is one of the "tackle w/ face mask" animation that you may have seen. The thing is that is doesn't always get flagged...that has some to do with the sliders, but I'm pretty sure that it also has to do with player stats, since putting the sliders up to 100 doesn't always translate to it being called every single time.

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

This one feels a bit Phyrric to me...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GYcRN6qtgw

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Our season is winding down, and here we are at Senior Day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjLgluYSY7Y

We have 3 games left on our schedule:
-Away game vs .....I actually forget who our last away game is against :v:
-Conference championship
-Some Bowl game

There are a few things that we need to decide leading into next season:
1.) Do we stay? Do we go to another team that offers us a contract?
2.) I have ideas on how to redesign the stadium, but one thing I learned before our first home game is how to edit the text in the end zones. I changed it to "Catamounts" and left it there all season. Should we go with something else? I might toy with the field, but the old-school goal posts are staying :v:
3.) Playbooks? Should we stay with what we have? Should we create our own again (offensive and defensive are negotiable)

There are a few other things that I'd like some opinions, on if you're willing to give the
1.) I don't feel I nerfed the team enough once we started. Should I nerf our players some more to make things harder?
2.) I'm thinking of going to Twitch with this instead of just doing straight recordings. There are a few reasons for this (more direct and immediate feedback from y'all, no editing required on my part--which is a big plus for me :v:), but the biggest reason is to have you guys take a more direct role in the team.

Yes, I'm proposing (essentially) Twitch plays Football. Chat calls the plays, I run 'em. Or, chat calls the plays and the CPU runs them (to make it extra hard). Opinions on that from anyone? If most of the regulars here absolutely hate the idea, I'll stick with my regular recordings.

So, there's lots to think about, and it'll be until next week that I have a new episode up. Please give me your thoughts on this stuff. If I'm not getting anything back, I'll just make decisions myself and that may not be a way you want to go, and I'd hate for anyone to feel out in the cold on this.

Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Sep 7, 2020

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

That was one good home game to have, classic ol' stomp match.

I elect to stay with the Catamounts, they've only just started growing, after all. The playbooks we have seem to work too, why not stick to them?

Do you have to nerf the team itself? Any option to buff the AI teams? I shudder to think how much worse the constant clipping penalties could get.

I could try and muck with other teams...I would need to boost everyone, then filter and subtract from our team. I think it would be easier to just bump people down a bit on our roster.

Yeah, we'll still get called for clipping, but it just makes things more interesting :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

stay with UVM and also derate the team a bit

I was thinking about just a little knockdown to keep things more competitive.


NiftyBottle posted:

Twitch could be fun. Staying with the team sounds good, it'd feel weird not to benefit from the recruiting we worked on. I have no real opinions on anything else.

Of course, I like the idea of streaming, especially since it makes participation and feedback more immediate. I can't think of how to make you guys more directly involved with the team than taking up the OC and DC jobs :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

whowhatwhere posted:

I am curious, what division would you put the current iteration of the team at? I'm definitely fine with weakening us a bit, but it would be nice to know if we're one division away from being competitive or like five.

Well, the relegation rules say the top three move to the next division up, so we'd be in Division IX next season. I'm not looking to take a giant axe to ratings, but a few nudges down just to make games a little more competitive, and make me work for wins a little more.

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_eGeEz1H8

Here's our last regular season game! All that's left is the Conference Championship and a Bowl game!

...as far as where we might be headed....well, just see for yourself! :v:

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

A little delayed, but here we play to be the THE KING OF TRASH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1gizH34ueY

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

HereticMIND posted:

Wait, if I’m interpreting the ranking system correctly, if we win the BCS Championship, we go Independent?

That’s a...that’s a big step up.

That would be correct!

....and it might be more than we're ready for, but we'll see if that happens. Gotta beat Navy first!

e: Honestly, in every other one of these leagues I've tried, I've never ended up in a position where, in the trash division, my team was #1 or #2, and this was with standard rosters playing as UMass and other really just not good teams. You figure that schedule strength would hold off a team like that, but I guess that doesn't apply when everything is in chaos from using the 40 OVR rosters after simming out a few more seasons to get pretty much all of the 40 OVRs off of the teams.

Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Sep 25, 2020

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

Sorry for being behind, but here it is: THE QUEST FOR THE CRYSTAL FOOTBALL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoKSOCORKCo


This took entirely too long to record! Our win borked just about the entire relegation system, and our win with BYU's movement out of the independents forced me to move 4 from most divisions, something I wasn't actually prepared for. In retrospect, I could've just altered the moves in the top, but what fun is simplicity? :v:

I think I'm going to maintain the current recording schedule going forward, but I want to look into a "twitch plays football" type of thing, but I might need to have someone being my "oordinator" calling off the plays from the chat, or some widget that allows for compiling a list of called plays outside of any chatroom banter.

When I take care of the preseason video, I'll be posting for player claims and also making my edits to the stadium for our performance. The Board of Trustees better not screw us on this..

Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

BraveLittleToaster posted:

That was a close game of footyball, the Catas got it cinched though, cinched good and proper. They deserve that arena buff.

Here's hoping they don't get slaughtered next season! It won't be so bad under the careful guidance of Kruger Dunning, right?

We shall see!

Just a reminder for everyone: I will be putting out the claim-a-player requests soon. I haven't had a chance to record the pre-season episode yet that will get into all of the post-season stuff that I had to cut because...well, I wasn't prepared for how much a trash division team really borked everything :v: I'll explain on the video once its done.

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Professor Duck
Sep 28, 2018

Curling Injury

So, after a little bit of a hiatus there, we're back! I have the preseason video all ready for y'all! We're taking a big gamble this year!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDW6Fld9bA

Also, there's the matter of claiming players. There weren't too many offensive pickups, but there's plenty to choose from if you want to be on the team!
Here are the "rookies" (there's one JUCO in the bunch) that you can pick from. Give me a position and a name, at minimum. If you want a specific number, or some physical changes, I can do that, too!

WR: 2
TE: 1

C: 1
LE: 1
RE: 2 (1 non-starter)
DT: 3 (1 non-starter)
LB: 4 (2 non-starters)
CB: 2
FS: 1
SS: 1
P: 1

Make claims by next Saturday, and I should be back to my normal Sunday recording schedule for games. Stay tuned for our first home game in our newly renovated stadium :v:

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