TBCB - No Role Playing Mode

[Axxon]

but...

This is what I have accomplished in a couple of hours work.

1. Ran every active fighter ( male ) through the autoscheduler which thankfully doesn't seem to try and even out the fights. If this is a bug then it's a great one. :)

I was aiming for ~ 15 fights as my target and looking at the middleweights I see the spread from 23 fights down to one guy with six with a nice spread in between. It really looks like a seeded universe.

2. Picked four fighters to manage the careers of. Moved them into the Axxon Group which removes them from the autoscheduler and also makes it easier for me to look at my guys.

3. Kick off the new year by deciding the fights I'm going to book my fighters to fight and remove them from the autoscheduler.

4. Since I have zero titles I will remove the top four guys from every weight class so they can enter a mini tourney for the WBA belt.

5. Autoschedule everybody else for a bout or not.

6. Run the tourneys then put the losers back in the auto pile. Titleholders I move to the title holders group so I can use that group to autoschedule title defenses as I desire.

7. Fight my own fight cards with my guys.

8. Observe and reflect on the month before deciding who I'll take on in February.

I also considered playing the game as an arena owner or two and just booking fight cards and autoscheduling the rest of the worlds fights.

Either way sounds fun and the main thing missing is the computer either accepting or declining my offers but I feel I set up fair ones so it's only a minor disappointment. Point is, if the autoscheduler holds up to its initial performance I will definitely be playing in a vibrant world where my boxers aren't the end all be all of the universe and it is flexible.

You can even set maximum rating differentials to more even out fights and even hand choose your guys individually and the computer will choose your opponent for you. Want to face a ranked southpaw slugger who is within 3 rating points of you? The autoscheduler can do that too.

Color me impressed. It took a while as the interface isn't as intuitive as I'd like but they weren't lying when they said the thing was ready for more than replay. It's damn close to role playing.

This is my early ( very early ) opinion and does show a few things I've already done. Hope this helps some guys decide if they might want to try the game.

Heh, that last bit about autoscheduling my fighters opponents is exactly what I'll do from now on. :) I'll try and figure what will give them the best ranking bumps and put the word out to those kinds of fighters and see who bites.

[Subby]

Thanks, Axxon - that sounds promising.

[Axxon]

I really don't know where this is going but I see a 6-18-1 fighter is ranked second in the featherweight division of the WBA.

[edit lots of informative but redundant observation]

Rankings are off. WBA is at least and I was only checking to try and compare results with guys who were checking WBC results. This needs fixing but isn't a gamebreaker.

Well, actually it could be if it overly influences the autoscheduler. So far I don't have even an observation on this.

[Axxon]

Oops, had that wrong. I was looking at the WBC. Scratch one negative test for the moment. Sorry.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Axxon -- thanks very much for the post, this is exactly the sort of thing I'm interested in reading about TBCB.

A question or two, if you don't mind.

If I'm reading you correctly, you can create "groups" with custom definitions, which removes them from any autoscheduling of fights.
So then I could, let's say, create a group that includes the top 15 contenders (in each weight class) and have all the non-contenders fight via auto-schedulers, with me settting the fights among all contenders?

Also, in the same area, is it both possible and easy to reassign fighters in & out of groups?

Next question, re: rankings -- I gather that there's several sets of rankings (WBA, WBC,etc), which presumably use slightly different criteria. Is there an option to create "custom rankings"; i.e. a "Jon ranking"? And is there adequate flexibility about which rankings you consider/disregard; i.e. I could simply ignore completely the WBC rankings which seem to have problems right now.



playing in a vibrant world where my boxers aren't the end all be all of the universe and it is flexible.

By jove, I believe you just hit on a great definition of exactly how I want to play -- I want a universe that's dynamic, with my involvement being at the level of the universe as a whole, not at the level of individual fighters/group of fighters.

I'm at least encouraged by what you've posted so far, a little more encouragement & I might have to spend a few bucks sooner than I expected.

Thanks again,
Jon

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dola - I forgot a question

Could you comment on the ability to and ease of
-- editing fighters ratings (this is about the mechanics of doing something like bumping rtgs up or down a point, not about the "formula" for rating them)

-- creating new fighters (I saw last night where someone was having problems with that)

-- getting new fighters to fit properly in the existing universe (in other words, are they relatively easy to develop ratings for)

All of this relates to my hope for a universe where fighters could improve/decline with age, maybe change weight classes over time, etc.

If this is a pretty manageable aspect of the game, I'm thinking the sort of "role-playing" I'm interested in (basically universe-level dynasty, not individual-fighter level dynasty) might just be very doable.

[Bee]

You can try the game for 7 days before making a purchase decision. I plan on giving it a look tonight. I can deal with the WBC rankings since I'm sure it will be fixed in the future.

My concern is that a "career" will lack good flow. New boxers coming in, older ones retiring, automatic aging, the overall peaks and valleys of a boxer's career, etc.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally posted by Bee
My concern is that a "career" will lack good flow. New boxers coming in, older ones retiring, automatic aging, the overall peaks and valleys of a boxer's career, etc.

That's my worry too, or at least high among them.

Which is why I'm hoping the editing of boxer files potential is high and relatively easy (beyond the sheer volume of fighters at least).

I figure I've been doing enough tabletop gaming (or Excel variants of tt) lately that needing a system for manually adjusting fighters isn't a dealbreaker for me.

[Axxon]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA
Axxon -- thanks very much for the post, this is exactly the sort of thing I'm interested in reading about TBCB.

A question or two, if you don't mind.

If I'm reading you correctly, you can create "groups" with custom definitions, which removes them from any autoscheduling of fights.
So then I could, let's say, create a group that includes the top 15 contenders (in each weight class) and have all the non-contenders fight via auto-schedulers, with me settting the fights among all contenders?

Yes, I mean just that.


Also, in the same area, is it both possible and easy to reassign fighters in & out of groups?

Clunky but easy. Could be done better but it works and it's not that bad.


Next question, re: rankings -- I gather that there's several sets of rankings (WBA, WBC,etc), which presumably use slightly different criteria. Is there an option to create "custom rankings"; i.e. a "Jon ranking"? And is there adequate flexibility about which rankings you consider/disregard; i.e. I could simply ignore completely the WBC rankings which seem to have problems right now.


I'm pretty sure you can add your own but I haven't tried. I'll let you know later.

The rankings really do seem skewed but the variety of included rankers and the true uncertainty of boxing makes this more amusing than important. That is, of course, if you don't rely on ranking in the autoscheduler. Still, I will use it to add spice and controversy to my league.

By jove, I believe you just hit on a great definition of exactly how I want to play -- I want a universe that's dynamic, with my involvement being at the level of the universe as a whole, not at the level of individual fighters/group of fighters.

This game covers that pretty well but you really have to make it do so. It takes a few minutes but it does do it well. The ability to view yourself as an arena booker for example isn't implicitly catered to but with imagination it really can work well.


I'm at least encouraged by what you've posted so far, a little more encouragement & I might have to spend a few bucks sooner than I expected.

Thanks. I really hate posting first impressions but I'm really not reviewing how well it does what it does rather I'm giving examples on how flexible the current build is and it's flexible. So must be the human player to appreciate it I feel.

I'll post more impressions as I get them. One really stupid thing I like is that you can toggle out of the game when it's simming and it will throw up an html window when it's done giving the sim results.

I really don't need the window but it is nice as it alerts me when to toggle back to the game. This is minor but really nice.




Thanks again,
Jon [/]

It's a pleasure,

Ed

[Axxon]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA
That's my worry too, or at least high among them.

Which is why I'm hoping the editing of boxer files potential is high and relatively easy (beyond the sheer volume of fighters at least).

I figure I've been doing enough tabletop gaming (or Excel variants of tt) lately that needing a system for manually adjusting fighters isn't a dealbreaker for me.

The volume is the problem. The editing is pretty straightforward. I know the game comes with the fighters prerated for their career stage. I'm not sure if the game advances that career stage automatically or not. I'm guessing it doesn't. Guessing pretty highly in fact but still a guess.

Once it does this though look out!!!

But to answer your question yes, right now if you don't mind the legwork the game makes the actual entry easy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thanks again Axxon, it's sounds like what I'm wanting is at least feasible.

Perhaps if I limit my focus to a small number of weight classes & therefore fights, it's even manageable.

Above all else though, I agree with you -- once the things I'm talking about become automatic (as they presumably would on the next generation), watch out this suddenly looks like major major long-term playability and strong immersion.

[Bee]

Hopefully this version sells enough to make the next version possible. That's probably my biggest motivation to buy the game. I really want to see the next version with all the features that have been discussed previously.

[sabotai]

The rankings need work, but I do not think the Auto-Scheduler uses the Title rankings if you assign a value to Min Rank and Max Rank. There is an overall ranking that you see listed next to a fighter's name in the list box on the Fighter Screen. I bet the Auto-Scheduler uses that.

You can create you own titles, but you can't set any parameters for the rankings.

Everything (Fighter, Referees, etc) are very easy to edit, because the Edit fuctions (arrow buttons to increase or decrease an attribute) are right there on the screen. You don't have to open an Edit dialog or anything (except for a few things)

There is no automatic fighter progrssion. You have to do it yourself. So people who want a "living universe" would probably want to stick to just a few divisions to not get bogged down if you want to change fighter's attributes.

[Bee]

What's really sad is this is probably the best career boxing sim out there and it doesn't actually have "career" play. :D

[sabotai]

:D

[FloridaFringe]

Excellent information. Thanks for the insights.

I really like how this sim offers many possibilities that appear to be limited only by your own motivation. This was evident to me right off the bat and not much time was needed in order to get my imagination going. It can probably be acquainted to having a boxing toolbox. I think that the trick to unleashing its full potential may be in taking the time to learn all of the ins and outs concerning how to use each tool. Once that is accomplished then everything else down the road will simply be icing on the cake.

Starting small and working yourself into a nice rhythm may be the best bet. The sim allows the ability to expand your surroundings at any given time, as you deem necessary. Think locally and work a couple of sanctioned bodies into a larger scale over the course of time. Or focus among a few select weight divisions and then expand to include more at a later date. Either way, get yourself setup in a minimalist view and work outward from there.

Should be fun.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting to discover that , as of last night at least, the current download no longer includes a demo.

Markus posted something or other along the lines of "we usually don't put out demos until at least the first patch. The first release including a demo was just a mistake".

That's fine I suppose, but pretty much cools my interest TFN.