EHM: Revisited

[Swaggs]

Has anyone played any type of long term career in EHM?

I had just started a new career in TCY, using UNLV and cheating out of my ass to get good. I had just begun to turn the corner in year 4, having gone 11-2, with no sanctions so far. I was preparing to become a powerhouse with my first fully recruited team and then the new patch came out and I started over and couldn't get back into it.

Now, after reading a couple of our dynasties, I'm thinking it might be time to light EHM back up and build the Penguins back to their glory days (with the possible help of Sidney Crosby :) ).

To the people that are playing, how many seasons have you been able to play? Is it fun or tedious? Do you feel like the moves you are making are impacting the team?

When I first played, I was completely enthralled in the universe-feel of the game, but I didn't like two things. One, it took forever to sim a season (I am not an in-game coach in text sims). And I really didn't feel like my moves were affecting the performance of my team very much, even though I vastly improved the talent level of the team. Well, three things if you count the fact that Lemieux would get hurt every week (but I guess that is realistic).

Thoughts?

[Swaggs]

Something else that popped into my head: Are free agents being agressively pursued after these patches?

Seems like a lot of them sat around without ever being signed before.

[Johnny93g]

In my 3rd season with the Leafs....its fun, not tedious anymore.....Alot of trading, alot of trade offers....also, it is difficult to trade....if you dont get Crosby in the draft, you probably are not gonna be able to trade for him.....UFA has been improved greatly....The high profile guys in my career have been pursued by everyone....Glen Murray, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, just to name a few, were priced completly out of my range....theres also good bargains if your smart, eg...Keith Carney, Scott Thornton.....The replayability for me is high, but Im a hockey nut....

As for moves affecting the team, every little line change seems to effect my team.....For the 1st 40 or so games, i fiddle with the lines until i can get good results.....Injuries occur enoughm, both serious and minor....

I dont think the sim time has changed....If you want to sim through games fast, this isnt the game for you....

[sachmo71]

In my 3rd season with the Leafs....its fun, not tedious anymore.....Alot of trading, alot of trade offers....also, it is difficult to trade....if you dont get Crosby in the draft, you probably are not gonna be able to trade for him.....UFA has been improved greatly....The high profile guys in my career have been pursued by everyone....Glen Murray, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, just to name a few, were priced completly out of my range....theres also good bargains if your smart, eg...Keith Carney, Scott Thornton.....The replayability for me is high, but Im a hockey nut....

As for moves affecting the team, every little line change seems to effect my team.....For the 1st 40 or so games, i fiddle with the lines until i can get good results.....Injuries occur enoughm, both serious and minor....

I dont think the sim time has changed....If you want to sim through games fast, this isnt the game for you....


You can always go on vacation. With a fast computer, you can get through a season pretty quick.

What I'm curious to see is someone playing with fictional rosters. I wonder what those look like.

[Maple Leafs]

You can always go on vacation. With a fast computer, you can get through a season pretty quick. But in the demo at least, once you're on vacation there was no way to know what was happening with your team. No updates on injuries or trade offers, etc., like you have in OOTP where you can set it to notify you of important events and ask if you want to keep simming.

[sabotai]

You can turn off the in-game part in the General Manager options (not go on vacation) and let your head coach control who dresses and what the lines are (that's what I do). EDIT: Under General Manager Options, it's the very first option. "Coach Games Yourself". There's 3 options underneath it that force the computer to use your lines, selections and tactics or not. I put them all to "No" (giving my head coach full control over the games. I figure the computer coach knows the game bette rthan me right now. :) )

I am manager of Moose Jaw in the WHL and have been having fun so far. I'm basically trying to build up this team and then get a job in the NHL. So far, I've made a few trades, a couple of hirings and have improved the perfomance of my team. We were in 6th place until I got a young winger that was pretty good and have now boosted up to steady 3rd place. I do feel my decisions effect my team, even though I'm taking sort of a hands-off approach by leaving all the in-game decisions to my head coach.

Which i sanother thing that helped my team. My head coach was not very good, and I hired a new head coach around the time I signed the young winger.

[Johnny93g]

I ran into a problem with the game.....Scott Thornton, who has has a excellent year for my leafs has been suspended for 130 NHL games......Why, I have no idea....There was no news item about it, no chance to appeal....He didnt take any penalities in his last 3 games, and all of a sudden, i couldnt use him.....I hope theres a way to edit this, cuz if he didnt do anything, I dont want to loose him for the better part of 2 seasons.....

[Karim]

I am manager of Moose Jaw in the WHL and have been having fun so far. I'm basically trying to build up this team and then get a job in the NHL.
Someone on the SI boards complained it was difficult. He was the #1 team in the QMJHL for several years and won a few Memorial Cups along the way and still couldn't get a NHL job.

What's your reputation at? When I started in the NHL, mine was set at "Very Good". I'm guessing the reputation would have to be at this minimum before you'll get hired.

[Karim]

I ran into a problem with the game.....Scott Thornton, who has has a excellent year for my leafs has been suspended for 130 NHL games......Why, I have no idea....There was no news item about it, no chance to appeal....He didnt take any penalities in his last 3 games, and all of a sudden, i couldnt use him.....I hope theres a way to edit this, cuz if he didnt do anything, I dont want to loose him for the better part of 2 seasons.....
It sounds like a drug suspension, although you should have received a message.

[samifan24]

Well I began my career with the six month demo. I'm Erie in the OHL. I finished 8th in the regular season and bought the game. Once my boys got to the second season, it was a totally different team. We went on and beat the #1 seed in the first round to play spoilers, but then we made it through to the OHL Cup Final vs. Kingston, a team known for their tremendous offensive ability. We won the Cup on our home ice in five games! I hope that this will now allow me to take an NHL position!

[JonInMiddleGA]

EDIT: Under General Manager Options, it's the very first option. "Coach Games Yourself". There's 3 options underneath it that force the computer to use your lines, selections and tactics or not. I put them all to "No" (giving my head coach full control over the games.


Just to make sure I'm reading this correctly --
With the current patch/build/whateverIoughtacallit of EHM, you can:

Hire a head coach (based upon whatever attributes are available to judge him from), then select whether to give him control of
a) nothing at all
b) only tactics
c) tactics and line pairings
d) active players, tactics, and line pairings
e) any combination of 1 or 2 of the above

And whatever you choose, really does get followed this time around?

That's how I'm reading your quote above, but ...y'never know, it's easy to misinterpret stuff.

If I've read you right, it ]sounds as though you could now be anything from a hands-on GM/Coach combination to a very hands-off GM-only, basically worrying about nothing except player acqusition, finances, etc. Or something in between, where you could be a GM that handles the roster and makes only specific input from time to time (such as taking control of selections to insure playing time for certain players, etc).

And that might be something that would up my interest in the game.

[Swaggs]

I've played about 18 months in a post-patch career (I'm not a day-to-day-type GM). I think this game could use some work still.

I am at a $38M payroll with the Penguins, even though they mandated payroll is $23M. The board of directors are still very pleased with my performance. I did manage to make the playoffs in my first season as the 7th seed in the East; I quickly lost 4-0 to the Devils in the first round. I'm in pretty good playoff position this season, as well; hovering between the 3-6 spots in the seedings. Maybe I'm not playing realistically, spending almost double the alloted payroll, but I'm trying to win and build my GM prestige up so I can get an international job. Wouldn't I be in a bit of trouble or, at least, be advised to cut some salary at this point?

Steve Yzerman is still a free agent. He didn't retire and he still has great ratings. In no universe would the Wings let him go, and if they did, he would never sit unsignged midway into the season.

Also, what is up with head coaches not having career records? Am I just missing where they are displayed? One of the coolest things in EHM is putting together your staff (Assistant GM, coaches, scouts, physios). For the type of GM-style I am looking for in sports-text sims, this is the best manner of staffing I have seen. But to not have a history of W-L records is pretty hard to believe.

[condors]

i am in 2016 with the flyers started the career post patch.

I am really enjoying the game. The last few drafts have been deep accourding to my scouts but i have not gotten a superstar where i pick in the draft.

I seem to be able to get alot of talent up to a certain point. I am unable to get young stars. If you want to pay for an old player you can get him. Getting young talent though is very hard.

I am wondering if in another 15 seasons what the talent pool will be like but i think the game uses regens so for every deep draft there will be a sparse draft.

I am really "into" my team only 2 guys are around from the begining the now very old Simon Gagne and Joni Pittakennan(both are around because of other players like them and i have had problems when i let players go because their production no longer was equal to their salary)

[chrisj]

I'm enoying my game, 3 and a half seasons in.

Playing in the Q I've put together a strong team this year. One guy who was taken in the first round last year, two players who are rated to go in the first round this year. Tons of other depth on the team.

The Q drafts are great as well. I had a 6th round pick turn into a 50 goal scorer.

[Karim]

I'm hooked. I'll probably be playing pretty solidly until the next version.

[sabotai]

Jon,

I think you got it right. but I'll give a full explaination to be sure.

The first option you have is "Coach Games Yourself". If you set it to "No", the Head Coach AI will use the following options.

"Use Current Tactics". If you set this to "Yes", the Head Coach will use the tactics you set in your team's tactics. If you set this to "No", the Head Coach will adjust them before the game to his liking. All Head Coaches (in fact, every single person) has a setting for Preferred Style of play (but some do not have a prefered style, and it says that). For example, my Head Coach prefers an attacking style. I have one Assistant Coach that has no prefered style while the other prefers a defensive style. Now, I'm assuming that this influences the tactics the Head Coach will use (his prefered style) and the strengths and weaknesses of your squad. I can't say for sure since the manual says nothing of these options.

"Use Team Selection When Possible". If you set this to "Yes". the Head Coach will play the players you set to active (Dressed) and keep inactive (Scratched) the players you set to inactive. If that's not possible, then he'll adjust. If you set this to "No", before every game, the Head Coach will adjust those who are active and those who are inactive.

"Use Current Lines When Possible". Set this to "Yes" to force the Head Coach to use the lines that you set in the tactics screen. Setting this to "No" will allow the Head Coach to change the lines prior to the game.

If you set all options to "No", what happens is basically the equivalent of setting in FOF the global options to let the AI handle the gameplanning and depth charts.

So yes, it sounds like you read it correctly. If you set Tactics and Lines to "No", but Selections to "Yes", then you ensure that certain people play, yet you give the Head Coach the ability to set the tactics and lines they want. If you set Tactics to "Yes" while setting Selection and Lines to "No", you make sure that you use specific tactics, but let the Head Coach decide who to put on the ice to carry out those tactics. Set them all to "Yes" and "Coach Games Yourself" to "No" and you basically have control of what the team does prior to the game, but let the Head Coach make any "on-the-fly" changes that are needed (such as a player gets injured, etc.). Set them all to "No" and you let the Head Coach basically control all aspects of the games and all you focus on is just being a GM. (And it should be noted that I'm pretty sure that these options exist in CM as well, in case anyone was wondering about that.)

There is a fully playable demo that lets you play for 6 months of game time (not real time). So you should download it, set the options to your liking and see how you enjoy it (or not enjoy it).

As to the question on how I'm doing, I have not played in awhile. I've been working on my game a lot plus with the release of Fable, ESPN NHL 2K5, and now Rome: Total War, my gaming is stretched. But I will return to Moose Jaw where there is a month left in the current season and my team is sitting at 2nd place.

[Marc Vaughan]

(And it should be noted that I'm pretty sure that these options exist in CM as well, in case anyone was wondering about that.)
Not all of them exist in CM/FM - we don't allow you NOT to manage/coach in first team games in our soccer management sims.

This is a nuance of European mentality combined with shorter matches and less fixtures which I feel helps ensure people get immersed into their team and the game world, but NHL EHM being a seperate game and Riz's baby - it does things slightly differently :D

I'm glad you lot are enjoying yourselves, the American release of the game is coming up in the near future ... don't forget to tell your friends ;)

PS. In case you aren't aware the American retail release is 'pre-patched' (ie. based upon the latest patched version of the game).

[samifan24]

I'm in my first year at the helm of Nashville. Scottie Upshall is 19 years old. His information screen says he is exempt from regular season waivers and the waiver draft, but when I go to his action button, it says "place on waivers." What gives?

[SirFozzie]

Samifan: If you're in the preseason, you can't send 20 year olds and younger down to your minor league team. Instead they go to their junior squad. Once the junior club starts playing again, you'll be able to send him there

[samifan24]

Samifan: If you're in the preseason, you can't send 20 year olds and younger down to your minor league team. Instead they go to their junior squad. Once the junior club starts playing again, you'll be able to send him there

No, I'm aware of the junior rule. I must not be able to send him to the AHL because of the AHL rule that 20 year olds cannot play in the AHL? Is EHM that in depth? That's the only possibility I can think of. (It's the regular season)

[samifan24]

No, I'm aware of the junior rule. I must not be able to send him to the AHL because of the AHL rule that 20 year olds cannot play in the AHL? Is EHM that in depth? That's the only possibility I can think of. (It's the regular season)

Dola...ok, nevermind. Upshall just turned 20 and he still has to clear waivers. I'm befuddled.

[klayman]

I'm in my first year at the helm of Nashville. Scottie Upshall is 19 years old. His information screen says he is exempt from regular season waivers and the waiver draft, but when I go to his action button, it says "place on waivers." What gives?
If you want to send him down, he is exempt from the waivers, but if you wanted to release him outright, I think he would have to go through waivers before you could cancel the contract. That would be what the action button would be for, as far as I know.

[Swaggs]

So... does anyone know if head coaches retain their records history anywhere?

[samifan24]

If you want to send him down, he is exempt from the waivers, but if you wanted to release him outright, I think he would have to go through waivers before you could cancel the contract. That would be what the action button would be for, as far as I know.

But if he's exempt from waivers, why is the option there on the action screen? To test your theory, I hit the "place on waivers" button and the screen came up to explain that the player would pass through a 48 hr waiver period, blah, blah. I didn't go any further with it because I didn't want to risk that he'd go on waivers. Maybe it's just a mistake.

[Icy]

Not all of them exist in CM/FM - we don't allow you NOT to manage/coach in first team games in our soccer management sims.

This is a nuance of European mentality combined with shorter matches and less fixtures which I feel helps ensure people get immersed into their team and the game world, but NHL EHM being a seperate game and Riz's baby - it does things slightly differently :D.
I really whish that you could consider adding that options to the FM series too, i usually coach all my games, but sometimes when i'm the middle of the table, with no way to promote and no fear about being demoted, i would like to fast sim the games, i usually do it playing them on text only and fast speed, but i would like to be able to just sim them. As it would be an option, you can enable or disable it so it won't bother who doesn't want to use it. Also it would be easy to add to the game as the games engine sims them before being displayed. This could be usefull too for the guys who want to play as club pressident only.

[klayman]

But if he's exempt from waivers, why is the option there on the action screen? To test your theory, I hit the "place on waivers" button and the screen came up to explain that the player would pass through a 48 hr waiver period, blah, blah. I didn't go any further with it because I didn't want to risk that he'd go on waivers. Maybe it's just a mistake.
He's just exempt from going on waivers when you reassign him to the minors or from the waiver draft at the beginning of the season. If you wanted to release him outright, he would still have to go through waivers though before you could. So, if you wanted to release him, you would first have to place him on waivers, and after the 48 hours you could cancel his contract. There's no reason to, but the option is there if you need it.

[SirFozzie]

I may be wrong, but I think he was trying to send a guy down to the minors. He did not have that option...

[samifan24]

I may be wrong, but I think he was trying to send a guy down to the minors. He did not have that option...

Yes, I'm trying to reassign Upshall to AHL Milwaukee.

[klayman]

Ah. Yes, you would have to assign him to Kamloops, not the AHL, since he wouldn't be eligible to play in the AHL until next season.

[Karim]

Remember a player's age is based on "hockey age" not "real age".

For instance a person whose birthdate is November 1, 1984 is considered "20" today because 2004 is his birth year even though he really is only "19".

[samifan24]

Uh ok. I opened the game and I can send him to Milwaukee so I just did. He turned 20 this year. Who knows!

[SirFozzie]

Ok.. so he was in between, probably.. no junior eligibility left, but not of age to go to the AHL yet.

[samifan24]

Ok.. so he was in between, probably.. no junior eligibility left, but not of age to go to the AHL yet.

This is his final year of junior eligibility. I guess it's the AHL thing. I don't care anymore.

[Swaggs]

I really want to like and get into this game... and then stuff like this happens:

Edmonton fires GM Kevin Lowe on 12/12/04 and after an exhaustive, nearly two month search hire....GM Kevin Lowe on 2/08/05.

I'll be he is promising to improve the team beyond that of the prior GM.

[Capital]

How long do you get to play with the "try and buy". Also, does anyone know the price of the full version?

[samifan24]

How long do you get to play with the "try and buy". Also, does anyone know the price of the full version?

The free trial is for 6 months in-game time, so if you're playing in the NHL, it goes from the preseason-early March. The full version is $39.95, I believe.

[Capital]

Thanks...Samifan

Does anyone know how the offseason would work if you were coach/GM in the AHL? It would seem to me that you just get assigned players or you may lose/gain players as the season progresses due to call ups and send downs. Am I understanding this correctly?

[samifan24]

Thanks...Samifan

Does anyone know how the offseason would work if you were coach/GM in the AHL? It would seem to me that you just get assigned players or you may lose/gain players as the season progresses due to call ups and send downs. Am I understanding this correctly?

You cannot coach at the AHL level. The only control you have over your AHL affiliate is assigned contracted players to the roster. This can be very irritating, especially when you have a top prospect who is losing ice time to a minor league free agent. :mad:

[Mota]

The free trial is for 6 months in-game time, so if you're playing in the NHL, it goes from the preseason-early March. The full version is $39.95, I believe.

Oh oh, I just realize that I'm at Feb 29th. I'm trying to milk my 6 months until it comes out at retail in Canada, which from what I hear is next week. Can't come quickly enough!

My current franchise just took an interesting twist... I am playing the Leafs, was the 14th ranked team in the Eastern Conference for a while, and then made a big comeback. I was up to 7th place, when Trevor Kidd publicly trashed the team, and I reprimanded him (of course). He felt that I did him an injustice and asked to be traded. At the same time, Ed Belfour was so upset by the comments that he also asked to be traded, wanting to get as far away from Kidd as possible. After I let Kidd have it, Belfour rescinded his trade request and commented that he was happy I dealt with him properly. Of course, he still believes that I can't afford his contract, has not accepted my highest offer, and at the end of the season I will be losing BOTH of my goalies. Should be an interesting offseason!

[samifan24]

Oh oh, I just realize that I'm at Feb 29th. I'm trying to milk my 6 months until it comes out at retail in Canada, which from what I hear is next week. Can't come quickly enough!

My current franchise just took an interesting twist... I am playing the Leafs, was the 14th ranked team in the Eastern Conference for a while, and then made a big comeback. I was up to 7th place, when Trevor Kidd publicly trashed the team, and I reprimanded him (of course). He felt that I did him an injustice and asked to be traded. At the same time, Ed Belfour was so upset by the comments that he also asked to be traded, wanting to get as far away from Kidd as possible. After I let Kidd have it, Belfour rescinded his trade request and commented that he was happy I dealt with him properly. Of course, he still believes that I can't afford his contract, has not accepted my highest offer, and at the end of the season I will be losing BOTH of my goalies. Should be an interesting offseason!

Throw Tellqvist in there!

[Johnny93g]

Oh oh, I just realize that I'm at Feb 29th. I'm trying to milk my 6 months until it comes out at retail in Canada, which from what I hear is next week. Can't come quickly enough!

My current franchise just took an interesting twist... I am playing the Leafs, was the 14th ranked team in the Eastern Conference for a while, and then made a big comeback. I was up to 7th place, when Trevor Kidd publicly trashed the team, and I reprimanded him (of course). He felt that I did him an injustice and asked to be traded. At the same time, Ed Belfour was so upset by the comments that he also asked to be traded, wanting to get as far away from Kidd as possible. After I let Kidd have it, Belfour rescinded his trade request and commented that he was happy I dealt with him properly. Of course, he still believes that I can't afford his contract, has not accepted my highest offer, and at the end of the season I will be losing BOTH of my goalies. Should be an interesting offseason!

Eddie will take less in the off-season....he wont get any interest...so dont worry about that....... :)

[riz]

The free trial is for 6 months in-game time, so if you're playing in the NHL, it goes from the preseason-early March. The full version is $39.95, I believe.

Yup, $39.99 at EB at the moment. I haven't got an "official" release date from Sega yet but EB lists it to be out on the 19th of this month:
EB Games - NHL EHM (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/245713.asp)

Someone posted on our forums saying that his local EB in Ontario had quoted 21st when he asked, so around the 20th it should be out there then.

And hey, you cannot trade Trevor Kidd. You've got to have him on your team...just because of his whacky photo :)

And yes, I will be doing my best to try and get the NHL GM's more control over their farm system lineups in the next version of the game. Be it with playable farm leagues or by other means. We'll do our best on coding and I'm sure Sega will try and secure more licenses for us next time around.

[SoxWin]

Any idea what the price will be in Canada? Wasn't the game originally something like 40 pounds?

[JeffR]

Any idea what the price will be in Canada? Wasn't the game originally something like 40 pounds?

$52.99 according to the guy who said he pre-ordered at the Niagara Falls EB.