FastFL forming - New type of league - same ol' Commish

[bigphesta]

Let me introduce myself as some of you over here don't know me. My name is Chris Hansen and I love text based sports sims. I've been playing them for years now. I have been playing FOF since FOF2 yet I didn't venture over to these boards much due to the lack of multiplayer features. Instead I have been a staple over at the OOTP boards using the name "bigphesta" (imagine that).

I have been playing OOTP since OOTP3 and I currently run the NAHHBL for OOTP. The NAHHBL has been around since OOTP3 and we've simmed 20 seasons of baseball excellence. I plan on keeping the NAHHBL going as well as taking a stab at running my first FOF2004 Multiplayer league.

I have been toying with this idea for some time now and anothe thread in these forums got me thinking of the greatest way to do this. See, when I play off line I spend about 10-15 minutes doing the regular season then a couple hours setting up things for the off season via the draft, free agency, coach signing, trianing camp, all the "Fun GM" stuff. I think there are others out there like this (in fact, I know it as another poster got me thinking about this).

So I'll take this as my calling. I"m not sure if any other league does this or not, but until I find out otherwise I'll claim the FastFL as the only one of its kind. See, we're not going to waste time with the boring regular season. Building a dynasty is what the game is all about and you really can't build a dynasty when you sim one season every 2-3 months. There are plenty of leagues out there that do that, and that's great - I'm in one good one myself - but I am wanting a bit more history a bit quicker. So the FastFL will have four sims during the season and then focus on the off season.

I plan on simming the Pre-Season games as one sim, the games up until the trade deadline as a second sim, the remaining regular season games as a third sim, and the playoffs as the final sim. That's four sims for the entire season. Two weeks and the season is over and a new champion is crowned.

The emphisis will then be on what a Football GM really does, and that is the off season. A 'normal' off season will be run, not a rushed one. It is my opinion that, having played FOF for many years now, that the top teams are pretty much decided at the start of the season. Sure a team or two can sneek in here and there with a few good adjustments, but those are typically not the superbowl teams. So why waste weeks/months simming through this part? Teams are MADE and DESTROYED in this game during the off season. That is the emphasis of the FastFL.

Have you ever had a poor team (such as the 49ers) in a FOF league? How boring is it to go 8 real weeks only to see your team finish 1-15? That's when turnover happens. With a fast regular season, two weeks with a pathetic club is all anyone needs to suffer though. Then its time to rebuild. And rebuilding will be fast. A five year plan in some leagues can take a year to see develop. In the FastFL, it's a matter of weeks. WEEKS!

A bit about myself, I'm 28, in law school at Drake University in Des Moines Iowa and have two children. I have blue eyes and a nice smile, I'm a sagitarious, love red meat and beer, and am the world's worst spelling law student EVER. Heck, I'm probably in running for worst spelling individual ever. Thank God for spellcheck.

If you want to check out my OOTP league, feel free. its at http://nahhbl.ootp-online.com/ Look that over, look the new Fast Football League over and if interested, drop me a line via the "contact commish" link on the site. If you want a team, email me and post here. They will go on a first-dibs basis. Heck, just post here. don't email me. Then everyone can see what teams are claimed.

What I would like from prospective GM's is the following

Name:
Age:
Email:
Aim Name:
Other leagues you're in:
Team desired:

Please include all that information.

The site is on Freewebs.com but I just dropped the 59 for a year's worth of service in order to get the space and bandwidth we need so I've put a sizeable investment into this and really want to see it succeed. $59 for a student is a big chunk of change but will be well worth it once this league takes off.

As for the league itself, we will be using the 2004 rosters downloaded here (forget who made them - but they seem to be the popular set) and we may import the draft classes from TCY, I haven't decided that yet. But there's still time to work that out.

I will be going to see my kids on Saturday morning till late Sunday night so I won't be around during the weekend but I'd love to come back and see that all the teams are taken. I will be hammering out the rules page this weekend and have that up but they will be your standard rules. Other than the schedule it should be pretty basic. If you want to contact me before then, hit me up on Aim "bigphesta" and we can chat.

Thanks for you time. I"m sure this is a bit longer than most recruitment threads, but I"m a bit bigger than most other commishes. :)

[bigphesta]

HAHA I almost forgot the most important part... the site is found at

http://www.freewebs.com/fastfl/


So check it out.

(the only thing working is the home page now, but will have a fully functional site once the premium site purchase goes through and they set it up - they said within 24 hours)

[bigphesta]

oh, and I'm the Chicago Bears.

Teams Taken:

Bears
Bills

[Alf]

The only but main drawback to simming in batch is how the AI will deal (mess up) with injuries. Otherwise, a nice idea.

[Alf]

dola

and AIM sucks, you should allow owners to have other IM softwares :)

[Alf]

double dola

Are you "the Chris Hansen" that plays in NGFFL ? That would be cool.

[CrazyRooster]

I'de like to take the Giants!

[WrongWay]

Do you need more sims per stage or more stages per sim???

What I mean is that right now most leagues have only 2 sims per week. The very fast leagues sim a whopping 3 games per week. Why isn't anyone playing dailey? If you want to speed up the game why not just have more stage files? (you can get around the MP-WW-AI-Bug by imposing a (53-1) roster limit)

And, expanding on the everyday league you could also set up a Dailey Commisioner. That way each commish would be responsible for simming games on the day he is assigned to, rather than have just one individual trying to run the game every night.

[scarface132]

You may not be here to answer this but are injuries going to be turned off for a fast sim league like this?

I was in the speedyfl for a couple of seasons (no longer exists) and it was similar to this, but when you are simming 4 or more games at a time at once, I am of the opinion that injuries have to be turned off?

It's your league of course, and that's just my two cents.

John

[scarface132]

Is it this roster set: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=32071

Also are you going to enable the X Factor? IF so, I think many people would like to see the league files before selecting their teams, if you aren't enabling it, it isn't a factor and not as important, but are you including personality profiles and team chemistry?

Thanks in advance.

John

[bigphesta]

The only but main drawback to simming in batch is how the AI will deal (mess up) with injuries. Otherwise, a nice idea.

and AIM sucks, you should allow owners to have other IM softwares

Are you "the Chris Hansen" that plays in NGFFL ? That would be cool

Injuries will be set to 0. I thought long and hard about this and it seems to be the way to go. Otherwise, like it is said later on, its just asking for trouble with the AI setting depth charts.

I like AIM. I use it for everything. If you feel it sucks, get Trillian or whatever. I hate ICQ, I have MSMessenger and Yahoo and I think they are both comperable to AIM but AIM is my first choice for IM.

And I am not the Chris Hansen in the NGFFL. Although I am the Chris Hansen in the NFL Front Office.

[bigphesta]

I'de like to take the Giants!
Please post or email me the appropriate information

[bigphesta]

Do you need more sims per stage or more stages per sim???

What I mean is that right now most leagues have only 2 sims per week. The very fast leagues sim a whopping 3 games per week. Why isn't anyone playing dailey? If you want to speed up the game why not just have more stage files? (you can get around the MP-WW-AI-Bug by imposing a (53-1) roster limit)

And, expanding on the everyday league you could also set up a Dailey Commisioner. That way each commish would be responsible for simming games on the day he is assigned to, rather than have just one individual trying to run the game every night.
Well I know that I don't have time to run a sim per day, 2-3 per week is about my max and for most owners, 2-3 per week is about all they can follow. If you know 2-3 others who'd be interest in doing this, let me know. I'd be willing to go that route but you'd need some trustworthy and committed commishes to do that.

[bigphesta]

You may not be here to answer this but are injuries going to be turned off for a fast sim league like this?

I was in the speedyfl for a couple of seasons (no longer exists) and it was similar to this, but when you are simming 4 or more games at a time at once, I am of the opinion that injuries have to be turned off?

It's your league of course, and that's just my two cents.

JohnYes, injury factor is set to "0" A little less realistic than the NFL but allows for less AI interference (and only requres teams to carry 46 giving an extra million or two to spend on FA)

[bigphesta]

Is it this roster set: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=32071

Also are you going to enable the X Factor? IF so, I think many people would like to see the league files before selecting their teams, if you aren't enabling it, it isn't a factor and not as important, but are you including personality profiles and team chemistry?

Thanks in advance.

John
Yes, that is the roster. The X factor is off. Player personalities/team chemestry is on. and the FILE IS UP on the site as well as the game generated HTML

[scarface132]

Yes, that is the roster. The X factor is off. Player personalities/team chemestry is on. and the FILE IS UP on the site as well as the game generated HTML

Aight cool, thanks for answering my questions so far.

What is the league id? :)

[bigphesta]

Aight cool, thanks for answering my questions so far.

What is the league id? :)
fastfl04

[scarface132]

(the first to officially join) hahahaha

Name: John Solley

Age: 33

Email: [email protected]

Aim Name: sackings4eva

Other leagues you're in: wigfl, rnfl, hfl, cfl, enfl, usfl, ffl, ifl, bfl,imperial,sfl
( I know, I am in a ton... but feel free to contact any of those commisioners, if you are worried that I may not be able to keep up?!)

Team desired: Buffalo Bills, por favor?

[bigphesta]

(the first to officially join) hahahaha

Name: John Solley

Age: 33

Email: [email protected]

Aim Name: sackings4eva

Other leagues you're in: wigfl, rnfl, hfl, cfl, enfl, usfl, ffl, ifl, bfl,imperial,sfl
( I know, I am in a ton... but feel free to contact any of those commisioners, if you are worried that I may not be able to keep up?!)

Team desired: Buffalo Bills, por favor?


They're yours

[JeeberD]

Other leagues you're in: wigfl, rnfl, hfl, cfl, enfl, usfl, ffl, ifl, bfl,imperial,sfl


:eek:

And I thought my being in four FOF leagues was a lot!

[bigphesta]

The forums are now active so CLAIM YOUR TEAM IN THE LEAGUE FORUMS!

[sovereignstar]

The first question that I've got is.. how are you planning to do the ammy drafts? They are by far the most time consuming part of the offseason and can be outright disasters without the aid of a utility.

[scarface132]

:eek:

And I thought my being in four FOF leagues was a lot!


:(

[JeeberD]

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with being in eleven leagues, I just know that it's way more than I could ever handle...

[Kozure]

Good luck with Scarface. You're gonna need it. :p

[Kozure]

holy shit scarface!!!! do you work? if you get paid for playing this game, i want to know who signs the paychecks! :eek:

[scarface132]

Good luck with Scarface. You're gonna need it. :p

What the hell is that supposed to mean, bitch? lol

[scarface132]

Dang, I am getting toasted in this thread. :(

[Kozure]

What the hell is that supposed to mean, bitch? lol

I rest my case.

[Kozure]

Dang, I am getting toasted in this thread. :(

:cool:

[Dutch]

I've signed up. As mentioned on the FastFL boards, I think relegation would be a fun twist. Looks like it could be a lot of fun!

[bigphesta]

Well teams are starting to be taken. I'm off to see the kiddies for the weekend but don't let that stop you from signing up. See everyone Sunday night :)

[Chubby]

Hmm interesting, with injuries at 0 I may have to give this a shot.

[Cringer]

How often will exports be needed for this league? Do to schedule I have to carefully pick my leagues.

[Dutch]

It's not decided, I don't think. The web page looks like twice a week @ 9PM (eastern?).

[bigphesta]

I'm thinking twice a week for the two weeks of the regular season and either two or three times a week for the off season. So a Sun-Thur normal and possibly a Sun-Tue-Thu for the off season. I mean, some teams won't be putting in bids at all for the first week of coach signings so why spend a week and a half running that? That can easily be done in a week.

[bigphesta]

Still Open:

Cincy
Denber
Jacksonville
Kansas City
New england
Oakland
San Diego
Tennessee
Arizona
Atlanta
Carolina
Dallas
Detroit
Green Bay
New Orleans
Philadelphia
Seattle
San Francisco
St. Louis
Washington

[bigphesta]

Just to let you know, there's some really cool features in this league including the export uploader - don't bother with email, simply upload the file to the server and then see a confirmation that its there! Quite easy!

[RailsFS]

this league seems to be very interesting. if you really want to build a franchise, this is the perfect way to do it. so join on up!

[bigphesta]

Still teams open. Check the site

[BigDawg]

Come on guys lets get moving, join up now and get a shot at kicking my butt ... LOL

[bigphesta]

A season skelton schedule would look something like this:

Week 1:
Sun - Pre Season
Thu - Weeks 1-4

Week 2:
Sun- End of Reg. Season
Thu - Playoffs

Week 3
Sun - Coach Hiring 1
Tue - Coach Hiring 2
Thu - Coach Hiring 3

Week 4
Sun - FA Wks 1-2
Tue - FA Wks 3-4
Thu - FA Wks 5-8

Week 5
Sun - FA Wks 9-12
Tue - FA Wks 13-16
Thu - FA Wks 17-20

Week 6
Sun - Draft
Tue - Late FA
Thu - Training Camp


SIX weeks to complete an entire season! Not six weeks to just do the regular season (which is the fastest you can do it if you sim 3 games per week)

[sovereignstar]

The first question that I've got is.. how are you planning to do the ammy drafts? They are by far the most time consuming part of the offseason and can be outright disasters without the aid of a utility.

.

[Joe]

Come on guys lets get moving, join up now and get a shot at kicking my butt ... LOL

who are you and why should we care about kicking your butt?

[sovereignstar]

who are you and why should we care about kicking your butt?

Bitch, you'd better recognize. He's BigDawg.

[Joe]

Bitch, you'd better recognize. He's BigDawg.

Oh...sorry.

[bigphesta]

.
The first question that I've got is.. how are you planning to do the ammy drafts? They are by far the most time consuming part of the offseason and can be outright disasters without the aid of a utility.

Where are these utilities you mention?

I have plans on doing a live draft for the 1-3 rounds then using the utility built into the game for remaining rounds.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Where are these utilities you mention?

I have plans on doing a live draft for the 1-3 rounds then using the utility built into the game for remaining rounds.
hmm, there is no draft utility built into the game...
A live draft every six weeks is pretty insane if you ask me...I wish y'all good luck!

[JeeberD]

I think he means having scouts draft the late rounds...

[sovereignstar]

I think he means having scouts draft the late rounds...

Ah..scout picks. Gotta love it when the AI takes a 30/50 punter when you've already got a 80/80 guy signed.

[bigphesta]

The Multi-Player Draft screen allows participants to enter their draft profile immediately prior to the yearly amateur draft.
This screen appears for participants when they select the Begin Amateur Draft button after the main free agency period.
The commissioner then runs the amateur draft, which uses the submitted profiles to make selections.
There are three pieces of information for each position group. The first number indicates the weight your scouts place on the first player you select at that position. The second number indicates the weight your scouts place on players in that position once you've already selected a player at that position.
The third number is the maximum number of players you're willing to select at that position group during the draft.
If your league has a live or email draft, where the commissioner is entering all the picks from your choices, you don't need to fill out this screen. However, these choices still will have an effect even if the commissioner, for example, just runs the first round of the draft live..
So this doesn't exist? Pulled strait from the FOF help file

[sovereignstar]

So this doesn't exist? Pulled strait from the FOF help file

Interesting, I had never seen that before. I just did a quick test and it is there. I'm thinking that no one (or very few) knows about this thing because every current league out there starts the draft BEFORE free agency is over with.

Good job finding that.

[JeeberD]

I actually saw it for the first time during the recently concluded NAFL draft. I'm not sure if it was installed with the latest patch or if it's because, like sov said, most leagues start during FA1...

[Passacaglia]

This sounds interesting. I'll take the Lions!

[fantastic flying froggies]

DAMN! Learn something new everyday!
sorry about my earlier post...

[BigDawg]

Bitch, you'd better recognize. He's BigDawg.


Not 100% sure but one of the longest running online football coaches around, unless you can find too many that have played online football leagues prior to 1994 when I started on compuserve playing FBPRO. Was retired from 2001 to 2003 when I started to play TPF and now getting into FOF in 2005.

:eek:

[sovereignstar]

Not 100% sure but one of the longest running online football coaches around, unless you can find too many that have played online football leagues prior to 1994 when I started on compuserve playing FBPRO. Was retired from 2001 to 2003 when I started to play TPF and now getting into FOF in 2005.

:eek:

Excellent!

[Dutch]

Final openings.

Cincinatti Bengals
Jacksonville Jaguars
New England Patriots
Oakland Raiders
Tennessee Titans
Atlanta Falcons
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams

[Dutch]

Looks like St Louis and Atlanta have now been claimed.

Vacancies as of Saturday Night
Cincinatti Bengals
Jacksonville Jaguars
New England Patriots
Oakland Raiders
Tennessee Titans
Seattle Seahawks

[bigphesta]

Looks like St Louis and Atlanta have now been claimed.

Vacancies as of Saturday Night
Cincinatti Bengals
Jacksonville Jaguars
New England Patriots
Oakland Raiders
Tennessee Titans
Seattle Seahawks


Yes those teams are in the books as well as the pre-season. Weeks 1-4 of the regular season is Monday night and the entire season's schedule is detailed on the home page

[bigphesta]

Green Bay wins the first FastFL Super Bowl.

The off season starts SUNDAY and there's still a few AFC teams open:

Cincy
Jacksonville
Oakland
Tennessee.
Denver

Get in now on the first off-season of FastFL

[bigphesta]

We're starting the free agency period and there's still teams open

[RailsFS]

we are about to do the draft this weekend, so get in immediately. this LIVE DRAFT should be very fun and interesting.