FOFC's Greatest Athlete II (interactive)
 

For those of you who weren't involved in the first one and/or simply don't remember it because it was so long ago, here is a refresher...FOFC's Greatest Athlete I.

The basic premise around how the players will be created and how the game will be run is going to be similar. But, I have made some changes which I hope will create greater disparity between athletes and hopefully make the dynasty more exciting and fun. I'll detail the changes and how'll we'll proceed once I know we'll have enough to justify the effort...

Guess I should add some detail to this in case you aren't interested in clicking on the link to see the previous dynasty.

This is a Decathlon competition, where the users will set skill points which will be combined to determine how well they will do in each of the 10 events. Then players will determine how risky to be with throws/jumps in an effort to maximize their score...

If you have questions and don't want to read the old dynasty, just ask.

Definitely in.

Sure.

Oh yeah, the last one was a blast. Count me in. Can't believe that it was 6 1/2 years ago!

This looks cool, I'm in.

Sign me up!

yup I wanna be in!

In!

Sounds good, guess I'll go read the first edition.

Well 8 is a pretty good start...we are about half way from where we were 6.5 years ago...(as PilotMan pointed out...can't believe it's been that long either)...

Anyway, hopefully we'll get some more people to sign up soon. In the meantime...here is the deal

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In the previous version of this dynasty users had 375 points to split between 5 skills...this time there are 750 points and 10 skills...

The skills are:


- Balance
- Speed
- Strength
- Stamina
- Athletic Ability
- Technique
- Explosiveness
- Focus
- Drive
- Flexibility


Each of the 10 events will use a percentage of the skills above to total 100%. The skill points you choose will be multiplied by the percentage each event needs and added together to give you a grade in the event. This grade will correspond to the table that will be used to generate your athlete's potential results (don't worry, all you have to do is assign the points to the skills, I take care of the rest - but thought it might be helpful to understand the process used to create your character). Unlike the previous dynasty where there were 3 grades per event, now there are 5...I haven't yet determined how I am going to split the grades. I'd like to do a typical school split for A,B,C,D,F...but I might have to fudge the percentages a bit to get a good sample...I won't know until I see how things breakdown after applying the skill points...

Each of the 10 skills will be represented 100% across the 10 events...this isn't to say that every skill is referenced in every event, but in totality they will all be referenced the same (i.e. Speed might be 50% of 100m and 50% of hurdles and nothing else).

Boy this seemed so simple until I tried to explain it...

Basically at this point if you want to PM me your skill breakdowns along with Character Name and country I'll start building the player cards. Lets have a minimum of 35 points on a skill and a max of 100...And if you have any questions I'll do my best to clarify...

Also if you haven't signed up and would like to, please do...

In case you aren't familiar with the 10 events in the Decathlon they are:

100 Meters
Long Jump
Shot Put
High Jump
400 Meters

Hurdles
Discus
Pole Vault
Javelin
1500 Meters

Got 4 athletes signed up...

Rob Nielsen - Denmark
Brian Babson - Germany
Jawouk Bafou - Cameroon
David Ginsberg - Israel

still waiting on details for the 4 other entries and still plenty of time to jump into the competition of you are interested...

in

Norway represent!

I had the following PMed to me by someone interested in playing...and I felt it was a good question that should probably go here...

"Just read through the first one, looked like a blast! I noticed there were a lot of injuries and I was wondering if the injury probability has anything to do with ratings or if it was strictly based on choices in the events. Also, will the "A"/"B"/"C" table scoring system from last time be getting used?"

Ok, so I guess the best thing to do here is to breakdown the game mechanics that way it will be easier for you to follow along...(I hope...and given my track record with trying to explain this stuff, probably famous last words)

Think of the game as a spreadsheet. Each event is a column, each outcome is a row. The outcomes are chosen based on a random number (in the orginal game dice are used). This number ranges from 10 - 39, with 10s being 1/6 of the possible results, 20s being 1/3, and 30s being 1/2. The injuries are preset in the table - so the possiblity of injury is present in every event (though never on a safe attempt at a field event), and obviously the more attempts taken the possibility of getting an injury also increases...so in a way - yes the more you try the greater the possibility of getting hurt.

The A,B,C scoring table is now an A,B,C,D,F scoring table - where there is more separation between the top and bottom performers (hopefully, creating a reward penalty situation based on where stats are placed in the 10 skill sets). This time around the athlete card creation is much more refined, as I was able to maintain the statistical weighting originally setup inside the game, rather than completely randomizing the card creation (hopefully this will make the grades earned more important to results)...

Hope that answers your question...

Let me know if you have more...

In.

We are up to 8 fully entered athletes

Brian Babson - Germany
Rob Nielsen - Denmark
Jawouk Bafou - Cameroon
David Ginsberg - Israel
Olaf Gunderson - Norwary
Fox McCloud - Scotland
Kurt Rambus Jr. - USA
Larry McGillicuddy - Ireland

With 3 more that stated they wanted in who we are waiting on stats from.

Still time to jump in if interested...

Kyrgyzstan in the House!

Jakshy (Жакшы)

Just need a Swede and we'll have our own little Norse Trifecta.

Kurt Rambus Jr?!?!?!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You are my new favorite person whoever you are.

Heh, that was me.

Got 10 athletes skills entered...of the people who said they wanted to play, we are only waiting on Chesapeake to send in his stats. We still have time for others to jump on board, but once Ches is in, I'll start assigning grades and creating character cards, which will make it much more difficult to get into the dynasty.

The reason for the difficulty is the events are going to "graded" on a curve, which means adding new people after the curve is applied can skew the grades for the other players, forcing me to recreate the character cards. So if you're interested get me your stats ASAP...

Sorry to be the straggler, but I'm in now.

Athletes have been graded, and I'm now in the process of creating the playing cards. We ended up with 12 competitors...and while many took a similar approach to skill point distribution, I think we have a nice spread across the 10 events (though I'll have more tweaks in the v3)...

I have completed 5 cards, and it is a bit time consuming, so don't give up on me. Keep an eye on the thread because we'll probably get this going next week...

All cards have been created, just need some time now to evaluate them so I can do an intro before we begin...

FOFC's Greatest Athlete II



Meet The Athletes

Welcome to the second ***cough*** annual ***cough, cough*** FOFC's Greatest Athlete competition. It should be a good one as we have 12 athletes entered with a wide range of skill sets. We are a bit disappointed that Stan Gunner, who dominated the previous competition isn't here to defend his title, but we are looking forward to a great meet. Before we get started let's take a moment to introduce the contestants....

Rob Nielsen - Denmark - Nielsen is a pretty balanced competitor with good athletic ability and technique, which will carry him through most of the field events. He has only 2 weaknesses...he lacks top end speed and he doesn't hold up well in the distance runs.

Brian Babson - Germany - One of our favorite athlete is back, Babson, who competed last time as an Austrailian, is now a German. The vagabon athlete tends to be forced to swith aligence because he runs out of money in a country and can't get home. This is the 2nd time it has happened with Brian, but he always seems to rebound well. Last time Babson was forced to with draw from the competition due to injury, this time he vows to finish...of course, I'll believe that when I see it. Babson has been working hard at the decathlon and is one of the favorites this time around. He is very fast and athletic and he has refined his technique. The only drawback for Babson is endurance. The former boxer still refusess to do "road work" and therefore he might be forced to sit and catch his breath in the 400, and you can forget about the 1500...that might take a couple of pit stops...

Jawouk Bafou - Cameroon - He was recruited to play basketball at Duke because of his raw potential, but he thought better of it and decided to apply those raw skills to Olympic sports. Now he's the kind of competitor that could run forever and has surprising strength, but does not have the chops to contend in the more technically refined events.

David Ginsberg - Israel - Ginsberg is a fast, athletic athlete that also has the endurance that many of his competitors lack. This should position him to make strong moves at the end of both days. Ginsberg's biggest issue will be staying with the field on the three toss events (shot, discus, javelin)

Olaf Gunderson - Norway - Olaf is one of the more balanced athletes in the field. He has good abilities across the board, but the question is going to be if the lack of a dominating event or events sink his chances. For him to be in the medal hunt he can't afford to have a bad result, because he appears to lack the ability to score big in any one event.

Fox McCloud - Scotland - Fox is another speed demon, but he also has surprising strength and explosiveness, which makes him one of the pre-meet favorites. He like Babson, lacks the endurance necessary to be a factor in the longer runs, and that could come back to haunt him.

Kurt Rambis, Jr. - USA - The lone American in the event, comes to us from an athletic family. Rambis, if he can remember where he needs to be in each event and what he is supposed to do in each event might be a tough competitor. He is strong, fast, athletic...a lot Fox McCloud...but Rambis Jr. Seems to lack some of the intangibles that may cause a problem in the more complicated events (pole vault, high jump, long jump, hurdles)...

Larry McGillicuddy - Ireland - Larry, is an athlete with some top end speed. Plus he can run for distances without running out of steam. He claims that Guinness can do that to a person, and who am I to argue...think I'll add that to my own personal traning regimen. Larry will need to maximize his returns in his strong events because like Ginsberg, he's going to suffer in the toss events...if he can somehow manage to stay in the middle of the pack in those events, he'll have a shot to win it all...

Kurmanbek Ashkayev - Kyrgyzstan - Thank goodness this is a written dynasty and not a real radio report because I wouldn't want to attempt to pronounce this name...and honestly, I'll probably butcher it every time I don't cut and paste...regardless, Ashkayev is arguably the best balanced of all the athletes. He has good ability across the board, but no real area where he dominates. He will probably make a move on the scoreboard at the end of each day due to good endurance.

David Gonzalez - France - The former Mexican competitor is back with a new home...France. Gonzalez is one of the two returners...and another that was forced to withdraw due to injury. Gonzalez like Babson says he'll finish this time, but it is hard to believe that David has gotten tougher living in France then when he was fleeing boarder patrol in Mexico. Gonzalez is another balanced athlete...but he lacks explosiveness which may end up hindering him at some point.

Gryffydd Llyw - Wales - And I though Ashkayev was going to be tough to pronounce...Gryffydd also has taken the position that it is better to be good in everything than great at any one thing. He has a bunch of natural athletic ability that allows him to maximize his results that may ultimately carry him to the medal platform. The one area of worry for Llyw is the 100 Meters. He needs to be quick out of the block to make up for lack of top end speed...

Frank Justice - England - Justice also leans on his athletic ability to help him compete, he also leverages his technique and strength to make himself very though in the field events. He isn't a great sprinter, and like Llyw will want to get a good start in the 100 meters to overcome that weakness.

Nielsen, through a translator, because he is too pure of a Viking to demean himself by speaking English, is already making claims of media bias. Where's the glowing reviews of Nielsen's perfect Norse physique? Where's the report of the throng of hot Danish women who follow this perfect physical specimen wherever he goes?

Bah, jumping for rebounds is a poor substitute for boxing out. Stay on the ground and keep those ankles safe, that's the Rambis strategy.

Hey, a guy can be excused for not having the endurance of his youth after a full career of boxing, golf, and so on. Babson is still gonna put on a clinic if he can figure out where the events are. And if he feels like trying (gotta worry a bit more about looking for loose change so he can get out of the country).

Meet you at the puking hole after the 10th lap!

Olaf is a fish eating Norwegian not a meatball eating Swede!

The Cameroonians will just be hoping that Duke basketball wasn't Jawouk's better alternative when this is said and done.

It's good to be an expert in a field.

Event 1 - 100 Meter - Preview

The Event Favorites
Ginsberg, Babson, McCloud, Bafou, McGillicuddy

The Event Underdogs
Nielsen, Llyw, Justice, Gunderson, Gonzalez

Event 1 - 100 Meter - Card Review

Babson - Babson has a nice card with mostly results falling in the 10.45 to 10.55 range. There is a concerning 10.65 on a high probability roll of 37 and a 10.6 on the 24. The beset he can do is a 10.2, but it would take a lucky 29. Projection - 10.45

Ginsberg - This card is potentially the best in the event. The high probably 8 of the 10 high probability rolls are all 10.45 or lower...the 2 that aren't are a 10.7 on 30 (lower probability for a roll in the 30s) and an alarming 10.8 on the 38. A roll of 38 would be a killer here as Ginsberg needs to take advantage of his strong card. Projection - 10.4

Nielsen - Not a good event for the ravishing Dane...the best he can possibly do is a 10.75, but it is on a relatively attainable roll of 31. Most results appear to be around 11.15, but I hope he does better so we can see his female entourage jump up and down in support and excitement... Projection - 11.15

McCloud - McCloud's got a solid card...with an amazing 10.15 possibility, but it is on the next to impossible roll of 18...most results appear to be around 10:45 with the worst a 10.75 - Projection 10.45

Llyw - Llyw has a wide range of potential outcomes...best is a 10.65 that appears in a couple of good spots, 25 & 37, but there are some horrible results like an 11.6 with appears twice 23 & 39. This could really be a make or break event for Llyw...his low roll will put him in a prime spot to get a medal, a bad roll might eliminate his chances right out of the gate. I expect something in the middle - Projection - 10.95

Rambis - Rambis got a good draw on his card...though he was a middle of the pack performer in this event, during creation he got a very respectible 10.5 and 10.55 on the most common rolls in the game. Most of the rest of the card are about what you'd expect, with results in the upper 10s. - Projection 10.80

Justice - Justice isn't going to be very good in this event. He has no low results, the best he can hope for is an upper 10 result. Projection - 11.05

Bafou - the former basketball player is able to go when he needs too, probably from running all those suicides for Coach K. Regardless the reason, he could outright win this event. He has 10 rolls that are sub 10.4...the worst appears to be a 10.8. Projection 10.45

McGillicuddy - very similar card to Bafou, but lacking the number of sub 10.4s. Though he does have a few sub 10.2s...that could make a huge impact in scoring if they were rolled. Projection 10.45

Ashkayev - Another one of the big swing cards...the result here could be anywhere from mid 10.5s to the low 11s...in fact on the highest probabilty rolls he has 10.55, 10.85, 10.6, 10.85...that alone is a big swing...Projection - 10.8

Gunderson - For an underdog in this event Gunderson actually got some good breaks in card creation. He hs a nice 10.65 on a roll of 36, plus 2 more in the 10.6s in the low 30 rolls. However, the card is still created from the lower performers in the event and there are some potentially ugly outcomes in prime spots as well. Projection - 10.95

Gonzalez - this card was made from the same pool as Gunderson, but it lacks the number of score board change rolls in the 10.6s. There are a few, but mostly this card is an upper 10s lower 11s result. There are some very ugly mid 11s that need to be avoided - Projection - 10.95

Note: the "Projections" are quick calculation from eyeballing the card and knowing the basic probabilities of each outcome, and selecting what appears to be the most common

Got to hope Gonzalez can pull a miracle mid table result.

Danes are not sprinters. People sprint away from us in terror, or, in the case of ladies, they sprint towards us in lust.

Come on 29!

Also, what is the chance the rest of the decathlon is delayed a day due to adverse weather conditions? Babson will need a little break after this to catch his breath and look for spare change.

Don't understand the card/scoring system but I don't really need to I thinik :)

Come on Fox! Run those speedy legs of yours!

You don't need to know them...but I'll give you details if you'd like....

Basically...the game orginally used some custom dice that rolled results between 10 - 39. Rolls in the 10s happen about 1/6th of the time, the
20s 1/3rd of the time, and the 30's half the time.

The singles place occurs basically in a standard bell curve with the 4 and 5 rolls being most common...the 0 and 8s are the same, the 1s and 7, 2&6, the 3 is more than the 2 and 6 but not as much as the 4 and 5, and the 9 roll is the least common of all...

hope that helps some...

Event 1 - 100 Meters - Heat 1

In the first heat we have Babson, Ginsberg, Nielsen, McCloud, Llyw, and Rambus...

This race is really a case of the haves and have nots...the haves...have speed and the have nots don't. We expect Babson, Ginsberg and McCloud to pull away early and just continue to separate...

The are in the blocks and....
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"runners take your mark...."

BANG

Gun goes off and as expected the sprinters are out quickly...Babson has an early half step lead with McCould and Ginsberg right on his hip...Rambus and Llyw are neck and neck with Nielsen trying to stay in contact...

At the half way point Babson is starting to stretch his lead...and Rambus is beginning to pull away from Llwy...

As they approach the line Babson is flying and he continues to open his lead...this is looking like an incredible time...Ginsberg and McCloud are still stride for stride too tough to call a leader. Rambus has opened a couple step lead on Llyw for 4th and Nielsen has slipped further back...

At the line it's Babson...

Still too close to call on the McCloud/Ginsberg spot...

Rambus is 4th, followed by Llyw and Nielsen...

We will wait for the official times. Remember in the Decathlon while it is nice to win an event or heat, it is all about how you score - so it will be interesting to see who is happy with their results and who isn't...

Event 1 - 100 Meters - Heat 1 - Official Results

The official results are in...

Let's go Gunderson!! Vikings certainly aren't known for their speed, but you have to beat Nielsen at least.

Event 1 - 100 Meters - Heat 2

The runners are stretching out waiting on their signal to get into the blocks...

In this heat we expect Bafou and McGillicuddy to pull out to an early lead with Ashkayev falling in the middle between the 2 sprinters and the 3 non-sprinters...Gonzalez, Gunderson, and Justice...

The runners and in the blocks...

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And they are off...

Ashkayev is out of the blocks extremely quickly grabbing an early lead with McGillicuddy next and Bafou only a half step behind. The remaining 3 runners are already trailing the pack...

At the midway point Ashkayev is holding on to the lead, but McGilly and Bafou are closing...in the back Justice is starting to fade behind the Gonzalez and Gunderson pair...

As we approach the line McGilly has passed Ashkayev and Bafou is neck and neck with him....

With the also rans, Gunderson looks to be establishing himself as the best of the rest...

At the line it is McGillicuddy, Bafou and Ashkayev...followed by Gunderson, Gonzalez and Justice...

Official times coming up...

Feh. Norway by all respects should still be part of Greater Denmark. Nielsen will bear no ill will to a fellow Dane performing well.

...so long as you pay homage to your proper monarch.

Event 1 - 100 Meters - Heat 2 - Official Results

You were spot on with your prediction for Llyw.