Eastside Hockey Manager returns on Steam today.. (3/26)

[klayman]

Originally Posted by Marmel

One thing that has always bugged me about FM and now this is massive amount of attributes to sort through. Not being too familiar with hockey, I can't even seem to find a star rating to help guide me along. Any suggestions for a newb?

You could use reputation as a guideline, but it's also not going to be accurate especially for youngsters and older players.

On each team's roster page there are three players with * by their names. These are the top three players on that team. You can also have your coach set the lines to determine the relative skill of your own players. Keep in mind that will be influenced by fatigue and stuff.

[tarcone]

There is a lot to this game.
I cant find a list of free agents. Where is that in the game?

[IlliniCub]

You have to goto scouting...Player Search and then set the filters to show you UFA.....Could definitely use a little work to make the free agency process more user friendly

[Sweed]

I bought in, too great a deal at $11.99. I have a question after looking through the manual.

I want to play as GM only, I build the team and let my head coach set tactics and manage the games, but I want to watch the games. Is that possible?

Manual states:
Coach Games Yourself: If set to no, each game will be handled by your Assistant GM and simply generate whilst processing rather than going into the game itself.

Handled by the Assistant GM, not the Head Coach?
Can I watch a replay of the game and hide the score?

Ok, now something else. Earlier I went into the tactics screen and let the coach suggest lines. Then went in further and asked for coaches opinion but no tactical settings changed? Am I the only one that can set up tactics and the AI coach only does it "in game" when he is coaching? I'd really like to see what he is setting up if I am not coaching the games.


Now I can't even get back into the tactics screen. Is this one of those have to continue a day to get back in?

Thanks.

[tucker rocky]

Originally Posted by Sweed

I bought in, too great a deal at $11.99. I have a question after looking through the manual.

I want to play as GM only, I build the team and let my head coach set tactics and manage the games, but I want to watch the games. Is that possible?

Manual states:
Coach Games Yourself: If set to no, each game will be handled by your Assistant GM and simply generate whilst processing rather than going into the game itself.

Handled by the Assistant GM, not the Head Coach?
Can I watch a replay of the game and hide the score?

Ok, now something else. Earlier I went into the tactics screen and let the coach suggest lines. Then went in further and asked for coaches opinion but no tactical settings changed? Am I the only one that can set up tactics and the AI coach only does it "in game" when he is coaching? I'd really like to see what he is setting up if I am not coaching the games.


Now I can't even get back into the tactics screen. Is this one of those have to continue a day to get back in?

Thanks.

Go to league schedule, and scroll down to your teams game.
There is a button to click, to view or not view, when coach controls game.

For tactical settings to be changed, have coach select team, then tactics, or team and tactics all at once.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by tucker rocky

Go to league schedule, and scroll down to your teams game.
There is a button to click, to view or not view, when coach controls game.

For tactical settings to be changed, have coach select team, then tactics, or team and tactics all at once.

Thanks. I did finally get to my first exhibition game and found that on the schedule. Figured there had to be a way but the way the manual read left me wondering.

[chrisj]

Love the new ratings screen from the most recent update - much easier to get a clear picture of how well a player is rated.

[bhlloy]

I'm going to try this as GM only - watching the games just doesn't give anywhere near a realistic NHL game and it's killing my immersion. Just my two cents.

[bhlloy]

DOLA - here's what I'd consider pretty broken right now in terms of watching the games out

- Scoring too high, or more accurately seems to be very few low scoring games
- Too many goals from defensemen on what seems to be pretty harmless shots from the point, especially after a faceoff
- WAY too many penalties, and penalty distribution needs a lot of work. This is probably my biggest gripe - it just bears no actual relation to how penalties are called in a real NHL game. I've seen way too many periods where one team gets seven calls and the other team gets none. I've seen tons of penalties called in the last five minutes of a game. Penalties seem to happen randomly all over the ice where in reality the vast majority of penalties are in the defensive zone. The most common penalty seems to be charging whereas I've seen maybe one or two of those called all season IRL
- Faceoff positioning just seems weird. I've had matching minors in one zone go all the way back to the other zone for the faceoff and I've also had quite a few penalties where the faceoff should have gone to the offensive zone and hasn't

[EagleFan]

Not seeing drastic increases in the penalties (though when watching the games they do tend to decrease the immersion factor if you pay attention to what penalty is supposedly being called; I like the charging calls when the person getting the penalty maybe moved about 3 feet to initiate contact).

Looking at the stats on average it is up about 1.5 power play opportunities per game per team over NHL (basically one extra minor per period).

Scoring is up. Though I am not overly worried about that; makes me think back to watching games in the 80's.

Am seeing quite a few WTF roster moves by the CPU teams. Not even moves that I could at least say the salary cap is the reason. The "Rangers" waived the league's leading scoring while they were 3 million under cap. Three other teams waived their team's leading scorer and all were under the cap. The one I know the most about was the New York player because they first put him on the trading block. I inquired and was told that he was untouchable. The next day they waived him.

[EagleFan]

Just played through the first game after the update. Had more penalties than I had in previous games; hope that wasn't a result of the update but a one off.

Like that they fixed the faceoff locations and the line changes after icing.

Final score was 3-2 in overtime. Though I had over 40 shots to get those three goals. Will see how the next games play out.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I honestly don't know what is supposed to be working at this point & what isn't supposed to be working -- especially when playing with mods -- but I'll mention this in case it's worth noting.

I'm playing with an ECHL team (courtesy of one of the mods) and contract negotations -- or rather player decision making in contract negotations -- seems downright borked.

Player wants 1 yr / $20k
My board only allows me to offer $16k.

So I work around by offering $16k salary AND a $22k signing bonus (by this point I was trying to see if anything would work) ... the player declines.

Not a one time thing either, have gotten the same inexplicable refusal from 5 different players in similar situations.

Yeah ... that's broken.

[Fidatelo]

My only issue with the game so far is that I appear to suck at it.

[EagleFan]

Major bug that I just found. Game was tied 4-4 and went to overtime. No team scored in overtime and the game went to a shootout. I setup my order for the shooters and hit continue game. When I did the game went back to the day's results and showed that I lost in overtime. When I look at the box score it shows a goal by Toronto 1:10 into overtime as the game winner. WTF?

[EagleFan]

dola: and it was listed as a power play goal (though thee were no penalties in the overtime that I watched).

[bhlloy]

Suspensions and major penalties are also really wacky. Last three guys to get suspended in the league for me - Parise, Backstrom and Hossa. The last two have never even thrown a check.

[bhlloy]

DOLA - this is what I'm talking about. No referee on earth would call this game and if he did he'd be murdered afterwards, and I regularly see streaks of 7-8 penalties called on one team.

EDIT - a penalty called with less than two minutes to go in the game and on in OT as well! Good luck getting out of Dallas guys

[Fidatelo]

Doesn't seem unusual to me...

/JetsFan

[bhlloy]

Well, as a Ducks fan I'm well used to getting screwed to the tune of 4-1 every game since around 2006, but that's a little excessive. Should be a fun first round series to see which team gets more calls then.

[Mota]

I've also noticed a lot of goals from the defense.

The penalty thing doesn't really bother me. I view it as the refs actually calling a game the way it needs to be, rather than worrying about their personal safety. In real life they try to even things out over time, I've seen it over and over again but in a game there's no such requirement.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Well, as a Ducks fan I'm well used to getting screwed to the tune of 4-1 every game since around 2006, but that's a little excessive. Should be a fun first round series to see which team gets more calls then.

The Jets are in a whole different league when it comes to penalties:



Minor Penalties Leaders

RK TEAM PIM MINOR
1 Winnipeg 1068 373
2 Pittsburgh 1123 343
3 Columbus 978 338
...
11 Anaheim 887 299

[Ramzavail]

Is it impossible to trade a player with a no trade clause? are the only options waive and buy out? or if you deem them not needed and send them down and they trade them for a bag of ass, the player will waive the NTC?

[SirFozzie]

Two new nations, four new leagues, and a bunch of fixes highlight the just released patch:

Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Eastside Hockey Manager: Early Access

Changelist for 15.2.0b
======================

New features:
-------------
- Swiss Leagues 1 and 2 made playable
- German League made playable
- Finnish League 3 made playable
- Added option to use a borderless 1024x768 window in game preferences


Database Import changes for 2014 rules:
[apply to new games started with newly imported databases only]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Adjusted national tv deals in various nations
- World championships format updated
- Fixed Russian league playoff brackets
- Updated shootout rules in various leagues
- Fixed Swedish league playoff home/away games order


Database Import changes for 2006 rules:
[apply to new games started with newly imported databases only]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Gameplay changes:
-----------------
- Improved AI trade evaluations, fixed harsh roster related trade evaluations
- Improved financial assessments of trades
- Improved player/agent wage demands in relation to team budgets and status offered
- Improved player contract evaluations to put more weight on wages on offer
- Improved reputation settings for human managers based on past experience selected
- When human manager moves teams, old team league is removed from boxscores to show list
- Adjusted club expected rankings and ranking updates during the season
- Fixed high board expectation levels for teams expected to be at the bottom of the league
- Fixed board wage allowance for entry-level contracts to allow teams to sign prospects better
- Adjusted general club finances with regards to sponsorship levels (other income) and merchandising
- Fixed season ticket sales processing
- Some award scoring adjustments
- Fixed teams losing rights to qualified restricted free agents after contract expiry
- Improved AI when trimming roster for salary cap purposes
- Fixed the latest draft lottery model and added recap of the first round picks in the news item
- Fixed creation of junior/college preference for new players at the start of a new game (applies to new games only)
- Fixed initial bonus points doubling up in one Swedish league stage
- Improved league news items for promotion/relegation/qualification to next round
- Small improvements for various news item texts
- Improved chances for owners to inject money into their clubs when in financial trouble


UI changes:
-----------
- Player comparison screen lists attributes the same way as in player profile
- Added tooltips to the trade interest stars in trade screens
- If a player is willing to waive his no-trade clause, this is indicated in the trade interest label and tooltip
- Re-arranged select leagues screen to accommodate more leagues


Other changes:
--------------
- Fixed rare crash when trying to continue after re-loading a saved game on season update day
- Fixed rare crash with All-Star game when a participating player had suddenly retired
- Fixed crash when clicking on an empty "Compare Players" menu
- Fixed error on comparing all-star team player and team stats
- Fixed error with setting up player data for games with databases that had invalid player position settings


In-Game Engine v68
==================
- Fixes to overtime penalty processing
- Adjustments to penalty reasons
- Adjustments to calling penalties
- Small adjustments to player decision making

[JonInMiddleGA]

minor buggish thing showing up in my 3rd season as the head of Arizona (the NHL ones)

I keep a close eye on things in the AHL & ECHL, that's what brought me to notice that Rockford has basically only dressed 13 players, just 3 forwards, for most of the season en route to a 7-32-4 start.

Might need some tweaking to something there

[muns]

How's the progress with this? Is it worth starting a real career yet or is it still in the mess around stages?

[Grover]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

minor buggish thing showing up in my 3rd season as the head of Arizona (the NHL ones)

I keep a close eye on things in the AHL & ECHL, that's what brought me to notice that Rockford has basically only dressed 13 players, just 3 forwards, for most of the season en route to a 7-32-4 start.

Might need some tweaking to something there

Man, that line must be exhausted.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by muns

How's the progress with this? Is it worth starting a real career yet or is it still in the mess around stages?

I've had fun with it, over a combined 7 seasons in 2 careers (decided to try an NHL one straightaway along with the ECHL one I did first), as long as you can kinda squint occasionally and not look too hard at some of the quirky stuff.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I've had fun with it, over a combined 7 seasons in 2 careers (decided to try an NHL one straightaway along with the ECHL one I did first), as long as you can kinda squint occasionally and not look too hard at some of the quirky stuff.

This. Though I am still in my first season.

[muns]

Thanks for the answers guys

[chrisj]

My big frustration - it is difficult to figure out what your cap number will be. Maybe it's just not knowing the exact rules - but it would be nice if there was somewhere that gave an indication?

Edit: I just went from the game telling me I was at $71 million to telling me I'm at $62 million??

Edit #2: And it looks like the Blackhawks waived Duncan Keith simply because of how the game calculates the salary cap in the off-season. Because they are now well under the cap... only minus Keith (it would have been close otherwise... but they wouldn't lose a key player for nothing if they could have avoided it).

[djsatu]

Anyone still playing this? Apparently the latest patch made the gameplay and stats amazing and close to real life. Im just waiting for the new rosters to drop, and it will be my go to hockey fix through the winter months. I'd also like to see if anyone bought FHM2 and can compare the 2. The price point and AI logic so far has hindered my purchase for that game, and im waiting for legit reviews to pop up.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I haven't played it in a while. The last time I played the stats weren't close. The games were all very high scoring and weird.

I'll fire it up tonight and check it out.

[BishopMVP]

I'm just as interested in if/how the player development algorithm and goalie playing time/general injuries were tweaked. I know I'm starting to get the itch too with training camps starting, but I'm always more interested in being a long-term GM than an in-season coach who wants to replay this year or put a lot of time into player interaction. (FOF/FBCB hit the sweet spot for me.)

I also dislike how it tries to be FM when it comes to free agents and scouting, but I understand riz and them have a more Euro-centric view (and that it's easier to start with existing template than build everything from scratch.)

[chrisj]

I'm still playing it and enjoying it... will likely start up a new career when new rosters come out (as well as updated AHL format - don't think that's been done yet?)

[Honolulu_Blue]

I fired EHM up last night and can confirm the scores are much more in line with actual hockey scores. Much, much more.

That said, I lost pretty much every game I played. I was sad.

[djsatu]

Just fired up the game, and am starting a dynasty with the 1974 Boston Bruins. Hope you guys follow it in the dynasty reports section of the forum!

[jbergey22]

Any news on this game? Is it out of early access? I own it but really havent touched it since I purchased. Was hoping this would be patched up and ready to play one of these days.

[sabotai]

I think it's still Early Access and it'll probably be awhile before it's not. However, it seems like they put out an update once a week or so, so it might be worth giving it a look if you haven't played it in awhile.

[chrisj]

The stats have certainly come along way since the initial release.

Main aspect I hate is trading in the game. As an example, I was looking for a goalie. The Kings (in 2035 or something like that) had 3 young goalies who were all starting material (one was playing in the AHL). It wouldn't move either of them no matter what the package was, nor would it at least tell me who on my team they might be interested in acquiring.

[djsatu]

I read a new interview this week on a swedish website with the developer, and he states the game will no longer be early access in december. Game will be updated with improved screen resolutions also! No confirmation on online play, but im hoping to be pleasently surprised.

Interview about EHM with Risto Remes and Miles Jacobson

[chrisj]

And it is out of Early Access now:
Eastside Hockey Manager Returns To The Rink | Sports Interactive

[riz]

Just a heads up, EHM got the first bigger update since the December release yesterday. Here's the changelist for version 1.1:

New features:
-------------
- Added European Champions League (club continental competition)
- Added European Cup (club continental competition)
- Added tutorial screens for the draft screen (preview/review and ongoing draft)
- Added option in preferences to force host 2D clock/action speeds on all clients in network games
- Added option in preferences to force host 2D highlights setting on all clients in network games
- Added "Join Unconnected" action in GM status screen in network games for hosts to force all unconnected users to join on the host in vacation mode
- Added news items for teams qualifying for club continental competitions at the end of season
- Added Screen Flow options to preferences to control certain landing pages and default views
- Added support for generic league and team small logos



Database Import changes for 2015 rules:
[apply to new games started with newly imported databases only]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Added European Champions League (club continental competition)
- Added European Cup (club continental competition)
- Removed Russian League 1 24-day injured reserve
- Updated Russian League 1 roster limit to only apply during the season
- Adjusted Russian League 1 restricted FA qualifying offer limit from 150% to 120% of the previous wage
- Added rule for Asian League to not count players from countries which have teams in the league as foreigners
- Added rule for Asian League to support special teams that can only use domestic players (Daemyung)
- Updated Danish transfer rules to limit foreign players on roster to 8


Gameplay changes:
-----------------
- Adjustments to Team Report availability for both club and national teams
- Fixed information stored about the draft player was drafted in for the Canadian Junior drafts
- Improved early career paths for junior players
- Improved placement of older amateur players
- Improved newgen placement across junior teams
- Added support for special teams that can only use domestic players
- Fixed Exhibition games/cups/tournaments to use the default rules for overtime and shootout etc. from the home team league rules
- Improved player wage expectations in situations where they would want to test the market rather than re-sign with current team
- Improved trade evaluations for trades where a team is moving a player on the trade block
- Adjusted trade evaluations for players who have been scratched lately and added relevant feedback
- Adjustments to young player college/junior preferences
- Exhibition tournaments will no longer send a news item for the teams to submit jersey numbers
- Fixed 21-day injured reserve list functionality for American League 2
- Adjusted trade evaluations for future draft picks
- Agents no longer offer unattached restricted free agents to clubs who don't hold their rights and cannot sign them
- Information about offered contract average wage and contract length added to contract decision news items
- Network auto-continue no longer resets after saving the game in network games
- General adjustments to trade evaluations and assistant feedback
- Adjusted the method of storing player personal tactics when the limit of 30 personal tactics per team is reached and a tactics for a player who is not dressed needs to be overwritten
- Adjustments to creation of extra juniors at game start to improve future draft pool quality (affects new games only)
- Adjustments to newgen starting ability levels
- Adjustments to older player longevity at top levels to prevent too many players staying at top level for too long
- Adjustments to draft rankings to put more weight on the league player is playing in
- Prevented minor league teams from signing overaged players from major junior teams before their season is over
- Adjusted max wage allowed by board when re-signing restricted free agents who are still rookies
- Adjusted filling of offensive/defensive awareness attributes in relation to some specific defenseman roles (Physical Pointman, Physical Playmaker, Standard)
- Adjusted filling of offensive/defensive awareness attributes for roles where neither is a key attribute
- Fixed player recovery not being slowed down by intense training in all areas


UI changes:
-----------
- Fixed sorting by note type and note text in draft and search screens
- Added option in preferences to disable disk space checks when saving/starting game
- Changed appearance of "Update" buttons on the Published section of the Downloads screen
- Fixed Ask Coach/Clear Roster actions availability on roster screen for national teams
- Added alternative "points only" view for league tables to show standings without adjustments for divisional winners etc.
- Added league rules information on nations that are not considered foreign for leagues that have a related special rule
- Added league rules information on special clubs that are only allowed to use domestic players
- Added extra reasons displayed on contract offer screen for situations where the player would prefer not to re-sign with current team
- Contract view on Roster screen now also displays the free agency type next to the contract expiry
- Make a Trade button as a key action button on team screen
- European junior teams will now display the logo of the parent club if junior team has no specific logo
- Added quickflicks and see-also menu to the league leaders screen for in-active leagues to switch to other leagues in the nation
- Added view menu to league leaders screen for in-active leagues to view different stats types for skaters (scoring, special teams, defensive, penalties)
- Added nation link to section tab of the league leaders screen for in-active leagues
- Team logos now displayed on the league stages list of games and playoff stages screens when available
- Added support for small team logos to be displayed in various panels and tables
- Added support for small league logos to be displayed in various panels and tables
- Adjustments to the rows available on the player search screens with higher resolutions
- Adjusted the draft lottery description in news item to match the new draft lottery format where top 3 picks are determined by lottery
- Fixed "Next Game" button placement on AI team screen schedule panels
- Improved links to drafts in player information and history/achievements
- Added conference standings for leagues where the initial league stages are division based instead of conference based (American League 1)
- Added player history achievement entry for getting drafted
- Added manager history achievement entry for drafting a player
- Added information on the types of injured reserves in use on the league rules panel
- Moved information on number of nations/leagues selected to the information panel at the bottom of the start new game options and added number of playable international and continental competitions
- Adjusted team logo placements on 2D screen when playing games
- Fixed default sorting on the Team Screen Statistics section to points
- Adjusted search filters dialog so that Nationality option will list any nations that have teams in the currently managed team's league
- Players from Hong Kong and Macau no longer counted as foreign players on Chinese teams
- League player statistics panel downsized back to top 50 to further improve stability of network games with higher resolution settings
- Fixed sorting by team short names on waiver wire screen
- Split the yearly list of games in team screen into monthly brackets
- Improved support for Workshop based picture/logo packs in network games when server and client both have same Workshop items installed


Other changes:
--------------
- Fixed a rare crash due to game getting stuck on game day when a large number of leagues all have games on same day
- Fixed going on holiday sometimes not triggering properly
- Improved clock refresh rates when running 2D with the fastest clock speed or with no highlights
- Added checks to fix possible invalid draft history entries in some custom databases
- Adjusted random seed generation for draft lottery on the lottery day
- Fixed crash on team transactions screen when listing draft picks after acquiring a large number of picks in trades
- Fixed emergency virtual players not showing up on team screen for club teams
- Fixed start of the game wage checks to keep some custom DB entry level contract wages that were being re-calculated
- Fixes to some club record type end-of-season updates that were not done correctly
- Fixed updating of best GAA record type
- Updated known current and upcoming host nations for World Junior Championships (affects new games only)
- Adjustments to international tournament scheduling and arena selections
- Fixed crash on a news item when trying to respond to a two-way loan deal offer in British lower leagues when player is on an amateur contract
- General code optimizations to improve game performance
- Fixed network game error with network message being full with practice screen and a large number of players on roster
- Fixed a rare crash on game startup when verifying installed workshop files
- Fixed a rare crash when scouting thousands of individual players

Eastside Hockey Manager Update 1.1 Out Now (Changelist))

[riz]

Just a heads up on this, EHM is currently 75% of to celebrate the release of the official EIHL data, logo and player pic packages. The sale is on until the end of the week: Save 75% on Eastside Hockey Manager on Steam

[PilotMan]

I really need to get into a deep game of this.

[djsatu]

This game has been totally worth it when I paid 12 bucks CDN at launch, and now its under 6 bucks? Come on people, if you like sim games, this is a must have at that price!

[Umbrella]

Quick question. I have played quite a bit of FM, and I enjoy taking a team in the lower levels, and trying to work my way up. I know we don't have promotion and relegation in hockey, but can you start as a coach/GM in a lower league, and eventually get hired in the NHL?

ETA: Can you get fired for poor performance as well?

[Comey]

I haven't played a hockey game since NHL '95. (I loved that game.) For five bucks, I picked this up. Thanks for the heads up.

Now, to find time for all of these games...

[whomario]

Originally Posted by riz

Just a heads up on this, EHM is currently 75% of to celebrate the release of the official EIHL data, logo and player pic packages. The sale is on until the end of the week: Save 75% on Eastside Hockey Manager on Steam

Thanks for the heads up. Really enjoyed the old version from the 00s, was planning to get this but never got around to doing it. For 5 bucks this should be one of the bigger bargains i had this year.

The old game had a few glaring holes, but still did a terrific job at a robust long-term exerience from what i remember and the unique league/farm (if you play in NA) system made it fun to just browse around the game universe as well.

Does it come with a quick-sim option ? Should have probably asked before buying ...

Also, are there any mods that are must-haves ? Like picture/logo files etc ?

[whomario]

Is there no way to see the coaches opinion of the Potential of a player on the roster screen (and not just on the profile page individually) ?

Also, why does the game automatically invite players into traning camp ("open tryout") ?

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by djsatu

This game has been totally worth it when I paid 12 bucks CDN at launch, and now its under 6 bucks? Come on people, if you like sim games, this is a must have at that price!

Glad I checked in with FOFC this morning. I picked this up today.