The Birth of the Treefrogs (the first Desktop Dynasties dynasty)

[GoldenCrest Games]

kaboom!

[jct32]

Originally Posted by GoldenCrest Games

kaboom!

Not what I was expecting but it looks great!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Me either, but I'm leaving it up to the designer for the art concept. I just feed the basic logo idea and the color scheme, and he does the rest. If I got too involved, they'd all end up looking like the Swarm logo!

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I think everything is working for the draft!

It's time to get this party started!!

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1.1

The Maroons have gotten 3 legit offers for the star of the draft. (The way the screen works, only the offers they are considering show up in the window)

The Slates, Olives, and the Swarm all have a serious need at QB, and Robbins could be a franchise changer! The Maroons are transforming into a special teams monster, so I'm not surprised that they are looking at 3 legit returners in exchange for the top pick.

After much deliberation, the Maroons trade the #1 pick to the Slates for Justin Javier. The Slates select Gary Robbins.

DAMN! I wanted the Swarm to get this one.

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At #2, the Blues aren't even fielding any offers. (I tried to get this guy!)

They select CB stud Herbert Burke

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1.3

The Slates are up again and are eyeing WR/ST stud Olen Cooke.

I really want to move up and get Millard Delacruz to start building my pass defense. They only player the Slates would take for the pick is Faulkner.

um.... no thanks. I'll try the next team.

Slates select Olen Cooke.

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1.4 The Silvers are fielding offers for this pick, and the current offers are already too high for me to beat.

TRADE Silvers trades the #4 pick in round 1 to the Olives for Bryce Rendon
Olives select OL/CB (??) Elvin Stevens

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1.5 Pinks want too much for this pick, and nobody makes an offer.

Pinks select Millard Delacruz

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1.6 Avocados are set on Kim Rios and don't field offers. (Or, more likely, other teams don't see enough value in this pick to meet the demand)

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1.7 Whoah, out of nowhere the Twisters jump in!

TRADE Alpacas trades the #7 pick in round 1 to the Twisters for Alva Dendy
Twisters select Carmen Buck

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1.8 Browns trade pick to the Grays, who select Wade Woodard

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1.9 Grays trade the pick to the Browns, who select A. Villarreal.

That was weird. They flip-flopped picks! (and also moved players to each other for fit. still a weird coincidence, though)

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1.10 Nemesis take Chris Stokes

Going into the back half of the draft, I'm not seeing a lot that excites me. If I can grab Tyrone Floyd for special teams, I'll be happy. Outside of him or DL/ST Daren Hansen, I'll probably skip my pick.

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Whoah, I was going to burn through the next 5 picks, but the Twisters are making another move at 1.12!

Twisters are going to move Beals for the #12! I was wondering when they were going to move that guy. He didn't really fit in, once Luna showed up.

They trade Beals, and then select Tommie Haynes.

That's actually a pretty sweet move.

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1.17

So we're on the clock, with the Twisters and Swarm soon up.

My coach wants me to take Huffman, but I'm going to take Floyd. I need the ST help.

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1.19: Twisters quietly take Pete Fernandez.
1.20: Swarm grab Allen Conrad

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Nothing much of note in the 2nd round. There were a bunch of teams skipping their picks.

Next up: Free Agency!

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The best thing about this draft system is that there's no randomness......

so when the game crashes because you forgot to add skipped picks into the save/load functions, you can just rerun it.

We're up and running again!

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League Champs Swarm:

Getting Gary Robbins would have been a game changer for the Swarm. It's a little bit of a bummer that they couldn't pull it off. The defensive secondary and the power-passing game still look legit, but they need a QB in the worst way.

The Swarm are going into FA with $51 in cap space. That should be enough to land a decent QB. I'll be disappointed in the AI if the Swarm don't go all-in on a QB.

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Eastern Champ Twisters

Wow! I'm impressed with how the defense looks this year. 2 of the 3 rookies will immediately start as the #1 in their position. (LB and S) That's one hell of a rookie class.

The offense still looks strong, too. This could be another big year for the Twisters. They are going into FA with $59 in cap space, and no roster spots to fill. It will be interesting to see if they try to upgrade anywhere.

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Playoff disappointment Treefrogs

That defense makes me sad.

Buckles, Poston, and Eddy are my only meaningful players on defense. If I can find some real defensive help in FA, I'm willing to start moving some of my key players. We have $48 in cap space right now, so we should be able to get something.

If not, we might have to focus on offense and special teams and deal with shootouts every week.

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I'll be in the fast-sim grind all day today, so FA will have to wait for a couple days.

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Ugh! I couldn't do it. I got the passing game working (with open field running and interceptions) but I just can't grind through another full day of fast-sim. It's PAINFUL!

Looks like FA is going to get some love today, afterall!

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Working on some FA AI updates right now, but might as well take a look at the FA pool.

hmmm.... that's pretty weak. Even though it sucks, the Swarm should be able to land a much better QB, if they want to. Not a franchise changer, but maybe a bridge QB in case they don't trade for one.

There's no chance I find any defensive help here. Anyone with any defensive skill has been locked up by their teams. Looks like it's trade-market for me. I still have an open roster spot that I'll fill with some ST talent, though. Maybe Mack Rivera?

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I don't know why this just hit me, but I should have traded Faulkner for Gary Robbins pick. I'm pretty sure that was on the table, but I dismissed it too quickly.

That might be the last time I get a reasonable shot at a young franchise QB that can also play defense.

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My "Stop being dumb!" moment of the week:

So I'm finishing up some pretty sweet AI updates for free agency, and I start running tests. The Swarm have 1 roster spot open, and don't have a very good QB. Obviously the Swarm should be chasing a QB.

There isn't much in the QB pool, but there's a 1-way QB that seem ok. (Arrington) I'm convinced that the Swarm should be chasing Arrington, and fiddle with the AI for 2 hours to try and make it happen. It never works. The Swarm are always going after Pugh.

I get frustrated and go to work. My confidence is shot all day.

On the way home, I vow to fix the AI tonight. I make a couple tweaks, fire it up, and once again the Swarm go after Pugh. Before throwing another fit, I wrap up FA and check depth charts to see who landed Arrington, in hopes of finding the problem.

Then it hits me. The Swarm are better at this game than I am. Pugh is also starting at S and is on the field for ST, where Arrington wouldn't play at any other position. Pugh is actually the right choice.

And that's why the Treefrogs don't have a logo.

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Actual live FA coming tomorrow morning. The AI looks legit now.

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Cruising through FA. As expected, the Swarm grab QB Pugh for 1 season. No real bidding wars, since most teams already have their starting lineups, and the FA pool is pretty thin.

We're going to wait it out and fill out last roster spot when the player demands start coming down. I plan on moving aggressively once the trade window opens, so I need to make sure to keep my cap flexibility.

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Swarm Training Camp

This is one of those cases where having a sponsored team in the league really paid off. I check the sponsored teams pretty closely at each phase, because I'm invested in a few of the players (Armbruster) and want to see how their careers develop. Last thing I want is to have a career get derailed by a stupid bug.

In this case, watching Armbruster paid off. I saw his training looked out of whack, and ended up uncovering a typo that left 24 year old players without an updated training plan. (an error in the conditional expression, where 24 year old players just happened to be on the border between two training styles)

Bug squashed, and training is set!

Everything looks normal here. I like how the QB/S "rental" Pugh is only getting trained at QB and S. Smart.

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Twisters training

I'm so jealous of the new-look Twisters defense. (you'll see why in the next post) Buck and Haynes are one hell of an immediate upgrade. The other rookie, Fernandez kind of sucks, though. Overall, the Twisters did a nice job of managing the draft.

I'm a little concerned about the KR position. I think Karp should be the starting KR, and probably should get trained there. Cromwell should be a ST. I'll check the depth chart when the next season gets set. It might just be a training camp issue because coaches train mostly on player skills, and less on depth chart. I could adjust that, though.

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Treefrogs training

That defense makes me sad.

My special teams are starting to show signs of life, but that defense.......

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Now that we're at the beginning of the season, there's nothing left for me to do but focus on fast-sim.

After this one, I'm never doing another game with fast-sim. It's so BORING!!!

[jct32]

Woo!! Almost season time. Great work as always!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Uh oh...

Doing some early morning shopping of the trade blocks, and I ran across this trade. I ran across it during player shopping, so the Browns are willing to make the deal.

Here's what those blue numbers you keep seeing on trade and FA screens mean:

• When the AI evaluates players, it generates a value number of that player for every position, based on skill and coach preference. (0-100)
• That number is used to determine where the player fits in the team's depth chart.
• The team then figures out how much better or worse the depth chart is, by adding up the value rating for the new depth chart against the old depth chart.
• That blue number is the resulting calculation. A positive number means the team would get better, and a negative number means it would get worse.

I rely heavily on that number for trading. (Not quite as much for FA)

So looking at this trade, the Browns would get 35 points better by sending the #1 player on their roster for my OL3???

Well, the answer is yes. (they are stacked with CB talent) The problem is that nobody in their right mind would make this deal if they were the Browns GM.

I'm clearly missing something when it comes to trade evaluation.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Quick update: Found the problem. It's not that coaches are evaluating trades incorrectly, it's that coaches are overvaluing the OL3 and OL4 positions. About half the coaches in the league value an OL4 the same as a CB2.

oops!

That being said, Parry seems to be an outlier. There aren't any other players that show up during shopping that seem unrealistic. I think he's showing up because of a weird roster makeup quirk on the Browns. (having 5 decent CB)

If I just add some sanity check AI to make sure you aren't trading a superstar for a scrub, (even if it makes your roster better) I should be able to filter out weird things like this.

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More details on the trading issue:

As it turns out, the Browns just don't like Parry all that much. I added in the sanity filters and the Browns were still offering him up for Cerda. Then I tightened down the filters until the Browns pulled Parry off the table, and found out that they value Parry almost exactly the same as they value Cerda...



Confused? Me too.

So the weird thing that tripped all this off is that the Browns are not a CB style defense. They actually value CB lower than any other defensive position. How did they get so many CBs?

This is probably another one of those situations caused by the ever changing AI. The Browns probably landed a bunch of CB in the initial draft when teams didn't have such specific styles. They they resigned all of the CBs in season 1, and then changed style going into season 2. Now that the AI is stronger, the Browns are attempting to rebuild the roster to fit how they want to play.


Since I caused this problem, I'll let the CPU teams have first crack at Parry. (with the sanity filters still in place) However, if nobody makes a move by week 2, I'm going after him!!

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Big-block programming today, so you know what that means....

I'm in fast-sim lockdown (for at least the next 4 hours)

Before diving in, I cleaned up a few more lingering interface and trade AI issues. Parry is still being offered to anyone with a decent OL asset, but he's the only weird one now. While I was at it, I even included some basic AI for the teams to start shopping players who aren't worth their contracts. (the beginnings of AI cap management)

I also started setting the Treefrogs season strategy!

I'm going to continue my pattern of changing offense every season, by switching from the Gator to the Spider offense. We're dropping the 4th OL and adding a 3rd WR to the starting lineup. I like switching offense because it lets me get a good look at all the plays and playbooks. There are a few teams that run the Spider package, so that playbook could use some love.

On defense, I have to make some real change. I'm sticking with Poston (LB) and Buckles (LB/S) because they have elite speed and are still pretty young. I have 1 good DL (Eddy) and nothing else. I can't bring myself to abandon defense and go to a Offense+ST strategy. I'd rather give up consistent kick returns for TD than let teams march down the field all day on me.

It's probably not a wise move long-term, but I'm riding Faulkner until he falls apart. So that means my top 4 players are all locked in. After that, everyone is up for grabs.

• My top asset is OL Mathew. He's elite, but a 1-way player. Right now, teams are starved for OL talent and I could get a haul for him. I'm going to try and flip him for a CB1 that can fill in at either WR3 or a top ST.
  
• OL Cerda is probably my next best asset. I'd like to land a DL2 or a CB2 for him.
  
• CB Muse is probably going to get flipped for some lesser OL talent to fill in for moving Mathew and Cerda.
  
• I doubt there's a market for anyone else on my roster, but if I can upgrade anywhere on defense I'll do it.

I've learned over the last 2 seasons that my players aren't as valuable as I thought, so my overall talent level is probably going to suffer. I can live with that as long as my style of play gets better.

Besides, it's not like we're winning many playoff games with this roster the way it is. #nologo

[GoldenCrest Games]

I made good progress on fast-sim, but I need a break.

It's time for the Treefrogs to go shopping! I forgot that I'd put in a pre-season trading week, so the CPU had their chance to grab Parry. Nobody made an offer, so now it's my turn.

Even with dangling Mathew, I'm surprisingly limited in what I can get. The Rainbow Sharks are also in desperate need of OL, and have a ton of talent at CB. That seems to be the best target. I tried to get CB Joe Benn each of the first 2 years, but was unsuccessful. This time I made a strong push by packaging Muse with Mathew, and sealed the deal! I took on Sprinkle as some ST depth to even out the trade.

Once I moved Mathew, I was committed. I went back to the Browns with Cerda and was able to grab Parry.

Both teams accepted the deals, and we're ready to kick off the new-look Treefrogs! Even though my DL is still pretty weak, and the safeties are embarrassing, I like the look of my LB/CB combo. It's a little funny that my LBs are significantly faster than my CBs.

Also, my ST have taken a healthy step forward into respectability!

It's going to be hard not to have an elite OL, but I'll see if we can rely on short routes and passes to Faulkner. Maybe that will work.

Back to fast-sim!

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and just like that, we close the fast-sim work for today.

Here's where we stand:

• Kickoff: fully functional, balanced
• Passing game: fully functional, not balanced
• Running game: fully functional, not balanced
• Interception returns: fully functional, not balanced
• Open field running: fully functional, not balanced
• Punting: 0% functional
• Integration into existing coach/playcall AI: 0% functional
• Stat tracking: 1% functional
• Integration into existing schedule screens: 0% functional

The hardest parts of the fast sim are done now. (getting passing, running, and open field fully functional) Now it's really a matter of tying it all together and balancing it. I don't see any major hurdles now, and I can probably work on this during the morning hour-of-code. I only needed the large-block time to get through the tough stuff.

That means we're back into games!!!

Can't wait!

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I finally figured out how to do animated gifs! (god do I feel old )

I haven't been able to post them here, but here's the link:

Faulkner gettin' some against the Oranges. https://www.facebook.com/GoldenCrest...360432792/?t=0

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Week 1

Not a bad game for the Treefrogs this week. The defensive upgrades were totally worth it. It's so nice not to worry about the deep ball every damn play.

I'm running the Dragon defense right now (2DL, 2LB, 2CB, 2S) and the playbook needs a little work. It's really blitz heavy, which is ok, but we need to have a few more coverage options. Also, the safeties could be used a little more. Other than that, I need to figure out how best to use my LB/CB combo more effectively. Still, it was fun to blitz and not assume I'm going to get a homerun ball thrown over the top of my secondary.

Offense was a lot harder. I don't have the dominant running game anymore, and my pass protection broke down pretty regularly. That's a bummer. Still, it's fun to have passing options. 3WR patterns are so much more interesting. We really need more plays that feature the RB. I only have 1 in the paybook now, and it's just a RB streak. That being said, I didn't find any plays in the Spider playbook that were garbage. They all seemed to work ok, they just don't fit my strategy yet.

Nice to see the Swarm and Twisters start off with a win! I'm a little annoyed that the Nemesis might be back, though. I can't stand them.

Also, how about the Maroons and Blues starting off with wins! Not bad for the two worst teams from last season. Remember, the Blues changed to a ball control team and the Maroons became special teams obsessed. We'll have to see how it plays out over the season.

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Standings

Ha!! The Blues didn't get a single pass yard!! lol!! Also, Javier (the guy the Maroons got for the #1 pick) is at the top of the returns chart already! That's pretty sweet.

It looks like the run playcall AI updates I made during last season worked. There are several teams with decent running. Cool.

I know it's early, but it's cool to see some of the new names popping up n the leaders charts. Rookie QB Robbins even makes an appearance on the MVP list! I'm pretty sure players like Luna, Huntley, Armbruster, and Faulkner will all climb back up to the top eventually.

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Heading into week 2, a few teams are still tinkering with the roster:

• The Eggshells have traded Rodger Tanaka to the Maroons for Trenton Choe
• The Treefrogs have traded Lawerence Sprinkle to the Pinks for Carl Frederick
• The Silvers have traded Raymon Morrison to the T-Pain for Johnathon Singh

We basically moved a ST3 for an upgrade at OL3. Not a huge trade. The Maroons are still assembling that all-world special teams unit.

I can't wait to play them.

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It looks like the upgrade at OL3 is already paying off! Look at that hole!!

https://www.facebook.com/GoldenCrest...333375128/?t=0

(yes, we stole a running play from the Swarm )

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Week 2

Whoah! Lots of shutouts and blowouts this week! I don't think I've ever seen a week like this before.

The Treefrogs look like they are back! Grabbing that OL3 made a huge difference to my offense. He's another 1-way player, but he's at the bottom of my roster so I don't really care if I need to cut him after the season to make room for a better one. I really needed that running game help. My WR's aren't that skilled, so we drop a LOT of passes.

Also, Faulkner has 2 games in a row with a KR for TD! Sweet.....

Look at that Twisters defense! This could be a big year for them.

Surprise of the week: The Blues and Maroons both win again! The Blues beat the Nemesis, who looked unstoppable last week. The Maroons put a butt-whipping on the Grays.

wow!

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Standings:

• The Blues are 2-0 without a single pass yard!!
• The Maroons are near the top in return yardage! (I wish they were better in opp ret yds)

In terms of the terrible team experiment, so far so good.

Luna starts his yearly assault on the MVP award. He really closed the gap on Huntley this week. Faulkner is back, too. Getting that running game going is really going to help.

I really want to dig into these stat leaders more than I'm able to right now. I'll have to get that league news screen on the radar. Seems like the next logical thing to do after Fast-Sim is working.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Fast-sim day again!

Today's goal is to get all the playcalling AI integrated with Fast-Sim. I don't think it's going to be too complicated, but I've said that before....

If I get done early, the next thing to to pull everything together and try and sim a complete game. (before balancing) That's going to be interesting! Ha!

Now if all that gets done, it's on to week 3!

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• The Nemesis have traded Dorsey Curtin to the Grays for Shelby Lorenz
• The Twisters have traded Donnell Janes to the Alpacas for Alva Dendy

Wow. The Twisters made a bold move here. The moved a pretty legit WR/LB for a kicker.

That sounds crazy.

Before I went all "That's dumb!" I remembered the debacle I went through when I didn't trust the Swarm coach. So I dug into it.

As it turns out, the WR/LB is 34 years old and must be dropping speed at an alarming rate (He's at to 57 now) Ouch!

Also, the Twisters biggest weakness has always been the kicking game. They've lost several games I watched, because they couldn't hit a FG outside the 10. Now they bring in a 83 rated kicker, who is only 22 years old.

The probably fixes the biggest weakness of the Twisters, now that they are loaded up with rookie defensive talent. This could be the year!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Week 3

Twisters and Swarm still dominating!

The Treefrogs had a nice game against the Reds. I was a little nervous when the Reds took the opening kickoff back for a TD, but we held the returner in check after that. Faulkner had a hard day gaining yardage in the air, or on the ground. He managed to punch a couple in from the goal-line, but he never really got any space to run.

The WRs were looking nice though! It's been a while since I was able to get some separation in routes. We dropped a couple long TD bombs, but that's going to happen when you're starting WRs rated in the 60s. Still, we had some nice drives sustained by the WR2 and WR3.

On defense, LB Poston had a massive game. He dominated on the blitz. My guess is that the improved coverage is allowing him to get to the QB. My coverage used to be so bad that Poston never had a chance.