Ladder resurrection - trouble...

[Kodos]

Maybe the Ladder dying is an opportunity for a fresh start and a more challenging setup. My basic idea is this:

1. We all start with a teambuildered version of the same weak-ass team--Georgia State roster, or someone like that. USC, UTSA, IU, and Ole Miss (or whoever) would all be located in New Mexico, or some lame recruiting state like that.

2. Fatigue is off.

3. CPU coaches can progress, but human coaches cannot. We'd start with 0 pts, or maybe 1 or 2 if we want to at least let ourselves scout players in one shot.

4. No recruiting restrictions, except for you cannot recruit athletes (hopefully lowers our access to elite scrambling QBs).

5. Same sliders we are used to, but 5 or 6 minute quarters so our stats don't get so obscene.

Thoughts?

[Kodos]

The other option would be recreating our rosters using teambuilder, but I imagine that would be unappetizing to Gramm, since he had just one season with his team. Recreating rosters is a laborious process...

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by Kodos

The other option would be recreating our rosters using teambuilder, but I imagine that would be unappetizing to Gramm, since he had just one season with his team. Recreating rosters is a laborious process...

I'm on board to start fresh. Can we perhaps design a new team from scratch or does that matter?

I like the idea of starting with the same shit roster and all the other ideas posed. Kind of like the quarter length we had but its fine with shorter quarters too.

[Kodos]

I'd be open to creating our own teams. Could be fun. Also, how about we go with a Rivals theme? I could make each team's primary rival overpowered and plop them in the same conference/division with us. No more always getting to schedule your cupcake rival at your place each season.

[Kodos]

We could also kick around the idea of coaching as coordinators if people are still interested in that.

https://forums.operationsports.com/f...ad.php?t=93172

[Julio Riddols]

I'm good with either or both of those as well. I'd enjoy the challenge for sure.

[Kodos]

Julio has weighed in a bit. What about EF and Gramm? What are your thoughts? Are you on board? Honestly, one of the options I'm considering is just taking a break from ODs entirely. I'm still open to continuing the Ladder by making Teambuilder versions of our rosters from last year if that's what people want. We could also figure out a fair way to give Gramm a roster that is on equal footing with ours. (Maybe use CU Tiger's roster as a template?)

I dunno. Just spitballing and looking for input. Do any of the ideas above sound good. Any new ideas?

[Eaglesfan27]

I haven't given any input because I've been contemplating. Time has been very limited with my son being born. He is taking up a ton of my free time and I've had very little gaming time. Not, that I'm complaining as this is the best time of my life

The history of the Ladder has kept me playing it and enjoying it. I love the battles we've had. I love seeing how each player can outdo their predecessors (I've kept stats for my players.) I decided a few months ago when I was even more pressed for time that the enjoyment of the Ladder would keep me playing until the dynasty died (I had no idea it would die so soon ) or a new version of NCAA came out.

I'm leaning towards not joining a new dynasty with scrub teams. I just don't think I can build up enough enthusiasm to invest into a brand new dynasty. I also don't think I get enough enjoyment with scrub teams when I play against the CPU and I need to enjoy my limited gaming time. If we decide to recreate the Ladder - I'm in for that. However, I have to be honest in saying I'm not sure how quickly I could re-create my time in team builder given my time crunch right now.

[Grammaticus]

I’m fine with re-building the ladder or looking at other OD options. I enjoy doing an OD as a football fix, even when it gets difficult time wise or even a little boring. The 2 star Dynasty was actually pretty fun and fairly restrictive, but it too was still easy to win and run up scores.

I’m okay with lame teambuilder teams, but don’t really like being all in the same state. Maybe pick a set of states that are available for location.

I think turning fatigue off will make it easier to steam roll the PCU. Gassing out is usually the only thing that slows me down at all. But I’m willing to try it.

Coaching progress set for us is okay, but I recommend thinking through the right spot. Definitely prefer to get past scouting.

Not sure how I feel about restricting Athletes, but I can go with that if needed. Maybe restrict Athletes with throwing skills or something like that. Although the more I think about it, if we can recruit all star levels, we are so good at using talent, cutting out athletes seems fine.

Sliders are easy, so not sure how people feel in regards to looking at other slider sets. If not, 5 minute quarters suck, especially for head to head. Makes it feel like pee wee football.

Generally, I’m willing to try most scenarios.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Grammaticus

I’m fine with re-building the ladder or looking at other OD options. I enjoy doing an OD as a football fix, even when it gets difficult time wise or even a little boring. The 2 star Dynasty was actually pretty fun and fairly restrictive, but it too was still easy to win and run up scores.

Okay, after reading what you guys said, I'm thinking maybe we do something of a Ladder reboot. I'm just spitballing again, but how about we try something in between the fresh start idea and the full roster recreation in Teambuilder. Each team can start with a common roster for a template, but we can each edit in X number of players from the Ladder (we can settle on what number X might be later). Entering a full roster in teambuilder is a real pain. When we converted from NCAA 2013 to 2014, we were able to advance through the end of recruiting and have a finished roster that we could convert into 2014. Unfortunately, we've lost our entire draft class. (I tried downloading the Recruit info, but the file is empty.)

I’m okay with lame teambuilder teams, but don’t really like being all in the same state. Maybe pick a set of states that are available for location.

We can figure something out here. I'd just like to make sure nobody has a major recruiting advantage based on the state their team is located in.

I think turning fatigue off will make it easier to steam roll the PCU. Gassing out is usually the only thing that slows me down at all. But I’m willing to try it.

Maybe we can do an experimental OD (no frills) where we have limited Coach pts to allot and turn fatigue off to see how it goes? The guys at Operation Sports swear it makes the game more challenging and you get more injuries.

Coaching progress set for us is okay, but I recommend thinking through the right spot. Definitely prefer to get past scouting.

I agree. I like one-shot recruiting. I want to avoid humans having 700 pts per recruit and insta-commit and stuff like that. I want to give the CPU an advantage in recruiting.

Not sure how I feel about restricting Athletes, but I can go with that if needed. Maybe restrict Athletes with throwing skills or something like that. Although the more I think about it, if we can recruit all star levels, we are so good at using talent, cutting out athletes seems fine.

Sliders are easy, so not sure how people feel in regards to looking at other slider sets. If not, 5 minute quarters suck, especially for head to head. Makes it feel like pee wee football.

Generally, I’m willing to try most scenarios.

Maybe we experiment with 6 minutes (versus 7 that I think Ladder had). I just want to limit the 97-10 games, and maybe give CPU players a shot in the Heisman race.

[Eaglesfan27]

This idea sounds interesting to me and I'm good to go with it.

[Julio Riddols]

I think the lesser talent will be enough to limit the scoring. If we can somehow manage to hamstring ourselves enough when it comes to recruiting then we may not need a clock adjustment IMO. Maybe we should also add a 15 scholarship limit in order to reduce our ability to amass talent as well. Wish there was a way to set that kind of limit in game.

I think limiting the human coaches to something like 10 levels would be good, no progression is good as well.

As for the team, I personally would rather start with a clean roster and no carryovers from my Ladder team. I don't care what everyone else's team is like, I just feel like I'd rather have nobody than just some of my old players. I don't mind playing with a handicap to begin with as long as we are all on equal recruiting footing.

I do think it would be nice to limit or even eliminate human vs human games until we are a couple seasons in, just to make the first couple seasons go by more quickly and give us a chance to put our stamp on the teams.

I like the idea of being put in obscure out of the way states but being put in really tough conferences and being given tough rivals. Lets make it as hard on ourselves as possible.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

As for the team, I personally would rather start with a clean roster and no carryovers from my Ladder team. I don't care what everyone else's team is like, I just feel like I'd rather have nobody than just some of my old players. I don't mind playing with a handicap to begin with as long as we are all on equal recruiting footing.

Julio - do you want to create an entirely new team, since you don't want to carry over any players? I'm kindof imagining the "reboot" as our teams each lost players to the draft or they got kicked off the team or something like that for continuity's sake in the Ladder. Alternatively, would you prefer to do a full rebuild of your roster? Is it the "partial" part that you don't like?



Gramm - do you want to recreate any players from Ole Miss, or just go with the Ole Miss roster in game, since you didn't recruit anyone on your old Ladder team anyway?

Just trying to figure out what people want before we move forward.

[Grammaticus]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Julio - do you want to create an entirely new team, since you don't want to carry over any players? I'm kindof imagining the "reboot" as our teams each lost players to the draft or they got kicked off the team or something like that for continuity's sake in the Ladder. Alternatively, would you prefer to do a full rebuild of your roster? Is it the "partial" part that you don't like?



Gramm - do you want to recreate any players from Ole Miss, or just go with the Ole Miss roster in game, since you didn't recruit anyone on your old Ladder team anyway?

Just trying to figure out what people want before we move forward.

I can go either way.

[Kodos]

Okay, I've settled on home states for each team. I tried to pick similar states in terms of the number of prospects they have (I looked at another OD in its first season to see how many recruits each state had). I also liked that the selected states are located near each other for some competition in recruiting. I tried to assure that each team was equidistant from their true state.

[Kodos]

For reference.

[Grammaticus]

Works for me.

[Kodos]

I think I'm going to drop the promotion-relegation aspect of the Ladder. Now that we are all at the top, it just adds work for me.

[Kodos]

Also, I think I will handle making the teambuilder versions of our teams.

[Julio Riddols]

I'd enjoy starting fresh if it's cool with everyone else.. I'll pretend there was a major scandal at UTSA and they shut the football program down completely, banning all players from further participation in collegiate athletics. The only reason I got another job is because it was discovered that I had been somehow completely unaware of what had occurred. Now through some odd miracle I have been given the coaching job at small Rapid City State College, who has miraculously been accepted into whatever conference we end up in.

I don't mind making my team either if I start fresh.

I don't mind carrying over players either I guess, I just would rather cut off all memories of the UTSA squad because I will only think of what would have been if I had this guy or that guy.

[Eaglesfan27]

Sounds good to me!

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

I'd enjoy starting fresh if its cool with everyone else.. I'll pretend there was a major scandal at UTSA and they shut the football program down completely, banning all players from further participation in collegiate athletics. The only reason I got another job is because it was discovered that I had been somehow completely unaware of what had occurred. Now through some odd miracle I have been given the coaching job at small Rapid City State College, who has miraculously been accepted into whatever conference we end up in.

I don't mind making my team either if I start fresh.

You have my blessing to start fresh and create your own team. I will post details like pitch ratings, which roster to use, etc. when I figure them out. Rapid City SD is a happening town. Good luck! For the record, you don't have to make your team be from South Dakota. We're just there for recruiting purposes. Your team can be from wherever.

[Julio Riddols]

Well, I have a weird situation when I try to log into teambuilder.. It logs me into someone else's account.

What I will do instead is create a logo and give you a general idea of what uniform setup I want to use.. Unless I am able to use my credentials to log into my own account finally.

Edit: It let me into my own account, hahaha.. I'll design my team tonight and then edit in the details as needed when that is all decided upon.

[Kodos]

I find it works better in an incognito tab.

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I find it works better in an incognito tab.

All right, got in and got my team designed as far as uniform and stadium goes. I'll adjust the rest as needed when it is decided upon.

[Kodos]

Okay, I'm going with the base roster as Minnesota. I based this on finding a bottom-third roster with few built-in pipelines. I looked through a half-dozen teams, and it was the only one with just one top-five pipeline state. All others I looked at had at least 2. The Minnesota roster has Minnesota and Florida.

[Kodos]

I've heavily edited the downloaded roster file. Being EA, half of the column headers were wrong, and a couple columns were missing entirely (IMP Blk, Kick return). I put the columns in the same order that they go in teambuilder, to make data entry easier.

I'll post screens of each team's roster. Since Ole Miss's roster was not human-built, I'm including FAU's roster as an alternate option to choose from for Gramm.

Each owner can select 11 players from their old roster to be edited into their teambuildered team. I will edit over the highest-rated remaining player at each position from Minnesota's default roster. Please look at the lists and let me know who your 11 are.

[Kodos]

FAU

[Kodos]

IU

[Kodos]

Ole Miss

[Kodos]

USC

[Kodos]

UTSA

[Kodos]

Teambuilder specifications (work in progress)

1. Teams will start with 3-star prestige level (Julio, feel free to adjust down if you like )
2. Locations - Indiana is in North Dakota; Rapid City is in South Dakota; USC is in Wyoming; Ole Miss is in Nebraska
3. Base roster for teams is Minnesota

[Kodos]

Ugh. Every time I create a new team in teambuilder, the last one I created disappears. We may not be able to do this.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Ugh. Every time I create a new team in teambuilder, the last one I created disappears. We may not be able to do this.

Ugh. I was/am excited to continue the adventures of Jimmy Thomas.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Ugh. I was/am excited to continue the adventures of Jimmy Thomas.

I've come up with a simpler solution that I hope will satisfy everyone and also cut down on my needing to deal with EA's shitty stuff... New thread to come...

[Grammaticus]

Do I need to pick players?