FOF 2004: Possible to "hack' stadium data?

[QuikSand]

In a multiplayer league, we've been having extended discussion about stadium situations -- some teams just start out with a better situation than others. In a MP league, this seems like a meaningful advantage to some, potentially unearned.

I know people out there use things liek reshacker to tweak setup in the FOF game for a variety of reasons. Is there any way to "hack" the stadium setup in FOF, so that a league might start with a completely level playing field -- i.e. every stadium with the same condition and seating and timeframe for any renovations?

Just curious -- I know precious little about these things, but I'm curious whether this notion ought to appear on the list of suggestions for FOF 6 (it probably should anyway), or if there's a practical work-around available already.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Just curious -- I know precious little about these things, but I'm curious whether this notion ought to appear on the list of suggestions for FOF 6 (it probably should anyway), or if there's a practical work-around available already.

Good idea, and although I have nothing useful to add, if this was to be added, it should be something that only the commissioner can set up/alter when the league starts.

[VPI97]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I know people out there use things liek reshacker to tweak setup in the FOF game for a variety of reasons. Is there any way to "hack" the stadium setup in FOF, so that a league might start with a completely level playing field -- i.e. every stadium with the same condition and seating and timeframe for any renovations?

I've not seen anything out there that currently has this capability...

An idea I've been tossing around in my head is adding a stadium creation stage to the beginning of any MP league. Give all teams x amount of dollars and let them design their initial stadiums using an identical pool of cash. That way if an owner want to put money towards turf condition, sky boxes or whatever they all have the freedom to do so at the beginning of the league. It could add an element of long term strategy, as well as adding another element of personalization to the league (which is always a good thing).

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by VPI97

I've not seen anything out there that currently has this capability...

An idea I've been tossing around in my head is adding a stadium creation stage to the beginning of any MP league. Give all teams x amount of dollars and let them design their initial stadiums using an identical pool of cash. That way if an owner want to put money towards turf condition, sky boxes or whatever they all have the freedom to do so at the beginning of the league. It could add an element of long term strategy, as well as adding another element of personalization to the league (which is always a good thing).

What about naming the stadium?

Or involve corporate sponsors to help with costs as well? For instance, at the beginning of each season, you have the possibility of receiving an email that says "Corporation x has decided your stadium is the ideal location for event x due to your seating capacity and continued excellent maintenance, and has offered $x amount of dollars to renovate your _____, which will be completed by the end of this season."

Or something on the lines of, that the league has designated your stadium as host of the 2010 Super Bowl and has offered $x dollars to help with the preparation of the event.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by VPI97

I've not seen anything out there that currently has this capability...

An idea I've been tossing around in my head is adding a stadium creation stage to the beginning of any MP league. Give all teams x amount of dollars and let them design their initial stadiums using an identical pool of cash. That way if an owner want to put money towards turf condition, sky boxes or whatever they all have the freedom to do so at the beginning of the league. It could add an element of long term strategy, as well as adding another element of personalization to the league (which is always a good thing).

Yes yes.

[cuervo72]

Actually, I had been thinking about a tool that lets you edit city information more easily in addition to the stadiums (thinking mainly of ideas that could be taken from other games, like OOTP. Borrowing ideas is not always a bad thing). We somehow rigged this in IHOF - setting the starting population to 3 million for each team - but there are other factors in there that could be edited too I think. Possibly not only at league startup, but into the league as well.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

We somehow rigged this in IHOF - setting the starting population to 3 million for each team

Taco's City editor?

http://www.geocities.com/tacosalad4me/cityeditor.html

[cuervo72]

Yeah, could have been that. And I realize that a number of these tools exist, but I would think a more preferable/safer method would be to have options like these in-game.

[VPI97]

Originally Posted by gottimd

Taco's City editor?

Yep.

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I would think a more preferable/safer method would be to have options like these in-game.

Yep.

[gottimd]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Yeah, could have been that. And I realize that a number of these tools exist, but I would think a more preferable/safer method would be to have options like these in-game.

As in the initial set up of a league, have something that says:
Team City/Stadium Set up
And has 3 options
1) use game default
2) use random generated city info
3) edit team city/stadium

[cuervo72]

I'm speaking larger than that though. Say you wanted to start a league in I don't know, 1970. You might want to edit cities and stadiums to reflect conditions at the time - population, median income, interest, etc. Or even for 1960, 1950, 1940. Or you might be in a league where one area begins to prosper more than another, eventually making the financial field uneven. You might wish to recalibrate it periodically well into the league.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by VPI97

I've not seen anything out there that currently has this capability...

An idea I've been tossing around in my head is adding a stadium creation stage to the beginning of any MP league. Give all teams x amount of dollars and let them design their initial stadiums using an identical pool of cash. That way if an owner want to put money towards turf condition, sky boxes or whatever they all have the freedom to do so at the beginning of the league. It could add an element of long term strategy, as well as adding another element of personalization to the league (which is always a good thing).

I agree with this. Reading the thread on the IHOF board a minute ago, and this was the first thing that popped in my mind. However, how big of a deal is it really?

I understand that it sucks to have CEIs and all, but again, if you are playing on a field with poor turf, you have to invest in backups, that's all there is to it. Look at Telluride last year, we lost our top 4 guards for most of the year, we did not have good backups and it killed our year.

[cuervo72]

If you lose 4 of one position though...I mean, how deep can you be?

[Warhammer]

I'm not bitching here, just saying.

Not to restart an old argument, but I get tired of hearing about how somethings aren't fair in the game. Yes, your stadium might suck, but if it does, you better have some good backups to protect against injuries.

[Buzzbee]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

I'm not bitching here, just saying.

Not to restart an old argument, but I get tired of hearing about how somethings aren't fair in the game. Yes, your stadium might suck, but if it does, you better have some good backups to protect against injuries.

But isn't that the point? If you have to carry good backups to protect against injuries, while another team doesn't because they have a great stadium, doesn't that give them an unfair advantage?

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Buzzbee

But isn't that the point? If you have to carry good backups to protect against injuries, while another team doesn't because they have a great stadium, doesn't that give them an unfair advantage?

Not if we bump up the injuries!

Seriously though, it could give them an advantage, but how much of one?

This goes back to Chubby's and my discussion about injuries in general. Most NFL teams are pretty comparable in regards to starting talent (more or less). What makes the difference to many teams is the amount of depth they have, and how they cope with injuries.

Look at Carolina, their starting RB goes down in Davis, they plug in Foster. They get to the Conference Finals, lose Foster, but no big deal, we'll just plug in Goins. It wasn't until Goins went down that they were hosed.

Look at Seattle, they had plenty of injuries to their starting secondary, but how many games did they lose? 2? Especially out in the NFC West, you'd think they would have lost at least one more game with the Rams and the Cardinals throwing as much as they do.

In the NFL, unless you are extremely lucky, depth is what wins you the championship.

Unfortunately, us silicon chip warriors don't like to see our 3,000,000 a year LT stud go down for 8 weeks, and we're reduced to plugging in a 25/45 stiff in the slot. That's not fun for us. That makes us mad because a random DR determined that our guy was injured on the play, rather than that stiff 3rd WR that it doesn't matter if a bus hits him. This was where Chubby and I had a fundamental disagreement, he wants all his starters to play every down, where I feel that a fundamental part of team building is risk management, do I put all my eggs in the starter, or should I sacrifice a little there to make sure I have a pretty darn good backup in case he goes down?

Rather than stadium turf, I think the bigger issue regarding stadiums is the financial data regarding the team. That to me is a bigger issue than the turf is.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Most NFL teams are pretty comparable in regards to starting talent (more or less). What makes the difference to many teams is the amount of depth they have, and how they cope with injuries.

Actually, many people feel that NFL teams start the season with comparable talent, and their fortunes are decided by injury. Rarely does a team succeed with injuries to their best players, as even the best backups aren't usually starting caliber.

If the same is close to true in FOF, then one team having a higher likelihood of injury, they are indeed at a competitive disadvantage.

[Buzzbee]

This was where Chubby and I had a fundamental disagreement, he wants all his starters to play every down, where I feel that a fundamental part of team building is risk management, do I put all my eggs in the starter, or should I sacrifice a little there to make sure I have a pretty darn good backup in case he goes down?

For the second time, isn't this the whole point? Excellent turf provides an advantage over poor turf because there is less risk to manage. You can pay bigger bonuses, play your starters more, spend money on stars rather than good backups, all because there is less risk to do so.

[nilodor]

I wonder if some of the people who were messing around with the files to create editors would have stumbled upon the stadium data? It hast to be in the files in the main directory because the data isn't randomly generated. I'm sure someone could figure out the format, maybe Taco because it could be in a similar structure to the city file.