Running a UFC 2 Universe

[fballturkey]

In UFC 1, after doing random fights against the AI, a couple runs through career mode and a bit of online play I finally found that the best way for me to enjoy the game was through making my own UFC Universe. I scheduled fight cards, kept track of records, and ended up doing about 45 5-8 fight events up until now. I might do a couple more super-events before 2 comes out, but I'm trying to cool off of UFC for a little bit so that 2 feels fresher when it comes out.

Anyway, I plan to do the same thing when 2 comes out, after getting what I can out of career mode and messing around with some of the new fighters. I know a few other people here do the same thing, and I was looking for some input on one major aspect of setting it up.

Will you all be 'starting from 0' on your universe or starting with the fighter's actual history? When I did mine I started from 0, except that I kept the then-recent champions. If Rousey lost her first title defense she didn't get an immediate rematch; she was just another 0-1 fighter. It led to some pretty interesting things, like Timothy Elliot and Mike Easton being undefeated monsters and Jon Jones being a mid-card nobody. It worked really well but with what we know about 2 I've got a concern.

There are a LOT of fighters now. That is great, but there's no way I'm going to be able to give them all enough fights to build up good histories for them. And the histories were what made my playthrough of 1 so memorable. I've got a couple ideas on how to handle this.

1) Start from 0, focus on the top fighters. Anybody out of the top 10 isn't getting any fights unless someone in the top 10 has a bad run and gets booted out. Maybe the rest of the guys are in Bellator or something and I do a show every once and a while for them?

2) Start with real-world records/history. The biggest drawback here is actually having to go through and type in a few hundred fighters' records and their last few fights. It'll take a really long time. The upside is that I'll start with a 'mature' league with guys already in position for title shots and all that. I would still probably end up not using guys outside of the top 10 much.

3) Focus on a few weight classes. I considered doing this in 1, but I could pick 4-5 weight classes and use them exclusively. This would let me build up the history in those classes about twice as fast. It would also be easier to keep track of. The obvious drawback is that I won't be using half of the fighters ever.

What are everyone's thoughts/plans for the new game?

[aholbert32]

Same as always for me. I have histories going from UFC Undisputed 1 so I couldnt imagine starting from 0. Here is how my Universe will be set up:

1) I hold an event every time the UFC runs one so I end up having 30-35 a year. With UFC 1 and the UFC Undisputed series, I had 6 fights on the PPV and Fox cards and 5 on the FS1 and Fight Pass cards. With significantly more fighters, I have to double that number for UFC 2.

I will have 10 fights for PPV cards and 9 for Fox and Fight Pass cards.

2) I started with their real world history. When I started my Universe, everyone who was a UFC Champion in real life was a champion in my universe. It just made it easier to book fights. Also it made it less likely that a fighter who isnt successful in real life would be successful in my Universe.

For example, Tim Elliott isnt in UFC2 so if he is your flyweight champion, you either have to create him as a CAF or vacate the belt. The only time I've had this issue was before EA UFC 1 where in my Universe Yushin Okami was scheduled to fight for the UFC belt but he wasnt in the game anymore.

Real World history also helps with new fighters. It doesnt feel right to treat a fighter like Josh Barnett as a new coming fighter. So I just treat it as if Barnett was a legend outside my league and book him like it. His first fight will likely be a main or co-main event.

I'm going to run two more cards with UFC 1 and then I'm retiring it. We are getting close to release and I want to take a few weeks/months off before going into UFC2.

[fballturkey]

I wish I could get through 10 fights in a PPV, but I like to do it all in one sitting and I have trouble finding enough time to get through that many. And I've got a kid on the way in March so it'll probably be even harder.

I might try to come up with some sort of hybrid. Top 10 fighters or so get their real world records, young guys below that threshold come in at 0, older guys outside the top 10 just don't exist.

[didi1]

I personally just start from scratch every new game. I make the ranking sort of based on real life, but outside of the top 15, I rank prospects and guys I want to succeed, higher than guys who never have a chance to crack the top 15. I only keep track of records, but I have all the google docs from previous events saved, so I can always go back and look if I forget if two guys have fought.

I'll probably schedule about 8 fights total per event. 5 Main Card, and 3 prelims. Possibly more if the roster gets to be too much to fit into 8 fights a card.

I'm curious as to which programs you guys use to keep track of rankings, records, etc?

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by fballturkey

I wish I could get through 10 fights in a PPV, but I like to do it all in one sitting and I have trouble finding enough time to get through that many. And I've got a kid on the way in March so it'll probably be even harder. I might try to come up with some sort of hybrid. Top 10 fighters or so get their real world records, young guys below that threshold come in at 0, older guys outside the top 10 just don't exist.

FYI, you can save event cards and restart them at any time. I'm the same as you. I have a 20 month old and a wife. Its hard to find time to consistently game. Thats why the save function will be huge for me.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by didi1

I personally just start from scratch every new game. I make the ranking sort of based on real life, but outside of the top 15, I rank prospects and guys I want to succeed, higher than guys who never have a chance to crack the top 15. I only keep track of records, but I have all the google docs from previous events saved, so I can always go back and look if I forget if two guys have fought. I'll probably schedule about 8 fights total per event. 5 Main Card, and 3 prelims. Possibly more if the roster gets to be too much to fit into 8 fights a card. I'm curious as to which programs you guys use to keep track of rankings, records, etc?

I have an excel document that contains my rankings, records, performance bonuses and cards.

[fballturkey]

I could stop and start it but it feels more like an event to me if I play through it all at once. It's a nice feature to have just in case though.

didi1: I have two excel sheets, one that has the rankings and history for each fighter and another that has each event. I'm kind of meandering my way around programming something in python to help with that (and also to learn how to program) but I've taken a little break from that.

[japowery]

Once we get rosters and you updated your excel sheets, could you share that out in this thread? I've used my own sheets on previous games but I usually start from the current state of UFC and don't have histories transfer.