United States Pro Wrestlng USPW Thread

Hey guys, I just started my game with my favorite promotion in the world, USPW. After going through the roster for the last hour or so the first things I've done are to start the heel turn of American Gold and made offers to two different tag teams, The Tokyo Mountains and The Hot Taggs.

 

As I did in the last game, I've signed Happy Elwood. This time I changed his name to just Happy and used masked pic 38. Also extended an offer to Fro Sure and got a B show on our network.

 

Can't wait to start my first show.

I'm playing USPW for the first time in this version, as I thought they are the easiest and most on top. Financially they are by far, so I also decided to go for a B show.

 

Got Fro Sure and Gary the Entertainer.

 

Does anyone have a clue, what angles work? I seem not being able to get an angle better than 80, and I tried putting in Nicky Champion and Rich Money, whos pop is way more than 80, any suggestions?

I ran an auto booked show with SWF and Remo did an angle that got a 93. Time limits seem to be key. Many of the overness and star quality angles lose points if they go on too long. The help guide has a detailed section on angles.

Anyone able to share a screenshot of a successful card they've run? Ratings are tough to get!

I believe USPW's product makes it so the longest an angle can be and not get a negative aspect to it is five minutes. Remember, USPW is family friendly 80's style wrestling. Instead of 20 minute Vince McMahon & Steve Austin promo's, it's quick promo's either in the ring or the back. At least, according to te current product.

Wonk, I've gone through a card in the thread someone had about ratings - I'll repost it here.

 

Let's give USPW a go...

 

Firstly, I'd go with Inspirational Leader or something like that for user talents, because motivating is going to be useful - I mean, it's not like you care about saving money with 50 million in the bank.

 

Okay, first issue is that you need 3 hot storylines and you only have 2. Best way around this is mixing two feuds up for a match - I went with Bulldozer and Nicky over Trent and Frehley in the semi-main after a hype video featuring the four of them.

 

Starting roster's key people:

 

Major stars

 

Nicky Champion (Red Hot) - very marketable gimmick

Rich Money (Hot)

Steve Frehley (Red Hot) - gimmick means he may get a bonus when booked to look dominant. Shouldn't take part in comedy bouts or lose to cartoony/gimmicky gimmicks.

 

 

Stars

 

Enygma (Very Warm) - gimmick means wins/losses have a greater effect on pop changes than normal

Joss Thompson (Hot, with legendary gimmick) - gimmick gives him a small SQ boost during matches and angles

Running Wolf (Very Hot) - gimmick is very marketable and gives him a small SQ boost during matches and angles

Tyson Baine (Neutral) - gimmick gives him a large Menace boost during angles and may receive a bonus when booked to look dominant

 

Worst psychology there is 72 (Wolf), worst stamina there is 66 (also Wolf)

 

Baby Jamie has refereeing 78, Robbie Sanchez's is 80, so you obviously want them taking care of your big matches.

 

It looks like Corporal Doom (82 psych and 100 experience) is your best road agent.

 

For your product, you're looking for around 30% angles on TV shows. Remember that can vary by 15% either way so anywhere between 15% and 45% is okay. Angles seem more variable this time around but with USPW wanting short ones, pack enough in using your top guys and you should get at least 2 very good ones. (They need short angles which are non-risky and not based on sex appeal.) At Regular focus your best angle gets 70% of the angle score, your second best gets 20%, and your third best gets 10%.

 

Regular focus for matches means you get 70% of the match score for your main, 20% for the best other match, and 10% for the average of the rest of the main card. Realistically, as long as you don't completely kill the crowd off, you only need two good matches.

 

So, this is my thinking, and how it panned out.

 

Booking:

 

Main event

 

Money over Wolf in a 18 minute match. Slow build, open match, Sanchez as ref, Doom as road agent. Non-title, because I don't like giving title matches away on free TV. Tainted win for Money. This is followed by a 4 minute Money beatdown of Wolf, with James Justice saving. (Money fighting, Wolf overness, Justice overness.)

 

Champion and Bulldozer over Frehley and Shaffer in a 12 minute match. Open, all out, Smith clean pin over Trent. Post-match, Nicky and Brandon celebrate for 3 minutes. (Freestyle angle rated on entertainment which, to judge from the handbook, is more in the spirit of things than overness.)

 

Earlier in the show, we have 3 minute hype vids for each of the big three feuds, a 4 minute Money promo where he taunts Wolf, and a 3 minute Smith/Champion promo to hype the main.

 

That's 57 minutes used and includes 7 angles with the potential to score reasonably well to very well, and 2 matches, both of which should score highly. From there, it's going to matter very little who you book in terms of getting a decent grade.

 

Pariah is white hot and in a storyline with Jillian Jarvis which is set to catapult her into the women's title picture; Charity Sweet is a long-time favourite of mine. I book Pariah and Sweet to go over Jarvis and Quine when Pariah takes advantage of miscommunication between the heels to pin the champion in an 8 minute storytelling match. Post-match, Pariah challenges Quine for the next PPV, Quine freaks out and walks off.

 

Enygma's gimmick means wins/losses have a greater effect on pop changes than normal and his squash master attribute gives him a bonus for being booked to dominate. I book a 6 minute steamrolling of Bash Street for him, followed by an angle in which Bash and his Olympus Order stablemates Siale Valhalla and Zeus attack Enygma in revenge, only for Roger Cage to run down and save. Again, 3 minutes.

 

Joss Thompson is a giving performer whose legendary gimmick has a pro of boosting his star quality during matches. With very good stats I'm going to want him on most shows. I add him into a tag match with 3 unimportant guys to try and give them a shine, pairing him with Jack Jackson to go over the Texas Express in a 10 minute bout. Post-match, there's a 1 minute staredown between the Express and the team they're feuding with, The Cold Warriors.

 

Juliette King got sent to rehab at the start of the show, meaning I want another heel involved in the Triumvirate storyline. I book Alicia and Glorious Gloria to go over Sara Marie and Melody, with Gorgon interfering for the finish. Post-match, in a 2 minute angle set to advance The Triumvirate storyline, I have Alicia introduce Gorgon as their newest associate while Gorgon looks menacing.

 

I add in 2 more short angles. Rick Law issues an open challenge for next week, accepted by Anthony Trask. And Elizabeth Cartier cuts a promo saying this year will be all about Dusty Ducont, as Dusty stands around looking menacing.

 

For pre-show, Regular Joe and Casey Valentine beat Rajah/Funky Fedora, Joe pinning Rajah.

 

Killer Kass and Tiffany Jade go over the Bombshells.

 

Raven and Trent taunt the USPW fans for being ugly and stupid, only for Faith McGee to come out to defend the fans and challenge Raven to a match, which Faith wins.

 

Natural Storm kick things off with a 6 minute steal the show win over American Gold, to hopefully get the crowd buzzing.

 

Okay, here we go - do I know what I'm talking about?!

 

Initial attempt

 

Storm vs Gold gets 56, both Storm members getting 63, Chamberlain 34 and English 37. Both teams get tag specialist bonuses, Gold get excellent chemistry. Looking at dirt sheet, everyone gets penalised for holding back, which is understandable on TV, especially in a dark match. Storm both get bonuses for going all out; Gold get penalised for trying to go all-out. Eddie Howard gets star quality and great gimmick bonuses. Annoucing/colour/road agent all get bonuses. Everyone gets penalised for being unable to use high-risk/spinal-impact moves (I'm assuming this is going to happen to all wrestlers so I'm not mentioning it for everyone). Howard also gets penalised for inconsistency, Chamberlain for poor psychology and for lack of experience.

 

The Raven/Trent/Faith promo gets 65, the first two both getting bonuses for decent improvising and Faith getting one for improvising well. Tyson Baine's road agent work gets a bonus, as do Raven's very good gimmick, Trent's great gimmick, and Trent's good momentum.

 

The match between Raven and Faith gets 52, (Faith 43 and Raven 52). It's boosted by pretty good chemistry, Raven's star quality and charisma, high announcing experience, announcing/colour/refereeing/road agent work, but penalised for both holding back and for Raven's declining physical ability.

 

Tiffany and Killer over Bombshells gets 52. Tiffany, at 62, carries it. Kass is off her game and gets 47. Adams gets 37, Fairchild 36. Tiffany and Adams both get bonuses for great gimmicks and for star quality, Dani gets one for charisma and Tiffany gets one for selling. Usual announcers/road agent bonuses, usual holding back etc penalties. Kass and Amelia both get penalised for inconsistency; Adams for inexperience.

 

Joe and Casey over Rajah/Fedora gets 52. Again, the star carries it, Casey getting 62. Rajah gets 37, the other pair 38. Usual penalties and out-of-ring staff bonuses. In addition, Joe and Casey get bonuses for selling, Casey and Funky for good momentum, everyone except Joe for charisma, and Casey/Rajah star quality. Funky also gets bonuses for being an amazing heel and for a legendary gimmick.

 

Money's 4-minute promo gets 83, limited for being short but with bonuses for Baine's road agent work, good improvising, a very good gimmick and for bein an amazing heel.

 

Cartier/Dusty promo gets 56, boosted by great road agent work and very good gimmicks but hurt by Cartier's poor improvisation of dialogue.

 

Women's tag match gets 64. (Alicia 69, Melody 63, Sara-Marie 59 and Gloria 39.) Usual penaties plus Gloria being inexperienced and Sara-Marie being inconsistent. Usual bonuses for out of ring staff. Momentum bonuses for Alicia and Melody, star quality/charisma bonuses for everyone except Gloria, selling for Alicia and Sara-Marie, great gimmick for Alicia and amazing babyface for Sara-Marie. Melody debuted a new comeback spot as well, getting the crowd buzzing.

 

Strong/Gorgon promo get 65, very good improvising and high morale for Alicia, great/very good gimmicks, and road agent work all being bonuses.

 

Money vs Wolf vid gets 68, bonus from Baine's RA work but limited at 3 minutes for being short.

 

Law/Trask promo gets 59, gimmick bonuses, RA bonus, Law also getting good momentum/managerial help bonuses.

 

Joss Thompson carries the 3 relative unknowns to a reasonable match of 50 overall. (Joss 70, Express 40 each, Jackson 29.) Everybody in segment gets charisma/SQ bonuses, as well as the usual stuff we've been seeing all card. Joss and Jack get legendary/great gimmick bonuses respectively, with Joss getting good momentum bonus and Jack getting one for being an amazing heel. Both Express members are penalised for inconsistency and inexperience, with Jack also being penalised for inexperience. The segment rating gets hit for being disrupted by injury, as Cooper suffers a Torn Achilles.

 

Express/Warriors staredown gets 47, everyone except Turk getting gimmick bonuses along with one for Doom's RA work.

 

Enygma carries Bash to a 56. (Enygma 65, Bash 33). Engyma's bonuses are for good momentum/charisma/SQ, and for his Squash Master attribute. Segment gets a bonus for being a well-executed squash but is penalised for booking decisions. Both are penalised for inconsistency, Bash is penalised for being inexperienced and Enygma for declining physical ability.

 

Enygma/Bash/Siale/Zeus/Roger stuff gets 49, gimmick bonuses from Enygma, Siale and Roger.

 

Women's tag gets 57. (59 Jaime, 56 Pariah, 50 Jillian and 48 Charity.) Gimmick bonuses for Pariah (legendary) and Jaime (great) and face/heel bonuses for Charity and Jaime respectively. Star quality bonuses for everyone except Jillian, charisma for both faces, and selling for Jaime. Other than the usual, only penalty is Pariah for inconsistency.

 

68 for Pariah/Jaime segment, with Pariah getting great improvising and high morale bonuses, both getting gimmick bonuses, and Jaime getting heel bonus.

 

71 for Smith/Champion promo, both getting improvising bonuses and gimmick bonuses, Nicky getting one for being an amazing babyface, and Doom for road agent work. However at 3 minutes it's penalised for being short, although the Nicky/Steve storyline's high heat raises the segment rating.

 

Bulldozer/Trent vid gets 63, with only bonus being USA's road agenting and no penalty.

 

Champion/Steve vid gets 76, bonuses for USA's road agenting and storyline heat, but limited for being short.

 

Tag match gets 75 (Nicky 81, Steve 77, Trent 68 and Smith 62.) Usual penalties, bonuses for charisma/SQ/going all out for everyone, great gimmick bonuses for everyone except Nicky. Nicky gets an amazing babyface bonus, both heels get good momentum bonuses, and Trent gets bonuses for managerial help and managerial chemistry.

 

Faces celebrating gets 75, both getting gimmick bonuses. Smith gets one for improvising well and high morale, Nicky for babyface performance. Boosted by RA work of Justice but limited by being short.

 

Money vs Wolf gets 75. (Money 74, Wolf 68). Money hit by inconsistency and declining physical ability but getting charisma, selling and amazing heel bonuses. Wolf gets a bonus for good momentum while both get star quality bonuses. Segment is penalised for going too long for our product, but gets a bonus for being done to a hot crowd.

 

Finally, main event angle gets 73, with gimmick bonuses for all three guys, heel/face bonuses for Money and Justice, and road agenting bonus for USA.

 

Okay, 76 overall. But that hit a LOT of penalties for length. So let's do what WWE can't, magically rewind stuff, and see how different things are with minor adjustments.

 

 

 

2nd time around

 

Same card, in effect. However, I've taken 2 minutes off the main, and added 2 to all angles involving any combination of Smith/Trent/Nicky/Steve, and for the Money promo and Money/Wolf hype vid. I was on 115 minutes, I'm now on 125. (This also means the angles are going to contribute a little more to the overall score as there's a higher percentage of the show dedicated to them.) Let's see if it makes a difference. (I won't go through the entire card again!)

 

Money's 6 minute promo gets 77 (compared to the 4 minute one's 83) with the key difference being it's no longer capped for length, but it went on too long for the audience. It does get a bonus for being a good start to the show, strangely, which I don't think it got previously?

 

Interestingly, the Cartier/Dusty promo goes up from 56 to 61, presumably because Cartier doesn't mess up improvising this time around.

 

Money/Wolf vid goes down to 55 due to lack of anything interesting happening. Okay, definitely don't run 5 minute hype vids (which I think I should have known from the handbook, to be fair!)

 

Law/Trask promo at same length as before is up from 59 to 67 thanks to Law doing a masterful job of improvising.

 

With no injury dragging the tag match down this time, it goes from 49 to 57.

 

Smith/Champion promo, at 5 minutes, avoids any length penalties either way and is up from 71 to 75, helped by a hot crowd.

 

Smith/Shaffer vid down to 55, again, too long for a hype vid, as is Champion/Steve which is down to 71.

 

Tag match gets 80 this time around, with individual performances only being 1 point each higher than before but the match being 5 points higher. Very hot crowd appears to be the difference.

 

Celebration, at 5 minutes rather than 3, is now up to 83 from 75 although I think that's mostly due to a very hot crowd.

 

16 minute main gets 75(Money 73, Wolf 65). Wolf gets hit by inconsistency as well as Money this time, and again it's too long for the audience.

 

Main event angle gets 70.

 

Show rating 77 overall. Okay, let's see what happens if we shave a couple of minutes off that main and go with all out rather than slow build...

 

 

 

 

3rd time around - key changes, Wolf vs Money now a 13 minute all out match which is called in the ring.

 

Money's show opening promo down from 6 to 5 minutes, hype vids down from 5 to 4 minutes.

 

Okay then. Money hits it out of the park with the opening promo scoring a sky high 89, despite apparently being limited for being too short. He didn't even get an improvisation bonus, so I'm guessing a 5 minute from him could do low, maybe mid-90s with luck. Again, bonus for being a good start to the show.

 

5 minute Money/Wolf vid gets 62, but does get the crowd hotter. (Ouch, this should have been 4 but didn't notice it.)

 

Law/Trask up to 69, this time Law doing an exceptional job of improvising.

 

Smith/Champion promo now gets 81, helped by a very hot crowd.

 

4 minute Smith/Shaffer video is at 69; it looks like 4 minutes is definitely the sweet spot for videos in USPW.

 

Champion/Frehley vid, at 4 minutes, jumps from 71 to 84.

 

Tag match gets 83. (Nicky 87, Steve 80, Shaffer 72, Dozer 66.) Again, very hot crowd seems to be the key thing here,

 

Celebration gets 80, mainly because Nicky struggles going off script for once.

 

Main event up to 82 from 75, neither guy inconsistent this time around although both get hit for stamina, but get bonuses for going all out. Money gets a bonus for psychology as well.

 

73 for main event angle.

 

83 overall, increasing our pop in 38 regions!

 

Pretty happy with that. I wonder how badly stamina hurt the main, though... I'm going to try it without all-out, and I'll adjust the Money/Wolf vid while I remember.

 

 

 

 

4th time even luckier?

 

Money does a decent job of improvising and the segment gets 83, getting the show off to a good start.

 

Money/Wolf vid, at 4 minutes, gets to 78.

 

Smith/Shaffer vid gets to 73.

 

Tag match 79.

 

Celebration 83, not dinged.

 

Main event 80, suggesting the all-out bonuses outweigh the stamina penalties.

 

80 overall.

 

 

 

Okay, one last time. I wonder if going all-out but limiting it to 10 minutes would help... answer is not really, still 80, although Wolf being penalised for inconsistency will have hurt it.

 

81 overall this time.

 

 

 

Okay, so what can we learn - what's the TLDR?

 

Open things up with a strong segment to get the crowd hot.

 

5 minutes is sweet spot for promos, 4 minutes for hype vids.

 

As always, momentum is important.

 

Long is BAD; keep things to between 10 and 15 minutes, which makes perfect sense to me for USPW's product. All-out for your best couple of matches seems likely to pay off.

 

Given the AI may play by different rules (as it did in 2016), or if it does play by our rules knows all the tricks whereas I've only had a little bit of time experimenting, for me this is a great balance of challenging without being TOO horrendously difficult.

 

This is easily the highest rated card I've gotten so far and I'm still losing popularity and don't have enough storylines going on? How did the Money vs. Wolf Storyline drop when I had them in two angles over 70 and had the storyline advanced by the Money/Champion Main Event?

USPW were my first game so I was fighting the momentum bug, which has actually made it an interesting challenge. I paused at the start of Feb week 4 until the extra month was added and have now used the beta8 code to align long and short term momentum. I’ve had to sacrifice some fodder in the name of building momentum though.

 

Atlas, Jumbo Jackson, Petr Novak, Krusher Karloff, Dusty Ducont, Mick Muscles, Jim Force all found themselves Cold - Ice Cold and not worth saving so got cut at the end of March.

 

I’ve been hard pushing a few signings. Captain Wrestling II has churned through my undercard heels in the hopes of getting him over in the US. His Awful gimmick has made that a slow process but he’s now at 40 throughout the US. ABD is managing Akima Brave, Toma, Rhino Umaga and Samoan Machine, who have only been beaten by Rage DQ so far and are otherwise tearing through the undercard faces (except Akima who got injured in his debut so has only been in angles).

 

Rich Money has restructured The Business after I signed Jefferson Stardust, who is his new protege (bye, Sterling!). New tag members are Joss Thompson and Trent Shaffer who are feuding with Champion & Wolf, and Tyson Baine is the new muscle. Much more robust top heel stable.

 

Steve Frehley is the new champion, still feuding with Money, who will likely get the belt back soon despite getting a penalty for declining physical ability.

 

I signed Skull DeBones who has his own face stable and has great chemistry managing Bulldozer Brandon Smith (now 78 pop in US), the new National Champion. Rest of the stable is Natural Storm and Pariah (new Women’s Champion).

 

Jack Bruce is my new colour commentator and regularly hosts an interview segment to try and milk his popularity. Latest show was the debuting Valiant, who was interrupted by Bryan Vessey, who has been back for a while, turning up to scout opponents or easily put down young upstarts. First USPW feud for both.

 

I think my reshaping of the roster is pretty much done in those first three months, set up to push on with the full release, especially as product change to Classic Sports Entertainment finished on April 1st.

Interesting how little chatter there has been around the largest company in the game. Anybody playing with USPW? Has menace being nerfed down turned people away? Or is USPW too big to present an interesting game?

 

I started a new game to poke around and realized with their starting funds I could launch a performance center with 100%/100%, the largest child company and a TV broadcaster for the child company with medium coverage everywhere in the world and still have millions left over. I think I'm going to create a copy of the game after doing that and sign some of the bigger available names, resign and see how they do a few years into the future.

 

What are some ways people have had fun with USPW?

I've played three saves so far (two beta, one post-release) and in every single one of them, USPW has floundered. Running QAW in 2021, I'm the #1 company in the world since USPW fell to Medium in February of 2021 and they're still bleeding popularity. I raided their women's division (and signed the non-tendered Baby Jamie), taking away Alicia Strong, Raven, Miss American Pie, Faith McGee, The Bombshells, Wendy Anderson, Gorgon, Elizabeth Cartier, Jaime Quine, Sara Marie York, and Belle Bryden (who now runs my development territory) and we're currently in the midst of a bidding war for Melody (their current women's champion). They've replaced those losses with Estrella Blanca, Shiori Jippensha, Lady Lotus, and Toku Kijmuta. But, they've also managed to land Sean McFly (at a 50% markup due to a bidding war), Valiant, Spencer Spade, and El Leon. So they're not hurting for talent. The problem is the same as it's always been: the AI just flat out doesn't know how to book. Here's where the slide started:

 

Human players wouldn't screw up what should be a marquee matchup in the promotion (Frehley's babyface, Money is heel btw). By the end of January, they had lost 6 points of popularity in the US. Now in mid-April, they're big enough to jump back to Big but their cooling down period has 3.5 months left to run. Now they're at risk of losing Frehley, being caught in a bidding war against CWA (not a threat, they have no money), SWF (Frehley hates Richard Eisen, not Jerry), TCW, EILL, and BHOTWG. (If I was an a-hole, I'd make him available in the UK and 21CW would join the mix but I'm not THAT bad.)

 

In the hands of a human player, this wouldn't be much of an issue. But the AI seems incapable of booking what should be a roster that borders on cheating. Also, the AI just doesn't actively seek out improvements to its roster. Darryl Devine has been a free agent for almost a year now and he'd fit right in back in USPW but they haven't gone after him. He's got a troublesome back but he's still got the skills to work with those people fresh up from developmental or new signees.

Interesting how little chatter there has been around the largest company in the game. Anybody playing with USPW? Has menace being nerfed down turned people away? Or is USPW too big to present an interesting game?

 

I started a new game to poke around and realized with their starting funds I could launch a performance center with 100%/100%, the largest child company and a TV broadcaster for the child company with medium coverage everywhere in the world and still have millions left over. I think I'm going to create a copy of the game after doing that and sign some of the bigger available names, resign and see how they do a few years into the future.

 

What are some ways people have had fun with USPW?

 

I'm trying but I hate the meat of their roster so much.

 

Their future stars are not interesting. Basically rookies who shouldn't be in the big leagues yet.

 

They have way too many T-Rex's and Jumbo Jacksons.

 

Really outside of the main event that roster makes me want to throw up.

I'm trying but I hate the meat of their roster so much.

 

Their future stars are not interesting. Basically rookies who shouldn't be in the big leagues yet.

 

They have way too many T-Rex's and Jumbo Jacksons.

 

Really outside of the main event that roster makes me want to throw up.

 

Shaffer, Thompson, Bulldozer, Law, Zeus & Jameson can go in the ring

Shaffer, Thompson, Bulldozer, Law, Zeus & Jameson can go in the ring

 

You're not wrong. It's just I did a long save with USPW in TEW 2013 and it's the same guys.

 

I wish they would've gotten Rocky Golden or Wolf or something.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Remianen" data-cite="Remianen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47670" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've played three saves so far (two beta, one post-release) and in every single one of them, USPW has floundered. Running QAW in 2021, I'm the #1 company in the world since USPW fell to Medium in February of 2021 and they're still bleeding popularity. I raided their women's division (and signed the non-tendered Baby Jamie), taking away Alicia Strong, Raven, Miss American Pie, Faith McGee, The Bombshells, Wendy Anderson, Gorgon, Elizabeth Cartier, Jaime Quine, Sara Marie York, and Belle Bryden (who now runs my development territory) and we're currently in the midst of a bidding war for Melody (their current women's champion). They've replaced those losses with Estrella Blanca, Shiori Jippensha, Lady Lotus, and Toku Kijmuta. But, they've also managed to land Sean McFly (at a 50% markup due to a bidding war), Valiant, Spencer Spade, and El Leon. So they're not hurting for talent. The problem is the same as it's always been: the AI just flat out doesn't know how to book. Here's where the slide started:<p> <img alt="dxmq1tM.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/dxmq1tM.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Human players wouldn't screw up what should be a marquee matchup in the promotion (Frehley's babyface, Money is heel btw). By the end of January, they had lost 6 points of popularity in the US. Now in mid-April, they're big enough to jump back to Big but their cooling down period has 3.5 months left to run. Now they're at risk of losing Frehley, being caught in a bidding war against CWA (not a threat, they have no money), SWF (Frehley hates <strong><em>Richard</em></strong> Eisen, not Jerry), TCW, EILL, and BHOTWG. (If I was an a-hole, I'd make him available in the UK and 21CW would join the mix but I'm not THAT bad.)</p><p> </p><p> In the hands of a human player, this wouldn't be much of an issue. But the AI seems incapable of booking what should be a roster that borders on cheating. Also, the AI just doesn't actively seek out improvements to its roster. Darryl Devine has been a free agent for almost a year now and he'd fit right in back in USPW but they haven't gone after him. He's got a troublesome back but he's still got the skills to work with those people fresh up from developmental or new signees.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Who is the booker for USPW? I noticed Rich Money is not that great of a booker compared to what is listed in one of the narratives at the start of 2020.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="KingKongCoronado" data-cite="KingKongCoronado" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47670" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Hey guys, I just started my game with my favorite promotion in the world, USPW. After going through the roster for the last hour or so the first things I've done are to start the heel turn of American Gold and made offers to two different tag teams, The Tokyo Mountains and The Hot Taggs.<p> </p><p> As I did in the last game, I've signed Happy Elwood. This time I changed his name to just Happy and used masked pic 38. Also extended an offer to Fro Sure and got a B show on our network. </p><p> </p><p> Can't wait to start my first show.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Why did you decide to turn American Gold?</p>

I'm trying but I hate the meat of their roster so much.

 

Their future stars are not interesting. Basically rookies who shouldn't be in the big leagues yet.

They have way too many T-Rex's and Jumbo Jacksons.

 

Really outside of the main event that roster makes me want to throw up.

 

Yeah most of these guys should be in a developmental company.

 

I haven't played a long term game yet but I can't see USPW staying number 1 unless they start raiding every companies top stars.

I'm in week one of July 2021, I got to titanic size earlier in the year. I attached my best show so far below. I took full advantage of USPW's cash horde and opened a fully upgraded training camp and popped my own big time corporate indie developmental fed ala NXT and I'm still making money hand over fist. I'm literally just channeling Vince. I'm even pushing someone undertalented but with a decent look just becasue he's big (Atlas) who's now like super super over. Further mimicking the WWE-ness of it all, my main show is three hours, I have a two hour A- show, and an hour long B show. USPW is a ridiculous amount of fun if you really do get down to booking to type. The most fun thing is because of just how much money you have you can kind of end up slowly feeding or starving SWF and TCW depending on who you pick and choose from their roster over time? I've sucked the life out of TCW like a vampire and slowly fed super over, but ultimately expendable guys off my roster to SWF. TCW is solid medium size with only Hawkins left to give them an occasional top rated match. SWF is just below me in size and producing amazing shows. Unlike Vince, I like competition. Bit America a'int big enough for THREE bigtime promotions... Heh.

I'm trying but I hate the meat of their roster so much.

 

Their future stars are not interesting. Basically rookies who shouldn't be in the big leagues yet.

 

They have way too many T-Rex's and Jumbo Jacksons.

 

Really outside of the main event that roster makes me want to throw up.

 

This was one of the reasons why I enjoyed the first few months when I was playing USPW in the demo period but I completely agree. The roster was a real challenge to restructure.

 

I've just started playing this save again so moving on from here:

 

USPW were my first game so I was fighting the momentum bug, which has actually made it an interesting challenge. I paused at the start of Feb week 4 until the extra month was added and have now used the beta8 code to align long and short term momentum. I’ve had to sacrifice some fodder in the name of building momentum though.

 

Atlas, Jumbo Jackson, Petr Novak, Krusher Karloff, Dusty Ducont, Mick Muscles, Jim Force all found themselves Cold - Ice Cold and not worth saving so got cut at the end of March.

 

I’ve been hard pushing a few signings. Captain Wrestling II has churned through my undercard heels in the hopes of getting him over in the US. His Awful gimmick has made that a slow process but he’s now at 40 throughout the US. ABD is managing Akima Brave, Toma, Rhino Umaga and Samoan Machine, who have only been beaten by Rage DQ so far and are otherwise tearing through the undercard faces (except Akima who got injured in his debut so has only been in angles).

 

Rich Money has restructured The Business after I signed Jefferson Stardust, who is his new protege (bye, Sterling!). New tag members are Joss Thompson and Trent Shaffer who are feuding with Champion & Wolf, and Tyson Baine is the new muscle. Much more robust top heel stable.

 

Steve Frehley is the new champion, still feuding with Money, who will likely get the belt back soon despite getting a penalty for declining physical ability.

 

I signed Skull DeBones who has his own face stable and has great chemistry managing Bulldozer Brandon Smith (now 78 pop in US), the new National Champion. Rest of the stable is Natural Storm and Pariah (new Women’s Champion).

 

Jack Bruce is my new colour commentator and regularly hosts an interview segment to try and milk his popularity. Latest show was the debuting Valiant, who was interrupted by Bryan Vessey, who has been back for a while, turning up to scout opponents or easily put down young upstarts. First USPW feud for both.

 

I think my reshaping of the roster is pretty much done in those first three months, set up to push on with the full release, especially as product change to Classic Sports Entertainment finished on April 1st.

 

I currently have five Major Stars: Nicky Champion, Rich Money, Steve Frehley, Valiant and Jack Bruce (retired, colour commentator/personality).

 

Champion spent a while in a tag feud alongside Running Wolf against Joss Thompson & Trent Shaffer but is now going solo again. He's treading water for a month while I wrap up Money/Frehley so he can feud with Rich Money.

 

Rich Money has just (end of April) regained the title from Steve Frehley, who was a stop-gap champion and just didn't deliver. Plus I have Champion and Valiant already in position as faces to challenge a heel champion, and Enygma, Rick Law, Brandon Smith, Julius Moor who could hold up their end of a title match. It probably means one of Champion/Valiant will topple Money at Independence Day Slam! and drop it back to him so he can run through the guys who aren't quite there yet before the other (likely Valiant) takes it for a longer run. I'm a big Rich Money fan so I'm happy to pad his number of title reigns.

 

Bulldozer Brandon Smith has been very strong since joining Skull DeBones stable Vengeance Unleashed to the extent that I've made him the 'leader' as Skulldozer Brandon Smith. He's already 37 but then I'm happy with Valiant at 39 and Money at 45 so I think I'll give 'Skulldozer' at least one run with the big belt. He's currently National Champion and doing a superb job, and now feuding with Joss Thompson, who will likely take the belt off him to allow him to take the next step up.

 

I have been very lucky with tag chemistry (although I think some are preset):

Trask & Whitlock

Grandmaster Phunk & Greg Black

Jaime Quine & Jillian Jarvis

Jefferson Stardust & Trent Shaffer

Regular Joe & Kirk Jameson

Marcus English & Maliek Chamberlain

Morgan Malone & Roger Cage

 

Stardust & Shaffer changed my plans. They are in The Business with Money, Thompson & Cartier. Thompson had been in the team with Shaffer but I discovered the Stardust chemistry in a throwaway tag match and now that is those two locked in forever. At some point I'd like Stardust to breakout but they will be a team for a while because they're very well-suited character/image-wise as well as having the chemistry.

 

The full male tag scene is:

Faces:

Aussie Rules (Nicky [renamed Kyle] Gilbert & Loxley Robbins, now managed by RDJ)

Law & Enygma (Rick Law & Enygma)

Natural Storm (Eddie Howard & DC Rayne)

Trask & Whitlock (forced to turn due to damage of the momentum bug)

(occasionally) Hawkeye & Wolf (Nicky Champion & Running Wolf)

 

Heels:

American Gold (English & Chamberlain)

Adams & Jameson (Regular Joe [Adams] & Kirk Jameson)

Gargantuan & Prometheus

Samoan Destruction Inc. (Rhino Umaga & Samoan Machine - Champions)

Show Business (Stardust & Shaffer)

The Pristine Dream Team (Phunk & Black)

The Samoan Pit Bulls (Akima Brave & Toma)

Zero Chill (Malone & Cage)

 

I need to switch the belts to a face team because I have more heel teams to do the chasing. Probably Natural Storm because Law/Enygma and Champion/Wolf aren't real teams, Trask & Whitlock are not a team I want to focus on, and Aussie Rules probably aren't quite there yet popularity-wise but I want to build around them eventually. The Samoans haven't lost clean yet either so it could be the moment that 'makes' Aussie Rules.

 

Pariah is still my Women's Champion but is now feuding with Alicia Strong, who will probably take the belt so she can feud with Melody, Sara Marie and Alina America (when I've belt her up). I had to flip a few of my faces because of the momentum bug so I'll need a face champion again in 6-9 months when those feuds are done.

 

I've hit a point where bigger names are becoming available (obviously stole Valiant already) so I have locked down Shooter Sean Deeley, Randy Bumfhole, Gargantuan, Matty Faith, and Lauren Easter. I'll need to find ways to get them into the picture.

I just started a new game and it randomly decided Brock Cornish and Emily McQueen have bad chemistry. D'oh!

 

One of my favorite things to do in a diary is make McQueen antagonistic towards the newbie. I either need to start over or figure something else out

I just started a new game and it randomly decided Brock Cornish and Emily McQueen have bad chemistry. D'oh!

 

One of my favorite things to do in a diary is make McQueen antagonistic towards the newbie. I either need to start over or figure something else out

 

You can edit chemistry in ongoing games now. If you go to the page that has the in-game editor, it’s a button or two below that, where the edit relationships button is. Saves you starting over if you’ve got everything else set up the way you want it.

You can edit chemistry in ongoing games now. If you go to the page that has the in-game editor, it’s a button or two below that, where the edit relationships button is. Saves you starting over if you’ve got everything else set up the way you want it.

 

Thanks, that was gonna be a pain.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Ping von Erich" data-cite="Ping von Erich" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47670" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've sucked the life out of TCW like a vampire and slowly fed super over, but ultimately expendable guys off my roster to SWF. TCW is solid medium size with only Hawkins left to give them an occasional top rated match. SWF is just below me in size and producing amazing shows. Unlike Vince, I like competition. Bit America a'int big enough for THREE bigtime promotions... Heh.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Good strat. I just don't get feeding the competition anything. As it stands, I've taken USPW's women jobbers (Missy, Wendy) and made them international stars. Same with Alicia, but she took like zero effort to build. I let them keep the QAW traitors (Jillian Jarvis, Charity Sweet) and the only regret I have is not taking Pariah and Tiffany Jade when I had the chance since they've completely botched the division to the point where they are the only ones capable of pulling decent ratings. Especially now that I've taken Sara Marie York and Melody from them. They have Shiori Jippensha, Toku Kijmuta, Estrella Blanca, and Lady Lotus that they "stole" from me (due to 'no talent stealing' agreements with 5SSW and CILL, I couldn't counter their offer) and they're all 'recognizable' or 'unimportant' still, after almost a year.</p><p> </p><p> I can definitely see the Jumbo Jacksons and T-Rex types having more value to SWF than to a human-controlled USPW though. I could also see raiding RAW for their great workers on exclusive handshake deals (Frogue Element, Luke Steele, Loxley Robbins, Maurice Jackson. Rahmel Goode is probably too old) to add some SQ heft to the roster. Put 'em in developmental for a few months and you can have a roster on par with NXT.</p><p> </p><p> Have you upgraded Reverie at all? If you're shooting for Titanic, I would think increasing coverage in Japan to Big (at a minimum) would be a good idea. Between broadcasting revenues and merch, that could pay for itself fairly quickly.</p>

<p>I've been having some success now with USPW. </p><p> </p><p>

I like that you have to be forced to adapt with the new product system. Since the matches and angles should be short, and the matches don't have to be as long to be good, you kinda need to fill the show with more stuff. </p><p> </p><p>

In the past I always did the same format. Start the show off hot, cool it down, bring it up in the second half, bring it down, end hot. </p><p> </p><p>

That didn't really work for me here. There was just too many things that could go wrong because the roster is "terrible." Since I had to fill the show with more midcard stuff, there was too much of a gap between the good stuff and the bad stuff, so the crowd would frequently get disinterested, and it would be much harder to get them interested in the main event, resulting in some poor ratings. </p><p> </p><p>

Now instead of starting off hot, I start lukewarm. The first 30 minutes of the show (I book 90 minute shows instead of 120) is basically filler, with maybe one good midcard segment thrown in. Then I have a block of time where I do some good main event level segments back to back. Then I cool it down slightly, and end the show with my stars in big TV matches, main event vs midcard matches that usually score okay, or huge main event level angles. </p><p> </p><p>

So basically I offload what I once used to get the show hot at the beginning to the very end of the card.</p>

<p>I put together a little helpguide for new players on youtube on how to get through the first show without any penalties, its something I used to struggle with before the help on this forum. Hoping to reach out for new potential players. </p><p> </p><p>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcekyWFhz2QpNTHwDAnus0w/playlists?view_as=subscriber" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcekyWFhz2QpNTHwDAnus0w/playlists?view_as=subscriber</a></p>

has anybody come across or made some extra graphics for titles, brand, tv shows or events for uspw?