MainOffender

No four way, I promise. Trying to stay somewhat faithful to the era. Obviously, I wanted to run Savage/Hogan, but the AI booked Andre going over Savage literally the night before I took over, so I needed to keep the Giant in the picture.

PRIME TIME WRESTLING March, Week 2, 1988.

A few WWF notes from January and February, 1988: PRIME TIME WRESTLING

1987: THE YEAR IN REVIEW NEXT: The Road to Wrestlemania IV.

LOL! I really wish this was programmed into the code. Thanks for checking it out!

Some under the hood discussion: I did book the Prime Time Wrestling and Superstars episodes leading up to this, but because I stuck so close to history they didn't seem interesting enough to write up. That was where Haynes got jumped by Hogan's clique and, after I gave Hogan a slap on the wrist, that's why Haynes was pissed enough to "display true unprofessionalism" and tank his match at WrestleMania. In the future, I'll be writing up the Prime Time Wrestling episodes as they'll give a good look at how the world has changed. Superstars I pretty much auto-book so I won't be recapping those. NEXT: The rest of 1987!

MARCH, 1987. BACKSTAGE. PRIME TIME WRESTLING. It all started because of a 10-gallon hat. "You look like an idiot in that thing, brother. Like some kinda cowboy-elf, right, Jimmy? What the hell's your gimmick? Ever heard of a bandana? Bandanas sell, brother. You should go to props, maybe they can get you over." There was no doubt that Hulk Hogan started the fight with Billy Jack Haynes, although it took help from his buddies Brutus Beefcake and Jimmy Hart to actually finish it. No one in the locker room would rat on Hogan, though. During the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania III, the champ had been on a power trip. As the biggest draw approaching what would be the WWF's biggest show ever, Hogan had Vince's ear more than ever. There were rumors he'd gotten Jim Powers fired on a whim because he thought the kid couldn't sell. Plus, after The Iron Sheik turned up blitzed to a Prime Time Wrestling taping and got pink slip'd for it, everyone in the locker room was walking on egg shells. Fired for being drunk? What the hell was that? Sheik was always drunk. When did everything get so corporate? Suffice it to say, Billy Jack kept his mouth shut, so Hogan didn't get more than a slap on the wrist for their "scuffle," which left poor Billy Jack with a black eye and a couple cracked ribs. In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, Haynes stewed, the beat-down gnawing at him more and more with every fawning media appearance Hogan made. At WrestleMania, Haynes would have his revenge. OKAY, WHAT IS THIS? This is a Watcher diary. Sort of. My plan is to jump in to the WWF every year and book only the month of March, adjusting to all the nonsense that the AI has done in the meantime. I'm also going to do December for WCW when they start up. I'm also tempted to do the occasional G1 or a Champion's Carnival tour, but we'll see how that goes. If some other company rises to prominence, I might consider doing their big month, but the overly ambitious goal of this game is to re-book every Wrestlemania. LOL. I'll be burnt out in two weeks. I've never written a diary before, although I've always been tempted. I'm going to be figuring out the format over the first few posts as well as what I actually want to write about. My plan at the moment is to take a broad view of events, but I'm happy to drill down if someone is interested in a specific wrestler/company. A FEW WORDS ON METHODOLOGY: This isn't a pure Watcher game. I'm being pretty hands-on, jumping into companies whenever I see them screwing up, usually to add TV deals or sign talent languishing in unemployment, and also to phase out Time Decline workers that I feel have overstayed their welcome. However, there's not much I can do with bizarre AI alignment changes and ridiculous title runs, so I'm just rolling with that stuff and trying to head-canon a story around it. I'm using The Golden Age mod. Duh. NEXT: Wrestlemania III results! I booked this one pretty close to history. That won't be happening in the future. Thanks for reading!

I'd like to see a few attributes geared specifically to announcers/color. Verbose -- This announcer has a tendency to go on and on. Could occasionally hurt a match grade and/or cause the announcer's partners to be less effective because they can't get a word in. I'm thinking this would apply to someone like Mauro who I generally think is a good announcer but then sometimes shouts 'truculent' like 15 times in one match. Argumentative -- This announcer sometimes loses the thread of a match because they're too busy engaging in pedantry. Could hurt a match grade and/or poison an announce team's chemistry. Real world example would be someone like Corey Graves or Michael Cole back in the era where all he did was complain about Daniel Bryan (I know some this was in character... but it sucked). Sneering -- This announcer is prone to burying lesser known workers when calling their matches. Could hurt a match grade and/or hurt a worker's popularity and/or cause simmering tension with a worker. I'm thinking for guys like JBL or current day Jerry Lawler who seem incapable of selling young talent. Look at these Legion of Doom wannabes, Maggle! All of the announcers in my examples would be fairly well rated, so these attributes would give players some interesting choices to make beyond plugging in whoever is best at Color. Like, sure JBL is an 80... but do you want risk putting him on air?

This is a great idea and seems like an excellent way to simulate the current era of a lot of dudes having podcasts. I actually think you could lump these two together into one 'Broadcaster' attribute and add the possibility of relationships forming due to positive/negative comments. See ya in court, Colt!

<p>First time I've played a current-day mod in years (the allure of running AEW from the jump was too much) and I really like the way this is balanced. The scaling of popularity and psychology in particular make running a US indie appropriately challenging. Great job with this!</p><p> </p><p> I do have a couple tweaks/suggestions/thoughts. These are all changes that I made to my own game before starting my run and maybe they'll be helpful to you guys when you consider updates. Also, as a reminder to some other posters in the thread... if you don't like the way something is set up in a mod, you can always change it yourself! <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> -Juice Robinson was born in 89, not 86. </p><p> </p><p> -The popularity for NXT women could use some attention. A few with national exposure (Lacey, Bianca) are set to only have pop in the South East. I increased them so they're in the high 20s, using Mia Yim's pop as a guide. </p><p> </p><p> -Guys like Dream having low pop have already been mentioned, so I won't harp on that. I did increase a handful of NXT guys because I'm a stan and believe Dream, Black, and Gargano could walk out of NXT and headline indies. </p><p> </p><p> -ROH and TNA are set up with a PPV deal with In Demand, but they don't have the popularity to maintain this. (AEW also can't get a deal with them right away, which they should be able to.) I think there could be a larger conversation about how modern PPV is rated -- the barrier for entry isn't as high as it was in the 90s and the coverage is significantly lower -- but, uh, that would never be a priority for me if I was a modder and I'm not sure what effects those changes would have. So anyway! I adjusted In Demand to Regional/40 pop/9 areas and decreased its viewership to Medium across the board. I think that should allow for better growth and accuracy in the American indies.</p><p> </p><p> -I imported the default data's region settings then tweaked them - Tri State (100); South West and Mid South (95); Great Lakes, New England, South East (90); Mid Atlantic, Mid West, North West (85); Puerto Rico (80) and Hawaii (70). I'm anal but didn't like all the US being 90 importance. </p><p> </p><p> -I nudged WWE's US popularity until they were a couple points into International. This didn't result in them going on a signing spree to start the game. I think it better reflects their present reach while fudging their US pop a bit. (International status shouldn't be tied to such high home growth but what can ya do.)</p><p> </p><p> -I tweaked WWE's product so that Modern is at medium. This gets rid of the "Aerial is less effective" note, which I don't think is accurate for current day WWE.</p><p> </p><p> -And finally, the most subjective one of them all. I made some tweaks to AEW's product. I don't think they're going to be a company that values performance "much more" than popularity. That puts them in New Japan territory where I see them as being basically a splashier ROH. Here's what I went with:</p><p> </p><p> Key: Modern</p><p> Heavy: Realism, Mainstream (they're definitely running stories/gimmicks, so they gotta have that mainstream)</p><p> Medium: Traditional (I know Cody has said a lot about traditional promotions being inspiration, but in game terms I think a lower level is necessary)</p><p> Low: Comedy, Cult, Lucha Libre, Daredevil</p><p> </p><p> That gives me shows rated more on performance than popularity, a nerf on hardcore skills, gimmicks/stories, a Steal the Show requirement, a Storytelling requirement, no high risk angles (sorry Joey Ryan), and a 40/60 intensity/danger level. I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting so far. </p><p> </p><p> Hope some of this was helpful. Thanks again for the hard work!</p>

Herringbone always does really well in my games going back to like... WMMA3. He's not the most exciting fighter but I've developed a soft spot for him. This is interesting! I don't usually bother scouting individual prospects. I tend to hire young guns strictly based on their win-loss and momentum. If they suck when they hit the big leagues, then at least they can serve as a tune-up for some of my other dudes before I cut them. For scouting, I stick a scout with all the major North American teams and let them do work. I haven't noticed the cost so far, especially now that I'm on North American Prime Select and making money hand-over-fist. Restraint is an interesting topic for GAMMA, though. Do you guys have any hiring rules you set for yourself? Generally, I try to avoid poaching international talent until they've reached High Level Regional in the US. (There are, of course, some guys I like that I always sign regardless.) I also try to keep each division stocked with at least 13 American fighters. I don't go looking to hire people unless a division gets under 25 fighters, but I will steal a fighter from ALPHA-1 if their contract comes up and they're a big enough star.

<p>Okay, just finished my first year as GAMMA so since I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's, here's my division-by-division rundown and champs.</p><p> </p><p> I booked 18 shows -- 11 PPVs and 7 TV. I stick to a formula of 5 main show fights and 5 prelims. GAMMA is currently at the Mid Level National cap while I work on getting some more fighters over. We won Company of the Year and also Show of the Year for the Season 3 finale of Clash of the Titans. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Super Heavyweight: Kel Ryan. </strong>Unlike some others, this division has produced exciting fights for me -- three title fights in 2002 and none of them got out of the first round. Pickering looked dominant until Big Baby mopped the floor with him. Sets up Ryan defending against a resurgent Davey Rushton in early '03, the first time Super Heavy will be allowed to main event a PPV. I wonder if some of the disinterest in this division comes from the sameness of the renders -- like 20 of my top 25 are thumb-shaped baldies. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Heavyweight: Rav Kapur.</strong> The Brit turned the lights out on James Foster and Tim Boyer, forcing a change of guard at Heavyweight. I really screwed up this division! Foster lost his follow-up fight to a debuting Aleksander Ivanov (I imagined this as Foster attempting to address the criticism that he's never faced tough international competition... and then choking). Gladstone Lopes lost a second split decision to Tony McCall who then retired. Even though he bested Foster in his debut and is ranked #2, I feel like Ivanov hasn't "earned" a title shot so I'm holding off until he fights Boyer. Foster and Lopes, both losers, round out the Top 5, so Kapur has just been sitting idle waiting for a fight since July. The top of this division is so, so stagnant to me. Luckily, Sam Hoynes and my dude LGE are climbing quick to inject some new life. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Light Heavyweight: Lawrence Herringbone.</strong> Rubenstein absolutely murdered Mike Watson, then edged out Marlon John, before dropping another decision to Herringbone who just has his number. Nilton Fantoni is probably up next after going 3-0 against Linfield Ballard, Watson, and William Harrison. Poached ALPHA stars Tadamasa Yamada and Zvonimir Asanovic will also be debuting in 2003. A very crowded scene. I love it. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Middleweight: Matthew Dean.</strong> Of course. Dude big timed me for most of 2002, only defending against Adam White who he dispatched easily. Dean's got a rematch with Moura in January that I'm hoping he wins because a Heji Endo super-fight is on the horizon. Endo crushed poor Dexter Darling in his debut, then immediately called out the champ. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Welterweight: Manuel Silva.</strong> Regueiro revenged his loss to Bobby Brubaker with a first round D'Arce Choke before losing the belt in a split decision to Silva. On his road to the title shot, Silva also won a split decision against Darin Blood who I didn't give an immediate rematch to because I needed the title match. While Blood and Regueiro were recuperating, Silva defended successfully against Josh Aldarasio, finally getting a TKO win which I guess was enough to earn him Fighter of the Year. Regueiro and Blood are the top two contenders now. Regueiro will get his rematch first with Blood taking on the winner. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Lightweight: Helio.</strong> This dude is savage. Fiyero knocked out that chump Keane pretty easily, but then got his legs sawed off by Helio in his first defense. The leg kick TKO put Fiyero on the shelf for like 5 months. Next in line for the thresher is former champ Brandon Sugar, with Tim Oldacres and Truck Gleeson also making noise. Sean Morrison's comeback victory over Luke Hilton won Fight of the Year (fantastic). I'm using Morrison more as a special attraction fighter than a genuine contender because I think he's spent, but we'll see. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Featherweight: Lamont Banner.</strong> Ohhh the credibility hits have been worth it. Launched the Featherweight division with the third season of Clash of the Titans. Ziskie and Li-Kong Ho wouldn't do the show, so they faced off on the finale in a showcase. Banner met Tomohiro Takeuchi in the finals, was the heavy underdog, but knocked the Samurai out in the first. Ho choked out Ziskie, who refused to tap and instead passed out, setting up a title fight between Banner and Ho. Surprisingly, Banner KO'd Ho in the first, becoming the inaugural champ. I purposely staged both those shows in Ohio so that Banner could get that home cooking and man did it pay off. He'll defend against Ziskie in '03. Love, love this division. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Women's Heavyweight: Vacant.</strong> Spammed another COTT season to launch my Women's Heavyweight division which covers Featherweights and Bantamweights. The final (and title fight) is set for February: Veronika Sablikova vs. Piper Evergood. Disappointed that Evergood upset Sarah Vaughan in the semifinals as I really wanted her to be my first champion. </p><p> </p><p> Hmm. What else? No big controversies for me. Matthew Dean (Anarchy USA), Spencer Rubenstein (Iron Men), Brandon Sugar (Too Sweet), Li-Kong Ho (Breath of Fire Dojo) and retired Raul Hughes (Demolition Inc) all formed teams at my request, so that's really fleshed out the world for me.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Blackman" data-cite="Blackman" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="44604" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>No.<p> </p><p> Has anyone ever seen a fighter not respond to call-outs or saying he wouldn't take the fight if offered?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I've seen a news story along the lines of "Challenger says Challenged is ducking him after not responding to his call-out for weeks." Unfortunately, I don't remember who was involved, so I can't go back and check if that challenge was ultimately accepted, disappeared, or what. I've only seen it once in a year of play. Never noticed anyone outright deny a challenge.</p>

<p>Just wanted to pop by and join the chorus. Really enjoying these!</p><p> </p><p> Also, love a lot of the potential classes being thrown out by the community. In particular -- Cubans, Black Panthers, and Cheaters and Scumbags. I'm a big fan of seeing fighters from odd locations (I like using the roster search to find nationalities that aren't represented) and fighters with intriguing skill sets and/or trait combinations.</p>

Kill your darlings, man. I've decided to run a Women's Heavyweight division (145-126) in GAMMA because that's what the belt in the picture pack says. Haven't started poaching from WEFF yet but I'm hoping to spread the damage out so they don't suffer too much. There's plenty of talent out there for them to sign and build. Going to have it be my next COTT season. I went with Featherweight off the bat. Morrison and Sugar as coaches even though I don't plan to have them fight yet again. Team Sugar had all of the Final Four. I asked him to form his own team after that and, inspired by his coaching success, he did. Doesn't reflect very well on Animal House! Banner vs. Takeuchi made the Finals. Banner seems outmatched and I really want him to win, so I booked the show in Ohio hoping for that home town bonus. Do it for ya pops! Ziskie vs. Li Kong-Ho will feature on the Finale as well. Winners will fight for the strap down the road.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Gungner" data-cite="Gungner" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>If two workers have poor or bad chemistry as opponents, or tag partners, can they still produce a good match if they're popular enough?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Yeah, bad tag chemistry in particular can eventually be canceled out by tag experience.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="willr0ck" data-cite="willr0ck" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43093" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> </p><p> <a href="http://s1168.photobucket.com/user/aaronredwulfstudioswillr0ck/media/Rock-verse/Events/AOA%20Last%20RIghts.jpg.html" rel="external nofollow"><span>http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r496/aaronredwulfstudioswillr0ck/Rock-verse/Events/AOA%20Last%20RIghts.jpg</span></a>[/center]</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Maybe I'm missing a pun or something, but I think this should be "Last Rites".</p><p> </p><p> And just so my reply isn't completely pedantic... I've been lurking in this thread on a daily basis because of how great this mod is looking. Your renders are amazing (I already use a bunch of your Cverse stuff) and I'm very excited about how this world is shaping up! Thanks for all the awesome stuff.</p>

This isn't really accurate. Mat Work is literally wrestling on the mat, like amateur wrestling -- slow-paced with holds and reversals. Also, this post by Derek B in his mod-maker's guide from TEW 2013 is indispensable for stat explanations.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Lukok" data-cite="Lukok" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm playing The Mod Squad's Golden Age mod and a number of promotions have only one potential founder set to mandatory. Which means that the person has to be unemployed to set the company up when on the month it's supposed to pop up.<p> </p><p> I didn't know this, and a number of feds like ECW and WING never got founded because the potential founder was employed. </p><p> </p><p> If I fiddle with the contracts in the editor and make those founders unemployed, will they set up companies now, or am I screwed because the editor date for the company has passed?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Unfortunately, I don't think companies will open after the set debut date. There's a workaround, though:</p><p> </p><p> Go into the database editor (not the in-game editor) and change the debut date for ECW (or whatever company you want). You could also change the potential founder at this point if you want it to be someone other than Heyman. </p><p> </p><p> Go back into your game, and change the name of the existing ECW record to avoid a conflict. Then, import the new ECW you edited.</p><p> </p><p> Rather than messing around in contracts, I'd personally just leave the founder blank. If you want Heyman to own or book the company, you can always put him into that role via adding a new player to the game and immediately leaving.</p>

Check Injury Risk/Content Risk on the matches themselves. They're probably set at low. You'll need to tweak them so your company is running more dangerous matches.

Do figureheads have an effect on A.I.-controlled promotions? Playing in CVerse '97 and SWF has Christian Faith as their figurehead, but they also went and turned him heel a couple years ago. Wondering if I should jump in and tweak this for them.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="MaxxHexx" data-cite="MaxxHexx" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41290" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Woah, and they still working for free? I had no idea it would go that high before they wanted a check.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I missed when he actually started collecting checks, but my owner's been getting paid since I had around 10K in the bank.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="soxfan93" data-cite="soxfan93" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41212" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>That's where I have issues with my abilities to properly rate people. I wouldn't put Shawn Michaels any higher than 85, and I have a hard time rating Hall ahead of him.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Not advocating one way or another, but with the increased power of male sex appeal in 16, couldn't that be used to differentiate between HBK (say 85 SQ and 90 SA) and Hall (90 SQ and 70 SA)? </p><p> </p><p> And then I'll just up Razor's sex appeal to 100 for my person game. No big deal.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Remianen" data-cite="Remianen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> First off, if you got the impression I was angry or being aggressive or anything, I apologize for that. It wasn't the intent. I will also admit to the phrase 'working as intended' as used in common gaming parlance making my teeth itch. So again, sorry if that escaped its bottle.</p><p> </p><p> But in TEW13, it seemed infinitely easier to unlock psycho sermons (thus, fear/iron fist) than motivational speeches. Your tests would bear that out. I haven't had the opportunity to test it because my harmony preference coupled with Wrestler's Court and a dozen locker room leaders means that I don't see negative incidents much at all (I've had one in seven months so far, not including drug test failures who always get sent to rehab).</p><p> </p><p> In 13, I got great results overall from my post-show speeches since I never really criticized anyone (I'm a hugger).</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> No worries!</p><p> </p><p> In 13, I was usually able to unlock Motivational Speeches within a few years, mostly through the Fatherly Approach with my stoners and positive speeches (I hug too -- and a lot of praise) and never came close to Psycho Sermons. This is totally a play style thing, though, and I never kept track of what I was doing. </p><p> </p><p> Without Fatherly Approach, it's looking like Take No Action is the best option for Velvet Glove -- this opens up a whole fun can of worms of workers walking all over nice guys like us. (Caveat: I haven't been able to send anyone to rehab yet, but I imagine that helps too.) </p><p> </p><p> I'd still like to figure out what each speech does, in inexact terms. I'll try keeping an eye on them and report back.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Remianen" data-cite="Remianen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>It's not working as intended because you tried ONE area and it didn't give the results you wanted? Perhaps it's intended to be harder? These tests you ran, over how many game years did you run them? From the moment the feature was announced in TEW13, I was under the impression that you weren't supposed to be able to unlock the features and/or benefits immediately. They're made to be earned <strong><em>over a career</em></strong>. <p> </p><p> Also, I didn't see you mention anything about post-show speeches.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Easy tiger. <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> I started running these tests in the first place because I noticed a lack of movement toward Velvet Glove in my RtG game where I've played for three years and, although I haven't been keeping track of every decision and speech, I've generally been a major softie. I've maxed out Loyalty, but remain stuck around the middle of the horizontal axis. </p><p> </p><p> These tests I ran were enough to observe movement toward other quadrants. Since my first post, I spammed a bunch of Take No Action decisions on drug tests and was able to get some movement toward Velvet Glove, so it works but definitely takes more time going in that direction. By comparison, I've already maxed out Loyalty from those decisions. So, Loyalty/Fear looks like it has greater swings. </p><p> </p><p> Didn't get enough of a sample size from post-show speeches yet, but mostly I noticed movement toward Loyalty from the sweetheart options I picked (doing 3x of the same thing with Leadership/Diplo maxed out). </p><p> </p><p> I really like how open 16 is about the effects of incident responses; wish we had something like that for post-show speeches. </p><p> </p><p> Anyway! Anyone else observed any phenomena related to this?</p>