Booking

[barkflex]

Does anybody have a systematic approach to booking that yields good results? I play the UFC in a real world mod and added some fighters. It's kind of hard to keep track of when some of the guys fought last. How does everybody fill out their cards after the main events are set? There are just too many options to choose from and I often have a hard time deciding who should face whom.

[Carparama]

Since I've started from scratch, I focus on booking the main events in a way that I feel they would sell, and then I just try and keep the fights decent in the undercard. I'm not incredibly systematic with my approach.

[Purple Cowboy]

I've just recently come up with what I'm going to do going forward in my GAMMA game since I have so many fighters. I'm going to use the two highest anticipation matches for the main events no matter the weight class, preferably title matches, then theme a large block of matches from one weight class to display nearly the whole division, and then have a couple of opening matches featuring new or inexperienced fighters (regardless of weight class). Then just switch which division to feature on future shows so that all workers are getting matches, etc.. Don't know how it's going to work out but hopefully for the better!

[LFC_chris]

I normally have my main event and the match before it as two of the highest rated matches - usually title matches, try and make sure one of the fighters is exciting, both on winning runs, etc. Then I fill the rest of the card with a selection of matches trying to have a couple from each weight class - usually have 8-10 matches. But, to keep track of what form people are on, and when they last had a fight, I have made a spreedsheet with all the information on. Basically for each weight class I have the fighter's name, their form over their last 5 fights and the month they last faught in. Then when I run a card, I just update the relevent info on the spreedsheet. I got the idea off of someone else on this forum and adapted it to work for me. It doesn't take much time, but makes it easier to organise everything, which consequentially makes it more fun and less of a chore. I can easily see who's on the best form, and therefore work out rankings, as well as when people last had a fight, so I know when to ideally try to book them next.

[weidt]

I have a monthly TV show (4-6 fights) and, usually, a monthly PPV (8 fights). I schedule the PPV first with the main events being the top two matches I have to offer, typically High or Very High. Those are followed by Above Average or Average to finish the card if available, otherwise Below Average fill the bottom. The TV show gets what is left over. I try to keep an extra Above Average, or Average at the least, fight for its main event, then fill the rest with Below Average to Very Low. I also schedule the event in an area I have poor popularity so it will be still be a good main event there. It may result in some decline in popularity in my more popular regions, but the PPV follows and brings it up.

[Nachtfalter]

I'm using an Excel sheet to organize my roster according to the way I currently rank everyone (e.g. the Champion on top, then some potential challengers, some stepping stones and the complete cans on the bottom). I also write down when everyone fought last so I can make sure everybody fights at least every five/six months but not too often, either. It's very tidy that way. I love the WMMA design as it lets you access whatever you wanna look up easier and faster than TEW, i think, but my sheet still gives me a better overview. I have a pretty big roster (GAMMA), so I normally use the maximum number of matches allowed (one PPV a month and about four to five TV shows a year). If you have good main events (read "Massive" or "Extremely High", nothing below that) and two or three other decent matches, it usually doesn't hurt you too much to put some "Below Average" or even one or two "Low" interest fights in and give promising people on losing streaks opportunities to rebound against a can.

[BuddyGarner]

I hold a PPV every two weeks. I usually book one highly hyped match in one weight class and then a title fight as the second match. Although sometimes I book the title fight as the third match(if the title fight is boring or a can somehow has the title) and an Extremely High/Massive as the second. Then I book the rest of the division for the title bout. If there's no title fights I book the matches that are lowest hyped that are not rematches in all the divisions for the other ten fights.

[barkflex]

Thanks, I guess there is no way around the excel spreadsheet. I've done this before for a boxing game and it was much more complex than the one I'll have to create for WMMA but I kind of hoped to avoid it this time. Laziness is a disease after all. Adam if you read this, please include a spreadsheet somewhere down the road :).

[War Kapur]

I set up the fights with huge interest and that I want on there and then to fill out the rest of the card, I check the profiles of the remaining fighters and check when they last fought, I normally remember who is pretty active compared to who isnt.

[trypio]

I use Access for monitoring my fighters. I have a rotation system of who fights when and which title gets defended when. Usually a 4 month system.

[adamrobertk]

I to am using the UFC real world mod. My booking stratagy tends to involve focusing on 1 weight class per month (depending on how many fighters are within that weightclass) with the odd other weight added in. The TV special (2 weeks into the month) will focus on 1 high rated main event then the inexperienced fighters, with the PPV focusing on the title match and 12 fights from that weight class. This usually results in a weightclass turn around in 4 months. So when Randy Coture takes his usual break, by the time the next one comes around. However this is a guideline. It works as i use every fighter and the good one's generally maintain condition.

[badbeat]

I have a PPV every 3 weeks. I have the entire PPV card of a single weight class, with a female match or 2 sprinkled in to fill out a weak card. Then I rotate: HW LHW LW WW MW Works out so that each weight class has 3 PPV cards a year. Keeps everyone plenty rested. Until I had enough fighters to do this I would combine 2 classes and rotate with a 3 card rotation instead of 5.

[The Authority]

I use a similar system, though it's only 4 in rotation, i combine middleweight with lightweight as i'm fairly low on numbers for both of those....

[Kurei]

With WEFF - which I find more fun than BCF, because I rarely, if ever have to worry about people getting stolen - I've got into the habit of booking shows immediately after the last one, to at least avoid using people too often. Shows are every 6 weeks, usually but not always with a title match on top, with a reasonably anticipated match between two people ranked about 4-10 in their division. I do have to check who I've been leaving off my shows though. Unless it's Jenny de Neuve, who only gets booked after she starts sending me angry emails. $7,500 just to have her fight? That's more than anyone else gets if they win!

[Nephrinn]

Here's the system I'm using now after trying many different methods. Separate each weight class into the following three sub-classes: [B]Rookie/Lower Class Standard Class Contender/Elite Class[/B] The rookie/lower class is where your inexperienced or bad fighters fight. Fighters will continue to fight in this class until they earn the right to move up to the standard class. Fighters who continue to lose in this class will risk getting fired and new talent brought in. An odd or even number of fighters works fine here. The standard class is where most of your fighters should be fighting. They fight here to earn their right to move up to the contender/elite class, but if they lose too much, they can also move down as well. You want to maintain an even number of fighters in this class to be efficient. The contender/elite class should have between 3 (minimum) to 7 (maximum) fighters at all times and should be kept at an odd number as one fighter will always be top contender taking on the champ. Of course, fighters that lose too much will risk moving down to the standard class. Classes should be kept constant, meaning if you move a fighter out of a class, then another fighter should also be entering that class. The rookie/lower class can be an exception to this rule. Regardless of sub-classes, you should always be checking on your fighters reputations. If at any time a fighter's reputation is too high or too low in a sub-class, move him or her down immediately. Although it depends on how good your fighters are in a weight class, generally you want the following reputation in each sub-class: Rookie/Lower Class: None - Decent reputation Standard Class: Medicore - Good reputation Contender/Elite Class: Good - World Class reputation I use MS Word to keep track of what fighters are in what division and to book matches in advance to always keep things organized. I also highlight fighters who have won and leave notes besides fighters to keep track of things like bad injuries. For GAMMA and ALPHA-1 I use a 4 month rotation system. For example: Heavyweight in January Light Heavyweight in February Middleweight in March Lightweight & Welterweight in April Nothing in May Light Heavyweight in June (I cycle Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight because some Heavyweight fighters like to take more than 4 months off.) Heavyweight in July Middleweight in August Lightweight & Welterweight in September Nothing in October And so on..... NOTE: This is ONLY for the contender/elite sub-class for each weight class. Meaning there's a title shot held for each weight class every 4 months plus a couple contender/elite sub-class matches to build up a new top contender. NOTE: My events ONLY have the contender/elite sub-class matches and NOTHING else. I usually have no more than 4-5 matches. For all OTHER sub-class matches, I have two separate TV shows that I hold every month in sequence with the events. So, I have the events held on Sunday of Week 4 of every month and then the two TV shows on Friday and Saturday of Week 4 of every month (including the months where no event takes place). Fighters in the rookie/lower and standard classes fight when they become available and have NO correlation with how I book my events. This is so that they can build up experience and a reputation as quickly as possible. Once they hit the contender/elite sub-class, they immediately become subject to the 4 month event bookings. This way you take good care of your important fighters and emphasize growth with your other fighters. That's about it. Hopefully someone finds this useful. :p

[qwertyuiop]

[QUOTE=Nephrinn;358158]Here's the system I'm using now after trying many different methods. Separate each weight class into the following three sub-classes: [B]Rookie/Lower Class Standard Class Contender/Elite Class[/B].....[/QUOTE] I do something like this too... it would be really nice though (and logical) if there were some way of categorizing fighters and having all this info available... (contracts, form, and your opinion) on one screen, somewhere within the game. It's time consuming to keep track of form and records on a spreadsheet if fighters are also fighting for other promotions.

[peewee]

[QUOTE=badbeat;356163]I have a PPV every 3 weeks. I have the entire PPV card of a single weight class, with a female match or 2 sprinkled in to fill out a weak card. Then I rotate: HW LHW LW WW MW Works out so that each weight class has 3 PPV cards a year. Keeps everyone plenty rested. Until I had enough fighters to do this I would combine 2 classes and rotate with a 3 card rotation instead of 5.[/QUOTE] I've been using this system & it's worked well for me. I've also added a women's LW & HW division & alternate them monthly on my TV shows, which works well because the women have cheaper contracts.