Derek B's Mod-Making Guide

[tambourin81]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Horatio Hammerlock" data-cite="Horatio Hammerlock" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm talking about something that would tell us x% of workers in the Cornellverse have a C+ in Brawling, x% have C in Brawling, x% of yet to debut workers have a D+ in Psychology, x% of yet to debut workers have a D Psychology, etc. It would really be helpful to have a spreadsheet with these numbers. I know it TEW 2013 doesn't make this easy, but it would be awesome to have those numbers.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Here's a thread about something along those lines for the 2010 version of the game:</p><p> <a href="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73165" rel="external nofollow">http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73165</a></p><p> Not sure if it's useful for you, but it's a start.</p>

[Teh_Showtime]

<p>I really think people take Punk too seriously. Sure its not always on air but his character is kind of a jerk. Altering a personality based on twitter seems a little much, he's not constantly in the locker room talking s*** to people and if anything he's been called a leader as of late. Outside of (possibly extremely) egotistical and manipulative I don't think Punk would have negative traits that would do too much damage. </p><p> </p><p>

I'd say the same for Orton as well because both have taken an uncanny amount of losses relative to other top guys the past few years and putting them on the wrong side of negative could hurt that.</p>

[Mattywood]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Teh_Showtime" data-cite="Teh_Showtime" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I really think people take Punk too seriously. Sure its not always on air but his character is kind of a jerk. Altering a personality based on twitter seems a little much, he's not constantly in the locker room talking s*** to people and if anything he's been called a leader as of late. Outside of (possibly extremely) egotistical and manipulative I don't think Punk would have negative traits that would do too much damage. <p> </p><p> I'd say the same for Orton as well because both have taken an uncanny amount of losses relative to other top guys the past few years and putting them on the wrong side of negative could hurt that.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Touche. Like I said, he does seem to get along with most(if not all) of the roster. Maybe I am taking his Twitter wars too seriously, as I have also heard him in interviews laughing them off. So maybe he's just that passive-aggressive type? I guess I have a love/annoyed relationship with Punk, lol. I appreciate his talents, and there are times he says something and I say to myself "Yeah! Preach it!" Then there are times he says something and I facepalm. Hence why I said that where Hive had Raven in COTT would be a good way to set personalities for the Punks and Ortons of the world, as Raven would have the odd incident, but wasn't classified as a negative influence either, and took discipline well(in-game, I mean). I hope that all made sense. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[juggaloninjalee]

This thread is very beneficial and well thought out by the OP. Wish I had something like this back when I was attempting my mod on 2010. Would have helped a lot because I had done a ton of workers and was finding things weren't simming right. Now I can see some reasons why.

[Tom Bombadil]

Is there a good guideline for figuring out how many promotions to use at each size? I'm thinking about working on a fantasy mod, but I'm worried about having too many promotions in some areas and not enough in another, as well as having too many big promotions and not enough small promotions. Heck, any good guidance on how many free agents I should use?

[NWAvsWWF]

<p>Got a question for Derek or whoever can answer it, basically a big problem I have is with backstage interviews, now you can easily just said wrestler A to cut a promo on wrestler B and just say in a diary that there was an interviewer however I'd actually like to book the angle with the interviewer without the segment bombing.</p><p> </p><p>

Gene Okerlund for example, in real life he massively helped out in backstage segments but in the game no matter his mic skills (what the interviewer is rated on) he lowers segments. Is there something else that needs to be highly rated aswell for a backstage interviewer? Whether it be consistency, psychology or what..if anyone knows please help me out.</p>

[Teh_Showtime]

Overness is what prevents the "X looked dreadful" type of notes

[Mattywood]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="NWAvsWWF" data-cite="NWAvsWWF" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Got a question for Derek or whoever can answer it, basically a big problem I have is with backstage interviews, now you can easily just said wrestler A to cut a promo on wrestler B and just say in a diary that there was an interviewer however I'd actually like to book the angle with the interviewer without the segment bombing.<p> </p><p> Gene Okerlund for example, in real life he massively helped out in backstage segments but in the game no matter his mic skills (what the interviewer is rated on) he lowers segments. Is there something else that needs to be highly rated aswell for a backstage interviewer? Whether it be consistency, psychology or what..if anyone knows please help me out.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Are you talking about grades sinking from what should be an A or B segment to being a D? Or the "Worker X looked dreadful" road agent note that Showtime mentioned above? For the former, it might not be a bad idea for mod makers to up Mean Gene's overness a bit. I know fans weren't paying money just to see him, but how many times have we heard casual fans shake their heads at today's backstage interviewers and say "They're no Mean Gene"? I would think C to C+, maybe even low B-, would be reasonable depending on the time frame. I think I had him B- in Main Event, IIRC. </p><p> </p><p> For the latter, the road agent note that Showtime mentioned, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you'll see that note even if the segment doesn't bomb. It depends on how much over other workers are compared to the workers who are not as over. I think I've seen that note in A and B+ rated segments before.</p>

[Derek B]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Tom Bombadil" data-cite="Tom Bombadil" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Is there a good guideline for figuring out how many promotions to use at each size? I'm thinking about working on a fantasy mod, but I'm worried about having too many promotions in some areas and not enough in another, as well as having too many big promotions and not enough small promotions. Heck, any good guidance on how many free agents I should use?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> As a very rough and simple guideline, I like to make sure there are 50+ free agents in a game area. The logic behind that is that I like there to be some room for growth, which means you need some spare workers in case a company rises. Other than that, it'll be different for every scenario so there are no hard rules. If you only cared about putting a couple of companies into a mod (WWE, TNA and ROH for example), then you'd only need their rosters and some of the more significant free agents or major names from elsewhere as anything else would be overkill. So for a fantasy mod I'd simply add what you need, pad it out a bit and then keep testing it to see if there are any gaps that need to be plugged. The more you test, the better. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="NWAvsWWF" data-cite="NWAvsWWF" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Got a question for Derek or whoever can answer it, basically a big problem I have is with backstage interviews, now you can easily just said wrestler A to cut a promo on wrestler B and just say in a diary that there was an interviewer however I'd actually like to book the angle with the interviewer without the segment bombing.<p> </p><p> Gene Okerlund for example, in real life he massively helped out in backstage segments but in the game no matter his mic skills (what the interviewer is rated on) he lowers segments. Is there something else that needs to be highly rated aswell for a backstage interviewer? Whether it be consistency, psychology or what..if anyone knows please help me out.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> As has already been said, overness is the key to avoiding that note. But to be honest, TEW doesn't really support the interviewer role very well (or the ring announcer for that matter) so anyone being used in that capacity is always going to struggle in TEW, unless you fudge their stats, which isn't a good idea. The best you can do is give someone like Mean Gene popularity, an active role of personality, low star quality (since he's not the attraction by any stretch of the imagination) and good mic skills/decent charisma. But even then, when you put him in a segment with anyone more popular than him then he's still going to drag it down by virtue of not being as good/popular as the others.</p><p> </p><p> In short... TEW doesn't really do interviewers or ring announcers very well, datasets would be better off without them unless the people in those roles did other things too. I know it's a little harsh on Mean Gene to not be around, but it's what works with TEW mechanics.</p>

[Mattywood]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Derek B" data-cite="Derek B" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>As has already been said, overness is the key to avoiding that note. But to be honest, TEW doesn't really support the interviewer role very well (or the ring announcer for that matter) so anyone being used in that capacity is always going to struggle in TEW, unless you fudge their stats, which isn't a good idea. The best you can do is give someone like Mean Gene popularity, an active role of personality, low star quality (since he's not the attraction by any stretch of the imagination) and good mic skills/decent charisma. But even then, when you put him in a segment with anyone more popular than him then he's still going to drag it down by virtue of not being as good/popular as the others.<p> </p><p> In short... TEW doesn't really do interviewers or ring announcers very well, datasets would be better off without them unless the people in those roles did other things too. I know it's a little harsh on Mean Gene to not be around, but it's what works with TEW mechanics.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> On the flip side, interviews were a HUGE thing back in the 1980s(I would know, that's when I grew up! lol). I can't tell you how many times I run into people here in DFW that watched World Class Championship Wrestling(the Von Erichs territory) and talk about the "good ol days" of Bill Mercer and Marc Lowrance. Granted, those two did actual commentary, but they did a lot of the interviews for WCCW as well. Mean Gene did do some commentary as well when he first came into the WWF before settling in to his more well known Personality role. I think what I'll do for Risky Business is give Mean Gene low Star Quality as you suggested, give him pretty good Entertainment Skills(maybe C+ to maybe, maybe B- Charisma, B+ Microphone and C+ to B- Acting), and fairly decent popularity. With a Great gimmick and Very Good momentum, segments should do alright. I'll know more when I get to testing more.</p>

[Jaysin]

I have a potentially odd question.

 

It deals with relationships. Since TEW can't simulate divorced couples who are on good terms really, what sort of relationship should Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth have? Sure, they were divorced but she still managed him and they pretty much worked together constantly. Since Savage is a negative influence, having her around in the game is just going to piss him off. I thought about having no relationship at all, but that doesn't feel right to me.

[Derek B]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I have a potentially odd question.<p> </p><p> It deals with relationships. Since TEW can't simulate divorced couples who are on good terms really, what sort of relationship should Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth have? Sure, they were divorced but she still managed him and they pretty much worked together constantly. Since Savage is a negative influence, having her around in the game is just going to piss him off. I thought about having no relationship at all, but that doesn't feel right to me.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Just because they still worked together, doesn't mean they need to have any kind of relationship. At it's most simple, relationships are positive, negative or neutral. Personally, a couple that has split up may be close but in TEW terms unless the place is happier when the two of them are togther (and I don't think there's any reason to assume they would be by time they're divorced) then I'd set them to have no relationship. With that in mind, it also gives them the potential to get back together somewhere down the line, which is something that wouldn't be possible (to the best of my knowledge) if you made them friends or set them to be split up.</p>

[Jaysin]

I'll just set them as having no relationship. Thanks.

[electric appliance]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Derek B" data-cite="Derek B" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>As a very rough and simple guideline, I like to make sure there are 50+ free agents in a game area. The logic behind that is that I like there to be some room for growth, which means you need some spare workers in case a company rises. Other than that, it'll be different for every scenario so there are no hard rules. If you only cared about putting a couple of companies into a mod (WWE, TNA and ROH for example), then you'd only need their rosters and some of the more significant free agents or major names from elsewhere as anything else would be overkill. So for a fantasy mod I'd simply add what you need, pad it out a bit and then keep testing it to see if there are any gaps that need to be plugged. The more you test, the better. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> So a fantasy mod based in only one region, with maybe 10 feds, would work then. Good to know.</p>

[AlaricRose]

<p>So, I have a quick question for everybody. I was looking at the formula for match rating. It looks like it's mathematically possible for a wrestler to be so bad that they can score a negative number for their segment. However, what is mathematically possible what is actually possible are often different. Has anyone actually run into this scenario?</p><p> </p><p>

For example, a brawler with a brawl rating of 20, but a 0 psychology. Mathematically, it would look something like this:</p><p> </p><p>

20 (brawling, which, for argument's sake, is the brawler's highest skill)</p><p>

-10 (for psychology being the lower)</p><p>

=10</p><p>

-14 (70% of the difference between the highest top row skill and psychology)</p><p>

=-4 (Overall)</p>

[Teh_Showtime]

I've seen zero rated segments, so I'd just assume that zero is the floor.

[Mattywood]

Here's a question that I'm not sure has been addressed yet. What about workers who are from one area of the world, but work a lot in another area of the world? For example, Kevin Von Erich's two sons, Ross and Marshall, are native to the USA(grew up in Texas and Hawaii if I'm not mistaken), but they have been working a lot, almost to the point of exclusivity at the moment, in Japan. yet at the same time, they got their start in the US, working for Harley Race's WLW. Do we still put them down as based in the USA, or based in Japan? Abdullah the Butcher is another one that sprang to mind. I've seen him as based in Japan, but he got his start in Canada, and is a native of Canada.

[Jaysin]

Based in the USA, but have them active in Japan and USA.

[Mattywood]

A question in regards to TV networks, especially for historical mods. Cable TV from what I recall, was still trying to build an audience in 1985 and wasn't as widespread as it is today. That said, is it best to have certain cable networks such as TBS, USA, etc, set at Big size from the start, or lower it down to Medium to start off with, then put in narratives about the networks getting bigger(being in more households) with instructions for the player on how to make changes via the in-game editor?

[Dawn]

I say put them on Medium and it is your preference on their future.

[Derek B]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Matt Shannon" data-cite="Matt Shannon" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>A question in regards to TV networks, especially for historical mods. Cable TV from what I recall, was still trying to build an audience in 1985 and wasn't as widespread as it is today. That said, is it best to have certain cable networks such as TBS, USA, etc, set at Big size from the start, or lower it down to Medium to start off with, then put in narratives about the networks getting bigger(being in more households) with instructions for the player on how to make changes via the in-game editor?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> It's one of the things I've never been able to actually come up with a good answer to, sadly. TV Networks have no way in-game or via Narratives to change in size, so whatever size you set that at... they're gonna stay at without the aid of the editor.</p><p> </p><p> Additionally, I don't know a lot about the American TV system in general... but with TEW you can use the minimum size and prestige standards to control a lot of variables on companies getting on TV. Getting a nationally aired deal at Cult size should be possible with a network mostly set at Medium size as long as the ther thresholds aren't too high. It might take a bit of testing and some fairly ruthless manipulation of networks to get them to behave in a good way, especially since getting a show syndicated can be hard... but it should be possible.</p><p> </p><p> Setting narratives for players to manually make changes can be a good idea too, but that relies heavily on them noticing and not auto-advancing past them as is so easy to do. Wouldn't take a lot for things to end up going wrong there, but it could be done. But lower TV networks sizes in general, combined with higher thresholds on the actual requirements to get on a network should make it possible to do everything you need.. TV ratings might end up fairly small as a result, but since they don't mean much (besides limiting possible PPV buys) then it shouldn't be too much of a blow and might work out better....</p><p> </p><p> ...... I don't think I'm being very clear here. Sorry for rambling a bit, I'm trying to compress osme thoughts into a small space and I don't fully know the end results of things. <img alt=":(" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png"></p>

[Mattywood]

It's one of the things I've never been able to actually come up with a good answer to, sadly. TV Networks have no way in-game or via Narratives to change in size, so whatever size you set that at... they're gonna stay at without the aid of the editor.

 

Additionally, I don't know a lot about the American TV system in general... but with TEW you can use the minimum size and prestige standards to control a lot of variables on companies getting on TV. Getting a nationally aired deal at Cult size should be possible with a network mostly set at Medium size as long as the ther thresholds aren't too high. It might take a bit of testing and some fairly ruthless manipulation of networks to get them to behave in a good way, especially since getting a show syndicated can be hard... but it should be possible.

 

Setting narratives for players to manually make changes can be a good idea too, but that relies heavily on them noticing and not auto-advancing past them as is so easy to do. Wouldn't take a lot for things to end up going wrong there, but it could be done. But lower TV networks sizes in general, combined with higher thresholds on the actual requirements to get on a network should make it possible to do everything you need.. TV ratings might end up fairly small as a result, but since they don't mean much (besides limiting possible PPV buys) then it shouldn't be too much of a blow and might work out better....

 

...... I don't think I'm being very clear here. Sorry for rambling a bit, I'm trying to compress osme thoughts into a small space and I don't fully know the end results of things.

 

It was pretty crystal clear to me, so thank you. Remind me to put a note in my Risky Business thread to let players know that there will be some narratives that have instructions for going into the in-game editor and manually changing the size of networks such as TBS and USA. I'll be sure to lower the requirements as you suggested as well.

[Dawn]

And again, i'm not useful

[Mattywood]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Smasher1311" data-cite="Smasher1311" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36188" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><span style="color:#FFFFFF;">And again, i'm not useful</span> <img alt=":(" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Now I see what the sad face was for. <img alt=":(" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> I thought you were very useful. Derek B pretty much said what you suggested about setting them at Medium, which is what I've going with. <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Idolized]

What stat determines a worker's asking wage? in my 2004 mod, Eddie Kingston is F- over but is asking a crazy high 1000+ open contract wage.