Tried Demo, Have Questions

[Rainey]

I'm on the verge of buying this fun game. However, I have a few questions that I hope some people can answer for me.

 

1. If you are running a historical league, will a player, like Karl Malone come in the rookie draft class with an estimate of his rookie ratings or will he automatically come in as a superstar?

 

2. How easy is it to build a dynasty? Do you have to set a bunch of house rules to keep you from winning championship after championship?

 

3. Are there "amazing seasons" when someone just goes off and averages far more points than the rest of the league or has a much higher rebounding total? Or is it pretty much status quo every year?

 

4. How are expansions drafts handled?

 

Thanks for all the help!

[Rainey]

<p>100+ views and no response? Thanks awesome community, lol.</p><p> </p><p>

Anyways, I bought the game and it is great. I'll answer my own questions just in case someone does a forum search and need some info answered.</p><p> </p><p>

1. You will have some players come in as superstars, but you will also have a majority come in as role players at best. For example Kevin Garnett starts off as "yellow", but will have the ability to grow into a superstar, but when David Robinson came to the league he averaged 25+ ppg.</p><p> </p><p>

2. Thanks to injuries and random luck it isn't easy winning multiple championships in a row. I think it is easy to build a "good" team year in and year out, but just like in real life (Thunder losing Westbrook) you are one injury away from having your season royally messed up.</p><p> </p><p>

3. There is enough variation.</p><p> </p><p>

4. You have to expose one player to the Expansion Draft. It is a good way to get rid of an expensive veteran if you can't find a suitable trade partner.</p>

[TLCJR4LIFE]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Rainey" data-cite="Rainey" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36333" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm on the verge of buying this fun game. However, I have a few questions that I hope some people can answer for me.<p> </p><p> 1. If you are running a historical league, will a player, like Karl Malone come in the rookie draft class with an estimate of his rookie ratings or will he automatically come in as a superstar? </p><p> </p><p> 2. How easy is it to build a dynasty? Do you have to set a bunch of house rules to keep you from winning championship after championship?</p><p> </p><p> 3. Are there "amazing seasons" when someone just goes off and averages far more points than the rest of the league or has a much higher rebounding total? Or is it pretty much status quo every year?</p><p> </p><p> 4. How are expansions drafts handled?</p><p> </p><p> Thanks for all the help!</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> 1: That depends on his current vs potential ratings.</p><p> </p><p> 2: Can vary depending on how you set the A.I to manage. It can be very easy to win multiple championships if you get the right players, but you may hit a drought if you don't properly rebuild.</p><p> </p><p> 3: Sometimes. Depending on how good the player is.</p><p> </p><p> 4: The expansion teams select from unprotected players.</p>

[Brian Nichols]

I think at least a good chunk of those views are coming from bots but I'm not 100% sure on that. The game does try and mirror how players came into the league in real life so someone who started out great should generally be great in the game. There is some variation in development due to the boom/bust system used by the game so every career shouldn't be the same.

 

The AI has been evolving over time based on feedback from the players. The biggest way to exploit the AI is probably through trades but that can be adjusted by upping the trade difficulty a bit or by making AI teams value picks/youth more in trades. The goal was to make it possible for people to determine what was fun to them.

[Rainey]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Brian Nichols" data-cite="Brian Nichols" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36333" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think at least a good chunk of those views are coming from bots but I'm not 100% sure on that. The game does try and mirror how players came into the league in real life so someone who started out great should generally be great in the game. There is some variation in development due to the boom/bust system used by the game so every career shouldn't be the same. <p> </p><p> The AI has been evolving over time based on feedback from the players. The biggest way to exploit the AI is probably through trades but that can be adjusted by upping the trade difficulty a bit or by making AI teams value picks/youth more in trades. The goal was to make it possible for people to determine what was fun to them.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Great game. Money well spent. I'm always a fan of letting the player determine the level of a game. Some want to build an awesome dynasty, some want as close of experience of being a real GM as they can get.</p>

[TLCJR4LIFE]

<p>The easiest way to exploit the A.I on the hardest difficulties is to trade for picks early in the year before the draft.</p><p> </p><p>

The value of the pick at the start of the season is extremely lower than if you make a draft day trade. Draft day trades to move up to get players like Jordan, Bird or whatever are almost impossible. However if you get lucky and predict a team will be bad you can get their pick and draft a legendary player at not much cost.</p><p> </p><p>

This is much easier in the pre-lottery era....in the lottery era this can be a crapshot.</p>

[SirMichaelJordan]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Brian Nichols" data-cite="Brian Nichols" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36333" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think at least a good chunk of those views are coming from bots but I'm not 100% sure on that. The game does try and mirror how players came into the league in real life so someone who started out great should generally be great in the game. There is some variation in development due to the boom/bust system used by the game so every career shouldn't be the same. <p> </p><p> The AI has been evolving over time based on feedback from the players. The biggest way to exploit the AI is probably through trades <strong>but that can be adjusted by upping the trade difficulty a bit or by making AI teams value picks/youth more in trades. </strong>The goal was to make it possible for people to determine what was fun to them.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> This wasn't available in the demo was it? </p><p> </p><p> Also when using those options, does the AI use these rules against each other or just the human user? I also notice in the demo that there weren't any trades happening in the NBA but the demo I had was an old update..</p>

[Brian Nichols]

It was added along the way. There have been updates to the demo as well. I'll actually be uploading a build 3.0.18 version of the demo as well as that will hopefully help with an error that some people have run into that prevents the game from launching.

[Brian Nichols]

Trade difficulty is only used against human teams. The settings for valuing picks etc are used on all trades. Adjusting the trade frequency setting will increase trades between human teams.