The QAW thread

[Remianen]

Saw this one was missing and figured I'd start it (shocker, I know!). Might be a good repository of info for this promotion (and booking women in general).

 

A few basic tips that come to mind:

 

 

The promotion's product opens up a lot of styles that might be undervalued overall. As a rule of thumb (and this applies to all promotions), high levels of certain elements give favor to their corresponding wrestling style. The most obvious example that applies for QAW is Lucha Libre (key feature) means Luchadors will generally do well in the promotion. Mainstream means Entertainers will do well. During gameplay, you might notice workers change styles to improve their results and for QAW, most will switch to Entertainer (in my experience). The first thing I typically do with the promotion is raise Modern to Key Feature as well since that improves the acceptance of cruiserweights. Daredevil to Medium means Darkness Cat (and other Spot Monkeys) can actually rise above midcarder without too much effort (though they'll probably never main event successfully without gobs of popularity).

 

Your top heel is Jillian Janson and she's the champ. Your top face (and future figurehead) is Danielle Sweetheart. Their storyline can take you to mid-Regional before it starts to get really stale. I typically ally The Anti-Establishment (Hellcat & Pamela) with Danielle to counter Jillian's henchmen, Crackdown. It's a natural fit since they already feud over the tag titles.

 

 

Now, depending on how you play with regard to restricted areas, you could have access to some really good talent. I play with it off since the talent pool is rather shallow for the women plus there are unemployed workers that COULD be hirable. Besides, in the world I live in, if you've been unemployed for two years and someone offers you a regular gig in another area, most people would take it. Especially if there's better employment opportunities in that other area (say based in Japan but QAW offers a multi-year deal which a relocation would allow you to work for AAA, CILL, and/or OLLIE too which is what happened to Chitose Ariwara during my demo/beta game). I got annoyed that I couldn't sign Antonia Andres when I'm a single 2 hr flight away from where she's based. Also, something that's changed this year is Yukiko Matsumara is now a Luchador, which makes her an even better fit for QAW (she was a cruiserweight in TEW13). She's on 5SSW's roster but with restricted areas off, you can sign her and she fits the 'bubbly babyface' role (as does Chitose). Her skill level is also good to train up Darkness Cat in a storyline. Velvet Suarez is also a good, if obvious, signing.

 

Charity Sweet & Alina America are the future but I also add Teresa Perez to that group. I'm not a fan of Houston Handley so I often split Tex-Mex as soon as I get a couple of additional teams (Lilly & Rose, the Neptunes, Double Dragon (Mitsu Ariwa & Ginko Kuroda), etc). I then put Teresa against Raquel Alvarado for the Shockwave title. I have a Shockwave storyline that has Raquel, Teresa, Charity, Alina, Emma May, and Elsa Calvo (who I sign on day one). The cross pollination with singles, tag, and trios matches leads to lots of skill improvement. I can also "fluff" the storyline by, for example, having Emma and Elsa interfere in a Janson-Sweetheart match on behalf of the champion because Crackdown & Vinny are banned from ringside. That pretty much sets up the post-match brawl angle when Charity/Alina/Teresa (whoever wasn't fighting Raquel for the title on that show) run down to even the odds. Two main eventers in an angle with midcarders boosts the rating significantly and fits the common real life wrestling trope.

[Rebby]

I'm likely going to start my QAW game today (been doing TCW to start, but QAW was my longest in '13). I'm gonna start with restricted areas on, as I always feel gamey otherwise, but if it's too difficult then I'll switch it off.

[Remianen]

I'm likely going to start my QAW game today (been doing TCW to start, but QAW was my longest in '13). I'm gonna start with restricted areas on, as I always feel gamey otherwise, but if it's too difficult then I'll switch it off.

 

It's not difficult at all. If you stay within the bounds of the 'ideal roster', you won't have any real difficulties. But I always like larger rosters and I hate seeing decent to good workers out of work when they could be useful in another game area. Even with the improvements, the AI still doesn't hire people very often. In fact, I often see 5 Star reduce its roster via attrition by letting contracts expire (Etsuko Arihyoshi and Toku Kijmuta in my demo games). I'm all about developing talent and unemployed workers don't develop nearly as fast as workers who are actively employed (and indy shows don't happen enough to make up for that). So a worker in the depths of my roster working six way matches and battle royals on my preshows will develop MUCH faster than sitting on their couch watching tapes. It's not gamey to me because the exact same thing happens in real life. There are workers who are actively employed in Japan filing for work visas for the US so they can spend a few months here working shows. 'Excursions' are encouraged and STARDOM has actually done it as an entire promotion themselves.

 

World's a lot smaller than it used to be (figuratively speaking). Plus, given the way I raid AAA and 5 Star when I get to Cult, they'll need all the talent they can get.

[marsupial311]

I still miss QAW as the Japanese style show that it was in TEW2010.

 

Regardless, there are quite a few unemployed women that I like to add. Laura Flame and Maria Guest being near the top of that list. What are your opinions on Tamara McFly? She's probably close to retiring but has the pop to be a main eventer and put over a lot of people. After retiring she makes a pretty good road agent with 71 psych and 70 respect too.

[Dr_Avalanche]

I've taken up running QAW, and just out of curiosity, is there a head canon regarding the Crowning the Queen tournament and its format?

[Pastafarian]

I still miss QAW as the Japanese style show that it was in TEW2010.

 

I just created a league with that same product in '13 and '16.

 

(And opened Winnow. And BSC is alive and well).

[Matt_Black]

I'm about to start a QAW game (I need a brief break from AAA) and one thing I noticed is that RIPW's production values are so high that it can be very difficult to increase pop. And trying to match them would involve spending money you may not necessarily have. Any tips for this?

[James Casey]

<p>Weekly shows to accelerate popularity gain/income growth, but you do need a chunk of change in the bank to cover the likely losses you'll take in the first few months.</p><p> </p><p>

Once you hit a certain point you'll either be putting on shows go good the production penalty is irrelevant, or you'll be making so much money you can max out production levels for a company your size.</p><p> </p><p>

If QAW's product is favourable to sponsorship, that certainly helps, of course!</p>

[Matt_Black]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="James Casey" data-cite="James Casey" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41408" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Weekly shows to accelerate popularity gain/income growth, but you do need a chunk of change in the bank to cover the likely losses you'll take in the first few months.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Yeah, no kidding. QAW starts with $250k and I ran a few months and... Well, didn't go into debt, but yikes. Maybe try again and not use every main eventer (all 4 of them) on the weekly show.</p><p> </p><p> Didn't help that the wrestling industry wasn't great and was quickly falling. We were gaining pop, but that was quickly going to come to an end before we got high enough to turn a profit.</p>

[Dr_Avalanche]

<p>Strange... It was a long time since I started my QAW save, but from the start I felt QAW was like playing on easy mode. Maybe I just got lucky with the industry and economy both being strong? </p><p> </p><p>

I think early on you might have to accept that losing money is part of the game, but you need to make those popularity gains to make profits long term. Upside is, putting on good enough shows to satisfy your fans should be dead easy, so you can nurture cheap young talent rather than having to rely on the most expensive talent you can find. </p><p> </p><p>

I don't know how useful it was, but I joined COTT early on, pretty much solely to keep mid-sized competitors out of the mid south. I *think* it helped, but I honestly don't know how much.</p>

[Matt_Black]

<p>My thoughts on the roster-</p><p> </p><p>

Ronin 3- All of them are keepers. I see people continuously saying, "Oh, cut Toni, she's a negative influence", but honestly of all the negative influences I've dealt with in the game, she's been the easiest to get into neutral territory and not backslide. As for their manager? Eesh. Theoretically, he'd be a good talker, but his pop is so low that he continuously under performs in angles. As long as he and Jillian stay together though, he's a keeper, as that relationship will aid the backstage atmosphere.</p><p> </p><p>

The Anti-Establishment- Pamela Rojo is a solid talent, good enough that you may want to give her a singles push. Hellcat's good too, though, albeit much greener. Like all your starting babyface teams, they're just as good at being heels as faces, generally, so a turn to balance out the tag division is not out of the question.</p><p> </p><p>

Anderson & Snyder- They seem about even, stat wise, with Lily Snyder maybe having the slight edge. On the other hand, she can also easily turn into a negative influence, even with backstage at 100%.</p><p> </p><p>

Tex-Mex- On paper, Teresa should be the better choice. And yet, most of my playthroughs, Houston Handley hits main event status first, even when I'm not actively trying to get her over.</p><p> </p><p>

Raquel Alvarado- Your starting Shockwave champion, she's a fair hand in the ring. She also has a decent charisma score, so she usually performs well in angles. I often like to partner her up with Ronin 3 and making it a quartet, because their designated talker Vinny Cruz doesn't cut it.</p><p> </p><p>

Danielle Sweetheart- she's phenomenal, for a Small company worker. Can call in the ring, great on the stick, etc. Everything you could possibly want in a main eventer at that level.</p><p> </p><p>

Foxxy LaRue- Pretty much everything I said about Danielle also applies to her.</p><p> </p><p>

Alina America- Great sex appeal and oodles of star quality. The downside is that she's pretty green. It'll take some work, but long term she's probably the best bet to be figurehead.</p><p> </p><p>

Charity Sweet- Almost as good as Alina when it comes to potential. Star quality isn't as high, but she's also more well rounded and developed when it comes to in-ring ability. She starts as a heel, but she's much better at being a babyface. Turn her once her gimmick gets stale.</p><p> </p><p>

Emma May- Decent enough. Her manager though? Boss Man Brayfield is just like Vinny Cruz, but worse. He's usually first to go in my games.</p><p> </p><p>

Alexis Lee Littlefeather- Again, not much different than Foxxy or Danielle, though since she's further down the card, she'll need a bit more pop to match them entertainment wise. Of the starting roster, she'll probably be the first to hit Time Decline.</p>

[Matt_Black]

<p>Started a new game. Started out by hiring Tamara McFly, Maria Guest, Connie Morris, Tsuki Kawamata, and Suzanne Brazzle. That last one is atypical for me , as I usually prefer to hire unemployed wrestlers, but between her skills, her status as a locker room leader, and her propensity to take on proteges, she was a natural choice. She's already taken on Lily Snyder and Emma May.</p><p> </p><p>

Connie I hired with the idea to pair her up when Gorgon's USPW contract expired, but the second day, Farrah Hesketh gave me a "no one over 35" owner goal, so that's out. When her 3 month contract came up, I let her walk. She's good, but not great.</p><p> </p><p>

Hit Regional 3 months in, so now that we should soon be turning a profit, time to hire a few more people. Sent offers to Deborah Young, Candy Floss, and the recently unemployed La Hija Del Diablo.</p><p> </p><p>

Been experimenting with tag combinations, and while I haven't found any good chemistry, I haven't run across any bad chemistry either.</p>

[Matt_Black]

Finally found some chemistry. Deborah Young has good chemistry with Eve Runcord, which is great because it gives Eve something to do, and it gives Deborah the chance to hopefully rub off her excellent Safety score to more people.

 

Pamela Rojo has good chemistry with Tamara McFly, which would normally be useless, except that Hellcat picked up a broken arm the same night, so I can just slot McFly into the feud with Crackdown until Hernandez heals up.

[LloydCross]

<p>I just started a QAW game. I hired Connie Morris and a couple of young prospects (Electric Dreamer and Alisha Breaks). I added a monthly event and am planning for 4 annual events for now. I think that will help not lose money too fast while still getting a good number of shows in. I turned off economy and industry effects because I still haven't played a save long enough to really compete against companies in other regions, where it would feel more significant so I'm going to try not worrying about it this time.</p><p> </p><p>

Planning to link up Emma May with Ronin and debating between turning it into a foursome or to have her replace Toni (Was pretty dead set on replacing her until I read this thread actually).</p><p> </p><p>

I'm trying to be reasonably realistic here, and am unsure on if I want to hire people under contract with AAA. The synopsis of the company says they are largely avoiding competition with AAA, so a pact to not hire each others' people might make sense, but it would also benefit the workers to let them be in both places.</p>

[Matt_Black]

<p>I wouldn't worry about a bad relationship developing between AAA and QAW; in all my playthroughs with either company, I've never seen hostilities arise. Just make sure you don't run shows on Tuesday or in the Northwest. You can also hire Cat Quine and positive meddle her and Farrah.</p><p> </p><p>

I run two weekly shows, and that usually gets me to Regional by March, at which point you start turning profit really quickly.</p><p> </p><p>

The other thing I'd advise is toggling the match ratio for events so you can get some promo time in for your wrestlers. Otherwise, make sure you make good use of the pre and post show time.</p>

[LloydCross]

I wouldn't worry about a bad relationship developing between AAA and QAW; in all my playthroughs with either company, I've never seen hostilities arise. Just make sure you don't run shows on Tuesday or in the Northwest. You can also hire Cat Quine and positive meddle her and Farrah.

 

I'm not concerned about it becoming a gameplay issue, but I was trying to roleplay the mindset of the promotion a little bit and what I think a reasonable person in that situation would do.

[Matt_Black]

I'm not concerned about it becoming a gameplay issue, but I was trying to roleplay the mindset of the promotion a little bit and what I think a reasonable person in that situation would do.

 

Well, if you go by the AI, QAW will hire your guys and run shows the same night as you do, so I wouldn't worry about it over much.

 

Anyway, I'm at Week 3 October 2016. Got $1.3 million in the bank and 47 Importance in the Mid South. Might be time to expand elsewhere. I could go with the South West and Northern Mexico, to get the pop up high enough to qualify for TV, but I might go South East (to go easy on the the SW companies) and just get to Cult, because then I qualify for Canal Dos.

[Matt_Black]

<p>Just finished two events relatively close to each other- Queen of Trios and Dia De Los Muertos (because they're a lucha company; we also do our own National Lucha Day). The former was a tournament with 36 women culminating in a 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 match which... was a nightmare to book. Never again, at least not like that. Next year, I'll do the finals as just 3 vs 3.</p><p> </p><p>

Will admit to a cheat- I clicked Aud D'hoffryn to work in the States, as she was not getting signed by EWA, and I like to see her get work. (I will hire anyone named after a demon from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) Put her with Power Girl and they had good chemistry, so hey, new babyface tag team. Also hired Jana Marie Bowen to put in her Hell Cat persona with the intention of pairing her with Darkness Cat and thank the Lord they had good chemistry too.</p><p> </p><p>

So, now I have enough teams to run a tag team tournament in January, with the Winners being named the Southwest Tag Champions. (I'll save the other belts for the eventual brand split.)</p>

[CharlieRock]

Seems to me a QAW owner really needs to jump on Los Deportes Hoy. You won't get money out of it, but it'll spread your popularity to Mexico which will eat up QAW's product and keep asking for more. I signed with Los Deportes as soon as I could and eventually started selling out bigger venues in Mexico than USA (but, USA caught up after awhile especially in areas Deportes covers).

[LloydCross]

Working on booking my first Queen tournament. Planning an 8 woman bracket but struggling between trying to build new stars and using the workers with high stamina (so they could actually do 3 matches in a night), who are mostly my main eventers.

 

Already replaced Toni with Emma and am planning a relatively notable heel turn to boost up the Ronin group even further.

 

I brought in Thea Davis, who is one of my favorite workers in the game.

[Matt_Black]

You know, I've never had an issue with Stamina, but then I only do 6 minutes for the first round, 8 for the second, and 10 for the final.

[Remianen]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Matt_Black" data-cite="Matt_Black" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41408" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Will admit to a cheat- I clicked Aud D'hoffryn to work in the States, as she was not getting signed by EWA, and I like to see her get work.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's not a cheat. I think hard restrictions on areas a worker can work in are completely unrealistic anyway. If you look at the women's scene as it's developed over the last 15 years, that becomes obvious. SHIMMER is not a National+ sized promotion but they've convinced several "Japan Only" workers to pony up for that work visa to come work their shows. And NOT as headliners either. Sure, there were some all-time greats (Manami Toyota and Mayumi Ozaki appearing for Chikara) but Wesna Busic came to work in the US and no one had ever heard of her, really (outside of some European fans). </p><p> </p><p> I turn restricted areas off because it does the women a grave disservice otherwise. There are only a few promotions in the C-Verse who even have women's divisions (all but one are in North America) and only three women's only promotions (two of them US based, and they almost never get big enough to sign foreign talent if CPU controlled). The only way Aud typically gets signed is if EWA loses someone (which they typically do since many of my first signings upon hitting Cult include Thea Davis, Laura McKenna, and/or Zofia Jankovic).</p>

[CharlieRock]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Remianen" data-cite="Remianen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41408" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>That's not a cheat. I think hard restrictions on areas a worker can work in are completely unrealistic anyway. If you look at the women's scene as it's developed over the last 15 years, that becomes obvious. SHIMMER is not a National+ sized promotion but they've convinced several "Japan Only" workers to pony up for that work visa to come work their shows. And NOT as headliners either. Sure, there were some all-time greats (Manami Toyota and Mayumi Ozaki appearing for Chikara) but Wesna Busic came to work in the US and no one had ever heard of her, really (outside of some European fans). <p> </p><p> I turn restricted areas off because it does the women a grave disservice otherwise. There are only a few promotions in the C-Verse who even have women's divisions (all but one are in North America) and only three women's only promotions (two of them US based, and they almost never get big enough to sign foreign talent if CPU controlled). The only way Aud typically gets signed is if EWA loses someone (which they typically do since many of my first signings upon hitting Cult include Thea Davis, Laura McKenna, and/or Zofia Jankovic).</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Don't forget Zen, with their "integrated" division. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> When it comes to women workers you really do need to turn the restricted areas off. And since there are so little competition from the AI what I do is leave it on 'semi' until I sign somebody, then turn it back.</p>

[CharlieRock]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="LloydCross" data-cite="LloydCross" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41408" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Working on booking my first Queen tournament. Planning an 8 woman bracket but struggling between trying to build new stars and using the workers with high stamina (so they could actually do 3 matches in a night), who are mostly my main eventers.<p> </p><p> Already replaced Toni with Emma and am planning a relatively notable heel turn to boost up the Ronin group even further.</p><p> </p><p> I brought in Thea Davis, who is one of my favorite workers in the game.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> You could make a round an angle, like the "monster unleashed" one. (maybe)</p>

[LloydCross]

<p>Hit Regional shortly after my first Crowning the Queen event and am making money as long as I don't book extraneous pre-show matches at my twice monthly events. I come 3 of 5 in a random South West regional battle every month now, which doesn't seem to hurt at all.</p><p> </p><p>

I gave the tournament win to Foxxy Larue and now have a strong 3-way feud going for the World Title. I'm struggling to elevate a true 4th Main Eventer though. I figured Alina would rocket up with her Star Quality but she's stuck at E- popularity despite a fourth Shockwave title run and pretty much dominating the midcard. Alexis Lee Littlefeather has seemed a lot more potent for popularity surges, so I might make an effort to really cement her high up on the card.</p>