Booking schemes and philosophy

[Blackman]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="woody316" data-cite="woody316" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="44531" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>How do you decide whether a fighter is a young prospect or a veteran gatekeeper type fighter? Do you look at skills or record or a combination of both? I find it difficult sometimes to know where fighters sit in my company in terms of are they a top guy, are they a can, are they a gatekeeper, are they a prospect etc.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> You can adapt your own definitions, but I'd rather not label people as "cans" or "gatekeepers"</p><p> (even though it's now an announced feature in WMMA5, but imo only useful in overstacked rosters). Generally, a <span style="color:#0000FF;">can </span>is someone who just loses and gets released after a couple of years. You can recognise 'em by yellow skills in their area of proficiency and red in the rest (or worse). You have, of course, the eternal cans who can get a good match out of almost everybody and occasionally get the W, which is better as they generally have a higher popularity. In WEFF, for instance, you have Bergman, McGuinness, etc.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Gatekeepers </strong>are workers who are declining, which is visible on the stat screen so normally don't have another title run in them unless a miracle happens. But because of their past success (as evidenced in their relatively high pop and hidden rep) could be used to elevate guys up the rankings.</p><p> </p><p> You'll never really know who the <span style="text-decoration:underline;">prospects</span> are right away due to the hidden destiny value, even if you scouted them, unless the skills screen is full of green values already. But even then, with average to low destiny they'll often fall short in big matches.</p><p> </p><p> A sure road to successful booking is to take a <span style="text-decoration:underline;">prospect</span>, feed them <span style="color:#0000FF;">cans </span> to boost their momentum and therefore pop and then match them with <strong>gatekeepers</strong>. If they manage to beat those it confirms their status as a <span style="text-decoration:underline;">prospect</span>. If they don't you try again, and worst case scenario the gatekeeper gets a winning streak which isn't the end of the world. Just give him another title shot, which would still be considered legit. If you adapt a straight-up ladder system that might just pit the prospects against each other and blow the wind out of the sails for one of them, making it another year of build-up with cans before he's back in contention.</p><p> </p><p> As for automatic rematches: they often make sense if the loser comes off 8 defenses, or close to that, but if he wins back the title he will not be on a winning streak and you will forfeit some of your hype for the next card, so it's only the optimal booking if his pop eclipses that of the other contenders.</p><p> </p><p> Honestly I just keep my roster and amount of fights big enough to just be assured of one contender when the champ is free to fight. In the end, all you need is a card of 8+ fights with a main event, usually between a champ and a respected guy on a winning streak. That should do it, unless your champ is a dud (no charisma/look/interview). But having "no1-contender" fights is a risky thing, and when it's all said and done you might get a "false contender" who isn't perceived as no1, and that will slightly damage the event. And given the new announced features for WMMA5, I'll probably end up booking with my heart as well, as someone indicated, as there will be more rivalries. I don't really care about becoming the best promotion. I just want to book interesting fights, and I hope that will be rewarded in WMMA5. We can theorize it all we want, but what does it really matter? Just have some fun.</p>

[AQuebman]

I have found I use the oddsmakers a lot so lets say I have a fighter on a streak or just a guy I like who id like to see win I will make sure their the favorite in the next fight I schedule them but I always aim to make it a close fight. I don't care about guys on streaks and building heat I let that happen naturally. I want my champions to be guys who earned it the hard way. My champs are fighting off world class foes left and right same with my up and comers. What's funny is I have found when I do this that champs from other organizations just can't compete they get smacked around the minute they come over to GAMMA.

[WCW Mark]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="woody316" data-cite="woody316" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="44531" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>How do you decide whether a fighter is a young prospect or a veteran gatekeeper type fighter? Do you look at skills or record or a combination of both? I find it difficult sometimes to know where fighters sit in my company in terms of are they a top guy, are they a can, are they a gatekeeper, are they a prospect etc.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> It's a combination of age, record, ability, popularity, how exciting a fighter they are and also whether I like them or not. Some fighters I have long term plans for, some are in only just to boost other fighters and some are borderline and have a chance to impress me if they perform well.</p>

[aya_]

I guide myself by the rankings and I try to match fighters coming off wins against each other and fighters coming off losses against each other. I don't really give soft touches to new prospects. I'm currently playing a GAMMA game with very deep UFC-style rosters, so when a fighter goes 8-0 and breaks into the top 10, that makes it all the more special.

[Night Robin]

<p>I do something similar in matching up fighters coming off wins on the main card and fighters coming off losses on the undercard. That way the fighters are kinda fighting for something outside of title fights. You win, you get better placement on the next card. </p><p> </p><p>

There are exceptions of course. I like some guys and will do my best to get them the fights I want them to have. Big Magic, Lefter Oktay, Angus Silversmith and that movie star fighter who looks like Johnny Cage were all fighters who didn’t have too many wins in a row unless I was feeding them the right guys and but they could consistently be found on my main card.</p>

[EARLOBE]

<p>With each new edition my first game always follows this format.</p><p> </p><p>

One weight class per card </p><p> </p><p>

1v2</p><p>

3v4</p><p>

5v6</p><p>

etc</p><p> </p><p>

Inevitably somebody will get injured, so say if the #6 ranked fight is injured, 5 can fight 7 instead. It's the easiest way to book as no thought really goes into it, and the cream rises to the top very quickly. Not always great for ratings though and you'll end up with a lot of rematches between the best fighters.</p>

[Pacable]

Trial and Error! I like booking booking my younger fighters against eachother for a few matches, booking national or world caliber against accomplish or high level fighters in their same martial art, eventually expanding from the martial art (boxing) to now strikers, and if they want to go to the ground in any of those fights then I'll look for a similar striker (kung fu) to go against (boxer), Ive now used Tags to seperate my fighters once I see a few fights from them to help with this, unless I see them going out of their art I wouldn't match them with a complete martial artist until then, then they get the martial artist tag and the protective booking is up.

 

I also tried the whole weight class per card but it gave away for the freedom so now I'm doing 5 weight class with 1 match per weight class on the main card, then either 5 or 10 on prelims of either 1 or 2 matches per weight class, all being even.

 

Usually stacking with 100 characters in each class if i'm planning for 15 match cards weekly as UFC has been killing it this year 2020.

 

Also playing London Verse in '89 so I'm usually building the stars from their first fights and those who cant swim with their own arts will sink before they get to the test