General Gameplay Questions Thread

[wolfwwe]

First, if you're so concerned about his morale, give him a bonus. That's the quick and dirty way to change morale. Secondly, you seem to think wrestlers are not human or something. Would you be okay with some guy who started on the job a week ago getting a promotion you've been working hard for? Let's be real. Pretty much every worker in every industry wants to 'do a good job' but nobody wants to suffer (in any way, shape, or form) unless there's something in it for them. Junior is a 'People Person' which is almost the easiest personality type to deal with (Irrepressible is easier). Seems like you put someone over him that shouldn't have gone over him. Anyone would be pissed if that happened (unless they suggested or offered to 'do the honors' ). When that popup box comes up telling you the worker is 'angry' over the decision, you should probably pay attention to it and use the various tricks to try to get the worker to agree (keep strong, tainted win, interference, whatever). Otherwise, you deal with the consequences.

 

To answer your question in TL;DR fashion ("What do I have to do?"): In future, don't just blow past the popup box when the worker is upset about a booking decision. OR, be ready to reward them for being a professional (via a bonus). Or just deal with the morale hit.

 

LOL you're misunderstanding my issue.

[The Nickman]

Easiest way I've found to differentiate:

On-screen = this was filmed especially for this segment, the worker gets paid for showing up to film it even if he does nothing else. Whether it's pre-taped or not, if he specifically showed up to film something, even if he's only doing a voice-over, he's on-screen.

 

Off-screen = the worker doesn't get paid for that segment if he's not otherwise booked on the show. It's either footage edited together from other things, or he's not actually on the show (like being mentioned in someone else's promo).

 

Off-screen would be hype videos, highlight reels, being mentioned in a promo you don't appear in, any footage you've already recorded being shown again ("Last week on Raw!", "Earlier tonight!").

 

 

Of course, if you want him to be rated on anything other than Overness, the decision is made for you (he has to be on screen).

That’s not entirely true, you can have them rated on any “passive” abilities (Overness, Menace, Star Quality, Sex Appeal etc) when Off Screen, they just can’t be rated on things like Entertainment, Acting or Fighting.

[rickson]

<p>Can someone explain me how gaining popularity through angles work?</p><p> </p><p>

I always thought that workers gain can popularity if I book them in angles with high rating but this does not seem to work. I'll give you 3 examples:</p><p> </p><p>

- I called up a manager from my dev company and she had 30 pop when I called her up. She is now 3 months in the main roster and I constantly put her in segments with main eventers and the segments are always rated between - 50 and 70. But she did not gain any popularity yet.</p><p>

Another worker is at 64 pop and already appeared in 3 or 4 segments that were rated 100 (together with one or two main eventers) and is also not gaining any popularity.</p><p>

- My tag team champions are 65-66 pop each and are constantly having 75+ matches and 80+ angles but still not a single change in popularity during the last months.</p><p> </p><p>

So it seems that winning matches against higher rated opponents is the only way to gain popularity?</p>

[Ruthian23]

Do you guys find that setting up your own child company is worth the expense or is it more beneficial to have developmental deals with smaller companies?

[Samuraj]

What's your general game plan to get someone to "Major Star" status? I assume it's something like a 3 month feud with someone bigger than him and having him come out on top, but there just seem to be so many unpredictable factors (will the rest of the card hurt the matches he's on, will all the matches in that 3 month span hit, etc.) it feels out of reach.

[Remianen]

What's your general game plan to get someone to "Major Star" status? I assume it's something like a 3 month feud with someone bigger than him and having him come out on top, but there just seem to be so many unpredictable factors (will the rest of the card hurt the matches he's on, will all the matches in that 3 month span hit, etc.) it feels out of reach.

 

It's not hard at all. About the hardest part is if the worker has a particularly low popularity cap.

 

See, there's a misconception that seems to trip up a lot of people. A person doesn't have to WIN a storyline in order to benefit from it. I see and hear of people putting 'recognizables' over 'stars' and it's simply not necessary. If you give a worker wins over people of his/her card level while in a compelling (read: highly rated) storyline, they will become more popular. I don't know about anyone else but I never want to do what WWE does, which often is, shove a worker down the audience's throat. Maybe put your midcard title(s) on them when they get to well known and pit them against some of your more skilled vets. You can get them to major star quickly if you use them, in some capacity, on every single show. Put 'em in a strong angle and have them beat someone, clean. If their gimmick allows, have them dominate a few times. Oh and only on the main show if the event/show is televised in any way. ETA: Along the way, if a vet higher on the card sees something in the worker and offers to put them over, it accelerates things.

[Teh_Showtime]

Do you guys find that setting up your own child company is worth the expense or is it more beneficial to have developmental deals with smaller companies?

 

It depends on how big you are and how many developmental talents you want to keep

 

Eventually the AI feds will stop accepting your talent, if you send too much. They can also end the relationship if they want, and you can’t change their schedule if you want your guys working more. Obviously none of these apply if you own the company.

 

The finance side has been so irrelevant in this game that I made the biggest possible promotion for 5 million and put them on a constant schedule and it was paying for itself in a few months. It was also getting my dev roster more over than my actual roster such is the power of a constant schedule.

[Chris14]

Is it possible to book for your child company as well as your own?

[wolfwwe]

Is it possible to book for your child company as well as your own?

 

Probably just add a new player from the settings screen.

[Joshdb]

I know the game is still evolving in what best or common practices are used, but I wanted to see if there was any consensus on running shows for small American companies.

 

How many shows per month? What kind of shows? What broadcasters are most helpful as a company first putting their promotion on one?

 

I know there are a lot of factors involved here and it doesn't even touch on money necessarily but I wanted to see people's opinions. Thanks!

[EIOEIO]

Possibly been asked already, apologies if that is the case. How do I make an inactive team active again. I'm playing a TCW save and recently turned Edd Stone heel and I'm planning to reanimate the corpse of the Canadian Animals with him and Huggins, however, I can't add them as a new team as it tells me they are already a team in the database and I can't make the CAs active again. So I'm stuck! Any help appreciated.

[wolfwwe]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="EIOEIO" data-cite="EIOEIO" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47568" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Possibly been asked already, apologies if that is the case. How do I make an inactive team active again. I'm playing a TCW save and recently turned Edd Stone heel and I'm planning to reanimate the corpse of the Canadian Animals with him and Huggins, however, I can't add them as a new team as it tells me they are already a team in the database and I can't make the CAs active again. So I'm stuck! Any help appreciated.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I think the tag team page only shows active teams by default. Click on search i think and search all and they should show up (if their tag team is assigned to your promotion). Select the team and change them from inactive to active.</p>

[EIOEIO]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="wolfwwe" data-cite="wolfwwe" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47568" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think the tag team page only shows active teams by default. Click on search i think and search all and they should show up (if their tag team is assigned to your promotion). Select the team and change them from inactive to active.</div></blockquote><p> I found them as both the generic version and the TCW version via search but there was no option to toggle them to active on that particular screen. I got there by refining the search to "both workers employed by TCW".</p>

[Larrikn]

<p>how do i check when a contract starts after i sign someone?</p><p> </p><p>

EDIT: Found it</p>

[mrpengo88]

<p>This is an excerpt from the Dev Journal</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47568" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>In previous games a worker had a maximum popularity cap that would limit how well known they could possibly become. As this was fixed at the start of the game and so didn't take into account changes in context, this could both prove restrictive and lead to unrealistic behaviour from players. The new method is that the cap is now calculated on-the-fly with each segment based on many factors including the worker's current skills, destiny, and who he is working for. This makes for a more realistic and dynamic game world.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Would anyone be able to elaborate more on the way this mechanic works? I've taken TCW from Medium to Large size, but several of my guys are still capped around the 70 level and I don't know what to do about it. Also unsure what the "destiny" mechanic is or how it works. Thanks</p>

[Remianen]

This is an excerpt from the Dev Journal

 

 

 

Would anyone be able to elaborate more on the way this mechanic works? I've taken TCW from Medium to Large size, but several of my guys are still capped around the 70 level and I don't know what to do about it. Also unsure what the "destiny" mechanic is or how it works. Thanks

 

If the workers in question are being booked strongly in a Large sized promotion and can't exceed 70 popularity, that is their likely popularity cap. As far as I can tell, the max cap on popularity (before maxed out star quality modifiers) is 96. Nicky Champion in USPW (Large) has not been able to exceed 96 popularity despite being booked strongly (as expected of a figurehead) and his 92 star quality is possibly responsible for him getting to that level.

 

I'll let derek or D-Lyrium explain the destiny mechanic (I can't do it in a small number of words).

[Samuraj]

Is the general "ideal" structure for a match card's road agent notes:

 

"Work the crowd" match -> All Out -> Calm the Crowd -> Lift the Crowd -> All Out?

[Remianen]

Is the general "ideal" structure for a match card's road agent notes:

 

"Work the crowd" match -> All Out -> Calm the Crowd -> Lift the Crowd -> All Out?

 

I believe that would be dependent on product. An All Out main event in a puro promotion (where main events tend to exceed the 20 min maximum time for the All Out note) could be disastrous, for example.

[mrpengo88]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Remianen" data-cite="Remianen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47568" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>If the workers in question are being booked strongly in a Large sized promotion and can't exceed 70 popularity, that is their likely popularity cap. As far as I can tell, the max cap on popularity (before maxed out star quality modifiers) is 96. Nicky Champion in USPW (Large) has not been able to exceed 96 popularity despite being booked strongly (as expected of a figurehead) and his 92 star quality is possibly responsible for him getting to that level. <p> </p><p> I'll let derek or D-Lyrium explain the destiny mechanic (I can't do it in a small number of words).</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Is there anything I can do to break through the popularity cap for a given worker? Some of them seem pretty uncharitable; Wolf Hawkins and Aaron Andrews are currently capped at a popularity lower than they had at the start of the game.</p>

[MrJeeps]

How can I avoid the emotional high penalty for my main events?

[Ruthian23]

Is there anything I can do to break through the popularity cap for a given worker? Some of them seem pretty uncharitable; Wolf Hawkins and Aaron Andrews are currently capped at a popularity lower than they had at the start of the game.

 

Yeah, Wolf seems especially low for who he is. Also, is there any way to adjust someone's popularity cap in the editor, either by editing another stat or another factor? Star power seems to be important but Wolf, for instance, has a star power in the 90s but seems to be capped way below that.

[Ruthian23]

Does anyone create their own venues? Why would this be beneficial? Is it more just if you're a smaller promotion so that you can have that venue in your home area where you always have your shows and not have to pay for the space? It wouldn't be any use for a big promotion I assume?

[Ruthian23]

How can I avoid the emotional high penalty for my main events?

 

It might seem a bit counter-intuitive but the crowd gets kind of burned out if you have too much really good stuff on one show, so I sometimes have a match or two between lower midcarders or whatever with the match note of Calm the Crowd. It lets the crowd relax a bit before getting back into it for the main event. Figuring out where to put those matches on the card is the tricky part, but try like 2-3 segments before the main event. You should get the note of, "As planned, this match cooled the crowd a little" or something like that.

[Remianen]

Does anyone create their own venues? Why would this be beneficial? Is it more just if you're a smaller promotion so that you can have that venue in your home area where you always have your shows and not have to pay for the space? It wouldn't be any use for a big promotion I assume?

 

There's no point to doing so since the venue will be useless once you hit medium. Last patch added a bit of diminishing returns to running shows in the same area at Medium and above.

[D-Lyrium]

Yeah, Wolf seems especially low for who he is. Also, is there any way to adjust someone's popularity cap in the editor, either by editing another stat or another factor? Star power seems to be important but Wolf, for instance, has a star power in the 90s but seems to be capped way below that.

 

Don't forget that company size plays a role too, and the caps will be different in every game you play.

 

Wolf is currently at 90 in my game, which is probably as big as a Medium company with 77 popularity can hope for. I'm sure when I get back to Big again (there was an... incident...) he'll get higher than that. Aaron in my game is mid-80s, but he's just coming back from a broken leg (which may or may not have had anything to do with the fall back to medium).

 

Jay Chord and Greg Gauge have both far surpassed their max overness with me now that they've signed with USPW. Jay is 90 and Greg is 96, the third most over worker in the world. Both struggled to get out of the 80s with me down at Medium size.

 

SWF are Large, and Mikey Lau is 100 across the USA, so it's not like you HAVE to be titanic to get into the mid/upper 90s, but you'll need to be above Medium.

 

 

Just did a little bit of research, since I'm in 2026...

Workers with popularity >= 90 and star quality <= 85, excluding workers who definitely started that way already:

Greg Gauge (96, 74, most over wrestler in the world not named Remo or Mickey Lau)

Soul Taker (90, 84)

 

Popularity >= 85, Star Quality <= 75:

Frankie-Boy Fernandes (86, 71)

Greg Gauge still (96, 74)

 

Pop >= 80, SQ <= 70

Aldous Blackfriar (81/82, 64)

Amber Allen (85, 68)

Roderick Remus (83, 64 - caveat being I've been booking him myself)

Yellowjacket (84, 61 - now with... USPW?!)

 

Reggie Bishop deserves special attention, Pop 81, SQ 49, charisma 63.

 

 

So it is definitely possible to get over without having amazing SQ. But you'll be limited by how big your company is. Bear in mind also that this is with the AI booking them (except Remus), so it's not like they've been overly well booked.

 

 

 

 

Also, as a side note, not really relevant to this discussion but whilst I was looking through the workers...

 

Workers who the game created itself and who have gotten to > 60 pop (bearing in mind they've been in the industry less than 6 years, most of these guys have been around for less than 3 years):

 

Glenn Arryn (78 SQ, 52 cha, 70 pop worldwide with 21CW, the seed is strong).

 

Nathaniel Young (57 SQ, 38 charisma, 60 pop throughout UK with 21CW)

 

Rick Perry (85 SQ, 47 cha, 66 pop worldwide with 21CW)

 

Yaka Shunji (37 SQ, 39 cha, 60 pop in Japan with PGHW)

 

Yasu Funamoto (53 SQ, 43 cha, 62 pop throughout Japan with BCG and SAISHO, won the BCG Challengers Series in his rookie year).

 

So even created wrestlers, who lots of people have issues with (for understandable reasons sometimes) can get over.

 

21CW are an interesting case actually. They're Medium, 4th biggest company in the world, and of their 57 active wrestlers, 28 of them were generated by their dojo, 5 of which are Star or higher. Thought that was pretty cool.