How "close" are the various products to each other?

[Neoteros]

So, I kinda want to begin a Thunderverse game as the IWF, a promotion with the generic Classic Balanced product; if I wanted to move away from it and towards a more defined product, in order to give the promotion an identity other than its being almost monopolized by a couple families, I'd have to change it, of course.

 

Of course, some product changes can take place sooner than others, while some other such changes have to be implemented much more slowly; therefore, the game recognizes that some products are more similar to each other than to other products. However, there's no way to know, in-game, how many months will it take to make the jump from one kind of wrestling to another, before you actually click on the product change button.

 

I was wondering if there was a chart or a map anywhere, displaying the relative closeness of the various products - going from Campy Fun to Deathmatch straight away would be wildly unrealistic of course, but gradual changes (not as drastic as this one, of course) have happened over and over again.

[Neoteros]

Well, to my knowledge there is no such chart, but I can give a description to the best of my ability right here. Let's say Classic Balanced is the root of your "Product Tree". Your tree has many branches, representing the different types of product available in the game.

 

I will start with the most insular branch on the tree: the "Diverse Aims" branch. This would encompass No-Style Style, Three Ring Circus & Tres Ring Circus. These products are extremely flexible, with generous match/angle ratios and a fanbase which will accept whichever match type you throw at them. The only strenuous aspect is that you must use three distinct match aims on each card, with Regular and the Crowd aims not counting towards your total. You are not required to use gimmicks with No-Style Style, which has the loosest match/angle ratio of them all (30/70 to 70/30). Three/Tres Ring Circus have tighter match/angle ratios and require you to use storylines, but you can to use Comedy characters in the main event. Tres has the "Lucha de Apuesta" add-on to reflect the lucha libre base while Three doesn't, which is the only notable difference between the two. I imagine Classic Balanced transitions very easily to any of these three.

 

World Fusion is almost on this branch as it also requires three different match aims, but a few important details separate it from the other three. The product is described as fusing together the wrestling traditions of Mexico, Japan, & the United States. Thus it has the "Lucha de Apuesta" add-on, but also the "Important Match" length requirement from puroresu & the storyline requirement from sports entertainment. This product also discourages crazy/stunt bumps, which the other three do not.

 

Next, I will describe the "Classic" branch. Though only a few products are part of the actual branch, by way of subsections "Classic" is the transition point to most of the products in the game. The following products are represented in "Classic": Lucha Libre, Mainstream Puroresu, Southern Rasslin, Sports Entertainment, Wild West. Based on the product, I would throw Golden Age Pro Wrestling in here as well, as it's a distinct category with its own successors that's viable in this family. Just by looking at that, I'm sure you can imagine the huge range of products in here; this encompasses pure technical wrestling, high flying styles, hardcore wrestling, and all the different sports entertainment derivations. Certain products intermarry, but I'm not even going to get into those because it's too complex for me to explain.

 

We'll start with Wild West, because I have a controversial take on it. I think it's the true gateway product to hardcore wrestling. If you compare it to Extreme Hardcore (the first well-defined hardcore style), you'll see the match/angle ratios and required match aims are quite similar. It's not hard for me to imagine; Terry Funk came out of Texas, after all. So let's say you've moved from Wild West to Extreme Hardcore. You can go further down the ultraviolence route and use products like Gory Hardcore, Deathmatch, & Xtreme Adult Filth. Or you can use a specific themed variation, like Puerto Rican Hardcore or Psycho Circus. You could also let up on the violence a little, with products such as Anti-Establishment Hardcore, Bar Room Entertainment, or Hardcore Evolved. Though the level of violence is different, the ethos remains the same in all of these, and they all love the same sort of violent brawls Wild West offered back in the day.

 

Golden Age Pro Wrestling represents the territorial US wrestling style. The next step from there is Silver Age Pro Wrestling, which still requires gimmicks but puts a bit more emphasis on the wrestling. You can choose puroresu-influenced products after that, such as Respectful Wrestling or East Meets West. Alternatively you could go in an even-more old-fashioned direction, with Catch Wrestling, Carnival Days, & Pseudo Sport providing those products. For a distinctly American workrate, you can go from Silver Age to Fast & Furious, or perhaps to Guerilla Warfare if you want the Golden Age gimmicks while continuing to step up the wrestling.

 

Next is Mainstream Puroresu. This takes you down the pure wrestling path, but even then you can go in different directions. The traditional Japanese style is Wrestling As A Sport, which requires little in the way of angles, gimmicks, or stories, but quite long matches. Royal Puroresu is a pretty obvious take-off of Giant Baba's All Japan. Strong Puroresu takes you in the "Inoki-ism" direction, and if you're into MMA wrestling you can turn that into Shoot-Style Wrestling and then Faux MMA.

 

Sports Entertainment is the most complicated style of them all, with a bunch of different routes available. You could choose any one of the "Episodic" products, which I personally consider a subset of Sports Entertainment due to the emphasis on storylines & characters. Telenovela & Soap Opuro are regional variants of the concept. Campy Fun, Family Friendly, Lighthearted, Morality Wrestling, & PG Rated are kid-friendly derivations of the phenomenon. Attitude Entertainment, Crash TV, & Ruthless Aggression are adult-centered versions of Sports Entertainment.

 

There are other products in the game too, but I've had my fill writing this up. I hope this helps you and anybody else with questions about the different products.

 

That's exhaustive, I don't think I'll be the only one finding this useful.

[TeflonBilly]

Well, to my knowledge there is no such chart, but I can give a description to the best of my ability right here. Let's say Classic Balanced is the root of your "Product Tree". Your tree has many branches, representing the different types of product available in the game.

 

...

 

There are other products in the game too, but I've had my fill writing this up. I hope this helps you and anybody else with questions about the different products.

 

Thank you for that summary.

[Misawa619]

Question: I assume that MMA Entertainment is well, in the entertainment category section. But I was wondering what would MMA Entertainment be like. Is it similar to the likes of Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, or (god forbid) WWE's Raw Underground?

[St. Templar]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Misawa619" data-cite="Misawa619" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="53388" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Question: I assume that MMA Entertainment is well, in the entertainment category section. But I was wondering what would MMA Entertainment be like. Is it similar to the likes of Josh Barnett's Bloodsport, or (god forbid) WWE's Raw Underground?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I haven't seen Bloodsport, but I would actually think MMA Entertainment would be along the lines of the Raw Underground stuff, except I would think in an MMA Entertainment promotion they wouldn't promote a segment as "real" while everything else is..."not real?"</p><p> </p><p> St.T</p>