Wrestling Timelines: 1986

[Johnny Fenoli]

You should look at importing all of Fleisch's future workers from his 92 mod. That's what I usually do with nearly every mod that I download.

[jhd1]

On 4/12/2023 at 1:23 AM, Johnny Fenoli said:

You should look at importing all of Fleisch's future workers from his 92 mod. That's what I usually do with nearly every mod that I download.

I'll probably use it as a reference but every worker in the mod has been created from scratch to ensure the game balances. Players could absolutely do that in the interim though

[Ping von Erich]

4 hours ago, jhd1 said:

I'll probably use it as a reference but every worker in the mod has been created from scratch to ensure the game balances. 

Epic.

[falling_star]

This is going to be so good; such a ripe point in the wrestling timeline to book.

[Johnny Fenoli]

On 4/13/2023 at 4:19 AM, jhd1 said:

I'll probably use it as a reference but every worker in the mod has been created from scratch to ensure the game balances. Players could absolutely do that in the interim though

That's good point. I'm excited for the mod.

[jhd1]

I'm about halfway through the active promotions checking for last minute oddities (it's mainly missing contract pictures or tag teams which is positive). Of course you can guarantee that I'll miss something really, really obvious but that's mod-making for you!

I have a group of luchadors I want to add before release but future workers will continue to be added after the alpha is out so I'll be holding off on anyone else I think so I can focus on polishing ahead of release.

The attributes for US workers is going well too, although it remains mind-numbingly boring at the same time!

[jhd1]

@Markw kindly ran a 10 year watcher for me. Really interesting results, the vast majority of which are very promising. In fact, the only real issue it's showing up is that I need to continue adding booking and ownership stats (particularly in Japan and the UK). There's a lot to work through, but just a quick glimpse into January 1996:

Top 5 Promotions:

1. WWF (Big, owner and booker Vince McMahon)
2. WCW (Big, owner Jim Crockett Jr, booker Dusty Rhodes)
3. WCWA (Medium, owner Fritz Von Erich, booker Sandy Barr)
4. USWA (Medium, owner Jerry Jarrett, booker Gary Hart)
5. NJPW (Medium, owner Antonio Inoki, booker Riki Choshu)

WrestleMania main events:

• WrestleMania II - Hulk Hogan def. The Iron Sheik to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (85) [Los Angeles, CA]
• WrestleMania III - Paul Orndorff def. Andre the Giant to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (90) [San Antonio, TX]
• WrestleMania IV - Hulk Hogan def. Randy Savage to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (99) [North West]
• WrestleMania V - Roddy Piper def. Hulk Hogan to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (99) [South East]
• WrestleMania VI - Ricky Steamboat def. King Kong Bundy to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (99) [Mid South]
• WrestleMania VII - Hulk Hogan def. Randy Savage to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (99) [South West]
• WrestleMania VIII - Roddy Piper def. Andre the Giant to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (94) [Mid West]
• WrestleMania IX - Randy Savage def. Andre the Giant to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (90) [Mid South]
• WrestleMania X - Roddy Piper def. Randy Savage to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (98) [Los Angeles, CA]
• WrestleMania XI - Ted DiBiase def. Magnum TA to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title (100) [Mid Atlantic]

Starrcade main events

• NWA Starrcade 1986 - Ron Garvin def. Arn Anderson in an I Quit match to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (79) [Charlotte, NC]
• NWA Starrcade 1987 - Arn Anderson def. Dusty Rhodes in a cage match to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (78) [Charlotte, NC]
• WCW Starrcade 1988 - Magnum TA def. Dusty Rhodes to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (74) [Indianapolis, IN]
• WCW Starrcade 1989 - Magnum TA def. Ron Bass to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (82) [Chicago, IL]
• WCW Starrcade 1990 - Dusty Rhodes def. Bret Hart to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (91) [Charlotte, NC]
• WCW Starrcade 1991 - Bret Hart def. Paul Orndorff to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (86) [Milwaukee, WI]
• WCW Starrcade 1992 - Dusty Rhodes def. Tully Blanchard to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (81) [Charlotte, NC]
• WCW Starrcade 1993 - Terry Gordy def. Bret Hart to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (89) [Houston, TX]
• WCW Starrcade 1994 - Pat Tanaka def. Hulk Hogan to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (95) [Charlotte, NC]
• WCW Starrcade 1995 - Andre the Giant def. Roddy Piper to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (89) [Charlotte, NC]

In other interesting news...

ECW is being booked by Jose Gonzalez (the infamous Invader #1). Nikolai Volkoff is their current Heavyweight champion.

Bill Watts became owner and booker of Pacific Northwest Wrestling after Don Owen passed in 1992. He's not doing a great job, however, and whilst his heavyweight champion when taking over was Bobby Jaggers, he has since given the belt to Barry O (for 18 months) and Steve Olsonoski (who is at 364 days).

A 65 year old Big Daddy is British Heavyweight champion. Bizarrely (and a symptom, as above, of not having enough bookers in the region), the booker for Joint Promotions is Ole Anderson.

[Stennick]

Thats funny Hogan is still in the "NWA" in 1994. 

[Chikbot]

NWA Champ Pat Tanaka is certainly a thing
Also, Orndorff replacing Hogan at WMIII is an interesting call too. Also the AI's interesting habit to not give anyone the world strap in either company at their big shows.

 

[paulskln]

Will you be adding G.L.O.W. they would be a fun promotion to run .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgeous_Ladies_of_Wrestling

[jhd1]

3 hours ago, paulskln said:

Will you be adding G.L.O.W. they would be a fun promotion to run .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgeous_Ladies_of_Wrestling

No, but only because a lot of their "wrestlers" weren't really wrestlers and I'm not a huge fan of seeing them turn up in other promotions (unless they did in real life in which case I've already added them in). As with the WWA request earlier, I'll probably do a logo set etc. for people who want to include them.

[falling_star]

14 hours ago, Chikbot said:

NWA Champ Pat Tanaka is certainly a thing
Also, Orndorff replacing Hogan at WMIII is an interesting call too. Also the AI's interesting habit to not give anyone the world strap in either company at their big shows.

 

I noticed that with Tanaka, too... very interesting choice.

[Ping von Erich]

On 4/20/2023 at 9:43 AM, jhd1 said:

WCW Starrcade 1994 - Pat Tanaka def. Hulk Hogan to retain the NWA World's Heavyweight title (95) [Charlotte, NC]

This is obviously the best timeline possible.

[jhd1]

With the help of @Markw, the longer-term watchers are becoming more and more stable. We've been using them to look for general trends, but also to test specific fixes. For example, Andre the Giant kept wrestling well into the 1990s as a main event talent when, in reality, his body had given up even by the late 1980s. We've now got it so that he retires pretty consistently in 1991 which is great. The Yet To Debut promotions are behaving pretty well too, although the finances (as usual) are a bit hit and miss in that some of the promotions have been set to only hired unemployed workers (to help build the next generation) which inevitably means "cheap" talent and so they make stacks of money, while others are going wild with their spending and going bust within a year. 

The area we're currently focusing on is trying to get debuting wrestlers into work which is, as usual with TEW, proving slightly tricky as the AI much prefers established workers. I'd still like to get something out for people to look over at the weekend, but it'll come with a massive caveat that it needs some polish.

[lawrencelorenz]

5 hours ago, jhd1 said:

The area we're currently focusing on is trying to get debuting wrestlers into work which is, as usual with TEW, proving slightly tricky as the AI much prefers established workers. I'd still like to get something out for people to look over at the weekend, but it'll come with a massive caveat that it needs some polish.

Just throwing this out there -- what if you gave small pop to Yet to Debut workers (say, 5) in their home region and/or the base region for the company that they debuted in IRL?  Would that be enough for the AI to take a chance on them?

[jhd1]

19 hours ago, lawrencelorenz said:

Just throwing this out there -- what if you gave small pop to Yet to Debut workers (say, 5) in their home region and/or the base region for the company that they debuted in IRL?  Would that be enough for the AI to take a chance on them?

Yeah, I'm trying that at the minute, but it's not making a massive difference. I think having a player involved will make the biggest difference, but running watchers in other mods (like the awesome 1992 mod) it appears that similar problems exist even if there are a huge number of promotions. I am hoping to add a few more YTD promotions though and hopefully that'll help pull some people through.

[LordofGustav]

Something that calls my attention is that Andre The Giant is still working, don't know if he would have worked more years should have he lived more with his gigantism taking a toll on him.

[Jaysin]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:56 AM, jhd1 said:

No, but only because a lot of their "wrestlers" weren't really wrestlers and I'm not a huge fan of seeing them turn up in other promotions (unless they did in real life in which case I've already added them in). As with the WWA request earlier, I'll probably do a logo set etc. for people who want to include them.

I was really hoping to see Colonel Ninotchka, but understand the reasoning behind leaving her out if that's the case. I just always liked to book her as Nikita Koloff's manager similar to Ludmilla and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. 

[jhd1]

3 hours ago, Jaysin said:

I was really hoping to see Colonel Ninotchka, but understand the reasoning behind leaving her out if that's the case. I just always liked to book her as Nikita Koloff's manager similar to Ludmilla and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. 

She's in, she worked as Lori Lynn in the AWA and (I think) the LPWA.

[Mattywood]

14 hours ago, Jaysin said:

I was really hoping to see Colonel Ninotchka, but understand the reasoning behind leaving her out if that's the case. I just always liked to book her as Nikita Koloff's manager similar to Ludmilla and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. 

I like to use either Hollywood or Vine (or sometimes both, lol) as a valet for Shawn Michaels when I turn him heel in my games.   

 

11 hours ago, jhd1 said:

She's in, she worked as Lori Lynn in the AWA and (I think) the LPWA.

I totally get your reasoning for not including all of the GLOW workers, btw. No issues from me on that front.

[jhd1]

Alpha release is on track for this weekend. I'd expect it'll be about 24 hours from now unless I get to a point where I'm just waiting around to release! I'll include a full list with the release but things that I know need working on:

• More tag teams (including the more major future teams)
• More YTD workers
• Alter-egos
• Agers
• "Can't play gimmick" and "Plays gimmick well" attributes
• All attributes for yet to debut workers
• Employment histories
• Bios

That said, the mod is very playable, holds together well in watchers (at least comparably in many areas to other RW mods out there) so hopefully it'll be something that people can get enjoyment from as the polish continues to get added alongside the inevitable ideas and suggestions that players will come up with.

[jhd1]

Alpha 1.00 of Wrestling Timelines: 1986 has been released! Links to the database and pic folder can be found in the second post of the thread.

I will use the third post as a bit of a FAQ/Credits thing but I wanted to get this out as early as possible so I haven't had chance yet. However, I would like to take the time to thank, in no particular order, @Big Roguey @Markw @Almaida @falling_star @alvarasus @justtxyank @Fleisch @Bigpapa42 @Kubikiri Asa @Mammoth @LordofGustav for their help and input over the past few months.

The mod will continue to develop over time, but please jump in and play around, your feedback is going to be invaluable in making this the best mod it can be.

 

[jhd1]

While I remember, if anyone doesn't like the blank bios, you can mass edit the workers to use organic bios and the game will use them instead (if you've got them switched on in your preferences). The reason I've not done that is that it slows the game down and with us doing a lot of watchers it wasn't a sensible idea. And for anyone wondering why workers have a "#" as their bio, I used the "Has No Biography" filter in the editor to work out who I'd done the stats for! 😁

[jhd1]

Quick heads up for WCWA/WCCW and JCP players - there are some narratives in there to handle Gino Hernandez's overdose and Magnum TA's crash. Each has three narratives associated; one will definitely fire (although I forgot to include the story so you won't see it on the website). Individually this is not enough to retire either worker. There are then two others which have a 50% chance of occurring. If all three events fire then the worker will retire, if not then they'll come close but be able to continue.

Obviously if you don't want those to run, just delete them from your game (they are marked with ** in the editor).  

[falling_star]

So glad for this to be out there for everyone to try, it's truly an excellent mod; I can't take credit for much as I mostly ran watchers for the crew and ran a few saves to see how WWF ran with a player at the helm. I hope everyone has as much fun with it as I have just testing it out-- watch out for Mr. T, though. If you include him as more than your user character, that dude will give up his freelance status and become a big time player in the world of wrestling, usually for Vince and the WWF but I've seen him go to NWA as well.

There have been some changes to the data since I ran it, but I do have a watcher from testing that runs up to January 2003 that I would be happy to answer questions and share screenshots from for those curious how certain wrestlers and companies have fared over the course seventeen years of simming.