LA Robbie Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) Hey Guys, Well this is pretty awesome. It seems there's a decent level of interest to organise an online league using Clockwise's awesome 2011 rom! First of all, let me make it quite clear, my motivation is purely that i'm so amazed by Clockwise's work that 1) I'd love to play an online league of it, and 2) I feel the game, and Clockwise deserve to be recognised on the biggest stage currently possible, and for me that would be an online league through this community. If a "newbie" coming in and putting this idea forward is out of order, or not the done thing, or stepping on people's toes just let me know & i'm happy to step aside. I'm not coming in trying to be the "Big I am", I just seriously am blown away by Clockwise's rom and want to see it played in a league. Hope everyone's good with that. First off, I think i've volunteered for most of the work! lol. I run soccer leagues so have excell spreadsheets of fixture lists and tables ready to go. Probob has also volunteered to help out & Vocally Caged is dealing with making sure there's a universally working rom. I think we've got everything covered for an amateur effort! lol I know there's a couple of other leagues running at the moment like summit. When do they finish? Like I said, don't want to step on anyone's toes! These are the currently selected teams and coaches. If you want to sign up for this league just post here which team you want from those still available. Please can you provide the following information: Username in this forum, username on AIM, Gens Classic league (A,B1,B2), and what level you think you are (A,B1,B2) in case we have enough to make a split based on ability levels. 1. LA Robbie (B2)(B2): Anaheim 2. Smozoma (B2)(B1?): Tampa Bay 3. Kupuck19 (B2) (B2?): Vancouver 4. RedWingDevil (B1) (A?): LA 5. Russian Rocket (A?) (A?): Montreal 6. Vocally Caged (A?) (A?): Washington 7. Comeback King (B2) (B1?): Chicago 8. Probob (B1) (B2?): Pittsburgh 9. Beavers33 (B1?) (B1?): Minnesota 10. Mav (B1) (B1): Detroit 11. Orangeblack92 (B1) (B1): Philadelphia 12. Eggink444 (B2) (B2): New Jersey 13. Stonecoldeap (B1) (B2?): San Jose 14. Nationals1 (A) (A): Toronto Rules are as follows: 7 minute periods manual goalies full line changes offsides on 5 minute over time followed by shootouts. 1-point for OTL (The playoff rom has a 60:00 clock, so if there's no score when it reaches 55:00, straight to shootouts!) Also goalscorers and assists will be recorded too. As suggested by Smozoma I think, 2 games against each opponent during regular season to make sure the league doesn't die on it's arse 1st season?! After that best of 7 playoffs. Vocally Caged tells me some people have experienced desync problems with this rom. The reason he says is that it has to be patched under a certain name, and then both players have to use an IDENTICAL file to do netplay, so if i'm using a 2011 playoff rom patched by someone under one name, and he's using a 2011 playoff rom he's patched under a different name we're going to desync despite playing the same game. However, my understanding is that if we both use my file or we both use his file we should be fine. The file attached below has been successful for everyone that's used it, so this should be the official rom for this league. If anyone experiences problems Vocally Caged is working on another that i'm sure he'll let us know about ASAP. Anyway, i've droned on! Looking forward to hooking up to play some test/practice games and hopefully next week we can confirm a schedule and stuff like that. Looking forward to it! Get your sign-ups posted here, and once again, lets do justice to Clockwise's masterpiece! LA Robbie/AIM: Gretzkyonacold NHL 94 (Playoff Edition 2011).bin Edited May 23, 2011 by LA Robbie
orangeblack92 Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 aim name: orangeblack92 team: philadelphia flyers classic league: B1 skill level: definately B
PRoBob38 Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 12 players after one day of sign-ups... not bad.
LA Robbie Posted May 22, 2011 Author Report Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) Awesome Guys. Your enthusiasm for this 2011 rom is incredible! Like Probob said, 12 sign-ups 24 hours after originally raising the idea is superb! Here's the official list at the current time: 1. LA Robbie (B2)(B2): Anaheim 2. Smozoma (B2)(B1?): Tampa Bay 3. Kupuck19 (B2) (B2?): Vancouver 4. RedWingDevil (B1) (A?): LA 5. Russian Rocket (A?) (A?): Montreal 6. Vocally Caged (A?) (A?): Washington 7. Comeback King (B2) (B1?): Chicago 8. Probob (B1) (B2?): Pittsburgh 9. Beavers33 (B1?) (B1?): Minnesota 10. Mav (B1) (B1): Detroit 11. Orangeblack92 (B1) (B1): Philadelphia 12. Eggink444 (B2) (B2): New Jersey 13. Stonecoldeap (B1) (B2?): San Jose 14. Nationals1 (A) (A): Toronto Having second thoughts about Boston tho after Probob stuffed me with Pittsburgh! Goin to read up on Clockwise's "Top 10 players" at pixelpuck.com lol *** Now duly changed to Anahiem! lol ** Edited May 23, 2011 by LA Robbie
LA Robbie Posted May 22, 2011 Author Report Posted May 22, 2011 ROM problems update: We found that when Probob downloaded the file from here the file I posted orginally named: NHL 94 (Playoff edition).bin got changed on Probob's computer to: NHL_94_(playoff_edition) with all the spaces filled in. When we tried to play it wouldn't connect because of the different names. ProBob deleted each _ and created the spaces in the file name again, and everything worked fine. An early desync & then nothing over 2, 7 minute period games, so it appears the desync was just a one off, as could happen in Classic. If you're having problems check the names of both the file ur using and the file the other guy is using are the same, even if you've both downloaded the same file from the same place!
RedWingDevil Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 I'll be in A, though I suppose we should see if more people get into this.
PRoBob38 Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 Eggink444 takes NJ. B level, classic league B2.
STONECOLDEAP Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 Oh yeah Im Here!!! AIM = STONECOLDEAP Team of Choice = DET, LA, SJ, PIT, NYR
LA Robbie Posted May 22, 2011 Author Report Posted May 22, 2011 Currently standing at 13 signed up! Want to see if we can hit a minimum of 16 and do an A & B split
LA Robbie Posted May 22, 2011 Author Report Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) OK. Here is a first attempt at an A,B split based on skill level, with the intention of adding 3 more to have 2 groups of 8. Let me know if you think you're in the right group, if you're happy to change if needed or if you can think of a better way of doing it - i.e. conferences and then later split into A and B playoffs based on finishing positions in the conferences? "A" LEAGUE Smozoma (Tampa Bay) RWD (LA) Russian Rocket (Montreal) Vocally Caged (Washington) Beavers33 (Minnesota) Mav (Detroit) Nationals1 (Toronto) "B" LEAGUE LA Robbie (Anaheim) Kupuck (Vancouver) ProBob (Pittsburgh) Orangeblack92 (Philadelphia) Eggink444 (New Jersey) Stonecoldeap (San Jose) Comeback King (Chicago) Edited May 23, 2011 by LA Robbie
nationals1 Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 aim:chris1knights(at)hotmail.com team: Toronto Maple Leafs League: A cheers
dan_lizhot Posted May 22, 2011 Report Posted May 22, 2011 nvm for me but comback king is a wayyyyyyyyyyyy better than me
LA Robbie Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Posted May 23, 2011 nvm for me but comback king is a wayyyyyyyyyyyy better than me So is it OK if I swap you guys over? I'm thinking it may be better to do conferences for regular season & then A & B playoffs after anyway. Would like to know opinions on this?
PRoBob38 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 I said earlier, I like the idea of doing conferences, then based on regular season results make the "A" playoffs and "B" playoffs. That way there's no controversy as to who plays in what league.
Comeback_King Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 nvm for me but comback king is a wayyyyyyyyyyyy better than me it's not so much me as it is Roenick, he's good.
PRoBob38 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 Option 2: Here's what a conference split would look like: East Smozoma (Tampa Bay) Russian Rocket (Montreal) Vocally Caged (Washington) Nationals1 (Toronto) ProBob (Pittsburgh) Orangeblack92 (Philadelphia) Eggink444 (New Jersey) West RWD (LA) Beavers33 (Minnesota) Mav (Detroit) LA Robbie (Anaheim) Kupuck (Vancouver) Stonecoldeap (San Jose) Comeback King (Chicago)
LA Robbie Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Posted May 23, 2011 Option 2: Here's what a conference split would look like: East Smozoma (Tampa Bay) Russian Rocket (Montreal) Vocally Caged (Washington) Nationals1 (Toronto) ProBob (Pittsburgh) Orangeblack92 (Philadelphia) Eggink444 (New Jersey) West RWD (LA) Beavers33 (Minnesota) Mav (Detroit) LA Robbie (Anaheim) Kupuck (Vancouver) Stonecoldeap (San Jose) Comeback King (Chicago) What wud be better in terms of makin sure the league gets played & doesn't have guys dropping out - 2 games against each team in conference, plus 1 against each team in the other, or 12 regualar season games within ur own conference & then u meet the other conference teams in the playoffs?
The Russian Rocket Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 Seems like the 3 tops player are in the same div (Me, Smoz and VC) I'd suggest moving me or VC over.
PRoBob38 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) We could switch Toronto and Detroit and still maintain a somewhat accurate geographic setup But really, Russian Rocket, you want to go to the West? And who would you suggest switching with? Edited May 23, 2011 by PRoBob38
mav Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 Seems like the 3 tops player are in the same div (Me, Smoz and VC) I'd suggest moving me or VC over. would seem kinda unfair for the rest of that division to have 3 top players in the same division as the rest of the players
smozoma Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 Seems like the 3 tops player are in the same div (Me, Smoz and VC) I'd suggest moving me or VC over. russian rocket and vc definitely the best 2 and should be split up
PRoBob38 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 So move either VC of russian rocket to the west.. and to the East would be. Well, I don't want to ask the question "Who's the worst player in the West?," but.........
smozoma Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 What wud be better in terms of makin sure the league gets played & doesn't have guys dropping out - 2 games against each team in conference, plus 1 against each team in the other, or 12 regualar season games within ur own conference & then u meet the other conference teams in the playoffs? I think if you're going to play 1 game, you might as well play 2. There are not that many teams -- how about just play 2 vs everyone? Have one big league.. then for the playoffs, take the top 16, then split them up into 2 conferences just by alternating coaches.. have like the Even conf and the Odd conf.
PRoBob38 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 I think if you're going to play 1 game, you might as well play 2. There are not that many teams -- how about just play 2 vs everyone? Have one big league.. then for the playoffs, take the top 16, then split them up into 2 conferences just by alternating coaches.. have like the Even conf and the Odd conf. I nominate this for best idea.
STONECOLDEAP Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 I like this. I am down with this league, and as long as we can play with all settings
LA Robbie Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) I think if you're going to play 1 game, you might as well play 2. There are not that many teams -- how about just play 2 vs everyone? Have one big league.. then for the playoffs, take the top 16, then split them up into 2 conferences just by alternating coaches.. have like the Even conf and the Odd conf. But remember now ur playing full line changes, offsides & 7 minute periods. It's not just a quick set up & a 10 minute game anymore. Every game we're setting up our lines and having much more stoppages. Probably a 25 minute committment per game now. What i'm concerned about is if we have one big league that's a 26 game commitment. 25 X 26 = more or less 11 hours of play before you start playoffs. The 40 game classic season was only a 7 hour commitment at most & look how long that takes. I think it was Smozoma suggested in the earlier thread keeping the amount of games down to make sure the league gets played this first season - If it goes well & everyone enjoys it we could make a second season a bigger commitment. Because of this, & the issues with grouping too many top players together with the conference split i'd like to do the A & B still. That's a 12 game commitment before starting 7-game playoffs. Perhaps a nice idea would be for the winner & runner up in each league to then play semi-finals to decide a grand champion to give the top B guys a bit of fun and a shot at the top A guys? I really think one big league with 26 games for each player could prove to be a big summer commitment if people are taking vacations etc. So, as before I suggest A and B groupings like this: "A" LEAGUE Smozoma (Tampa Bay) RWD (LA) Russian Rocket (Montreal) Vocally Caged (Washington) Beavers33 (Minnesota) Mav (Detroit) Nationals1 (Toronto) "B" LEAGUE LA Robbie (Anaheim) Kupuck (Vancouver) ProBob (Pittsburgh) Orangeblack92 (Philadelphia) Eggink444 (New Jersey) Stonecoldeap (San Jose) Comeback King (Chicago) Edited May 23, 2011 by LA Robbie
smozoma Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 But remember now ur playing full line changes, offsides & 7 minute periods. It's not just a quick set up & a 10 minute game anymore. Every game we're setting up our lines and having much more stoppages. Probably a 25 minute committment per game now. What i'm concerned about is if we have one big league that's a 26 game commitment. 25 X 26 = more or less 11 hours of play before you start playoffs. The 40 game classic season was only a 7 hour commitment at most & look how long that takes. Hm, maybe you're right... I would still consider 26-30 games a fairly low number of games (Blitz is 44, GDL is 56). I think a big factor in how long a season takes is how many opponents you have.. There is a fair amount of overhead when setting up and recording a game (messaging a bunch of people or closing your other programs when someone asks you to play, loading hamachi, loading the emu, connecting.. posting the results to the site). Classic, it's probably about 3+10+1=14 per game (set up, play, record), this league probably 3+17+4=25, but take off 2 minutes if you play 2 games (your emu is loaded, you've already talked to the guy, etc). Also, you get very fast at setting up your lines -- around 30 seconds once you know what you like -- and it helps that the default lines are reasonable, unlike in the original ROM. Classic = 40*(3+10+1) - 20*2 = 520 minutes = 8.67 hours 2011: 30*(3+17+4) - 15*2 = 690 minutes = 11.5 hours It's still longer than classic, but the ratio goes down a bit. Could probably knock off another 15 minutes from 2011, because you would save some more overhead by posting 2 games at once on the forum. I should get my 'one game uploader' working so people can just upload the game save somewhere, get the results, and copy/paste them. It's partially done so far..
LA Robbie Posted May 23, 2011 Author Report Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) Hm, maybe you're right... I would still consider 26-30 games a fairly low number of games (Blitz is 44, GDL is 56). I think a big factor in how long a season takes is how many opponents you have.. There is a fair amount of overhead when setting up and recording a game (messaging a bunch of people or closing your other programs when someone asks you to play, loading hamachi, loading the emu, connecting.. posting the results to the site). Classic, it's probably about 3+10+1=14 per game (set up, play, record), this league probably 3+17+4=25, but take off 2 minutes if you play 2 games (your emu is loaded, you've already talked to the guy, etc). Also, you get very fast at setting up your lines -- around 30 seconds once you know what you like -- and it helps that the default lines are reasonable, unlike in the original ROM. Classic = 40*(3+10+1) - 20*2 = 520 minutes = 8.67 hours 2011: 30*(3+17+4) - 15*2 = 690 minutes = 11.5 hours It's still longer than classic, but the ratio goes down a bit. Could probably knock off another 15 minutes from 2011, because you would save some more overhead by posting 2 games at once on the forum. I should get my 'one game uploader' working so people can just upload the game save somewhere, get the results, and copy/paste them. It's partially done so far.. OK, what i'm now liking is the idea of the east-west split, with a few tweaks to keep the A players apart as much as possible. Then playing home & away within your own conference, plus 1 game against the other conference guys. That's a 19 game regular season. Like I said, I like the suggestion of not going full out 40 or 60 games this first season to make sure we get completed & everyone's commited. We can always increase in the future. At the end of the regular season the top four in each league can join the A playoffs, whilst the bottom 3 in each go for the B playoffs (Or more if we get more sign-ups). I'm looking to get decided on this in the next day or two & then get cracking on the schedule! I've asked ProBob to tweak the conferences to keep the top players apart & everyone can state if they think they look good or not. P.S. Played a bunch of games against Probob, Kupuck & Comeback yesterday & it was awesome! Line changes & 7 minute periods work great & add a more tactical angle to things and the attacking just feels much more fluid, with more regular options perhaps due to the increased awareness scores? With the weight bug fix the top players don't bounce off everyone and dominate physically anymore either, but still shine due to their ability. Also the Checking line can now do it's tactical job, cos it's full of guys that can hit now rather than just the crappy heavy guys who couldn't get into Sc1 or 2! All in all it just feels great (Much better than the classic rom). It's definitely the definitive version & I can't wait for us to start this league! Edited May 23, 2011 by LA Robbie
kupuck19 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Posted May 23, 2011 OK, what i'm now liking is the idea of the east-west split, with a few tweaks to keep the A players apart as much as possible. Then playing home & away within your own conference, plus 1 game against the other conference guys. That's a 19 game regular season. Like I said, I like the suggestion of not going full out 40 or 60 games this first season to make sure we get completed & everyone's commited. We can always increase in the future. At the end of the regular season the top four in each league can join the A playoffs, whilst the bottom 3 in each go for the B playoffs (Or more if we get more sign-ups). I'm looking to get decided on this in the next day or two & then get cracking on the schedule! I've asked ProBob to tweak the conferences to keep the top players apart & everyone can state if they think they look good or not. P.S. Played a bunch of games against Probob, Kupuck & Comeback yesterday & it was awesome! Line changes & 7 minute periods work great & add a more tactical angle to things and the attacking just feels much more fluid, with more regular options perhaps due to the increased awareness scores? With the weight bug fix the top players don't bounce off everyone and dominate physically anymore either, but still shine due to their ability. Also the Checking line can now do it's tactical job, cos it's full of guys that can hit now rather than just the crappy heavy guys who couldn't get into Sc1 or 2! All in all it just feels great (Much better than the classic rom). It's definitely the definitive version & I can't wait for us to start this league! Although having conferences is a fun touch, maybe for the fairness of coach abilities (since I think of the more skilled and experienced coaches would be in the same conference) would be better to seat coaches in a tournament like how classic did, ranking teams 1-8 into play-offs without any consideration to conference. Totally agree with 7 min, offsides on, and line changes that this league will be different than the rest and a lot of fun. Like fincup last summer except with better ratings, definitely more strategy and simulation feel to the game.
Recommended Posts