Jump to content
NHL'94 Forums

Explain Different Leagues?


aqualizard

Recommended Posts

I didn't really get into the online thing, and the forum, until the King of 94 tourney came to my home town. After that, I decided to try my hand at online play. But it was a bit confusing, and still is somewhat.

Can someone explain the different online leagues, and how they differ?

To a newcomer, I think this way:

There are 3 "main" leagues:
1. Classic
2. Blitz
3. GDL

Classic uses the original unaltered '94 ROM. Blitz uses.... I have no idea. And GDL uses some sort of customized ROM based on players drafted by the different coaches. I am not sure if it has hacks for weight bugs and whatnot, but it uses the original players, right?

Then there are other, "smaller" leagues. CoachMac seems to run a few short leagues for "B" level Gens players. Also Skip is running a "Velocit"y league. (This one I am in, and understand more or less.) There are probably other small leagues,too, that I am unaware of?

Do I have it, more or less? Can someone expand on Blitz or anything I have wrong?


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's important to understand that most of these leagues used to be run on the side and then were incorporated onto the site more recently. The forums on the site were generally used for communications and updates, except for Classic, which I believe has always been a site sponsored deal.

GDL has a spot on the forum for joining the wait list to get in.

Blitz has the same thing, but it may have run it's course.

Coach Mac posts whenever he does a new league, and they generally are short time limits. He used to keep his on his own site as well until recently.

The new league you are in with Skip is his first one. Looks like a fun time.

There have been many leagues in the past that ran a season or two and then ended. Some times, a new commish will come in, drum up enough interest in getting the "gang" back together again and it will start up again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There used to be 3 main leagues with the occasional "side" bar on some different idea, custom ROM, etc.

So, you had Classic, which ran in the Spring & the Fall. It was the base ROM that comes w/ the NHL '94 game. Coaches select their team and are placed into leagues based on known talent rankings & a 40 game season is run off, and playoffs to determine your champs for the respective leagues. There are zero adjustments to the ROM during this, and the rules are the standard play of No Line Changes, Penalties on, Offsides Off.

Not all coaches "re-up" each season, so a roll call is taken before determining which league the returning coaches or new coaches will be placed in to try to get as much balance/competition as possible.

GDL is supposed to use the exact same rules as the original ROM, except all the players are from the original ROM are dumped into a giant free agency pool each season and drafted in a fantasy draft style format. The 24 coaches are ranked based on the previous season's standings, minus any penalties for games not played.

There is a waiting list for joining GDL, and usually starts up some time after the previous playoffs/championship ends. The length/gap between seasons has varied greatly over the years. There is no A/B/C league here. All coaches in one league, and it's supposed to be the "best of the best" type league.

BLITZ was originally created by Smoz, who was the instrumental hacker in the whole figuring out the weight bug, fixing it if you wanted it, and then adding into it the "check" variable. He also tinkered with the ROM, so goalies are boosted up some and you can get the goalie much faster than in the original version of the game. Similar to GDL, all the players are from the original NHL '94 ROM and similar to it, there is an initial fantasy style draft among the coaches.

This is where the similarities end though, as Blitz morphed over the seasons, but basically, there were at least A league & B league, with coaches getting promoted and demoted based on previous season's performance, and new coaches put into the B league. Drafts also enabled the coach to keep some of his previous season's team, so the draft pool that you were selecting from DID NOT include all the players, and depending on which season you would read up on, would find a different set of rules.

However, Blitz has not scheduled to continue, so as of now you have Classic, GDL & the side leagues.

Coach Mac's side leagues are the best for getting a league up, rules explained, and season to be completed in a timely manner. Sometimes, he will use other versions of NHL, as he's done leagues w/ the '92 version & the '93 version. He's currently running on the '94 version of the game but editing to the rosters to use names from the way, way back machine!

Skip's taken to using the Blitz rom (checking & weight bug's applied) and edited the player pool to use modern players and more modern ratings. The coaches from that league (yourself included) drafted their players from that pool and now will play out a season. After the season runs, another draft will take place. The draft pool will probably be altered some to adjust player ratings to balance things out as needed and the coaching draft order (who picks first, second, etc) is generally based on who lost the most but finished the games.

Aside from that, you will some times see a short 2v2 tournament pop up or something like that. Hope that helps anyone understand a little more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply, Brutus.

I think I understand the weight bug fix (lighter players no longer have an checking advantage), but I don't get the "checking" variable?

What does the checking variable do? (I know the regular "checking" makes AI players check more frequently, but this new variable is different, right?) I am pretty sure it means how good of a checker a player is, but how? Is a higher "checking" they more likely to knock a player down? Or they are easier to check with (maybe have a greater proximity range)? I assume it is a C-check thing, not a B-check thing?

Edited by aqualizard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The general equation used to take weight and if you were two points below it, you could c check the player easily. So weight 5 checks weight 7 & up w/out bouncing off of them.

Of course, angles, momentum, stick handling and other things could sometimes make you still bounce off a guy or sometimes successfully check where it used to fail.

But, as you noted, checking itself never went into actual checking!! So, smoz added it into the code. So when the game ran its numbers to see if your check worked or not, it also added in your check rating.

So on top of fixing weight big, 7's now check 5's, etc, you also can gain advantages OR disadvantages. A FAT man w/ a low check ratting can still check , but it's more like a middle weight.

A skinny man w/ heavy checking can check like a middle weight but he's still not going to bounce around Lindros types.

And as Raph mentioned, going under Online leagues, Blitz, & digging through those forums you'll find most of the final details fairly easily.

Edited by Brutus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online   0 Members, 0 Anonymous, 77 Guests (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
×
×
  • Create New...