Making offline solo play challenging

[Eman]

I have been looking for new and challenging ways to play NHL94 offline and solo.  Like most of you, playing the computer controlled teams are no longer a challenge.  Although the best competition is playing in one of the many online leagues, I have not been able to commit to an online league or find people to play against in non-league games.  I took it upon myself to make new challenges.

First was winning the Stanley Cup playoffs without a goalie.  This proved to limit my exposure to several teams, since there are only a few teams that I might be able to use to accomplish this feat.  Probably could do it with VAN, QUE, CAL, and maybe LAK or WSH, which leaves the rest of the teams unused.  I like to play with an assortment of teams, so I needed to find another challenge...

I decided to play with just backup players.  That worked fine for the elite to middle tier teams, but left the bottom teams a barren wasteland of talent.  (Playing with an all backup version of the Florida Panthers would make a grown man cry)  The idea was good, it just needed some adjustments.  I wrote up a blog entry about it:

http://coalm.blogspot.com/2017/08/handicapping-nhl94.html

Bottom Line:
-No players rated over 75 overall
-Every team must bench their best forward and their best defenseman
-No dominant goal scorers even if the player's overall rating is below 75.  Call this the Kamensky Rule
-If a player scored a hat trick, the player must be substituted for the remainder of that game.  Removal from the rest of the playoffs is optional, but encouraged.
-Only removed Roy and Belfour at goalie. All other goalies remained.  Might change this in the future. 

Let me know what you guys think of my results, or go try it yourself.

[aqualizard]

Hey Eman, you should try the juiced teams in Coach Mac's Hockey Night Roms !

I much prefer playing these superstar teams rather than pulling my goalie and various other handicapping tricks.

Edited August 29, 2017 by aqualizard

[Premium]

To me, Boston is the best team. Out of the players who are not handicapped, Boston has the best forward (Juneau), the three best defenders (Sweeney, Wesley, Murphy) and the fourth** best goalie (Moog). They are also tied for the strongest home/road advantages in the game which makes them even harder to beat.

Even if nobody was handicapped, I think it would still be possible to win an online league with this team depending on the rules.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Premium

[segathon]

Wow lot of thought put into this!  Just read the blog.  Love the dedication

I've done something similar in the past.  Was fun to do, but I think it made me worse against human opponents afterwards since I got used to really slow players and tricking drones.

I think if I did something again I'd either do something like I need to complete X number of passes in a row before scoring or rarer scoring moves that don't always work.

[Eman]

Thanks segathon.

It made it feel like a new game to me playing this way.  I'm sure this experiment didn't help my skills vs human opponents either. 

Will probably go through all the teams again setting the overall rating ceiling to 70 for forwards and 60 for defencemen.  Goalies might need tweaking as well, just not sure what that will be yet.

[CoachMac]

On 8/28/2017 at 4:42 PM, aqualizard said:

Hey Eman, you should try the juiced teams in Coach Mac's Hockey Night Roms !

I much prefer playing these superstar teams rather than pulling my goalie and various other handicapping tricks.

Eman!  I love it.

I am constantly working to improve the solo expierience.

Here is my latest update.

Try any team and use the best players.

The 1st 2 rounds may be fairly easy, but I assure you when you get to the Semi-finals and Finals you will be playing against my secret hidden teams.

I will b e interested to hear how you do.

I also challenge others.

Try a single game playoff and see if you can go 4-0.

Here is the rom.

NHL67.bin

 

 

Edited August 31, 2017 by CoachMac

[Matt55]

I took the challenge, Coach, and it was fun!  The juiced teams check like crazy, so you have to move the puck quickly - good! I felt like I accomplished something when I scored instead of feeling bad for the cpu

[CoachMac]

1 hour ago, Matt55 said:

I took the challenge, Coach, and it was fun!  The juiced teams check like crazy, so you have to move the puck quickly - good! I felt like I accomplished something when I scored instead of feeling bad for the cpu

Great!

Stay tuned for some additional updates.

 

[PixelDragon]

I've played a couple of games against the CPU with the NHL 2017 rom for training before the Brutus League last years . I think the rom was edited by CoachMac if I remember.

I played with LA against PIT,  I lose my first game if I remember     4-5  or something like that.  The IA is very good in this Rom.

 

[Eman]

I ran through each of the teams again updating the format a bit.  No forwards >70 overall, no D >60 overall.  Player is benched after a hat trick.  Only benched Roy and Belfour this time, but may force myself to use all backup goalies if I do it again.

My write up about it here:  http://coalm.blogspot.com/2017/11/handicapping-nhl94-take-2.html

[CoachMac]

Very Cool and interesting read.

Have you tried my 1980 Olympics Rom?

Play as any team and see if you can beat the Soviets.
For the ultimate challenge try West Germany.

 

[tru]

I made a scrubs (all 25s) versus stars (95ish) or allstars (all 100s) ROM... and it still wasn't hard enough.  no crease crashes, no deke shots.  closer...

[Eman]

My next project is to play with each team in the playoffs but limit each player to 1 goal for the entire playoffs.  Might have to make it best of 7, but that may end up using the equipment manager or the guy that shovels the ice to play in the finals.

[tru]

yeah, score-and-pull is fun, but then you need to plan out your victory margins to not use them all up.

[CoachMac]

Play with any team using the Original Rom.

Line Changes ON.
Penalties ON, no offsides.

You must use the 3 lowest rated forwards and 2 worst defensemen on Line 1, PP1, and PK 1.
You must use the lowest rated goalie.
You must always select Line 1, PP1, and PK1.
You may use your timeout.
Line 2 should be the next 3 worst forwards and next 2 worst defensemen.
Checking Line same as Line 1.

Challenge #1 Try and win the Cup on single game mode.
Challenge #2 Try and won the Cup and Go 16-0 on Best of 7 Mode.

[kgman]

I wonder if ai is hackable