Simulation Software thoughts

[JCarson 603]

I took part in my first all-star game and was intrigued by the use of a higher version of the simulation software. This newer version of software produced significantly more offensive based results. Since those games I have been left wondering about a few things.  

 

1. 1) Should the VHL move to a newer version of the software for all games? If yes, then to what version and for what purpose. Are we looking for more offensive output from players, or would we choose a version that supports stronger goaltender numbers?  

2.  

2. 2) With newer versions of the software being developed, will we see a reduction in support for our version and will one day we be forced to upgrade. What would this mean for the VHL? Would upgrading come at a cost. 

3.  

3. 3) Other than changes to the balance between scoring and goaltending are there any other benefits to changing software versions? Would it allow for other options that the community may benefit from? 

4.  

5. 4) Who makes these decisions, is there already a committee or an individual that is tasked with evaluating the various versions of the software with the explicit task of making recommendations? What criteria are they using for the analysis? 

6.  

5. 5) Could there be an option to try one of the newer versions in the VHLM and or VHLE, in order to test the impact of a change without causing undue problems in the VHL? If a different version was used in the VHLM or VHLE would it create different build methodologies that then wouldn’t transition well into the VHL. 

6.  

As I said, just some thoughts I had. 

[Beketov 8,656]

1 hour ago, JCarson said:

1) Should the VHL move to a newer version of the software for all games?

No, for a very simple reason, we can’t control it. In our testing even with goals set to the lowest possible amount you still get players scoring 400+ points a season which is just stupidly high. There’s also a half million fights.

 

1 hour ago, JCarson said:

2) With newer versions of the software being developed, will we see a reduction in support for our version and will one day we be forced to upgrade.

Also no. What you have to remember is that the STHS version and the engine version aren’t the same. We sim engine version 1.1 on STHS version 3.something. The software will continue to receive updates even though the engine does not and they will not stop us from using the old engine. The only drawback is not receiving new engine updates but they haven’t happened in like a decade so I’m not holding my breath.

 

1 hour ago, JCarson said:

3) Other than changes to the balance between scoring and goaltending are there any other benefits to changing software versions? Would it allow for other options that the community may benefit from? 

All V2 really offers is Giveaways and Takeaways as tracked stats and while that is nice it’s not worth the completely broken results we receive. Simon himself admits the V2 results are “less realistic.”

 

1 hour ago, JCarson said:

4) Who makes these decisions, is there already a committee or an individual that is tasked with evaluating the various versions of the software with the explicit task of making recommendations? What criteria are they using for the analysis? 

The blues and BOG have tested and continue to test V2 but we have never seen any way to get it close to reasonable results.

 

1 hour ago, JCarson said:

5) Could there be an option to try one of the newer versions in the VHLM and or VHLE, in order to test the impact of a change without causing undue problems in the VHL? If a different version was used in the VHLM or VHLE would it create different build methodologies that then wouldn’t transition well into the VHL. 

Not as an effective test since they have vastly different TPE levels so things don’t play out the same way between the three leagues. The most accurate method of testing would be shadow simming, IE simming the exact same schedule and exact same lines on 2 different versions; the official one that gets posted and the test one that gets logged. We have done this in the past and, as mentioned, results are not good.

 

TLDR; don’t bank on seeing V2

[JCarson 603]

7 minutes ago, Beketov said:

No, for a very simple reason, we can’t control it. In our testing even with goals set to the lowest possible amount you still get players scoring 400+ points a season which is just stupidly high. There’s also a half million fights.

 

Also no. What you have to remember is that the STHS version and the engine version aren’t the same. We sim engine version 1.1 on STHS version 3.something. The software will continue to receive updates even though the engine does not and they will not stop us from using the old engine. The only drawback is not receiving new engine updates but they haven’t happened in like a decade so I’m not holding my breath.

 

All V2 really offers is Giveaways and Takeaways as tracked stats and while that is nice it’s not worth the completely broken results we receive. Simon himself admits the V2 results are “less realistic.”

 

The blues and BOG have tested and continue to test V2 but we have never seen any way to get it close to reasonable results.

 

Not as an effective test since they have vastly different TPE levels so things don’t play out the same way between the three leagues. The most accurate method of testing would be shadow simming, IE simming the exact same schedule and exact same lines on 2 different versions; the official one that gets posted and the test one that gets logged. We have done this in the past and, as mentioned, results are not good.

 

TLDR; don’t bank on seeing V2

Thanks for the response, wasn't really expecting one.  They were just random thoughts after seeing the results from the All star games that were Simulated on the different version. I appreciate you taking the time to read my random thoughts and responding.

[v.2 1,271]

There has to be some level of maintenance for historical stat preservation, if we decide to switch to the newer version and the stats inflate we'd almost need to restart the league at a Season 1.2 etc, or else the HoF doesn't maintain relevance for season by season comparison.  My opinion anyway.

[jacobcarson877 2,080]

1 minute ago, v.2 said:

There has to be some level of maintenance for historical stat preservation, if we decide to switch to the newer version and the stats inflate we'd almost need to restart the league at a Season 1.2 etc, or else the HoF doesn't maintain relevance for season by season comparison.  My opinion anyway.

Absolutely agree, although those sorts of things already exist to be fair (off the top of my head I think I remember a change in TPE caps, as well as the recent Hybrid Attributes or even considering stats not on the Portal because of various platform changes).