Banner’s First 200 TPE

[ctots 400]

Bruise Banner just recently hit the 200 TPE cap for the VHLM, and I think that’s a good jumping off point for a discussion about TPE. The cap comes quickly, and it’s a part of player planning and strategizing that I should have considered more when I was applying TPE up to this point. A wiser user would have planned out a 200 TPE build to work toward – maybe even have a 100 and 150 TPE build to use as checkpoints so that your statistics stay roughly proportionate along the way.

 

Mistakes

 

1. I didn’t have a buld in mind when I created my player. “I want to be a center” isn’t a great picture of the kind of player that Bruise Banner is working to be. A stronger concept would have guided my TPE spending toward a more useful archetype, I think.

 

2. I have a piss poor understanding of STHS attributes, and an even poorer understanding of their relationship to the hybrid attributes. Studying up to learn which attributes in what proportions lead to success on the ice – or at the very least consistent behavior.

3. I started late. Behind the top players of the draft class because I created a week or two after the TDL really took the wind out of my sails for a while. It doesn’t feel good to be 50+ TPE behind other players at the start of the season in the VHLM – it’s an exercise in getting bullied.

 

Lessons

 

1. Nobody gives a shit about your player. Whether you’re building perfectly or creating an absolute dumpster of a player, there is nobody around to witness that and tell you that you’ve made a terrible, permanent mistake that you can only sort of resolve by applying even more TPE in the correct places, but you’ll never actually catch up to a player who spent efficiently from the beginning. The only person who is going to check your work and make sure that your player is shaping up correctly is you. Don’t rely on teammates, don’t rely on your GM, don’t just copy players who are performing well. The only way to create a good player is to pre-plan wisely and follow that plan consistently.

 

2. Knowledge of real life hockey is totally useless. Not that I have a ton of that to rely on anyway, but it’s entirely abstracted in the sim to the point that applying real life information is probably counterproductive. Actually, one thing that might be pretty cool as a tool/guide for new users would be to list up some ‘example players’ with stats for well-known NHL players. It could help serve as a build template, more or less.

 

3. The value of timing is absurd. Every earning opportunity lost relative to the rest of your draft class will have a lasting impact on your career. Mistiming your player creation by even a couple of weeks will leave you permanently hobbled - the longer your career runs, the more you can try to make up for that initial disadvantage, but there's no way to "make up" that lost TPE, so make sure you get it when you have the opportunity.

 

I can only hope I remember this in a couple of years when I’m ready to recreate again instead of learning all of this stuff all over again.

[Spartan 4,414]

I'd probably just say that you do have a lot higher ability to "fix" your build over time than you'd expect. With my first player, I went pass first on my defenseman which obviously isn't what most people prefer. By the time I capped at 250, I knew my build wasn't what I wanted it to be for the VHL. By the time I came up to the VHL, with my banked TPE, I essentially fixed my whole build by dumping like 150 TPE into scoring. Went on to be a HOF player.

 

So yeah, don't stress over what you've missed or what your build is, it can always be fixed especially since you're just at 200 TPE. 

[Daniel Janser 2,185]

40 minutes ago, ctots said:

Actually, one thing that might be pretty cool as a tool/guide for new users would be to list up some ‘example players’ with stats for well-known NHL players.

But there is, and it is pinned in every lockerroom I am/was part of (admittedly only five (six with the VHL one))...

 

Here is the link to same for the record: 

 

 

[Daniel Janser 2,185]

52 minutes ago, ctots said:

Nobody gives a shit about your player.

I cannot say that I shared your experience, to the contrary (doesn't mean that I try to invalidate your statement, maybe I was just lucky in my GM's).

 

Have you asked for advice? When I was GM in the M and E, I let new players know what were the most important attributes, regardless of position. And I let them build their player to their liking. It is not for me to tell them 'Your player should be this and that'. If they asked for specific advice I gave same to the best of my knowledge, but if you want to be an Enforcer, I am not going to give you a power forward build (even though brawlers seem not to have as much success if not combined with other strong attributes).

Edited July 15, 2023 by Daniel Janser

[ctots 400]

5 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

But there is, and it is pinned in every lockerroom I am/was part of (admittedly only five (six with the VHL one))...

 

Here is the link to same for the record: 

 

 

Hey, that’s neat! Really wish I knew that was a thing at any point in the past. Thanks for bringing this to my attention

[Daniel Janser 2,185]

1 minute ago, ctots said:

Hey, that’s neat! Really wish I knew that was a thing at any point in the past. Thanks for bringing this to my attention

Anytime, you have now a lot of time to read it through before you recreate

 

[ctots 400]

14 minutes ago, Daniel Janser said:

I cannot say that I shared your experience, to the contrary (doesn't mean that I try to invalidate your statement, maybe I was just lucky in my GM's).

 

Have you asked for advice? When I was GM in the M and E, I let new players know what were the most important attributes, regardless of position. And I let them build their player to their liking. It is not for me to tell them 'Your player should be this and that'. If they asked for specific advice I gave same to the best of my knowledge, but if you want to be an Enforcer, I am not going to give you a power forward build (even though brawlers seem not to have as much success if not combined with other strong attributes).

The problem with this kind of guidance, maybe, is that building a "style" of player is pretty far divorced from what is visible from the simulation. When we only have the stat lines to go off of, there isn't a lot of flavor to draw on to get the sense that your player is doing what you had hoped. The only real feedback from the sim is what you see in the box score, and that feels (to me, maybe not to others) like if you're not producing stats, your player is "bad" even if they're making the correct plays. 

 

And I guess the other thing is that if someone says "I want to play an Enforcer" there should probably be a conversation along the lines of "making that choice will make it impossible for your player to chase most awards, etc" just so that they don't pursue a build that is totally out of line with their goals in the league.

[Spartan 4,414]

13 minutes ago, ctots said:

And I guess the other thing is that if someone says "I want to play an Enforcer" there should probably be a conversation along the lines of "making that choice will make it impossible for your player to chase most awards, etc" just so that they don't pursue a build that is totally out of line with their goals in the league.

I can guarantee that any GM who speaks to a player who says this will tell them to not expect production or awards. And to maybe even just be a liability to the team with how many penalties they rack up in relation to their zero production.