PRO TEAMS FOR THE AMIGA: A PROPOSAL The two finest football simulations for any computer are currently available to any Amiga user who wants them- Head Coach and TV Sports: Football. The former features five times the realism of any football simulation ever offered for any computer and the latter features a beautiful interface, arcade gaming, a 16 game schedule with playoffs, and a very high (although somewhat lesser than Head Coach) degree of realism. But there is a problem. The licensing to provide the user with data files of REAL pro teams is prohibitively expensive. The result is that we have to end up either playing "fake" teams against each other (ie- Crusaders vs. Longhorns) or "reasonable facsimile" teams against each other (ie- "Dallas" vs. "New York") or make and edit our own professional teams. The first two options are not satisfying. After all, we want to be able to coach and run our favorite REAL team with the correct player and team names. It isn't satisfying coaching a similar team. The latter of these three options is time-consuming and confusing. Who has time to edit and create 28 pro teams so he can play with them a few hours on his/her computer? The proposal: Among all the users of Head Coach and TV Sports out there, there has got to be at least ONE user that is familiar with each of the 28 professional football teams. I propose that everyone who is interested in playing with real teams get organized and MAKE them! Here's how it works: Everyone who thinks they could develop a good team for our database- do so! Send an ASCII copy of your Head Coach files and/or an ASCII copy of your TV Sports files to me via e-mail. I will compile all of the files sent to me and upload them at a later date (probably around February, 1989) on Compuserve and PLink. WHO...ME? Yes, you. If you enjoy playing one or both of these games, why not help us out? Take your favorite team (or more preferably, teams), assemble them and send them to me. (By the way, if you have a Head Coach playbook and game plan specific to one of these teams- I'd like to have them as well. Imagine playing a sixteen game schedule against unique, realistic teams all with different playbooks and styles of play!) About 1-2 hours of work on your part can yield a fantastic database of teams if EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS IS WILLING TO CONTRIBUTE!! THE RULES. So how is it that we are going to end up with realistic teams? I'm glad you asked. By keeping your team design within a very simple framework, and using a little brain-power, this will not be a problem. This file contains two sets of values for each team. One set is for Head Coach, the other for TV Sports. By using these values as a guideline in designing our team(s), we should be able to create a league of teams that will match up against each other in a realistic fashion. (By the way, for the technically oriented- these values were based on the standard deviation of a team in offensive and defensive yardage for 1988. The range was extrapolated from a simple z score.) DESIGNING A TV SPORTS TEAM You don't technically have to use the team editor at all for this. Since you will report the values in ASCII format, you only need to make sure that the numbers add up correctly. Here's how it is done: 1. Type in the correct names for each player in each position. The best half back should be the LEFT one, since he is in every formation. 2. Decide on the total ability points for each offensive player and the offensive line. It does not matter how high or low the total number of ability points is as long as they AVERAGE out to the value given for that team under OFFENSE in the table for TV Sports: Football. These values should realistically reflect your estimate of the role of each of the players in the team's season. For example, if you think an especially good halfback was the reason the offense was successful, you might want to give the halfback a higher score than the "offense" average- and the line or the fullback a correspondingly lower score. 3. Now you must decide how the total number of points for each player distribute among his four values: strength, speed, hands, and ability. Again, strive to realistically reflect the ability of the player. For example, suppose a fullback has 16 points. You decide that since the player fumbled a lot you should give him a hands value of 2. Since he is somewhat slow, but strong, you give him 4s in speed and ability, and a 6 in strength. The total (2 + 4 + 4 + 6) equals 16, which is the value you assigned him in step 2. 4. Go through the same process for the defense. Assign ability totals that average out to the teams DEFENSE score on the TV Sports table. Then take each individual player and "customize" his specific statistics to your estimation of his abilities. 5. The total ability scores for the punter and place kicker are also given. Distribute these among his four skills (speed, strength, hands, and ability) as you see fit. 6. That's it! Type these values into an ASCII file and send them to me! (Compuserve 71071,2500; PLink sru516) DESIGNING A HEAD COACH TEAM This is a little more difficult, but should still be manageable. Consult the manual chapter on team files if you have any big questions. 1. Attach a comment line telling who you are and how you can be reached. You might also explain some of the basic values involved in your team (ie - Defensive line = 3.4, Linebackers = 3.2, etc.) If you were forced to decide between different starters or made some other significant decision, the comment lines might include these things as well. 2. Assign the proper stadium, colors, surface, kick and punt returners, etc. 3. Insert the roster. This should include at minimum the starting offense and defense. At maximum, it should include the entire roster of the team. Don't forget to include punters, kickers, and returners. 4. Assign offensive values. You should decide on the relative contribution made by (1)the offensive line, (2)the quarterback, (3)the running backs, and (4)the receivers. Assign a value to each of these categories which averages out to the OFFENSE value in the Head Coach table. For example, if you had an average value of 3.4, you might assign the quarterback a 3.8 the running backs a 3.0, the receivers a 3.2, and the line a 3.6 (the values of which average out to 3.4.) 5. Assign individual values. Now you should give each starting player on the offense an individual value. Again, make sure that each starting player in a given category averages out to the number you assigned to that category in step four. Using the above example, since the running backs had a value of 3.0, you might give the halfback a 2.6, the tailback a 3.0, and the fullback a 3.4 (again, averaging out to 3.0.) This would be your estimate if you thought the fullback was the most powerful running back. 6. Repeat the process for the defensive starters. This time, the categories are (1) Defensive line, (2) Linebackers, and (3) Defensive Backs (cornerbacks and safeties.) As long as the average of the three categories "adds up" to the team DEFENSE total and the individual scores add up to your assigned CATEGORY total, you are safe. 7. Assign backup players (optional). You may give any value you judge appropriate to any backup player as long as you remember a simple rule: THE VALUE OF A BACKUP PLAYER MAY NEVER MEET OR EXCEED THE VALUE OF ANY OTHER STARTING PLAYER IN THE SAME CATEGORY. This means that no backup lineman can be better than any starting lineman, no backup defensive back can be better than a starting defensive back, etc. 8. Assign special teams. If you are unaware of exactly who is normally assigned to play special teams, simply substitute the defensive starting alignment in these categories. Don't forget to put the punters/place kickers/returners at the end of each of these alignments! 9. Send the datafile to me via e-mail. (Compuserve 71071,2500; PLink sru516). 10. PS- do not extend the individual statistics into their special "+" categories. While there are ways to statistically maintain a balance in our system doing this, it is much too complicated. Just give them a single, basic rating. THE TABLES Here are the tables for each of the games-- TV SPORTS: FOOTBALL TABLE Team OFFENSE DEFENSE KICKER PUNTER ---------------------------------------------------------- Atlanta 14 14 14 15 Chicago 17 20 17 17 Dallas 17 15 13 16 Detroit 10 15 21 17 Green Bay 14 17 13 14 LA Rams 18 17 17 15 Minnesota 18 21 18 15 New Orleans 16 16 16 16 NY Giants 15 16 16 16 Philadelphia17 13 16 15 Phoenix 18 16 13 16 San Francis 19 19 16 14 Tampa Bay 16 16 17 11 Washington 18 16 16 14 Buffalo 17 19 19 15 Cincinatti 19 16 15 13 Cleveland 15 18 18 15 Denver 17 15 14 19 Houston 16 17 15 14 Indianapolis15 15 17 19 Kansas City 15 17 18 15 LA Raiders 15 15 14 17 Miami 18 13 15 18 New England 13 18 14 13 NY Jets 16 14 18 14 Pittsburgh 16 13 17 20 San Diego 13 15 15 19 Seattle 15 14 17 16 HEAD COACH TABLE (Note: punter and kicker skills are based on REAL stats from your newspaper- see the Head Coach manual) Team OFFENSE DEFENSE ------------------------------------ Atlanta 3.2 3.1 Chicago 3.6 4.1 Dallas 3.7 3.3 Detroit 2.5 3.4 Green Bay 3.2 3.7 LA Rams 3.9 3.6 Minnesota 3.8 4.3 New Orleans 3.5 3.5 NY Giants 3.4 3.6 Philadelphia 3.7 3.0 Phoenix 3.9 3.5 San Francisco 3.9 3.9 Tampa Bay 3.4 3.5 Washington 3.8 3.5 Buffalo 3.6 3.9 Cincinatti 4.0 3.5 Cleveland 3.4 3.8 Denver 3.7 3.3 Houston 3.5 3.7 Indianapolis 3.3 3.4 Kansas City 3.3 3.6 LA Raiders 3.4 3.3 Miami 3.8 3.0 New England 3.0 3.9 NY Jets 3.5 3.1 Pittsburgh 3.5 3.0 San Diego 3.1 3.3 Seattle 3.3 3.1 If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me by e-mail. Again, my handles are (Compuserve) 71071,2500 and (PLink) sru516. Please give me a week or so to respond since I am frequently out of town. Now...GET BUSY!!!