Watching CPU vs CPU

[Guinness McGuinness]

Can anybody comment on how well the games play out when watching CPU vs CPU? Reasonably smart AI on offense and defense?

[hmrd]

That is all i mostly do actually. i have a season ongoing where i don't coach any teams i just sim each week but pick games to watch.
The results and game play is fine for me.

[DreamTeams]

Same here. Teams general try to win the game. Find the ai is pretty good the majority of time. But, you can also jump in the seat and change to coach mode if need be. I've never had to do that, though.

[kerry.batts]

I was losing a game recently and gave up (I was playing stupid) and let the AI take over for much of the second half. It did great, and then I took over right at the end (I did win the game, but I credit the AI with keeping me in the game, LOL!)

[kerry.batts]

Oh, BTW, I've read that some games deliver different sim results based on rather you just sim or watch the game. PSF doesn't do that, it gives the same results regardless of whether you watch it play out or sim it. It does this by actually running every play in memory.

If you run into any AI questions, do let me know. I'm always working to improve it.

[SamGar]

To reiterate what has been said already, by and large I would say this game is as smart a game as most out there. Take into account that it isn't a replay engine by design, so it was designed to play a solid game of football, and I think it does that. I create a lot of different leagues, all fictional, with lots of different sizes and configurations. No matter what I throw at it, the results seem to me to be realistic. The coaching AI is improved with this version, and I would say it excels both as a coaching game and as a game that plays itself very well. I do a bit of both, I coach and also watch a lot. It is a LOT of fun to create a career and watch it unfold over time.

[mitchum22]

"It isn't a replay engine by design. . ."

Oh, really? Then why is the main pitch for the game all those seasons -- from all leagues, with real player/coach pics, going back to the 1940s? That's like saying OOTP isn't a historical sim.

(All those seasons which result in scoring 15%-25% too low, btw. . .)

[kerry.batts]

You misunderstood SamGar. What he means is that PSF doesn't merely parrot the historic results, but rather, is ratings-based so that those real world historic results are very possible, but not determined, because they can be affected by injuries, weather, penalties, etc.

So, take 1972 Miami. You'll have a good chance of going undefeated, but it's not guaranteed. I've never wanted to merely duplicate what actually happened, but provide a reasonable range of possible results. Is it possible for Oakland to beat Pittsburgh and go to the Super Bowl? Certainly - after all, that immaculate reception wasn't guaranteed, same for the Hail Mary pass against the Vikings, etc.

So SamGar is merely saying that PSF doesn't mimic past seasons 100%, where 1972 Miami would go undefeated every time (what would be the fun of that?), but is definitely a realistic engine that delivers good, believable results given the historic teams.

I hope this helps.

[SamGar]

Originally posted by mitchum22:

"It isn't a replay engine by design. . ."

Oh, really? Then why is the main pitch for the game all those seasons -- from all leagues, with real player/coach pics, going back to the 1940s? That's like saying OOTP isn't a historical sim.

(All those seasons which result in scoring 15%-25% too low, btw. . .)

Those are mods. Made by the community. They are responsible for those mods and are the ones to approach. And i don't see any issue with the mod community being a major "pitch" for a game. The fact that a game allows you pretty much complete freedom in creating things is absolutely a major feature to tout, but also means that if I am not happy with whats out there, I can roll up my sleeves and create it. Which I do quite often.

I have played a ton of games over the years, and many of them have had their life extended by the mod community, Look at Hearts of Iron, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, and so on.

As for OOTP, they have the rights to use MLB, PSF doesn't have a deal with NFL, so that's really different. OOTP touts their license, Kerry can tout his mod community.

[kerry.batts]

Well said, SamGar, thanks! Yes, I'm proud of how flexible PSF is, that anyone can create any team and entire league any way they want and share it if they want, and I can't say how grateful I am for the mods. I play the 70s mods all the time myself.

And this flexibility lets us even create fictional leagues, which is whole other fun aspect!

[SamGar]

Well, 58-10 wasn't necessarily fun, but the Redbirds are already planning who their #1 is going to be, lol.

[kerry.batts]

Originally posted by SamGar:

Well, 58-10 wasn't necessarily fun, but the Redbirds are already planning who their #1 is going to be, lol.

it was fun for *someone* :-)

good luck!

[holysaintsfan]

I for one am having a blast with my career league and don't coach any games just watch them, currently at the end of my third season and excited to see where things go from here! Thanks for a top notch game and experience Kerry!

[kerry.batts]

Originally posted by holysaintsfan:

I for one am having a blast with my career league and don't coach any games just watch them, currently at the end of my third season and excited to see where things go from here! Thanks for a top notch game and experience Kerry!

thanks! I love watching games, too! Let's see if I can do something to improve the studio play when watching a game, maybe some criteria for the studio breaking in to give an update or something. Course, the ticker helps a lot with that.

[hmrd]

Originally posted by kerry.batts:

thanks! I love watching games, too! Let's see if I can do something to improve the studio play when watching a game, maybe some criteria for the studio breaking in to give an update or something. Course, the ticker helps a lot with that.

Hey Kerry,
This might already be in the suggestion thread for the next version, but the ability to switch between games that you are viewing live would be great if it is possible for you to do that.
IE: the game you originally selected to watch if while you are watching that one if you see another game on the ticker that looks interesting, to be able to go to the studio screen and have a button there that you could select that game to now watch. Would be like changing channels to watch different games in progress.
Just a thought.

[kerry.batts]

Originally posted by hmrd19:

Originally posted by kerry.batts:

thanks! I love watching games, too! Let's see if I can do something to improve the studio play when watching a game, maybe some criteria for the studio breaking in to give an update or something. Course, the ticker helps a lot with that.

Hey Kerry,
This might already be in the suggestion thread for the next version, but the ability to switch between games that you are viewing live would be great if it is possible for you to do that.
IE: the game you originally selected to watch if while you are watching that one if you see another game on the ticker that looks interesting, to be able to go to the studio screen and have a button there that you could select that game to now watch. Would be like changing channels to watch different games in progress.
Just a thought.

Thanks! Yeah, I have this on the list, just need to do some work to make it possible. I agree that it will be worth the work, though!

One key point, though. All the studio games have been completed, but the game you were watching live hasn't been, so it won't be advancing. Here's an example.

Say I'm watching the Dallas-Washington game play live, and it's Q2 with 4:00 left. I then switch to watch the Pittsburgh game and I watch it all the way into the start of Q4. The other completed studio games will also be at Q4, but my original game that was I was watching live is still at Q2 4:00, if that's ok with people. Now, we can think about options on what we'd like to do in that case.

My first hard task is simply to make it possible to watch every play on any completed game. This is high on my list, because it would let you watch ANY past game. If you want to go back and watch the Super Bowl from four seasons back, you'd be able to do that (today, you can only watch highlights). This is quite a task, but I hope to be able to do it.

thanks again!