TuscanSota

Hey everyone,

Today marks the day where I officially announce that SimNFL on the interface is in development. For the first part of this implementation, I would like to formally announce that Sign Ups are now deployed on the interface. Please read this dev diary on how signing up for an NFL Team will work on the interface.

To Access

Click on the "Request Team" tab in the navigation bar of the Interface and then click the "NFL Team" button on the left side of the page. This will load every NFL team as a card.

NFL Card

The NFL Card features the logo of the team, the official team name, the Conference & Division of the team, and the roles that are available and filled.

The Four NFL Roles on the Interface

There are four roles on the interface: Owner, GM, Head Coach, and Assistant.

• The Owner has permissions for all NFL pages related to their team.
  
• The General Manager (GM) will have permissions related to the team's Cap Sheet and roster. They will be able to make trades, cut players, sign free agents and participate in the waiver wire process. They cannot save the team's gameplan or save the depth chart.
  
• The Head Coach will have permissions related to the team's gameplan and their depth chart. They will not be able to make trades, cut players, sign free agents, or participate in the waiver wire process.
  
• The Assistant may view all NFL related pages to their team, but will not be able to perform any actions reserved for the General Manager or Head Coach.
  

Applying for a role

Click on the role that you currently have on your NFL team. If you're new to SimNFL and want to join an existing team, please reach out to a SimFBA administrator and the team's Owner.

If you're the owner of an NFL Team and also the team's General Manager or head coach, please only apply for the Owner Role.

If you're currently both a GM and Coach, but not the owner, please work with your team's owner on splitting the responsibilities, because the current data structure does not support users with a dual GM and Coach role.

Once you've clicked on the apply button, please wait for an Admin user to approve your role.

What now?

The rest of the pages are currently in development. The only way to tell if you're successfully signed to your team and role is by viewing the Available Teams page once you're approved. I will provide updates on when the pages will be available; for a particular order on when the pages may be ready, here is what I'm thinking in hindsight:

1. NFL Admin Page
   
2. NFL Team Page
   
3. NFL Roster (Capsheet and Player Roster Management here)
   
4. NFL Gameplan
   
5. NFL Depth Chart
   
6. NFL Free Agency
   
7. NFL Trade Block
   

When will they be available?

When I say so. Please continue to be patient, and everything will be ready momentarily.

Thanks,

TuscanSota

Hi everyone,

Today's dev diary I'm going over a number of changes that are being worked on this off-season. As of writing this I want to state the following:

• The following changes are going to be tested in this off-season's beta test phase.
  
• This will not reflect the actual recruiting season. The test season is primarily for my observation to ensure the changes being made reflect what I'm looking for.
  
• All changes are subject to being modified before the season starts.
  

With that said, let's go ahead into some of the Recruiting Adjustments are being done this offseason.

Team Profile Changes

- The weekly points per team is increasing from 50 to 100.

- The max number of points that can be spent on a recruit in one week remains the same. The range is 0-20.

Recruiting Efficiency Score

RES will be placed on hold for two seasons and then will be reinstated. Everyone's RES will be set to 1 for the next two seasons.

Scholarship Changes

When a user puts points on a recruit that was offered a scholarship and when the sync executes, a count will start keep track based on how many weeks a user put at least a point onto a recruit. This count is being used to calculate a new bonus I'm calling the streak bonus.

With every consecutive week that a player puts points onto that recruit, a bonus of (0.1 * number of weeks) will be applied as a bonus and will stack on top of the affinity bonus.

The streak bonus will have a cap at about five weeks. Placing points onto a recruit after the five week mark won't reset the streak bonus, it just won't go up. The only instance where the streak resets is if the user does not put points on them by the time there is a sync.

For an example on how the bonuses will stack on top of the points applied, use this link.

In the example illustrated, a user puts 10 points onto a recruit where they 1) Put points on them the previous week, and 2) have an existing affinity bonus. With the affinity bonus and streak bonus, the 10 points accumulates to about 12.1 due to the two bonuses.

Recruiting Class Size

Recruiting Class Size will be determined for each team based on the following variables:

• The number of seniors and redshirt seniors on the user's team
  
• The number of redshirt juniors with a very high overall (AKA, will likely declare early next season)
  
• If the roster size is greater than 105 players, the recruiting class size will shrink based on the difference between the roster size and 105.
  
• If the roster size is smaller than 85 players and the recruiting class size at that moment is less than 25, the recruiting class size will increase based on the difference between 85 and the user's roster size.
  
• If the recruiting class for an FBS team is higher than 25 after the above logic, it will be set to 25.
  
• If the recruiting class for an FCS team is higher than 20 after the above logic, it will be set to 20.
  

Affinity Implementation Changes

- Only players that are 3 stars and higher can qualify for the frontrunner affinity.

- Players with a higher than average football IQ will qualify for the academics affinity.

- Teams that made the playoff last season will be given the frontrunner affinity. Teams that previously had the frontrunner affinity and did not make the playoffs will lose the affinity.

FCS Affinities

- All FCS teams have had their affinities adjusted and applied appropriately.

AI Recruiting

AI teams will be recruiting based on their team needs and will fill their boards based on a couple of variables:

• Their AI Behavior
  
• If the team is an FBS team
  
• Whether they've made the playoffs in the previous two seasons
  
• Their current affinities
  

General Rules:

• AI schools cannot add a 5 star player to their board unless any of the below logic applies
  
• A team will have a 5% base chance of adding a player to their board. If a team is recruiting a player that is in-state, the base becomes 25%. If the team is recruiting a player that is Close to Home, the base chance becomes 15%.
  
• Due to the weekly point increase, each AI team will be able to allocate the same number of points within the specified range: 5-15 points.
  
• FCS Teams can only recruit 3 star players and below.
  
• An AI team will have a 33% boost to adding a recruit to their board for every affinity they match with that recruit. This includes Close to Home affinity.
  

AI Behavior:

• Blue Blood: The AI team will be able to add 5 star players to their board and will receive an additional 5% boost towards adding Frontrunner recruits to their board. Their point range for applying points onto players is between 8-15.
  
• Ivy League: Ivy League schools can only recruit recruits with an academic affinity regardless of their star rating.
  
• G5: An AI team that is part of a G5 conference has a -10% chance of adding a 4 star recruit to their board.
  
• Playoff Buster: An AI that is part of a G5 conference but has participated in the playoffs within the last two years. They have no penalty towards adding 4 stars to their board and have a 5% boost towards adding frontrunner recruits. Will be able to place 8-15 points on a recruit.
  
• Doormat: This AI team has a -20% chance towards adding a recruit that is 3 stars and above. 10% boost towards adding 1- & 2-star recruits. Can only place 5-10 points onto a recruit.
  

AI Behaviors by Team

Additional Notes:

The AI Behavior assignments only apply to the team if the team is not controlled by an existing user. If you see the AI Behaviors of your team and do not like the assignments, please know the behaviors do not apply to you. You will be able to recruit however you want to.

And again, as stated above, what's written above will be subject to changed based on how the test season goes. Which leads to...

This year's offseason test cycle.

The test cycle begins next week, and all users are open to joining. A sign-up thread will be posted shortly. During the test cycle, syncs will occur every 24 hours hours, finishing in approximately 20 days. The purpose of this test cycle is to simulate an entire season and to see how the AI teams behave. Because I will mainly be observing AI behavior, I will not pause a sync for anyone in the event that they miss a deadline. If you want to participate and practice recruiting, this is your opportunity to do so. Please make sure to stay active during then.

Thanks,

Tuscan

Hey everyone,

Rocket and I have been working on something and we would like to announce that FCS Teams have been added to the interface.

For the 2023 Season, FCS teams will be in their own separate league and will be run alongside the FBS League. The data has been uploaded to the interface and includes their current rosters, which are viewable from the roster page and the depth chart page.

Users will have the option to schedule an FCS team as an Out of Conference opponent starting next season.

At the moment, FCS teams are going to remain under the control of AI; but we're going to look into allowing users to taking on FCS programs sometime after the 2023 season. If you go to the Request Team tab on the interface, none of the FCS teams will appear.

There are 60 FCS teams in this update, including the following conferences and teams:

- Big Sky Conference

- Ivy League

- Missouri Valley Football Conference

- Patriot League

- Southern Conference

- Southwestern Athletic Conference

If you have any questions, please write below.

Thanks,

TuscanSota

I also forgot to mention this yesterday, but news logs for College Basketball are also now available.

If you click on the News Tab on the Landing Page, you will see a few new filter options:

The League dropdown will allow you to filter news by league, as shown:

Currently only news regarding recruiting is available. I'm hoping to add more options soon.

Hey everyone,

I plan on this being one of my final major updates for College Basketball this season. With this update, the Stats page is finally available for users. To navigate to the stats page, please use one of the following buttons:

- The stats button on the CBB landing page

- The Team Statistics button in the CBB dropdown

Stats are currently organized and presented by season. For players, two categories are available: Overall stats, and Per Game Stats. Per Game is the default and will show the player's performance in stats throughout the season. There is a teams filter and conference filter for the player view, and functions exactly like the CFB Stats page.

Team Stats has three categories: Offense, Defense, and Differential

- Offense is the seasonal stats for a team in how they perform.

- Defense is the seasonal stats for a team in how much they've allowed against competition this season

- Differential is the Attribute - AttributeAllowed.

So for example:

Purdue's PPG is about 84.33. Their Points Against Per Game (PAPG) will be in the Defense Category, under PTS. The differential is PPG - PAPG.

At the moment, there was a bug in the Points Against Per Game allocation; but it has been fixed. When the B games are updated tomorrow, expect the correct value for PAPG in the Defense category.

Users are able to filter by conference for teams.

Hope y'all enjoy this update! Expect a road map on things to expect from the interface once the NFL season is over.

~Tuscan

I FINALLY HAVE A RIVAL!

@Red1K I'm approving you for the Washington Huskies. Welcome to SimFBA! We just finished our CFB season and will be working on improvements until the start of the next season, but we're just starting up our college basketball season if you're down for that as well. Please register and sign up through the interface and join our discord if you haven't had a chance yet.

For gameplanning, depth chart, and recruiting in College Football, I recommend reading this document.

Welcome to the Pac 12!

@blueblud3 I would recommend reading this dev diary for recruiting in College Basketball. There isn't points in consecutive weeks, but teams get a bonus when recruiting players within their state and region:

Dev Diary - #72 | SimBBA Interface: Recruiting | SFA - Simulation Football Association (simfba.com)

Approving. Welcome back to SimFBA, @blueblud3!

I've gone ahead and also approved your interface request for DePaul for College Basketball. Be sure to change your minutes and set your gameplan from the Gameplans page on the interface. To view results, check out the Schedules tab under the new dropdown for DePaul on top of your nav bar.

You can also find it by clicking on the CBB Team Button on the interface, and then clicking the Schedule button

For recruiting, please reach out if you have any questions. It is similar to what we had for SimFBA last season, although you'll only be able to recruit up to five players. Feel free to adjust your recruiting board as you see fit.

And please reach out if you have any questions on using the interface for College Basketball. We're here to help you!

• Game: NCAA National Championship
  
• Product: TBA
  
• Company: Toucan Productions
  
• Sponsoring all safeties.
  
• Script: If I say more now, it’ll lose the tease.
  

Posting here because I'm considering this an add-on... conference standings are now available for viewing from the schedule page.

To access, click on the Standings Button on the left-hand side:

Users can filter the standings by conference if they only want to view a select number of standings at a time, as shown below:

Users can also filter out A games and B games from the schedule page. To tell if a game is filtered out, the button will appear red.

Timetable

For the basketball sims once the regular season begins, everything will be on an automated schedule. As in, games will run without me clicking a button.

Monday 9:29AM EST - Gameplans for Match A is due | 6:00PM EST - Match A Results go to the interface

Tuesday 9:29AM EST - SimNBA Free Agency Sync Runs

Wednesday 9:29 AM EST - Recruiting and Gameplans for Match B is Due | 6:00PM EST - Match B Results go to the interface

Friday 9:29AM EST - Gameplans for Match C is Due | 6:00PM EST - Match C Results go to the interface

Saturday 9:29AM EST - Gameplans for Match D is Due | 6:00PM EST - Match D Results go to the interface

Sunday 12:00AM EST - The interface performs a weekly sync into the next week | 6:00PM EST - College Polls will sync

@GodMosses, you're approved for Liberty! Welcome to SimFBA!

You will need to do the following things:

1. Sign up for the interface and request for Liberty from the interface. This is the web application we use for managing our teams, setting our gameplan and depth charts, and conduct recruiting.

2. I recommend you read this google doc for more information on the game and also how to use the interface. This will cover topics such as depth chart management, gameplan management, recruiting, and game days.

3. Don't be afraid to ask questions in the discord server. We're happy to help with any questions you may have.

@Kirby, can you assign GodMosses his avatar in the forum?

Hey everyone,

Providing some new updates for the interface later today. Here is what to expect:

- Recruiting Overview Page Available

- Recruiting Team Board Available

- Fixed bug where CBB team logos weren't properly appearing

- AI implementation

- Create-A-Croot for off-season

Overview Page

This is the overview page for Recruiting as of right now. Users will be able to filter by position, states, countries, potential grade, and stars. Team Rankings and Export feature will also be available as per the CFB counterpart.

CBB Team Board

For the team board, expect similar features. Users will be able to add points to croots here and get a status on where they are on the recruiting trail for a recruit.

AI Teams Testing - Post-Mortem

There are two algorithms specifically set for AI teams -- one for filling the team's board, and for allocating points. After a few rounds of testing, I can say confidently that I like where everything is for the AI teams in terms of odds for teams placing a recruit on their board, and the point-distribution for a recruit. AI teams are designed to be competitive, but also to move their points elsewhere if it's determined they will not be able to keep up in a recruiting battle.

From the signings between 2-star, 3-star, and 4-star players, there will be a good distribution of recruit signings between user teams and AI teams. It will be competitive.

Because the recruiting class size for a CBB team is designed to be between 3-5 players (compared to CFB's class size of 25), the maximum points allowed is going to stay at 20 for CBB moving forward. I'm expecting a number of teams to finish recruiting after 5-6 weeks (majority being AI teams), so I'm not too worried on the scenario of teams getting left in the dust, because there are a good number of croots in this class, especially 4 stars.

Here is an outlook of the recruiting ranks from the test cycle:

When to expect this to be ready?

Later today. Recruiting will not begin until the rest of the Sim is ready, but I want everyone to be able to begin putting up their boards now.

What's left?

Custom Croot creation is expected to be finished today as well and deployed along with the rest of the above features. Teams that have written CBB media prior to the start of the season will be able to create a custom croot.

Export feature will also be added either today or tomorrow.

From there, I will be focusing on making adjustments to the CBB engine so that we can take the gameplan & roster data and integrate it into the engine. I will also work on getting stat collection going so that work can be done for the CBB stats page.

1. An AI team will still receive the 10 point bonus on an in-state recruit, much like a human coach will.

2. At the moment, there isn't a place; however, I will look into getting an Available Teams post here in the forums which will show which teams are available per conference.

@KnightOfAsylia, you're approved for Army! Welcome to SimFBA!

You will need to do the following things:

1. Sign up for the interface and request for Army from the interface. This is the web application we use for managing our teams, setting our gameplan and depth charts, and conduct recruiting.

2. I recommend you read this google doc for more information on the game and also how to use the interface. This will cover topics such as depth chart management, gameplan management, recruiting, and game days.

3. Don't be afraid to ask questions in the discord server. We're happy to help with any questions you may have.

4. Go Army!

@Kirby, can you assign Knight his avatar in the forum?

Hey everyone,

In today’s dev diary, we want to introduce a new feature that we think you’ll love. We’re excited to announce Bowl Sponsorships for SimFBA bowl games.

Bowl Game Sponsors:

College Football Bowl Games are games featuring the best teams this season. While the Playoff Bowl Games are reserved for specific reasons, bowl games outside of the Playoffs are to be opened for Sponsorship and location.

Outside of the expected playoff games, there are 28 Bowl games that will be played between eligible non-playoff bowl-qualifying teams.

Who can Qualify?

A user that has produced at least four pieces of media content over the season is eligible for declaring the sponsor of a bowl game.

A user that has produced at least six pieces of media content over the season is eligible for the above and selecting the game’s location.

A user that has produced at least eight pieces of media content over the season is eligible for

all of the above and will help in the selection of the two team’s when it comes to bowl nomination.

Historic Bowls

Below is the list of historic bowl matches from the 2010s and before.

Previous Custom Bowl Games

Proposed Bowls/Defunct Bowl

These bowl games are not set to be within the standard slate of bowl games planned; but for those who want to choose the sponsor and location of a bowl game, here are some potential bowls to offer inspiration.

Source: Wikipedia has a list of College Bowl games through the years.

What is Not Allowed:

The name of the bowl and the sponsor of the bowl must be SFW. Any names or sponsors that feature names or references to NSFW content will be rejected.

When can I submit my application to sponsor a Bowl Game?

Look for a new thread soon with details on the application, and make sure to have references for all of your media posts through the 2022 Season.

~TuscanSota

The lower the number, the more points it will take to sign a recruit. For a five star, it's going to likely be around 80+ points.

The higher the threshold number, the smaller number of points it will take to sign a recruit. For 2-star and 1-star recruits, it will likely be from 35-25 points at the start.

The same curve will apply; and by the final weeks, the number of points required will decrease dramatically; especially for 5 star and 4 star players.

SimBBA Recruiting is a smaller version of the one we use for SimFBA. It’s stripped-down, but also has features that are native to this recruiting system.

What is NOT in SimBBA Recruiting:

• The Recruiting Efficiency Score system
  
• Affinities
  

For the 2022 Season, the Recruiting Efficiency Score system won’t be implemented. Neither will affinities. Part of this is due to the shorter amount of time we have in getting the season ready; the other part is because we want the SimBBA system to be different from that in SimCFB.

What is IN SimBBA Recruiting:

• Dynamic Thresholds
  
• Signing Status
  
• Performance-Based-Bonuses
  
• Regional Recruiting
  
• Smaller recruiting classes.
  

Weekly Format

Each week, teams have 50 points available that they are able to allocate to recruits. A team is allowed to allocate 0-20 points per recruit. There will be 14 weeks in recruiting.

Recruiting Class Size and Recruiting Duration

Before we go into the specific features, I want to go over the constraints of what makes SimBBA Recruiting different from SimCFB recruiting. The biggest one is recruiting class size. The maximum size a roster can be is 15 players. From there, the algorithm then calculates how many non-Senior players are on a team’s roster and subtracts it from 15. From there, a maximum value is set placing a Class size at 5.

Examples:

Team A has 13 players on roster and 10 of those players are not seniors or redshirt seniors. 15-10 = 5. Team A can recruit a max of five players in this cycle.

Team B has 13 players on roster, with 12 of those players not being seniors. 15-12 = 3. Team B has a maximum recruiting class size of 3.

Team C has 11 players on Roster, 8 of which are not seniors. 15 - 8 = 7. Because the max class size is set to 5, Team C can only recruit five players in this cycle.

Recruiting will also take place only in the regular season. Once the post-season has started, recruiting will be over and each class finalized.

Total Number of Recruits in a class

The number of recruits available will be based on the number of non-seniors currently existing in the pool, with a variance of +/- 30 croots. Once recruiting ends for any team that does not have a full class, there will be a cleanup section to cover all remaining unsigned recruits.

Dynamic Thresholds

In SimCFB Recruiting we use an algorithm to calculate when a recruit is likely to sign. It’s designed in a way that depending on the week and how many teams are competing (all teams within 50% of the points of the leader), a recruit can either sign early or on a weighted roll commit to any of the contending schools.

For SimBBA, we wanted to reflect the difference between a recruit depending on its star rating. The dynamic threshold system is a system that takes the threshold algorithm from SimCFB, and applies a varied weight for each recruit. Depending on the star rating of the recruit, that individual recruit will either sign earlier in the season or later.

By making the threshold dynamic upon the recruit, one can expect lower-tiered recruits to sign earlier, while higher tiered recruits (4*s and 5*s) are more susceptible to recruiting battles. With the shorter recruiting cycle, this will likely mean that higher-tiered players are more likely to sign later in the season, rather than earlier.

For 5 star players, a second modifier is used to up the curve a little bit in terms of points. This only applies to five star players.

Below is a list of thresholds based on the star rating:

The higher the number, the better.

Signing Status

If a recruit doesn’t sign during a recruiting sync during the week, a status will be saved for the recruit stating how far along the recruit is in making their decision. This will give users a visual display of whether a recruit is “Not Ready to Make a Decision”, “Selectively Choosing”, “Ready to Sign”, or more.

Status Displays:

0-25% of threshold: “Not Ready”

25-50%: “Hearing Offers

50-75%: “Narrowing Down Offers”

76%-95%: “Finalizing Decisions”

95-99%: “Ready to Sign”

100%: “Signed”

Performance Based Bonuses

Because RES is not being used, we still want to offer bonus incentives based on previous year performance. Based on performance in a season, Coaches will be able to increase their max number of points allowed on a player. Based on how well a team performs in the season, the highest achieved bonus will be applied. None of these achievements will stack. Taken from the 2021 rules, here is a list of achievements attainable and the amount of bonus points that can be acquired to use per week. Because of the new system, we will not be applying last season's performances to this season.

Regional Bonuses

From the 2021 Season,

If a recruit is from the state where your school is, you will receive a 10% bonus on all points spent on that recruit. If the recruit is in the same region where your school is, you will receive a 5% bonus on all points spent on that recruit. The bonuses do not stack. Partial points are always rounded down.

There are 7 regions: Pacific, Southwest, Plains, Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast. The state of which your school resides will be available on your team’s profile on the Team Board and Recruiting Overview pages (once they’re available). The regions are illustrated in the image below. There are no state or regional bonuses for 5-star recruits or for international recruits.

International Recruits

Recruits from outside the United States will also be available. At this time there are no bonuses that will apply for international recruits.

What happens when you’ve reached your Class Size?

Any scholarships allocated on a player will be revoked. The user won’t be able to save their board, nor will they be able to add players or throw scholarships onto more players.

AI Teams

AI teams will be part of recruiting for this season. They will be putting points on the same players that we will be, and will also have bonuses from the previous season if applicable. There are a few constraints, however.

• An AI team will not be able to add a five-star player or a 4 star player onto their boards, unless they meet the blue blood quality as outlined below.
  
• An AI team can only put 0-15 points onto a recruit.
  
• At the start of the season, an algorithm will be run to place recruits onto an AI team’s board. The maximum count for an AI team will be 30 recruits.
  
• The logic as it stands right now is that an AI team will have a base 25% chance of adding a croot onto their board.
  

These constraints allow an emphasis on user teams being able to recruit top-talent without having to worry about losing a recruit to an AI team. It does keep AI teams competitive, and allows them to focus on building an average class; that way, in the near future if a user wants to take up an AI team, the team picked at best will be average and not a poorly rated team.

The main takeaway for AI teams is that each team will be different based on two key values: The AI Behavior and the AI Quality.

AI Behavior is how the AI team will behave in allocating points in recruiting. AI Quality is how a team will behave in adding recruits onto their board.

AI Behaviors

There will be three behaviors that AI teams can have: Aggressive, Normal, and Conservative.

Aggressive: An AI team will focus on putting 10-15 points onto a recruit where applicable.

Normal: An AI team will focus on putting 6-12 points onto a recruit where applicable.

Conservative: An AI team will focus on putting 0-10 points on a recruit where applicable.

AI Qualities

There are six qualities of which an AI team can have: Blue Blood, Offensive, Defensive, Average, Cinderella, and Bottom-Feeder

Blue Blood: An AI team will have a 50% chance of adding a four star player to their board. This is the only quality that allows an AI team to pick a 4-star recruit.

Offensive: An AI team will have a 50% chance of adding a recruit that prioritizes offensive stats.

Defensive: An AI team will have a 50% chance of adding a recruit that prioritizes defensive stats.

Average: An AI Team will not prioritize a recruit by attribute, potential, or star value when adding to a board.

Cinderella: An AI team will have a 50% chance of adding a recruit that has a high potential value regardless of stats.

Bottom-Feeder: An AI team will look at two star and one star players to add to their board.

Below is the list of all teams in the league, along with their set AI Behaviors and Qualities. This also includes user teams. If you see your team on this list, disregard because the AI section does not apply for user teams.

Total Counts:

Quality:

• Blue Blood: 14
  
• Offensive: 24
  
• Defensive: 24
  
• Average: 52
  
• Cinderella: 18
  
• Bottom-Feeder: 40
  

Behavior:

• Aggressive: 26
  
• Normal: 120
  
• Conservative: 26
  

Thank you for reading. Recruiting will be in development very soon, and the list of recruits will be available once development is complete.

~Tuscan