Support NeoGAF

[AstroLad]

Now we're moving!

Newcastle for me.

Owen FTG!

Bionic, Beatbox, Hayami, Garrickk and (hopefully) samson, all be ready and hopefully pick today.

Sef is getting the site ready and fifty and I are finalizing schedules etc. so we should have the season starting really soon.

 

[bionic77]

I know very little about clubs so someone give me some advice on a good, balanced club to play with. I generally only know the big name clubs so I am clueless right now.

P.S. No Turks allowed!

 

[Beatbox]

I know very little about clubs so someone give me some advice on a good, balanced club to play with. I generally only know the big name clubs so I am clueless right now.

P.S. No Turks allowed!

Yeah we just missed the cut off for getting a decent club.

 

[Fifty]

What we know in real life might not apply to the game because of the way players are rated...so you're probably best off just looking at the team selection screen and finding the highest rated remaining taem. I'm not sure what that would be, and so that the person who picks after you isn't pissed off, I won't search on your behalf ;p

 

[AstroLad]

double post

 

[AstroLad]

I know very little about clubs so someone give me some advice on a good, balanced club to play with. I generally only know the big name clubs so I am clueless right now.

P.S. No Turks allowed!

You can go on and just compare basic stats to start (that little pentagon stat thingie). There's really decent clubs left in every league (including "other"). I can also give you some advice on IM if you want. Guess no Galatarsay for you.

 

[Fifty]

We're almost ready!

16. bionic77-
17. Beatbox-
18. Hayami-
19. Garickk-
20. Samson/Supersub

Despite still being in the team selection process, we have created the divisions

Division A

-Fifty
-Mr Jellybean
-Huka
-Larry Bird
-Irish Icon

Divison B

-Astro
-Hayami
-Osorio
-Garickk
-Beatbox

Divison C

- Socreges
- Shoplifter
- Kpop
-Srider
-Daigoro

Division D

- Mig
- FMT
-Rors
-Bionic
-Sefskillz the savior

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

- Mig
- FMT
-Rors
-Bionic
-Beatbox

yes! i know i can at least "compete" against miguel

 

[AstroLad]

Alright, you're up Beatbox!

 

[Beatbox]

Alright, you're up Beatbox!

Boom bap ba boom bap Beatbox begets A.S. Roma.

 

[Hayami]

Gentlemen, the pick you've all been waiting for...

UDINESE!

 

[garrickk]

Villarreal FC

 

[AstroLad]

Villarreal FC

Right on! I'm gonna try to see if I can find someone to fill the last spot.

 

[Hayami]

man, didn't realize we were in the same division, Astro!

this rivalry may never die.

 

[bionic77]

I wanted rematches with Hayami and Fifty.

They are all ducking me! Give me my title shot!

 

[AstroLad]

Here is the final division listing:

http://sefskillz.com/gaf-we9/standings.php

Site is coming together brilliantly thanks to all the hard work of sefskillz and we should be publishing rules and schedules within the next few days. Stay tuned here as this will be the official discussion forum for all things related to the league (sef even linked to it on the league main page).

Basically you're going to be given three games a week you're expected to play then 3 the following week for 5 weeks. You'll play everyone in your division twice, everyone in your "conference" (a-b=Conference I, c-d=Conference II) once and then two out-of-conference games for a total of 15 games. The top two teams in each division automatically qualify and the two teams in the conference with the next most points are wild cards. The top 2 get byes for the first round of playoffs.

Are you ready for some futbol?

w00t check out the team pages (soon to have stats)- http://sefskillz.com/gaf-we9/teamdetail.php?teamid=85

 

[Beatbox]

Great work guys. Thanks for putting the time in to make this happen.

 

[hukasmokincaterpillar]

Seconded, great work guys.

Damn, Division C is quite the group of death.

 

[AstroLad]

Seconded, great work guys.

Damn, Division C is quite the group of death.

Yeah some of the divisions are tough but given the wild card system it gives a fair shot to almost everyone to make the playoffs while also incentivizing finishing on top.

 

[Socreges]

That site is fantastic, guys. Who is arranging it? Just sefskillz? Thanks to everyone setting this up. Should be a lot of fun.

Division C is easily the roughest in terms of clubs, but B may have the best players. D seems to have mostly those new to proper football (wink), while A, like C, is stacked with top clubs (poor Irish). Interesting.

Looking at the schedule, I have a couple questions. Where is Conference I? You guys still working on it, I guess? And I suppose Rounds 1-3 comprise one week -- can those three games be played in any order, at any time, just so long as they are all completed by the end of that week?

 

[AstroLad]

That site is fantastic, guys. Who is arranging it? Just sefskillz? Thanks to everyone setting this up. Should be a lot of fun.

Division C is easily the roughest in terms of clubs, but B may have the best players. D seems to have mostly those new to proper football (wink), while A, like C, is stacked with top clubs (poor Irish). Interesting.

Looking at the schedule, I have a couple questions. Where is Conference I? You guys still working on it, I guess? And I suppose Rounds 1-3 comprise one week -- can those three games be played in any order, at any time, just so long as they are all completed by the end of that week?

All of the site design, programming etc. (i.e. all the hard work) has been done by sef. It's really an incredible job. I've chipped in w/ some ideas and fifty and I are both working on inputing players and pictures probably tomorrow (though we started tonight, see Newcastle for an example).

I'm working on a comprehensive set of rules but basically Conference I is composed of divisions A & B- you can see here http://sefskillz.com/gaf-we9/standings.php. The significance is that two the top two teams in each division qualify and the next two in the conference are wild cards (so, e.g., four teams from Division C could make it). The plan as far as rounds go is to release three rounds of schedule every week that can be played in any order at any time like you mentioned. This was fifty's idea and I think it's a great one as it maximizes both games played and convenience. We'll hopefully have everything clearly outlined in the next few days; we still have a few minor issues to make decisions on and just a few other things to finish and we should be ready to go for a league that has already exceeded my expectations in every way. It seriously should be great.

As far as team differential I really don't think it's prohibitively difficult to beat someone w/ the 3rd best team if you have the 15th best team (or at least to tie them). The top team does have the advantage but it's not usually just a cakewalk. One thing I have noticed though is that great vs. great team games have an excellent pace compared to great vs. decent, but basically I think everyone has a decent shot w/ the current playoff and division structure, especially since 60% of teams will be making the playoffs. And at the very worst they can always go for the top Red Card recipient. ;P imo the stat-tracking will be very fun and sef also put in a field where you can write match recaps so there should be a nice community going. It will just be incumbent on everyone to (of course) play their games, play their best, and enter stats correctly (once we have finalized that section of course).

League Predictions!
League discussion is of course encouraged, and I loved even the little prognostication we had/have in the Cup thread. Indeed there are loads of high-powered teams in divisions A & C, but I wouldn't count Irish or kpop (Barca is pretty good, but C is even more loaded) out at all. I've never played kpop but I've heard he's good and I played Irish w/ Germany and he did a great job against my statistically superior Italian team, holding me to one goal and threatening the entire game. With 15 games to play this season and tons of great players, playoff positioning really come down to a few lucky bounces and well-placed shots (and the refs too occasionally of course ). Divisions B & D are even more up in the air, especially D I have no idea who will rise to the top but I'll definitely be curious to see it. Bionic is a good player I've played against and he's getting his WE wind now so Stuttgart could be dangerous and though Mig is just starting WE he certainly did a very respectable job with a weak US team in the World Cup. I'm also really interested to see how Rors, sef, and FMT do.

 

[Srider]

How does everyone feel about player conditions on random? I think this will affect many teams without good sub players. Since the proposed rules are on default, I just want to bring that up I guess. Maybe people feel it's more realistic this way, but it always suck to log onto a game and see 1/3rd of your players with a grey down arrow.

 

[Fifty]

Thanks for summing it all up Astro. It's good to have someone working on this who stays up till 5 am as well as the normal people like me

That's something to consider Srider. It always bothered me with Ireland to have one or more of my important players with a blue or even worse, a grey arrow. I know the randomness of the condition is supposed to be realistic, but sometimes it was just ridiculous. I can't complain much now, because I have Real Madrid, but I do feel for those with inferior teams who find out that important pieces of their team are unfit to play because the game desigated it as so.


P.S

15 minutes till Aresenal and Real Madrid play in the champions league It's on TSN in canada and I hope it's aired in the states. Should be a blast!

edit: Shite! The game's airing at 5:00 because of the bloody olympics.

Also, I think we'll be going with random conditions. Sure it'd be awful if an inferior team was all cold against my team which was all hot, but that most likely won't happen and it'll probably even out in the end. Without conditioning superior teams will still be superior teams...this at least might give the lesser teams a fighting chance on occasions.

 

[sefskillz]

I can't complain much now, because I have Real Madrid, but I do feel for those with inferior teams who find out that important pieces of their team are unfit to play because the game desigated it as so.

The Lokomotiv knows no tired!! ...or maybe just lacks any important pieces...

 

[Fifty]

I just did a couple more teams' rosters.

Inter Milan

AC Milan

 

[Larry Bird]

I just did a couple more teams' rosters.

Inter Milan

AC Milan

Thanks Fifty that's awesome!

You guys have really gone above and beyond with this league, I'm impressed. Thanks for everything, I'm very excited to start! I may completely suck ass, but you can count on me to play my games on time and all that good stuff. Go ahead and sign me up for session 2 as well!

 

[AstroLad]

Yeah the concern is certainly noted, but I think we'll stick w/ random form for a few reasons.

-we're recording cards for stats purposes, but not carrying them over (e.g., you will not lose a red-carded player for the next game)
-injuries will not carry over (no way in the game online to do see how long someone is injured for)
-The majority of your games (8/15) will be played in-division against similar competition.

Random form just adds a bit of realism so we'll hang on to it I think.

 

[Larry Bird]

Hey fifty. Most of the player photos on my roster aren't showing up for me. Any suggestions? It's weird because the AC Milan roster works fine.

 

[sefskillz]

Hey fifty. Most of the player photos on my roster aren't showing up for me. Any suggestions? It's weird because the AC Milan roster works fine.

It's probably because we're hotlinking to the photos and they have some protection in there against it. The links load up fine after right clicking / view image

 

[AstroLad]

Here is a preliminary rule set for anyone who's curious (a final rule set will be posted both here and on the site later and everyone will be expected to read it).

Rules

Settings
Regular Season
- 15-Minute Games
- No PKs, No OT (Game Should End After 90 Minutes)
- Everything else on default (random condition, random weather, etc.).

Going Online
- Official GA Lobby is 5- Meet there by default. If needed password is “gasoccer.”
- If you are the “Home” team (schedule is “Away” vs. “Home”) you host (create) that game, although this is not a requirement, just something meant to make things easier (if you are Away LOOK for the game, if you are Home, CREATE the game).
-You should try to use a GA-identifiable name, hopefully just your GA name (“hukaGAF, AstroLad” are just some examples). WE lets you create three different names under your account, so hopefully you can just do that. This will make it easier for everyone to find you and if anyone wants to follow along or just play a random game in Lobby 5 they’ll know who you are right away.

Submitting Stats
- Familiarize yourself with the post-game stats screen before playing so you can find all the stats you are required to report.
- Submission is easy, you can do it either from your Team Page (under “Schedule”) or the Schedule page. Familiarize yourself with the submission page before playing ANY games, PM or post if you have any questions.
- At the end of the game the WINNER should write down all necessary stats for BOTH teams. In the event of a TIE, the AWAY team on the schedule (remember, “AWAY vs. HOME”) should report the game, regardless of who was actually the Away team in the game
o Required Stats:
 Score
 Goal Scorers
 Players w/ Assists
 Players w/ Yellow Cards
 Players w/ Red Cards
 Goalies w/ Clean Sheets (Shutouts)
 Total Shots
 Shots on Target
 Possession %
- The game gives you 600 seconds (10 mins.) before booting you after the game is done, so do whatever is easiest- writing then submitting or submitting straight from the game screen, but BE SURE YOU ARE ACCURATE.
- If you do not submit stats because you did not write them down/lost them/don’t care, you will be forced to replay the game from 0-0. Hopefully the next time you will either lose or do it right. Stat submission is huge for this league and sef alone has spent countless hours getting everything running, all you need to do is follow the simple and quick steps to submitting properly and the league will be better for everyone (including you since you won’t be kicked out!).

Playoffs
- The two teams in each DIVISION with the most points will qualify for the playoffs. Also, the next two teams with the most points in each CONFERENCE will qualify. There will thus be a total of 6 playoff teams in each conference and 12 overall.
- Teams will be ranked in each conference accordingly:
o 1- Division winner with the most points.
o 2- Other division winner.
o 3- Division 2nd place with the most points.
o 4- Other division 2nd place.
o 5- Wild card with the most points.
o 6- Other wild card.
- First and Second Rounds
o 1-2 have byes
o 3 plays 6
o 4 plays 5
o 1 plays winner of 4-5
o 2 plays winner of 3-6.

Ethics
- It is very important that players try their hardest in every game. Since there are no carryover injuries or cards, there is absolutely no excuse for not playing your best regardless of if you are 0-2 or 2-0, as mailing it in could have an unfair impact on others in your group, and in a worst-case scenario keep someone out of the playoffs. So play hard in every game. An 0-4 result doesn't mean someone didn’t put in effort, so don’t worry about results, just play your best down to the very last game.
- Submit all results correctly. We are assuming that everyone will be honest since there is no prize beyond the first pick for the champion (whoo) and bragging rights (whee), but if we are PMed about a situation where someone inaccurately reported and it seems deliberate or is a pattern, that person will be booted and we will find a replacement. The same goes for consistent apathy or carelessness in submitting stats or playing games.
- If anyone has ANY PROBLEM whatsoever with someone’s reporting, sportsmanship, or LITERALLY ANYTHING RELATED TO THE LEAGUE, PM fifty or me.

 

[Larry Bird]

It's probably because we're hotlinking to the photos and they have some protection in there against it. The links load up fine after right clicking / view image

Yep, that totally worked. Thanks sef.

 

[AstroLad]

Alright guys I've got PSV and Udinese up now. What I'm doing (starting w/ PSV) is including pics for the starters and entering everyone else so you'll be able to enter stats for them when necessary. If you have any players you want pics for just let me know by giving me the link and I'll do it.

 

[Socreges]

If you do not submit stats because you did not write them down/lost them/don’t care, you will be forced to replay the game from 0-0.

Ooh, harsh. Fair, though. Everyone must see it and not forget. Repeat:

If you do not submit stats because you did not write them down/lost them/don’t care, you will be forced to replay the game from 0-0.

 

[Daigoro]

good work on the site Sef!

damn this is getting pretty complex. still sounds like a good bit of work from everyone involved, hope we can all keep it together. at least the winner is responsible for the stats.

and im in yet another group of death! luckily i have a good team this time, but holy hell those are some clubs im up against! looks like Socreges and i are stuck with eachother.

anyways this seems like it will be fun, and hopefully a good way to keep me motivated to improve my game. i need lots of work...

An 0-4 result means someone didn’t put in effort, so don’t worry about results, just play your best down to the very last game.

is that a misprint?

i came 1/2 back from a 4-0 spanking today. the guys scored 3 times in rapid succesion on me in the first 20 minutes of the game. then at the start of the 2nd half, he pulled a roulette move in the box to pass to goal for the 4th point of the game.

i played my ass off and score 2 nice goals in the remaining minutes. i got yet another goddamned loss to add to my stats, but that score could have easily been 4-0.

 

[Socreges]

is that a misprint?

i came 1/2 back from a 4-0 spanking today. the guys scored 3 times in rapid succesion on me in the first 20 minutes of the game. then at the start of the 2nd half, he pulled a roulette move in the box to pass to goal for the 4th point of the game.

i played my ass off and score 2 nice goals in the remaining minutes. i got yet another goddamned loss to add to my stats, but that score could have easily been 4-0.

Astro gave a caveat another time (that sometimes whoopings just happen) when he mentioned that, but just forgot this time, I think.

 

[AstroLad]

Astro gave a caveat another time (that sometimes whoopings just happen) when he mentioned that, but just forgot this time, I think.

Hahahahah wtf I meant doesn't mean! Doesn't mean you didn't put in effort! I fixed it in the prelim. rules.

ROSTER INFO
By the way guys here is how fifty and I are doing roster-
fifty is doing all the first teams w/ pics. I am inputting all second teams (bench people in blue font who you can sub in during the game). Except for the teams I've already done we are NOT doing third teams (bench people in green font who you cannot sub in during the game unless you swap them out with one of the blue font people). If you plan on using any of these folks on your team let us know now or before you submit your game stats in the game where they had a stat (card, goal, assist, clean sheet) so that we can input them and you can then access them from the reporting screen. Also everyone should check their teams to make sure your entire first and second teams are on there AND THAT THERE ARE NO DOUBLES.

YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO SUBMIT STATS FOR PEOPLE ON YOUR ROSTER, so you need to let us know if someone not on your roster needs to be put on when necessar (you can do this via pm).

 

[Fifty]

I finished all the starting 11 rosters....We won't be giving pictures by default to backups or players that had no picture on the official sites (where I got them from) but if you have any requests for pictures, PM me and I will add them.

(see all teams here)

 

[Srider]

Since we are not doing any OT, what happens in the case of a tie in playoffs? Or are the rules different in the playoffs? Do we do P.K.? Personally I prefer silver goal, but you guys decide. Also, what is the format of the playoffs? Do we do two games or one?

 

[Daigoro]

Hahahahah wtf I meant doesn't mean! Doesn't mean you didn't put in effort! I fixed it in the prelim. rules.

i figured that was the case. np!

I finished all the starting 11 rosters....We won't be giving pictures by default to backups or players that had no picture on the official sites (where I got them from) but if you have any requests for pictures, PM me and I will add them.

(see all teams here)

im PMing you. i only have 10 men up there, and Trezeguet aint one of em!

 

[AstroLad]

Since we are not doing any OT, what happens in the case of a tie in playoffs? Or are the rules different in the playoffs? Do we do P.K.? Personally I prefer silver goal, but you guys decide. Also, what is the format of the playoffs? Do we do two games or one?

Playoffs are different, two legs (home and away) champions-league style. I'll post it all in the final version.

 

[Socreges]

Srider, good game. Gonna be a tough division.

I later found out that someone came home and used the wireless internet on the other computer downstairs. Thats why my first half was so laggy. But the second half was mysteriously OK. *shrugs*

 

[Fifty]

We haven't officially started yet. The stat entry forms aren't complete nor are the rosters. So no more games should be played. We've been really busy working on everything and once it's ready to start (maybe tomorrow) everyone will know.

 

[AstroLad]

We haven't officially started yet. The stat entry forms aren't complete nor are the rosters. So no more games should be played. We've been really busy working on everything and once it's ready to start (maybe tomorrow) everyone will know.

Yeah just to follow that up we are almost there- the next step tonight is that we will have a final list of rosters that everyone will check and tell us who they want included etc. Once we have final rosters we'll probably be close on the stats and stuff and then fifty or me will give the word to begin. Apologies if that was unclear at any point, but you guys are welcome to play preseason games for the next day or so until we give the word like fifty and I have been doing.

 

[Mrjellybeanct]

 

[Socreges]

Guys, guys, it was just a scrimmage.

I only posted in here since a) I know Srider reads this thread, and b) We will be in the same division. Sorry to confuse.

 

[Beatbox]

I later found out that someone came home and used the wireless internet on the other computer downstairs. Thats why my first half was so laggy. But the second half was mysteriously OK. *shrugs*

I have a great connection so I believe the few games that have lagged for me were all server side issues or my oponent. The reason I mention this is because lag only seems to happen for a half at a time. My first two laggy games were only laggy in the second half. More recently a pair of laggy games were just for the first half. Anyways, just pointing out that lag only seems to happen a half at a time.

 

[AstroLad]

ALL READ- ROSTERS
Alright guys thanks to fifty's great work on the pics and starting lineups the rosters are done. Every team should at the minimum have the entire first and second teams with correct positions (except for the rare CBW players who are just CBs). This is what you need to do now:

-make sure both the first and second teams are there w/ correct positions and names, if there are errors PM me the correct form and I'll fix it.
-tell us if you want to include any players not there (third team) or if you want full names for any second team players or pics for any players not there. For example, if Owen is not included you would PM- Michael Owen, CF, Newcastle, [picture link] if you want all of those things. The second team players for the most part have just their last names, if you want to add stuff PM it.
-make sure there are no duplicates, let me know if there are via PM.

As I said before rosters are crucial as they play into the Reporting system. If someone scores a goal and is not on the roster you will not be able to report that goal, which is a requirement. So you basically have two options- PM me big players to add beforehand or PM me if someone scores a goal, gets a card, clean sheet, etc. so that I can add them to the roster BEFORE you report the game.

Here is the link to the teams- http://sefskillz.com/gaf-we9/standings.php
Thanks!

 

[Srider]

Srider, good game. Gonna be a tough division.

I later found out that someone came home and used the wireless internet on the other computer downstairs. Thats why my first half was so laggy. But the second half was mysteriously OK. *shrugs*

Yeah it was a great game, you have really good patience and positioning compared to the majority of people I've played. I had a rough start, and I can't believe your goalie made that save!!

Time to tweak my formations and strategy for the league now. We have a really tough division.

 

[Socreges]

I can't believe your goalie made that save!!

Haha, I instantly knew what you were talking about just now. It was a sure goal... then... DIDA....

 

[Hayami]

I wanted rematches with Hayami and Fifty.

They are all ducking me! Give me my title shot!

AIM me at tropoFarmer when you're down... to lose!