Scouting vs Coaching?

[Kemp]

Upon league creation there are two options that you can check or uncheck:
Use Complete Scouting System
Use Complete Coaching System

According to the manual, if I uncheck "Use Coaching System", "each team will be treated as if it had average and identical personnel in all roles".

My question - does that hold true for managers? That is, if I uncheck "Use Coaching System", will every team have the same exact "manager" tendencies?

[ctorg]

Good question.

[No Pepper]

Not 100% sure about this, but the current league I am trying to set up in 2006 had different strategy tendencies for each team, although one could argue if most of those differences were significant. However, I noticed when I added new teams in the next year, the new teams had average and identical tendencies.

Additionally, I was happy to see, that as commissioner, I could change teams strategies without it later being changed by the AI.

[BballDoc]

I would also like to know the answer to this one......

[Kemp]

Great question Kemp, you must be smart AND good looking.

[The Wolf]

And modest, too.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

And modest, too.

and let's not forget so riddled with anticipation of v2007, he's obviously taken to huddling with the manual for comfort and inspiration; almost enviable.

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

And modest, too.

I thought it was more creative than "bump".

I don't play with coaches but I was looking at 2006 and started wondering about managers. If, with coaches off, the managers will still be "on", then it'll be something I have to deal with in 2007.

[Kemp]

Anyone have any idea about this?

[BballDoc]

Great question Kemp, you must be smart AND good looking.

What everyone doesn't know is that Kemp's avatar picture is his ACTUAL photo!

[glenmere14]

Originally Posted by BballDoc

What everyone doesn't know is that Kemp's avatar picture is his ACTUAL photo!

What a handsome devil....

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by Kemp

Upon league creation there are two options that you can check or uncheck:
Use Complete Scouting System
Use Complete Coaching System

According to the manual, if I uncheck "Use Coaching System", "each team will be treated as if it had average and identical personnel in all roles".

My question - does that hold true for managers? That is, if I uncheck "Use Coaching System", will every team have the same exact "manager" tendencies?

Sorry but does anyone have an answer to this?

[Fibonacci]

I'm sorry Kemp, I don't have the answer to your question either. I just wanted to say, that I am concerned that we seem to be getting an amazing amount of "glittering generalities" about this game, what an improvement it is, and how much we're going to love it; but legitimate, and specific questions about the game go unanswered.

[RonCo]

This seems to me to be a very hard question for a tester to answer. One would have to think about trying to set up some specific test scenarios and then get a lot of data out of it to try to prove anything one way or the other. I can say that when I look at managers/coaches in the data dump with coaches off, I see a full set of variable coaches. But since the game is theoretically not using them, I don't know what that means.

My best guess is that the "average" coaching tendency is middle-of-the-road all the way.

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by RonCo

This seems to me to be a very hard question for a tester to answer.

Understood. I'm really asking the question in hopes that it might get answered by a dev or included in the manual.

[Kaitiaki]

I've brought this question up in the beta forum. I'll let you know what I find out.

Originally Posted by Fibonacci

I just wanted to say, that I am concerned that we seem to be getting an amazing amount of "glittering generalities" about this game, what an improvement it is, and how much we're going to love it; but legitimate, and specific questions about the game go unanswered.

We're getting a bit OT, but I think you're a bit off-base there. While there certainly have been generalities, there has also been a lot of concrete information provided, and quite a few of the testers try very hard to answer questions as clearly as possible in the forums here.

Take a look at Jarmenia's performance blog, or RonCo's draft quality blog, or my own blog about the interface for three examples of concrete information (off the top of my head).

The reality is that people want both - or, more accurately, some people want one and some people want the other. There's a bit of a meta-level divide about what the "point" of tester comments should be. There are some people (myself among them) who think testers should confine themselves to objective-level comments about the game. "Let the game speak for itself" and "don't tell people what to think" tend to be the mantras of this school of thought. There are others who think that, as the only people who have played the game so far, the subjective opinion of the testers has value. This perspective tries to respond to questions like "is it better than last year?" and, most famously, "is the fun back?".

So yes, there are some "glittering generalities" out there, and I can respect that you are one of the people that doesn't like them. I think if you look, though, you can find plenty of posts and blogs that cater to your preferred style of communication as well.

- Kai

[endgame]

Originally Posted by Kaitiaki

I've brought this question up in the beta forum. I'll let you know what I find out.


We're getting a bit OT, but I think you're a bit off-base there. While there certainly have been generalities, there has also been a lot of concrete information provided, and quite a few of the testers try very hard to answer questions as clearly as possible in the forums here.

Take a look at Jarmenia's performance blog, or RonCo's draft quality blog, or my own blog about the interface for three examples of concrete information (off the top of my head).

The reality is that people want both - or, more accurately, some people want one and some people want the other. There's a bit of a meta-level divide about what the "point" of tester comments should be. There are some people (myself among them) who think testers should confine themselves to objective-level comments about the game. "Let the game speak for itself" and "don't tell people what to think" tend to be the mantras of this school of thought. There are others who think that, as the only people who have played the game so far, the subjective opinion of the testers has value. This perspective tries to respond to questions like "is it better than last year?" and, most famously, "is the fun back?".

So yes, there are some "glittering generalities" out there, and I can respect that you are one of the people that doesn't like them. I think if you look, though, you can find plenty of posts and blogs that cater to your preferred style of communication as well.

- Kai

The occasional, "What, am I invisible?" thought still crosses my mind. But I have to say, as a rule, the information shared - when it is - has been articulated well and with the mix of formats you've suggested above, largely because of the excellent composition and talent of this year's team and a direct reflection of their sentiments and schools of thought. Objective or not, it's been an unusually authentic delivery and been appreciated, minus the hollow, vacuous, and unrequited moments of my initial reference.

Your response was excellent and indicative of that process. Very well put.

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by Kaitiaki

I've brought this question up in the beta forum. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thank you. Years from now someone is going to break into the SI vault and steal the threads from the Beta forum and write a book. While it'll only sell about 112 copies, the people who DO buy it will read it cover to cover!

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Kemp

Upon league creation there are two options that you can check or uncheck:
Use Complete Scouting System
Use Complete Coaching System

According to the manual, if I uncheck "Use Coaching System", "each team will be treated as if it had average and identical personnel in all roles".

My question - does that hold true for managers? That is, if I uncheck "Use Coaching System", will every team have the same exact "manager" tendencies?

I try the setup you said above and all teams have different manager tendencies on the strategy screen. You have to be in commish mode to see the other team's manager tendencies.

If your not in commish mode then its hidden for other teams.

[Kemp]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

I try the setup you said above and all teams have different manager tendencies on the strategy screen. You have to be in commish mode to see the other team's manager tendencies.

If your not in commish mode then its hidden for other teams.

Thanks for the info but I think you may have misunderstood my question. I'm wondering if managers count as "coaches" if I choose to turn off the coaching system in OOTP.