When I did my old EHM Moose Jaw dynasty, I played strictly as GM, even letting the coach decide who sat and who dressed. I haven't decided if I will play this way in the new game. For the dynasty, I probably will at least start it out that way and maybe take on a little more control from time to time.

you guys do your own practice setup or let the coach do that too?

me too

For me, that is ABSOLUTELY a coach thing.

I love the idea of being a true GM, unlike FM, or really any other text sim.

Not saying I don't like FM, it's just that there is a lot more to do management-wise in hockey. In addition to being the GM, I like to think of myself as a financial guru, scouting director, and staff manager. Coach, however, is not something I enjoy doing in these kinds of games as much. Glad that EHM gives you the opportunity to pass things off.

yep. i like playing that way sometimes and sometime si like coaching and doing my own tactics, etc

do you guys know how to make the coach handle the practice?

i playing the gold demo, no manual. just to get a feel for it before i make the purchase.

Goto "General Manager", or whatever that main drop-down menu for your team is, and there's "General Manager Options"... from there, just say "Do NOT Coach Games", and if you want the coach to handle basic roster moves, etc. say "Do NOT use current lineups, etc."

Let me know if you have any problems,
~rpi-fan

Got to General Manager on the menu bar, click on General Manager Options.

There is an option there that says "Head Coach takes control of practice?". Set that to YES and the Head Coach will control the practices.

If you want the Head Coach to handle everything, set the options to this:

Coach Games Yourself? - NO
Head Coach takes control of Exhibition Games? - YES
Head Coach takes control of practice? - YES
Use current tactics? - NO
Use current team selection when possible? - NO
Use current lines when possible? - NO

Right now I just have the demo, so if I got any of these wrong, hopefully someone will correct me. But that's how it looks to be if you want the Head Coach to control as much as the game will let him.

Yeah, I think those settings will turn over the maximum amount of control to your staff. I guess you could also use the vacation mode and set the AI not to make any deals for you while you're away, but that wouldn't be too practical if you wanted to look at the results of each game you played.

That's how I play, unless I get to the point where I can't find a head coach to run the team, then I will take over that role as well.

I'm just digging into the manual, but I plan to (I think) setup my team... lines and all. I often get ticket at the lines the current coach of the Blues sends out there. If I stink, I may let my coach take more of an active role with the team.


Todd

Back when I played (the free) EHM, I used to set up my own lines just because I wanted certain guys playing together. For example, I would always put a tough/semi-goon wing on the side of one of my young developing centers. And I would always have a line of all kids. If/when I pick this up, I'll do the same.

thanks guys. i got my coach to handle the practice.

this game is so fun.

only part i don't understand is waivers. i read the nhl rules. i playing NHL league, and i went to waivers section and i see some players have a check mark for waivers, but it wont let me unmark it and pick who i want to go on waivers.

there some good players i dont want to lose to waivers. but they have a checkmark for waivers and cant take it off.

not sure how waivers really works in EHM or in the NHL. who gets eligible for it, etc. kinda confusing :)

thanks

so if i set to yes, my head coach will schedule the exhibition games for me and accept invitation too?

You can't change the waiver status - that depends on their age and how many games they've played. The NHL waiver rules are dozens of paragraphs long (they're at http://letsgopens.com/nhl_cba.php?id=13 if you want to read the whole thing), but, generally, as soon as a guy has played a couple of seasons or is out of his early 20's, he has to go through waivers before he can be sent down to the minors. The idea is to give veteran players a chance at getting picked up by a different team rather than getting stuck on the farm forever.

thanks JeffR

so the only time i have to worry about waivers is if i send the eligible waiver players to the minor.

i wont have to worry about the waiver draft either unless i send them to the minors.

makes a lot of sense now. thanks

One thing to riz..

58 pages of reading is quite appreciated! I thought the days of a decent manual to help familiarize yourself with a game were over quite some time ago, but you have restored my faith.. and I thank you for that!

I'm reading this thing from cover to cover and actually I've learned quite a bit I didn't know.

Todd

WOO HOO! Got the game today... will get my dynasty started soon...

Any more news on the download version?

Still waiting for the people in suits to finish eating their donuts ...

(ie. stalled awaiting approval ...)

Damn it! Why do they always do that?

Dola, are donuts big in England?

hey guys i found some tutorial for EHM.

http://ehm.fhockey.com/NHLEHM101.php

some are updated for ehm 2005 and some are from ehm 2004.

it gives you a good guideline to understand the game better.

uh-oh someone got their EHM 2005 in under 19 hours making the baseball team thread a moot point...

Is there anyway to get a scouting report like your scouts give you on players not on your team and you prospects but for your own players on the roster (like Jeff Oneill is a more talented version of "BLANK") This would really help me understand my players better but all I get is the coaches opinion which is not as much detail as the scouts!

I'm not sure if this will work, but try going to the scout menu, then scouting a "Team", and just scout your own team (and/or your affiliates).

I know the game lets you do this action, but not sure if it will give you the same scouting report as for guys not on your team.

Speaking of which, I just messed around with the scouting last night and had no idea how good it was! Really an ideal set-up for scouting. If the digital download is available anytime before Monday, I think I'm definitely going to end up buying it.

~rpi-fan

the more scouts you hire the better.

how many trainers, assistant coaches, scouts, etc can you have?

Assistant GM
Head coach
5 assistant coaches
15 scouts including head scout
3 physios


here a good tip i read:

"Head coach: I always want a really high adaptability rating foremost. High tactics, determination, motivation, man management and working with youngsters. Actual coaching for defensemen, forwards and goalies isn't important to me for my head coach. I also like to find coaches with a preferred style that fits my team (usually a direct attacking style with the teams I tend to build).

Assistant coaches: I am similar to Borlag in that I get asst. coaches that specialize. I want at least one coach that is highly rated (18+) in one of each of the following categories: Coaching defensemen, coaching forwards, and coaching goalies for my 3 position assistants (as well as "technique-based"). I would look for motivation/discipline/determination in my conditioning coach, and also for the line "conditioning-based" in the "coaching style" field. Determination, Motivation, Adaptability and working with youngsters are all great fields to be good at.

Trainers: 20 in Physio. That's all you need... though a good reputation might help too. Nothing else matters.

Scouts: Judging Potential and Judging Ability are the only things that matter. I tend to permanently assign scouts to leagues:
--1 to each of the CHL Junior leagues (WHL, OHL, QMJHL)
--1 each to the NHL, AHL, ECHL
--1 each to the US, Canada, Scandanavia, Central Europe, Eastern Europe
--a free floater that does temporary and rotating individual country searches in Eastern and Central Europe (Germany, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Rep., rinse and repeat)
--1 scout for next opponent
--1 to rotate through the US college leagues
--Finally a head scout that gets assigned to all the international games and to NHL entry drafts. I'll also pull the guys off of Canada, US and ECHL/AHL searches to do these international games and entry draft searches too.

For scouts that are going to be permanently in a junior league or NCAA US college league floaters, I want a 18+ in judging potential. Judging ability can be in the low teens. For all others, I want at least 16+ in both judging ratings. For my head scout, I settle for nothing less than 20/20 in both judging ratings. If any scout falls below 14 in their required rating, I fire them on the spot (you don't owe them money for the rest of the contract like you would in FM). I also try and get scouts from the country that they are going to be scouting (ie. a swedish scout for the Scandanavia search, a Russian or Czech scout for the Eastern Europe search, US guys for US leagues, Canadian for Canadian searches, etc etc)


For best effect in training, don't assign any of your coaches to more than 3 different fields (ie. tactics, off. skill, def. skill, etc) in practice."

I'll forward your thanks to Phil (Juni on our boards) who is our research database mastermind. He also wrote the manual as one of his tasks working on the game. So kudos to him :D

Riz

the game is excellent.


enjoying the gold demo so far. trying to get familar with everything before i buy it. my first time ever playing EHM. i never ever play FM before either. so the SI interface is all new to me.

i see SI has great support for there games. if something is wrong they will patch it up quickly. that awesome.


if you change your tactics a lot, does that hurt the players and team to do well because they have to learn a new tactic?

does great training and practice makes a differnce in the team and player performance?

i hope there no super tactic that does well with any team in ehm 2005 and its unstoppable.

if i let my head coach the team, is there a way after the game to see what tactic, team order,lineup, etc they use if i have it setup not to use my current tactic and lineup? if so where?

thanks

So, I just finished my third season with the Caps. Finally made the play-offs, but lost and lost badly to New Jersey in the 2nd round, 4-1.

Just finished the draft. I didn't have a pick until the third round because I went on a trading frenzy. I got caught up in the heat of things I started trading like a mad man at the deadline. Did bring in Justin Williams and Henrik Zetterberg, so I can't complain too much.

Anyway, it's July first and I check my finances. The payroll is right around US $40 million. Almost perfect, given that's been the team's personal "cap" since I started. But then I get some message about the team buying the arena and another one about a payout to shareholders. Then, all of a sudden my payroll budget has ballooned to a whopping US $56 million! :eek:

I guess the short, but exciting playoff run and the young, exciting team I have managed to put together has paid off. And there are a lot of free agents just waiting to join the NHL's best, most exciting up and coming franchise!

Yes, please do! :D

Is this game available for download?

Because they get paid by the hour.

Not yet. I wouldn't expect anything before Monday at this point.

Not quite. At the beginning of the season there is a waiver draft, where you can only protect 20 players (18 skaters and 2 goalies) that are waiver eligible. Regardless of their status (pro team or minors). Therefore if you hold on to 3 goalies (for example) which are all qualified under the wavier rules, one of them would have to go unprotected during the draft.

That said, there are different qualifications for the waiver draft and regular season waivers, but the player profile tells you if the player is exempt from either one or not.

thanks

but there already mark after i created the new league for my team.

we dont get a chance to unmark and mark who we want to protect?

You do. You will be prompted to protect 2 goalies and 18 skaters prior to the waiver draft which happens shortly before the season begins. Certain players are excluded from the waiver draft, so you can't/there is no need to protect them.

This only pertains to the waiver draft, however. If you want to send a player to the minors during the regular season and they are eligible for waivers, they must clear waivers before being assigned.

ahh thanks so much.

this game is very deep. loving it.

Fantastic game. If OOTP7 gets this kind of treatment I'll cry like a little girl.

I love the team report and team needs sections. I finally feel like my coach has a personality. Great scouting and the draft is even better. Congrats Riz on a super product.

I tried what you recommended but have yet to get a scouting report on my own players... At the NHL level this is not so much a concern but I feel like at lower levels when the players are less known to me I would like to know what their projection is for the future who they play like what there strengths are just like the guys I scout from other teams without having to distill all of their ratings down myself... Anyone else feel this way or know a way to do it??? Maybe Riz can comment on this... I am waiting for the download version to come online eagerly and this is the only complaint I have about the game so far on the gold demo...

Could someone provide a little background info on the four American minor leagues? I know a little about the AHL and that it's considered to be the 'AAA' hockey league, but not very much about the other three leagues. How would you rank the leagues? Is the style of play different in each league? Is each of them affiliated with the NHL (and if so how)? Anything else unique about the leagues?

Thanks in advance

Scouting your own team will get the report for all your players eventually - you may have to wait a couple of weeks for them to show up, though. The Assistant GM's team report will also give you a depth-chart breakdown of everybody you own the rights to, and highlight the best players for certain skills.

Replied to you over in the SI forum - there's already a thread there going into a bit of detail about the minor leagues.

Thanks.

This really should be the responsibility of the Ass. GM... and at the very least you should have an option to scout "All Contracted Players" & "All Unisgned Prospects". The scouting in EHM is fantastic... but if there was an area of improvement this would be it.

Yeah, the checkmarks are just to show you who is eligible for each waiver.

i posted this at SI

maybe some of you guys will know.


i see we have tactics, team order and individual order.

what order does the game look at?
because all three have some things the same.

for example Hitting

if i set tactic to hard hitting, team order to easy hitting and individual to normal hitting.

which one will it use?

Individual tactics first, then line, then team.

Yeah, makes sense. There are a few options for scouting targets that are still CM holdovers and could probably get changed/removed, too.

Amen.

It just seems silly that you have to specifically ask someone to tell you if the players on your own team are any good. And the "ask coach" function holds very little use -- the reply you get is so basic that I suspect most people stop using it after the first two or three times.

My frustration with this game is that I would sign a guy from Switzerland and he'd be a 9th round NHL pick and would come in and tear up the league. I saw a couple of guys do it in my career and it became frustrating. Sure, there are times when that will happen to guys, but it seems to happen too frequently in EHM. When I'd use the "ask coach" the 9th rounder would be listed above my star winger, Steve Sullivan. I stopped using it for the reason you mentioned above.

Ok, I finally have everything loaded and all add-ons installed.

I know the NHL is marked 'enhanced', but how do you have the rest of the leagues setup?

I'm thinking AHL should be 'enhanced' since they are affiliated with the NHL teams and then maybe standard for the rest? or is that too many leagues for a normal 2.0 Ghz PC to run?


Oh btw, great job on the team specific skins Minstrel!!


Todd

Okay, do share. What stuff have you downloaded?

In my first career I'm probably gonna take control of a crappy ECHL team and move up the ladder. My setup will have the NHL and ECHL enhanced with the AHL, UHL, CHL, and three Canadian major juniors set at standard. That's all.

FWIW, my comp is 1.5Ghz with 1G of RAM.

Oh shoot, where do I start?

Every player card facepack
MinstrelMetal skin 2.0
STL Custom Color - for use with minstrel's metal skin makes it a STL Blues skin
Large News Logos
meters commentary v2
NHL schedule logos
NHL rinks
TWStaffpack 1.0


I think I'm going to go with:

Enhanced
NHL
AHL
ECHL
AAL3
AAL4
Canada CHL (OHL, QMJHL, WHL)

The rest will be set to Standard.

From the manual: Throught the course of your managerial career it is possible to switch leagues between enhanced and standard, using the process outlined above. However, only leagues selected into the save game at the start are able to do this. Meaning - I would think you would at least want all the leagues set to standard or enhanced at the beginning or else you'll never be able to get them back.

I'll see how this setup runs on a P4 2.0 Ghz pc with 512 mb.


Todd

True, but do you really have aspirations for taking control of a team over in Europe?

Todd

for first career.

just do nhl, ECHL, AHL


if your going to play NHL

You never know. If this setup runs fine on my pc, which from what I've read should.. then I'm fine. If not, I'll change it around. I just like having them all there in some compacity. I'm goofy like that.

Here's a link to what some add ons look like I've put into the game:
http://img243.echo.cx/my.php?image=stlblues7de.jpg
http://img297.echo.cx/my.php?image=untitled0bz.jpg

Here's where you can get them: http://ehm.sortitoutsi.net/

I'm doing the setup posted above.. I want all the leagues active in some shape or form.

:)

JeffR, if you happen to see this, the link to your CHL facepack isn't working as there seems to have been some sort of mixup. I'd love to get this as I'm still pondering what minor league to start off with.

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php...le&fileid=4083

thegades AT gmail_com (if you have the chance ;))

But if he's tearing up the league (and presumably doing better than Sullivan in the process), wouldn't that be a sign that "ask coach" was working pretty well?

the scouting is great in this game.

wow they scout alot of players for you.

one thing is when they return and you assign them to go scout a different place. there prior list of players they scouted and liked is gone.

its too hard to memorize what players they like. why does the list go away when you assign them to go scout again?

You can save these lists. It should prompt you to do so whenever you re-assign a scout.

For example, if your scout Joe Blow scouts the 2005 NHL Draft prospects and you want to re-assign him, you can save those scouting results under "Joe Blow 2005 NHL Draft" or some such.

thanks. that awesome.

i didnt remember seeing a prompt. i must of miss it

You can do two other things besides saving your scout's recommendations in order to keep track of those players.

You can add any players that he has recommended and that you want to keep further tabs on to your shortlist. (Like all the 5 star rated players that interest you, for example.)

Do this by clicking on a player's name, then clicking action (top left of screen), and then selecting add to shortlist. Any player added to your shortlist will generate a news report when something happens to them like an injury or transfer to a new team.

Also, you could write a comment (note) and attach it to a player like "My scout really likes this guy." Do this by clicking on a player's name, then clicking action, and then selecting create note.

Sounds like a great game...

twothree

thanks


karim

its an awesome game. its so deep and fun.

It didn't get to you this week? Sorry, man. I hope it arrives Monday.

My Devils are running into all kinds of problems this season. About halfway through the year, we're sitting 9th in the East, two points behind Buffalo. Our power play is the worst in the East and second-worst in the NHL (much like the real-life Devils). We're tied for last in the conference in goals scored. Brodeur hasn't been terrible in goal for me with his 2.33 GAA and 0.914 save percentage, but the media has been blasting him. It's not his fault! :(

The board is getting upset with me, and I think I'm going to have to start trading prospects away in order to make a big run in the second half of the season. I hate having to do that, but I'm getting desperate.

have you try in practice to give more % for powerplay practice? that might help

No, I don't handle the practice. My coach does that.

Time to get a riot going against the head coach!

be careful with lettign you head coach do practice.

by default it will never change the % for practice area. General, powerplay, and powerplay kill. its always set to 60%,20%,20% in that order.

also the head coach by default assign you coaches to more than 3 categories. they assign 7 categories by default. you will see 7 check mark.

to get the best out of a practice, a coach assign to practice should have 3 max categories only to get the best out of the players.

Coach's should be assigned to practice based on their strengths, never to more then 3 categories.

I see your point, but I really don't want to have to handle practice. It's not supposed to be my job. It's supposed to be the coach's job. I'll fool with it a little bit, but I'm not going to try to out-think myself here.

So, I am in the middle of my 4th and first successful season with the Caps. With 54 games played, I am second place in the East leading the third place team by around 10 points and leading my next closest divisional rival by 20.

A news article entitled "Zetterberg may be headed to the Blues" comes up and says: "With the Washington Capitals on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, Henrik Zetterberg is generating interest around the league." Now, I like the wording of the piece and, if the I was indeed outside looking in, it would make perfect sense (dumping some vet talent with a decent price tag for picks/prospects), but we're completely inside the playoff picture.

It's called foreshadowing. It's a literary device used to give insight into future events. :p

Given that I have gone on to lose the last 5 out of 6 games, you're not wrong.

That's okay. I just finished my 3rd season with the Kamloops Blazers, finishing on top of the WHL by almost 20 points. As I started my playoff run, several players became unhappy, "thinking the team should be topping the table" and were "willing to help the club improve it's league position." Yeah, good luck with that.

Uggh. . . that's frustrating. My Avalanche team had the same trouble on the PP and I didn't know what was happening. Training is the thing I hate in FM and now EHM. Thankfully in FM there are training modules you can switch through that don't take up more than a few minutes in a season. Hopefully the same happens in EHM soon.

That said, great game. A lot of fun. I love the scouting features. It doesn't grip me as much as FM, but it's early in my playing time, so I'm sure that'll change.

Speaking of that, I think it's time to start another game of FM.

Perhaps all the EHM beta testers sucked, no?
:)

Yup, the guys at sortitoutsi let me know already, and there's another link (the NHL G-P pack) that's pointing to the wrong thing, as well. I re-sent them the CHL pack this morning, as well as an updated version of the WHL and a new OHL one, so those should all be up shortly.

As for what league to start off with, I'd suggest one of the three junior ones - player salaries aren't an issue there, so you can learn without worrying too much about finances. And it's a pretty good challenge, since you're ultimately competing against two other leagues in addition to your own (55 other teams total) for the national championship. There's a guide I wrote to the WHL last year that should be available from a couple of the EHM fan sites, and the
OHL Arena and Travel Guide is a great place to get a feel for that league.

Good to hear about the the extra goodies. I suppose I could start off with a junior league. The idea of a bantam draft does intrigue me. It'd have to be the WHL though, because the west is always best!
;)

Edit: I did run into your WHL guide before and you did a very good job on it; I'm very thankful for that.

Uh-oh, that's not good. I'll ask Riz and or Graeme what triggers that, it obviously shouldn't be happening in the middle of the playoffs.

And that's where the Minnesota kids get drafted to if they play junior. ;) One semi-exploit you can use is spending your last two or three picks on top prospects that say they want to play college hockey instead of junior - the AI teams will avoid them, since that choice won't change, but if they get drafted by an NHL team and sign a pro contract before their junior eligibility is up, there's a good chance they'll get sent back to you for a season or two. Same with top European prospects that have no interest in major junior, but you don't get a lot of import picks to waste on those.

I don't mess with it much either, but I do always bump up the conditioning part of the goalie training a bit (the default seems to be too low), drop the penalty killing percentage to 15 and raise one of the other two 5% (doesn't seem to really hurt my PK), and pick which coaches I want assigned to which roles (leaving them all at the default of coaching everything is a waste.)

Thanks for the tip. Careful though, cos' I'm more of a North Dakotan. And if you don't live in Grand Forks or go to UND you don't know much about hockey. Up until just recently I was mainly a bandwagon North Stars/Wild fan, but then moved to Duluth where they take hockey very seriously and put the UMD Bulldogs' games on broadcast TV (good for me since I never have cable).

Now I'm back in the Fargo-Moorhead area. It's funny because Moorhead has one of the top youth hockey programs in the nation, yet just across the ND-MN border in Fargo most people could care less about hockey.

It's really a shame that the NHL has been a no-go during the time where hockey has started to grow on me. Enough of my biography though...

That WHL league guide can be found here for anyone interested. Good stuff.

Jeff, is it safe to assume that you had a lot to do with the WHL research?

Last year yes, this year not much. This time around I was mainly working on the Junior A and lower leagues in Ontario and the west (and then, at the last minute, the OHL.)

Must stop playing and visit with family...

Quick question re: the major juniors..

I realize that guys can play through the season in the year of their 19th birthday, BUT I'm noticing two different things listed as their eligibility sometimes. Is there any difference between 'no junior eligibility left after the current season' and '1 year of junior eligibility left'? Now I'm seeing this for guys that are born in the same month and year.

Edit: Take Braydon Coburn and Brian Woolger of the Winter Hawks for example.

This may or may not answer your question, but just to throw something else your way in terms of eligability. It's not just age that matters, it's how many years a player has played in junior hockey. I think a player can only play for 4 years at that level. Some start their first year later than others. So that will effect eligability for players born in the same month and year (some start at 14 or 15, others later).

Hmm, might be a glitch in the way that indicator is set. I just look at the birth year myself - 3 guys born 20 years before the start of the current season, and the rest have to be younger. Whatever the cause is, the in-game roster age restrictions are working fine, so the eligibility listing strangeness is just cosmetic.

I wish this was available for download right now.. I have a strong impulse to buy (but also to play right now.)

Fair enough. Though, riz, you may want to check that out. It can be a little confusing.
;)

I did the next-best thing on Thursday. GoGamer.com with overnight shipping. Got here a couple of hours after I woke up.
:)

JeffR

i wish if you let head coach, coach the game. and let head coach handle practice in the options setting that it should do the whole practice and not just part of it.

there a lot of people who assume that if you let head coach handle practice, that it handles everything in the practice screen. from general, powerplay, powerkill % to assigning coaches to three categories roles based on there strength instead leaving it as default.

any chance it can be done on next patch?

thanks

great game so far. lots of fun

Thansk for the feedback guys
 

I'll try to take a look at the practice time percentages under head coach control for the next patch. I've already done a little tweaking with the connection between this practice setup and the results of it in games but I'll still need to check if I can make the head coach analyse your game results and change the general/powerplay/penaltykill accordingly if needed (in case you have him take charge of the practice)

riz thanks so much.

what about the head coach assigning the coaches you have on your team for the categories too in the practice screen. as of now it picking all 7 categories as default.

and i tought the recommendation is 3 categories.

it will be nice if the head coach see what coaches you have and there strength when assigning them to practice and picking the categories.

hopefully that can be look at too if you let head coach handle practice in option setting

thanks

Thanks Jeff. Just to help you out a little, it went away when we advanced to the next round.

I've noticed the overage issue in the WHL as well. I play as the Everett Silvertips, and I've noticed as I go through scouting other teams that there are the players that are tagged OVR as the overage players and others that are not that have the "No junior eligibilty left after current season" note. I too just look at the year they were born.

I have a question re: the UHL

I currently took over Elmira which is over the cap. I proceeded to trade a guy making 22,000 for a guy making 7,000 to help get under the cap, and nothing has changed in my finances. Do finances only change after the end of the month?

Thanks