CCHL: Thoughts on the SIMON simulator...(Part Two) STRENGTHS

In Part Two of this blog post, I'll talk about the strengths of the Simon hockey simulation software. Moving from DOS-based program that was crashing before our eyes and negatively affecting the user's enjoyment and quality of game experience, the move was the right one at the time. We looked at other options and Simon seemed to be the right direction to go.

Simon's strengths:

In APBA, weak teams almost NEVER beat the better teams in the league. It just didn't happen, which was a negative, in my opinion. A few games ago this season, the last place team fucking PASTED  the 3rd best team in the league 6-0. As much as I hated losing, Simon offers far more realism than APBA ever did.

Team Building in Apba was very straightforward. Acquire as many top-rated players and a goalie with the highest save percentage rating you can get and voila! A contender has been born. Simon makes us work much harder to build a team. More ratings categories are found in Simon and "loading up" doesn't work like it used to in APBA. I don't claim to know exactly how Simon processes everything pertaining to gameplay, but when I loaded up last year, my "great team on paper" flopped badly and for a LONG time. Those same moves in APBA, would've landed me in at least the final four come playoff time. Not so in Simon and my team this season with a much weaker lineup on paper is outperforming my uber-pricey and sexy team from last year.

League building for new seasons is a snap compared to APBA. The ratings update the players where they sit on our rosters, versus us having to populate every team in the league by hand. This save major time and helps reduce errors...