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*Otrebor13* · 07-21-2022, 12:18 PM

The sim engine has been a very controversial and heated topic of discussion in the SHL since the switch to FHM from STHS back in Season 53. The switch to FHM was met with mixed reviews, there were a lot of people for this change, as it was thought that the STHS era had run its course, but there was also a lot of backlash on making such a change and how it would impact the league.

Let’s go all the way back to the beginning of the SHL’s history. Back in the day, the SHL ran on STHS, which at the time was one of the only available hockey sim engines out there (possibly the only one). It did the job, and there was a lot to learn, which perhaps was the reason it was so fun and interesting to use for a player-controlled league. There was no update scale, TPE would be a little harder to come by, and progression would be standard for everyone in the league. Eventually the introduction of an update scale was needed, as there were many more players, many more teams and having everyone built the same way just didn’t make sense.

This went on for quite a long time, with tweaks made over the seasons to the update scale to account for changes in how much TPE was available to users, and how the league was structured. However, things were pretty good. The seasons went on, and more and more people started learning a lot about the inner workings of STHS and how it reacted in our league. Countless hours of testing would eventually prove to be killing the enjoyment of the league (more on this later). That being said, the STHS level of randomness still meant that there was no accurate way to predict how things would play out.

Enter the PA/SC issue that was discovered. For those unfamiliar, basically it was found that if you maxed out a player’s SC attribute, and left the PA attribute at the minimum, they would perform well. However, this was only true if a team was full of players with these builds. The team would simply overpower and outshoot the opposition and blow out any other competition they came up against. This is what led to the decision to move away from STHS and go to FHM.

Switching to FHM led to a lot of question marks. Not many people were familiar with the engine, it wasn’t free for those who wanted to be a GM, and there could be significant competitive advantages to teams who had much more familiarity with it than those starting from scratch. Unfortunately, that was the case. When the switch was made, Buffalo, Hamilton, Chicago and Texas dominated the league for seasons on end. If someone outside of these four teams did not make the Challenge Cup Finals, it was considered an upset. The problem seemed to be familiarity and test simming combined. These teams knew about FHM more than others, and had countless hours testing different strategies, combinations and learning what would give the best outcomes. Eventually, it led to a lot of stagnant results, pointless seasons and a lot of disinterested people leaving the league. It took some tweaking of rules to finally see a little more parity, but we’re trending in the right direction.

Enter FHM 8, the newest iteration of FHM that the SHL will be adopting. With it, a new rule: No test simming. Teams will not be allowed to test sim, and will be punished if found doing so. This will bring on an interesting era to the league, and I am very curious to see how it impacts the results/standings. I don’t know when test simming in the SHL began, but since I came back to the SHL in Season 46, test simming has been happening. It has ramped up in how much is done, but there has never been an outright ban on it. I am going to look into how this plays into the outcomes of team and individual performance. How long will it take teams to find good combinations? Will the knowledge of FHM 6 translate over to FHM 8? All I know, is this should definitely bring a fresh outlook on the league, and make it much more friendly to casual GMs who may not have the hours available as some of their peers.

***Scrufdaddy*** · 07-21-2022, 11:33 PM

@Otrebor13 APPROVED! +5 TPE Cheers

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