Dolphinsim football sim

[BayBuck]

I just realized this forum was here, and it seems like the appropriate place to let you guys know about the best online football simulation out there--Dolphinsim!

www.dolphinsim.com

This is very different from fantasy leagues, in that Dolphinsim is not tied to real-life outcomes of games; as a simulation, it is a self-contained universe where coaches recruit players and write playbooks for NCAA-based seasons. The best league is CCEL, which is college football, but there's also a handful of pro leagues based on NFL, and college/pro leagues for basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer. Recruiting is very competitive and fun, and the gameday-sim is very complex and realistic.

I've been coaching football on Dolphinsim for about 5 years now, with four 13-week seasons per year, and I've learned a lot about the intricacies of the game while meeting sports-fans from around the nation/world (and there are many from Ohio, of course). A 3-month season only costs $5.95, but you get a free demo season in each sport, to try it out.

I highly recommend any CFB/recruiting fans check out CCEL, a very competitive league that actually takes years to master (with a longterm prestige system). But I am the commissioner of a pro league called CFL, and I'd gladly kick out any AWOL coaches for newbies from the Planet. I must warn you, though, Dolphinsim is addictive and can take over your life--but it's worth it!

 

[BayBuck]

DEL has revamped its site to try to appeal to new coaches, and is now offering a pro football sim league called WFL that is just for "newbies" with fewer than 3 seasons experience. The first season will start Monday, with waiver-wire signings Friday, then a draft the next week.

There's always a ton of great talent available when a new league opens up, and as a seasoned veteran I'd be more than happy to help any fellow BPers learn the ropes. The first season (13 weeks) is completely free!

www.dolphinsim.com
Go to "Sign up now", then "Join League" WFL

 

[fanaticbuckeye]

I am in.

I have Arizona in the WFL. Now what? They are 61.65 mill under budget (highest available) and have excellent team chemistry. I assume the budget is a good thing so I have the freedom to go buy more players, I hope.

What advice can you give me?

 

[buckeyeman06]

Im in too...Oakland-WFL

so whats up with all this?

 

[BayBuck]

Wow, glad to see a couple BPers joining the DEL experience. There's a lot to learn, and an endless amount of advice I could give you, but I'll start with some basics.

The season will initialize today at noon, and any unsigned (or un-RFA'd) players will become free agents. All FAs will enter the first waiver-wire round for which bidding will take place Friday--since this is WFL's first season, everyone has small rosters and will be filling up in that WW, so it will be important to do well then. Basically you want a nice mix of high-priced studs (say, QB for $6-8M, TB for $5-6M, bigtime defenders for $5M) and reasonably priced veterans and prospects. If you bid too high on the superstars, you'll blow your budget and end up with no depth; if you are too conservative, you'll miss all the big names and end up with mediocre talent.

You don't have the option yet, but after initialization you can put together WW-bid groups, which I like to do per position: for instance, select all the QBs you'd potentially like to sign, prioritize them, and enter contract value and length (which will be entered in a blind-auction style bidding process from most to least coveted players). You'll want to have groups large enough so that you always get fallback players in case you miss on your main targets, and in such a big WW round you can get decent older veterans for really cheap (under $1M).

There will be 3 WW rounds (Friday, Monday, Weds), then the draft will start the next Friday (March 10) and go through the following week, one round per day. So with a off-season roster max of 55 players, you only want maybe 47-48 going into the draft, so you can draft at least 6 guys. And remember, every player could look different after training-camps, so try to go for younger guys with low TR, who are more likely to have upside.

Feel free to PM me or you can post questions on the DEL Forum for all veterans to answer, and the DEL Help pages will teach you all about the sim. Good luck!

 

[BayBuck]

I mentioned RFAs above, but perhaps you don't know what I meant: these are Restricted Free Agents, who are under-26 players that have some pro experience. They cost you less on the open market but can earn draft picks in compensation, and they are important to building a team.

If you get this before noon today, do this real quick:
For WFL Oakland, you definitely want to designate RFAs for both QBs, maybe the 2 CBs, and DT McBride. Even if someone signs them away you'll get 1/2-picks in return. Also, re-sign C Christmann, ILB Long and maybe WR Crawford.

For WFL Arizona, you definitely want to RFA C Teyshak and OT Warner, probably WR Sheen, maybe ILB Hughes. You could also re-sign OT Nevin for a year.

 

[BayBuck]

Dolphinsim, not much to look at but still the greatest interactive football sim on the market (its recruiting and simulation engine puts WhatIfSports to shame). New college football season initializes Friday, first season (13 weeks) is free, then $5.95 after that (I'm not an employee, just a longtime player trying to spread the word). It's not for everybody, but for that particular brand of sim geek who gets into the numbers & strategy & RECRUITING, it's addictive!

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