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Controls
| Career
| Booking |
Matches |
Editing
Match Ratings
The key ingredients to a "good" match are as follows:
- The Popularity of the wrestlers involved determines how much the fans
will care about their actions. It affects their overall enthusiasm for the
match, as well as how much they will "pop" for key moments (such as a near
fall). In some instances, it is Strength that determines how entertaining
an attack is, etc. So generally a character with all the tools is more likely to
make positive contributions.
- The purple vial indicates whether there is
a Face-Heel "chemistry" between a good guy and a bad guy. Without this, the
match may lack meaning (although especially popular or talented wrestlers can
overcome it). Wrestlers who are friends in real life may also have automatic
chemistry.
- The green scales indicate whether the
match is evenly "balanced" or not. Fans will quickly lose interest if one person
dominates and they are not convinced that anybody could win at any moment. It is
important to keep an eye on the health meters and make sure there is some
back-and-forth.
- The clock grows increasingly solid,
indicating that the match may be running too long. The fans have a limited
attention span depending on the scale of the match. It is not impossible to make
gains after boredom has set it, but it's certainly harder. Note that the last
minute of a match ceases to be boring! Long-sighted bookers can use this for
exciting time limit draws.
- The skull & crossbones indicates that the
match is relying too much on extreme violence. Fans can become desensitized to
this after a while and it will lose its impact. The damage is not permanent
though, and faith can be restored if you lay off the weapons.
- A flame
around the rating indicates that there is an established rivalry that the fans
are getting a kick out of seeing. This enhances their enthusiasm for the match -
as well as providing pre-match "hype" (a better starting score). You can use
scripted promos to create rivalries if they do not happen naturally.
- Putting a championship on the line (or
some other consequence) has a similar effect to a feud, in that it automatically
increases enthusiasm for the match and makes it mean more. You can either
interpret this as a way of making boring wrestlers entertaining or as a way of
maximizing the potential of a deserving champion.
Card Ratings
The overall score for a show is the average of all the matches on the card.
Albeit the Main Event and Semi Mains are more significant than the
Mid Card or Under Card segments, so it is important to position
entertaining matches where they will have most impact and end on a high. The
overall score is slightly more generous than the rating for a single match, as
it is not expected that every match on the card will be a classic. A 5-star show
might very well be one full of 4-star matches! Note that TV tapings only have 6
segments to fill, whereas Pay-Per-View events could have as many as 9. It is up
to you whether you submit a complete card of matches or not, but note that the
show will be judged as if it did consist of at least 6 segments (with missing
ones scoring zero). This overall score influences the popularity of your brand
and where it sits in the TV ratings, which in turn influences how high
attendances will be next time.
Finances
This game features a somewhat simplified economy, where promotions earn money
from the live attendance which then they use to pay off various expenses. The
price of a ticket fluctuates over time, so no matter how popular the promotion
is you may experience lean years as well as affluent ones. Unless a wrestler is
favoured enough to receive "guaranteed" money or health insurance, you only have
to pay the ones you use - so it's important to pay attention to their price tags
and how many of them you involve. You may also have "production" costs from the
props and arena changes required for each match. Revenue tends to be up to 25%
higher for Pay-Per-View events, so it's best to save your more expensive ideas
for those.
Wrestler Attributes
When choosing which wrestlers to use, you may want to consider the following
stats:
- Popularity is how "over" the character is (note that it is possible for
a bad guy to be "over" without actually being well liked). As a champion, this
affects how many people they might draw to a show. In the ring, it determines
how entertaining their actions are. More popular wrestlers are also more likely
to have miraculous comebacks, making it harder for them to be pinned.
- Strength determines how powerful their attacks are (and therefore how
entertaining those attacks are). Such moves may also require this quality to be
performed without error.
- Skill indicates how likely they are to counter a move or perform one of
their own without error.
- Agility determines how fast they move and how far they can fly from a
height. Such moves may also require this quality to be performed without error.
- Stamina determines how quickly their health recovers - both in the ring
and outside of it. An unfit wrestler will not be able to perform at their best
week after week.
- Toughness refers to their ability to absorb punishment - such as how
many shots they can take before falling down, and how quickly they can retaliate
with an attack of their own. It also suggests how likely they are to submit,
bleed, or get injured.
- Attitude is how co-operative the individual is or how likely they are
to cause trouble.
- Happiness is literally how satisfied the person is with their current
situation. This is not irrelevant because unhappy employees can also become unco-operative
and unlikely to stay with the company.
Training
If you would like to improve the attributes of any wrestler in your camp, you
have several options:
- Clicking [Attributes] in their profile will take you to an interactive
training session where you can tap the screen to score gains in a particular
area. Alternatively, you could wrestle a little "sparring" match and get
miscellaneous gains that way.
- If you click a particular stat meter on the character's profile it will be
highlighted BLUE - and this instructs them
to train that area whenever they have enough health to do so. This will
automatically give you small gains each week without your involvement.
Getting Over
Popularity is the one attribute that is harder to manipulate because it reflects
what takes place in the ring. Every time a wrestler wins he becomes more
popular, and every time he loses he becomes less so. By considering this, you
can 'push' wrestlers to become big stars. Simply orchestrate his performances so
that he wins repeatedly and he will 'get over' with the fans eventually. The
catch is that wrestlers get pushed at the expense of others. For someone to win
all the time, several other performers have to lose just as frequently - and
their value declines when they do so. The victims of these situations are called
'jobbers' - wrestlers whose sole purpose is to make others look better. As a
booker, you must always be thinking about who you want to push and who you want
to bury. There's very little middle ground, because a wrestler who wins and
loses in equal measure can't make progress in either direction.
How much a wrestler's Popularity increases or decreases depends on the
circumstances of their various wins/losses. If a wrestler obliterates an
opponent with ease then they will be seen as a force to be reckoned with. On the
other hand, the wrestler that is so easily obliterated will be seen as a joke. A
similar tactic is to consider how popular the wrestlers are. If a well-respected
wrestler loses to an underdog then the underdog will receive a bonus, and vice
versa. By letting a lowly wrestler score victories over big names he can become
more respected. Other impressive circumstances include winning against the odds
(such as with an injury), and outlasting numerous opponents. The winner of a big
10-man brawl, for instance, is considered to be the best of those 10 men and
deserves more respect. One other thing to consider about who wins and loses in
big matches is that the wrestler that 'takes the fall' will be seen as the worst
man in the match and will be disrespected accordingly. Big matches can be used
to get multiple people over, however, as there are also points to be scored for
surviving to the end or eliminating the most people.
In this context, championships are very real honours
and are perhaps the surest way of getting somebody over. Putting a title on the
line makes matches more interesting and the consequences of winning more
significant, so they can either be used to elevate weaker talent or fulfill the
potential of deserving candidates. Holding the title is a big responsibility,
however, as the face of the company is 50% responsible for attendances.
Further Reading
I regret that there is more to this game than I could ever explain here, so I
hope you enjoy figuring some things out for yourself! Or you may want to join
the debate on social media where any curious questions will be answered by
myself or other players:
Copyright © MDickie
2000 - 2015
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