New WHA teams with only handful of players

[JJ Lehto]

Played WHA through 74-75, and on the next season two new teams, Spurs and Stingers, have only 4 and 3 players in their rosters, respectively...

[JJ Lehto]

Ok, after filling their rosters with free agents, and resurrecting Gerry Cheevers, who retired way too early, I'm not able to load the save anymore. It crashes while "Finished Loading...62%".

I uploaded the league-file to the ftp-site. It is named "quebec1974.lg.7z."

Thanks for any help, really would like to continue with it!

[JeffR]

Badly corrupted, most of the files are gone. If either the rs_one and rs_two folders have files in them with sizes other than 0, try copying the contents of one of them into the main save folder and reloading.

Re: the starting roster size for Denver and Cincinnati, that's normal for them, there's no WHA expansion draft so they need to fill the rosters with free agents.

[JJ Lehto]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Badly corrupted, most of the files are gone. If either the rs_one and rs_two folders have files in them with sizes other than 0, try copying the contents of one of them into the main save folder and reloading.

Re: the starting roster size for Denver and Cincinnati, that's normal for them, there's no WHA expansion draft so they need to fill the rosters with free agents.

Thanks for the info!

Do the teams eventually fill their rosters, or do they need comissioner help?

[JJ Lehto]

Using "rs_two folder" brought it back!

Since Cheevers has not been "resurrected" in this save, ie. a historical player imported back into the game (resulting in two accounts of him, retired and imported), I guess that created the problem. Just a guess.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by JJ Lehto

Thanks for the info!

Do the teams eventually fill their rosters, or do they need comissioner help?

They'll fill them, signing free agents normally and then if they still need players once the preseason starts, the AI will automatically sign whatever's need to fill the roster out.

[Anton]

This is totally nitpicking, but Cincinnati was an active franchise that could and did sign players starting in 1973 and subsequently loaned those players to another team (John Hughes, Denis and Gene Sobchuck to Phoenix, Steve Andrascik to Indianapolis, Ron Plumb to San Diego, Mike Pelyk to Vancouver).

Conversely, Denver was seemingly invented overnight and was stocked with an 'expansion draft' of sorts that really just involved them taking 14 players from the suddenly-folded Chicago Cougars.

I'm not sure if either of those situations are able to be programmed into the game (particularly the Cincinnati example, which would be a fun option to have and exploit) but it is at least another example of what made the WHA wild and interesting.

-steps off soapbox-
(Source: The Complete Historical and Statistical Reference to the World Hockey Association by Scott Surgent)

[Tiger Fan]

I still think it would be best to allow the WHA teams as they debut to ‘steal’ some guys off NHL organizations as happened in real life. Mainly top end minor leaguers but also the occasional NHL regular. Relying on the limited free agent pool as it is in the game makes Each of the WHA teams just awful in their first couple of years.

[JJ Lehto]

Originally Posted by Tiger Fan

Relying on the limited free agent pool as it is in the game makes Each of the WHA teams just awful in their first couple of years.

Other problem is that better players are not interested in contract extensions, even if offered ludicrous amounts of money, ie. they go back to NHL.

(Now if there were shortages of money, leading to wages not paid and star players jumping back to NHL... that would be historical)