[FM2016] Milo Bloom's American Soccer Pyramid (Fictional, 9 Tiers, Custom Cups)

[Milo Bloom]

1.0 VERSION IS OUT. SCROLL FOR LINK AND NOTES

I've skipped the past few versions of the game, but the Football Manager itch has returned. Assuming there are no hitches with the editor, I plan on recreating my custom database that creates a fictional, multi-tiered American soccer pyramid. The database is created on the premise that soccer is the dominant sport in the United States. At the very top is the American Premier League with massive stadiums, fan support, budgets, and great players. At the very bottom (Tier 9), the semi-professional level. In between, a staggered level of competition level that reflects a wide range of competition levels between the two (For reference, the fourth tier is usually ranked around the MLS level.)

It's almost completely created from scratch with over 500+ fictional teams, stadiums, and uniforms.

Here is my description from the last release(FM 2013):

Details:

- A nine tiered pro/reg pyramid ranging from the American Premier League to regional divisions. Over 300 teams participating in active and playable leagues. Below that, a giant inactive league that functions as a feeder for another 100+ created clubs to feed into the bottom division.

The Tiers are divided into this (# Divisions/ # Clubs in EACH division)*:

*Example: (2/16) = 32 clubs in that tier. Sixteen clubs divided into two divisions

American Premier League (1/18)

American National League (1/18)

American Federal League (1/18)

NSA Championship (2/16) East/West

NSA League One (2/16) East/West

NSA League Two (2/16) East/West

Patriot League Elite (4/15) North/South/Central/West

Patriot League One (4/15) North/South/Central West

USS Regional Premier Leagues (8/9) Northeast/Mid-Atlantic/Southeast/Midwest/Great Plains/Southwest/West/Northwest

*Inactive Lower League feeds into Regional Premier (300+ clubs)

The Cups

The National Cups (Clubs involved):

A newly revamped U.S. Open Cup (All created clubs, even in inactive feeder league)

Soccer Bowl (Pre-season one-off between U.S. Open Cup and American Premier League winners)

President's Cup (Tiers 1-3)

Lamar Hunt Trophy (Tiers 3-6)

Patriot League Invitational Cup (Tiers 7-8)

Federal Cup (9+Inactive Leagues)

And the Regional Cups (Region):

Northeast Regional Cup(Northeast) * Not yet named, more on this later

Colonial Cup (Mid-Atlantic)

Dixie Cup (Southeast)

Great Lakes Trophy (Midwest)

Great Plains Cup (Great Plains)

Sun Belt Trophy (Southwest)

Rose Cup (West)

Cascadia Cup (Northwest)

Customized and regionally based Youth and Reserve Leagues.

The Clubs

More than 600 individually created clubs. One club per American city, with the exception being New York, which also has its Burroughs represented(although, they start in the inactive leagues). Every U.S. state is represented, even Alaska.

Every club has a unique stadium and reserve stadium.

Every team has its own home/away uniforms. So no Red/Blue blandness.

Awards for every tier/division. The higher up you go, the more awards(the idea being a small semi-pro league would not have a goal of the week award)

For reference to those not familiar with American soccer, some of the APL awards do have names. This is what they are:

(Brad) Friedel Award - GK of the Season

(Eddie) Pope Award - Defender of the Season

(Tab) Ramos Award - Midfielder of the Season

(Brian) McBride Award - Forward of the Season

(Joe) Gaetjens - Player of the season

All the rest should be obvious(All-Stars, etc)

1.0 RELEASE LINK AND NOTES

Okay, first release is here. Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/hxk5jqh7j6322uj/MiloAmericanSoccerPyramid1.0.fmf

The above link is compressed. I'm unaware if there are any issues with compressed files. Just in case, below is the uncompressed version:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ow10wrab7dnq9t/MiloAmericanSoccerPyramid1.0UC.fmf

The database should be fine to run out of the box. However, I do have several personal recommendations:

"Do not Add Key Staff" UNCHECKED

"Add Players to Playable Teams" CHECKED*

Largest, reasonable DB you can play**

- All U.S. and U.S. based people in DB

I personally recommend for the DB to run as intended that you sim several years in advance. I find by year 8-10, the head coach vacancies are reasonable, rosters are representative of the DB's design (APL teams become very, very good) and more stable, and it certainly adds a bit of "history" to a database that starts with a clean slate. I personally sim 15 years in advance to cycle through roughly a career of youth players.

*For those concerned with immersion, these generated players will not be called up to the national team.

**This depends on how many leagues you plan to run. Keep in mind, if you run the entire 10 tier database as playable, there are nearly 500 active teams. To fully populate them, it is almost certainly necessary to add players to playable staff but equally necessary to run a DB that's large enough to keep them populated.

------------

Couple general notes:

Because of scope, late night editing sessions, and being a one man crew, there are likely several unintentional errors I made and have not caught. This could be typos, setting errors (whether prize money, stadium locations), etc. I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know if you spot any through the forum or by PM so that I may go back and fix them.

You may find Tier 9 and/or 10 has some odd alignment issues (typically seen in the Northwest leagues.) Occasionally even in Tier 8 or 7 but are rarely as jarring as an Arkansas team in a Washington/Idaho/Alaska-centric league. This has been the case since I first made this database. Potentially an issue of scope, I will see if I can minimize the issue in the future, but may never be fully fixed.

The spreadsheet is a little ways behind. I plan on completing it, but give me a week or two.

For those going through the file on the editor, there are many FAILED changes. Those are simply a product of a merge and I will eventually grind through those. Should have no effect on the actual game. The deleted entries are just accidental duplicates, no FM 2016 original data was removed.

More on a Canadian DB and altered North American Champions League when I make a decision or progress. I likely won't even think about opening the editor for a week or so.

I'm quite behind on my PMs. I'll try and get to them later today or tomorrow.

And finally, thanks again for your patience. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Also, I would love to see your progress. One of my favorite things to do with this DB (maybe moreso than playing) is to just sim and see the interesting stories FM has the ability to create.

Hope you enjoy it.

[Milo Bloom]

I'm always open to suggestions and ideas about teams, stadiums, competitions, etc. To better facilitate that process for those that are interested, I am uploading two of the documents I will directly use during the creation process. The first is the full list of clubs(Names, Cities, Reputations(based on fm13, not sure if its changed significantly), Stadium Names, colors.) The second is the list of competitions organized by tiers and regions. All of it is subject to change based on adjustments to FM 2016 and personal whims/team ideas.

However, you are also free to let me know your suggestions or if you have a fresh, new team idea. As I said above, expansion of tiers is not a current objective, but I would not completely rule it out. But regardless, teams can be added as I like the idea of filling out the regions even more.

WILL REPOST COMPLETED LINKS IN A WEEK OR SO (12/30/2015)

[dllu]

Glad to see this return!

Are you planning on having teams from all states? In which case I might have some ideas...

[Milo Bloom]

All states have representatives. Outside of Washington D.C. with one, Alaska and Wyoming have the least (3).

Were there certain states/regions you were interested in?

Spit-balling/Brainstorming - May be ignorantly stepping on a political landmine, but I like the idea of adding a few teams from Puerto Rico. The southeast region is one of the largest (96), though, and I would feel the need to bolster some of the smaller regions.

[niceman14]

why not a team from Cuba? I would be funny, no?

[Milo Bloom]

That's a bit different since Cuba is a sovereign state. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory.

[BoyInGreen]

One idea might be to include Canadian clubs (in the higher tiers anyway), as it would probably be more economical for them to compete in US leagues than in their own national league.

[dllu]

Spit-balling/Brainstorming - May be ignorantly stepping on a political landmine, but I like the idea of adding a few teams from Puerto Rico. The southeast region is one of the largest (96), though, and I would feel the need to bolster some of the smaller regions.

I think adding clubs from Puerto Rico would make perfect sense. Same goes for US Virgin Islands while you're at it. Personally I would keep Canadian clubs out and possibly make a separate Canadian league, but that's a matter of taste, I guess...

[Milo Bloom]

Just an update. Spent quite a bit of time working on the database this weekend. All the previous database club "shells" have been created. The northeast clubs have been completed (cities, jerseys, nicknames, stadiums) and the region has been expanded to 96 (matching the Southeast.) Am about halfway through the Mid-Atlantic which has also been expanded to 96.

For reference, this is my very rough, generalized checklist:

Club Shells(All Regions) - Completed

Basic League Set-up (All tiers) - Completed

Basic League-Tiered Cups - Completed

Clubs - (1/8)

Northeast - Completed

Mid-Atlantic - In Progress

Southeast

Midwest

Great Plains

Southwest

West

Northwest

Regional Cups

League Rules

Cup Rules

U-21 Cups and Leagues

U-18 Cups and Leagues

Awards

Nation Tweaks

Referees

Modified North American Champions League

Complimentary Canadian Database (Very Basic)

[levigu]

Very interesting idea - looking forward to seeing where you take this.

[Sebacore]

OMG, I loved the previous version of this. Can't wait to play it again.

[Lawlore]

Damn, Milo- this database may just tempt me to buy FM16. I haven't yet, but I know just how high-quality this edit is, and could see myself sinking another few hundred hours into it.

More than happy to get on board with graphics etc. for it again if that day comes.

[Milo Bloom]

Thanks for the kind words. Lawlore, your contributions made this database exponentially better and it is great to see your name pop up.

As for the database, while I can't say when it will be completed, it almost certainly will not be until at least mid-late December. While I'm hopeful I will be able to release it before the 25th, I'm loathe to make promises. So far the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are now completed and I'm working through the Southeast.

[levigu]

I'd also like to offer my - admittedly limited - logo and kit making for this project, if you'd like. That's a lot of clubs, after all.

[podunkboy]

The link to the clubs included doesn't actually go to anything except a filedropper landing page, so I must ask (I must, I must)...will there be a Wichita, KS club (selfish, I know, but I love to take my hometown lads on an adventure.) Right now, we have a decent semi-pro team, FC Wichita, in the outdoor NPSL.

[Milo Bloom]

Whoops. They certainly are.

They are called the Wichita Staggerwings. They start in the 4th tier, western conference(National Soccer Association (NSA) - Championship West) which is usually in between MLS and the English Championship in terms of reputation. They play at Air MidWest Park, a 20300 seat stadium.

They are assigned to the Great Plains region. So outside of league, national, and tier-associated cups, they and their youth team compete in their respective Great Plains Regional Cup. It's funny that you ask if Wichita is in the database, because not only are they in the database but they are the 7th biggest club based on reputation in their region (out of 78, will likely be 96) and the most prestigious of the current seven Kansas clubs.

So in the first year in the league they will compete with teams like Tulsa, Arlington (TX), Honolulu, Anaheim, Lincoln (NE), Colorado Springs. In their regional cup, they'll play teams across an expansive region ranging from Utah to Minnesota (the GP region is by far the biggest in terms of travel time).

Outside of competing in the Great Plains U-18 Cup and a national cup, their youth (and reserves) will compete in a Kansas-only league in which they are top of the totem pole, their biggest challenge at the start of the DB being from Overland Park (Tier 5) and Topeka (Tier 6.)

Don't have the FM2016 editor in front of me (nor have I gotten to them yet so it's irrelevant), but here's how their jerseys looked in 2013 (subject to some changes):

And even better is Lawlore's logo and jerseys for them (White Castle is an amazing touch):

Note: I clearly adjusted their look in-between FM12 and 13 (likely just the process of mass creating teams). When I recreate them this time, I will adjust their jerseys in game to reflect Lawlore's work.

And just to clarify, the jerseys and logo graphics were not my work, but the hard and fantastic work of Lawlore. It's absolutely up to him if he'd like to share his work again (I'm willing to alter the unique IDs because I always create the DB a little differently.)

That was quite a bit of information that you didn't directly ask for, but I wanted to jump at the chance to give people not familiar with the previous DB a snippet of what it entails and looks like compared to the other great American soccer databases on this site that use a similar premise. Mine is just a different approach. No MLS (though, I'm a big MLS fan), but rather over 600 clubs (which will likely be around or above 700 by release) with relatively unique names (albeit some better than others and some repeats of nicknames) with individualized stadiums and jerseys created from scratch that fit into a massive soccer pyramid.

[Lawlore]

On the contrary, Milo, it's your DB, so I'm happy to create new kits to fit whatever the DB designs are- they're reasonably straightforward to do. Likewise, I don't know how much you've changed/edited nicknames or colour schemes, but I'm fully intending to rework a few of the logo designs that aren't quite up to scratch. First time around, it was a question of just getting them all done. Now it's a matter of improving the quality and expanding. Same goes for the kits- some of the sponsors don't really work all that well graphically.

Just wait until I get the idea of attempting to regionalise the ad boards in my head... dammit.

[podunkboy]

Whoops. They certainly are.

They are called the Wichita Staggerwings. They start in the 4th tier, western conference(National Soccer Association (NSA) - Championship West) which is usually in between MLS and the English Championship in terms of reputation. They play at Air MidWest Park, a 20300 seat stadium.

They are assigned to the Great Plains region. So outside of league, national, and tier-associated cups, they and their youth team compete in their respective Great Plains Regional Cup. It's funny that you ask if Wichita is in the database, because not only are they in the database but they are the 7th biggest club based on reputation in their region (out of 78, will likely be 96) and the most prestigious of the current seven Kansas clubs.

So in the first year in the league they will compete with teams like Tulsa, Arlington (TX), Honolulu, Anaheim, Lincoln (NE), Colorado Springs. In their regional cup, they'll play teams across an expansive region ranging from Utah to Minnesota (the GP region is by far the biggest in terms of travel time).

Outside of competing in the Great Plains U-18 Cup and a national cup, their youth (and reserves) will compete in a Kansas-only league in which they are top of the totem pole, their biggest challenge at the start of the DB being from Overland Park (Tier 5) and Topeka (Tier 6.)

Don't have the FM2016 editor in front of me (nor have I gotten to them yet so it's irrelevant), but here's how their jerseys looked in 2013 (subject to some changes):

And even better is Lawlore's logo and jerseys for them (White Castle is an amazing touch):

Note: I clearly adjusted their look in-between FM12 and 13 (likely just the process of mass creating teams). When I recreate them this time, I will adjust their jerseys in game to reflect Lawlore's work.

And just to clarify, the jerseys and logo graphics were not my work, but the hard and fantastic work of Lawlore. It's absolutely up to him if he'd like to share his work again (I'm willing to alter the unique IDs because I always create the DB a little differently.)

That was quite a bit of information that you didn't directly ask for, but I wanted to jump at the chance to give people not familiar with the previous DB a snippet of what it entails and looks like compared to the other great American soccer databases on this site that use a similar premise. Mine is just a different approach. No MLS (though, I'm a big MLS fan), but rather over 600 clubs (which will likely be around or above 700 by release) with relatively unique names (albeit some better than others and some repeats of nicknames) with individualized stadiums and jerseys created from scratch that fit into a massive soccer pyramid.

LOVE this (although we're still actually waiting for White Castle to return after a 75+ year absence). I'm thinking a road trip to Honolulu ought to beat those winter blahs...Thanks for all the hard work!

[Lawlore]

Not gonna lie, I've actually just loaded up my old FM12 save and got excited about this DB all over again. I forgot just how immersive it was- my save is some 23 seasons long:

http://i.imgur.com/TXpmgoD.jpg

If you've got any kind of spreadsheet of team names and kit designs for the new version that I could peek at, Milo, I'd love to make a start on getting the graphics packs up to date.

[Milo Bloom]

Update:

Has been very busy over the past few weeks here. Will continue through this week. I should really begin to make progress starting next week. Using a house analogy, it does not take very long to get the housing framework up, but once you start working on the details, things slow down. Still aiming at a release before the 25th and believe it is possible.

I have decided to bump up each region in teams to 96 except the Northwest (bumped to 64.) That'll bring up the total clubs to 736.

Currently NE, MA, SE are completed. That's 3 out of 8 regions. All clubs (including new) in Midwest onward are shells. This is the really time consuming part, but I also think it's the most important.

I'm pretty set on expanding to an extra tier, but I'm undecided on how to do so. There's just so many teams that will be in the Lower League and how FM has functioned in the past, the same clubs get cycled in between the inactive Tier 10 to the Active Tier 9 due to game just pulling by rep.

Personally, I love the 9 team league in tier 9. I think it gives the vibe of intimacy and locality that I am seeking there. You really get to know all the teams in that level because you play them 4 times a year so I am hesitant to simply expand league size.

A mirrored 8x9(DivxTeam) tier doesn't really accomplish what I am seeking with the extra tier.

Think the most obvious option is a 16x9 tier with each region divided into a mini sub region.

For example:

SE1(Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky) and SE2(South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.)

SE1 - Auburn (AL), Decatur (AL), Madison (AL), Southaven (MS), Biloxi (MS), Franklin (TN), Bartlett (TN), Covington (KY), Hopkinsville (KY)

SE2 - Rock Hill (SC), Sumter (SC), Albany (GA), Johns Creek (GA), Warner Robins (GA), West Palm Beach (FL), Pompano Beach (FL), Spring Hill (FL), Lakeland (FL)

Slightly worried about making the DB too big, but it feels like a waste creating all these lower league clubs and almost 90% will never see the light of day outside of cup competitions.

Would love to hear any comments, suggestions, thoughts. Be happy to answer any questions.

[fsquid]

Never thought I would see Southaven, MS and Bartlett, TN in a database.

[Milo Bloom]

Thought I'd upload some screenshots that show the progress so far:

American Premier League Selection Screen

Competition screen of Jackson (MS). Jackson starts in Tier 5.

Expanded Reserves/Youth Leagues. One of two North Carolina's two leagues, one of the most competitive in the DB.

Similarly, New York's Y/R league has been split into two- New York City and New York State. Not nearly as competitive at the top, New York Empire should run it.

Virginia Beach (Tier 3) Information Screen

Mid-Atlantic Stadiums

[Oklahoma]

I can't wait to try it. How many teams from Oklahoma did you make?

[Milo Bloom]

10 in previous databases:

Oklahoma City (American National League/Tier 2)

Tulsa (NSA Championship West/Tier 4)

Norman (NSA League Two West/Tier 6)

Broken Arrow (USS Western Prairie Premier/Tier 9)

Lawton

Edmond

Moore

Midwest City

Enid

Stillwater

Set for 12 in this database. New expansions currently penciled in: Muskogee, Bartlesville

Compete in SW region with Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas.

As I complete this DB, I will also be sure to release an accompanying spreadsheet that provides this kind of information for ease of use.

[Milo Bloom]

Here's my very professionally annotated map depicting the regions:

All regions have 96 teams except for Northwest with 64.

[Lawlore]

Update:

Has been very busy over the past few weeks here. Will continue through this week. I should really begin to make progress starting next week. Using a house analogy, it does not take very long to get the housing framework up, but once you start working on the details, things slow down. Still aiming at a release before the 25th and believe it is possible.

I have decided to bump up each region in teams to 96 except the Northwest (bumped to 64.) That'll bring up the total clubs to 736.

Currently NE, MA, SE are completed. That's 3 out of 8 regions. All clubs (including new) in Midwest onward are shells. This is the really time consuming part, but I also think it's the most important.

I'm pretty set on expanding to an extra tier, but I'm undecided on how to do so. There's just so many teams that will be in the Lower League and how FM has functioned in the past, the same clubs get cycled in between the inactive Tier 10 to the Active Tier 9 due to game just pulling by rep.

Personally, I love the 9 team league in tier 9. I think it gives the vibe of intimacy and locality that I am seeking there. You really get to know all the teams in that level because you play them 4 times a year so I am hesitant to simply expand league size.

A mirrored 8x9(DivxTeam) tier doesn't really accomplish what I am seeking with the extra tier.

Think the most obvious option is a 16x9 tier with each region divided into a mini sub region.

For example:

SE1(Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky) and SE2(South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.)

SE1 - Auburn (AL), Decatur (AL), Madison (AL), Southaven (MS), Biloxi (MS), Franklin (TN), Bartlett (TN), Covington (KY), Hopkinsville (KY)

SE2 - Rock Hill (SC), Sumter (SC), Albany (GA), Johns Creek (GA), Warner Robins (GA), West Palm Beach (FL), Pompano Beach (FL), Spring Hill (FL), Lakeland (FL)

Slightly worried about making the DB too big, but it feels like a waste creating all these lower league clubs and almost 90% will never see the light of day outside of cup competitions.

Would love to hear any comments, suggestions, thoughts. Be happy to answer any questions.

To put some figures to this:

At present, you are going for 96 teams in 7 regions, and 64 in the 8th region, leading to a total of 736 teams in the database, as you state.

At the moment, with the nine tiers of the pyramid, there are 342 league teams. With the new regional targets, that's less than half of the total number of teams you're creating, so I'd agree that there's definitely scope for adding a tenth tier.

Mirroring the 8x9 of the Regional Premiers for Tier 10 would add 72 more teams, bringing the total number of playable teams to 414.

Splitting it to 16x9 would add 144 teams to the pyramid, bringing the total number of playable league teams to 486.

I think that, given the size of the Tier 9 Regional Prem divisions, you don't want to be splitting the division up any more than in half (e.g. to 32x5), because while that would let you add a few more teams to the league, suddenly you'd end up relegating four teams out of a 9-team league (or ending up with Tier 10 champions going to a playoff with another and potentially not being promoted), which seems like overkill and against the simplicity of the pyramid.

So, after all that, personally, I agree that 16x9 is the way to go.

[uncle dave]

Update:

Has been very busy over the past few weeks here. Will continue through this week. I should really begin to make progress starting next week. Using a house analogy, it does not take very long to get the housing framework up, but once you start working on the details, things slow down. Still aiming at a release before the 25th and believe it is possible.

I have decided to bump up each region in teams to 96 except the Northwest (bumped to 64.) That'll bring up the total clubs to 736.

Currently NE, MA, SE are completed. That's 3 out of 8 regions. All clubs (including new) in Midwest onward are shells. This is the really time consuming part, but I also think it's the most important.

I'm pretty set on expanding to an extra tier, but I'm undecided on how to do so. There's just so many teams that will be in the Lower League and how FM has functioned in the past, the same clubs get cycled in between the inactive Tier 10 to the Active Tier 9 due to game just pulling by rep.

Personally, I love the 9 team league in tier 9. I think it gives the vibe of intimacy and locality that I am seeking there. You really get to know all the teams in that level because you play them 4 times a year so I am hesitant to simply expand league size.

A mirrored 8x9(DivxTeam) tier doesn't really accomplish what I am seeking with the extra tier.

Think the most obvious option is a 16x9 tier with each region divided into a mini sub region.

For example:

SE1(Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky) and SE2(South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.)

SE1 - Auburn (AL), Decatur (AL), Madison (AL), Southaven (MS), Biloxi (MS), Franklin (TN), Bartlett (TN), Covington (KY), Hopkinsville (KY)

SE2 - Rock Hill (SC), Sumter (SC), Albany (GA), Johns Creek (GA), Warner Robins (GA), West Palm Beach (FL), Pompano Beach (FL), Spring Hill (FL), Lakeland (FL)

Slightly worried about making the DB too big, but it feels like a waste creating all these lower league clubs and almost 90% will never see the light of day outside of cup competitions.

Would love to hear any comments, suggestions, thoughts. Be happy to answer any questions.

Hello Milo, thanks again for pulling this together -- I'm looking forward to it. I had downloaded and made some tweaks to your last version and really enjoyed it. Many of the changes I'd made were basically cosmetic, like moving more teams into major cities, or changing stadium or competition names to be more 'corporate' (not everyone's cup of tea to be sure, but I enjoyed the intellectual challenge). I even compiled potential kit sponsors, though I never did anything with it.

The more structural changes I made were to increase the number of clubs in the top tiers to 22 and in the middle set of tiers to 18, simply because there were too many markets getting pushed into semi-pro leagues that I wanted to see a bit higher in the hierarchy. I also changed the bottom of the pyramid so that the eighth level was 8x9, and the ninth level was 24x8. That allowed for more teams to be used, and it also cut down the geographic scope of leagues for the very small teams at the bottom tier. In order to accommodate promotion and relegation without having excessive movement in those divisions, I created a four-team playoff with the worst team from the eighth level and three division winners from the ninth level.

Finally, I tweaked the division boundaries so that they were all essentially non-overlapping rectangles to help avoid excessive regional movement. It created a few goofy divisional alignments but overall I found that it helped keep teams where they were supposed to be.

I had laid out the framework for a Canadian league as well with the intent of creating a NACL-type competition, but didn't get around to creating it.

Happy to share any of these things with you if you have interest, just let me know. Thanks again for putting in all of the work on this, it's really made the game more enjoyable for me.

[Guest]

Will any of these clubs incorporate current MLS players or is it all fake players?

[Twellman24]

I can't wait to try it. How many teams from Oklahoma did you make?

So weird to find another Oklahoman around here!!!

Can't wait to try the update!

[Lawlore]

Will any of these clubs incorporate current MLS players or is it all fake players?

The previous edition was entirely fake players- it'd surprise me if this were any different.

[Milo Bloom]

To put some figures to this:

...

So, after all that, personally, I agree that 16x9 is the way to go.

I am pretty sure this is the way I'm going to go. I'll see how well the divisions maintain their geographical alignment. It gets a little wonky at tier 9, but if it handles reasonably well, this is the path I will take.

Hello Milo, thanks again for pulling this together -- I'm looking forward to it. I had downloaded and made some tweaks to your last version and really enjoyed it.

...

Happy to share any of these things with you if you have interest, just let me know. Thanks again for putting in all of the work on this, it's really made the game more enjoyable for me.

Sounds fantastic. Always enjoy and am interested in how people use or modify the database.

Particularly interested in your boundaries. I'm a one-man creation and testing crew and that seems the be one of the areas (see above) that can cause me some issues (Looking at you Tier 9 Northwest.)

Will any of these clubs incorporate current MLS players or is it all fake players?

The previous edition was entirely fake players- it'd surprise me if this were any different.

The only thing I do is release all American-based players. I don't add or transfer any players to new clubs. Part of the fun for me is seeing, with a blank slate, where these players go.

The player has the option to add or not add fake players from the set-up screen. Initially, I was hesitant to the idea of adding fake players, but after numerous runs across years and databases, it simply makes it run better. It populates the teams/youth teams from the get-go which leads to more stable financials, long-term populated rosters. Without fake in the past, teams struggled to keep their senior, reserves, and youth team populated. That in turn has led to a general lack of American players.

The nice thing is that all off-the-bat fake players generated DO NOT get picked for national teams. So a randomly generated 27 year-old will not be called up to the U.S. National Team (at least not by the A.I.)

When I run a game on this database to play, I typically just sim 15 years to phase out these players and roughly a career cycle. This is just personal preference to avoid using those fake players and add a bit of history before I jump in.

[Milo Bloom]

Couple people have asked, so I'll post the club spreadsheet (so far.) From now on I'll upload a new version as I complete each region.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/w7s0d16jcbp5s7h/AmericanProject_-_Clubs-4.xlsx

Couple things:

It's not completed yet. I'm trying to catch up, but my priority is actually making changes in the DB. Currently completed* up through Indiana so Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Illinois, and Indiana are all representative of their details in this version.

First color listed (at least through Indiana) is the team's primary color, usually corresponding to the "Background" color when modifying jerseys. Second, third color correspond to Foreground/Outline.

New clubs and their cities have been picked but are not listed in the spreadsheet(Post Indiana) or are reflected in numbers post-Great Plains. If you are really eager to see a city in the game to replace one, now would be the time.

Bold - Changes from Last Database

Italicized - New entries to this version

*Reputations, Youth Divisions have erratically been touched. All listed divisions for first team will likely not change, have not included tier 10 teams yet.

As always, happy to take suggestions. And again, if you want to use this information for your own purposes and database designs please give me some acknowledgment.

[Oklahoma]

Do you have a release date for it? I can't wait to play it

[dim13]

Milo,

The teams you have listed under Arizona are actually cities/towns in Arkansas, and you're missing cities/towns in Arizona.

[uncle dave]

Sounds fantastic. Always enjoy and am interested in how people use or modify the database.

Particularly interested in your boundaries. I'm a one-man creation and testing crew and that seems the be one of the areas (see above) that can cause me some issues (Looking at you Tier 9 Northwest.)

Happy to share. I'm on the road for the holidays at the moment but will PM it to you when I get back home. Using a standardized rectangular boundary did force me to juggle teams a little bit (and maybe cheat in some cases by slightly adjusting the location of a couple of cities), but I figure that's better than the total anarchy at the lower levels that results from not defining clean boundaries. You'll still have some teams moving around, but the AI is pretty good at assigning the closest team to the other division when needed.

Will be back in touch soon -- thanks again.

[Milo Bloom]

Milo,

The teams you have listed under Arizona are actually cities/towns in Arkansas, and you're missing cities/towns in Arizona.

Just a typo, supposed to say Arkansas. Arizona is in the west on the next sheet.

[Milo Bloom]

Do you have a release date for it? I can't wait to play it

Completed through the Southwest. Have the west left and northwest left. Doing the reserves and youth competitions as I complete states/regions.

Still have competition rules, awards, referees, and various other adjustments to make. One issue that is cropping up in tests is a lack of managers. IIRC, FMs in the past did a better job populating DBs with staffs including managers. I'll have to tinker and do some testing.

Aiming for the 25th.

[Lawlore]

Just to update on where I am and what I plan to do with the graphics:

At the moment, starting from the base badge pack I created for the FM12/13 editions, I have now updated or redesigned 64 existing badges from the NE/Mid/SE/Lakes/Plains regions. When I see an updated sheet with Milo's changes for the SW/Pacific/NW regions, I'll get cracking on those too.

With a potential 10th Tier, I have decided to create badges for all teams with a reputation of 500 or more, which will be 33 all-new badges for teams in the regions previously mentioned. Once the DB is released, all other league teams will also get badges.

Every single league club will get their kits reviewed once the DB is released, to update the designs and sponsors appropriately.

Every single club will (eventually) receive a pack of adboards specific to their league standing at game setup and geography- a Tier 1 APL team will receive international, national and state brands, while a Tier 9 USS team will have boards for much more local companies.

[Milo Bloom]

The 25th turned out to be way too optimistic. The good news is that the end is in sight.

All teams are done. That was the huge time sink. In my rush, the spreadsheet has fallen a little behind again. Outside of a cursory fix sheet, this is what I have left:

Attendances

Competition Dates

Competition Rules

Stadium Settings (Cup Finals, National Team Games, etc)

Referees

Finish off Awards

Youth/League Names

Failed Changes

I'll probably address the failed changes after the initial release. They should not create any issue, just the product of merging two versions early in the process. They will be weeded out eventually, but I'm eager to get the first release out. Along with that will be the annoying issue of reworking team logo outlines. You'll notice about 1/3 of the teams may have an out of place black on their logo. Simply a product of haste, I need to go back and fix the outline color (associated with team text.)

Through a couple test runs, I have noticed a few things. Head Coach positions do eventually come to a reasonable number (20-30 or so vacanies) out of a 400 or so teams. It just takes the right sized database and a few years of simming.

The lower regional divisions are working reasonably well, about as well as they have in the past. There still is the odd Missouri or Arkansas team in the Northwest, but for some reason that's been the case since FM 2012. Some slightly misaligned teams, but I believe that's a product of scope.

One issue I have no idea of how to address is the location of playoff games. Because I've included so many stadiums, a lot of major play-off games end up at comically small fields. I've yet to find a way to fix this. If anyone has an idea, let me know.

[bragin295177]

Milo Bloom, I think you should use minimum staduim capacity in round settings. Also set to use home stadium in round settings and set stadium rules to home in dates.

[Milo Bloom]

The first version will be released tomorrow morning (USA, East Coast.)

I still plan to release a complimentary Canadian database later. It will be relatively bare-bones and simply a modification of reputation, stadium sizes, and a basic league structure designed to create another competitor in North America.

May or may not create a new Champions League. Will look at adjusting North American reputations post-release.

Thanks for the patience.

[levigu]

Take as much time as you need, I know it'll be worth it in the end. Looking forward to playing this!

[Milo Bloom]

And as thanks for your patience, here's a few more screenshots to show you what I've been working on recently:

And just because these two pages make me laugh everytime (and working exactly as intended):

[QuincyOwusu-Abeyie]

Looking forward to this, great work.

[t27]

thanks for the great work can you please post pics of Miami and Fort Lauderdale

[Lawlore]

Guess I better look into buying FM16 sometime soon...

[Milo Bloom]

1.0 FILE HAS BEEN RELEASED.

Okay, first release is here. Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/hxk5jqh7j6322uj/MiloAmericanSoccerPyramid1.0.fmf

The above link is compressed. I'm unaware if there are any issues with compressed files. Just in case, below is the uncompressed version:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ow10wrab7dnq9t/MiloAmericanSoccerPyramid1.0UC.fmf

The database should be fine to run out of the box. However, I do have several personal recommendations:

"Do not Add Key Staff" UNCHECKED

"Add Players to Playable Teams" CHECKED*

Largest, reasonable DB you can play**

- All U.S. and U.S. based people in DB

I personally recommend for the DB to run as intended that you sim several years in advance. I find by year 8-10, the head coach vacancies are reasonable, rosters are representative of the DB's design (APL teams become very, very good) and more stable, and it certainly adds a bit of "history" to a database that starts with a clean slate. I personally sim 15 years in advance to cycle through roughly a career of youth players.

*For those concerned with immersion, these generated players will not be called up to the national team.

**This depends on how many leagues you plan to run. Keep in mind, if you run the entire 10 tier database as playable, there are nearly 500 active teams. To fully populate them, it is almost certainly necessary to add players to playable staff but equally necessary to run a DB that's large enough to keep them populated.

------------

Couple general notes:

Because of scope, late night editing sessions, and being a one man crew, there are likely several unintentional errors I made and have not caught. This could be typos, setting errors (whether prize money, stadium locations), etc. I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know if you spot any through the forum or by PM so that I may go back and fix them.

You may find Tier 9 and/or 10 has some odd alignment issues (typically seen in the Northwest leagues.) Occasionally even in Tier 8 or 7 but are rarely as jarring as an Arkansas team in a Washington/Idaho/Alaska-centric league. This has been the case since I first made this database. Potentially an issue of scope, I will see if I can minimize the issue in the future, but may never be fully fixed.

The spreadsheet is a little ways behind. I plan on completing it, but give me a week or two.

For those going through the file on the editor, there are many FAILED changes. Those are simply a product of a merge and I will eventually grind through those. Should have no effect on the actual game. The deleted entries are just accidental duplicates, no FM 2016 original data was removed.

I get this question often and so I'll try to address it generally. I do not mind if you use or alter my DB for your own release BUT I would like some level of acknowledgement or credit along with your release. I do not feel that it's too much to ask. This database reflects many hours of work with over 95000 registered changes. However, I always greatly appreciate you asking for permission first.

More on a Canadian DB and altered North American Champions League when I make a decision or progress. I likely won't even think about opening the editor for a week or so.

I'm quite behind on my PMs. I'll try and get to them later today or tomorrow.

And finally, thanks again for your patience. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. Also, I would love to see your progress. One of my favorite things to do with this DB (maybe moreso than playing) is to just sim and see the interesting stories FM has the ability to create.

Hope you enjoy it.

[Milo Bloom]

thanks for the great work can you please post pics of Miami and Fort Lauderdale

[fsquid]

awesome, thanks for posting this.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Milo, I've been dropping by this thread regularly, checking on your progress. It's great to see you've posted your file! I've downloaded it, and I'm looking forward to giving it a go.

Thanks, in advance, for all your hard work.