Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations) - Page 170

**Rain Man** · 09:15 AM

I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free.

cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below.

If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3.

Here's the overview:

Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football

Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end.

Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league.

This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter.

In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week).

Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh.

The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games.

The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this:
• Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs.
• Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft.
• Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league.
• Rinse and repeat.

Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved.

We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors.

Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like.

So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft!

Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system.

How Free Agency Works:

Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft.

Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later.

1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool.

2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts.

The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies).

$0 - 1 season contract
$10 - 2 season contract
$22 - 3 season contract
$37 - 4 season contract
$55 - 5 season contract
$76 - 6 season contract
$100 - 7 season contract

You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents.

3. The free agency period begins.

Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below.

Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid
1 0 to 9
2 10 to 21
3 22 to 36
4 37 to 54
5 55 to 75
6 76 to 99
7 100 or more

For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it’s also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it’s a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it’s a 7-year contract.

For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012.

4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency.

Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3.

The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours.

5. Unused Salary Points

If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over.

6. Salary Points and Roster Management

In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points “on your roster” and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons.

Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it’s a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted.

7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players

When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents.

There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows:

• At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid.

8. Free Agency and Trades

If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he’ll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.)

9. Future Years

In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions.

a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600.

b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else.

c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one.

10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this:

a. Sandbox season goes from February through April.
b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit.
c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period.
d. January. Roster cuts to 53.
e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d.
f. New Sandbox season begins.

**Rain Man** · 07-30-2012, 12:04 PM

Are the next simulations up?

Edit: I guess, as my mother used to say, both my arms aren't broken so I can go check for myself.

**cdcox** · 07-30-2012, 01:05 PM

No, ran into a mysql issue. I figured that out but then an issue with data analysis came up. A set of numbers that theoretically should sum to about 1 is only summing to about 0.75 on a NFL-wide basis. I can roll with that, but I want to check the range of this sum on some Sandbox teams before I change the passing model. I'll probably take the site down tonight to test that. When it comes back up it will have some new umofficial sims to review. Sorry for the break in the action, but I want to get some testing of the changes done this Sandbox season.

lostcause · 07-30-2012, 04:24 PM

Im sure after the "season", you could randomize the schedule and run another one to keep tweaking the sim. I imagine there might be enough interest from team owners

**cdcox** · 07-31-2012, 10:50 PM

The site is back up with a new set of UNOFFICIAL random games listed in week 14 of league 1. Please review for weird stuff.

If these are reasonably good, we'll do official week 14 in a couple days.

topher79 · 08-01-2012, 08:13 AM

Las Vegas/Wichita Lg1 looks good.

topher79 · 08-01-2012, 08:43 AM

League 1 Power Rankings:

1 Denver
2 Anchorage
3 Austin
4 Wichita
5 Independence
6 Duluth
7 Clearwater
8 Provo
9 Fort Worth
10 Pittsburgh
11 High Point
12 Fort Wayne
13 Topeka
14 Dallas
15 Ventura
16 Las Vegas
17 St Joseph
18 Chula Vista
19 Overland Park
20 Richmond
21 Springfield
22 Kansas City
23 Cedar Rapids
24 Portland

Hammock Parties · 08-01-2012, 07:27 PM

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:10 PM

We have all sorts of bad things happening to the scoring in the Dallas-Duluth game. The first score is legit, but then watch.

Dallas 3, Duluth 0
Duluth
1st Q 9:27 Stephen Gostkowski kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback
1st Q 9:19 1st and 10 Duluth 20 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards.
1st Q 8:37 2nd and 9 Duluth 21 Philip Rivers passes complete to Spencer Larsen for a gain of 1 yards.
1st Q 7:52 3rd and 8 Duluth 22 Philip Rivers passes complete to Greg Olsen for a gain of 19 yards.
1st Q 7:07 1st and 10 Duluth 42 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards.
Dallas 0, Duluth 3
Duluth
1st Q 6:25 2nd and 10 Duluth 42 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 13 yards.
Dallas 3, Duluth 0
Duluth
1st Q 5:40 1st and 10 Dallas 45 Philip Rivers passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 3 yards.
1st Q 4:55 2nd and 7 Dallas 42 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards.
1st Q 4:13 3rd and 7 Dallas 42 Philip Rivers passes incomplete to Greg Olsen.
Dallas 7, Duluth 3
Duluth
1st Q 4:06 4th and 7 Dallas 42 Brian Moorman punts 42 yards, touchback.
Dallas 3, Duluth 0

**cdcox** · 08-01-2012, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We have all sorts of bad things happening to the scoring in the Dallas-Duluth game. The first score is legit, but then watch.

Dallas 3, Duluth 0
Duluth
1st Q 9:27 Stephen Gostkowski kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback
1st Q 9:19 1st and 10 Duluth 20 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards.
1st Q 8:37 2nd and 9 Duluth 21 Philip Rivers passes complete to Spencer Larsen for a gain of 1 yards.
1st Q 7:52 3rd and 8 Duluth 22 Philip Rivers passes complete to Greg Olsen for a gain of 19 yards.
1st Q 7:07 1st and 10 Duluth 42 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards.
Dallas 0, Duluth 3
Duluth
1st Q 6:25 2nd and 10 Duluth 42 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 13 yards.
Dallas 3, Duluth 0
Duluth
1st Q 5:40 1st and 10 Dallas 45 Philip Rivers passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 3 yards.
1st Q 4:55 2nd and 7 Dallas 42 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards.
1st Q 4:13 3rd and 7 Dallas 42 Philip Rivers passes incomplete to Greg Olsen.
Dallas 7, Duluth 3
Duluth
1st Q 4:06 4th and 7 Dallas 42 Brian Moorman punts 42 yards, touchback.
Dallas 3, Duluth 0

I'm pretty sure that is a mixture of two sims. That reminds me that I need to write a little bit of code to prevent me from doing that accidentally. Ignore this one.

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:17 PM

The scoring thing is happening later in the Duluth-Dallas game, too. It doesn't seem to affect the drives themselves. It's simply phantom incorrect or premature scores that are getting inserted.

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

I'm pretty sure that is a mixture of two sims. That reminds me that I need to write a little bit of code to prevent me from doing that accidentally. Ignore this one.

Okie-dokie.

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:19 PM

Maybe it's the same problem, but we have a pair of two-minute warnings in the Dallas-Duluth game.

Duluth
2nd Q 3:02 1st and 10 Duluth 46 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes incomplete to Harry Douglas.
2nd Q 2:55 2nd and 10 Duluth 46 Philip Rivers passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 8 yards.
2nd Q 2:31 3rd and 2 Dallas 46 Leon Washington rushes for 4 yards. Two minute warning.
Dallas 7, Duluth 3
Duluth
2nd Q 2:09 1st and 10 Dallas 42 PENALTY. False Start Jeremy Trueblood loss of 5 yards.
Dallas 14, Duluth 3
Duluth
2nd Q 2:09 1st and 15 Dallas 47 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 6 yards. Two minute warning.
Dallas 3, Duluth 7

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:24 PM

Something went wrong here. Adrian Clayborn got traded mid-game. He plays for Duluth.

Dallas
3rd Q 3:30 Nick Folk kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback
3rd Q 3:22 1st and 10 Dallas 20 free agent sacked by Adrian Clayborn for a loss of -7 yards.
3rd Q 2:57 2nd and 17 Dallas 13 free agent (pressured) passes complete to Steve Breaston for a gain of 2 yards.
3rd Q 2:34 3rd and 15 Dallas 15 free agent passes incomplete to Damian Williams.
3rd Q 2:27 4th and 15 Dallas 15 free agent punts 34 yards, returned for 46 yards by Javier Arenas
Dallas 3, Duluth 31
Duluth
3rd Q 2:15 1st and goal Dallas 4 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. returned for 0 yards.
Dallas 17, Duluth 3
Duluth
3rd Q 1:25 2nd and goal Dallas 3 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes incomplete to DeSean Jackson.
Dallas 3, Duluth 31
Duluth
3rd Q 1:18 3rd and goal Dallas 3 Leon Washington rushes for 0 yards.
3rd Q 0:28 4th and goal Dallas 3 Nick Folk field goal attempt from 20 yards. Good.
Dallas 3, Duluth 34
Dallas
3rd Q 0:23 Nick Folk kicks 59 yards, returned for 14 yards by Antonio Cromartie
3rd Q 0:15 1st and 10 Dallas 20 free agent scrambles for 2 yards.
Dallas 3, Duluth 34
Dallas
4th Q 15:00 2nd and 8 Dallas 22 free agent (pressured) passes complete to Damian Williams for a gain of 6 yards. Fumble, recovered by Duluth
Dallas 17, Duluth 3
Dallas
4th Q 14:36 3rd and 2 Dallas 28 free agent passes incomplete to Lee Evans.
Dallas 17, Duluth 10
Dallas
4th Q 14:29 4th and 2 Dallas 28 free agent passes incomplete to Dustin Keller.
Dallas 3, Duluth 34
Duluth
4th Q 14:19 1st and 10 Dallas 28 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards.
4th Q 13:29 2nd and 10 Dallas 28 Philip Rivers passes complete to DeSean Jackson for a gain of 2 yards. PENALTY. Neutral Zone Infraction on Adrian Clayborn. 5 yards. Penalty declined.
4th Q 12:34 3rd and 8 Dallas 26 Leon Washington rushes for 1 yards.
4th Q 11:44 4th and 6 Dallas 25 Nick Folk field goal attempt from 42 yards. Good.
Dallas 3, Duluth 37

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:26 PM

And Billy Bajema doesn't play for Duluth.

Duluth
4th Q 10:43 1st and 10 Duluth 30 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. PENALTY. Offensive Holding on Billy Bajema. -10 yards.
Dallas 3, Duluth 37

**Rain Man** · 08-01-2012, 09:29 PM

I suspect the special teams coach is annoyed, but there's no reason to call a time out here. (And the score at this point is actually 37-3 in favor of Duluth when the punt return occurs. The score at the bottom is another phantom score.

Duluth
4th Q 10:43 1st and 10 Duluth 30 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. PENALTY. Offensive Holding on Billy Bajema. -10 yards.
Dallas 3, Duluth 37
Duluth
4th Q 9:53 2nd and 9 Duluth 32 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards.
4th Q 9:03 3rd and 9 Duluth 32 Philip Rivers passes incomplete, dropped by DeSean Jackson.
4th Q 8:56 4th and 9 Duluth 32 Brian Moorman punts 45 yards, returned for 76 yards by Patrick Peterson Touchdown, conversion time out Duluth
Dallas 17, Duluth 10

08-08-2011, 02:01 PM
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations) I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free. cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below. If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3. Here's the overview: Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end. Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league. This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter. In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week). Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh. The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games. The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this: • Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs. • Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft. • Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league. • Rinse and repeat. Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved. We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors. Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like. So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft! Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system. How Free Agency Works: Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft. Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later. 1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool. 2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts. The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies). $0 - 1 season contract $10 - 2 season contract $22 - 3 season contract $37 - 4 season contract $55 - 5 season contract $76 - 6 season contract $100 - 7 season contract You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents. 3. The free agency period begins. Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below. Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid 1 0 to 9 2 10 to 21 3 22 to 36 4 37 to 54 5 55 to 75 6 76 to 99 7 100 or more For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it’s also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it’s a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it’s a 7-year contract. For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012. 4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency. Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3. The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours. 5. Unused Salary Points If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over. 6. Salary Points and Roster Management In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points “on your roster” and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons. Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it’s a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted. 7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents. There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows: • At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid. 8. Free Agency and Trades If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he’ll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.) 9. Future Years In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions. a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600. b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else. c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one. 10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this: a. Sandbox season goes from February through April. b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit. c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period. d. January. Roster cuts to 53. e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d. f. New Sandbox season begins. Last edited by Rain Man; 05-27-2013 at 09:15 AM..
Posts: 141,405

07-30-2012, 12:04 PM	#2536
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	Are the next simulations up? Edit: I guess, as my mother used to say, both my arms aren't broken so I can go check for myself. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405

07-30-2012, 01:05 PM	#2537
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2351769	No, ran into a mysql issue. I figured that out but then an issue with data analysis came up. A set of numbers that theoretically should sum to about 1 is only summing to about 0.75 on a NFL-wide basis. I can roll with that, but I want to check the range of this sum on some Sandbox teams before I change the passing model. I'll probably take the site down tonight to test that. When it comes back up it will have some new umofficial sims to review. Sorry for the break in the action, but I want to get some testing of the changes done this Sandbox season.
Posts: 45,536

07-30-2012, 04:24 PM	#2538
lostcause Veteran Join Date: Apr 2009 Casino cash: $9609965	Im sure after the "season", you could randomize the schedule and run another one to keep tweaking the sim. I imagine there might be enough interest from team owners
Posts: 4,759

07-31-2012, 10:50 PM	#2539
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2351769	The site is back up with a new set of UNOFFICIAL random games listed in week 14 of league 1. Please review for weird stuff. If these are reasonably good, we'll do official week 14 in a couple days.
Posts: 45,536

08-01-2012, 08:13 AM	#2540
topher79 Starter Join Date: Apr 2008 Casino cash: $10004900	Las Vegas/Wichita Lg1 looks good.
Posts: 284

08-01-2012, 08:43 AM	#2541
topher79 Starter Join Date: Apr 2008 Casino cash: $10004900	League 1 Power Rankings: 1 Denver 2 Anchorage 3 Austin 4 Wichita 5 Independence 6 Duluth 7 Clearwater 8 Provo 9 Fort Worth 10 Pittsburgh 11 High Point 12 Fort Wayne 13 Topeka 14 Dallas 15 Ventura 16 Las Vegas 17 St Joseph 18 Chula Vista 19 Overland Park 20 Richmond 21 Springfield 22 Kansas City 23 Cedar Rapids 24 Portland
Posts: 284

08-01-2012, 07:27 PM	#2542
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4720478	__________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 277,840

08-01-2012, 09:10 PM	#2543
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	We have all sorts of bad things happening to the scoring in the Dallas-Duluth game. The first score is legit, but then watch. Dallas 3, Duluth 0 Duluth 1st Q 9:27 Stephen Gostkowski kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback 1st Q 9:19 1st and 10 Duluth 20 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. 1st Q 8:37 2nd and 9 Duluth 21 Philip Rivers passes complete to Spencer Larsen for a gain of 1 yards. 1st Q 7:52 3rd and 8 Duluth 22 Philip Rivers passes complete to Greg Olsen for a gain of 19 yards. 1st Q 7:07 1st and 10 Duluth 42 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards. Dallas 0, Duluth 3 Duluth 1st Q 6:25 2nd and 10 Duluth 42 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 13 yards. Dallas 3, Duluth 0 Duluth 1st Q 5:40 1st and 10 Dallas 45 Philip Rivers passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 3 yards. 1st Q 4:55 2nd and 7 Dallas 42 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards. 1st Q 4:13 3rd and 7 Dallas 42 Philip Rivers passes incomplete to Greg Olsen. Dallas 7, Duluth 3 Duluth 1st Q 4:06 4th and 7 Dallas 42 Brian Moorman punts 42 yards, touchback. Dallas 3, Duluth 0 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405

08-01-2012, 09:17 PM	#2545
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	The scoring thing is happening later in the Duluth-Dallas game, too. It doesn't seem to affect the drives themselves. It's simply phantom incorrect or premature scores that are getting inserted. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405

08-01-2012, 09:19 PM	#2547
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	Maybe it's the same problem, but we have a pair of two-minute warnings in the Dallas-Duluth game. Duluth 2nd Q 3:02 1st and 10 Duluth 46 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes incomplete to Harry Douglas. 2nd Q 2:55 2nd and 10 Duluth 46 Philip Rivers passes complete to Hakeem Nicks for a gain of 8 yards. 2nd Q 2:31 3rd and 2 Dallas 46 Leon Washington rushes for 4 yards. Two minute warning. Dallas 7, Duluth 3 Duluth 2nd Q 2:09 1st and 10 Dallas 42 PENALTY. False Start Jeremy Trueblood loss of 5 yards. Dallas 14, Duluth 3 Duluth 2nd Q 2:09 1st and 15 Dallas 47 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 6 yards. Two minute warning. Dallas 3, Duluth 7 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405

08-01-2012, 09:24 PM	#2548
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	Something went wrong here. Adrian Clayborn got traded mid-game. He plays for Duluth. Dallas 3rd Q 3:30 Nick Folk kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback 3rd Q 3:22 1st and 10 Dallas 20 free agent sacked by Adrian Clayborn for a loss of -7 yards. 3rd Q 2:57 2nd and 17 Dallas 13 free agent (pressured) passes complete to Steve Breaston for a gain of 2 yards. 3rd Q 2:34 3rd and 15 Dallas 15 free agent passes incomplete to Damian Williams. 3rd Q 2:27 4th and 15 Dallas 15 free agent punts 34 yards, returned for 46 yards by Javier Arenas Dallas 3, Duluth 31 Duluth 3rd Q 2:15 1st and goal Dallas 4 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. returned for 0 yards. Dallas 17, Duluth 3 Duluth 3rd Q 1:25 2nd and goal Dallas 3 Philip Rivers (pressured) passes incomplete to DeSean Jackson. Dallas 3, Duluth 31 Duluth 3rd Q 1:18 3rd and goal Dallas 3 Leon Washington rushes for 0 yards. 3rd Q 0:28 4th and goal Dallas 3 Nick Folk field goal attempt from 20 yards. Good. Dallas 3, Duluth 34 Dallas 3rd Q 0:23 Nick Folk kicks 59 yards, returned for 14 yards by Antonio Cromartie 3rd Q 0:15 1st and 10 Dallas 20 free agent scrambles for 2 yards. Dallas 3, Duluth 34 Dallas 4th Q 15:00 2nd and 8 Dallas 22 free agent (pressured) passes complete to Damian Williams for a gain of 6 yards. Fumble, recovered by Duluth Dallas 17, Duluth 3 Dallas 4th Q 14:36 3rd and 2 Dallas 28 free agent passes incomplete to Lee Evans. Dallas 17, Duluth 10 Dallas 4th Q 14:29 4th and 2 Dallas 28 free agent passes incomplete to Dustin Keller. Dallas 3, Duluth 34 Duluth 4th Q 14:19 1st and 10 Dallas 28 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards. 4th Q 13:29 2nd and 10 Dallas 28 Philip Rivers passes complete to DeSean Jackson for a gain of 2 yards. PENALTY. Neutral Zone Infraction on Adrian Clayborn. 5 yards. Penalty declined. 4th Q 12:34 3rd and 8 Dallas 26 Leon Washington rushes for 1 yards. 4th Q 11:44 4th and 6 Dallas 25 Nick Folk field goal attempt from 42 yards. Good. Dallas 3, Duluth 37 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405

08-01-2012, 09:26 PM	#2549
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	And Billy Bajema doesn't play for Duluth. Duluth 4th Q 10:43 1st and 10 Duluth 30 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. PENALTY. Offensive Holding on Billy Bajema. -10 yards. Dallas 3, Duluth 37 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405

08-01-2012, 09:29 PM	#2550
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3328491 VARSITY	I suspect the special teams coach is annoyed, but there's no reason to call a time out here. (And the score at this point is actually 37-3 in favor of Duluth when the punt return occurs. The score at the bottom is another phantom score. Duluth 4th Q 10:43 1st and 10 Duluth 30 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 1 yards. PENALTY. Offensive Holding on Billy Bajema. -10 yards. Dallas 3, Duluth 37 Duluth 4th Q 9:53 2nd and 9 Duluth 32 Rashard Mendenhall rushes for 0 yards. 4th Q 9:03 3rd and 9 Duluth 32 Philip Rivers passes incomplete, dropped by DeSean Jackson. 4th Q 8:56 4th and 9 Duluth 32 Brian Moorman punts 45 yards, returned for 76 yards by Patrick Peterson Touchdown, conversion time out Duluth Dallas 17, Duluth 10 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,405