Rugby 2012 Director of Rugby mode.

[Jayatron]

My two cents would, if at all possible, start at an even lower domestic competition and work your way up, without necessarily staying within your country of birth. For example, fill in an application stating name, age, country, etc and start with say the Southland Stags in the ITM Cup and work you're way up to the next job. Depending on your performance with your local team, which can last one to three or whatever season, other jobs will then open up. So maybe go coach an English Championship side before going up to a Magners League side. When you get to a certain level in your career then you can apply or get offered other jobs such as the Barbarian job, then work into an international job scene, say Japan before the winning goal of the game; coaching your country of birth, unless you are from Spain then one of the big 10. Coach your team to the world cup or a lion's tour.
Don't restrict the game to this world cup, we have England in 2015 and Japan in 2019 so make a person work for their career.
This could work for most rugby playing nations, if again licences were available, say in Ireland or Wales just start from the AIB or Welsh Primer ship.

With this season mode I feel that every aspect of coaching a real team should be put in place, from sorting out training and focusing on certain type of game play to hiring and firing of players which are effected by form, injury and international call ups. Like any other sport game you will have a board of directors who expectations must be met.

Another Idea that I had and mentioned in another thread, and please give feedback, is the idea of using story lines in season mode. In different season flames of hatred are fuelled by the media and by the bad mouthing of the coach. So for example, New Zealand Australia rival. Not that it needs extra fuel but in the build up to the tri-nations Robbie Deans personality attacks you as the New Zealand coach. The game tries to build pressure on you the gamer from all angles such as media, fans, directors and so on. This could work in Europe with club sides, I mentioned this already in a other thread; after a spell in which you were the academy coach for Toulouse (where during a game you could only control your selected academy players) you move on to a new club, as head coach of say Sale, were bad press, rumours fan the flames of hatred between yourself and former club Toulouse, which ends with both teams, by no accident, meeting in the final of the Heineken Cup, thus ending the story line.
Others story lines can be such as injury crisis, star player injury, run of poor form, underdog, hated league, local or cup rivals, race to win the league, or like when they hyped up Munster first Heineken Cup by saying they have for filled their "density"

Thoughts?

 

[Joni89]

With this season mode I feel that every aspect of coaching a real team should be put in place, from sorting out training and focusing on certain type of game play to hiring and firing of players which are effected by form, injury and international call ups. Like any other sport game you will have a board of directors who expectations must be met.

Another Idea that I had and mentioned in another thread, and please give feedback, is the idea of using story lines in season mode. In different season flames of hatred are fuelled by the media and by the bad mouthing of the coach. So for example, New Zealand Australia rival. Not that it needs extra fuel but in the build up to the tri-nations Robbie Deans personality attacks you as the New Zealand coach. The game tries to build pressure on you the gamer from all angles such as media, fans, directors and so on. This could work in Europe with club sides, I mentioned this already in a other thread; after a spell in which you were the academy coach for Toulouse (where during a game you could only control your selected academy players) you move on to a new club, as head coach of say Sale, were bad press, rumours fan the flames of hatred between yourself and former club Toulouse, which ends with both teams, by no accident, meeting in the final of the Heineken Cup, thus ending the story line.
Others story lines can be such as injury crisis, star player injury, run of poor form, underdog, hated league, local or cup rivals, race to win the league, or like when they hyped up Munster first Heineken Cup by saying they have for filled their "density" Thoughts?

I do like this idea but I'm not sure if HB will have the time to go into as much detail. The main focus should be on the rugby gameplay and if there's time and money they could introduce these aspects. I think it would be important to be able to improve certain players through training and making the form of the players realistic rather than just being random as in Rugby 08.

 

[scarletaled]

My list for the manager mode -

-You start the game with a rating of half a star (out of 5)
- Only 3 or 4 clubs come in for you with a season long deal, each with different targets to reach.
- Players in your team are all there, BUT most of them, especially the best, the key players of the squad are unhappy at your appointment and only have a year left. Its up to you to have a good season and try and keep these or allow them to talk to other clubs straight away freeing up some of your budget. if its before the seaosn starts, you can sign someone else instead of them or use the acadamy.
- You are the boss. its up to you to better your fitness coach, forwards coach and backs coach and acadamy.
- You are recomended upto 5 players of your acadamy and you can offer them all pro deals, or just 1 or 2 of them or even none of them. they can also reject your offer so youd have spend a little more than you thought on them, but not for every one. you never know, one of these could be a star player in the future.
- Injuries. long term and short term.
- Retirements. a must for this mode.
- Development and growth. Younger the player the more he grows and develops. through the season the players can peak. and every seaosn the rating of the player changes. more rugby he plays, more he grows and develops.
- You can get sacked at any time through the season, but other jobs will be available.
- You can get offered a job anytime by another club.
- You can offer deals to your players throughout the season. Your players can also, IF they are out of contract at the end of the current season be approached by other clubs near the end of the season.
- Transfer Market. this should be fun, and as has been mentioned REALISTIC. negotiations would be immense. also, the players you attract will be down to the season you had and you rating. if you won everything you still might not be considered good enough to attract the best in the world no matter how much money you had. the rating is your reputation. if your reputation is low, you'll never get a dan carter or a rocky elsom or a stephan Jones or a maa nonu etc. if its high enough, say from 3 stars on and you have the money, then you start to see big name players who are out of contract in the list of players who you have a chance of signing. you'd still be able to attempt to try and sign the best, and you may be able to pull one off, but i think they should be limited. the swap players thing was something i did not like looking back. we need to have negotiations.
- The Press. a press conference would be a good addition. you dont have to attend, but maybe a series of questions with 3 or 4 choices as an answer about your first job and the season ahead, then maybe big matches through the seaosn, if the team was hammered, when a player is rumoured to leave, when you are rumoured to leave for another club or sacked, after you are sacked maybe, when you sign players, rumoured with players. i think it would add something to the game.

 

[dan the man]

I actually really enjoyed the world league mode on Rugby 06 (haven't played 08 cause it only came out on Playstation) but i agree that some changes would need to be made.

The ability to start as any club (but without any top players)
The ability to hire ANY player in the game... if you offer them enough money this would change depending on that division you were in eg. lower division sides would have to offer more money than those in a higher division
Salary Cap!!! this would keep the game interesting. I managed to get a team of the best players from around the world making the game very boring from that point
Lastly, if updated rosters were made available players would have to retire when they got too old that way you would have to recruit younger players to replace them. That way the game would continue even once you'd got to the top league

 

[Jayatron]

To add to my earlier suggestion on a new season mode I feel that all aspects of being an international coach should be taken into account. What I mean is squad selection. For example you, the player, have just got the Ireland job and it is up to you to pick the team. This is were my idea comes into a affect; stats are a big part of the players profile, in theory you could pick a team based on this, however form should be, or at least equal, to the importance of players stats.
As the Ireland coach you pick the players with the best form and the only way to decide is to go to matches. Like any high profile game the national coach is always there watching, the game should reflect this.
As the coach you pick one game a week to attend during the regular season (outside the intentional test window) and there you can watch or play as Irish qualified players and decide who you shall invite to training camps. So Brain O'Driscoll will probably be the highest ranked Irish player but when you attend a Lenister game you find he's slow, falls of tackles and is kicking terribly, showing poor form and make you think a bit harder about selection.
As the coach your scouts will recommend players, which will bring you round the four provinces of Ireland and else where. For example Bob Casey who captains London Irish, Johne Murphy when he was still with Leicester and any up and coming stars.
After the team has been selected for training camps which should be as important as real games, you put your players through their paces, raising the stats and at the same time finding out who is the best Irish XV. Sprint drills to find your wingers, tackle and breakdown drills to find your back row.

The main bonus of this is time scale. My earlier suggestion on a manger mode, with a club, would takes hours to complete, it would be an anti climax if you only had to worry about summer and autumn tests, 6 nations and world cup. The aspect of international coaching would end very quickly, which would be a shame.
By adding this selection process, which could be skipped for the less die hard fans, it will add a more real and enjoyable aspect to the game, which will keep gamers on the toes.

 

[scarletaled]

jayatron, AMAZING idea. HB studios should read that idea. international career can be short game wise, but add in the deep squad selection and you got enough work for the season! especially with a world cup coming up maybe a career mode as an international coach should be included. -

- Start off with a year stint at a country. depending on your success, or failure, the board will offer you another 2 years to see them through the world cup,or sack you, and you receive offers from other countries or even a club/province/region. add that obiously to the idea of the deep training and squad selection, and a great mode could be made.

 

[admartian]

A deep manager mode would be excellent. Developing new players, for 30+ seasons (like most franchise modes in sports games).

 

[bm5g08]

My views are that one of the main faults with Rugby 08 where that you could only play a single tournament, there was no integrated season and World League was too shallow thus as has been suggested we need a Director of Rugby mode. This needs to be cover the following aspects:

Training
Some sort of nod to training schedules, higher intensity is bigger stats gain but bigger risk of injury. Potentially training drills like in Madden, where the higher you score the more points you earn. Performance in matches should count, with more XP available in higher prestige matches, and dependent on the skill level of the player. So a youngster rated 50 who played in a Premiership match would improve a lot more than a 85 rated star player.

Finances / Facilities
The chance to build up facilities and charge different ticket prices, lower to encourage bigger crowds etc. If you look at Pro Rugby Manager 2 and FIFA for an example of how to use coaches and facilities, for example youth academies will attract age group internationals, the better the academy the more you will get.

Off Season / Pre-Season
Introduce tours, and maybe a trial match to assess new youngsters as well as pre-season friendlies. If 7's is included have the choice of competing in a club circuit

Transfers & Contracts
In rugby most players see out their contracts, transfer fees are rarely paid. So you should only be able to recruit a player if he is unsettled at his club or nearing the end of his contract (1 season). Negotiations shouldn't be too advanced. You should sign a contract as a manager and at the end of each season receive job offers from other clubs who are interested.

Squads
Impose the relevant salary caps and have a Reserve/Academy squad, that plays in an 'A' League allowing you to try out players, however this can be controlled by your Assistant Manager most of the time.

International
Age-group internationals and tournaments such as the the U20 World Championships shouldn't cost much license wise if you already have the senior team license. This would add depth, elsewhere as already mentioned there should be the chance if you prove yourself and are ranked highly enough, to be recruited by the national team. Initially offers for managing a youth team, then the 'A' team and finally the senior Internationals. You don't have to accept any offers.

Tournaments
Should be interlinked so Leicester for example can play in the Heineken Cup, Anglo-Welsh Cup and the Premiership in the same season. They can also have the option of entering an 'A' league team.


Obviously the above is an incomplete framework and i look forward to any suggestions and improvements.

 

[markshaw]

Well all leagues would be good inc Magners, Super 15, French Top 16,GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

they need to put in the main domestic cups from all over the globe before the put in the 2nd div english teams. lets be real here they are **** those teams. the top itm cup teams or currie cup teams would proboly beat most eng prem sides

 

[_George]

they need to put in the main domestic cups from all over the globe before the put in the 2nd div english teams. lets be real here they are **** those teams. the top itm cup teams or currie cup teams would proboly beat most eng prem sides

i agree with this, the ITM Cup and Currie Cup are bigger comps so they should get first priority !

 

[Will Simpson]

Im not saying that the Championship/div 1 should be go in before currie cup/itm that is why i suggested lower leagues could be DLC if they had to cut somethings out of the game.

 

[Explosive]

bigger comps clubs wise, but there is probably more money involved in the championship considering the majority of the sales will go to england/ u.k rather,

 

[Jayatron]

Looking at other sports games, ones I would rather not talk about, there are endless leagues to pick from, and even though the ITM and Currie Cups are musts! the RFU Championship shouldn't be ignored. I believe that the rights for the championship would be cheap, free advertising, while the ITM would be a little more expensive so we don't know what we'll see in the game.
Hopefully H.B. will put in a create edit mode which will makes us all happy. Personally I would like to see all domestic leagues in the game, such as Welsh Premiership and the All Ireland League, but i'm dreaming.

 

[scuubasteve]

I'd personally much prefer the NZ NPC sides were included in the game than the Super15 teams.
In NZ there is still a much more intense following for the Provincial sides than the franchises.

And given that all the All Blacks and Super15 player are aligned to Provincial sides anyway it'd be a cheap licensing option too.
You could even have the NPC, Currie Cup, Top League (Japan) and an ARC (Australia) competition feeding into a Southern version of the Heineken Cup, so if you finished in the Top 6 of the domestic comp then you'd qualify for the Southern Hemisphere intercontinental cup.

 

[Edworthy10]

Noo wayy! To win over people who play the game, they need the most popular tournaments - and that includes Super 15 and Championship.

They also definitely need to get rid of the player trading system and maintenance points rubbish!

 

[Will Simpson]

Finally someone talking sense