How to use bases in solitaire?

[Greg F]

I see that Curt “shuffles bases”, though I’m not sure what that means.

And, Terry seems to build his teams around certain types of bases.

I used 1 set of bases and found a system to designate them to players based on and initial draw and player stats with those bases.

I’d like to know how everyone uses bases in solitaire, including discussing more information from Curt and Terry about their systems.  

[Greg F]

My league was rudimentary as I started it up for the first time in decades.  One set of each team playing offense and defense.  (I’m currently working on getting 22 players per team)

I tweaked 22 bases, and typed out a description of what each did.  On the first game for each team, I did a blind draw for each team.

Then, in the subsequent games, more and more bases were assigned to specific players based on the initial blind draw plus the performance of the player on that bases from week to week.  
 

My system allowed for improvement in weeks 2 & 3.  While, most bases were kind of locked in by the last week, game 4.

 

I liked this system for last year.  It allowed each team to gain a “personality” as the season went on.  
 

Now, I want to improve the system with a lot more tweaked based and new ideas from other coaches!

[Coach Shawn]

In my 8 team solitaire league my teams are all two platoon.

Each team was assigned new bases and I began tweeking.  The team was stuck with the result unless I totally ruined the base, in which case they got a replacement.

After each season teams are awarded a certain number of new bases based upon their final standing for the season.

• Champion gets zero new bases.

• 2nd place gets one base.

• 3rd and 4th place get 2 bases.

• 5th and 6th place get 3 bases.

• 7th and 8th place get 4 bases.

I then tweek their new bases and they must end up being clearly superior to the base they are replacing.  If not I keep tweeking bases till I get one that is.

This system makes sure my teams improve and prevents one team from dominating year after year.

[Greg F]

2 hours ago, Coach Shawn said:

In my 8 team solitaire league my teams are all two platoon.

Each team was assigned new bases and I began tweeking.  The team was stuck with the result unless I totally ruined the base, in which case they got a replacement.

After each season teams are awarded a certain number of new bases based upon their final standing for the season.

• Champion gets zero new bases.

• 2nd place gets one base.

• 3rd and 4th place get 2 bases.

• 5th and 6th place get 3 bases.

• 7th and 8th place get 4 bases.

I then tweek their new bases and they must end up being clearly superior to the base they are replacing.  If not I keep tweeking bases till I get one that is.

This system makes sure my teams improve and prevents one team from dominating year after year.

 

I like that!  I will be playing with 32 teams, so it will take me a while to build up that many bases 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Terry43]

7 hours ago, Greg F said:

I see that Curt “shuffles bases”, though I’m not sure what that means.

And, Terry seems to build his teams around certain types of bases. 

Hi Coach Greg and Coach Shawn

When Tudor went out of business, 😔 and before Miggle started producing bases, 😍 I use to remove all the bases and put them in a barrel. Then I'd blind draw bases for each team. I called this shuffling process my draft. I'm not sure what Curt means.

I do like creating teams by base type. 

My Oughtin' Otters ride on Tudor Aqua single-clip bases. The book The Unforgettable Buzz: the history of electric football and Tudor, describe the Aqua single-clips as  "(T)he No. 620 has some of the most notable firsts of all time. Next, these players were sitting on Tudor’s aqua color bases, which at various times in Electric Football history have been viewed as “prized” finds, due to the speed and strength they show on the vibrating gridiron."

The Aqua Single Clips are strong and fast and I have collected 60 bases. However, TTC bases are generally stronger but not as faster.

My Red Rhinos ride on Red Prong TTC. Once again, the TTC bases are stronger and more consistent. I wrote about this in a previous post.

My Thunderbirds ride on Tudor's Green Ghosts. These are TTC and Rookie bases and I've found them to be strong, straight, and consistent right out of the bag. I believe Tudor has stopped producing Green Ghosts.

My Suncats ride on Playtime's butterscotch bases and once again I've found them to be strong, straight, and consistent right out of the bag. I'm eager to find out how the bases perform against Coach Shawn's ITZ bases.

My Luna Bears ride on Tudor's purple convention bases with black dials. I believe Tudor has stopped producing black dials.

My Iron Horse team rides on the steel bases Tudor created for their very first game in 1949.

My other teams are subject to the Necromonger Double Elimination Tournament. I posted my bracket recently.

Seven of my teams represent a history of Tudor bases. I guess the natural question is, how do those old bases successively compete against 21st century bases?

First, I increased the weight for all of my teams. Speed times weight = momentum. The faster Aqua Single-clips and Red Prongs are now very, very strong.

Second, I adopted the Stop Forward Progress tackling. In the movie, Remember the Titans,  Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) is describing his offense. “I run six plays, split veer,” he says, “It’s like Novacaine. Just give it time, it always works.”

 Enjoy the journey. Cheers! 🍺

[Greg F]

2 hours ago, Terry43 said:

Hi Coach Greg and Coach Shawn

When Tudor went out of business, 😔 and before Miggle started producing bases, 😍 I use to remove all the bases and put them in a barrel. Then I'd blind draw bases for each team. I called this shuffling process my draft. I'm not sure what Curt means.

I do like creating teams by base type. 

My Oughtin' Otters ride on Tudor Aqua single-clip bases. The book The Unforgettable Buzz: the history of electric football and Tudor, describe the Aqua single-clips as  "(T)he No. 620 has some of the most notable firsts of all time. Next, these players were sitting on Tudor’s aqua color bases, which at various times in Electric Football history have been viewed as “prized” finds, due to the speed and strength they show on the vibrating gridiron."

The Aqua Single Clips are strong and fast and I have collected 60 bases. However, TTC bases are generally stronger but not as faster.

My Red Rhinos ride on Red Prong TTC. Once again, the TTC bases are stronger and more consistent. I wrote about this in a previous post.

My Thunderbirds ride on Tudor's Green Ghosts. These are TTC and Rookie bases and I've found them to be strong, straight, and consistent right out of the bag. I believe Tudor has stopped producing Green Ghosts.

My Suncats ride on Playtime's butterscotch bases and once again I've found them to be strong, straight, and consistent right out of the bag. I'm eager to find out how the bases perform against Coach Shawn's ITZ bases.

My Luna Bears ride on Tudor's purple convention bases with black dials. I believe Tudor has stopped producing black dials.

My Iron Horse team rides on the steel bases Tudor created for their very first game in 1949.

My other teams are subject to the Necromonger Double Elimination Tournament. I posted my bracket recently.

Seven of my teams represent a history of Tudor bases. I guess the natural question is, how do those old bases successively compete against 21st century bases?

First, I increased the weight for all of my teams. Speed times weight = momentum. The faster Aqua Single-clips and Red Prongs are now very, very strong.

Second, I adopted the Stop Forward Progress tackling. In the movie, Remember the Titans,  Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) is describing his offense. “I run six plays, split veer,” he says, “It’s like Novacaine. Just give it time, it always works.”

 Enjoy the journey. Cheers! 🍺

So, all those different teams with different bases play in your league?

[Terry43]

14 hours ago, Greg F said:

So, all those different teams with different bases play in your league?

Yes, those seven historical teams are my core. They are my favorites. Then, I have sixteen Tudor teams and five ITZ teams that I use when I have a themed Double Elimination Tournament. T43

[Greg F]

58 minutes ago, Terry43 said:

Yes, those seven historical teams are my core. They are my favorites. Then, I have sixteen Tudor teams and five ITZ teams that I use when I have a themed Double Elimination Tournament. T43

How do the steel bases and red prongs do your seasons in general?                   
 

I didn’t even know steel bases existed until you mentioned them

[Terry43]

Hi Greg. The red prongs do well because the front prongs are adjustable. The red prong bases are naturally fast and the addition of 2 grams of weight makes them bulldozers. The Red Prongs have one won Fruit Bowl (my equivalent of the Super Bowl).

The steel bases only have two prongs (front and back) and the prongs are wide and not adjustable. The steel bases have never won a post-season game in my league. Yet, I would never abandon the steel bases to the dumpster because some day I might find a steel base on eBay that deserves the Franchise tag. 😃

Enjoy the journey. T43

[Terry43]

Pictures of steel bases. 😃

[Greg F]

23 minutes ago, Terry43 said:

Pictures of steel bases. 😃

Awesome!  Love the helmet and box!

[nefgm.org]

Greg F, the steel bases are the original 1949 bases that are on the original players 

[Greg F]

Love that Terry has put the new figures on those old bases!

[Coach Shawn]

Yes the box and the team look great.

I have one metal base, on my metal QB/kicker.  It doesn’t run well but being on the clunky QB you can’t expect a good run (see video).

 

 

 How do yours run?

[Terry43]

6 hours ago, Coach Shawn said:

 How do yours run?

🤣🤣 Better than they use to. Here's a video.

[Coach Shawn]

Cool to see that.   They run good enough to play.  You have a very cool novelty there.

[Carl]

Hi Greg I have an 8 team solitaire league currently fielding 11 players per squad. My eventual plan is that before a season each team will have to randomly submit a certain number of players from their roster to be put into a lottery draft that will be populated with those free agents plus some freshly tweaked new bases. It will be a random lottery draw for each team so it will be possible for a team to get their free agents back. Since I am introducing new bases there is a good chance that some of those free agents will sit out the next season

[Greg F]

10 hours ago, Carl said:

Hi Greg I have an 8 team solitaire league currently fielding 11 players per squad. My eventual plan is that before a season each team will have to randomly submit a certain number of players from their roster to be put into a lottery draft that will be populated with those free agents plus some freshly tweaked new bases. It will be a random lottery draw for each team so it will be possible for a team to get their free agents back. Since I am introducing new bases there is a good chance that some of those free agents will sit out the next season

What happens to the bases that are replaced?

[Carl]

My thoughts are that they are temporarily retired but will be eligible to return in the following seasons lottery draft.

[Greg F]

Very interesting!

[Terry43]

On 4/18/2023 at 9:00 PM, Carl said:

each team will have to randomly submit a certain number of players from their roster to be put into a lottery draft that will be populated with those free agents plus some freshly tweaked new bases.

Hi Carl.

It seems you are creating parity by removing players from the best teams.  🤔 If your league is to constantly improve shouldn't the lesser teams use the draft to improve without diminishing the best teams? The championship team becomes the bar that all other teams strive to equal or beat. Or, are you trying to duplicate Free Agency and the situation in the NFL where Owners buy players from the Super Bowl Champions? 🤑

Just curious. Thanks. T43 

[Curt]

Good Evening Ladies and Gentledudes. Sorry I'm so late to this party. Testing out the many suggestions to fairly promote home field advantage has been such a blast, time has just gotten away from me. I also have to apologize for being unclear. Let me address this from a previous post: I use to remove all the bases and put them in a barrel. Then I'd blind draw bases for each team. I called this shuffling process my draft. I'm not sure what Curt means.  I often ask if my posts are clear because my thoughts run wild quite easily, and distractions knock me off course quite often. This is due to my many, many, many health issues which include having had 3 strokes, 2 major heart surgeries, 1 remaining collapsed artery on the back of my heart, and a benign tumor behind my right ear. [I can no longer play guitar so I shipped it to my brother in Seattle. Expensive!] But not to digress. I'm richly blessed and will continue to play EF until it becomes impossible. Now then, I have 33 teams for both home and away but only have a little over 70 rookie bases. They are all shuffled in a bag and made to run as far and as straight as possible but allow tweaks with timeouts I load my 1st 3 games randomly [[33 vs 32, then 30 vs 29, then 27 vs 26]. Any remaining bases that are unused go back into the bag. After game 1, those 2 teams' bases are removed and put in the bag. Then game 4 [24 vs 23] is loaded, remaining bases are left in the bag. This is all purposed to remove as much personally biased control from my games as possible. 11 divisions of 3 teams each with a season consisting of 2 home games and 2 away games for each team allow for a complete shuffling of all the bases in the bag for all 4 rounds. Then games 1, 2, and 3 of round 2 are loaded and follow the same "shuffling schedule" until round 3 then round 4 if that makes sense. All bases are shuffled before playoffs The 1st 3 playoff games of my 11 game playoff structure are loaded.

Game 1: My Wildcard or best of my 2nd place teams meets my 11th place division winner to meet #4.  Next winner will be winner D.

Remove bases, add to extras in bag. Load  Game 4: 6th vs 5th meets #1

Game 2: 10th vs 9th meets #3. Next winner will be Winner C.

Game 3: 8th vs 7th meets #2. Next winner will be Winner B.

Game 4: 6th vs 5th meets #1. Next winner will be Winner A.

Shuffle all bases after each game.

Load Winner D vs Winner C and load Winner B vs Winner A

Shuffle all bases

Load Winner D/C vs Winner B/A for Superbowl

Shuffle all bases.

Load next season games 1-3

I really hope this clarifies things for you all because I now realize it took my overloaded and tired mind almost 2 hours to put this little blurb together tonight. I loved doing it because I love the EF community and I never want to ruffle anyone's feathers. I'm still testing the many suggestions I got for home field advantage so it may take a while to respond to things, but I will get to them asap. Please keep comments and questions coming. Thank you all for your patience with me. Blessings, Curt

[Carl]

18 hours ago, Terry43 said:

Hi Carl.

It seems you are creating parity by removing players from the best teams.  🤔 If your league is to constantly improve shouldn't the lesser teams use the draft to improve without diminishing the best teams? The championship team becomes the bar that all other teams strive to equal or beat. Or, are you trying to duplicate Free Agency and the situation in the NFL where Owners buy players from the Super Bowl Champions? 🤑

Just curious. Thanks. T43 

Hey Terry, good question. In my system all the teams have to feed the draft lottery with some players off their team. I haven’t decided how many players off of each team but let’s just say it was 3, those 3 would be chosen at random so they may be the teams stars or JAGs or a mixture of both. That draft pool will also be supplied with new talent that wasn’t on a team the season prior. Then the draft itself is a random lottery draw. Using this method there is no telling if the good teams or the poor teams will improve or decline and I like the randomness aspect of it. You could get a dynasty, or there could be major power shift, or maybe it will just produce parity.  I hope this helps explain my process😀

[Terry43]

Hi Carl,

I like your scheme. It's seems similar to the lottery the NFL uses when they add an expansion team.  Your draft lottery adds randomness which keeps each game exciting.

8 hours ago, Carl said:

That draft pool will also be supplied with new talent that wasn’t on a team the season prior.

Does new talent mean you plan to add new bases from Tudor or ITZ to your existing collection of bases?

Enjoy the Journey. T43 🚀

[Carl]

Thanks Terry and yes I keep stocking up (mostly with ITZ bases) I’ll tweak some of the new ones and if I like how they look in scrimmages then some of them will get mixed into the draft pool. I love threads like this, it’s so interesting to see all the different approaches folks take.