Career Mode/Email Tourney - Are they worth it??

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morvio100
Posts: 329
Joined: April 6th, 2022, 11:02 am

Career Mode/Email Tourney - Are they worth it??

Post by morvio100 »

Hey Linksters, quick question, is Career Mode worth setting up and therin what lies the appeal, is there something I'm missing, it looks quite a bit of hassle setting up, is there something I should look forward to? - eg do the AI opponents start coughing while I'm on the tee and about to tee off, do the crowds suddenly become animated when I'm sinking that tourney win or lose putt on the 18th, is there a trophy presentation after the tournament , does Peter Aliis appear, what goes@@@@ ?????..... :dunno:


ps:....Caveat...very much looking forward to trying the LVT add on...looks great..but dang complicated.... :cheers1:
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Adelade
Posts: 1346
Joined: August 27th, 2019, 10:24 am

Re: Career Mode/Email Tourney - Are they worth it??

Post by Adelade »

I have played 6 seasons of Career Mode since I returned to Links (in the process of creating 7th), most of them of the 24-week type with fully customized courses, conditions and rosters.

You're absolutely correct that Career Mode takes time and effort to set up to one's liking (especially if using hand-picked pins...)

You're not missing any features beyond what is instantly apparent. The stats pages and season ranking are pretty nice. There is a Career ranking too but that one is a bit odd (players that I deleted since 4 seasons ago are still in the top 20...). The main appeal, IMO, is that once you have bothered setting it up to your liking, it is so easy and convenient to just play and enjoy without effort. What I like most, is that AI scores develop, update and can automatically be seen between each hole. With enough tweaking, they can be made to be quite realistic and provide an even, well-balanced challenge.

The worst limitations IMO are that there are ties instead of playoffs, and that the AI roster fine-tuning settings seem unable to distinguish between the different "challenging" conditions. Sometimes the gap between the best scoring AI players and worst scoring AI players is a little bit larger than in real life, even at optimal settings.

I have never played LVT or its predecessors (I was going to beta test the new version, but lately I have been unable to play Links as much as usual, so that didnt work out), but from how I understand it, my comparison of Career Mode and LVT looks like this:
-LVT will be EVEN more customizable!
-LVT will feature playoffs!
-The Roster in LVT will be possible to tweak as you go, without having to start a new Career each time!
-LVT will probably have the advantage of another few features, like Match play tournaments with multiple rounds and/or in team-style.
-LVT will require more manual management during seasons. You probably need to alt-tab out of Links and press something within Excel between holes everytime you want an update on AI scores (and putting in your own).
-LVT will probably be much more convenient to create subsequent seasons with variety in, since, unlike Career Mode, I imagine there will be good opportunities to copy, paste and move parts of seasons around.
-In LVT it will probably be possible to play alongside AI golfers in your group, who behave a little more realistically than they sometimes do in Career Mode, but it will also probably take a little more effort for the user to set up.
-Unlike Career Mode, LVT will not force you to go to School for week 1 of your first season. (It's an Amateur tournament.)

Some minor differences:
-Career Mode doesnt allow for a reasonable way of saving, compiling and viewing scoring stats of AI players.
-Unlike Career Mode, LVT will probably allow for custom tees per hole.
-In LVT, the AI scores will probably not act strangely for the last round(s) if the player misses the cut.
-For visual representation of trophies in LVT, I imagine you'd have to use links within Excel to web pages or something...
-It will probably be possible to cheat in LVT..............

Otherwise I imagine they will provide a pretty similar experience overall. For newcomers (to the modes), LVT will probably require a little more effort to try out, since you need to spend a little bit of time figuring out how it works. Conversely, LVT will probably take less effort to enjoy, since the default configuration of LVT most likely will be 100 times better than the default configuration of Career Mode. For advanced users who customize a lot, I will be curious to see, but I imagine LVT will be more possible to tweak to whats perfect for the individual user.
Finished Courses - Main: Amedal (fictional), Nine Bridges (real)
Other: Austin, Sheshan, Kauri Cliffs, Le Golf Nat. Updates: Whirlpool, Royal Lytham, Royal St George's, Chicago, Chambers Bay, Munchen Nord E
Working on: 2 fictional courses + a couple things...
morvio100
Posts: 329
Joined: April 6th, 2022, 11:02 am

Re: Career Mode/Email Tourney - Are they worth it??

Post by morvio100 »

Thanks Adelade....+1...heaps of info there.... :thumbup:

"The worst limitations IMO are that there are ties instead of playoffs"....I think your right the LVT IS SET TO RECTIFY THAT....if fact there looks to be a hell of lot realistic stats currently being entered by its creator, I thinks I will hold out for its final...to start a career, not sure but I think its creator has implemented a stress/pressure under fire setting for the ai, (as in they get a bit shaking under pressure)...lol...which is fantastic...could be wrong there however....caveat...I think the AI in this sim are great..I have one I play a regular round with, I had his putting/and pitching stats a bit low, upped them a bit.... his putting bit better now...he's still missing them birdie putts on occasion, and occasionally still finding bunkers of the tee,,lol... the way the skill set is configurable/and so easy to configure is great... :clapping: ...many thanks foe the info.... :thumbup:

ps: Many thanks...and mucho respecto to the LVT creator.....
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Adelade
Posts: 1346
Joined: August 27th, 2019, 10:24 am

Re: Career Mode/Email Tourney - Are they worth it??

Post by Adelade »

The normal AI in Links is ok IMO, I mean, I dont think its great but enjoyable enough to play along with. The AI you play along with in Career Mode however, is noticably worse. For some reason, they are usually much more up and down during a round there, commonly with immersion-breaking severity. They only behave like that when actually playing alongside them (which one can choose not to do), otherwise the AI scores are fine.
Finished Courses - Main: Amedal (fictional), Nine Bridges (real)
Other: Austin, Sheshan, Kauri Cliffs, Le Golf Nat. Updates: Whirlpool, Royal Lytham, Royal St George's, Chicago, Chambers Bay, Munchen Nord E
Working on: 2 fictional courses + a couple things...
morvio100
Posts: 329
Joined: April 6th, 2022, 11:02 am

Re: Career Mode/Email Tourney - Are they worth it??

Post by morvio100 »

+1...the current AI opponent I play alonside...is currently seeing a psychiatrist....schizophrenic would be an understatement...the aggression setting needs looking into..... :cheers1: I must create .rec file of him and send it to good old John Daly...
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