This is the first update for FHM9 that adds new content: specifically, we've added a new system that allows you to intervene more directly in problems in the team harmony system, 24 new achievements, two historical international series, and a number of new fields to the csv export feature. But there were also a number of issues left to deal with after the previous roster update, particularly with AI roster management, so this update wound up being something of a hybrid, with a lot of fixes and tweaks in addition to the new content. Some timing issues made it difficult to do much in the way of 2D engine changes this time, so that's likely to be a focus for the next update in the New Year. If there are any game-breaking issues discovered with this update, we'll release a hotfix ASAP; other wise the next one is likely to be in early February. Your existing savegames will be compatible with the updated game, but some of the update's fixes may not retroactively correct certain problems in existing saves; this normally happens when the problem is inherent to data created at the start of the save. Changes and Additions: -once a month, a team's captain can attempt to intervene in the harmony system by trying to resolve a conflict or remove a player from a clique; the AI does this automatically but the user can choose manually, there's an option at the bottom of the Conflicts box and another one at the bottom of the Cliques box, both labelled Intervention, which lets you choose which conflict or clique you want to target. Targeting a clique may remove one player from that clique (note that the captain cannot, however, target a clique he is in) and targeting a conflict may lower the level of the conflict. However, there is a chance that the attempt will backfire, which may create a conflict with the captain for all the players in the clique, or between the captain and the player who had the conflict (so clique-breaking is higher risk/higher reward.) The chance of success/failure/backfire is determined by a combination of the captain's leadership and likability ratings (so Likability is now also a useful attribute for captains, in addition to Leadership and Determination.) Captains with the Charismatic special ability are particularly good at interventions. -added the Challenge Cup (1979) and Rendez-vous '87 mid-season NHL vs. USSR series to historical mode; both are played when the all-star game would normally occur (ASG is inactive in those years) -added the following new achievements: [list] [*] A Miracle Of Our Own: Win the Olympic tournament with a team whose world ranking is 9th or lower. [*] Zero to Hero: Win a league championship with a team that finished last in the same league the previous season. [*] Miracle on Ice: Win the 1980 Winter Olympics with the American team. [*] Road Warrior: Lead the league in road wins. [*] Hull of a Deal: While playing in the WHA, sign a former NHL MVP. [*] Lindros 2.0: Trade a player who was drafted first overall before he plays a game in the league. [*] You're Special: Have your team finish first in the league in both power play and penalty killing percentage. [*] Trust your Scouts: With the #1 overall pick, draft a player who was not predicted to be #1 in the mock draft. [*] New Team, Who’s This?: Have a player win the league MVP in their first season on your team. [*] Fan Favourite: End the season with a fan happiness rating of 100. [*] Matterhorn Matters: Win a championship in the Swiss League. [*] Frozen Four: Reach the final four of the college playoffs. [*] Conference Champions: Win a college conference tournament. [*] National Champions: Win a college championship. [*] Thunder Down Under: Win an Australian championship. [*] Back to School: Nominate a player with the first name Rodney on National Signing day. [*] The Trade: In a historical game, acquire Wayne Gretzky in a trade between 1980 and 1988. [*] Around the Globe: Draft players born on four different continents in the same draft. [*] If it's not Scottish, it's Crap: Win an EIHL championship with a Scottish team and at least 10 Scottish players on the roster. [*] Natty Ice: Win the NIHL National championship. [*] Breaking Ground: Begin building a new arena. [*] game54: Draft a player with the 54th overall pick in any draft. [*] Ticket Master: Raise ticket prices by the maximum amount allowed. [*] Fan-Friendly: Lower ticket prices by the maximum amount allowed. [/list] -added the following to the CSV stat export for player game-by-game stats: Team Shots on, Team Shots Against on, Team Shots Missed on, Team Shots Missed Against on, Team Shots Blocked on, Team Shots Blocked Against on, Team Goals on, Team Goal Against on, Team Shots off, Team Shots Against off, Team Shots Missed off, Team Shots Missed Against off, Team Shots Blocked off, Team Shots Blocked Against off, Team Goals off, Team Goal Against off, OZ Starts, NZ Starts, DZ Starts, Team OZ Starts, Team NZ Starts, Team DZ Starts -current database updated as of December 16 -fixed issue in historical that was leading to players being created with mismatched templates and positions, which in turn led to a variety of other issues, particularly with signing those players -in 2D mode, the player stats popup now shows players currently on the ice at the top of the box -added an additional safety check for AI teams to sign their unsigned picks whose rights are about to be lost on the July 1 changeover -fixed an issue that was causing AI-run teams to misjudge the rights expiry dates of their drafted players -adjusted college draft AI to avoid collecting too many players at one position, particularly goalies -in the "sent to" and "called up to" news messages (visible when managing a farm team and the parent sends down/calls up players) the player's name in the text is now linked properly instead opf being plain text -made it easier for senior teams to sign junior-aged players from other countries, particularly for European players signing with teams in Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Austria, or Denmark -OHL/QMJHL/WHL will no longer automatically reset the ages of players in those leagues who are 15 at the start of the game -increased the percentage of off-ice incidents that are caused by players with high controversy ratings -the manual "Find a walk-on" action button options for user-controlled college teams will no longer select non-Americans as walk-ons -fixed issue causing NCAA teams to receiving multiple "Missed Playoffs" -5 Fan Happiness adjustments while the playoffs are underway -fixed odd international relegations resulting from the 24-25 return of Russia/Belarus to international play (had been using IIHF ranking to determine relegations, which was leading to multiple demotions for some teams, will now use previous year's tournament results) -if the user creates players prior to an initial draft, they will now appear in the initial draft pool regardless of age (i.e. not just if they're under 20, as had been happening) -drastically shortened preseasons for AHL, ECHL, FPHL, and SPHL to prevent teams from requiring a full roster before the final NHL cuts have been made (had been leading to minor league teams, particularly in the AHL, signing too many players and NHL teams sending good prospects to the AHL) -each player marked as a "leader" on the harmony screen will now slighlty improve the overall team harmony level -players marked as a "follower" on the harmony screen are now more likely to join cliques -if the user has the maximum number of contracted players allowed and attempts to make a 1-for-1 trade using the "make this work option" (i.e. only one player added to the trade from the other team), he will no longer get the response that he's already at the maximum number of contracts -if the user is viewing a national team's screen (roster, etc.) while also controlling a club team on the 1st of the Month, clicking the "Monthly Budget" continue button no longer results in the budget screen being overlaid on top of the national team's page -if a league is added to a custom game with the "use historical finances" setting on, its financial values are now correctly adjusted to the historical levels, rather than remaining at the defaults -when setting up the NCAA tournament (i.e. the second playoff stage for the NCAA league, after the conference tournaments), the first-round matchups are now ordered properly in the bracket (i.e., so the #1 and #2 teams can't meet until the final.) -fixed rare issue that could result in cap hits for all NHL players being reset to 0 -the AI will no longer automatically use up unassigned scholarships on human-run teams at the start of the season -if an NHL team returns a contracted player to major junior or a European team, his adjustment time (i.e. the thing reported in the "Coach Reports on New Players" PM) is now reduced to 0 so he doesn't get the adjustment penalty in a situation where he's moving back to a team that he's already adjusted to -increased frequency of retirement for over-30 players who haven't played in the last two years -made some significant adjustments to the prospect pools in the first ~4 years of the game - lowered a lot of excessive potentials in the first couple of drafts and added a number of new 2007-2008 born top prospects to bulk up the early rounds of the 2025 and 26 drafts, which were a little thin -updated world db to get rid of a special character in a few Czech city names that was breaking csv exports -updated all the presets files (standard games were missing the Atkinson injury, added a bunch of new injuries/suspensions to historical) --expansion teams in historical now start with 100 points on their first annual finances -relegation from the Tipsport Extraliga to the Chance Liga is no longer automatic, the last-place team in the Extraliga now plays the Chance Liga playoff winner in a best-of-7 series, winner goes to Extraliga next season and loser to Chance Liga -made a number of adjustments to nonplayable transactions that should produce a better flow of college-bound prospects in appropriate (primarily Junior A) leagues -the autoscheduler will now leave schedule room for the NHL all-star game if it's used for the NHL at the (July 1) start of a standard game -fixed issue where good players were signing for minimum-level contracts in some playable European leagues -several small text fixes