BuzzerBeater Forums

I always use SFDC as well.

If what you've described is actually what has happened to you in the past, that you've had players play over 20 minutes despite being set only as a backup, then THAT is a bug. Rest assured, what happened to you in this game is exactly what is supposed to happen, and exactly what I have seen from hundreds of games, in my experience.

I'll jump in and answer again with - you can't. Unless:

1) You are much stronger than your opponent and can guarantee a blowout win;
2) You can arrange for your starter to foul out, or be injured;
3) You risk playing your weaker player as the starter, make sure he has low stamina, and his backup is much better than him

I'm not 100% sure if option 3 would work, but that'd be your best shot at it, I think. And that involves huge risks as well, especially if you're trying to win a close one.

You can feel free to disagree with me, but if anyone else wants to jump in and confirm/deny what I'm advising, that'd be nice :)

Actually, you might be able to get a backup to play 20+ minutes, by getting him to backup at multiple positions. But then, the starters just end up playing more minutes (perhaps something like a 40/38/18 split between three, instead of 36/12 between two)

Nope, you're wrong. Check out the scores, it was a blowout win.

For a more accurate image of what happens when you set one player as starter, and the other as backup + reserve, check out for example this game: (72615137)

I badly underestimated my opponent, and nearly lost what should've been a very easy game. I decided to play a trainee for 48 minutes at PG (note the 4.0 rating), and every other position was covered by two players - the one with higher minutes was starter, the other player was set as backup + reserve. The scores stayed close throughout, so the players followed the usual substitution patterns.

I have been playing since Season 17 with this team (after having about 2 seasons experience a few years prior), and am on the threshold of possibly promoting to the top division in a competitive country like Australia. Please, don't lecture me about experience.

I can give you dozens more examples if you like, but I'm sure it would also do you good to hear from other experienced managers - setting a starter means you'll be planning on playing him about 35 mins a game, possibly 40. There is no other way in SFDC.

Why would the backup play more minutes when not set as the reserve? Surely he plays less minutes, not more.

Conventional wisdom is that starter/backup/reserve is split 36/10/2. Setting them as you have should be about a 38/10 split, and 42/6 is not surprising.

i didnt read all but in your pictures you had players playing only 2 minutes as backup. that is a little bit strange. nevertheless i dont think its a bug.

what can help is to have better players as backup.

if you want your players to play around 24min per game you can also use a blanc lineup and let your coach decide. but then you really need 7 players on the same level.

So I have tried to do what you have done in the past, (ie: set starter = reserver) in order to get a different balance of minutes - but i found the result to be very inconsistent, and not similar to what you were experiencing.

There are two main factors which influence substitutions.
a) Stamina
b) Backup/reserve's stats.

Stamina is the main thing in my opinion. If i set a $150k PF with Proficient Stamina, he plays all game. If i set a $150k PF with inept stamina as backup, then id be interested to see what happens. Probably the starter plays 40 mins or thereabouts.

So what I would suggest is that the players that you are using have different stamina and different skilled players as your backups. And that in the past, you had a consistent way of replicating the minutes, but either the stamina or player skill has changed.

Pretty interesting though! In general, though, there is no set 'formula' for getting starters to play 20-30 minutes. The fact that you were able to achieve this consistently over so many seasons is pretty remarkable, but probably just luck as well!

I might try out some of your settings in a PL game and see what comes out.

Hope this helps.

Last edited by Coach Regan at 8/24/2014 11:13:42 PM