BuzzerBeater Forums

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

The other 4 had same stamina : proficient !

ok there is the problem. players with stamina that high use to play a lot of minutes. it is stupid but i never would train stamina higher than 6...