Knowledge from the past

[Mike3207]

I'll be making some posts where I'll be listing information from the past that was given by the developers but might be lost on the furthest pages of this forum. I'll start with what Dan Bekins said on progression/regression:

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Now for progression. 1. Progression is based on a player's actions in practice and the game. A cool thing about HC09 is that we use the SuperSim engine for all CPU practices and games. SuperSim is a *very* detailed simulator, so essentially every action on the field is simulated for every player. Each time a player makes a play, he will receive some progression points based on that play. For example, say a running back makes a ten yard run and breaks two tackles along the way. The run might contribute points to his speed and carry ratings, while the broken tackles might contribute to his trucking rating. Once a player accumulates enough progression points for a given rating, he will level-up that rating by 1 point and start over. All players have a maximum potential for each rating, and once they reach that potential they will no longer level-up regardless of how many progression points they accumulate. There are a few things that affect how many progression points a player will receive for each action. Players with high learning abilities will receive more progression points. These guys will reach their potential very quickly. Players that report to a skilled coaching staff will receive more progression points. The point multiplier is actually compounded as you walk up the chain of coaches. For example, a running back reports to the RB coach, then the offensive coordinator, then the head coach. If all three coaches are highly skilled with running backs, he will progress extremely quickly. I didn't work on the progression system, but from what I've seen it works pretty well. You will be able to verify this for yourself pretty easily, as a player's full progression status is always available on his player card. 2. Regression happens at the end of each season, and is based on a player's age, career phase, learning ability, and career health. Basically a player's ratings and max potentials will be lowered a bit once he gets toward the end of his career. I can not speak to how this plays in the actual game as I did not personally work on this feature. I do know it was a high priority on Josh's list of thing to get right, though.

[Mike3207]

Player Value

A brief discussion on player value, a key component on how the CPU evaluates personnel to pursue in FA and the Draft, also by Bevins.

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1. Essentially, the CPU will assign a value to all available players and compare them against one another. "Player value" is a third type of rating we use in addition to the raw Madden player abilities and system-dependent player grades. Player value takes everything into account you could possibly imagine. First, it scales each player's grade based on his position. For example, a 99 overall QB is much more valuable than a 99 overall kicker. Second, it scales players with the same position relative to each other in a non-linear way. For example, a 60 overall QB is not 60% as valuable as a 99 QB (in fact, a 60 QB is basically worthless). So the value mapping is actually a curve, and when you look at your Team Roadmap you'll see a huge dropoff in value from the top-tier players to the lower-tier guys. After that, a ton of other things are factored in to tweak the value such as projected cap hit, playbook knowledge, etc. Once the team has evaluated every single player, they need to decide who will add the most value to their team. "Added value" is the secret sauce that drives almost all of the logic in this game. As an example, let's say you're the Colts and Tom Brady is on the FA auction block. Do you acquire him? No, because although Brady has a high value, he has essentially zero *added value* to your team. Your money is much better spent somewhere else. The trick is that added value encapsulates both value *and* need, so teams will always go after the guy who is the best available relative to their current needs. During the draft, the player who fits this description might not be expected to go for several picks, and this is when the CPU will trade down. 2. The CPU will go after a player in proportion to how much value he adds to their team. As per above, teams with more need will be willing to pay more. Also, each team has a philosophy as to how it spends its money. Some teams will go all out for their top need, while other teams will try to distribute their money among all of their needs.

[Mike3207]

Thanks to the person who gave this 5 stars-one of the difficulties going forward will be to identify information the readers wouldn't already know.This one is a quote from Lead programmer Dan Bevins on how much impact the skills and special skills have on gameplay:

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A level 5 skill will add anywhere from 5 to 10 points to its associated player ratings (one or two points per level). For special skills that apply to ratings, you will also get somewhere between 5 and 10 points. This definitely has a big impact on gameplay.

[Byron Yatch]

dont know who 5 starred it but Im gonna join the bandwagon. This is great stuff!

[Mike3207]

Thanks Byron, much appreciated. This post will be a quote from Josh Looman about learning-what sort of role a player should have based on their learning score:

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That's basically how we defined it: 90-99: Elite. Learns very quickly. Peyton manning, Brady, etc. 80-89: Very quick learner. Real world case study: Frank Gore. 70-79: Fringe learning ability. Enough to be a starter and learn the playbook, but just barely. Real world case study: Julius Peppers. 60-69: Below Average Learner. May learn enough to play in spots, but can and will make mistakes. I don't care what a guy's potential is...if his learning is in the 60s or below, he will take a long time to get there. Real world case study: Dallas' Roy Williams. 0-59: Poor learner. Will take forever to learn the playbook and will ultimately not see much playing time because of it. My suggestion is to make speedy WRs with poor learning your returners. Real world case study: Vernon Davis.

[Mike3207]

How your coaching staff gets points

This will be a quote on how your coaching staff gets points. I see from the original thread that Josh addressed trainers in a separate thread, so I'll look to see if I can find that and add it in a separate quote.A quote from Josh on how your staff gets points:

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HC: Wins/losses (more if you beat a good team or rival), great performances from team and individuals. Off. Coordinators: Wins/losses (more if you beat a good team or rival), great performances from team and individuals on their side of the ball. WR,RB,QB, O-Line, D Line/ LB/ DB : Wins/losses (more if you beat a good team or rival), great performances from the players/group they specifically coach (QB coach only gets points if QB does well, while o-line coach gets credit for a great running day, passing day, etc) ST coach: Wins/losses (more if you beat a good team or rival), great performances from returners, kickers, punters. GM: wins/losses, great trades and draft picks. They get points when your team drafts a player with a good overall and good potential. If you draft a sleeper in the 7th round with 95 potential, he gets a lot of points. They also get points when they make a great trade where they essentially 'win' in the exchange.

Ok-no word on trainers getting points that I can see so far. There was some discussion on how players recover health, but I'll address that in a further post. I'll also add I've heard your OC/DC will get more points if you give them control of that side of offense/defense.

[Mike3207]

Players recovering health

A quote from Josh on how it is calculated players recover health:

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Every player gains back fatigue and health every day and the amount they gain back is directly tied to their stamina, toughness and injury ratings. This is also modified by the skill of their trainers. When you hold a player out of practice, you are effectively allowing him to gain back the full amount of health/fatigue he normally would. If you were to allow him to practice, he would potentially get even more fatigued and banged up, negating any health/fatigue he gains back.

Also word on handling serious injuries:

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We handle career ending injuries a little differently. When players receive serious injuries, how long their rehab takes depends on their age, toughness, trainer etc. Some players can be out 18 months with a very serious injury. When those players return, they'll lose some career health at that body part and if it gets too low, they'll take that into serious consideration when contemplating retirement.

[Mike3207]

Getting fired

This upcoming quote is from Dan Bekins. He seems to indicate it is total approval which is behind the logic to fire someone, not owner approval like I always thought.

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Your overall approval is what matters when it comes to getting fired. Winning games should impact approval much more than any other decisions you make, so if you go 3-13 you will probably be in trouble regardless of what you do in the off season. Likewise, if you go 13-3 it should turn all your doubters to your side by the end of the season. There is a bit of leeway built into your first season. Just make sure not to promise big things when the owner asks how you'll fare that year.