How does “limitless” ability from Architect tree work?

[jello1717]

How does the Architect tier 2 ability “limitless” work? Here’s how I assume it works:

Any time a player from the correct position group (I have it for OL and DL) levels up (fills their XP bar in the upper left and receives 1 more token in the upper right), then they have a chance (my Google-Fu found this to likely be 15% of the time) to increase a skill cap. I interpret this to mean that if a player had 14 skill caps (the grey boxes with a slash on skills) then when it triggers he’d have 13 left.

I’ve tracked this thru several level ups (enough that it’s very statistically likely to have seen it hit at least once) spread across 10 OL and 9 DL and have never seen a cap increased. This leads me to worry that I’m not understanding it properly and it won’t work as I expect.

Using Kendricks’ screenshots below you can see that he’s leveled up several times without a cap increase. My best estimate is that he leveled up about 8 times between these pictures (3 points to increase IQ, 3 points to increase pass blocking and 3 points to increase outside shield ability).

• Am I correct that I should have a chance every time they fill their xp bar, or is it something stupid like every time he buys a new skill increase (which usually cost multiple level ups)?
• Am I correct that I will know it’s triggered by counting how many slashed grey boxes they have? If not, how do I know?
• Am I correct assuming it works for in season progression in addition to offseason?

Thanx much for the help!

EDIT: Fixed funky formatting.

[jello1717]

I simmed 2+ years into the future and checked my guys and there were still 0 caps removed…..

Take this guy Austin hope as an example. He increase 2 abilities (not shown) and increase his skills 9 (NINE) times during this period. That’s in the neighborhood of 30-40 level ups without increasing any skill caps. 15% (if accurate) is 1 cap increase every 6.7 level ups on average…..

Maybe it’s something stupid like it only increases a cap if either that skill is maxed, or maybe all of the player’s skills are maxed? If so, that’s a really dumb design choice.

However it works, I’m thinking I wasted my coaching points in architect regardless. The cap increases looked LOVELY while @ ODU and even Louisville as I had players maxing out as a JR or even SO(RS) due to low caps. But at Michigan with 4 and 5* recruits, it’s looking like they have such high ceilings that they won’t be maxed out even as SRs.

[piffbernd]

I Wish IT would say how many Procent IT can Happen.

[champ_sanders]

Quote: Originally Posted by jello1717

Am I correct that I should have a chance every time they fill their xp bar, or is it something stupid like every time he buys a new skill increase (which usually cost multiple level ups)? Am I correct that I will know it’s triggered by counting how many slashed grey boxes they have? If not, how do I know? Am I correct assuming it works for in season progression in addition to offseason?

1) the limitless perk is triggered when the player upgrades a skill, not when they gain a coin by filling the XP bar.

2) Yes, one of the boxes will randomly disappear if the perk is triggered.

3) Yes, I have seen the perk work both in season and from off-season training.

As a note, the Senior Superlatives perk in the CEO branch is vastly superior to Limitless. It is a guarantee that one skill cap from each of the six skill groups will be removed (except if the player has no caps in a skill group).

The number of skill caps on 4 and 5 star players are incredibly low, so architect is not as valuable compared to a team recruiting 3 star players.

The only exception is for WR/TE. These players are recruited with many skill bars already in place. A 4 star WR/TE recruit will have between 38-42 yellow skill bars. Comparatively, an OL, DL, CB, S will have 18-25. So a WR/TE will hit their skill caps faster, while these other positions are likely to never hit their skill caps (some 3 stars, never really for 4 and 5 stars).

Source: I have been tracking this via an excel spreadsheet.

[jello1717]

Quote: Originally Posted by champ_sanders

1) the limitless perk is triggered when the player upgrades a skill, not when they gain a coin by filling the XP bar.

Firstly, Thanx much! This is exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for.

1. This one blows. Every stat purchase isn’t nearly as often as every level up, which of course makes the skill less valuable.

Question: So does this mean that when a guy is maxed, then it’s impossible for him to reduce his caps anymore? If so, that seems like a dumb design choice since this is exactly the kind of player that the skill seems designed to help.

Quote: Originally Posted by champ_sanders

2) Yes, one of the boxes will randomly disappear if the perk is triggered.

2. How often would you say they’ll remove a cap? I still haven’t seen it happen yet on the 20ish guys I’ve monitored, and even if it’s only when they buy a new stat increase, it certainly seems like I should’ve seen it happen by now. Also, can they reduce a cap when upgrading abilities, or only stat increases?

Quote: Originally Posted by champ_sanders

3) Yes, I have seen the perk work both in season and from off-season training. As a note, the Senior Superlatives perk in the CEO branch is vastly superior to Limitless. It is a guarantee that one skill cap from each of the six skill groups will be removed (except if the player has no caps in a skill group). The number of skill caps on 4 and 5 star players are incredibly low, so architect is not as valuable compared to a team recruiting 3 star players. The only exception is for WR/TE. These players are recruited with many skill bars already in place. A 4 star WR/TE recruit will have between 38-42 yellow skill bars. Comparatively, an OL, DL, CB, S will have 18-25. So a WR/TE will hit their skill caps faster, while these other positions are likely to never hit their skill caps (some 3 stars, never really for 4 and 5 stars). Source: I have been tracking this via an excel spreadsheet.

The CEO tree one sounds great, but the prerequisite of winning two national titles is incredibly steep, and if I keep my dynasty going like I want, it’d be a really long time before I do that, if ever. I’ve played 7 seasons so far and only made the playoffs twice and never made it to the semis. I’m at Michigan now, so maybe that’ll change, but we’ll see.

But I have noticed from comparing my 4and 5 ⭐️ recruits at Michigan with my 2-4 ⭐️ recruits @ ODU and Louisville that I don’t seem to be maxing out anyone at Michigan. So any stat cap reducing skills don’t seem to have the same value that they would’ve @ Louisville.

[jello1717]

Just did some testing on limitless. I took 9 FR/FR(RS) and tracked their caps over 4 years. I made them all starters in my depth chart for every year.

TLDR:

• No good player reached their original ceiling (so reducing caps didn’t matter). Just 2 mediocre guys with very low ceiling reach their cap, but only 1 of them reduced his cap.
• The 9 players removed a total of 13 stat caps (average of 1.4 caps per player over their entire 4 year careers
• 3 of 9 never had any caps decreased in 4 years

So, architect seems like a massive waste of my coach points at Michigan. The only players that seem to reach their caps are lower ranked recruits, but once they hit their cap, they can’t increase it anyway because they need to be able to buy a stat increase to have a shot at reducing a cap. Even my elite players didn’t come close to their caps.

In my test I had 3 4⭐️ normal recruits and 2 of them had low ceilings. 1 maxed out as a SO and couldn’t reduce his caps. Another reduced his cap by 1 and maxed out, so he was the only 1 out of 9 that finished better due to Architect than he would’ve without Limitless. The 3rd normal guy never approached his ceiling.

I’m not sure where I’ll go next, but I’m gonna abandon Architect now. I’ll likely do Scheme Guru instead.

Here’s the guys I tracked:

POS: (CAPS FR, SO, JR, SR) - (# of stats away from being maxed after SR season)
LT MOFFIT star (14, 14, 12**, 11*) - (14 from max no skill maxed)
LG CALCATERRA normal (24, 23*, 23, 23 maxed) - (maxed)
RG ASOMUGHA normal, (25, 25 maxed, 25, 25) - (maxed)
LE BAUSBY star (9, 9, 9, 9) - (18 from max, no skill maxed)
RE SUTTLE normal (16, 16, 16, 15*) - (11 from max, no skill maxed)
DT TOBIAS impact, (16, 15*, 13**, 13) - (16 from max, 1 skill maxed)
DT NITSCHKE elite (9, 7**, 7, 6*) - (15 from max, 1 skill maxed)
CB WICK impact (14, 14, 14, 14) - (14 from max, 2 skills maxed)
SS ARCHIBALD impact (15, 14*, 13*, 13) - (19 from max, 1 skill maxed)