Proposal: New Training System

[WigNosy]

So... back when I proposed the new point system several seasons ago, I mentioned at some point I felt it would be a good idea to revamp the training system. I've finally sat down and put things together in a coherent post. This is presented in the form of a comprehensive plan, however, I'm setting this out with the express intent that the details are up for discussion. The first post I make is the "background" - the actual proposal will come in the second post.

Observations about Training Camp:
Players under the age of 27 have about a 1 in 6 chance of having their potential ratings lowered during TC.
Players under the age of 27 have about a 1 in 12 chance of having their potential ratings increased during TC.

AGE AT DRAFT	26	25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17
LOSE POTENTIAL	17%	28%	36%	41%	46%	49%	52%	54%	56%	58%
NO CHANGE	75%	59%	48%	41%	35%	32%	29%	27%	25%	23%
GAIN POTENTIAL	8%	13%	16%	18%	19%	19%	19%	19%	19%	19%

Conclusions:
Training Camp is, on aggregate, far more destructive to players' careers than helpful... even young players!
The younger a player is when he is drafted, the less likely he is to reach his potential... and a 17-year-old draftee is not much more statistically likely to have a net increase to his potential than a 22-year-old draftee.

Observations about Paid Trainings:
These are overwhelmingly used on "franchise" players due to the current high cost of training. These are also used to "build up" star players to levels beyond their "natural" abilities, potentially unbalancing the game (to aid in keeping balance, we've put restrictions on training already, such as no training of all-league players and no training of purple-potential players, as well as limiting the maximum number of training sessions a player can receive).

Observations about current systems:
Teams can see their carefully-laid team building plans destroyed by the fickleness of Training Camp destroying a key young player's potential. This probably the most-frequently-cited complaint against the sim engine. If we're imposing our own training system on top of this, let's try to mitigate the damage somewhat.

Goals of new system:
The primary goal of a new training system should probably be to mitigate the number one complaint teams have about the current training system (i.e., TC kills too many players).

The secondary goal of a new training system is to prevent players from becoming unbalanced by raising their attributes unnaturally.

The tertiary goal of a new training system is to "spread the wealth" in training so that more players receive trainings - i.e., that training is not such a significant investment in a single player that it is reserved for franchise cornerstones.

Ancillary goal of this system include: reducing the bookkeeping required for the training system and dovetailing the system with our current "free" rookie trainings.

[WigNosy]

PROPOSAL:

Trainings now come in four flavors, "free rookie" trainings, "skill" trainings, "athletic" trainings, "reconstruction" trainings.

A. "FREE ROOKIE TRAININGS"

• Each 400 minutes (round all fractions down) that a player logs during his rookie season qualify him for one "free" skill training (see below). This is identical to the Skill Training below except the cost is 0 points instead of 5.
• These trainings must be applied in the first Paid Training period following the player's rookie season.
• These may be distributed in any manner desired (i.e., could be spread among multiple ratings).
• Would replace entirely the current "average 30 mpg" free rookie trainings.

B. SKILL TRAININGS - 5 POINTS

• Skill trainings may be applied to any rating except QKN, JMP, STR, and STA.
• A skill training raises the current value of the rating by one.
• You may combime multiple skill trainings at once if you have enough points (e.g., spend 20 points to raise a rating by 4).
• Skill training does NOT raise the potential/future value of the rating.
• If you attempt a training that would increase the current rating past the potential, you get any excess points back (e.g., if you spent 20 points but the potential rating was only 2 higher than the current rating, the rating would increase by 2 and you would be refunded 10 of your 20 points).
• You cannot about the difference between current and potential ratings before spending the points to try to improve it.

C. ATHLETIC TRAININGS - 10 POINTS

• Athletic trainings may be applied to QKN, JMP, STR, and STA.
• An athletic training raises the current value of the rating by one.
• You may combine multiple athletic trainings at once if you have enough points (e.g., spend 40 points to raise a rating by 4).

D. RECONSTRUCTIVE TRAININGS - 50 points

• A player becomes eligible for reconstructive training by (a) suffering a drop in potential ratings during training camp while under the age of 27 or (b) suffering an in-season potential drop due to catastrophic injury (e.g., broken leg), regardless of age.
• Reconstructive training must be performed in the Paid Training period immediately following the player becoming eligible. In the edge case of a catastrophic injury that happens after the trade deadline, reconstructive training occurs *prior* to the in-game Training Camp.
• Reconstructive training restores all of a player's potential ratings to the level they were at prior to the event that caused their loss. It does not affect the player's current ratings (which may have dropped).
• A player may only have one reconstructive training in his career. He is still eligible for athletic and skill trainings.

NOTES:
Limits on training attributes beyond 85 and limits to purple-potential players and all-league performers, as well as the three-training limit would be removed under this proposal since this training only allows players to *reach* their potential, not improve it.

Since there are no limits of "three per career" under this proposal, we don't have to maintain extensive lists of how many times each player has been trained. Instead, with a limit of "one reconstructive training per career" we have a binary list - either you're on it or you're not. Bookkeeping is greatly reduced since "purple potential" and "all-league players" no longer have to be tracked, either.

Athletic trainings are more expensive than skill trainings because they are essentially improving BOTH the "Current" and "Potential" of the ratings.

With reconstructive training, the edge is taken off of training camp. In general, the odds are now about even for players in the 20-22 age range at draft day to bust or to gain potential. Drafting a player 22 or older now gives you more chance that his career will go better than expected than you have of seeing him bust (of course, he'll have a shorter career, too). Drafting a player under the age of 22 is still a gamble, but at least you have improved the odds - now such players bust 20-33% of the time (depending on age at drafting) instead of busting 50-60% of the time.

AGE AT DRAFT	26	25	24	23	22	21	20	19	18	17
LOSE POTENTIAL	0%	3%	7%	11%	15%	19%	23%	26%	30%	33%
NO CHANGE	92%	84%	77%	71%	66%	62%	58%	55%	51%	48%
GAIN POTENTIAL	8%	13%	16%	18%	19%	19%	19%	19%	19%	19%

[42PhD]

There are some good ideas here, but cheap trainings can lead to and OP era, especially when some teams are in negative points, others have 151 points (ahem).

The complete inability of some teams to manage points, salary just leads to more iniquity when cheap trainings show up.

Also, 151 points.

Buying a TC undo (total undo) might be worth considering, but you have to be careful with creating a few OP players who can be collected on one team, especially with a current points imbalance in the League.

151 points in Atlanta.

[TheSyndicate]

I think the current system allows for more 'OP' players than this change. Current system allows for training potentials whereas this specifically outlaws that.

I'm open to more feedback on this, but I like this proposal so far.

[42PhD]

How many has the current system produced?

Do you play with / against potential ratings or actual ratings?

[TheSyndicate]

I don't think the current system has produced any OP players since the restrictions on training Purple/all league/up to 85, etc, actually.

[IamQuailman]

Honestly, I like the ability to raise potentials, because it gives people optimism that they can really invest in one guy 3 trainings and maybe make him from a role player to a legit starter. So in that regard, I am against doing away with the current system.

I do really like the "reconstructive" training idea. I think we could totally implement that... but I would make it a little more expensive

[42PhD]

I had some ideas I am noodling on in that regard, too.

[TheSyndicate]

I think the reconstructive training idea is worth voting on as-is right now.

Anyone object to me opening this up in polling place?

[42PhD]

I think the reconstructive training idea is worth voting on as-is right now.

Anyone object to me opening this up in polling place?

I've been thinking about this and can't come up with anything clearly better for reconstruction. My thought was centered around a sliding scale, maybe with a cap, based on aggregate points drop.

Won't object to this, but wanted to share my thoughts if people wanted to move.

The other idea was more like a camp undo, pay the points, lose all gains and, for eligible players, all losses, maybe with a different points cost, but acting on a team level causes complications. Again, no objections, just "publicing" my private thoughts.

[coltsguy510]

Love the reconstruction idea. Agree with Doug that I like the increase of potentials, but the reconstructive training is awesome.

[coltsguy510]

Also I think it should be 60 points instead of 50.

[RPF]

I also like the reconstruction proposal. When should we put that up for vote?

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

[WigNosy]

Bumping this mostly to rekindle talk on the reconstructive training proposal since we're getting close to TC again and the horror of TC is weighing on everyone's minds.