[BKL]

When playing out games, in the tactical screen you assign each player his tactical role and he has a score....1-5. Once the game starts, I'm able to play a few minutes, go back to the tactics screen and then I just basically optimize. For instance, if a player is in a tactical role and given a "5" I can often find a "5" that also has a counter (yellow or red bar). So I switch it. Basically, he still gets the same numerical score but now has the advantage of being in a countering role as well.

I do this for each player, 5v5, power play, short handed. When I go back to the game I usually have the tactical advantage in 3 of 5 areas. This is because my numerical score hasn't changed but I've added a bunch of countering roles (I only switch player roles for a role with the same score but has a countering effect). Essentially, I'm optimizing.

Is this cheating? A simple mechanical optimization exercise? I guess what I'm trying to figure out is if this just really becomes mechanical then do you really have subjective judgement as a in-game coach. What's the value of me being a coach if I just do a mechanical exercise each game? Or, am I missing something?

For instance, in Football Manager, players are assigned tactical roles and you can see their ratings (a little green circle). However, in many cases, you'll still pick a tactic or role that isn't the player's optimal because that tactic has other important attributes against a team.

I guess I'm asking, do I just optimize the numerical and countering roles, or should I also be looking for nuances of the tactical role - such as "a punishing defenseman gives me a better numerical advantage and is a countering role, but I'm down by 1 so I want my defenseman to be more offensive...so I'll pick offensive defenseman event though I'll lose a little tactical advantage?"

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.