Stat-Adjusted Talent in FHM6

[JeffR]

Up until now, the star ratings for player talent and potential have only taken into account the player's ratings (although individual game systems like contract negotiation did make some allowances for player stats.)

In FHM6, we've added a system, similar to the one used in OOTP Baseball, that will allow some of that rating to be based on the player's recent statistical performance. By default, 25% of the talent and potential ratings will be derived from stats (but this percentage can be adjusted between 0 and 50 via the the File Setup/Options screen.)

(When importing an FHM5 save, the default will be set to 0, but can be edited upwards.)

At default levels, 40% of the adjustment will be contributed by the current season's stats for the player, 40% from the previous season, and 20% from two seasons ago. These levels can also be edited. Note that if it's very early in the current season, part of the weighting for it will be shifted to the previous season.

When making changes, bear in mind that it may be necessary to play forward a little for everything to update and the AI to adjust to swings in the perceived value of players.

The stat evaluation translates statistics from any level of play to an equivalent amount in the player's current league. As a side effect, we had to adjust some league reputations to match more closely with the commonly-accepted levels for stat equivalencies; this isn't noticeable in most cases in the game except in junior leagues, where it's resulted in a general tendency for the star ratings to be at a lower average level (when viewed from a WHL/OHL/QMJHL perspective) than they used to be.

[bjernagris]

Looks great! Will this at all affect player in-game contract asks as well?

[JeffR]

Yes, any game system that looks at the talent/potential numbers will be affected - contracts, trades, lineup decisions, drafting, etc.

[SirMichaelJordan]

I see that we can only reach give 50% of talent from stats. Was a “stats only” set up (100% stats) a problem during testing?

[JeffR]

Limiting it to at least 50% ratings ensures there's some reasonable grounding in reality. It would've been very unrealistic to have the AI operating on a stats-only basis. OOTP can go to 100 because their ratings are heavily stat-derived to begin with. We're working with a much simpler set of numbers (and even more so at the beginning of a game where we have only real stats to work with) so while it's appropriate for them to influence (perhaps heavily) what the AI does, it's a bad idea to make them the only factor.

[peter.]

this is an exceptional concept and feature

[JBench5]

Jeff, do the stats used to determine ability and potential ratings include Grade?

Also, just wanted to comment I am playing a FHM 5 import and at the beginning of the first season I noticed about a two star drop in the potential of 4 of my top prospects. All of them are in their mid 20s.

Loving the game.

Rocky

[SirMichaelJordan]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Limiting it to at least 50% ratings ensures there's some reasonable grounding in reality. It would've been very unrealistic to have the AI operating on a stats-only basis. OOTP can go to 100 because their ratings are heavily stat-derived to begin with. We're working with a much simpler set of numbers (and even more so at the beginning of a game where we have only real stats to work with) so while it's appropriate for them to influence (perhaps heavily) what the AI does, it's a bad idea to make them the only factor.

That makes sense. I guess a similar issue is why the limit is 75% for a given year for stats? I currently have 50% weight and 75% current year and 25% last year. I assume it’s only 75% because it’s pro rated. It would be nice to have that to set 100% if possible. I personally would like to see the AI send down poor performing low tier players and call up AHL hopefuls more often. The change from the default helped a little bit though.

Nonetheless, I love this new addition.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by JBench5

Jeff, do the stats used to determine ability and potential ratings include Grade?

Also, just wanted to comment I am playing a FHM 5 import and at the beginning of the first season I noticed about a two star drop in the potential of 4 of my top prospects. All of them are in their mid 20s.

Loving the game.

Rocky

Not sure what you mean by Grade. But games imported from FHM5 have the stat-based talent level set to 0, since it wasn't part of 5 (we did try it the other way in testing, but there was a lot of confusion over how many players' ratings changed, and by how much.)