BuzzerBeater Forums

I just noticed something disturbing in this match (42855549). The roster for the Heroes of War only had four people on it. I have looked into the game schedules for this team and found that on more than one game, their roster has only had 5 players on it. Strangely, when you look at their roster on their team homepage, you see they have much more than just 4 or 5 players.

Of most importance though, in any basketball game in real life, you have a minimum number of players you must field or you forfeit the game. Clearly in the game I linked above, the team did not even have 5 players on the court. My PG position was being out scored by .... who.... no one. If you take the time to review the play by play, this phantom player was responsible for many plays in the game. What stats does this phantom player have? If I can get good results from phantom players, why don't I have just a team of three or 4 elite players and just let the phantoms fill in for me as I know they are not going to get injured or cost my team anything in my economy.

I suggest that we have a minimum of 8 or so players a team must have on the active roster for the game to not forfeit to the other team. Otherwise the team that is playing with a real roster is putting players at risk for injury and fatigue. The forfeit team players would gain no minutes for that game for the week, but the legit team should have the minutes given based on the rotation settings in the tactics.

If any game developers could chip in their thoughts on this issue, I would love to discuss the why, how and what can be done about this situation to prevent any advantages and frankly ridiculous situations.

the roster limit here are 3 players

If you take the time to review the play by play, this phantom player was responsible for many plays in the game.What stats does this phantom player have?

he is worse then any player you could lineup.

The Phantom players are called "Lucky Fans", fans who get to suit up with the team if they do not have enough players (or because of injuries etc during the game.

....and if your PG is getting burnt by a lucky fan, then my advice - buy a new PG!

....and if your PG is getting burnt by a lucky fan, then my advice - buy a new PG!

LOL Yea I know my PG needs some more experience for sure but he was not really that bad. I think it was more the shock to see roster limits so low. Thank you both for sharing the 3 player limit and the lucky fans explainations.

With the fact that there is only a 3 player minimum, and the reality that we only have so much money per team, why would a coach not just run a team of 5 killer players so all their money is going into only a few players. Just seems like an owner could get much better players with the allotted money if they had to pay for fewer players. What are the challenges that owners face when choosing to run with such small number of players? In terms of simulating real basketball, I shudder at the thought of just running a few players on my roster.

....and if your PG is getting burnt by a lucky fan, then my advice - buy a new PG!

LOL Yea I know my PG needs some more experience for sure but he was not really that bad. I think it was more the shock to see roster limits so low. Thank you both for sharing the 3 player limit and the lucky fans explainations.

With the fact that there is only a 3 player minimum, and the reality that we only have so much money per team, why would a coach not just run a team of 5 killer players so all their money is going into only a few players. Just seems like an owner could get much better players with the allotted money if they had to pay for fewer players. What are the challenges that owners face when choosing to run with such small number of players? In terms of simulating real basketball, I shudder at the thought of just running a few players on my roster.

Some people may try that, but the problem is that 96 minutes a week (or 144 in a Cup week!) continuously will destroy a player's game shape. Soon, those expensive players will be playing at about 1/3 their value because they're in low game shape, while a team that has a deeper roster of half as expensive players in good game shape should win the matchup convincingly.

game shape is the biggest killer. I would do a forum search on game shape and just invest a bit of time in understanding its importance.

Basically, a $30k salary player with inept game shape will perform worse than a $10k salary player who has Proficient game shape. (or thereabouts).

and because gameshape is managed by the number of minutes a player plays each week, having players clock 96+ minutes each week would make their game shape head downhill fast. and hence you would get less performance out of them.

So thats the reason why people dont do it.

Why is the game setup such that you dont forfeit even with 3 players? Not sure. when i used to play amatuer basketball, at game start time, you had to have a minimum of 4. so maybe in some places its 3? Maybe the other reason as well, is because maybe in the past, lots of people were forgetting to set their roster, and so were being punished for this, so maybe there is some leniency with the number? who knows.

also those 5 killer backup will perform worse, when they ain't have backups even when they have the same gs.