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Edit: I didn't add the second paragraph in the Game Manual in my previous post, but it should be amended too, as it seems quite evident that it gives the false impression that: 1) you need 48 minutes for training; 2) SFDC is the way to go to "optimize" your minutes. How is that not misleading? If I was reading that for the first time, I'd assume that SFDC will allow you to get 48 minutes and will also prevent the coach from starting subs or playing them more minutes than the starters (as it happens with Coach Pick from Depth Chart).

Except that "optimizing" does not equate to a guarantee of 48 minutes, just that the SFDC option will give you the best result of the available options (with all other factors being equal, at least; you'll likely be more likely to get a trainee 48 minutes on a CPFDC with only five players dressed than you would with a SFDC in a blowout win with 12 players dressed).

That's also why they say that it gives managers "better control of their training minutes each week" than "gives them control". You can be reasonably assured of a general minute split depending on the game conditions, more so than with other lineup types. The fact that it's still well beyond your control overall, of course, is something that could definitely be improved - though I more frequently lament not being able to get players with respectable+ stamina under 44 minutes in a slow offense than losing a few minutes here or there.

Almost every time I've been able to get 48 by making that player the starter/backup/reserve, leaving all other reserve spots blank, and making any potential reserve players inactive (in other words, only have 9 players dressed out in the "Selected Roster"). There was one game where this still didn't work, and in the last minute a different position's backup subbed in for no apparent reason - and I guess this is the "bug." Otherwise this has been about 99% reliable. (But it's still not "strictly" following the depth chart.)

It's probably better to have only 8, since if your game goes into garbage time on a play that sends one of the non-trainee starters to the line, his backup will come in to replace the trainee. It also occasionally happens late in close games in terms of trying to make sure the best FT lineup is on the court or maybe to rebound missed FTs, and once in a while for players with poor enough stamina. And it's always the trainee you least want to miss minutes that has it happen to them in a given week.

Anyone want this thread deplaced to the Bugs forum ?

Clearly that's where it belongs, bug or not. Then Marin can say whether it's a bug and save everyone a lot of time and brain damage.

(And to Manon) Thanks for that. I do seem to remember the sub happened during free throws, because I was looking to see if there was an injury on the foul. It wasn't a garbage time situation. I've had no problems for several weeks.

Almost every time I've been able to get 48 by making that player the starter/backup/reserve, leaving all other reserve spots blank, and making any potential reserve players inactive (in other words, only have 9 players dressed out in the "Selected Roster"). There was one game where this still didn't work, and in the last minute a different position's backup subbed in for no apparent reason - and I guess this is the "bug." Otherwise this has been about 99% reliable. (But it's still not "strictly" following the depth chart.)

I've experienced this same 99% reliability when I aim to play my trainees 48+ minutes. Maybe sometimes they sub out for 30 seconds on a FT and only get 48 and not 48+. Even if it was only 90% of the time that it worked, I'd say that is still fairly 'strict', and not remotely 'vaguely' or 'loosely' following the depth chart.

In the end, the training is just about the same. I don't really understand what everyone is so fired up about.

That's also why they say that it gives managers "better control of their training minutes each week" than "gives them control"

Seriously, no. That paragraph read together with the previous one can only be interpreted as:

1) SFDC uses entirely the manager's choices (i.e. it should never stray from the depth chart set except when all the players in the depth chart are no longer able to play due to injury, ejection or fouling out).

You can use entirely your judgment (Strictly Follow Depth Chart)

2) you need to get at least 48 minutes to get full training

In order to train effectively, a player should get at least 48 minutes of game time in a given week

3) SFDC is the best at getting training because you prevent the coach from overruling the manager's decisions, which can be assumed from point 1 to be within the depth chart decided by the manager. This means that in SFDC no player set as backup will ever start a game (as it happens with other options) and that he will have starter minutes and not scraps (I've seen 11-37 splits between starter and backup with other options)

in order to optimize your training minutes, you can use the Strictly Follow Depth Chart tactic to overrule some of the coach's substitution decisions

What happened in this game with the substitution of the starting PG with the backup PF due to a FT is something that should not happen in SFDC because of all the clear explanations from the Game Manual:
http://www.buzzerbeater.com/match/81853163/reportmatch.as...

Last edited by Lemonshine at 3/31/2015 6:30:11 AM

I often enjoy discussing minutiae and all the fun that entails, but this is pointless. Substitution patterns should be redone completely, in an ideal world. The manual's text could be cleaned up. Sometimes you just don't get 48 minutes and that is currently working as intended. The white zone is for loading and unloading only. Offer void where prohibited by law.

My final thought is, I felt better about this issue when a trainee who got <48 stilll popped. If the training penalty for being just short of 48 isn't too great, then it's not that big a deal. We all should know by now that 48 minute games are a gamble, "bug" or no bug.

It's pretty small, I believe you lose about 1% training for every 30 seconds of missed playing time (until 40 minutes, if you play less you lose more and more training).