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you were blowing out the team and it went to garbage time, where the coach always takes the starters out for some rest and the bench in for minutes. it's how a typical blowout is supposed to be.

Except that the coach, given free reign, didn't and doesn't do that. The coach "always takes the starters out", except when using LCD. Also, this is a regular occurrence with LCD - I constantly see my starters play regular minutes under LCD, even in blowouts. Either this is a "feature, not a bug", or LCD is faulty.

also, you had 12 guys in the game which made it almost impossible for your SG to play all 48, b/c you still would've blown them out and the coach TAKES EVERYONE off the bench and gives the starters rest.

I have in the past used LCD with more than 9 players dressed and still had players play a full game per my own instructions. And, of course, it should not be impossible for a player to play a full game under any circumstances if the manager asks for it. Unless I am underestimating the difficulty of coding this, it seems like it would have been one of the simplest things to make allowances for. "OK, I want such and such players to play the full game unless they get hurt or foul out, period. The rest of the lineup is at your discretion."

for your SG to play all 48 you have to put the Strictly Follow Depth Chart, and only put 9 players in the game to make it work.

This is not the case, since, as I said, I have accomplished it before without doing either of those things. Also, if such things are necessary, they should be documented somewhere.

But let's assume that this is true, then. If I must use SFDC, do I have to then set players at every position in order to not accidentally forfeit? Or will the AI fill in the gaps if I leave anything blank?

In simplest terms possible: LCD if you are trying to win. SFDC with 9 players, 8 if 2-pos training, and everything filled if you are trying to train. If trying to do both, still SFDC. You are complaining about running out of gas when choosing to not fill up and drive with the gas light on.

You have 15 players and don't use them all so wasting money there. You have an 18 yr old SS potential big man who doesn't even play or train, you have a 21 year old MVP bigman as well so it'd make sense for you to train bigs. But you were trying to get sg 48 mins, also based on his role the minutes he gets and the games ape of your guys whom play, it looks like you train vs anyways. You will ultimately lose first playoff game with your team. You need to figure out what it is you are trying to do with your team and how best to accomplish. Also your arena is quite small. You can't be making money?

Last edited by LBJisaCancer at 2/17/2013 9:37:26 AM

You have an 18 yr old SS potential big man who doesn't even play or train

By all accounts, he has been playing and training said 18 y/o superstar. He doesn't have proficient GS from dumb luck you know. By looking at the game for 5 seconds, you could have seen that the 18 y/o is who he had at SG that game!
Let's stick to the LCD/SFDC issue.

Last edited by Kumiko (CAN U21) at 2/17/2013 10:02:28 AM

In simplest terms possible: LCD if you are trying to win. SFDC with 9 players, 8 if 2-pos training, and everything filled if you are trying to train. If trying to do both, still SFDC. You are complaining about running out of gas when choosing to not fill up and drive with the gas light on.

Sure, the light's on, but the needle is pointing at "F". The machine is contradicting itself. LCD might work the way it was designed, but the design's obviously faulty. Otherwise, all five of my best players wouldn't be starting the fourth quarter with a 45-point lead. No real coach would do that, so the fact that it can happen in this game is problematic (even if this is just a game and not real life). If the engine can recognize a blowout with the other three lineups but can't with LCD, then LCD is the problem.

These things should be documented somewhere. I can't be the first one to have this problem.

you´re riding a false perception here: you EXPECT the coach to act like a REAL coach, but it´s not "let Phil Jackson decide", it´s a "do everything needed to WIN THIS GAME". so why shouldn´t he run his starters in the 4th leading by 45? he has to make sure he wins, not thinking about anything else.

In simplest terms possible: LCD if you are trying to win. SFDC with 9 players, 8 if 2-pos training, and everything filled if you are trying to train. If trying to do both, still SFDC. You are complaining about running out of gas when choosing to not fill up and drive with the gas light on.

Sure, the light's on, but the needle is pointing at "F". The machine is contradicting itself. LCD might work the way it was designed, but the design's obviously faulty. Otherwise, all five of my best players wouldn't be starting the fourth quarter with a 45-point lead. No real coach would do that, so the fact that it can happen in this game is problematic (even if this is just a game and not real life). If the engine can recognize a blowout with the other three lineups but can't with LCD, then that's an issue with LCD.

You need to figure out what it is you are trying to do with your team and how best to accomplish. Also your arena is quite small. You can't be making money?

I'm averaging $53K net income per week, against a league average of $18K. Also, I'm going to make the playoffs (in an easy conference) with one of the lowest player payrolls in the league. Figuring out what to do will be easier as I learn how the game works... y'know, kind of like the learning experience I'm having in this thread.

53 k profit?

Post your economy page please, really curious?

you were blowing out the team and it went to garbage time, where the coach always takes the starters out for some rest and the bench in for minutes. it's how a typical blowout is supposed to be.

Except that the coach, given free reign, didn't and doesn't do that. The coach "always takes the starters out", except when using LCD. Also, this is a regular occurrence with LCD - I constantly see my starters play regular minutes under LCD, even in blowouts. Either this is a "feature, not a bug", or LCD is faulty.

Are you certain in those other games that "garbage time" was truly triggered? Open the play by play, and search for garbage time. In you last game, garbage time was called with <1 min to go in the 3rd quarter. When this happens, the coach will try and remove all starters from the game (regardless of whether it's LCD or SFDC - I think the main exception is LCD with a blanked lineup).

In these cases, in order to maximize the chances that your player of interest (typically a trainee) doesn't get removed at garbage time, you have to limit the number of players on the bench. In that case, usually the backups at the other positions will get subbed into the game, leaving your trainee still in the game. This is why people suggest to field only 9 players in the lineup when trying to get a guy 48 minutes. If you've gotten it to work with LCD in the past, it may be that your starter was much better than the guys on the bench.

I conceptualize it as follows:

Everytime there's an opportunity to make a substitution, the coach looks at his starters and the possible guys on the bench. Then, he makes a judgement about their relative abilities, as affected by their stamina and minutes played thus far. He looks at every player on the bench, but weighs them by their position on depth chart. If the option on the bench is better than the guy on the floor, he'll make a change. So, a guy off the depth chart can be inserted, but his ability must be much much better than the alternative for it to happen. Also, when garbage time is called, these rules change a bit, and the coach may make more changes, when the result is taking out the starter.

When the sub pattern is set to LCD, I think the coach just goes with whoever is best. With SFDC, I suspect the switch is usually made when the starter gets to a certain level of reduced ability, due to stamina.

These rules lead to some odd happenings.

All cases, relatively crappy backups won't play as much (since even the stamina decreased starter is still better).
In SFDC, high stamina guys with better skills than their backup may play the entire game.
In SFDC and garbage time, the player in all three spots of the depth chart (starter, backup, reserve) can get subbed out in the last few minutes if a starter on the bench is much better (say you're training a guard at PG, and the SG starter is really good, much better than your trainee. When garbage time is called, the starter SG goes to the bench. He sits there until the end of the game, as the trainee PG gets worse, and the SG improves from rest. At some point, even with SFDC, the coach may insert the SG into the PG position).

As far as SFDC, you should fill in all the depth chart gaps, and definitely the starters. You won't forfeit, as long as there are guys in the active lineup, but the coach chooses total crazy players at bad positions, e.g. centers at PG. hrudey once suggested that bot teams use SFDC with blank lineup, and after accidentally using that in some PL games, I agree.