Selecting players for NT and u20 sides

• What happens when you need to select the players for a representative team?
• Is the player you are training good enough for the representative team?

Selecting players is one of the most rewarding moments in representational teams in BR. It is also one of the most critical ones and one of the most difficult ones. What are the criteria to be used?

There are 4 main items to be considered: Discipline, Height, Weight, Skills

Discipline: The key to any forward. Flawless is the desired, Controlled is the acceptable, Collected is the limit. Don't select / don't train reckless forwards. In the backs, the discipline is less critical: There is no significant different between Flawless-Controlled-Collected and Reckless is acceptable. Still, rebellious players should not be trained.

Weight: Discipline + Weight determine whether a player is a forward or a back. Any player (except rebellious players) can potentially be trained. But the discipline and the weight will determine where the player needs to play.

80kg

85kg

90kg

95kg

100kg

105kg

110kg

115kg

120kg

125kg

130kg

135+kg

Rebellious

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Reckless

back

back

back

back

back

back

back

back

back

back

back

back

Collected

back

back

back

back

back

back/loose forward

back/forward*

forward*

forward

forward

forward

forward

Controlled

back

back

back

back

back/openside

back/loose forward

back/forward*

forward*

forward

forward

forward

forward

Flawless

back

back

back

back

back/openside

back/loose forward

forward*

forward*

forward

forward

forward

forward

 * except front rower

Height: The height determines where in the forwards the player will play.

170cm .. 190cm: front row or openside

190cm .. 200cm: front row or loose forward (any loose forward)

200cm+ : blindside or lock

Skills: This is the hard part. There are several ways of considering the skills: skill values (primary, secondary or both), Total Skill Points (TSP), Salary, CSR... What we are going to give here is an indication of the minimum CSR values a player should have to be considered. Please note that to meet the CSR minimum requirement does not mean the player is good enough. Please note that having only cores is not good enough. Please note that two different players can have very similar CSRs and one be good enough and not the other.

Example 1: A 410K CSR player

 

 Example 2: A  400K CSR player

 

Player 1 is good enough despite being only 410K CSR whereas player 2 is not good enough. CSR is about the same, but player 1 has a TSP of  151 whereas player to has a TSP of only 140.

CSR is not a good measure of how ready the player is to be a NT/u20 representative.

Having said that, these are some values to take into account for representative players CSR values depending on age:

18 yo: minimum CSR: 80K, target CSR: 100K
19 yo: minimum CSR: 120K, target CSR: 140K
20 yo: minimum CSR: 160K, target CSR: 180K
...
23 yo: minimum CSR: 260K, target CSR: 300K
24 yo: minimum CSR: 300K, target CSR: 340K
25 yo: minimum CSR: 330K, target CSR: 380K
26 yo: minimum CSR: 360K, target CSR: 420K

For a better understanding on how ready the player is, combine the values above with the TSP values below.

18 yo: minimum TSP: 80, target TSP: 90
19 yo: minimum TSP: 90, target TSP: 105
20 yo: minimum TSP: 100, target TSP: 120
...
23 yo: minimum TSP: 125, target TSP: 140
24 yo: minimum TSP: 135, target TSP: 150
25 yo: minimum TSP: 145, target TSP: 160
26 yo: minimum TSP: 150, target TSP: 165


A side note: Experience.
Being extremely important, I have left experience aside for this post. There is a reason for this. Whereas the considerations above might help in deciding HOW TO TRAIN a representative player, the experience goes in a completely independent way: the higher, the better. For any position. Therefore, experience will not determine the training regime or what position the player might play in.

The ultimate training post

Based on the post about CSR (see it here) I have addressed the topic of training. There are several questions to be answered:

1. What is the effect of Youth Academy training  over CSR?
2. What is the gain of a senior's training session in terms of CSR? and 10 sessions?
3. Is the training in the Youth Academy more efficient than the training in the seniors? When is it more efficient?

Assumptions

The starting point for this study is this thread in the NZ Offsite. This means that we assume as true:

• A level 3 session in the Youth Academy represents 0.20 of a pop.
• The skill levels in the seniors raise as per donkeysaint's table summarizing Tabac's study.
• Multiple sessions in the seniors don't reduce efficiency of training
• The CSR formula given in the previous post in this blog is true.

Training in the Youth Academy

What is the increase in CSR given a certain skill level?Let us illustrate this with an example:

A junior player has a stamina value of 12(12.00) and receives a training session; By how much his CSR is increased?

Answer: The CSR contribution of a skill at 12.2 - the contribution of a skill at 12.0 = 595

This is the increase in CSR of a single session in the Youth Academy:

Level 1: +1.4 CSR per training session
Level 2: +5.4 CSR per training session
Level 3: +14.8 CSR per training session
Level 4: +31 CSR per training session
Level 5: +56.2 CSR per training session
Level 6: +92.8 CSR per training session
Level 7: +142.4  CSR per training session
Level 8: +207.2 CSR per training session
Level 9:  +288.8 CSR per training session
Level 10: +389.8 CSR per training session
Level 11: +512.0 CSR per training session
Level 12: +657.4 CSR per training session
Level 13: +827.8 CSR per training session

As there are 4 training sessions with level 3 facilities and level 3 coach, that means the CSR increase of a weekly training in the YA is at most, 4 times the given figure.

Maximum CSR gain in the YA: +3300 (for 4 different skills at level 13)

Training in the seniors 

Using the CSR formula and having access to several players training 10 level 5 sessions, I have calculated the increases in CSR for a skill in the range 3-16 produced by a single level 5 session.
I express it in terms of fraction of a pop, to contrast with Tabac's table:

Level 3: 0.096 of a pop
Level 4: 0.091 of a pop
Level 5: 0.087 of a pop
Level 6: 0.082 of a pop
Level 7: 0.078 of a pop
Level 8: 0.072 of a pop
Level 9:  0.070 of a pop
Level 10: 0.065 of a pop
Level 11: 0.057 of a pop
Level 12: 0.054 of a pop
Level 13: 0.048 of a pop
Level 14: 0.043 of a pop
Level 15: 0.033 of a pop
Level 16: 0.030 of a pop

Comparing both trainings 

The following graph sums up this study



The conclusion is obvious: as long as the player is training skills above level 10, the Youth Academy training is more efficient than the senior's training.

My formula for CSR

CSR is an important stat in Blackout Rugby. It is the most important stat. If you were not allowed to see anything from a player and you were to assess that player based on only one stat, we would 100% of the times choose CSR.
Experience is important, discipline is important, height, weight, age, skill values... but CSR is an aggregation of stats, and a useful one. Therefore, there is more information in that stat than in any other.

The only problem is, of course, we don't know what CSR is made of :)

This is an attempt to explain how my formula for CSR works.

Note: I don't claim this is the right formula. I don't know the right formula. When we say Energy equals mass times light speed square, we don't know either. Just like Nature does not tell us "that is the right formula, good job", neither does Blackout Rugby (I emailed Jeremy. He didn't give anything away :)). All I can do is test the formula and see if I can get a good value.

The Formula

 where skill_i = stamina, handling...

The limitations 

The problem to test the formula is that in most cases we don't know the right values for skills. We see 12 whereas the real value might be anywhere between 12.00 and 12.99. If you plug these two values in the formula you get that the range of this uncertainty results in 3000 CSR drift.


How I came up with this formula 

The above made the determination of the formula extremely difficult.

However, there is a case in the game where this limitation was reduced to almost no limitation at all. I thank strutt84 for sharing his experiences with Youth Academy players. They have provided a lot of useful information to deduce the formula.


Skills in the Youth Academy can't be trained passed 13.99. That means all 14 values for Youth Academy players come from IGT, and that means that when a player coming from the Youth Academy has a skill value at 14, it probably is a 14.00 or very close to that.

Test the formula

I am going to provide three examples: two coming from the Trade Market (the best source to test any CSR formula) and one using strutt84's player.

Player 1:  Alois Semerák

sta:13.5  han:14.0 att:14.0 def:14.0 tech:14.0 str:14.0 jmp:10.5 spe:13.5 agi:14.0 kck:4.5
real CSR: 131,518
predicted CSR: 129,986 (please note that the uncertainty introduced by stamina and speed might well account for the difference between the real and the predicted values)

Player 2: Jared Tough

sta:19.5  han:19.5 att:19.5 def:19.5 tech:19.5 str:19.5 jmp:17.5 spe:17.5 agi:11.5 kck:3.5
real CSR:446,969
predicted CSR:452,473

Player 3: Blazej Makarewicz

sta:17.5  han:17.5 att:16.5 def:17.5 tech:16.5 str:17.5 jmp:18.5 spe:7.5 agi:7.5 kck:2.5
real CSR:278,395
predicted CSR:273,103

What the formula can be used for 

There is a debate regarding the training of u20 players. What is more efficient? YA training? senior training?

Training in the YA provides 0.20 of a pop per session in the right circumstances. That 0.20 of a pop has a different translation to CSR depending in its value:

1. Going from 12.0 to 12.2 represents +595 CSR increase
2. Going from 10.8 to 11.0 represents +435 CSR increase
3. Going from 13.0 to 13.2 represents +757 CSR increase

4 weekly sessions in the Youth Academy can range from +1700 CSR to +3000 CSR depending on your junior's skills.

Based on this, you can conclude that it probably is a good idea to keep players in the Academy when their skills range between 12 and 14, as the increase in the weekly training is  higher than what they usually get in the senior's training.

Final notes 

This formula aims to be an approximation.  Only an approximation. You are free to use it as you like, but there is no guarantee that the precision it provides will match any possible needs.

CSR evolution: National Teams

 Well, why should not I? Three months after I started blogging and only three posts.

Why not doing something cool, visually appealing and completely and utterly useless? Therefore I used the Blackout Rugby API to get the average CSR of the last international games for some countries... And then I plotted it :)

So before you see the data, some explanation:

1. Horizontal line is games. It is slightly difficult to get the season and round for international fixtures, so you should accept it with games (about 25/30 games per season). Average CSR in games dates back from season 23 so the games span about 6 or 7 seasons.
2. Vertical line is CSR average on a matchday
3. The shaded line is actually the matchday CSR, the solid line is just the moving average (what is moving average?)
4. For the first plot I chose NZ (team id = 1) PI (team id=2) and AU (team id=3) 
5. Yes, I can plot your country's data, just perhaps not in the same graph.

Plotting more than three countries is difficult unless you plot only the Moving Average. For the moment, I'll do a different plot for SA, AR and CI.

 And now, some conclusions:

• New Zealand and South Africa are steadily improving. So are Ivory Coast and PI.
• Argentina used to be the top team but are on decline.
• Australia are struggling to improve.
• Attending to CSR evolution only, the teams to look at in the future in EE.1 are Pacific Islanders and Ivory Coast.

Addendum:  As a special request by a reader, I have added the same data for some u20 teams.

Addendum 2: To fulfill another request

 

What the worst game in the World has and the Best game in the World lacks

Look, I am not going to talk about Travian today. I really don't like the game...
...
...
(I said I don't)
...
...
...
even if I have spent so many hours playing Travian that I become amazingly good at it.

Today what I am going to talk about is the best thing of  Travian: The Tutorial

The tutorial is, probably, the reason why Travian has got thousands of users in each server, and more than 20 servers in different countries, running in parallel.

What does the Travian tutorial do? It matches the three key elements:

1. It teaches how to play the game: Both technically and strategically. It shows you what Travian is about, it shows you how to do it and it shows you where you eventually will do
2. It eases you into the game. You don't need to ask yourself "Very well, what do I do next? " There is already a short-term goal to take care of.
3. It creates a link. You start building, you see a progress, you keep on going. Simple as Candy Crush. You start easy, you grow fast.
   

So rescued from that game, I can suggest a tutorial, with missions and rewards, that will help several things:

• Create the illusion of progression, which is needed to keep the interest of the managers.
• Give them a reason to reconnect tomorrow, because they will want to see their progress.
• Close the so called newbie gap, because the rewards will help them.

Sample Mission/Reward: 
Goal: Expand the stadium to 5500 capacity.
Reward: Extra 1500 capacity.

Sample Mission/Reward:
Goal: Sell a player in the TM.
Reward: get a new player in the roster

Sample Mission/Reward:
Goal: First training session
Reward: +5000 CSR to one player.

Sample Mission/Reward
Goal: Hire your first coach.
Reward: Automatically set the advert for a lvl 2 coach

Sample Mission/Reward
Goal: Check member's contentment.
Reward: +200 members



This is only the idea. I think you can understand why playing the Travian tutorial becomes so addictive (mind you, in three full BlackoutRugby seasons I have played 0 Travian Tutorials, YAY!!!).

Improving the stadium: construction, attendances, revenues...

The stadium. Ah, the stadium. Few things make a manager happier than checking the attendance to a home game and see (100%) next to it. Full cash, a helluva money to buy players, pay salaries or simply keep the club afloat...

But wait! Could he had earned more money with a bigger stadium? Then the race is on to build a bigger stadium that will mean more money, and when the stadium is built and the attendance does not reach 100%... we start all over again.

Because the fate of the stadium is to never ever be able to please the manager.

The fate of the stadium is to never ever be able to please the manager

So how can we improve the stadium in Blackout Rugby to make the managers even more prone to dissatisfaction?


Attendances: Attendances are possibly the easiest thing to improve in Blackout Rugby. Managers could (as in Real Life they can) simply modify the prices for the tickets. Tickets prices could have an effect on the attending crowd. Crowd attendance could have an impact on HGA... Have we never heard of a team deciding to give free tickets for an all-important match? If the standard price of a ticket gravitates around NZ$ 35 (or 20 €) it would be nice as a manager you to be able to increase or reduce that price.

Sometimes even free tickets are not enough and a dedicated
manager needs to go the extra mile...

Revenue: 

Construction:

Other: We all know how rugby should be played. Strong powerful forwards bashing into the defense to create some midfield gap for the swift backs to exploit when the ball is released. One-two, pass-catch, try.
But then sometimes the playing field has a different agenda...

One-two. pass-catch, try

The state of the rugby field, grass, etc... would add to the experience of being a rugby manager

So... A bigger vision?

We recently got the news that the revamp will not be continued. Instead, Blackout Rugby is planning a deal with an investor with the aim to build «the very best sports management games possible, and to become a market leader in this genre through financial backing and a team of talented programmers and artists».

You would have sworn we had met Little Green Men by seeing Blackout Rugby's managers reactions.

Blackout Rugby investors as seen by Blackout Rugby managers

Despite Jeremy's attempt to present the deal as a chance to build a better and more complete Blackout Rugby (more about this later), suspicion has been quick to install in Blackout Rugby's community and some kind of gesture was definitely needed to appease them us (ahem... ahem... :S)

A Goodwill gesture the managers wanted

So I decided it was about time to stop behaving like an old fart and to start showing some ideas. And since there is just so much tryasta the Blackout Rugby Global Forum can handle, I kick started this blog (where you, yes, you, cannot ban my videos :P :P :P).

My goal is to discuss here any ideas I have regarding how to improve Blackout Rugby.


This will be my contribution to a bigger vision.