Greyfriars Bobby wrote:Hi, everyone.
I played some DDS:CB a few years back, and I've just bought the 2019 edition. I'm enjoying getting back into the game, but I have some questions that I hope you'll be willing and able to answer.
I'm coaching an Ivy League school with a limited budget, so I have to watch my recruiting dollars carefully. Might I possibly gain some favor with a recruit by scouting him live? Does the game simulate a recruit being pleased that I'd come watch him play?
I've set my depth charts and sub rotation so I'm using four or five guys off the bench. Despite this, when I simulate a game rather than playing it out, seven or eight guys are getting playing time off the bench almost every time. This happens even in close games. The #11, #12, and #13 guys don't usually get more than four or five minutes a night, but those are minutes I'd rather see given to a better player. The AI coaches usually play nine or ten guys per game. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated--thanks in advance!
I've never simmed other than in beta testing, but I know from coaching games live there are several things you can do to shorten (or lengthen) your bench.
The first consideration is the current endurance ratings of players that you are using. Players with higher endurance fatigue much more slowly.
Your offensive pace and the opponents press frequency have big in game effects on how quickly players fatigue. I generally have a "magic number" (similar to the one the AI suggests in the depth subscreen) for the point at which I substitute. It's generally much higher than the numbers the AI suggests though. When my depth is shortened by injury or foul-trouble I will lower that "magic number" (I rarely substitute below 78% though, and more typically between 84 and 90), and also will lower offensive pace accordingly. Below 78% I find there are just too many turnovers and missed shots. Rebounding starts to suffer as well.
as the season progresses, i constantly adjust the depth roster, and make note gradually of which players I can expect to give me consistent performance game to game and which won't (and the guys that WILL aren't always the guys with the highest ratings). Generally, I try to establish a rotation of 8 or 9 players. On a particularly talented team I might extend that to 10. My pace and fatigue substitution number i gradually adjust so that it's primarily those guys that are getting the playing time, even when I have foul trouble. My starters will usually get between 25 and 35 minutes, with my top 3 or 4 subs getting between 15 and 20 on average. there are usually a couple of guys that will get 5 minutes or less a game to give my top players an extra blow shortly before a media time out.
Getting to work with the AI while simming is difficult, because the AI is much better at subbing out for foul trouble than for fatigue, and most generally only subs out for fatigue at the media timeouts. Still, to get the right number of guys getting the right number of minutes is still dependent on adjusting your teams offensive pace (in coaching philosophy) and the fatigue numbers you set in the depth subscreen. You'll usually wind up playing the same number of guys, but with higher pace/fatigue numbers you may have everyone playing somewhat equal minutes. WIth lower pace/fatigue your starters will usually get the bulk of the minutes, and your top reserves getting most of the bench minutes. You'll have to constantly make adjustments over the course of the season to get the minutes played where you ideally want them. Also, when simming, don't forget that every time you make a change to the depth chart, you need to go to the substitution subscreen and recalculate based on your current depth chart.
I hoped that confused you sufficiently!