5) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.
In my last ‘Decompiling the Sim’ post, I touched on some bonuses to speed that certain archetypes can obtain (namely, Power Back and Blocking Back) upon meeting certain criteria for Speed, Strength, and weight. What I didn’t realize at the time is how dominant this will make the Power Back archetype in the DSFL. I would advise reading my previous post for all of the intricacies, but the build is truly 'online' when the player reaches 91 Strength and 79 Speed while weighing more than 225 pounds. For a Power Back, this can be done with 240 TPE (175 TPE to go from 65 to 91 Str and 65 TPE to go from 60 to 79 Speed)--this is just under the DSFL cap of course, with 10 points to spare. Sadly, the same cannot be done for the Blocking Back who starts at 50 Speed, but they can still realize most of the benefits while capped at 77 Speed.
I recently heard that a Season 25 rookie ([@SchoolboyShue]) had decided to follow this build advice, so instead of just leaving him to be a guinea pig based on theory alone, I thought it would be wise to demonstrate the effects of this build in practice. To that end, I took the roster file from a recent sim and turned every single player into carbon copies of each other.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"][/div]
These bot-like players have a score of 60 in every attribute, the same level of experience, the same height, the same weight. All Identical clones of each other, except for their position on the depth chart. I took two teams (London and Kansas City, but specificity is irrelevant since all teams are now equal) and set the same strategies for both of them. (Oh! Before we proceed, I also realized this is a great way to test home field advantage--in a quick test of 500 games, the home team won two-thirds of the time by an average margin of 5.84. The margin might fluctuate a bit in ISFL versus DSFL, but I would generally expect the win probability to hold). The only unique player on the team will be the lead running back--depending on his build at the time, this character will be called either Power Back or Speed Back. Here’s a look at Power Back--
[div align=\\\"center\\\"][/div]
He is a capped DSFL player with the Power Back archetype and points in Strength, Speed, and Endurance.
And here’s Speed Back--
[div align=\\\"center\\\"][/div]
Also capped, Speed Back has the highest Speed possible for a DSFL running back (and a couple of points in Strength with the leftover TPE).
At this point, you can probably see where the test is headed. As a basis of comparison and attempting to hold as many variables constant as possible, we will run hundreds of sims with either player in the lead back role to see how their individual stats as well as their team’s win rate compares. Using a script that will be readily available to all of you within the coming week, simulating and exporting all of these games took around ten minutes.
Power Back Individual Statline
Power Back Team Statline
In my last ‘Decompiling the Sim’ post, I touched on some bonuses to speed that certain archetypes can obtain (namely, Power Back and Blocking Back) upon meeting certain criteria for Speed, Strength, and weight. What I didn’t realize at the time is how dominant this will make the Power Back archetype in the DSFL. I would advise reading my previous post for all of the intricacies, but the build is truly 'online' when the player reaches 91 Strength and 79 Speed while weighing more than 225 pounds. For a Power Back, this can be done with 240 TPE (175 TPE to go from 65 to 91 Str and 65 TPE to go from 60 to 79 Speed)--this is just under the DSFL cap of course, with 10 points to spare. Sadly, the same cannot be done for the Blocking Back who starts at 50 Speed, but they can still realize most of the benefits while capped at 77 Speed.
I recently heard that a Season 25 rookie ([@SchoolboyShue]) had decided to follow this build advice, so instead of just leaving him to be a guinea pig based on theory alone, I thought it would be wise to demonstrate the effects of this build in practice. To that end, I took the roster file from a recent sim and turned every single player into carbon copies of each other.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"][/div]
These bot-like players have a score of 60 in every attribute, the same level of experience, the same height, the same weight. All Identical clones of each other, except for their position on the depth chart. I took two teams (London and Kansas City, but specificity is irrelevant since all teams are now equal) and set the same strategies for both of them. (Oh! Before we proceed, I also realized this is a great way to test home field advantage--in a quick test of 500 games, the home team won two-thirds of the time by an average margin of 5.84. The margin might fluctuate a bit in ISFL versus DSFL, but I would generally expect the win probability to hold). The only unique player on the team will be the lead running back--depending on his build at the time, this character will be called either Power Back or Speed Back. Here’s a look at Power Back--
[div align=\\\"center\\\"][/div]
He is a capped DSFL player with the Power Back archetype and points in Strength, Speed, and Endurance.
And here’s Speed Back--
[div align=\\\"center\\\"][/div]
Also capped, Speed Back has the highest Speed possible for a DSFL running back (and a couple of points in Strength with the leftover TPE).
At this point, you can probably see where the test is headed. As a basis of comparison and attempting to hold as many variables constant as possible, we will run hundreds of sims with either player in the lead back role to see how their individual stats as well as their team’s win rate compares. Using a script that will be readily available to all of you within the coming week, simulating and exporting all of these games took around ten minutes.
Power Back Individual Statline
- Rushing: 17.42 carries, 124.18 rushing yards (7.13 YPC), 1.01 rushing TDs
- 29.59% of Power Back’s runs resulted in a first down.
- Power Back’s longest run on average was 33.40 yards.
- Receiving: 0.74 receptions, 5.21 receiving yards, 0.04 receiving TDs
- Miscellaneous: 0.14 fumbles, 0.49 pancakes, 0.08 sacks allowed
- Rushing: 17.30 carries, 115.57 rushing yards (6.68 YPC), 0.89 rushing TDs
- 30.13% of Speed Back’s runs resulted in a first down.
- Speed Back’s longest run on average was 26.45 yards.
- Receiving: 0.73 receptions, 6.46 receiving yards, 0.05 receiving TDs
- Miscellaneous: 0.13 fumbles, 0.30 pancakes, 0.10 sacks allowed
Power Back Team Statline
- Record: 568-128-4 (81% win rate)
- Average Score: 24.22 - 12.21
- Record: 575-122-3 (82% win rate)
- Average Score: 25.09 - 11.32