I planned to write a Part 2 of the introduction article here outlining some suggested builds for each position, but it quickly became apparent when testing that this would end up being too much for one article. So instead, I'll focus on one position at a time.
The aim of this study is to come up with 5 archetypes that satisfy the following:
First off, I'm taking a look at Wide Receivers. In the last article, we looked at the usage statistics which showed that Speed is the dominant choice, with over 60% of all ISFL WRs picking it over the other 3 options. I ran some tests to see how they hold up.
For all the testing below, I simmed as , always playing away and playing against all 13 other ISFL teams equally. The Balanced playbook was the only one used (as it splits roughly equally between the 5 formations) and the pass ratio was turned up a bit to get more significant passing results. I created 3 new identical WRs who were maxed versions of each archetype, and played them in fixed positions across the formations (LWR, RWR, FL).
Here's the results of the existing archetype testing:
Obviously win rate is the ultimate stat that we should care about, but it is extremely volatile and we would need a much higher sample size to get conclusive results. Also, the wide receivers' attributes are a small part of what determines a win. So instead, let's look at Yards Per Attempt. Our effective sample size here is in the tens of thousands of passes attempted and the wide receiver build is a huge part of it, so 742 is more than enough games to make meaningful comparisons. To illustrate that low variance, note how the Home YPA results (which should theoretically be identical) sit in a window of 0.1 yard across the 4 builds.
Looking at the results, it's pretty clear that Speed is the best build, averaging 0.25 YPA more than Route Runner, while the other two lag behind quite significantly.
Let's check out the individual stat lines:
For both LWR/RWR, it seems that it's always better to be a Speed receiver, both in terms of yardage and TDs. They get fewer catches, but that makes sense when they're making more yards per catch and scoring more often. Interestingly, it's a little less clear cut for those playing at FL.
As it currently stands, you could make a case for Red Zone being more useful in a situation where a short catch is needed more than a long completion, but that's not really possible to plan for in the sim. In any case, it's tough to justify choosing anything other than Speed when creating your player.
So onto alternatives. When planning out and testing these, I kept the Speed archetype and tried to come up with 4 alternatives that could keep up with it. It quickly become obvious that this was not going to be possible with any feasible build that had just 90 speed. As such, I went with 2 builds with 95 speed and 2 with 100. This sort of violates #2 in the rule above, but having anything below 95 speed seems to be a death sentence, even with all other attributes maxed.
Before we dive into what makes up each of the proposed archetypes, here are the results (definitely need someone else to name them, creativity is not my strong suit):
The range of YPA for the 5 archetypes is just 0.10 yard which compares favourably to 0.73 from before. Looking at individual stats, the bands are much narrower with different archetypes more suited for different situations. For the 3 x 100 speed builds, Athlete and Speed are pretty much indistinguishable. Speed might be better at FL and Athlete better at LWR, but those would need to be tested per playbook/formation combination. Pocket Rocket is also comparable at most positions but scores touchdowns more often at LWR.
At the 2 x 95 builds, Target Man catches the ball more reliably and is the best FL archetype overall, but Physical is probably the better option for scoring touchdowns at the wider positions. Both of these would also probably be more appropriate as a TE fill-in than the speed ones.
Now onto the actual builds:
SPEED
Max Height: 6'3
Max Weight: 225
(MAX: 65) Strength: 25
(MAX: 90) Agility: 65
(MAX: 80) Intelligence: 40
(MAX: 100) Speed: 70
(MAX: 90) Hands: 55
(MAX: 100) Endurance: 60
This one is unchanged and is the benchmark which we have tried to replicate with the others.
POCKET ROCKET
Max Height: 5'11
Max Weight: 200
(MAX: 70) Strength: 35
(MAX: 90) Agility: 60
(MAX: 95) Intelligence: 55
(MAX: 100) Speed: 70
(MAX: 100) Hands: 60
(MAX: 80) Endurance: 55
These players are small but fast. Their small stature makes them a more difficult target to throw to, so their attribute caps and starting TPE are generally higher to compensate. Endurance can't be raised as high as other positions.
ATHLETE
Max Height: 6'1
Max Weight: 220
(MAX: 70) Strength: 25
(MAX: 100) Agility: 70
(MAX: 75) Intelligence: 30
(MAX: 100) Speed: 70
(MAX: 80) Hands: 55
(MAX: 100) Endurance: 60
Slightly shorter than Speed, these players have higher Agility and Strength at the expense of Hands and Intelligence.
TARGET MAN
Max Height: 6'6
Max Weight: 225
(MAX: 75) Strength: 40
(MAX: 75) Agility: 40
(MAX: 70) Intelligence: 40
(MAX: 95) Speed: 50
(MAX: 100) Hands: 55
(MAX: 100) Endurance: 60
The Target Man is an attractive option for a QB. Their natural height advantage means they come down with the ball more often than their peers. This built-in bonus means their starting TPE and caps are the lowest of all WRs.
PHYSICAL
Max Height: 6'4
Max Weight: 235
(MAX: 85) Strength: 50
(MAX: 90) Agility: 55
(MAX: 90) Intelligence: 55
(MAX: 95) Speed: 55
(MAX: 95) Hands: 50
(MAX: 80) Endurance: 50
The Physical WRs have a nice weight advantage to help them win the 1 on 1s, but the 95 speed and the lack of height compared to Target Man means they need a strong boost across the rest of the attributes to compete with everyone else.
Comparing the variety of wide receivers that we'll end up with in terms of attributes, we've definitely improved the uniqueness and variety available through archetypes:
In conclusion, speed is king and there's not really anything we can do with low speed WRs to make them competitive. But by placing all at 95/100 speed, we've come up with 4 new archetypes that should compete equally overall with Speed receiver. If these archetypes were to be implemented, it would certainly shift the run/pass ratio more towards the latter, increasing passing yards across the league. Though with 60% of the league currently at Speed, it wouldn't be a huge change.
Interested to hear your thoughts!
The aim of this study is to come up with 5 archetypes that satisfy the following:
- All viable to play as, with similar performance overall but ideally specialised to certain game situations
- Each one very clearly unique, with wider attribute ranges
- Somewhat representative of the real-life spread of players at that position (though the sim often prevents this)
First off, I'm taking a look at Wide Receivers. In the last article, we looked at the usage statistics which showed that Speed is the dominant choice, with over 60% of all ISFL WRs picking it over the other 3 options. I ran some tests to see how they hold up.
For all the testing below, I simmed as , always playing away and playing against all 13 other ISFL teams equally. The Balanced playbook was the only one used (as it splits roughly equally between the 5 formations) and the pass ratio was turned up a bit to get more significant passing results. I created 3 new identical WRs who were maxed versions of each archetype, and played them in fixed positions across the formations (LWR, RWR, FL).
Here's the results of the existing archetype testing:
Obviously win rate is the ultimate stat that we should care about, but it is extremely volatile and we would need a much higher sample size to get conclusive results. Also, the wide receivers' attributes are a small part of what determines a win. So instead, let's look at Yards Per Attempt. Our effective sample size here is in the tens of thousands of passes attempted and the wide receiver build is a huge part of it, so 742 is more than enough games to make meaningful comparisons. To illustrate that low variance, note how the Home YPA results (which should theoretically be identical) sit in a window of 0.1 yard across the 4 builds.
Looking at the results, it's pretty clear that Speed is the best build, averaging 0.25 YPA more than Route Runner, while the other two lag behind quite significantly.
Let's check out the individual stat lines:
For both LWR/RWR, it seems that it's always better to be a Speed receiver, both in terms of yardage and TDs. They get fewer catches, but that makes sense when they're making more yards per catch and scoring more often. Interestingly, it's a little less clear cut for those playing at FL.
As it currently stands, you could make a case for Red Zone being more useful in a situation where a short catch is needed more than a long completion, but that's not really possible to plan for in the sim. In any case, it's tough to justify choosing anything other than Speed when creating your player.
So onto alternatives. When planning out and testing these, I kept the Speed archetype and tried to come up with 4 alternatives that could keep up with it. It quickly become obvious that this was not going to be possible with any feasible build that had just 90 speed. As such, I went with 2 builds with 95 speed and 2 with 100. This sort of violates #2 in the rule above, but having anything below 95 speed seems to be a death sentence, even with all other attributes maxed.
Before we dive into what makes up each of the proposed archetypes, here are the results (definitely need someone else to name them, creativity is not my strong suit):
The range of YPA for the 5 archetypes is just 0.10 yard which compares favourably to 0.73 from before. Looking at individual stats, the bands are much narrower with different archetypes more suited for different situations. For the 3 x 100 speed builds, Athlete and Speed are pretty much indistinguishable. Speed might be better at FL and Athlete better at LWR, but those would need to be tested per playbook/formation combination. Pocket Rocket is also comparable at most positions but scores touchdowns more often at LWR.
At the 2 x 95 builds, Target Man catches the ball more reliably and is the best FL archetype overall, but Physical is probably the better option for scoring touchdowns at the wider positions. Both of these would also probably be more appropriate as a TE fill-in than the speed ones.
Now onto the actual builds:
SPEED
Max Height: 6'3
Max Weight: 225
(MAX: 65) Strength: 25
(MAX: 90) Agility: 65
(MAX: 80) Intelligence: 40
(MAX: 100) Speed: 70
(MAX: 90) Hands: 55
(MAX: 100) Endurance: 60
This one is unchanged and is the benchmark which we have tried to replicate with the others.
POCKET ROCKET
Max Height: 5'11
Max Weight: 200
(MAX: 70) Strength: 35
(MAX: 90) Agility: 60
(MAX: 95) Intelligence: 55
(MAX: 100) Speed: 70
(MAX: 100) Hands: 60
(MAX: 80) Endurance: 55
These players are small but fast. Their small stature makes them a more difficult target to throw to, so their attribute caps and starting TPE are generally higher to compensate. Endurance can't be raised as high as other positions.
ATHLETE
Max Height: 6'1
Max Weight: 220
(MAX: 70) Strength: 25
(MAX: 100) Agility: 70
(MAX: 75) Intelligence: 30
(MAX: 100) Speed: 70
(MAX: 80) Hands: 55
(MAX: 100) Endurance: 60
Slightly shorter than Speed, these players have higher Agility and Strength at the expense of Hands and Intelligence.
TARGET MAN
Max Height: 6'6
Max Weight: 225
(MAX: 75) Strength: 40
(MAX: 75) Agility: 40
(MAX: 70) Intelligence: 40
(MAX: 95) Speed: 50
(MAX: 100) Hands: 55
(MAX: 100) Endurance: 60
The Target Man is an attractive option for a QB. Their natural height advantage means they come down with the ball more often than their peers. This built-in bonus means their starting TPE and caps are the lowest of all WRs.
PHYSICAL
Max Height: 6'4
Max Weight: 235
(MAX: 85) Strength: 50
(MAX: 90) Agility: 55
(MAX: 90) Intelligence: 55
(MAX: 95) Speed: 55
(MAX: 95) Hands: 50
(MAX: 80) Endurance: 50
The Physical WRs have a nice weight advantage to help them win the 1 on 1s, but the 95 speed and the lack of height compared to Target Man means they need a strong boost across the rest of the attributes to compete with everyone else.
Comparing the variety of wide receivers that we'll end up with in terms of attributes, we've definitely improved the uniqueness and variety available through archetypes:
In conclusion, speed is king and there's not really anything we can do with low speed WRs to make them competitive. But by placing all at 95/100 speed, we've come up with 4 new archetypes that should compete equally overall with Speed receiver. If these archetypes were to be implemented, it would certainly shift the run/pass ratio more towards the latter, increasing passing yards across the league. Though with 60% of the league currently at Speed, it wouldn't be a huge change.
Interested to hear your thoughts!