I admit to having that same interpretation as Stewart. I guess that's my fault, as reading what Adam posted today makes sense, since all players recover after a match,
regardless if they played. I have to admit though, it's not been a big problem for our side as we assigned Maverick to our GK, so he really only plays 1 out of 2 (and
occasionally 3) matches. I see how it's a greater problem for Stewart.

Thanks Adam. It looks like I've mis-interpreted the "after each match" bit and wrongly assumed that
the penalty would be applied to each match played.

That definitely kills the Maverick for me as a viable choice of characteristic.

It's only the Mavericks recovery and SL that is affected
by his ability. Any time he recovers EL it will be with
a -12 penalty.

Rules as written. Gains permanent SL but will recover at
a lower EL rate after each match.

I'm not convinced about that, David. I certainly didn't appreciate that the penalty would be applied
when the MAV didn't play. If I had realised that then I wouldn't have initiated the pre-season
discussion suggesting that the original Maverick EL of -8 was insufficient. A loss of -12 EL seems
fair when the MAV plays, even for 1 minute, but not when he rests completely.

"Thomas didn't play tonight so, being Age 3, he should have recovered 43 EL units."
That would be true except he'a a Mav SP. They recover less EL.
"It looks like the game programme applies the Maverick characteristic penalty of -12 after
EVERY game"
Yes, yes that's correct. Same as it applies the +5 EL Athletic Boost after EVERY game. Same as it applies the age 1, 2, 3 and 4 EL boosts after EVERY game.
(Default EL recovery is 40 based on the old system where it was a +4 recovery on the old decimal system.
It appears to be working just fine.

I have no idea who that might be

Read the rules or ask on the blog and someone will post the answer. Easy, either way.

If you check the rules then you know the answer fairly quickly but if you type out your question on the blog then you get
participation bonus and some other eejit does the spade work - result!

Meanwhile - the most knowledgeable manager* on The Manager looks up the answer for you and points you in the right
direction, explains the situation in full or just does a cut n paste of the rules. In any event, you score from posting and the
eejits score from posting. Result!

I imagine it would be difficult to code the EL of a Mav, other than just saying he gains 12 less EL after every match. Age would
come into effect and minutes played, of course, so rather than have a second computer to work all that out, it's just 12 less
than whatever you were expecting. No other way for it.

Glad I steered clear but the wee Mav scored the winner against SPT so, every cloud as they say Stupot.

"Wee Mav's" apparent relatively slow recovery rate has been puzzling me for some time but I
couldn't quite put my finger on why until tonight! After Wednesday's game Buffel's EL value was
51. Thomas didn't play tonight so, being Age 3, he should have recovered 43 EL units to take him
up to an EL value of 94. However, my team landing page states that he currently has an EL value of
81. It looks like the game programme applies the Maverick characteristic penalty of -12 after
EVERY game, irrespective of whether the player plays or not! I had always understood that the -12
EL penalty would only be applied when the Maverick played some part in a game.

Adam, please could you look into this as a matter of urgency as it looks like those clubs with a
Maverick in their squad have had to endure an additional, hopefully unintentional, EL penalty
throughout the first half of the season.

Just play them until they're deed, works for me Steve!

Hey Steve.
The general rule of thumb is to select your T11 including 1 Gk and then take 5 of the outfield players out and replace with the 5 next highest SL players you have so utilising your T16 players.
You also have to rotate in your secondary keeper for every 3rd match too.
The EL of your players doesn't affect their performance on the field but maintaing them above 60EL where you can does help lessen the impact of random injuries.

EG To maintain a 4 man defence for every game you will need 6 DF.* 2 playing from EL 100 down to 80. 2 playing from EL 80 down to EL 60 and the final 2 resting up from EL 60 back to EL100.
Then rotate for your next game.

*Random injuries and suspensions will impact this.

Does anybody have any tips on how to rotate the squad to maintain EL levels?* Is it better, for
example, to have the entire squad (or most of it) at 100% in alternate matches, or to have half of
them at 100% in every match?

* And, yes, I know that's a tautology.

Ah Stewart, I see your point. Considering there is morale code specific to your Teddybears, there is likely code that impacts
homefield for your side, too.

Yes, thanks Brian, but being an old skeptic I wondered if that is what is actually coded in the game
programme!

Hi Stewart,

I found this on page 29 of the rule book:

A referees Homefield tendency has no impact on neutral matches.

As Colin said previously, I should have just read the rules.

Nice explanations, David. One further query:

In "Neutral Venue" games does the first named team get any of the Ref advantages which would
normally be assigned to a "Home" club or does the game programme negate all "Home" Ref advantages
at neutral venues?

Hi David,

That explanation is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

Name: Armand Igboanugo
Nationality: Ivory Coast
Career Matches: 184
Homefield (Trend): HOMER (27)
Discipline (Trend): FAIR (10)

This Homer ref is average. He will give out roughly 27% more cards than usual to the Away team.
He's also a Fair ref, slightly strict at 10% so gives out slightly more cards in general to both teams.

Homefield: 0.0
Discipline: -46.7
Name: Gaitza Goixachea
Nationality: Spain
Homefield (Trend): STRONG (0)
Discipline (Trend): LOOSE (-37)

So, he's a Homefield Strong. This means he doesn't get affected by whether you're the home or away team. So he dishes out cards equally to both teams.
He's a Disciplne Loose ref so at -46,7. That's pretty loose so he will give out -46.7% the number of yellows and reds compared to a +/- 0.00 ref
So a -ve means you get to play more Aggressive players.

Does that make sense?

Most players add more than their actual SL to OFF and/or DEF except FW which are crap and mostly
only add their exact SL to OFF. A 20 SL WG will add 25 points to OFF (*1.25) which is better than
having 10 OFT which, as you say, will add 10 points to OFF and 10 points to DEF - in general.
Tactics will dictate exactly where the additional 20 points are used Press sends the lot to OFF
while Stall sends the lot to DEF but I'm sure you get the idea.

Colin,

I hope I get this right (assume my memory is accurate), but an OTF of 8 is the near equivalent of having a 12th player on
the field at 16SL. If you have two Passers for 90 minutes, that brings that value up to a 20SL (10 OFF and 10 DEF). I may
be off on how OTF works, but I thought that is a broad way of looking at OTF.

I will await clarification from those who have a clear understanding of OTF.

I've been thinking..... Always dangerous.

The passer special ability is pretty crap compared to the others. It sounded good to start with, adding to your OTF, but the
reality is that the amount gained is significantly less than othe SBs. Most offer an additional 5 points to either OFF or DEF
while passer adds one point to OTF.

Looking at OTF - generally that adds 2 to your overall totals (unless EC or LB in which cases it add her haw), so an extra one
point to OFF and one point to DEF. That, for me, makes to crap compared to other SBs.

I should probably post in the SB discussion page. I might cut n paste....

Hi David,

I appreciate the details. I guess I still don't understand why the HOMEFIELD and DISCIPLINE stats fluctuate from positive
to negative values.

http://the-manager.com/refstats.php?id=2
Homefield: 26.5
Discipline: 10.5

http://the-manager.com/refstats.php?id=3
Homefield: 0.0
Discipline: -46.7

Sorry if the answer is in your previous reply. I feel I'm missing something that's obvious.

Thanks.

I could have cut n paste page 29....

Page 29 in the rules might have the answer.

Discipline
LOOSE: This referee will let things go uncalled. This results in a team being called for 17-50% fewer YCs/RCs/PKs. Aggressive and dirty play has a better chance of going unpunished with this ref.
FAIR: Normal referee. He disciplines in a ‘normal’ manner and only slightly affects extra or fewer YCs/RCs/PKs.
STRICT: This referee never saw a challenge he didn't want to book. This results in a team being called for 17-50% more YCs/RCs/PKs. Be careful with playing aggressive or dirty on this ref.

So, basically the -ve modifiers are bringing down the chances of YCs/RCs/PKs and the normal or +ve modifiers are increasing them.

HOMER: A homer referee will cause the away team to have a 15-50% chance of getting more YCs/RCs/PKs. The home team has a 15-50% chance of getting fewer YCs/RCs/PKs.
So the home team ref modifier will be -17% to -50% than usual for YCs/RCs/PKs.
So, if your teams base chances of a yellow based on passive/aggressive play per minute is 10% then this ref will bring that 10% down by 17% - 50%. So from 10% down to 8.3% or even down to 5% depending.
The away team have the opposite problem so their chances will be increased by a similar amount. Each refs homer tendencies vary through the season as well but restricted to the 17 - 50% values.

Is anyone able to detail what the Homefield and Discipline numbers mean? They fluctuate between positive to negative, and
would like clarification.

We were equally disappointed when I spotted the games had been pushed back, at least it gives everyone time to get their
lineups in for the games. Although in my excitement for having a semi I had my lineups in early.

Till tomorrow Brian.

Went to the Scoreboard this afternoon, excited to see the result of our semifinal match vs Inbhir Narainn. "Where's the match
report? What's going on?" I look up at the header and see the match was moved to Wednesday 18 April. Until tomorrow, Richard.
:(

Yeah. Dont look at our morale.

It feels like our pants are down and you can all see my bum...

Hi David,

Both Sitan and Clarendon had relatively low morale for both our matches, so was surprised to see only 96k when we played the Rangers. Traditionally I've seen these rivalry
matches produce 100k+, more in the neighborhood of ~106k+. Perhaps my memory is off, I'd have to check past seasons. I will put this one to bed. G'night.

Cheers David, I had been wondering about that too!

Brian,
It's the home teams morale that governs the match revenue.
Plus a slight boost for any team morale bonuses for doing well last season.
Check your accounts page to see the pattern more clearly.
Neutral games use an average.

Steve,

The only way to change your Captain is to trade your current Captain. You are then allowed to name a new Captain. In theory, you could
have a lot of Captains if you're willing to trade frequently. Of course, your fellow traders may then benefit from your Captain's Bonus.

Can you change captain mid season ? If
yes how much ?

Hi Adam,

I am curious about the significant difference in gate money between our two rivalry matches this weekend.

Old Colony and Sitan both received 110k from match 20. C=Old Colony and Clarendon both received 96k from match 21. This seems a
sizable difference between two matches.

Buffel is an MA, therefore a midfielder if played in his correct position. Teddies play long ball and early cross so Buffel adds
only ( I know, only 33) to area totals. SPT not worried by the mav.


Watch this - wee mav scores a hat trick tonight 🤦‍♂️

If you're right about that, Steve, then perhaps that explains why Old Colony is near the bottom
of the table :(

My main issue with it is (especially for top teams) is that at the end of the season, if you have a
stormer and reach the cup finals along with challenging for the title then you won't be able to
play him in all the big games. I think it might actually be better for mid table teams who are
trying to catch up.

Tomorrow night's Evolution 1 fixture list throws up two intriguing table topping ties: 3rd v 2nd and
4th v 1st. It should be a great night!

I feel there is only one good position to use a Maverick.

At the moment I agree with Steve and Brian. I wouldn't choose the Maverick characteristic again,
but not because "Wee Mav" isn't scoring. That's just down to pure bad luck. I still can't believe
that he's not yet scored in a league match! No, the main reason why I would not chose it again is
that as I stated before, my plan on how to manage his inherent EL loss was scuppered by the way
the game engine manages injury substitutions. We've suffered a lot of early game injuries this
season which meant that "Wee Mav" was forced onto the pitch long before I had intended. This
played havoc with his EL management which has meant that he hasn't always played as I planned.
However, I intended that his role would be primarily as an impact player in the big games so he
might yet prove his worth.

Going back I'm not sure if I would use Maverick again, the EL loss is proving to be a bigger issue than anticipated. Might all change if he goes on a scoring blitz but right now its not happening.

Interestingly enough, Buffel only has 3 goals on 11 total shots. Joplin only has 1 goal on 7 total shots. I know the numbers add to total OFF, which adds more chances, but one
might expect that having a SL 30+ player would result in some better than average goal scoring numbers.

Thomas Buffel TED MA 3/33
Bas Dost USL FW 5/32
Janis Joplin RUF UT 4/31

No real surprise those Mavericks in the forward line have gotten the most coaching.

We elected Maverick for our top GK, but decided against maxing out at SL 33 because I don't see a significant difference in GK of 27 vs
33, unlike a sizable difference in a FW/MA/UT of 27 vs 33. Happy with our choice so far.

Maverick Special. One off boost to SL and can still be coached after. Pretty cool.

How?