Excessive Injury Rate

[torgo43210]

I'm sorry, but the injury rate in 5.0B is out of control. I
ve only got the injury rate at 100, but I regularly get 2 guys a season with injuries of 30 weeks or more. I know that turf condition has a lot to do with this, but no matter how good the home turf is, I've still got 8 games on potentially crappy visitor's turf. I'm hesitant to drastically change the injury rate figure of 100 b/c I don't want an enviornment where noone gets injured. Anybody else noticing this?

[FBPro]

How is you "staff" at injury prevention? Besides, I'd say your sampling is a bit small. I'm in 50+ seasons and have some seasons with very few and some with alot. Usually balances out.

[cthomer5000]

please take a look at real life rosters. this topic has been discussed ad naseum here, do a search for it.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

please take a look at real life rosters. this topic has been discussed ad naseum here, do a search for it.

Yeah torgo. I posted what is below on October 27th, a little less than halfway into the regular season. Also, click on the "football is a violent sport" link, and you'll see the end-of-season injury reports. I don't feel like doing an average right now, but the data is right there for any who wants to, but here's a quick statistic for you from that report:


By the end of this season, 21 of the 32 NFL teams had eight or more players on Injured Reserve.


The details from around midseason...

Yes it is.

As of right now (NOTE: This was October 27th, 2003):

Arizona--8 guys out for season. 2 others listed as "Out." 1 Doubful. 6 Probable.

Atlanta--2 guys out for season. 1 other Out. 1 Doubtful. 2 "status uncertain"

Baltimore--6 guys out for season. 1 Doubtful. 6 Probable.

Buffalo--3 Out for Season. 1 Doubtful. 2 Questionable. 2 Probable.

Carolina--5 Out For Season. 1 Other Out. 5 Questionable. 2 Probable.

Chicago--4 Out For Season. 4 Other Out. 1 Doubtful. 1 Probable.

I'm not going to go on down the list with such detail, but glancing down, I see the following that stand out.

Green Bay: 10 out for season.
Houston: 7 out for season.
New England: 9 out for season. 10 Questionable.

Football is a violent sport.

From looking at this, and having played with injuries set at 100, I was beginning to get the impression that they were WAY too low. I contacted Jim Gindin (the FOF developer), and he responded that the most realistic injury setting is the highest in the game--200. So I ran some tests. I did five runs with injuries at 200, using the default training camp setting, with a coach who is "Good" at avoiding injuries. After 17 weeks, here were the averages from my team:

Out: 5.4
Doubtful: .6
Questionable: 1.2
Probable: 5.0

As you can see, even that is a bit lower than the NFL average.

Now, the distribution of injuries is something that could stand being worked on, in my opinion. I thikn they are too concentrated among the "injury-prone," but the amount clearly isn't higher than real life.

Just a hint: having a better coach at Injury Avoidance and increasing time spent in the training room during training camp will help lower your injury rate, but you'll still get 'em no matter what. Football is a violent, violent sport.

[Ben E Lou]

One last comparison. I just finished a season in which I made it to the Solecismic Bowl (with injuries at 200). After the final game, here were my numbers:

INJURED RESERVE: 3
OUT: 1 (not on IR...he was injured in Solecismic Bowl...out for 5 weeks)
QUESTIONABLE: 1
PROBABLE: 3
TOTAL INJURIES: 8

Here were Carolina's and NE's numbers, according to the site mentioned above...

CAROLINA
8 listed on Injured Reserve

NEW ENGLAND
12 listed on IR, 1 PUP, and 3 Probable.

As you can see, with a HC who is Excellent at Injury Avoidance, and proper time spent in the training room, even with injuries at 200, I can keep them WELL below real-life numbers.

[Eaglesfan27]

Just curious (and I understand if you don't want to reveal secondary to multiplayer concerns) but how much time do you usually have players spend in the training room?

[Chappy]

I'm starting a new league with injuries set at 200. 100 seems like way too little in my opinion. I've had my run of bad streaks with hurt guys, but for the most part I'd have 3 or 4 guys out at a time with 1 or 2 on IR.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Just curious (and I understand if you don't want to reveal secondary to multiplayer concerns) but how much time do you usually have players spend in the training room?

Well, I did spend a lot of time running tests, so I don't want to give out full details, but I will give some later tonight. I'm at the office, about to have my middle school meeting, and the spreadsheet with those test results is on my home desktop.

[Eaglesfan27]

Thank you for whatever you share.

[Ben E Lou]

Ok. Without giving out exact numbers, the most important thing is that the change in the number of injuries is pretty much linear, even when the time set in the training room is 0. In other words, the decrease in injuries from 10 minutes in the training room to 20 minutes in the training room is basically the same as the decrease in injuries from 80 minutes in the training room to 90 minutes in the training room. As far as I can tell, there isn't a "magic number" (at least within the range that leaves a reasonable amount of time for other things) after which increasing the time brings diminishing returns. Therefore, it is a setting that you don't necessarily have to test, just play with the training camp amount until you feel you've reduced injuries satisfactorily.

[Chappy]

What setting do you find the most 'realistic'?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Chappy

What setting do you find the most 'realistic'?

200