FOF7 - Chemistry and related

[QuikSand]

Thread here to discuss new elements in the FOF chemistry system -- positions leaders, affinities, conflicts, and labeling of same

[QuikSand]

Obvious gain is seeing the potential chemistry effects of players in the draft pool. Looks like guys are labeled with "potential affinity" if they have one with the current group leader, "fit in" if they appear to be neutral, and "potential conflict" in red text if that appears.

That also might have the effect of forcing chem-focused teams to get their relevant leadership in order sooner. In my first SP dabbling, I'm ticked off that I don't have that set up yet to better use this feature.

[QuikSand]

It also appears much tougher to make drastic position changes, at least in SP. That could make it far tougher to create affinity powerhouses.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

It also appears much tougher to make drastic position changes, at least in SP. That could make it far tougher to create affinity powerhouses.

Potentially WAY WAY WAY harder.

[QuikSand]

Pretty disappointing to still see quarterbacks weighing in with their opinions on new potential position leaders on defense. This has been confirmed as a bug/error for some time now, but it's still in there.

Not a huge matter, but still could use some tidying up.

[zbuckley]

Does it still recognize last year team leaders who are no longer under contract?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by zbuckley

Does it still recognize last year team leaders who are no longer under contract?

no change there

[QuikSand]

Looks like a long snapper could have an affinity relationship with either the OL or TE group. Not sure how this works yet.

[yabanci]

Is chemistry still based on horoscopes?

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by yabanci

Is chemistry still based on horoscopes?

It appear to be unchanged

[QuikSand]

So, on my current roster, I have two long snappers - a 240 lb guy who has an affinity with the TE/WR group leader, and a 270 lb guy who has an affinity with the OL group leader.

Other semi-related thoughts:

-I don't see any defined long snappers in the draft

-looks like tight ends can position switch to both LS and C

-I don't know where these LS guys come from, but in my last offseason the market for guys tagged at LS jumped from a handful to a pageful after training camp. Some, but not all, were 3rd/4th year guys.

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I don't know where these LS guys come from...

well quik, when a mommy LS and a daddy LS love each other very much...

[corbes]

Alas, unless I'm missing something, it's just as difficult as ever to search for position leaders by the personality, leadership, experience, and birthday attributes.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by corbes

Alas, unless I'm missing something, it's just as difficult as ever to search for position leaders by the personality, leadership, experience, and birthday attributes.

No real help there, agreed. It's possible that the data export feature may bear some fruit indirectly, though - either through online tools, or add-on utilities.

[corbes]

Posted this in a generic questions thread but will include it here too.

Amateur draft preview now tells you, on each player's card, whether the player is a potential affinity or conflict.

Any chance we could get the same information via green and blue colors on the players' names as part of the main draft preview? Having that information available visible at a glance, next to the combine scores, without clicking on player cards, would be super helpful.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

It also appears much tougher to make drastic position changes, at least in SP. That could make it far tougher to create affinity powerhouses.

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Potentially WAY WAY WAY harder.

I had a hunch from WOOF and my chemistry-enabled SP career on this one, and did some checking. I've concluded that there's more to the latter statement than just the position switch element. It appears that the way player personalities are created has changed. Specifically, all indications are that there are fewer players created in this version with both high personality and high leadership. I checked three leagues in both versions to determine the percentage of players in the pool with personalty AND leadership of 80 or higher. Here are the numbers:

FOF2K7 Leagues
CCFL: 117/2782 = 4.21%
IHOF: 82/1942 = 4.22%
USFL: 115/2792 = 4.12%
COMBINED: 314/7516 = 4.18%

FOF7 Leagues
WOOF (New League): 116/3306 = 3.51%
SP Raiders Dynasty (Season 13): 67/1989 = 3.37%
Mature Test Career (40 Seasons): 101/2840 = 3.56%
COMBINED: 284/8135 = 3.49%

Given the consistency of the percentages above in both cases, I'm pretty well convinced that it's not just the position-switching dynamic: chemistry is also harder to build because there are roughly 15-18% fewer potential affinity-monster leaders in the player pool.

[QuikSand]

Might be a new bug/quirk post-patch affecting chemistry.

I know that on the list of issues reported pre-patch was:

When a position leader becomes an unrestricted free agent, his chemistry impact is still shown on the team. Ideally, we would like the ability to "cut" players who are free agents so we can remove all ties to the team and see who will become the new leader.

While we have no ability to cut a free agent player as described above... is it possible that post-patch these FA players are just ignored for chemistry purposes? I think that might be the current state of things, which is even worse than before, I think.

My one-off observational bit of evidence is that I have an MP league where a signed player shows as the position leader, but when I offer a contract to a free agent, I am advised that a different (unsigned) player is the position leader and would have an affinity with the new signing. Ugh.

[QuikSand]

Another chemistry quirk (that existed pre-patch, I believe) - players convereted to play the long snapper position will *shift* their position group. Former tight ends definitely become part of the OL group, and I *think* it works in the reverse as well (former centers become part of the receiver group).

Because that makes sense, you know.

[corbes]

I've observed both of the above instances within the past couple of days and posted one of them in a different thread (which I am now moving here).

I think, but have not confirmed yet, that chemistry is being reported differently now when your position leader becomes an unrestricted free agent--the "position leader" designation switches to the next best signed player on the roster instead of remaining with the unsigned player. *NOTE that when attempting to sign free agents, conflicts and affinities are still being measured against the unsigned free agent instead of the newly-designated position leader*

Only additional bit of information that might be relevant is that both of my observations were made in coverted MP leagues, I haven't looked for confirmation in an SP league.