Keeping the stars

[sunnyside]

This was something that occured to me from the huge nurgle thread, but I remember it from the Khemri thread, probalby others.

A bunch of people would be going on about how a team had problems X or Y, someone else would say they didn't find themselves having those problems, or they had a really high win ratio. On the occasions where they posted something about hteir teams, it than turns out that they had super players.

Blodge s4 ag4 sure hands pestigors for example, a some AG3 (or was it 4) on a Khemri blitz Ra.

So I've got to thinking that, especially with some teams, the path to success is actually in building and keeping certainly players with critical doubles and/or stat increases.

Any advice in that? Would any oneadvise a "doubles, stat increase, or GTFO" policy toward certain positionals first skill roll since it only takes 6SPPs to get there?

Do the high AV teams simply have an inherant advantage here that might be telling in longer/perpetual leagues?

[mattgslater]

I don't think it's super players that make the difference in many cases. Perhaps sometimes. Rather, it's the winning record that makes the super players. Winning teams get more SPP and suffer less turnover, and are more likely to get/keep those doubles and +stats.

[Drool_bucket]

Winning teams lose players all the time, and therefore lose SPPs all the time. Just ask my WE team.

Winning teams just have more SPP cause they score more TDs than their losing peers, more than likely. They also have more money on average.

I agree, key stat increases on a Team do make the team. My best Dwarf team still was the one when a runner got +1 AG for his first skill, then +1 MV. He went on to have more skill ups than the rest of the team combined (slight exaggeration)

STR 4 elves, AG 4 Orcs and the like change the dynamic to how teams can play, IMO.

[Da Shin Kikas]

A good stat increase in the right place can make all the difference.
My ag4 leaping, strip ball orc blitzer has often proved to be well worth his weight.
The human blitzer I have with str4 mighty blow, pro and Sure hands leads in the team in both casulties and touchdowns, all earned in a relatively short career.

These guys are freaks though and they will eventually get taken down so you shouldnt build too much of your stratergy with them in mind because when they go, you'll be abit at sea.
Just make hay while the sunshines.

[nazgob]

I used to play Sevens on fumbbl, and it was quite clear that my blodging, mighty blow, agility 5 pro elf catcher ruled the pitch. In smaller settings, star players definetly decide games. Take them out early, and you can coast to victory.

With 11 men on each side, its harder for one player to dominate in the same way. Nevertheless, I do feel that certain players can determine the style of a play. A Str4/Ag 5 Wardancer with strip ball for example will ensure that the ball is carried by sure hands players. Similarly, a Beast of Nurgle with +Str, stand firm and block will be controlling his part of the pitch.

[Ulthuan_Express]

An AG4 skink was rocket fuel for my Lizardman team, propelling them on to ever greater things, but they got so bloated, to the point where any three-skill Skink (and pretty much all of them had at least two) with no doubles or stat boosts had to be cut. Likewise a +ST, +AG Human thrower I once had, who was essentially a Vampire who behaved himself.

I wouldn't go to the extreme of "doubles, stat increase, or GTFO" for positionals, but when you do get those ST and AG boosts (or occasionally MA for the fastest players), you should really try and make the most of them, because they're gold dust for some teams.

[Asperon Thorn]

If you have the cash, you should definately turn over healthy players that don't contribute.

The problem that I generally have is that I need a warm body with a pulse on the team (or a lump of painted lead as the case may be) even more than I need a stat increase or doubles.

The season is not over because you haven't gotten doubles or stat increases. But you are correct in that those types of bonuses can really do a lot of things for a team. A DE team in which every blitzer gets doubles and guard can play an entirely different game than a vanilla team. STR 4 AG 5 wardancers can almost show up on the pitch by themselves and win the match. . .Now that aging is gone, I don't know what the mechanism is for stopping those guys from just wracking up as many SPP's as possible.

In short, if you have the cash do it. Although in practice you should probably have some injured players that can use some turn over sooner.

Asperon Thorn

[Smurf]

All I keep is the team's running total of TDs and Cas. I use MVP to note games played, sometimes you have to add numbers into the formula cells.

[Smeborg]

I don't advocate firing healthy players on any team (with many of my favourite teams, I do not have this luxury anyway!). In practice, I find a well rounded team much the same in performance as one with unbalanced development and stat increases. A team with a superstar is quite vulnerable to his being taken out early in the match.

I suggest that if you find yourself thinking of firing healthy players, maybe you should look at a change in development strategy instead (i.e. a skill development strategy that will never lead to your wanting to fire them). For my part, if I find myself wanting to fire a healthy player, I assume that I have probably made a prior error in development thinking. If you play the same team over several seasons, critical thinking of this kind can be very helpful in sharpening your team development plan, translating slowly but surely into much improved results.

All the best.