daons wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 12:24 am
Small question on the Youth Academy mechanics.
Is there a way to increase the average starting skill of youth players? I know that higher investment and better youth coaching increases the potential but the starting skill feels a bit too low.
I'd have to say no, as far as I know. But then too, having the youth academy player with a low skill level and a higher estimated talent level is kind of normal and adds to the realism of the game but also the mechanics of the game. It makes the player think and work to get that youth academy player to where they want them to be.
Example of starting points:
player 1 (age 16.0 yrs): sk 30, etal 60
player 2 (age 15.5 yrs): sk 20, etal 60
player 3 (age 17.0 yrs): sk 40, etal 60
So then the question is where might you want the players to start from? I'm guessing you would want to have the player start off in a position like player 3, where their skill level is higher, but maybe have the age of the player be a little younger than player 3 though. Might this be accurate for what you would wish for? If so, I can see your point about wanting to be able to make use of that player quicker than if they were less skilled and required training to become what you want them to be.
But there is another point to this that you may not be as interested in. It is true that player 3 would likely be the one that could be used regularly on your team quicker, but then it would also cost you more more likely. Player 2 would likely cost you less per week than player 1 or player 3 because their starting skill level was lower. But if you were to train the players regularly enough, that skill level would eventually rise up. I see that in version 2.3.2, the float values for the starting age for the youth academy is 15.50 for the lower limit and 17.50 for the upper limit. Although the starting skill level for older players would likely be higher, it may not always be the case. As for what is best, it depends on your preference as if you start off at a younger age, you could have that player for a longer time before their contract needed renewal, and thus save you more money while you worked on increasing their skill level through training and play time.
I have found a bit of a workaround by making youth players join at around age 15 and I'll call them up to the training camps so they have a chance to upskill by 17/18. Either that or I can edit their skills in the save file to create a wonderkid.
Just wondering if there is something that can be changed in the constants file to get a similar result.
So it sounds like you've changed the variables in the constants file with relation to the starting age for the youth academy to something like 15.00 for the lower limit and maybe 15.50 for the upper limit, or something like that? Although that would suffice, it would give you cheaper youth academy players for sure. And it would allow you to have plenty of time to train them but what would that look like as how many get to turn 18 before you're wanting to sell them for the new players waiting in the academy? Who knows. Maybe you're doing something different. Although editing their skills in the save file just sounds hacky. :-p Maybe the only hack I'd approve of is increasing the youth academy investment to something greater than 25 percent. I have played a game or two where the investment was set to 50 percent and the results were rather amazing I'd say. Although with recruits like that, you do become quite overpowered. Though I've not tried it myself, I wonder what it would be like if say you were playing a European definition but playing from a definition that had a low average talent, like Andorra or San Marino. Something like that. Could you still win the UEFA Champions League with the youth academy investment being 50 percent. That is an interesting question. Might be fun to try sometime.
Anyway, even if you were to change the lower age limit to 17.0 or higher, I do not believe it would make the starting skill level higher for the youth academy players. Though there are a few youth academy variables you could play around with if wanted, does it really matter? I don't know what some of them might do but then I don't mind going with what the developers used for preset conditions anyways. You can always try them out if you want.
Hope this helps and take care for now.
Will aka will_the_canuck
