I'll put this here. HO has already seen this idea, I came up with it but felt it was kind of outside the scope of the normal Balance Team stuff. Still something people might want to read and discuss. IDK if they plan to implement it or not.
So here is what I had proposed:
I had some other ideas, but I'm not necessarily sure if these fit within the scope of our mission. First this started off as one small change, and inevitably snowballed into something much bigger and more complex, par for the course with me.
Equipment is too strict. The idea that a player's equipment choices suddenly lose half their value because they capped their strength and speed as fast as possible in their first 2 seasons is a bit absurd to me. I think there needs to be more flexibility to allow players to continue to purchase equipment within reason.
My proposal is that instead of budget cleats giving +2 and +2 to agility and speed instead it gives +4 to be allocated any way the player wishes within those two stats. Now just because you cap speed doesn't mean that suddenly you're spending $3m for 4 TPE in agility and losing the speed, you could opt instead to spend $3m for 8 TPE in agility or $1m for 4 TPE in agility. You still lose some value because speed >>> agility, but it's not terrible.
Now, we can stop right here and call that change a day. Done and done. But here is where I started getting more complicated, and realllly outside the scope of what we do.
My next thought is on the general design of the league and how we earn TPE. I'm going to use the standard in-season week as a yardstick here. Currently we can earn a maximum of 20 TPE in a week.
Activity Check =2
Training =5
PT =3
Weekend PT =2
Predictions =8
My idea is that I feel we could increase enjoyment and engagement in the league by really gearing the system towards 3 levels of earners; Casuals (activity checks and basic training, no equipment), moderates (activity check, training, some predictions and PTs, budget equipment), and hardcores (everything max).
So during a standard week a casual would earn about 5 TPE, 2 activity check and 3 basic training. A moderate might earn 12. A hardcore 18. I think this could be tweaked. What I am chasing is the idea that there should be a better base for casuals and stronger diminishing returns for hardcore players, while still keeping around 20 TPE per week. Something like this:
Activity Check = 5
Basic Training (cut to $250k) = 2
Pro Training (cut to $750k) = 4
PT = 2
Weekend = 1
Predictions = 8
Now we still have a 20 TPE max. Casuals earn 7 TPE. Moderates earn 15ish. Hardcores still earn around 18-20.
And what about equipment?
Budget equipment cut down to $500k, TPE amounts remain the same (with original suggestions).
Pro Equipment cut down to $2m.
So the value of budget equipment suddenly skyrockets while Pro Equipment has 4x less value. Again, the idea for me is that the average player is a budget equipment player, this will incentivize far more people to buy budget gear rather than how we currently have most people who do not buy gear at all. Hardcore players will still purchase whatever is the best. Casuals still won't buy anything.
So, over an 8 week season what does this cost?
Casual: 8x budget trainings at $250k each for $2m. About what we can expect a team to pay a casual in salary. They aren't going to do media for money anyway. At least now they can earn 16 more TPE per season and still be somewhat relevant for a team that can keep them active.
Moderate: 8x pro trainings at $750k. each for $6m + 3 pieces of budget equipment at $500k each for $1.5m. A total of $7.5m per season. If we assume that these guys take team friendly contracts (common) for $1-$2m per season it only makes sense that our bulk segment of moderate players would then find a bigger incentive to get a league job like being an updater for $6m a season as it allows them a very efficient path to earning a lot of TPE without going full neckbeard. Or they would ask for a bigger contract like $5-$8m per season and increase parity.
Hardcore: 8x pro trainings for $6m + 4 pieces of pro equipment for $8m and $14m per season. That's the amount of a big free agency contract, teams are incentivized to pay max earners still. Players who want team friendly contracts are still incentivized to get a league job.
And then how much does a player earn during a season for all this?
Casual:
Acitivty Check 5 TPE x 8 weeks = 40
Basic Training 2 TPE x 8 weeks = 16
Mock Draft: 4 TPE
Season Predictions = 6
Fantasy: 1 TPE
Milestones: 2 TPE
Training Camp: 1-10
And some other crap here and there maybe. Roughly 75 TPE per season out of around a 200 max. Still a viable member of a team that isn't stacked with 8 Er's.
Moderate
Activity Check = 40
Pro Training = 32
Weekday PTs x6 = 12
Ultimus = 10
Mock = 4
Season Predictions = 6
Fantasy = 1
Weekly Predictions = 14
Milestones = 2
Budget Equipmentx3 = 12
Training Camp = 1-10
Here we're looking around 135-145 TPE for our target middle class player out of around a 200 max. Not bad at all.
Hardcore
Activity Check = 40
Pro Training = 32
Weekday PTs x7 = 14
Weekend PTs x7 = 7
Ultimus = 10
Fantasy = 3
Weekly Predictions = 21
Milesstones = 3
Mock = 5
Season Predictions = 7
Pro Equipment x4 = 32
Training Camp = 1-10
And here we end up around 180. Still a bit below the max of around 200 because of some assumptions that while hardcore players will be better on average with fantasy, mocks, and predictions they still won't be perfect. A perfect player in all of these would earn 203.
So finally we add it all up and we get
Casual - 75 TPE for $2m. 37.5 TPE/million.
Moderate - 145 TPE for $7.5m. 19.3 TPE/million (half the efficiency of casual)
Hardcore - 180 TPE for $14-$15m. 12 TPE/million.
And that's the end of my crazy ass idea. We still reward players for their work to become moderate players. We still make casuals viable for each team to have one or two of them and give them playing time. And hardcore players can still work their asses off to be the best and get TPE bragging rights.
So here is what I had proposed:
I had some other ideas, but I'm not necessarily sure if these fit within the scope of our mission. First this started off as one small change, and inevitably snowballed into something much bigger and more complex, par for the course with me.
Equipment is too strict. The idea that a player's equipment choices suddenly lose half their value because they capped their strength and speed as fast as possible in their first 2 seasons is a bit absurd to me. I think there needs to be more flexibility to allow players to continue to purchase equipment within reason.
My proposal is that instead of budget cleats giving +2 and +2 to agility and speed instead it gives +4 to be allocated any way the player wishes within those two stats. Now just because you cap speed doesn't mean that suddenly you're spending $3m for 4 TPE in agility and losing the speed, you could opt instead to spend $3m for 8 TPE in agility or $1m for 4 TPE in agility. You still lose some value because speed >>> agility, but it's not terrible.
Now, we can stop right here and call that change a day. Done and done. But here is where I started getting more complicated, and realllly outside the scope of what we do.
My next thought is on the general design of the league and how we earn TPE. I'm going to use the standard in-season week as a yardstick here. Currently we can earn a maximum of 20 TPE in a week.
Activity Check =2
Training =5
PT =3
Weekend PT =2
Predictions =8
My idea is that I feel we could increase enjoyment and engagement in the league by really gearing the system towards 3 levels of earners; Casuals (activity checks and basic training, no equipment), moderates (activity check, training, some predictions and PTs, budget equipment), and hardcores (everything max).
So during a standard week a casual would earn about 5 TPE, 2 activity check and 3 basic training. A moderate might earn 12. A hardcore 18. I think this could be tweaked. What I am chasing is the idea that there should be a better base for casuals and stronger diminishing returns for hardcore players, while still keeping around 20 TPE per week. Something like this:
Activity Check = 5
Basic Training (cut to $250k) = 2
Pro Training (cut to $750k) = 4
PT = 2
Weekend = 1
Predictions = 8
Now we still have a 20 TPE max. Casuals earn 7 TPE. Moderates earn 15ish. Hardcores still earn around 18-20.
And what about equipment?
Budget equipment cut down to $500k, TPE amounts remain the same (with original suggestions).
Pro Equipment cut down to $2m.
So the value of budget equipment suddenly skyrockets while Pro Equipment has 4x less value. Again, the idea for me is that the average player is a budget equipment player, this will incentivize far more people to buy budget gear rather than how we currently have most people who do not buy gear at all. Hardcore players will still purchase whatever is the best. Casuals still won't buy anything.
So, over an 8 week season what does this cost?
Casual: 8x budget trainings at $250k each for $2m. About what we can expect a team to pay a casual in salary. They aren't going to do media for money anyway. At least now they can earn 16 more TPE per season and still be somewhat relevant for a team that can keep them active.
Moderate: 8x pro trainings at $750k. each for $6m + 3 pieces of budget equipment at $500k each for $1.5m. A total of $7.5m per season. If we assume that these guys take team friendly contracts (common) for $1-$2m per season it only makes sense that our bulk segment of moderate players would then find a bigger incentive to get a league job like being an updater for $6m a season as it allows them a very efficient path to earning a lot of TPE without going full neckbeard. Or they would ask for a bigger contract like $5-$8m per season and increase parity.
Hardcore: 8x pro trainings for $6m + 4 pieces of pro equipment for $8m and $14m per season. That's the amount of a big free agency contract, teams are incentivized to pay max earners still. Players who want team friendly contracts are still incentivized to get a league job.
And then how much does a player earn during a season for all this?
Casual:
Acitivty Check 5 TPE x 8 weeks = 40
Basic Training 2 TPE x 8 weeks = 16
Mock Draft: 4 TPE
Season Predictions = 6
Fantasy: 1 TPE
Milestones: 2 TPE
Training Camp: 1-10
And some other crap here and there maybe. Roughly 75 TPE per season out of around a 200 max. Still a viable member of a team that isn't stacked with 8 Er's.
Moderate
Activity Check = 40
Pro Training = 32
Weekday PTs x6 = 12
Ultimus = 10
Mock = 4
Season Predictions = 6
Fantasy = 1
Weekly Predictions = 14
Milestones = 2
Budget Equipmentx3 = 12
Training Camp = 1-10
Here we're looking around 135-145 TPE for our target middle class player out of around a 200 max. Not bad at all.
Hardcore
Activity Check = 40
Pro Training = 32
Weekday PTs x7 = 14
Weekend PTs x7 = 7
Ultimus = 10
Fantasy = 3
Weekly Predictions = 21
Milesstones = 3
Mock = 5
Season Predictions = 7
Pro Equipment x4 = 32
Training Camp = 1-10
And here we end up around 180. Still a bit below the max of around 200 because of some assumptions that while hardcore players will be better on average with fantasy, mocks, and predictions they still won't be perfect. A perfect player in all of these would earn 203.
So finally we add it all up and we get
Casual - 75 TPE for $2m. 37.5 TPE/million.
Moderate - 145 TPE for $7.5m. 19.3 TPE/million (half the efficiency of casual)
Hardcore - 180 TPE for $14-$15m. 12 TPE/million.
And that's the end of my crazy ass idea. We still reward players for their work to become moderate players. We still make casuals viable for each team to have one or two of them and give them playing time. And hardcore players can still work their asses off to be the best and get TPE bragging rights.
![[Image: XSfVUgo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XSfVUgo.png)
Hank Winchester (S25 - Current) - Scrub
Angus Winchester (S1-S12) - 4x Ultimus Champ - #2 Career Sacks - Hall of Fame
Cooter Bigsby (S14-S23) - S23 Ultimus Champ - #4 Career Yards - #4 Career TDs - 2x MVP - Hall of Fame
