From The Pavilion

First of all, great idea removing technique from keeping and fielding, and separating it between batting and bowling. I’d like to see even more of a revamp so we can fix the major problem of the game - identical players who get to exceptional primaries and secondaries.

My solution is to split technique further. Batting becomes (and you can change the names later) seam technique and spin technique. This allows for a significantly different makeup of batsmen. This way you can train specialists for the different pitches, or you can have someone who is equally adept at facing spin and seam but not as strong as someone who has specialised in one or the other.

The benefits for this is it allows better training for openers and middle order players. It also allows for more team identity -for example if your team focuses on spin you can load your team with batsmen who are adept at facing spin. Home games would be much more in favour of the host team but they might find travelling difficult when they come up against a team using an uneven deck. The main thing is there are decisions being made and risks that come with it.

This gives more training programs to work with for batsmen:
Batting - mainly batting, equal amounts of seam and spin tech
Batting tech - mainly tech (equal amounts), some batting
Seam tech - mainly seam tech, some batting
Spin tech - mainly spin tech, some batting

As for talents, seam specialist and spin specialist either exist as they currently do, or serve more as “skilled” talents for the two types of batting technique. Gifted talents for each type could also be introduced.

For implementation of existing players I’m open to ideas. Older players are more established so I’d say they should probably have equal levels of both types, maybe if someone has spin spec or seam spec they get it balanced accordingly. I have no idea what the maths would be like for the ratings but I would imagine if players are automatically balanced then their tech levels for each would be a couple of levels lower than what the combined level would be?

For bowling I would like to see technique split into accuracy and movement. Accuracy is better for control and economy rate, for batsmen interactions it affects how easily they can score from any given ball. Movement (which covers amount of turn for spinners and also swing/seam movement for seamers) is more about wicket taking opportunities and to a lesser extent dot balls, mishits, etc. It could possibly also increase the chance of byes if we need a weakness? Movement could be linked to conditions more explicitly, with conditions giving various multipliers, e.g. dry gives a boost to spinners’ movement, humid boosts seam movement but has a penalty to accuracy, etc. Like the batsmen, you need to decide if you want someone to be a more aggressive or defensive bowler, or a bit of both.

Training could be similar to the four options above for batsmen. Talents likewise with the new gifted options. I’d like to see the movement and accuracy values increase the chance of relevant talents triggering, providing a bit of differentiation and incentive to train towards it. E.g. bouncer/yorker would need accuracy, swing would need movement.

For implementation of bowlers it’s easy to make them all have the same levels of movement and accuracy.

It will take a while for this to take effect but long term I believe it will make squad composition and player training much more unique and interesting. Youths will instantly feel the impact, and younger seniors will still have time to forge a unique player identity. The current 25+ will be balanced until they’re phased out, and then the real shift will be felt.

Its radical and so far no comments after 5 days so my hopes are not high but I like it.
Well thought out and results in clear player differentiation.

You may need to advertise in the general section or Discord to get some traction.

It’s a good suggestion but I don’t like it personally.

I think it would require a ME overhaul to actually get the benefits from a nuanced training change (this isn’t a reason not to, just a comment).

Unpopular opinion but I like the simplicity of the training currently I think games like this can easily become a bore if you have to change training plan every week or have a very nuanced approach.

My take on making players less identical would be to make the current skills have ranks that can make them more powerful.

Like if a bowler has 'swing' give it tiers and make skill training an option instead of training your overall stats. The top tier of 'swing' would be much more influential than it is now. You'd end up with some players much better at facing seam or opening batsmen or old ball bowlers etc without messing with how people usually train as specialising on raising your skill would mean you are neglecting your overall more rounded stats.

MrMoose wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 17, 2025 7:28 pm

It’s a good suggestion but I don’t like it personally.

I think it would require a ME overhaul to actually get the benefits from a nuanced training change (this isn’t a reason not to, just a comment).

Unpopular opinion but I like the simplicity of the training currently I think games like this can easily become a bore if you have to change training plan every week or have a very nuanced approach.

I don't think the approach to selecting training would change that much. At the moment once you get secondaries up it's alternating between primary and technique. Under my plan you would have decided which role you want your guy to fulfil so you would alternate between primary and a specific type of tech.

pinmanguy wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 18, 2025 10:28 pm

My take on making players less identical would be to make the current skills have ranks that can make them more powerful.

Like if a bowler has 'swing' give it tiers and make skill training an option instead of training your overall stats. The top tier of 'swing' would be much more influential than it is now. You'd end up with some players much better at facing seam or opening batsmen or old ball bowlers etc without messing with how people usually train as specialising on raising your skill would mean you are neglecting your overall more rounded stats.

This has been discussed in the talent thread recently so it's being discussed.

I think my idea is more versatile because you aren't relying on the randomness of player generation to get someone with a trigger talent, you can take the standard guy with no relevant talents and still turn him into someone who fulfils a clear role.

I'd love to hear what Crow or the other admins think of my idea?

Happy to discuss it!

paulc wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 14, 2025 11:10 pm

Its radical and so far no comments after 5 days so my hopes are not high but I like it.
Well thought out and results in clear player differentiation.

You may need to advertise in the general section or Discord to get some traction.

I don't know what Discord is so can't really do this, and it looks like the general section isn't very active. If you're on Discord could you mention it there? Cheers

I try not to reply too quickly as I find that can stop future comments
I think it is a strong idea but will it complicate things for the casual user?

I don't think it will complicate it too much. Anyone playing FTP knows the difference between seam and spin for batting technique. Likewise the concept of movement and accuracy is pretty straightforward. If anything, this is a bit more clear than the very broad technique that we currently have.

It would require a change of layout for the skills. Two columns of five skills, on the left batting, seam tech, spin tech, then keeping and fielding. On the right bowling, accuracy, movement, endurance, power. I think the techniques could be indented underneath their primary skill so they're clearly linked.

Bumping this to see if anyone else wants to discuss