CR Calc working again - I think

Summary

It should be working again. I had to rewrite a lot of it, change how it works so it might be buggy. If you get any issues please post a comment.

It kind of look messy but I guess I can work on that. 

If you see this message and it's not common knowledge please do spread the word.

Behind the curtain.

Years ago I wrote it in javascript. I don't actually know how to code in js but I managed to cobble it together somehow - twice. Then I stopped playing X11 and didn't even know it stopped working.

I used this plugin called tinymce to allow me to interpret pasting from the X11 page into the text box and read the underlying skill bars in. Somewhere down the line tinymce changed their business model so you have to register, get a key whatever. that killed the whole thing and as I really don't want to do that I had to rework a lot of how it worked to use native js commands (which I didn't even know existed first time around).

Many many thanks to ChatGPT for helping me with the code and being incredibly patient when I was really slow at understanding. 

So it doesn't happen again.

I would like to slap this code in a git repo and give access to anybody who wants to edit, enhance, make it into proper code etc. That would mean it's not really dependent on my interest and probably won't stay broken for so long in future. That said I really don't want to just throw it out there.

If you have any knowledge or interest in coding, and would be interested in maintaining it or potentially resurrect or create new things for X11 (eg data ingestion and stats pages) then post a comment and I'll get back to you. Preference will be given to anybody who posts a good idea for an enhancement or an idea for another project. If we can get 4 or 5 people with a vague bit of enthusiasm nice things could happen. 

Compatibility alignment

A conveyor team in action.

A while back I started doing a screencap of my teams at the end of each season so I had a record of their DV to refer to. This proved quite interesting for the purpose of seeing the team develop over time and how the conveyor worked.

Here is the diary of how Hungarian Cheese progressed from a mid ranked team in Club 24 to becoming double champions.

Season 42

Hungarian Cheese as they were known had taken a LONG time to develop. I started with a pretty rubbish side and a big problem of a conveyor is getting it going when you don't have older players. From seasons 35-40 I sat stuck in D4. I was promoted to D3 in S40 but got stuck the next season. Season 42 was nothing special and I finished 4th on 14 points. 

At this stage I had some legacy mistakes in the team design with a few too many players around the same age. 5 mids aged between 25-30 and a big gap in defence.

Season 42

Season 43

In earlier seasons I'd made VERY good money from farming forwards and had been buying 20/9, 21/10 type players - and as i had money to burn I had bought too many hence the age cluster. That money had started to dry up and I noticed it first in one of my other teams that was affected worse. The net effect was I had to buy younger players and there was this big toothy gap in defence. HC had got away with in defence but a new approach to buying youths was needed.

No more Galacticos, I was going to go with cheapo 17/4s from now. Problem was they had to be hard trainers and HT can send player prices rocketing so plan B was buy 17/3s with HT and some SQs.

Season 43 saw a double jump for Caterall and the acquisition of a lowly 17/3 mid Goolsjenks. I think the division was a bit weaker this season and the team had matured a little bit and I came top with 22 points.

Season 43

Season 44

Double Jumps for key youths Isma and Caterall. I sold defender Skleptic and mid Elliot to help sort the age issues. in hindsight Stowell might have been a better sale in defence. An amazing season for HC as I powered to a perfect 10-0-0 record and only conceded 1 goal - this is fun :)

I bought a stopgap keeper. My keeper Alegre was getting old and i had cash so I started looking for a new keeper and wanted flexibility to sell him when I wanted to.

Season 44

Season 45

During S44 Caterall in mid had got 2 injuries and that caused him to miss his jump this season. New 17/4 defender Soares and a disappointing 2nd single jump for Goolsjenks who is starting to look a bit shabby. He did start VERY low in his band when I bought him, just a 2.7.

Another fabulous season, 7 wins 3 draws and top spot again - promoting me to the top division. I could get used to this and it seems bizarre that I had been struggling so much in recent seasons.

Season 45

Season 46

A fabulous 19 DV in S45 gave Soares a DJ. Finally a DJ for Goolsjenks. Caterall DJed as well to regain the bar he lost.

Alegre had been great in not retiring but had already lost a bar and I was having average age problems with defence. Despite all the money in the world I was struggling to find a decent keeper who was compatible and ended up with a 26/13 for my 1st season in the top flight.

I had to be careful with my keepers as Boland needed as much DV as possible but he was weak for the top division and no heart. He was a Diva which helps but slightly off compatibility. In the end I played Alegre in 2 games where FKs could be a factor and Boland in the other 8.

I tried listing Alegre twice. He was valued at 9m and I listed him at 5 then 3.5 and he didn't sell. I guess I could have started lower but it was nice having a backup keeper in my first season at the top.

As a rule I don't train keepers up - it is too much of a liability for a team that is trying to compete so I look to get cash from elsewhere to buy in ready made keepers.

Brilliant first season in the top - I won the first 5 games and ended with a 8-1-1 record, 25 points and the title. Woohoo. 27 goals for, 5 against.

Season 46

Season 47

A 2nd DJ for Isma. I had bought him in S41, just before this post starts, as a 17/4. By S47 he's a 23/12 and I'm definitely happy with that. Alegre decides to retire. In comes a new conveyor mid Gommans.

Another great season and once again I won the first 5 games but the second half of the season wasn't so good and I ended up with an undefeated 6-4-0 record and 15-3 on goals. My 2nd title in C24 - only the 4th team to retain the title in 47 seasons.

I generally sell players when they get to 34 and midfield star Arjona has to go - and after he went the team seemed significantly weaker. That's my excuse for the 2nd half of the season and poor goals tally. Stunning performance in goal by Boland who conceded a mere 3 goals.

Season 47

Season 48

A DJ for Gommans and 2nd DJ for Goolsjenks makes him a very tasty looking 22/10. Boland also gains a bar but at 28/14 is still the weakest keeper in the division. Stowell in defence decides to retire - at 34 he would have been sold mid season but it costs me around 4-5m lost income. This will be the 3rd big name to leave since I reached the top flight

Another problem is my defence which is looking a bit old and im getting average age issues in defence again. With Stowell leaving it just means the youngsters can get more games. The season ended shortly after the transfer markets merged and prices of HTs went through the roof. I was keen to get an allrounder or freekicker as Gilmore will be leaving soon and after being outbid on a few players I end up with tusken a 17/3 allrounder for 60k. Not ideal but I figure prices will fall and I might replace him next season.

This is the stage where it gets hard for players like Goolsjenks who is now 6th on the roster of mids but needs more than a couple of games. I pretty much have to juggle the bottom 3 to get enough games but there is very little scope for picking up DV if the AF ends up bad - which is typically how it went.

On the playing side things started amazingly, and I did definitely get the luck. I won the first 7 games and after game 5 started playing the kids more as I had a nice cushion. I needed a draw on week 8 for the title and that's what I got so 2 free games of pure DV :)

Season 49

A lot of oldies gained a bar and I got doubles for forward AAK and Gommans my youth mid. Gilmore gains a bar but decides to retire this season which is something of a killer blow as it will leave me with no FKer. I feel I've been unlucky with retirements recently.

I have money to buy a FKer if one should come up but not sure I could find a place in the team and he would need be 16+ skill. S51 I will likely need an oldie defender so do it then. Long term Goolsjenks will be ok but I need time with him and a proper FKer as a youth - bad planning :(

I end up buying Gilmore a 17/3 FKer for 3m which means Tusken gets to rot. 

On the playing side it's not great and I end up finishing 4th. Tough competition but the team is pretty much in good shape for the future and DV was great this season.

Season 50

Double for Gilmore is nice and Soares manages the same. Penney the forward doubles too, so the 2 forwards leave for a combined 15m. Veteran mid Balinger drops a bar and another "early" retirement with Wareing. I decide to go crazy and pay way too much (8.2m) for a 17/4 mid with heading. Midway through the season I decide to offload Ballinger. 

As there's a cup I buy an extra farm in defence - then goout first round. 2nd game of the season I lost due to a keeper injury. Decent home form but heavy defeats to the 2 other strong sides pretty much sealed it. 3rd place and use the run in for DV - some decent figures again. The squad is starting to look a litttle thin now as the conveyor only started properly about 8 seasons ago (Caterall onwards) so I have a 7 year gap in defence and Cooke in mid never really developed properly.

Season 51

Season 52

After around season 50 I pretty much stopped playing serious and the team started to reflect this. S51/52 were just going through the motions and after that I stopped even collecting data (or logging in really). 

Over the course of 11 seasons the team was pretty strong, had good prospects and hadn't burnt into the cash to any great extent. 

Psssst - want some free VIP?

Xpert Eleven run a recruitment competition each month and the prize is 3 months VIP to the winner. The thing is it's not really publicised much now so very few people enter - and it's potentially easy "money".

Go to the "Help" menu and the final option is "Recruitment" and you get something like the following screen:

The rules are explained on the right hand side of the screen - here are the basics:

The winner of a monthly contest will get 3 months of VIP added to his/her account. The user that is placed second will receive 1 month of VIP.

If those members go on to buy VIP you get 10% of anything they buy.

To be deemed active the member needs to log in 7 days after they setup their account. Users who buy VIP count double

How much is a bar worth?

Everybody wants their team built around 16/4s - or 16/5s if they can, or even better elusive 16/6s. When you look at some of these players the prices can get astronomical and you have to ask the question - how much is 1 extra bar worth? How much extra should you be paying for 1 more bar of skill?

Who should you be buying?

There are options on the TM - you can buy oldies or you can buy youths. People seem obsessed with the youth route but if your goal is to get some kind of success that's not always the way.

Here's a question - if you buy a youth and you expect him to become a 29/14 or whatever why not just buy a 29/14 and have done with it - save all those years of painful risky development, have the player you want NOW? The simple answer is if he's available you should buy the oldie, or consider it.

In my opinion there is only 1 reason ever to buy a youth - you are trying to train up a player you won't be able to buy. Be it combination of SQs, skill level or whatever. If the final player is likely to be available it is usually easier, cheaper and will lead to more success to buy the finished article. Create a system of farming to generate cash then buy the oldies you need (double conveyor if you like).

So - you want to build a team peaking at 14/15 bars, don't even bother with the youths. You want a 32/18 FK with some other SQs - now you are talking, now you have a player you can't buy so need to train.

In terms of the above discussion I would say most players (including 32/18 FKers) can be bought in the xpert leagues often enough so unless you are aiming at 18+ bars for your whole team you really don't need to train anyone up. In private leagues this is very much not the case, decent players over 15 bars are rare and generally more expensive. Personal preference is to buy players in in the Xpert leagues and train them in PLs so the rest of this article will be focussed on PLs.

So how much does a bar cost?

Players typically peak at 32-34. Beyond 32 there is very little development to be had and beyond 34 they hold form badly and gain DV slowly so decline is likely. A player best years are probably 29-34 so we'll focus on this age.

In the PLs what are estimated values on typical player paths? The following table are prices for 32yo midfielders with 1 SQ in the private leagues:

13        3.9m
14        5.7m
15        6.9m  * 2SQs
16       11.4m
17

It's only really when you are talking about 16+ bars on a player that there is any jump in value and below that it's around 1.5m/bar. As stated previously


Now lets have al look at buy prices:

17yo mids, 1 SQ, TM2:

3     0.4m
4     2.8m
5     8.6m
6    15m * Estimate

17/3 - bargain. Actually 17/3s are often the real bargains of the game right now, and the EV for 17/3 with 2 SQs is 900k so if you want to go that way why not get 2 SQs on him.

174 to 17/5 - an extra 5.8m? That there is enough to buy a 32/14 straight off, and not a lot extra for a 15 skill. 17/6 - unless you can develop him to a 17+ skill player you aren't getting near to your money's worth there.

But how much is a bar worth?

I think a lot of your team's performance is based around the skill of the top player in each position, so sure 1-2 star players do make a difference but if it's a case of compromising other parts of the team to buy 1 or 2 spectacular players it's possibly not worth it, and if it's a case of compromising training it's definitely not worth it. Mostly though a bar isn't worth much unless it's a bar above everyone else on the pitch.

But I have the money, what else should I spend it on?

Sure you're rich, money is burning a hole in your pocket. I'll tell you now that never lasts but we're living the dream - why shouldn't you buy the best possible starting players?

Well lets say you buy that 17/3 guy with 2 SQs instead of the 17/4 with 1 SQ. You have 2m spare cash - which equates to 15 training sessions. How about you spend 2 extra training sessions a season til the guy is 25 - which player will be the best? Simple answer is aggressive training pays off and 2 extra sessions is likely to give at least 1 extra AF per season, 1 extra DV and possibly more than a bar over 7 seasons. You get a better player and he costs you less. The logic for 17/4 ahead of 17/5 is even greater unless you are playing in a stunningly competitive league and have immense amounts of cash.

Some examples:

Finally a little food for thought. My midfield from Black Vinyl. Some of the really big signings are gone now but you can see the chages in strategy here :

McCoy and Cooke were the tail end of my big signings, but some of the guys before had cost lots more. McCoy is just about ok at 17 skill but Cooke has been a massive disappointment going from a 20/9 to a mere 15 skill.

Cooke's bad development is why I recently bought Beech to bolster the mid and cost half the price of a player who has been a lodestone for many seasons.

Caterall was the start of a different strategy and has developed better than the 2 older guys. Goolsjenks was a dalliance with 17/3s. At 25 he is 0.1 bar better than McCoy at the same age, 0.7 bars better than Cooke - plus he's a backup FKer, and cost 500k. He also started as a 2.7 - really really low in his band so could have been better still.

2014-07-24	Patrick Beech	33	MF	Gary Greed		5 482 800
2014-05-25	Ossian Kungsman	17	MF	Helen Paradise		8 287 100
2013-12-30	Tim Gommans	17	MF	Bill Cates		1 887 400
2013-06-21	Helly Goolsjenks	17	MF	Al Corleone		512 700
2013-03-23	Kingsley Catterall	18	MF	Bill Cates		1 785 800
2013-01-15	Julian Cooke	20	MF	George Bollocks		11 508 300
2012-12-08	Nat McCoy	22	MF	Billy Wonka		12 525 800

Conclusions?

If you want to win your league and the standard isn't massive, if 14 skill players will win it for you then why not spend a few seasons farming cash and buy in the players you need to create a winning side.

If you need 16/17 skill or better players then sure buy the players who can get there but most of the time it's how you develop the player that matters more than what you start with and by the time a player hits his peak he's worth less than you paid anyway - you could have just bought the finished article.