Q&A June 2014

Here are some general tips and common questions answered:

Best players to double jump?

XpertEleven uses something called even rounding. That is to say numbers are rounded to the nearest integer except if the float part is 0.5, in which case they are rounded to the even number. EG

3.5 rounds to 4
4.5 rounds to 4       4.6 rounds to 5
5.5 rounds to 6

In X11 that means skillbands are skewed:

Skill	From	To
3	2.6	3.4
4	3.5	4.5
5	4.6	5.4
6	5.5	6.5

Notice odd skill levels cover a range of 9 points and even skill levels cover a range of 11 points. Because of this a player with an odd skill level is easier to single jump (as 0.9 will guarantee a single bar) but harder to double jump (as 1.9 may only result in a single bar).

Conversely players with an even skill level are harder to single jump (potentially needing a 1.1 increase to gain a visible bar) but they are easier to double jump (a 1.0 increase may give them a double jump).

Mini-CR

When players are sold they undergo a "mini CR". This is based on the DV upto that stage of the season and can result in the player on the transfer market being higher or lower skilled the player in your team when they get evaluated - underevals and overevals.

If you sell a player and he's an undereval then it's possible a bidding war can develop and you can get a much higher price than his valuation. If you know your player is high in his skillband then selling him late in the season with high DV gives him a good chance to be an undereval and can be a good strategy for maximising profit.

Player performance ratings

Players can normally perform upto 5 bars higher than their skill level, so for example a 9 skill player could perform to 14 skill bars.

Occasionally a player will perform 6 bars above his skill. This is due to a combination of XpertEleven using something called "even rounding" but will only happen if a player is at the very top of his skill band and has an even skill level.  If he's under 26 then he's a great candidate to double jump.

1 keeper per team

A lot of top teams run with just 1 keeper - no reserve. There are definite advantages and there are risks to this strategy:

Advantages:

• You save the cost and training costs of a 2nd keeper
• You always get to play your best keeper, every game.

Disadvantages:

• There is the risk of injury or suspension

While a player might get injured for a key game, I would suggest it's worth having only 1 keeper if you aren't challenging for the league title or a cup. If your only keeper does get injured there's always scope to buy a stopgap quickly off the transfer market, or even play an allounder in goal. Playing a little more cautious can let you survive the problem and over time the money saved will strengthen your team overall.

Using the Job Centre

Previously I wrote a post on how XpertEleven Ranking points are accumulated and how that can be used to check the quality of your tactics. When you have a good ranking you may wish to try and find a better team through the job centre.

To use the Job Centre in the official leagues you need to have been with your existing Xpert team for at least a month and have 3 skill bars. When this is achieved you can jump to a new team.

The lesser teams have less/no competition so are easy to get, but ideally you want to be aiming higher and will be competing against other managers for your dream team. Who gets the new job is based on 2  factors: Loyalty Bonus and manager skill

Loyalty Bonus

Loyalty bonus is explained fully in the Xpert Daily here. In brief it is based on how long you have managed your existing team and gives a bonus in number of bars to your skill level. The following are examples of what loyalty bonus you get for a given length of management:

3 months will give a bonus worth 0 skill bars
6 months will give a bonus worth 1.7 skill bars
12 months will give a bonus worth 3.5 skill bars
24 months will give a bonus worth 5.3 skill bars
36 months will give a bonus worth 6.3 skill bars
48 months will give a bonus worth 7.0 skill bars

Manager Skill

Manager skill is measured in bars and can be seen in the lobby or on your profile page. I shall explain manager skill in more detail in another post but briefly you get rating points for each match your official team has played in the last 6 months, and these rating points are converted into skillbars.

Briefly you earn more skill points for winning, especially away, and also for setting what the system decides are good tactics. That means playing to the referee, playing careful is very good for ranking points and general good tactical decisions.

As all matches from the last 6 months are included good cup runs will help your ranking as they get more games in your "cycle"