League #5

[Bob]

Results are in! Get me line-ups before Wednesday and we can do this thang!

SPOILERS to follow:

LO vs MAR: A great game! The game was neck and neck, but Loveless took the lead at the half and kept it. Just a few good blocks from Vivi made all the difference. A close game, but Loveless takes it 10-8.

GW vs MRC: Another game that was great, even though the score doesn't look as close as it actually was! It was Larsa vs Gafgarion and they each had a bit of back-up. Larsa missed a shot? No prob, Edea had his back. Gafgarion missed a shot? No problem, Amarant had his back! It was intense. In the end, the Mercs took the lead and won 13-9.

**********Tournament Round 4 Stamina**********

Mercenaries
Lani=10
Amarant=5
Ba'Gamnan=4
Gafgarion=8
Tseng=10
Elena=8
Rude=4
Worker 8=4

Loveless
Lightning=8
Terra=10
Genesis=5
Cecil=6
Sabin=3
Vivi=6
Hope=7
Marche=10

Marlboro Mayhem
Brother=0
Tidus=10
Zack=8
Cloud=0
Rufus=3
Shinra=2
Ashe=5
Ritz=10

Bob's Pick:

Mercs versus Marbs. Tough game to call. When the last met, they tied. Mercs have a solid defense, but the Marbs have some awesome shooters, both of whom are rested (rested-ish with Ashe, but still, she can play). It'll be a tough game to call. Both teams give Loveless a run for their money. Both were eliminated by Loveless and want some vengeance. This game's too close to call. I dunno. I think I'll pick...umm...hell, I'll go Mercs. They're my team and I love them, plus I think their stamina is better off. Maybe I just want them to win because they have a better chance against Loveless (Marbs would have a decent shot at game 1 against Loveless, but their goalie is going to nap in game 2, which will likely mean a loss). So go Mercs, I guess! It's not a selfish vote at all! Go me!

[Fleck]

BRINGING BACK THIS IMAGE AGAIN!




IT IS ON! Which one of you punks wants to TASTE OBLIVION!? Step right up!

[monsoonexe]

Well done, Fleck. I was hoping for a tie-breaker just to really keep the drama going. But hey, if I win my next match I may see you again!

[Bob]

Can I just...y'know, I'm just gonna. I SIMMED THE GAMES EARLY! SUCK ON THAT!

So here we go! Semi-Finals Spoilers below!

MAR vs MRC: Boy, everything was going the Mercs' way...at first. They were up by two, which generally is a good sign in a match, especially the back and forth types of games. And then the Marbs got a double score. And then another, and well, it all went downhill from there for the Mercs. So that's an 11-8 victory for the newbies! Good game, Marlboros! Good luck in the finals against Loveless! Mercs, enjoy the bronze.

**********Tournament Finals Stamina**********

Loveless
Lightning=8
Terra=10
Genesis=5
Cecil=6
Sabin=3
Vivi=6
Hope=7
Marche=10

Marlboro Mayhem
Brother=10
Tidus=7
Zack=6
Cloud=10
Rufus=1
Shinra=1
Ashe=2
Ritz=8

Let me know if either of you want to change your line-ups for the final match, knowing what the other's stamina looks like. Otherwise, I've already simmed the final match (It's like you both knew you'd be in the finals in advance!), so I won't do Bob's Picks because I'm already spoiled.

If I get confirmation from both players that they're good with their line-ups, then I'll sim the final match early, too. Otherwise, I'll do it Wednesday. Good blitzing, guys! I'm happy with one of my teams taking the bronze, especially since I'm pretty sure the best two teams are in the finals, so good job, guys!

[Fleck]

I'm good with what I got. Loveless changes their lineups FOR NO MAN!

[monsoonexe]

That was a crazy game, though, Bob. Zack was a beast and took on two or three people at a time before relinquishing control of the ball. I also want to point out that my defense didn't participate much. Pretty much the only handling of the ball they did was when Shinra passed it up the field after a successful catch.

I'm going to look over my line-up for just a second. I saw a pattern in the last game I want to experiment with.

[Bob]

Results are up! Check 'em out!

SPOILERS:

Holy crap! The finals! And that's an interesting game! Very good to peek at. Marlboro came out swingin' and...well, they kept swingin'! They took a lead, started to lose it, but never did, and they ended a single point up! Good game to the Marlboros and good on them for not only forcing a game two, but also for resting their goalie! Ashe is tuckered out, but maybe Tidus can carry the team.

Loveless
Lightning=6
Terra=10
Genesis=2
Cecil=4
Sabin=1
Vivi=5
Hope=4
Marche=10

Marlboro Mayhem
Brother=8
Tidus=4
Zack=3
Cloud=8
Rufus=0
Shinra=10
Ashe=0
Ritz=10

Bob's Pick: Very interesting results for this game! I dunno. Both teams are well rested except for one vital player. Marlboros are down Ashe, but Loveless is down Sabin. One without a critical striker, one without a critical defender. Since Loveless has a strong back-up defense and the Marbs only have a single striker, I'm gonna say that Loveless will take it, but I think it'll be super close, one way or another. Wouldn't bet money on it, basically.

Good luck to both teams in the super finals!

[wyvernxk7]

Holy shit!

Congrats, Rich, for an awesome win... Can you do it again!?

[wyvernxk7]

League 6 should be interesting. Here's why:

Richie and I have been looking through the goalie stats and trying to account for the risk shifts and type packages. Here's what we've found:

The bonus risks are a lie (at least for goalies)!

For example, No. 288's CA stat is 37, NORM, +Catcher type. This should mean that his CA can max at 48 with that type and sink only to 33 at the lowest. If you check out the TME game against GW in the tournament, 37 is the best he's got, and there were 11 shots on him. His lowest was, I believe 28. Here's the thing: 288 without any type package has a max of 44 and a min of 29.6, which is... rounded up or down? I don't know, but that's beside the point. Anyway, even relative to his risk-influenced CA stat, it never goes above his base stat, but it sure does sink! Something's not going right, and when that's resolved, hopefully season 6 will see far fewer instant reprisal goals because the goalies CA stat's will be able to keep up with the rising tide of SHT.

Eww... rising tide of shit.

[Bob]

Definitely strange. I'll take a look at it. It really sounds like the Catcher has been programmed incorrectly, if that's been only happening to Catcher goalies. I don't think either of my goalies use it, so I haven't really known what numbers to be checking for. So I'll look into that and the ball position function and see if we can't fix things.

This might explain the high point values of games lately, too, although I am still considering raising the base CA stat (or maybe all base stats) soon.

[wyvernxk7]

I'll be interested in seeing how things work down the road - if you want me to run test games on the updated program between S5 and S6, I'd be happy to try and see if anything's amiss when it comes to that... I'm willing to bet Rich would be on board too.

[Bob]

I might've figured out the problem with types. If I'm right, then the Catcher bonus wasn't working, but at least it wasn't hurting. It was like having no type. Still doesn't explain why the goalies aren't getting higher than their actual CA, but I'm at least glad it wasn't like, hurting the SHT stat (because, if I haven't said before, the goalie bonuses given are affected by their type, so a Catcher will not give as good a Shot bonus). But still, sorry about the mix up! I'll fix it up by the next league.

I sure hope that all the program bugs are gone...y'know...in my life time. #sucksatprogramming

Also gonna look into the ball position function now.

EDIT: I take that back. The types might've been just fine...maybe. I dunno. I'm gonna do some editing to see if the types are doing a damn thing or not. It'll take a while. Because it wasn't the thing I thought I found.

[Bob]

Program for the tinkering: forum.goatpen.org/Blitzball/RiskTypeTest.exe

No guarantees that it'll help anything, but it's a crude system to basically simulate...anything, really. Instructions in program, but you can change type (#1-7) and risk (0,+,-) and then get a random number for a shot (s) pass (p) and so on. All stats are set to a default of 100 (for easy head math).

If anybody would like to try this out, be my guest. It MIGHT help us figure out if type and/or risk is messing something up...

[Bob]

And here we go, the finals! Spoilers like, all the rest of this thread.

So the game starts. Lightning immediately puts one by the Marbs! Almost as if there was already a ball in the net and when the bell started the game, she just said, "Hey, look at that! It's already in the net! Point for us!" And so the refs gave it to her. Loveless leads 1-0. And then, Tidus is like, "Hey! I can do that, too!" And he couldn't! Vivi stopped it, gave it to a assembly line, who eventually got it to Lightning, who put it right back in the net.

So, with a two-point lead, Loveless led within a single minute. From there, a lot of back and forth, often with some defenders just outright fighting each other to kill time...or each other. Marlboros would make a come back, then Loveless would laugh in their stupid faces and fire right back. In the end, the game was determined by a single point, favoring....wait for it...Loveless, as our returning champ! And for the first time ever, Loveless takes the gold in league AND in tournament! Well deserved, guys. You're number one! You're number one!

But gotta give some props to the newcomers. This is the first league ever for the Malboro Mayhem and they take bronze in league and silver in tournament. They're already like, better than half the teams!

For next league then, if there are no objections, then the following breakdown applies:

1 Full Character Rebuild Allowed
Loveless
Marlboro Mayhem
Mad Experiments

2 Full Character Rebuilds Allowed
Grizzly Bears
Mercenaries
Nightshades

3 Full Character Rebuilds Allowed
Sublimely Magnificent 7
Guest Who
Magic Missiles

(those are all based on league standings, not tournament)

Please announce which characters have had a full rebuild. Otherwise, we'll be at Level 35 for next league, so level up your guys accordingly! Also, Rich, let me know if you're interested in a second team. I'll work on fixing up this program to make sure everything is working properly.

[wyvernxk7]

Dang! What a game!

I think losing Ashe to fatigue did MAR in and clinched the game, but even still, they put up one hell of a fight!