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+---- Thread: Academy Task 5: What might the finished article (player! not PT article!) look like? (/showthread.php?tid=9478)
Academy Task 5: What might the finished article (player! not PT article!) look like? - Haramcha - 2026-04-29
Following up on my very first post here on SSL, which was a simple, naïve discussion about the potential for diversity among players in a game like SSL considering that certain attributes famously are especially powerful, posing the question of how creative anyone can realistically get while their player continues to thrive in the league. It was simple, abstract, and had zero data or real references.
Since then, I have started to get a grasp of how things work around here, and observed several other participants discussing the importance of certain attributes (I’m looking at you, Pace/Acceleration) and the ability to create unique players (20 Flair, anyone? Also, wasn’t there something about a former player who’d been created for the purpose of.. setting a record for most bicycle kicks or something?). At the same time, I have also seen my own player grow, both on the pitch, and in terms of PTE. This has naturally made me ponder the PTE-to-attribute opportunities a little further, and I must admit that I quickly budged and started throwing a bunch of PTE into pace and acceleration. More on that later.
Now, then, those are the circumstances which made me start thinking about how much PTE actually allows you to shape your player. Or rather, being bored at work and planning out my next PTE expenditures made me notice something which then prompted me to do a little bit of basic arithmetic on a Post-it note that I brought home at the end of the day. The thrill I felt when I stole that note, wow.
Anyway, there I was, calculating something about how I’d have to spend another 36 PTE to bring my Acceleration from 13 to 16, when I got curious and looked into the total PTE of the top players, which then became the foundation for this little though experiment. Let’s roll.
Upon entering the index of SSL, it will automatically show a list of the league’s players sorted by PTE from highest to lowest (how convenient). First thing that one notices is probably that the top 3 are all representatives of União São Paulo (USP), and that the same applies to number 5 on the list. How they are not utterly dominating is beyond such lowly newbies as I. The next thing is that the highest PTE recorded currently is Julian Rubio (@donut) with 2161, followed by Benecio Aguilera III (@CROney3) at 2140 and Roquefort Cotswold (@roquefort) on 2119, all from USP, then Thomas Hohenhahn (@norththegreatestshowman) of Shanghai Dragons FC sitting on 2107, before Jõao Peixoto (@zeagle1) having 2044 rounds out the top 5. And yes, it is very intentional that each number is listed using a different word (“with”, “at”, “on”). Somebody needs to highlight the absurdity of English grammar, and if I don’t do it, then who will? Probably someone much smarter, that’s who, but they’re not writing about PTE and diversity of player profiles in SSL.
Following the top 5, we have Hercule Hefeweizen (@Wiggli), 2043, Charlie Chambers (@Rich), 2032, and George Shaheen (@Jiggy), 2016. And that’s where we stop counting (sorry to the rest of the top 10). This is neither completely arbitrary, nor due to any sort of grudge. It just so happens that there are 8 players who are all united by.. well, mostly playing for USP, but more importantly by the fact that their PTE is above 2000. Another thing is that six of the eight are from S18, with the other two being a season older. The highest player from a later season is on 1862. This, of course, implies that one likely tops around 2000 TPE, with a few especially high-earning players getting up to around 2200, before the regressions start to tear on the players. As such, I choose to use 2000 TPE as the baseline for our little thought experiment.
Now then (another absurd phrase), my little thought-research question is this: What does 2000 TPE actually get you?
To answer that, we must first consider this: FM has a total of 36 visible attributes (and a bunch of hidden attributes that are going to be the same for all of us on SSL anyway, so who cares). SSL freezes Natural Fitness and Stamina on 20 out of 20, leaving us with 34 attributes that we can alter. All players start with a flat 5 in the 34 attributes. The price of attributes changes as they are increased; from 2 to 4, 6, 12, 18, and finally 25 for each of the last 2 points (18-20).
And what does that mean for us? Well, first of all, it means that somebody who actually cares enough about numbers and mathematics to bother calculating properly should be in charge of doing it, not me who just did mental arithmetic and wrote it on a Post-it note at work, and who is now trying to extrapolate some sort of thing from it while occasionally turning to the built-in calculator in Windows. Second of all (that’s not actually a saying, is it?), it means that we can start doing some of that math, however poorly:
If we were to simply say that we would invest the same amount of TPE in each attribute, it should be as simple as saying 2000 TPE divided by 34 attributes, if my humanities-brain can think. That comes out to 58,82. That’s not a number that an attribute can be. However, it is an amount of TPE that can be spent on each attribute. More or less, anyway. My Post-it note informs me that going from 5 to 13 in an attribute costs a total of 34 TPE (that’s an interesting coincidence that I genuinely did not notice until just now). Going up to 16 is another 36 TPE, totalling 70, which is 11,18 more than we have. However, with the attribute point from 15 to 16 being valued at 12 TPE, we can try subtracting 12 from 70, and whooptie, now we’re at 58, which is roughly where we would like to be.
So, there you have it, folks: A player can have 15 in every single attribute for the small price of 2000 TPE.
But who would want to do that?
Not only would it be the plainest player of all time, it would also mean that they would have 15 in attributes such as Long Throws (which I have heard are not permitted in SSL), Corners (why would more than one, at the very most two, players want to put any serious points into those), Free Kicks (more or less the same thing) and so forth.
Furthermore, such a player would be missing out on that sweet, sweet Acceleration and Pace. And now we’re back to life, back to reality. We keep hearing talk of how those are the two most important attributes in FM (I remember back when FMLive was a thing, and people quickly figured out that Jumping (Reach) and Heading were the two most important attributes for DCs – wonder if that’s still the case) and that they are practically mandatory lest you desire to be hit by the oncoming train that is every other player, because they have all maxed out the smartly nicknamed Paccel. So, what does that mean for us? Well, dearest gentle reader, it means that your player most likely will want to jump up to 20/20 acceleration/pace. And how many TPE will that set you back? 156 each. From 5-20, that is. Or 12 (from 15 -> 16) + 36 (16 -> 18) + 50 (18 -> 20), making it 98 TPE from 15 to 20. For each of the two attributes. So, 98 x 2 = 196 for the both. That piece of math is mostly useless, but shows that we cannot just drop 10 points in each attribute, save for Paccel, and then subtract it from “useless” attributes (reaching 15 only cost 58, if you remember, so that’d mean almost 4 attributes would need to be left at 5 – not just Corners, Free Kicks and Long Throws, and.. wait, I just realized you don’t need Leadership either, so yes, you actually could do 15 in all attributes other than the 4 left at 5 and Paccel at 20, but anyway, let’s stop it with the boring 15-15-15-15-15-15-player which nobody would ever want to do, until somebody decides to do that upon next reroll just to mess with this article).
Now then, if a player were to start out by speeding up to top speed, also known as 20 in both Acceleration and Pace, they would have 1688 TPE to build a player with (as we previously determined that the price of going from 5 to 20 in any attribute is a total of 156 TPE, and so 2x 156 = 312. 2000 – 312 leaves us with 1688). Let’s try to work out a few different options with that. Perhaps we can first do a Physical Monster-build, from which we can look at a few variations, then an all-arounder, and finally some more position/role-specific builds.
Before continuing (this is where I have no proper tying together of things, because they were written on separate days, across both the computer and my phone, with no access to each file), FM24 has a total of 8 physical attributes. Of these, our kind predecessors, whom we could refer to as the SSL Ancients, if we so desired, decided that 2 should be maxed out at 20 (Natural Fitness and Stamina).
Now, imagine you are a striker. As established, physicals are great, so that’s where you choose to begin. You want to score goals. With 2000 PTE, you are the pinnacle of Erling Haaland. 7 feet tall, 200 points of muscle. I don’t even know what that means; I’m not American, but I believe it would make you almost as tall as the average Dutchman, so something like 210 cm. And your 200 pounds of muscle would be what, enough to make you half, or at least quarter, bear. Maybe whole bear, if you know of some smaller species of bear.
Your physicals are all maxed out at 20. Every. Single. One. Six. Six times 156. 936. That’s how many TPE went towards that feat. Another 1064 to go. Our Bland-Man (sorry, I want to be gender-neutral here, but there’s always been something funny about adding -man to form names – Batman? Spiderman? Tunaman? All hilarious) would have 1064 / 29 = 36,7 TPE per attribute (there are 36 total attributes, we already have 6 of them at 20, and we can also exclude Long Throws). Now it’s more like 13 per attribute for our Bland-Haamand. But maybe you want to move well enough to get to utilise your physical attributes, so you drop 156 TPE in Off the Ball. 908 remain. Finishing. 752. Uh-oh.
We divide 752 by the remaining 27 attributes and realise that it leaves us with 27,85 TPE for each of them. That’s just under 12 per attribute.
You realize that you’d forgotten to pick up Heading, just as I had while writing this, and 752 TPE become 596. 22,9 TPE per attribute leaves you with 11 points in each remaining attribute. Do you want to be able to kick the ball without shaking? Better fill out Composure. 440 remain. 17,6. 10 per attribute. Decisions, First Touch, Technique, Anticipation, Bravery, Long Shots, and hey, maybe even Penalty Taking still remain untouched. You’re only filling out two of them. Decisions and First Touch, maybe? You now have 128 TPE left for 23 attributes; you’re getting each of them up to a beautiful 7. Is that your favourite number? I don’t know, but I now realize something we can take from this rambling: All six physicals, Finishing, Off the Ball, Heading, Composure, Decisions, and First Touch. That’s what we got. In a sense, it’s more than I had expected, but I digress: it reveals to us that you can max out a total of 12 attributes. This is a good thing to know going forward. And probably something most veterans knew already, now that I think about it. Sometimes working with others really makes things easier. Think, if I had bothered to ask anyone about these things, I wouldn’t have had to do much writing, nor calculating.. or even thinking, for that matter. Then again, it’s fun to figure things out on your own. And perhaps so is reading about the act of figuring things out.
Now, we know that attributes get increasingly expensive, and that the final two points each cost a whopping 25 TPE. We also determined that going from 5 to 20 expends a total of 156 TPE. This seems to imply that sticking to 18 in an attribute rather than 20 would only cost 106 TPE, doesn’t it? If that’s the case, we can try not going for 20 in every attribute, but instead go with 18 in the ones we like. Still, we are supposed to be developing our very own Frankenstein, and if the Addams Family cartoon taught me anything, it is that Lurch or whatever his name was, is supposed to be huge. So, for now, we’re sticking with our 20 in all physical attributes.
You may remember from the previous episode, also known as 20-or-so lines above this one, that maximising physical attributes leaves us with 1064 TPE. We also had 10 attributes that we wanted to improve significantly to create a goalscoring monster. That.. actually leaves us with each of those attributes at exactly 18. It may seem very intentional (after all, nothing is simpler than dividing by 10), but I didn’t even realise we had 10 attributes that we wanted to fill out for our goalscorer. It kind of just happened. Anyway, that’s also leaving aside Penalty Taking. On top of that, if I remember correctly, Dribbling has been known to be one of the best technical attributes. Perhaps the very best. So, the math isn’t entirely perfect. Even then, we could probably find a couple of attribute points elsewhere to sacrifice at the TPE Altar.
The attribute point from 17 to 18 costs 18 TPE (much like the one from 16 to 17), so rather than 106, going to 17 in an attribute would cost 88 TPE. We need that twice. 176. That’s one point from each of te.. … …. ….. wait. Each of ten attributes. OK, that solves it. Our guy ends up with 20 in every physical attribute, and 17 in all of: Finishing, Off the Ball, Heading, Composure, Decisions, First Touch, Technique, Anticipation, Bravery, Long Shots, Dribbling, and Penalty Taking.
Alright, with that done and dusted, we can move on to a different profile. How about a bit of an all-rounder?
Even if we name it so, we shall still abide by the law of the land and fill out Acceleration and Pace, lest you hiss at my naivety. This, once again, starts us off at 1688 TPE. This time, rather than maxing out the remaining physicals, we consider them to be of equal status to numerous other attributes. Let’s go for something that could make some sense, say, a central midfielder. Although it makes sense to draw upon the suggested attributes (which you can conveniently find on the SSL Portal by clicking “Update” – I swear I’m not sponsored.. well, not by the Portal, anyway) for the role, we want a versatile player, and as such we may deviate a little. For now, let’s just recognize that the following attributes are recommended to us: Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions, Off the Ball, Teamwork, Vision, Work Rate, First Touch, Passing, Tackling, and Technique. 12 in total. We also know the value of physical attributes and Dribbling, so we won’t neglect those completely either. Finally, I would argue that Positioning, Marking (and maybe even Tackling) are important if our player is to be truly versatile. That’s 4 more Physical Attributes (total: 16) plus Dribbling (17), Positioning and Marking (19). We do some kvik maffs and arrive at 88,8 TPE per attribute (1688 / 19). As we learned earlier, going from the basic 5 to 17 in an attribute snatches 88 TPE from your treasure chest, and once again it feels as though I had this planned out to a much larger degree than I had. Starting to believe our Dear Ancestors of Ancient SSL were a little more elaborate with the cost of attributes than I previously credited them with.
I was actually planning to add in another section about one more player type, and perhaps I will at a later point (how about goalkeepers? And something about niche builds! Time for another ramble in a couple of weeks), but for now, I would rather like to summarise our findings, and shut off this mostly incoherent rant (complete with numbers that likely are wrong, as I have not seriously checked things through).
It is evident from this thread that it is not realistic that one would be able to completely fill out every “important” attribute for their role. However, it is possible to get a bunch of 20’s and to then roll with 17 in everything else that is relevant to the role. With our Über-Haaland, we reached 20 in every physical attribute, and managed 17 in more or less everything that is relevant to goalscoring (barring the one or two attribute(s) I likely forgot). An old-school Central Defender could likely achieve the same, while other builds require one to be a little more spread out. For instance, we built an all-around Central Midfielder, who ended up with only 2 20’s (Acceleration and Pace), and a bunch of 17’s. On that note, we also saw that it would actually be possible to get 20 in Acceleration and Pace while reaching 15 in all but 4 “useless” attributes (Corners, Free Kicks, Leadership, and Long Throws). Going in the opposite direction, one could end up with 12 attributes at 20, and everything else at 5.
As I have expressed elsewhere (most prominently in a conversation with a few friendly characters over on Discord), I do believe that it could be interesting to raise the TPE cost a little, perhaps for certain attributes as to try and prevent everyone from ending up with similar builds (something that is especially “dangerous” when we are provided with enough potential TPE to get the post powerful attributes to 20 (I’m looking at you, Paccel.. and other physicals) without sacrificing too much elsewhere). Even so, this little.. essay, one could perhaps be so magnanimous as to call it, also reveals that it is possible to make varied player profiles, and that even though some minmaxers might optimise themselves into some sort of orcish cyborg with a predatory instinct only for goalscoring, nothing is preventing one from creating something different. Something creative. Something beautiful. And perhaps, no incentive for doing so is needed, for what could ever truly beat the prospect of growing into a true legend. Not for your 200 goals; that will surely be beaten someday. But your 10 attempted overhead kicks in the centre of the park almost certainly won’t. Be original. Be beautiful. (list of Patreons rolls across screen at an unreadable speed)
PROPOSITIONS SO FAR:
- A totally bland player with 20 in all physicals would end up with 13 in every other attribute (ignoring Long Throws, which are effectively useless in SSL). Would that be the most boring superhero of all time?
- 20 Paccel + 15 in everything else (other than 4 “useless” attributes: Long Throws, Corners, Free Kicks, Leadership) is also an option. That’s.. surprisingly high, really.
- One can max out 12 attributes at 20, if they are willing to leave everything else at 5. Did anyone say specialist?
- 20 in all physicals + 17 in Anticipation, Bravery, Composure, Decisions, Dribbling, Finishing, First Touch, Heading, Long Shots, Off the Ball, Penalty Taking, and Technique. We’ve all seen those memes of Haaland as the Terminator or some other red-eyed cyborg-robot-thingymajing. This build would be the actual goalscoring machine. Although one would have expected machines to have 20 in Composure and Concentration. Reminds me, I forgot that Concentration would probably also be useful for the build. Too late.
- 20 Paccel + 17 in all other Physical Attributes + Anticipation, Composure, Concentration, Decisions, Dribbling, First Touch, Marking, Off the Ball, Passing, Positioning, Tackling, Teamwork, Technique, Vision, and Work Rate. A balanced, all-around build would permit you to dump enough TPE into each relevant attribute for the specific build to reach 17 in all of them. Not bad, for someone not at all specialised.
RE: Academy Task 5: What might the finished article (player! not PT article!) look like? - Definia - 2026-04-29
Absolutely phenomenal write up. Enjoy the cash because it's deserved!