An Analysis of the Attributes that Matter in the SSL

[Rezo950inat0r2]

As some of you may know, the website FMArena is the holy grail for downloadable tactics and the sort. As less of you may know, they also have done an incredible amount of testing on the real influence of an attribute in games. 

Here is a link to the website for anyone interested

The methodology of their testing was by running many simulations of entire seasons, where every player on a team has an attribute value of 8 for every single attribute, and then comparing the results to when a single attribute is increased to 20. For the sake of this article, I will be going over the most important attributes, and some that are deemed useless, and comparing them to which attributes the current top performers in each league have invested in. 

In this ranking, the numbers in the brackets represent the amount of league points the 20 point tested team ends up with at the end of a 38-game season above the baseline test of 8

Attribute Ranking:
1. Pace (+64) - This should be a surprise to absolutely nobody, it has been well known by simple observation of games that pace is a standout best attribute as well as the following result. 
2. Acceleration (+64) - Same as above, being the fastest man on earth means your player is generally better than a random Sunday League player
3. Dribbling (+19) - A large gap from the top 2, but dribbling specifically has a very large influence on the number of goals scored, increasing the total by 25
4. Stamina (+19) - This one is a wash for the SSL, as everyone has 20 stamina
5. Anticipation (+18) - Anticipation is much higher up than I believe most would expect, but it is the most important mental attribute by far, dictating a player's ability to predict what will happen in a play on either side of the ball, making it key for offence and defence
6. Jumping Reach (+16) - This one is likely lower than most expected, as jumping reach really only has an effect on a few members of a team, rather than every single one. 
7. Balance (+12) - This is another that is much better than I initially expected, but I suppose it does make sense as it affects a player's ability to stay on the ball, whether they are carrying it or tracking back on defence
8. Work Rate (+12) - Work rate simply dictates how hard a player is willing to work on any given play, so it makes sense that a team of psychopaths will be more successful than a random squad
9. Strength (+10) - This is a simple one, it affects how strong you are. This one normally goes hand-in-hand with Jumping Reach
10. Concentration (+9) - This attribute is mostly known for being a must-get for strikers, but it also has quite an important effect on the calmness of a defender under pressure

The other attributes listed are Determination, Decisions, Composure, Agility, Natural Fitness, Finishing, Long Shots, Heading, Crossing, First Touch, Passing, Technique, and Tackling. 
Every single other attribute not named has no notable effect on a player. 
Notable attributes that have no visible effect include Marking, Off The Ball, Vision, and Positioning. 

Now, let's have a look at some top performers across the leagues and how they have invested in their attributes. 

First up is Mikko Rashford II. They play as a striker, and are currently first in goals across every league. Their physical attributes are one of the first things to notice, where they have 20 in each of Pace, Acceleration and Jumping Reach, as well as 18 in Agility, and strength. They have also invested quite a lot into Off The Ball, Dribbling, Finishing, Heading, Balance, First Touch, Decisions, Composure, and Anticipation. If there were anything I would suggest changing according to the previously mentioned important attributes, I may redistribute some of the TPE invested into OTB, composure, and heading, and move them over to Concentration, Work rate, and Balance. 

Next up I'll have a look at the leading playmaker in every all league, which is currently Alex Pena. They play RD/RWB for North Shore United, and are performing incredibly well for a rookie. Because of a lower overall TPE from a newer player, this will of course have to be approached differently than a player who is regressing. Pena has mostly invested in Pace, Acceleration, Crossing, Tackling, and Work Rate, while having an even spread of 10 in 12 other attributes. Looking at their investments, I would recommend, going forward, investing less in Flair, Teamwork, Positioning, Marking, and Off the Ball, and replace those with more investment in Balance and Concentration

Then I'll have a look at Hans Grudnar, who currently has the highest average rating across all player, racking up 6 goals and 4 assists. Grudnar plays STC, and has invested a lot in their mental attributes compared to many other players. Of course their paccel is up to 20 each, but also they have 20 other attributes in a range of 10-15. This list includes vision, positioning, composure, aggression, bravery, penalty taking, and OTB. I would suggest a redistribution of the TPE invested in these attributes to be moved over to First Touch, Dribbling, Jumping Reach, Heading, and Strength.



Thank you for taking the time to read this analysis, as it was partially done as a practice of how I can look at a player's attributes and suggest new changes with some banked TPE. I hope this was an interesting or perhaps informative read!

[omniscius]

Honestly, I wonder how a test of 20 in pace, acceleration, stamina, and natural fitness with everything other than the attribute we're testing at 5 would go. I also wonder what combinations would work well. Heading probably isn't important when everyone has 8 jumping reach. What changes woild we see if we had 20 jumping reach in one experiment versus another experiment of 20 jumping reach and heading. Would bravery and aggression be more important? I also have heard balance helps with aerial challenges but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I feel like these tests aren't entirely conclusive even if I do agree with a lot of the results.

[Rezo950inat0r2]

Honestly, I wonder how a test of 20 in pace, acceleration, stamina, and natural fitness with everything other than the attribute we're testing at 5 would go. I also wonder what combinations would work well. Heading probably isn't important when everyone has 8 jumping reach. What changes woild we see if we had 20 jumping reach in one experiment versus another experiment of 20 jumping reach and heading. Would bravery and aggression be more important? I also have heard balance helps with aerial challenges but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I feel like these tests aren't entirely conclusive even if I do agree with a lot of the results.

That's a really interesting point.

For the jumping reach for example, I imagine that the main thing the attribute affects is simply how high everyone can jump. Since all the opponent teams are also filled with players with an attribute value of 8 everywhere, I'm inclined to believe that the test for Heading would be the same fundamentally as having players with a jumping reach of 20 facing off against other players with a jumping reach of 20. Of course, that scenario of 2 players with 20 JR is incredibly rare in the base game, but in SSL it's much more common, so although the results are not 100% accurate, I think that for that example in particular, it's probably closer than we'd expect.

In order to figure that out, we'd need a lot more testing that I unfortunately just don't have the time for, but I agree with your point that the results are not entirely conclusive, but rather just a rough outline of what the game engine values and how much.