Auto Sub/My Frustration with the game

[Qnextdoor]

I have it set to auto sub and 1 of my players picked up his 2nd foul in the 1st half, but he is still in the game. He played less than a minute in the 2nd half. It wasn't like that before. Auto sub does a lot of weird things. This has been a very fustrating year. I tried putting in tickets but none of my issues has been fix. Fouls been a problem for me since the 2022 version.

[PointGuard]

Sorry to hear of your frustration. I don't know what to tell you. Although I play out most of my games, I do sometimes use AutoSub and haven't been experiencing your problems/issues. And fouls definitely have not been a problem for me. I"m really not sure why you're experiencing something so different from what I am.

Is your association relatively young (e.g. 1-3 years into it) or have you played many seasons in it? If the latter, have the problems you're encountering gotten worse as the association's seasons mounted?

Re fouls...are you experiencing different outcomes if you play out games, watch them (auto-subbing), or sim completely? Or is it the same no matter what mode of game-play you use?

[Qnextdoor]

I'm 4 years into my association and have played out every game. Recently, I decided to simulate five games and noticed a significant difference. During the simulations, I averaged about 13 fouls and 18 free throw attempts per game. When I replayed the same games, my averages were around 19 fouls and 26 free throw attempts. In two of those games, the opposing team made more free throws than field goals, and one game had 32 free throw attempts. I even had seven consecutive fouls in one game, and the same trend applied to the opposing team. The 2D simulation has become almost unplayable; it auto-subs players out of position when another player in the rotation is already in that position. I haven’t encountered any issues outside the 2D simulation. I have multiple screenshots that I've sent to the developers. Why am I the only one having these problems?

[PointGuard]

OK, 4 years isn't many...I've often played out that many seasons and many more...I was just asking because I was wondering if things went weird if you had played out 30, 40, 50 or more seasons (which I have not).

I may not have been looking at things as closely as you when I've used autosub, but I have not observed the AI having players play other positions than I've set up in my depth chart for a player to be able to play. If I've set a player to be ABLE to play SG, SF, and PF in his "Possible Positions" section at the bottom of the depth chart, but have assigned him specific minutes at only SF and SG in the depth chart section...the AI in autosub will usually play him just at SF and SG, but in rare and certain atypical situations in a game play him at PF...I've allowed the AI to do that by checking off PF in the Possible Positions area for that player...and if all hell goes in a game and the most or all the starters and subs for a position get into foul trouble, get injured, or are all tuckered out, the Ai might have to play a guy at the position who's not been assigned the position in his Possible Positions (but I have not observed that (but to be honest I haven't been looking for it either).

As in real life games, the number of fouls (and resulting free throws) varies dramatically from game to game so I think you have to look at the average number of fouls/free throws. In my analysis of a season of DDSCB24 stats, the average number of free throws/game per team (and the range from highest to lowest for teams) have been remarkably close to real life. And 32 free throws is a lot for sure, but that happens occasionally in real life also.

In testing I've simmed games (so the AI was handling both teams) and played out the same game (so I was handling one of the teams) and sometimes the results have been close to the same, but more often the result has varied dramatically. I think a 4-game analysis is too small on which to draw conclusions. One game with big differences between the simmed (or autosubbed) game and the human-controlled game can throw the numbers completely askew in that small a sample. I imagine that if (in real life) two teams played two games on succeeding nights with the same refs, the results (the score, the victor, the number of fouls/free throws, etc) often would be quite different.

I'm not being an apologist for the game because I realize it's not perfect. And I can't do an analysis of the way you've set up the game or your results. I'm just letting you know what I've observed and analyzed about the game.

[Qnextdoor]

I understand that fouls and free throws can vary from game to game, but the consistency of high fouls and free throw attempts I’m experiencing is unusual.

I have my players' secondary positions set correctly, so they should play their natural positions if another player is already in that position. However, when fouls accumulate, the auto-sub feature often forces players into positions that aren’t their primary or secondary ones, leading to mismatches. For example, if a player who usually plays SF is forced to play PF due to foul trouble, it affects the team’s performance.

Another issue is that my best player often ends up playing less than 10 minutes in the first half, despite being set for 16 minutes. Early fouls are causing this significant reduction in minutes. For instance, the highest minutes played by any player is just 25.2 this season. This has been an ongoing problem throughout the year and has persisted even with the latest update.

The 2D simulation has been particularly problematic, with auto-subs frequently placing players out of position and causing an increase in fouls. I’ve sent multiple screenshots to the developers, but these issues haven’t been resolved yet.

I agree that a four-game sample might be too small to draw definitive conclusions, but the consistency of these problems over multiple seasons suggests there’s a significant issue. I appreciate your insights and observations; it’s helpful to know how others are experiencing the game.

[stefree7b]

This is y favorite game of any that I play by far but I too am finding that 2D has almost become unplayable with all of the fouls. I play out every game. Very rarely is there a game that does not have 60 free throws combined. At the beginning of the game there are almost always 4 to at least 6 fouls called within the first few minutes. Like I said I play all games out in 2D but I cloned the league and was running the same league as a quick sim. Over 90% of the time there are more fouls called in 2D. There have been times no matter what I do it is just foul after foul after foul. I have been playing this game for many years and seasons. I just wanted to let everyone know I am seeing the same problems.

[PointGuard]

As I've indicated I primarily play out games with 2D, but also have simmed games. I'm not seeing the same foul problems you are. Although an individual game may have a lot of fouls/foul shots (and other games may have a low number of fouls/free throws), the average per game for my teams each season has ranged between 16 and 20 FTA's/game (which is very much in the mid range for real life). And the AI range for FTA/game has been extremely close to real life NCAA play for any detailed test/evaluation I've made for a variety of associations.

Since you're experiencing something much different than what I think is typical for DDSCB24, all I can recommend is that you follow the guidance in the HELP section of the game to submit your association's files after a reasonable portion of a season via a Support Ticket and indicate what you've observed...and if you have stats for a lengthy portion of a season that shows that your team (which you've played with 2D) has a large number of foul shots per game (I'd say outside the NCAA range for FTA/g of 10-25) [you can find the FTA/game in the League Leaders screen by selecting "View Teams"], provide that data as well.

[stefree7b]

Thank you Point Guard. I just finished game 1 of the new season. This is season 4 in this league with the 2024 game. Here is what happened game 1. 3 fouls in the first minute and 7 in the first 3 minutes. 24 total first half fouls and 42 total between the 2 teams for the game. Sadly this has gone on in the previous seasons. When I get further into the season I will submit the league files if it continues. The 2024version of the game is the first time I have had tis problem. Thank you for the help.

[stefree7b]

Just played another game 47 total fouls and 68 free throws. I think I am going to just give up.

[Qnextdoor]

Most of my games seem to play out like this: both teams end up with a high number of fouls. Before each game, I check the average number of free-throw attempts for the opposing teams, and they consistently allow more free-throws than their average. The same issue happens with my team.

I've already submitted a ticket and had weeks of email correspondence about this, only to be told, "You are the only person reporting this issue, and we did not see it when reviewing your files. My only suggestion is that you might be overusing the 'work' or 'yell at ref' buttons—particularly the 'yell' option. When you frequently challenge the referees, they may develop a negative view of your team and call more fouls as a result. Try playing a few games without using these options and see if there's a noticeable difference."

Despite following this advice, I'm still encountering these problems. It's reassuring to know I'm not the only one experiencing this issue. I sent screenshots showing the total number of fouls. In every game, at least two of my players are in foul trouble during the first half. I’ve seen up to six players in foul trouble during the first half.