It’s rather funny really. Back in school, I hated mathematics and statistics as courses, so I wonder what my old maths teachers would say if they read my current statistical research. I guess it showcases the importance of motivation. Anyway, back to driving factors of youth development. This is a series that could go on for a while, as there are still quite a few factors I need to look at. The main reason why I did this series is to back up the Emulating La Masia series. I was hoping to use some of Shrewnaldo’s earlier research, but it appears to have disappeared together with the old TheDugout forums. That left me with no other choice but to do replicate his research in order to back up my own findings.

I have quite a few ideas on simulations to run in the future. The influence of first team action, the difference between coaches training, the importance of the facilities at a club and several other attribute combinations are all factors I intend to look at sometime in the future. However, these simulations take a bit of time and well… I do enjoy playing FM as well and all the time I spend simulating is rather precious time I cannot play the game, so I can’t and won’t promise anything in terms of a timeframe.

I do enjoy the feedback and interaction with the community this series has brought so far. Both through social media and the comments section, people are adding their thoughts to the mix, leading to new and refreshing insights. I have had to reconsider my basic development theory in favour of a much more logical current ability adaptation. So please, if you have your own ideas or suggestions, feel free to contact me and add your own thoughts. So far, there are few definitive answers so all ideas and suggestions could help make a difference.

As the title suggests, this article focusses on another attribute combination. We’ve had a look at Ambition, Professionalism, and Determination as individual factors, we have even had a look at the Determination / Professionalism combination. What I haven’t done is look at a combination between Ambition and Professionalism.

The approach

In order to research the influence of these factors, I created six equal newgens in an FM16 save with the help of FMRTE. All four have similar positions and age. All of their attributes, including hidden, are set to 10, except for the variables I want to research. In this case, there will be two scenario’s to look at. In the ambition experiment, I will alter the hidden attributes Professionalism and Ambition in six of these players to different values, respectively 1, 8, 14 and 20. In the experiment where I look at the interaction between Professionalism and Ambition, I will create six players and edit their attributes as so:

As before, I will holiday the save for half a season and see how the players have developed. I will note their development in four areas:

1. Technical;
2. Mental;
3. Physical
4. Current ability.

My expectations

My expectations have changed a bit, mostly because of new information that has come forward. This comment was rather interesting and detailed.

Just to add to discussion, I used to be a researcher a few years ago, so the discussion around the Determination attribute has always amused me, as long as I was a researcher until FM11 or 12, the determination attribute was an in match only attribute. It was related to how a player reacted during matches to coming under etc. I checked with a mate of mine that started researching after FM15 and he says the determination attribute is the same now. It might be different the years between I did research and the when my mate started researching. The attribute that are essential for development are Proffesionalism. Other factors that are important are playing time, club, facilities and coaches. Ambition has more to do with development, but most how a player do decsions about what clubs to choose, search bigger opportunities etc.

So what I am expecting is that the player with the highest value for Professionalism will develop the most. Players 5 and 6 will serve to check the limited influence of Ambition. If all goes according to plan, Players 1 and 6 will have roughly the same development, which will be what I earlier referred to as basic development but which is probably, as a commenter mentioned, the game re-adjusting the attributes to match the CA I have set.

The increase in attributes without any change in CA is not “basic development” but just the game engine trying to adjust the attributes to correspond the CA that is too high for a player with all attributes set to 10.
As far as I know all development affects increases CA which in turn increases attributes in according to team and individual training.

I think it’s also given that determination is purely on-pitch attribute nowadays (this was changed a few years a back), but players with high determination tend to play better (especially when trailing, after making mistake etc.) and gets better ratings -> develop more.

It is still a bit of mystery to me how much ambition affects development but it seems have some effect – not just nearly as much as professionalism. Some times though young players with high ambition end up playing at too high level too early and not getting enough games -> development stalls.

The ambition experiment

Let’s start off by simply introducing the six newgens I have created. All six are identical except for their Ambition and Professionalism attributes.

Six months into the game the players look like this.

When we add up the total points of progress pro area and check FMRTE to see how their development in CA has been shaped, we end up with the following numbers.

A more graphic display will show the results more clearly.

Player 1: 1 Amb, 1 Prof
Player 2: 8 Amb, 8 Prof
Player 3: 14 Amb, 14 Prof
Player 4: 20 Amb, 20 Prof
Player 5: 1 Amb, 20 Prof
Player 6: 20 Amb, 1 Prof

When we look at the final results of this simulation, there are a few expected results and one anomaly. The players with higher professionalism generally progressed better, as players 3 and 4 have shown us. Player 5 shows us that whilst Ambition does influence development, it’s not a major factor. The anomaly in the equation is player 6. By no means should he have developed less than player 1, who has similar Professionalism but even lower Ambition.

Professionalism appears to be the driving attribute behind the development, as it dictates how hard a player trains during his daily sessions. Ambition drives how likely a player is to want to get to bigger clubs and bigger leagues which inherently have better facilities and coaches which themselves have a positive influence on the player’s development.

Guido

Guido is the founding father of Strikerless and main nutjob running the show.