PA....hmmm

how come some players have fixed PA, whereas some do not

for example, marcelo of madrid and de ceglie of siena always have a PA of 180, no matter what league you have loaded

but i have seen giovani of barca at 170 ish - 180 ish, and anderson of man united at mid 170's to 199!!!

why is this?

ta

Because some players are setup to have a random PA, this is probably used more when they are sure the player will be within a certain range but not entirely sure he will be at the top or bottom of that range.

Older established players have a fixed potential of where they are believed they could get to.

Younger players have a wider spectrum of where they could go

It depends what it is set in the editor. If it is set to 0 it will generate a completely random one, -10 will generate a random one between 170-200 (or something like that) and -9, -8 and so on up to 0 generate random potential.

The following is from my FAQ in the Good Player Team Guide,

III. What is a players Current Ability and/or Potential Ability how can it change?

Every single player on Football Manager has a Current Ability, also known as CA. This is a number ranging from 1-200, 1 being a very low ability, 200 being the highest. A players current ability changes throughout the game, depending on training, game time, and injuries. A player's current ability can also naturally go up, as a player gets older.

A players Current Ability CAN change throughout the game.

Every player also has a Potential Ability, commenly known as PA. Player Ability is a number that players are assigned to before the save game starts, and a players potential ability is the same on everyones game. This number also ranges from 1-200. A potential ability of 1 means the player is more than likely to be awful, a potential ability of 200 has the potential to be one of the worlds best. Although most players have set potential abilities, some players have varying potential abilities. These potential abilities are negative potentials. At the start of a new game players with negative potentials are assigned potentials, ranging from one number to another. The different negative abilities and what they mean are shown below:

-10 = PA 170-200

-9 = 150-180

-8 = 130-160

-7 = 110-140

-6 = 90-120

-5 = 70-100

-4 = 50-80

-3 = 30-60

-2 = 10-40

-1 = 0-20

A players Potential Ability CAN NOT change throughout the game.

thanks guys, i get it now