Sort squad by current star rating - how do equal stars rank

[DavyDepuydt1]

If you sort your squad view by "current ability star rating" how are the ones with the same number of stars ranked?

are they ranked by how good the assistant manager thinks they are? so the first one shown with 3 stars is better than the 5th one with 3 stars (according to your assistant)?
Or are they ranked random and the 5th one isn't necessarily seen as less good than the 1st one by your coaches.

[Snorks]

Are you looking at players y position? 

Having five 3* players all at different positions is largely irrelevant as none are 'better' than others as they are being asked to do different jobs.

If all on the same position, it could be some of the other attributes slightly better spread, or giving a slight boost in one area but not enough  to add to the star.

Remember, the attributes are measured to two decimal places, so even two players, judged in the same position/role/duty can have wildly different attributes when looked at in two decimal place detail. A difference of 0.15, across relevant attributes will stand one above the other. With stars there are only 10 possible 'grades', with an attribute there are many more, with multiple attributes combined even more.  

The other point to remember, the AssMan is giving his opinion, it's just a guide. Have a look at what the other coaches think as well. If attackers, what do the attacking coaches think?

The best way to 'sort' is to dig in to the player attributes yourself and see for yourself.

[DavyDepuydt1]

I know it's an opinion and stars don't say everything (far from), that's not what I'm after.

My question is pure technical, if you sort the column ability, does it sort them by the values the stars represent: 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5

or does it sort them by a hidden "assman opinion rating" where a 3.5 star can mean "3.44 or 3.56" so the one shown higher in the list is regarded as the better player by your assman

[Snorks]

There is nothing hidden, you can see the decimalised attributes through the player profiles. The decimalised attribute is the 'accurate' one.

The 'quality' of the AssMan's opinion is governed by his own attributes and it is often (usually) a good idea to scroll through all your staff, or some of your staff opinion's. On most, if not all, screens where you sort by star rating, there is an 'In the opinion of...' option.

But this is a manger sim, so look at the players yourself, which one do YOU think should be top. It's not a hard-and-fast system, it's one of judgement. Two players that the AssMan thinks are as good as each other in general terms, could be vastly different in a particular tactic, or role and duty.

So the stars are a general opinion, your AssMan saying Player A is slightly better than Player B in central midfield. Your Attacking Coach might say, Player B is slightly better than Player A in Central Mid, because he has better finishing and long shots, the Defending coach could say Player A on top because he can tackle and mark well.

So, purely technical terms I don;t know, it makes no difference anyway. I would guess that the game contains some kind of calculation, with weighting, across the attributes, which is multiplied by a factor determined by the AssMan's JPA/JPP attribute, divided by his tactical preferences minus his age and then multiplied by his wife's bra size. 

It makes no difference because it is you that makes the decision on which players fits better. My way of playing, if two players, across the bulk of my staff, both get the same star rating, then I look at them in more detail, using the Comparison option, I see which one fits my tactic best, which one fits which role best.

TL;DR

I don't know, I don't think we will ever know for sure, I doubt very much SI would release the full calculation used. In my game-play, two players, in the same position, with the same star rating, get looked at in more detail by me.