The Star Rating System

[KingCanary]

I have two questions about it...

1) How useful is it?

2) How much is affected by form?

For question 1, I ask because in the past I have paid far too much attention to it, often signing players based on star rating rather than stats. In this edition I've been able to get performances out of players who have according to reports have been two star players where as previously I wouldn't have considered playing/signing them

With question 2 however I've found the star rating seems to fluctuate quite often, sometimes without any good reason. I'd come to understand that the star rating was related to your clubs level but also the other players in your squad. However on this game it seems a couple of poor performances or a spell out on the sidelines can send a players star rating plummeting- for instance I had Deli Ali start the season as a 3.5 star player with the potential to be a 4 star player. A 7 week spell out has knocked him down to 2.5 with the potential to be a 3.5 star player despite nothing having actually changed in my squad. Also my first choice right RB has gone from a 3 star to a 2 star rating despite being in solid form and having a couple of key attributes for the position improve. Yet in reverse my backup keeper has resolutely stayed as a two star player despite having a 17 game spell starting due to injuries and keeping 9 clean sheets with an average rating of 6.94.

This whole thing seems a bit weird- a shortish spell on the sidelines doesn't make you a significantly worse player and the thing with my RB doesn't make any sense. While I've learnt to look past these ratings it is still a bit annoying the see that little green circle steadily decreasing on a number of your players despite them playing well and actually improving stats wise.

Any thoughts?

[Äktsjon Männ]

The star rating indicates nothing other than your scouts/coaches opinion which is mainly based on CA. The players are what their attributes make them. Using your own judgment over star ratings has always been the right way to evaluate players. I don't think form affects star ratings in any way at all but I'm not 100% sure of this.

[Marabak]

I'm actually of the mind that SI should dispense with the star ratings altogether, there is far too much myth and magic surrounding them and they don't really add much to the game. Instead, they should stick with words like "average for team", "excellent for team", similar to what they already have in place in the player search when you filter for scouts recommendation.

[Guest]

The star rating system is useful if people view it for what it is, one person's subjective opinion on a player.

[Cougar2010]

1. As the first reply said its your staffs opinion mainly on the player's CA. As such it gives you an indication as to the overall quality of the player. It doesn't take into account though how the CA is spread over the different attributes or any of the hidden attributes which make a difference on the pitch. Its easily possible for a lower starred player to do better on the pitch if he has better hidden attributes and a good attribute spread as compared to a higher starred player with worse hidden attributes & a bad spread.

2. I don't believe it is at all. The fluctuation you see is caused by a mix of a few things - Staff attributes & their knowledge of the player, players coming in or leaving the squad and maybe the player just being on the edge of between two differing ratings with training pushing him up & down over the line.

[Guest]

Form does affect how a coach or scout will perceive a player & can result in a player's star rating being adjusted up or down.

[safcrhys]

When looking at potential ability, some players have black stars, what does this indicate?

[Cougar2010]

When looking at potential ability, some players have black stars, what does this indicate?

Basically it represents doubt.

So if a player has 3 gold stars PA and another 1 black star it means the staff member feels the player has a minimum PA of 3* but he might have as much as 4* PA.

[Ajescent]

I use the star system and my own opinion to gauge a player. e.g my star striker is rated 5/5 but as I play 4-4-2 I need someone else to play along side him. I have 5 other strikers with 3 of them rated 3/5 but I normally play the guy rated 2/5 because he gets goals. My coaching staff all want me to get rid of him because he brings the average down but I stick with him year in year out.

[KingCanary]

Thanks all.

It does seem to fluctuate quite a bit in the current version I think- for my game this is in part due to the swift progress my club has made but equally it seems to happen quite suddenly with no outside factors really affecting it.

[santy001]

The star system has no factual basis within the game, nor is it a guide. It's merely the best graphical representation that can be given to the nature of scout reports.

At every level 2, 2.5 or 3 stars is the "expected" level, but then its only that staff members perception of a player determined by their attributes. In previous years the star system was a nailed on certainty in that if you were Barcelona and a player had 5 (used to go up to 7 back then mind) star potential ability, he pretty much had to have a PA in the traditional -10 bracket. Now other factors are used which doesn't randomise it, but increases the margin for error (I wouldn't be all that surprised if there is even something within the code that provides a default margin of error so that even the best scouts/staff can get it wrong).

It's an excellent reference system, which with repeated scouting (no one should be signing players really off the basis of 1 scouting report) but stats are always more important.

[safcrhys]

Basically it represents doubt.

So if a player has 3 gold stars PA and another 1 black star it means the staff member feels the player has a minimum PA of 3* but he might have as much as 4* PA.

Thank you, its been bugging me since December.

[haunted1234]

although scouting got a little harder, if you look for new prospects you still just check out stars, the way i do it i pretty much just send the scout outs to get like 2000 scout reports, and if the players dont have at least 4,5 or 5 dark stars filled out i dont even bother investigating further

they could make finding prospects a little harder in the future versions, not sure how but game is still 2 easy in the long run

[Danziel]

why not make a player's overall rating for each position?

[Miravlix]

One thing that really shows the hicup in the star rating.

My 19 year old midfielder is 4½ star and at max PA, but since he gains some rather massively important attributes from ageing, why is he considered at max star rating already, he should be at 3 perhaps and as he ages go up to 4½.

[santy001]

One thing that really shows the hicup in the star rating.

My 19 year old midfielder is 4½ star and at max PA, but since he gains some rather massively important attributes from ageing, why is he considered at max star rating already, he should be at 3 perhaps and as he ages go up to 4½.

That's not a hiccup. Your staff believe he has peaked and won't develop any further but it simply shows they were wrong. Other times they will predict a player will still develop further and won't because he's hit his CA limit.

[dafuge]

why not make a player's overall rating for each position?

If you look at the coach/scout report for a player, you get a drop down list that shows you the star rating for each position (and role).

[Danziel]

If you look at the coach/scout report for a player, you get a drop down list that shows you the star rating for each position (and role).

thanks but that's not what I want... I want an algorithm that based on his skills from 1-20 to have a rating of 1-20 for each position...

[bowieinspace]

although scouting got a little harder, if you look for new prospects you still just check out stars, the way i do it i pretty much just send the scout outs to get like 2000 scout reports, and if the players dont have at least 4,5 or 5 dark stars filled out i dont even bother investigating further

they could make finding prospects a little harder in the future versions, not sure how but game is still 2 easy in the long run

Doing this I think you'll miss things. I had a player scouted for 2 months (16 year old), his performances were great in a lower league, the scout considered him to have the right personality, enjoy big matches and be consistent. He only had a 2gold 3black star potential but his attribute spread was good, he wasn't expensive and was a model pro. So I decided to bring him in. 5 years later he ended up being the best player in the world (180CA)

But as you say, if you get 2000 odd reports it hardly matters, you'll find good players.

[haunted1234]

either your squad mustve been so absurdly strong that he only rated him 3 stars or your scouts are that bad, its almost impossible for a 180 PA guy to get 3 rated by half decent scouts

iam playing with a 15 000 player database, and only 48 players even have 180 or more PA...

[forameuss]

I'm actually of the mind that SI should dispense with the star ratings altogether, there is far too much myth and magic surrounding them and they don't really add much to the game. Instead, they should stick with words like "average for team", "excellent for team", similar to what they already have in place in the player search when you filter for scouts recommendation.

So remove a visual representation and replace it with a pretty much identical text based system? What's the difference, apart from being a worse way to convey information?

[kingtut313]

The star system should be used only to mildy sort players at a glance. If you put any type of true valuation into the star rating of a player- you are doing it wrong.

[Marabak]

So remove a visual representation and replace it with a pretty much identical text based system? What's the difference, apart from being a worse way to convey information?

Because 95%* of casual players still think the star rating system is a measure of the ABSOLUTE quality of the player, and SI doesn't really make it clear anywhere that it is a relative quantity (as evidenced by the number of posts that appear on this very forum by people who don't know this). Far more people play FM than post on this board. By using words, we at least get to incorporate the words "for the squad/team" which isn't reflected by the stars (which also don't really give you an indication of the difference between 2.5 and 3 etc. anyway).

*statistic pulled from my behind