Sub-level
The sub-level (also called "sub-skill") is a concept created to represent the exact skill values of players.
When a player is trained without visible skill increase, his training is not lost as usually shown by an increase in value Total Skill Index. Player abilities have sub-levels for sure, expressed conventionally in weeks of training or decimals.
The visible levels appear to be rounded up, so 0.1 is already shown as "disastrous"; only 0.0 will result in the "non-existent" skill level.
| very low | x.00 - x.24 |
|---|---|
| low | x.25 - x.49 |
| high | x.50 - x.74 |
| very high | x.75 - x.99 |
In the whole game, the only visible are the 4 match ratings sub-levels that are used for giving a more detailed insight into the team's performance.
Effects on player abilities
 Main article: Skills |
Assuming the convention (which is actually not a fact) that each skill is a numerical value, from 0 meaning "non-existent" to 20 meaning "divine", we can choose a number of possible sublevels formats to define the distance between every two skill levels. In fact, since there are no official representations in which the sub-levels can be expressed, no one forbids the creation of new customized ones, even if the two most popular are:
- in decimals, by dividing a level into ten parts (i.e. player with a skill value of 7.0 plays only slightly worse than one with 7.1,
- in weeks of training received (i.e. excellent + 3; magnificient - 1; + 3 in playmaking).
- Note that sub-level is not to be confused with full levels beyond "divine", that are a whole skill levels expressed like "divine + 1", "divine + 2", etc.
Leadership
| Main article: Clown |
Although this theory has proved wrong, in the early days it was believed that the player with the highest leadership in a team, the team leader, could have an effect on the team spirit.
There was no known test to find out which player had the highest leadership sub-level. If several players had the same visible leadership, the only safe way to make sure that a clown was also the team leader was to sell all other players with the same leadership!
Form
| Main article: Form |
When the TSI of a player raises or falls without apparent reason (injury, training, stamina-loss or aging) and without visible form change, a change in the form's sub-level is most probably the cause.
The form level excellent has no sub-levels. A player in excellent form (8.0) that is not trained, not injured and not aging does not change TSI in training updates. This information is useful for calculating the influence of training on the players' TSI or the relationship between the players' TSI and their wage, because one can eliminate one unknown variable (that of the sub-level in form) from the equation.
Skill trading
| Main article: Skill trader |
There are managers who specialize in finding and buying players with a high sub-level in order to maximize profit. They are able to estimate a player's actual skill level by looking at his TSI and wage or by asking the current owner how long the player has been trained.
Due to rounding, with a 8.0 skill a player appears to be "excellent", while with a 7.9 skill only "solid", The "excellent" player will sell at a much higher price on the transfer market.
The most common method of estimation of player's sub-levels === Is by keeping track of his training.
There are several tools for calculating a keeper's sub-level out of his TSI and form. Sub-levels can also be estimated by looking at the player's TSI or wage. Such estimations are less accurate because of the high number of unknown variables (8 skills + form).
Effect on coach
| Main article: Coach-to-be |
When someone receive the first coach with "passable" skill, he is always "average passable".
Coach skill can never be rated higher than excellent. However, the the gap between a solid coach and an excellent coach is smaller than the gap between a passable coach and a solid coach in terms of the effect of the training. So a high-level coach might not always be the best solution.
Knowing the sub-level in experience can be important if you want to make one of your own players coach, especially if you want a player with "solid" leadership. For price reasons, you might want to buy a player with "passable" (or lower) experience and 'train' him up to "solid" instead of buying a "solid" one.
Knowing his sub-level helps you in planning the season. A player with an experience of 7.6 is cheaper to be turned into a coach than one with 7.1. You can track him since his last experience increase. It is also possible to estimate the experience sub-level of a player, but only if you have owned him for at least 16 weeks.
Other effects
Sub-levels are also used in other key factors of a team:
- Confidence, converging to decent over time.
- Supporters mood.
- Sponsors mood.
- Team spirit.
- Over time the team spirit will always converge to composed, so there are chances for your team spirit to drop. This drop can be visible or invisible due to the fact that it drops by sub-levels and not by a full level.
- A greater drop may happen when you buy or sell a player, but when it happens there is always a message.
See Also
- Youth squad levels.
