Virtual Gameweeks (Basketball)

Virtual Gameweek details and score calculations.

What is a Virtual Gameweek?

Virtual Gameweeks (VGWs) are a secondary gameweek type available for Managers who would like to continue testing their basketball knowledge when there are no real life matches ongoing.

  • Virtual Gameweeks are composed of Virtual Matches using athlete data from the season to estimate their results.

  • Virtual Gameweeks offer reduced rewards in the different game modes compared to Gameweeks with real life matches, as it is only a side activity. Alternatively in the off season they may offer normal rewards, but be run less regularly and offer less tournaments than during the season.

  • Points earned in VGWs do not count towards managers' season point totals or season leaderboards, and the match results are not shown in the club or athlete history.

How do I know when a gameweek is virtual?

Virtual Gameweeks can be easily identified by the [V] icon shown next to the Gameweek information, and by additional indicators anywhere virtual matches or results are displayed.

Virtual Matches

❗Virtual Matches during a VGW are part of the Ultimate Champions universe only, and do not represent a real life match.

VGW matches are visible in the gameweek match list with a date and time as soon as the VGW is available for team registration, in the same way they are for normal Gameweeks.

Virtual Matches are between clubs who played in the same league that season, therefore EuroLeague and EuroCup teams will not be placed in fixtures against eachother.

Match Results

At the time that the match is scheduled the two clubs of the match go head to head by comparing virtual athlete actions. These virtual actions for each athlete are calculated using a small set of sample matches from the clubs previous matches in the season.

Sample Match Selection

The sample match selection works the following way:

  • For each club in a Virtual Match the system selects 3 of the clubs recent games in the season as references to determine how each athlete of the club performed in the Virtual Match. This is usually selected out of the last 20 games, unless there are less than 20 games of data available within the season.

  • The sample match selection is automatic and random after the start of the VGW, meaning even the Ultimate Champions team does not know which ones will be used.

🎲 Because of this randomized data selection, athletes that performed better over the season will statistically perform equally well in a VGW on average, but there can still be surprises depending on how consistently they played (three of their best OR worst games could be picked)!

Athlete Performance

Athlete performance is calculated the following way:

  • Athlete highlights, possession actions, and assists (everything except points/3 pointers) is averaged from the 3 sample matches used.

    • Example: An athlete with 12 total Steals in the sample matches will have 4 Steals as their action count in the Virtual Match (12 (steals) / 3 (sample matches))

  • When the resulting average not a round number, the remainder will be used as a bonus chance to earn an additional action (remainder * 100 = % chance of an additional action).

    • Example: An athlete has 1.3333 average rebounds in the sample games selected, therefore in the Virtual Match they receive 1 rebound + a 33.33% chance of a second rebound. They also committed 0.33 fouls, which results in a 33% chance of 1 foul committed.

  • Each athlete's MINUTES PLAYED is averaged between the 3 sample matches, with a "did not play" (DNP) counting as 0 minutes.

    • If the athlete was DNP for all 3 sample matches, they are DNP for the Virtual Match.

    • For any match that an athlete is DNP, all actions/points/highlights are counted as 0.

Points and Three Pointers

  • Athlete POINTS are attempted one by one for each point scored in the reference games, as a 33% chance each (33% of 3 games = 1 game worth of points). This chance is then adjusted depending on how many points the opponent conceded in their reference matches, increasing or decreasing depending if it is above or below your current point count respectively (see table below for values). In short, teams will find it harder to score against a team with a stronger defense that concedes less points, and easier against a weaker defense that concedes more points.

    • Formula per point: 33% / (current points + 1 / opponents average conceded reference points)

    • Athlete THREE-POINT SHOTS SCORED are rolled in the same way.

      • Normally a three-pointer would contribute 3 points to the athletes points total, however in virtual gameweeks these are rolled separately and never combined. This means in an extreme case it is possible for an athlete to have less total points than three-pointers scored. However, if an athlete scored a lot of three-pointers in the reference games it is fair to assume that they also scored a lot of points, so they should be roughly aligned.

Point/Three-pointer chance (per reference point/three-pointer) when playing against team with [50 conceded points average]:

Points so far0102030405060708090100110

Chance for each reference point to result in a VGW point

1650.00%

150.00%

78.57%

53.23%

40.24%

32.35%

27.05%

23.24%

20.37%

18.13%

16.34%

14.86%

Point/Three-pointer chance (per reference point/three-pointer) when playing against team with [100 conceded points average]:

Points so far0102030405060708090100110

Chance for each reference point to result in a VGW point

3300.00%

300.00%

157.14%

106.45%

80.49%

64.71%

54.10%

46.48%

40.74%

36.26%

32.67%

29.73%

Final Match Score

After athlete action scores are all calculated, all points scored by the clubs' athletes in the Virtual Match are added together to make the final score for that club. Because of the data selection and athlete performance calculation methods, clubs that scored more in the season will score more points in VGWs on average, but there is still room for surprises!

Virtual Gameweek Athlete Score Modifiers

Two additional modifiers are possible for athletes in a Virtual Match:

  • "Virtual Match Win": +20% to athlete score when playing for the winning club

  • "Virtual Match Tie": +10% to athlete score when playing for a club that tied

Virtual Match modifiers are added to offset the increased chance to select an athlete who has at least one DNP game in their sample matches, to reward managers for being able to predict which club will win the Virtual Match, and to reflect that in a real game the winning athletes will generally have better scores in that match (momentum, confidence, etc). (values subject to change)

VGW Rewards

Rewards and reward point requirement tiers in VGWs work the same as normal gameweeks, but with reduced rewards compared to a real gameweek. Alternatively in the off season they may offer normal rewards, but be run less regularly and offer less tournaments than during the season.

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