Line Combinations and Chemistry

[Datronis]

Dear EA:

Could you please explain to us how this works?  There are a lot of frustrated people on line because of a lack of information about this.

ie.  What X-factors contribute to the line chemistry and what factors do not?  How is line chemistry calculated (what are the mechanics)?  Does playing the improper position (LW/RW/C) matter?  Does player type still matter (ie. the prior to X-factor ply/snp/pwf combo)?  When does the X-factor trump the line fit?  etc. etc.

thank you.

[EA_Aljo · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @Datronis 

All X-Factors can contribute to line chemistry and the impact is more noticeable when there are X-Factors on 2 different players on the same line. Some combinations of X-Factors impact more than other combinations. Some combinations work better on Even Strength or the Penalty Kill instead of the Powerplay and vice versa. For example, a player with Tape to Tape and a player with One Tee will provide a larger chemistry impact on the powerplay as well as for forwards at even strength. Another example would be a player with Shutdown and a player with Ice Pack will have strong chemistry impacts on the penalty kill and for defense at even strength, but this combination won't have much on an impact on the powerplay.

The more X-Factors that go together, the larger the impact. Play style, position and scheme fit all still play a factor and make up the majority of line chemistry, with X-Factors being an additional boost that can trump negative aspects of the line. For example, players playing improper positions or those with a negative line fit can still get a positive line chemistry if they have X-Factors that go well with the other players on the line.

I hope that helps!

[heavydutyrammer]

@Datronis We’ve been asking these same questions for years… have never gotten an answer… us offline players are always ignored when we have questions like this, so I doubt we’ll get an answer but maybe one day we’ll hear something other than silence…

[EA_Aljo · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @Datronis 

All X-Factors can contribute to line chemistry and the impact is more noticeable when there are X-Factors on 2 different players on the same line. Some combinations of X-Factors impact more than other combinations. Some combinations work better on Even Strength or the Penalty Kill instead of the Powerplay and vice versa. For example, a player with Tape to Tape and a player with One Tee will provide a larger chemistry impact on the powerplay as well as for forwards at even strength. Another example would be a player with Shutdown and a player with Ice Pack will have strong chemistry impacts on the penalty kill and for defense at even strength, but this combination won't have much on an impact on the powerplay.

The more X-Factors that go together, the larger the impact. Play style, position and scheme fit all still play a factor and make up the majority of line chemistry, with X-Factors being an additional boost that can trump negative aspects of the line. For example, players playing improper positions or those with a negative line fit can still get a positive line chemistry if they have X-Factors that go well with the other players on the line.

I hope that helps!

[Datronis]

Thank you very much.  That does help.

I appreciate your response.  I'm a min/max kind of person, so I would like all of the details in a spreadsheet , but we have to leave a bit of work for us to do right?

Have a great day.

Datronis.

[EA_Aljo]

@Datronis 

You're welcome! Sorry for not having a spreadsheet. I know that would be preferred. If I happen to get one, I'll pass it on.

Have a great day yourself!

[Datronis]

For Everyone Interested:

I've done some digging around and here's what I've figured out so far:

1)  There is a bug in the edit lines UI.  Sometimes when it says that the 'X-Factor Chemistry Line Contributor' is 'No Ability', this is false.  There may be an x-factor contributing that does not show up here.

2)  Coaching Schemes, positions and playstyles have less effect than X-Factors (or so it seems).  I did notice some peculiarities (below).

3)  It's confusing.  There are definitely some bugs here.  I would have +5 chem, remove a particular X-factor, then put it back again and I no longer had +5 even though nothing had changed.

4)  When a player has multiple X-Factors, it seems that it 'prioritizes' (somehow) which one shows up as 'contributor'.  I did have some cases where it required more than one X-factor on a player to get +5.  I couldn't find any consistency here.

5)  The following X-Factors seems to be valued the most for line contributions:  Tape to Tape, Magnetic, Close Quarters, One-Tee, Make it Snappy, Shnipe (Shnipe does not show up a a 'contributor' on the UI, but it does work behind the scenes somehow).

Here are some combinations that I found worked:

A)  Tape to Tape + Magnetic/Shnipe/One-tee + Magnetic/Shnipe/One-tee/(sometimes blank with magnetic as second) = +5*

B)  Off the Rush + Crease Crasher + Off the Rush/Crease Crasher = +5

C)  For Defense:  Shutdown + Shutdown =+5

*for this one, a really terrible line fit would lead to only +3, but it has to be really bad.

If you have any other combinations that *seem* to work, please put in a reply.

Datronis.

[revanite77]

@Datronis I’m not surprised that the chemistry & line combinations is broken. Everything else in NHL 23, and especially FM is broken so I would expect this to not work right as well. It likely won’t be addressed since it seems as if no one of importance or influence on the dev team/EA plays or cares about FM.
It’s probably not even known since they just slap it all together without tightening all the nuts and bolts

[mq8hv9n1z18w]

As an additional question, what does +1, +3 or +5 actually means?  It increases all attributes by that number for all players on the line?  Only certain attributes?  I don't think I've ever seen a clear answer on this but I might be wrong.

[johum2886]

@mq8hv9n1z18w i think it's the base overall goes up, so a player at 96 would simulate as a 101

then again, no one has said anything to confirm or deny this

[revanite77]

@johum2886 Yeah it’s not like we’ve been asking for years for fixes and explanation on this. The only response we got, finally, after years, was mostly just saying yup X factors do influence chemistry.

But strategies and coaches are broken, and line preferences etc so it’s not like anything matters anyways. What a trash game