Warrior General Games

I've heard the term circle capping thrown around - what exactly does it mean?

It means capping one attribute after another in succession as opposed to capping the same attribute repeatedly before moving on to the next one. I personally do not like circle capping and would not recommend it.

I think it works well in the lower leagues, not so much as you get older

To circle cap is to apply SPs to whichever attribute is closest to the next cap. It is specially useful in the mid stages of your player's career to take better advantage of training and ALGs.

After you get your first attribute to where you want it to be, you'll start spending points in another attribute. In order to avoid training attributes in less-than-ideal levels (when an attribute is in the 40s, or high 50s, or mid 60s, etc) you can apply SPs to the attribute that is closest to the cap, to start getting advantage of ALGs at a higher cap sooner.

What this would usually means (in a spd, agi, vis, tkl player, for example) is that you'd get agility to a cap, then agility again, then maybe vision, then maybe agility again, then tackling, then maybe vision again, and so on, kind of rotating between them, applying the SPs as soon as you can get one attribute to the next cap.

Was I clear?

Maybe for a non-booster or peewee built player?

I don't circle cap either, but just recently I read where someone states "if dotbuilders are not circle capping while multi training they are making one of the biggest dot building mistakes" I think it was mistake #3 on his list........

I found that very

If you are multi-training, say your 2-5 attributes. as one gets to a point where that train is worth less in SP than the others, then you use your skill points to take that one to the next softcap. You take advantage of the training gains by turning your trains into being worth the most SPs for maximum value. Training values look to be less from 47 to 48, but because that train is worth 2 SP instead of 1, it is way more valuable to train at 48 instead. Circle capping allows you to multi-train for dot improvement while preventing you from throwing away the benefits by training too far past a softcap.

Originally posted by Behn
I don't circle cap either, but just recently I read where someone states "if dotbuilders are not circle capping while multi training they are making one of the biggest dot building mistakes" I think it was mistake #3 on his list........

I found that very

Circle cap works best after you capped the first skill in the 80s then you keep comparing the amount of skill points used to cap a skill and go for the least amount.

Kinda like the least-squares method by Carl Friedrich Gauss who did the same thing around 1794.

Originally posted by Behn
Maybe for a non-booster or peewee built player?

I don't circle cap either, but just recently I read where someone states "if dotbuilders are not circle capping while multi training they are making one of the biggest dot building mistakes" I think it was mistake #3 on his list........

I found that very

I think circle capping is pretty important for boosters. I don't really have experience at peewee. I would say circle capping is important at non boosting as well, but for those players because the skill points come slower, you still end up training at bad places. Boosters should be circle capping imo. After my earlier post I decided to see if it was holding me back. I looked at my 41 boosting elusive back SP worth and then looked at 19 other hbs in his conference. I found one with 1 more SP value and a couple more around 20 points less. After that the SP value dropped down around 40 points or more. It doesn't mean everything as there is time for the other builds to still improve, and for me to screw mine up but after less than 3 full seasons that is a good sized difference in their worth. I am sure that there are better builds out there, but I was unable to come up with a better build by not circle capping in the vpb. If you aren't then your player will likely have less attributes or SA's than someone who does. Of course it goes hand in hand with multi training your yellow star attributes early on to make the most of those ALG's as well.

Originally posted by azrolator
If you are multi-training, say your 2-5 attributes. as one gets to a point where that train is worth less in SP than the others, then you use your skill points to take that one to the next softcap. You take advantage of the training gains by turning your trains into being worth the most SPs for maximum value. Training values look to be less from 47 to 48, but because that train is worth 2 SP instead of 1, it is way more valuable to train at 48 instead. Circle capping allows you to multi-train for dot improvement while preventing you from throwing away the benefits by training too far past a softcap.

Oh that. Yea I do that, naturally . Once my main gets to where I want it (usually 8:1) and I begin working on my second attribute , while multi training, I will add SP to my 3rd,4th, or 5th if I can get it to first cap with just 7-8 SP .

Originally posted by Behn
Oh that. Yea I do that, naturally . Once my main gets to where I want it (usually 8:1) and I begin working on my second attribute , while multi training, I will add SP to my 3rd,4th, or 5th if I can get it to first cap with just 7-8 SP .

But if you wait until its 7-8 points away then you have been getting less SP out of that train than you could have if you took it to the first softcap a few points earlier. Usually there is much more gain just after capping than just before. Usually I hear 33-37 being the point where points needed to be added. But even after the first one, the same rules apply, as you get near the softcaps you get more SP value if you take it to the softcap first. Most SP value comes from training immediately after capping an attribute. Of course I do the same as you and make sure that first attribute has been taken care of before points start going into the rest.

I prefer to cap attributes sequentially with some exceptions. So if I'm doing speed first then I'll take that straight to 83, then if agility is second I'll usually put all skill points into that until I have it to 83 as well. The exceptions are when the decimal won't roll over for a couple more levels and I can go ahead and cap something else without affecting the ALGs I'll get on the current attribute. So if agility is at 74.3, the decimal is already over the 77.28 threshold and therefore capping directly to 77 now won't gain me any more than if I wait another four levels from then. I can therefore use any available skill points to cap something else as long as it doesn't prevent me from capping agility four levels from now. Where it gets tricky is in figuring out if spending points now will cause me to miss a mark on the cap after the next one.

Of course here I am talking like I know anything when I usually get sick of my dots and scrap them halfway through career. And in the newbie help forum no less. Meds making ramble on more than usual even, hah. So I apologize for turning it into a build debate.

Well since the new multi train was released, and even more now with APD changes to training % , I am still getting quality training gains out of the multi training attributes that I have 3 star enhanced, even when they ar at 37-41. I am in no way saying I am doing it right, but it's working OK for me. I appreciate all the info given in the FAQ about dot building and things that make GLB tick, and I will try to absorb the info given in this thread and apply it on my younger players

ETA: I build like jdbolick described, I just A) don't put that much thought into it , and B) if I am putting that much thought into it subconsciously I would never be able to type it out and describe what I am attempting to do with my builds

Originally posted by azrolator
Of course here I am talking like I know anything when I usually get sick of my dots and scrap them halfway through career. And in the newbie help forum no less. Meds making ramble on more than usual even, hah. So I apologize for turning it into a build debate.
Build debates are fun. The great thing about GLB's system is that there isn't one absolutely correct way to do things.