NEWS.md
In nflseedR: Functions to Efficiently Simulate and Evaluate NFL Seasons

nflseedR 2.0.0

This is a major release that introduces a new generation of high efficient standings and simulation code

New function nfl_standings() for high efficient standings calculation. The functions compute_division_ranks(), compute_conference_seeds(), and compute_draft_order() will be deprecated in a future release. (#45)
New function nfl_simulations() for a new, highly efficient approach to season simulations. This is a completely new design of the simulator, with the aim of achieving significantly faster run times and eliminating weaknesses in the old approach (in simulate_nfl()). The introduction of this function is supplemented by the two new utility functions nflseedR_compute_results(), and simulations_verify_fct(). These functions form the new standard for computing results (if the user does not have their own function for this) respectively allow verification of the functionality of their own functions instead of nflseedR_compute_results(). It is planned that simulate_nfl() will be deprecated in a future release so that the dependencies of nflseedR can be significantly reduced. (#47)
New function nfl_standings_prettify() computes a gt::gt() table of the output created with nfl_standings(). (#49)

nfl_standings() now supports tiebreaker_depth = "POINTS" which breaks ties using combined point ranks and point differentials. This means that all tiebreakers except net touchdowns are now implemented. (#47)
Fixed a bug in nfl_standings() where the tie breaking procedure didn't restart correctly after some teams were eliminated while some others remained tied. (#47)
The summary method summary.nflseedR_simulation() explicitly sets the columns width of the logo column because those columns are hidden in some unclear scenarios.
The summary method summary.nflseedR_simulation() now requires gt version v0.9.0 or higher to avoid warnings about deprecated arguments.
Fixed error in simulate_nfl() where it crashes because the "fake schedule" isn't a tibble. (#43)
The function load_sharpe_games has been deprecated. It was replaced a fairly long time ago by nflreadr::load_schedules(). (#47)
nflseedR now requires R 4.1 to allow the package to use R's native pipe |> operator. This follows the Tidyverse R version support rules. (#48)

simulate_nfl() gained the new argument sim_include to allow more access to what is actually being simulated. This makes it possible skip playoff simulation or the (possibly heavy) computation of draft order. (#34)
The summary method summary.nflseedR_simulation() now hides columns where all values are NA. This is useful if simulate_nfl() skips the postseason or draft order. The method also re-formats the number of simulations in the subtitle, e.g. from "10000" to "10k" (this requires scales >= 1.2.0, but it is a good idea to update scales anyways). (#35)
simulate_nfl() now uses data.table to combine simulation rounds data. This is a significant performance improvement. The returned list "sim_params" now includes the package version of nflseedR (for debugging) and the current system time when the simulation was finished. (#36)
Lots of internal improvements to reduce package dependencies and messaging. (#36)
The summary method summary.nflseedR_simulation() now uses fmt_pct_special() to format probability strings to avoid the impression of overconfidence by rounding to integer percentages. (#37)

Added the data frame game_summary to the output of simulate_nfl() which aggregates matchups across all simulated seasons (#24)
Updated the description of some variables in load_sharpe_games() (#24)
The output of simulate_nfl() is now of class nflseedR_simulation which allows the implementation of a summary() method that computes a gt() table of the simulation summary data frame. (#26)
The standings data frame calculated by compute_division_ranks() now outputs losses and ties as well. (#27)

Added support for a fake schedule for simulating the upcoming season before the NFL has released the official schedule.
updated the documentation of the function load_sharpe_games() with the new columns away_qb_id, home_qb_id, away_qb_name and home_qb_name.