newton1412 wrote: Daudy wrote: ...which is why you buy cheap young talent already physically developed! 6k for a 17 or 18 strength (can't remember, he's at 19 now), 11 speed 3.5* talent 17 year old, 10k for an 18 strength, 15 speed then 18 year old with 4.5 star talent, both with 14 intel and ok other skills etc. It can be done with some hard work and some luck! There are also positions where physicals aren't so important. Sure, lack of training facilities mean they won't get the skill set as quickly, but you really don't need to at a lower division. A base for a team needs to start somewhere, and while your first guy may never full develop into his maximum, he'll still be useful enough to keep around as you develop your second batch after all your infrastructure is built (training halls, coaches, fitness halls, etc). It's roughly 18 training cycles a season. With a teamwork of 1, and only 2 in attack coaching, no training hall, and focus on passing (so 65% of points here), an 18 year old will still go up a minimum of over 12 passing before he reaches 28 years old, by which time he can still play perfectly well - just not train as well. And that's if you keep coaches at only 2 in attack, never build a training hall, only ever train on average, only ever get 8 base training points (the minimum considering it's 10+/-2), doesn't count the training he already has in that skill when you got him, doesn't count the amount in that skill he started off with (1-5 for non-academy), and doesn't count the offseason weeks we get (ie it only counts the 18 cycles during the actual seasons for a total of 180). While you would have an acceptable passing skill of 12+starting, you admittedly wouldn't have time to train vision and all that, but then again... will it really take you 10 seasons to finally get coaches and build training halls? Though obviously guys that need high physicals AND skills take a lot longer. But there's still no reason why you shouldn't TRY build a platform to gradually blood in new talent as long as you don't go too far out of the way and spend too much. I'm not disputing whether or not you can buy cheap players. I'm saying you should try and build the infra-structure first. For all the cheap players you've bought and hit on how many are rubbish? With a 13.5k seat stadium with full VIP and exec you are set financially and can add your facilities and coaches. I just think players would be better served to wait for that before trying to strengthen their team. The transfer market isn't going anywhere and you'll be able to dabble to your hearts content. But each to their own.

How much is a 4* talent 16-19 year old with decent consistency and/or int and/or physicals worth on the transfer market? at least six figures if properly advertised. Even at $10,000 per, the chance of getting good players that way can be tiny and that is still a good move, purely from a financial standpoint.

newton1412 wrote: For all the cheap players you've bought and hit on how many are rubbish?

Relatively few if you're talking about talent levels. I usually scout and/or pay attention to ads when possible (where I've learnt almost everyone is pretty honest with talent levels and where I can see the physicals myself). I'm by no means advocating mass useless, trivial and random spending here hoping for a gem without any basis (which I've noticed some people do) - not even with who you pick to scout!

Again, I agree with you that a heavy preference to infrastructure first is a good idea, but there's no harm done with building a few basic blocks first rather than using a bunch of stop gaps and then when you're finally ready, fielding an entire team of rookies without even team chemistry (most likely now amongst human competition). Bringing in a few building blocks was never about financially profiteering from them, so not sure about how comparing that financial power to stadiums came up.

Furthermore, if you're more rigid like you are and seek only 4.5+ talent for the full 5 star BPOS, how on earth are you going to suddenly fill your roster after concentrating ENTIRELY on infrastructure? Keep in mind, it's not just enough talent, but talent that have appropriate intelligence and physical caps (which even your wonderful new infrastructure can't determine that quickly). In the deeper regions like your own, where it can take a few seasons to be promoted due to plenty of human competition, you'd obviously want 16-17 year olds that can be at a peak long enough to matter at a higher league in the future. That narrows the pool down even further, and makes recruiting an entire future team straight away ridiculously unrealistic. It would be logical to have at least a start beforehand, but how much and when is obviously up to taste.

Just in case it's not immediately clear however, I don't mean this as any kind of personal attack (despite the yous and yours). I just figured your league/region situation and your talent preferences were a good example for my points in this debate!

As for my own situation (as everyone has undoubtedly looked at my team), I concede that it may appear that it definitely looks a bit ridiculous (stadium size, roster size, etc). It's my second stint at the game after going inactive a few seasons ago despite being relatively ok (reaching and spending a couple of seasons in my region's top div though I concede the pathway there was relatively easy). I by no means played that team that well, but I think I've now got enough information to try something a little less orthodox in regards to balancing team building and time of infrastructure construction. This is partially due to rejoining midway through last season and failing to be promoted (due to pre-existing losses) and building up the traditional way in League II before I assaulted Top div as was the plan. Partially also, I was bored and wanted to try something different! Lastly, some of the stadium sections are under construction anyway as I have two away games in a row!

Regardless, please don't think I'm some sort of stadium building unbeliever, because I'm really not! Last edited on 2011-11-08 at 7:23

Clint wrote: um ok...for God sake dont right books! i am all for helping people but not wanting to read a bunch of stuff, thats what the faqs are for...make it simple!...i have a library card so im good there... make this simple! its a game!

mmk. But it's there for those who would like to. I guess we'll just all play our own way.

Daudy wrote: Clint wrote: um ok...for God sake dont right books! i am all for helping people but not wanting to read a bunch of stuff, thats what the faqs are for...make it simple!...i have a library card so im good there... make this simple! its a game! mmk. But it's there for those who would like to. I guess we'll just all play our own way.

I enjoyed reading Daudy's posts... Good stuff.

I too like a good long rambling post as it leads to discussion which is often more interesting than the game itself.

Everyone can play the game as they seem fit and if you want to begin by buying players then so be it. I would just question whether it is actually worthwhile.

As an example I recently bought a player with 4.5* talent 11TW. His physicals are low (total 23)so I need to max these out before deciding where to play him. With full facilities and I can get him to 35 total physicals in 38 training cycles (please don't let him cap:pray.

Without those facilities it will take 100 training cycles by which time he is 23. In the mean time I've then got to get his BPOS up which means I have to find 80 games for him to play.

If (or more likely when) his physicals cap I will probably have to reassess where I want him to play (Hopefully he will be a DL but is strength is too low for that I'll try and fit him in elsewhere) which will then further extend the period to which he is useful.

And at that point I haven't even started on his skills.

So my advice would be to avoid making all but the smallest moves in the market. Build the premium seats. Upgrade all coaches except kicking to 20. Build the fitness centre. The transfer market and its bargains will be still there when your done and the players you buy will soon catch the ones you started off with because you'll be able to train them.