Asunto: I.1

Déf 101 99 Josh Bird
Att 49 95
Tir 62 98
Pas 75 99
Tec 45 98
Agr 69 99
Best prospect ever
TC 417 94%

Nice one!

That is rough. The UFA system is one of the absolute dumbest systems in this game.

For the first time in PPM, I will pay 120 million for one UFA. I have never paid this amount of money for any player in this game.
Just like you, i will have to borrow money to keep him. The plague of the elite teams, lol. Guess it's survival of the fittest ????

It’s not survival of the fittest, it’s every country not in Europe gets punished because the game creators built a game that pays managers more when they have more players in their country. And then the creators do nothing to keep managers in other countries, so the game dies in North America, and the few remaining managers get paid less, and the European countries poach all the good players through the broken free agent format.

This really gets tiresome over time. Has anyone actually seen a breakdown of how much more the "big" European countries get vs. the rest of the world's countries because I have heard other GM's argue that the number is really not that significant. Just because someone bids $120M on your player does not automatically mean that the game is unfair; it may well just mean that the GM in question is a fool, just like the real pro game. I also have to pay at times big cash (for me) to keep my best guys or, in keeping with the financial side of this game, let them go and look to the market for relief again, just like the real world. GM's constantly complaining about the system probably turns off new players more than the "unfairness" of the system does. Hey Vlady, could you post some statistics so we can actually see how unfair the system really is?

By the way, as a comparison (although it isn't the same but still I think a reasonable comparison...). Take a look at the credit tournament the Sahara Cup, whose regulation round just finished last night. I missed the playoffs on goal differential. Look at the teams in my division!! Every edition of the tourny I get basically the same sharks, all the monsters of the competition while lesser teams get grouped together in a soft division. It is TOTALLY UNFAIR! Do I complain? NO, because what else can they do. If they just randomly group the teams, the weaker teams would lose interest and the tourny would cease to exist. They will soon be running the 59th edition to show you how successful they have been. The GM of the Montreal Magma won the last edition and he is teetering on relegation in Div. 1 so you don't necessarily need to be a monster to win this thing. Nothing in life is fair so we make the most of what we have and move on. I don't complain about the very rich. I just scheme and sneak and try to disrupt their progress...

You would at least expect from a game like this, as a mid div I team with ok success (not a div 2 bottom feeder), that I wouldn't've had to sell/let go half of my team core over the course of 2 seasons to stay afloat financially. Most of those players were just decent veterans. I've had to pare down in the past few seasons on the number of players I have on my team, too, because the extra player fees were biting me hard. Now I can't even do a youth camp with the players that should be going to it, without dropping to 2 and a half lines and filling with crap youth camp prospects. Not that I win games these days anyway.

A few seasons ago I was sitting in the same spot, but with the cashflow to keep this charade going at least. Now my only option is to sell everyone that is relatively good and start over, knowing I'll drop out of div I, lose even more cash, and by the time my team is relevant again, if it ever is because I don't get many good prospects anymore, either, I know I won't be able to afford it anymore already.

Where's the fun in that?

You telling me that the other GM's out there don't face the same situation? This game isn't personal (I think...). The Montreal Expos were the greatest franchise ever as far as I am concerned for the way that they handled a much more unfair situation. They finally sunk but they "fought the power!" My suggestion is, if you are a "victim" of the system, you might want to reassess how you play the game. And if you really are victimized, you might want to turn the wheel and go back after those that do it to you...

Vive les Expos de Montréal!

What this whole situation tells me is that it's difficult to consistently stay at the top.

I am not at the top, but close enough to it that I have some players costing a lot of money now. I just paid over 50M to keep my 29 yo goalie. I figured I at least get a 3 seasons contract from him and I have noone to replace him at the moment.

The key of this game certainly is finance. If we can't afford our star players, maybe we need to look at having a younger team. Decide if you want to keep players after 26 and again at 29. Maybe you only keep a few of those as to not have it destroy your finances. Maybe you send off a few decent players before they cost you. This way they actually add to your treasury.

Although that is definitely a shame to have to give up on players before the team can reach its peak.

I totally agree with the above here. I think we all kind of get a bit too attached to suchandsuchaguy but in the end he is only a number. I have a feeling in the real game it is the same. Fans look at it sentimentally while the actual brass on the team see it only from the dollars and sense side...

I tried to play the game both ways. I started from almost scratch about 10-12 seasons ago with mostly young players and cheap veterans when my sports academy reached its top level.

But by the time that team gets competitive, you can't afford them anymore.

Having more of a rotation is a crapshoot too, because its near impossible to buy good players on the market (that *(*&?% bidding system can go to hell. Do you know how long I've been trying to nab a decent 800+ goalie to bridge the gap between Torrens and Davison?). And when you do, you haven't given them any bonuses, so you're stuck paying the high price for them again when their contracts expire because the market is global and people in countries where there is more money to make gauge your eyes out with their higher influx.

Take this team from Russia, for example (they are about in the same spot as me):
https://hockey.powerplaymanager.com/en/players.html?data=36807-a

They have 7 (7!!!) players above 2800 OR, all somewhat old but with CL left. My only guy that ever got above 3000, Morcinek, was 30 or 31 with a 1/6 CL and I managed to sell him for almost 70M (after paying upwards of 100M a few times to keep him). You're telling me this guy is capable of affording that, 7 times over. I've had to get rid of some of mine to keep 2 of those guys. Not necessarily because I'm emotional about them. THEY'RE MY BEST PLAYERS! WHY WOULDN'T I WANT TO KEEP THEM?!

In the real world, there are contracts that prevent this sort of shenanigans from happening between leagues and player associations. Teams that have higher incomes still have to deal with a salary cap. And there is a bit of a rotation in power every few years. I think this is what they tried to emulate with this dang FA system, but they utterfly failed to take into account the cashflow discrepancy.

In *this* game, however, if you're not already at the top and winning a lot (those sponsorship contracts where you get 1.5M per win, or a hughe bonus for a decent position, ring a bell?), it's almost impossible to stay afloat. My weekly income, since I can only win 1 game out of 3-4, barely covers the basic expenses of arena, staff, players. I could let go some staff, sure. Save 300k per day, maybe? But then I'd have to market for them when the older guys retire and I have NEVER had luck with that...

But moreso than that, I'd be making more money if I was in Div 2 AND I would get better prospects (as the past many drafts have shown). So what's the incentive to stay in the top league? Just go back and forth every 2 seasons and you get that nice little 28M promotion reward... but in exchange the game gets boring quick because you go from winning everything to losing everything with very little chances for upsets.

I can vouch for being kind of on the other side of the coin in handball now. I'm #2 and win almost all my games (if I bother to set a lineup. I've been feeling quite apathetic to the game in general for a few months now so sometimes I forget). I wouldn't struggle too much financially if I stuck with more veterans than what I do, but since I'm already winning even with the 20-somethings due to the lack of competition... I'm not trying to beat #1, since I'm focusing mostly on farming NT players. But even then, #3 and 4 also don't stand a chance to ever catch up to me. The only way I ever made it to #2 was because the stronger teams quit.

This "system" is eroding whatever enjoyment I had left with the game, so yeah, I'm going to complain about it from time to time.

I won't debate your points at length. I understand your frustration but there are other ways to play it. I know nothing about the Russian guy's team but he must be doing something right. My kid's team has been good enough to spend a few seasons in Div.1, she carries 47-48 players and has a &$^# of a lot of money in her account. She buys nobody and just raises all of her own Canadian kids. That is the other end of the spectrum.

As for the pro game I am pretty distanced from it over here. When I was in Canada the best players went to the big markets for "obvious financial reasons". That's why the Expos died. Nowadays, as far I understand, all the big market teams front load their massive contracts to the same uberstars and, while it may be more fair than in the past, it still isn't. Canadian teams run on high debt/ransom ticket prices for the fans and the whole game just stumbles along. Smart teams look at the situation, understand the mechanics of the game and do their best. I personally model my hockey team after the New Jersey Devils in the Brodeur-era. Team play, no big stars, consistency season in and season out the key. It isn't pretty but we get better every season and I love the game as I always have. I play these games because they are fun and they offer me a simulation of the game as I know it. It isn't perfect but neither am I.

That makes sense.

One thing I do wonder is how the top teams in Canada maintain their top team status. Redshift has been really good at choosing who to keep and who to let go. Of course, having been at the top for so long also gives him really good sponsor deals, but that would erode over time with these 3000+ players going for insane deals on the market.

How about Mandalorians? We know he is as annoyed as you are with the market, but so far he has managed to be at the top or near the top (in Canada at least) for a long time with no sign of slowing down.

As for me, my income is very average and at this point my treasury is keeping around the same level even though I don't use the market much. I am actually starting a small retool now because I think I can stay afloat in the first league doing this, but cannot stay afloat financially with the status quo. As you stated before though, good development from prospects will be imperative if I am ever to have some success.