Subject: III.8

a shootout loss and an OT loss -.-

Looks like this thread needs a wake-up call. Guess I can atleast try since I ended up droping down from the II Leagues.

The playoffs this season should be interesting. Everybody in the top 7 has a realistic chance to win the championship...

Just a friendly reminder, especially with the upcoming U18/U20 expansion to the national teams, please post any players you have that are good, and please post them often, as that is how they are updated. Thank you!
http://usa-db.powerplay.nixiweb.com/index.php

I just figured I would drop by and say hi! I just signed up, it seems interesting enough so far.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Most people are more than happy to help.

Don't buy any staff! Their salary is paid daily (just like the players), but it gets ridiculously expensive. Stay away until you truly understand the game.

Ah, I wish I had some good American prospects, but I don't. Nothing close to the upper league guys, at least.

We don't know yet what is going to be good for U18, U20. Please add any that you think are even remotely good, we won't know what they look like if you don't put them out there.

Well, I'm the League III.8 Champion now, so looks like I'll be moving up! Good luck to Reading in the promotion round, and good luck to everybody else next season. I'm sure I'll be seeing some of you around in the near future. (I may even be back, I dunno if I'll survive in League II...)

What should I focus on upgrading for the betterment of my team?

I recommend buying just enough players to remain competitive, and then focusing on the main four facilities (Training, Regen, Human Resources, and Sports Academy). As tujague said, don't buy staff until you really understand the financial aspect of the game, as their salaries can be really pricey.

Also, I recommend reading through the Question & Answers thread on the forums, as there is a lot of good basic and advanced advice on there. Enjoy the game! =)

Camrawrn is spot on. Most new guys get that advice. Don't spend too much on players either. At least not until you understand the value of players and their attributes.

However, there's a post by German manager Knucklepuck in one of the Q&A threads. Either in the US or the International forum. He recommends not building any facilities except for HR. I saved his post because I thought it was interesting. There's also an article in the magazine about a Canadian team doing something similar and reaching I.1 in only 4 seasons. You should check that out too. It's a strategy I would love to try out if I could have two teams

Knuckle's guide to success for PPM newbies
-------------------------------------------------

If you play division 1 the only goal is to win cups while keeping the income vs costs balanced. If you play in lower leagues (as a rookie you always start in the lower divisions), the goal is to maximise profit.


Step1:

For a rookie the only way to be successfull is to buy old well trained players (cheap guys around 10-50k $) on the market to make your team competive enough for the lowest leage level.



Step 2: Arena

Build it to medium/large stands. Keep it there. Once you get 100 Mil plus from sponsors, start upgrading to tripple multi.



Step 3: Facilities

Training/ Regeneration Facility: You don't need it because you don't have good young players to train anyway.

Sports Academy: The further the game proceeds the higher the number of players pulled into the system every week, meaning it becomes more and more difficult to pull decent prospects on lower levels (1-10). In season 2 and 3 you could pull superstars with level 5/6. It's almost impossible now, as the chance to pull talented prospects (not the quality just the chance) depends on the level of the academy. The system will even out a bit, when more teams have their academy built to level 15. Don't build it!

Education Center: You don't even need to know what staff is until your facilities reach level 10/11.

Medical Center: You wou won't have good players in foreseeable future. It doesn't matter if your players get hurt. Keep it at level 1.

Maintanance Center: Depends on arena and HR Department.

HR Department. Prime facility to build. The extra income in sponsor money will put you into position to build the other facilities.



Summary

Buy veteran players, build HR department and arena first. As the maintainance costs go up, build maintenance center. Each level of maintainance center saves 2% facility and arena costs.
Result: high income and very low costs as you don't have to maintain the other facilites and pay for staff.
Upgrade your team with veterans every now and then to keep your team competitive enough. Players that cost 100k today will cost 10k tommorrow. But keep an eye on their wages. Once you have a full arena and HR at level 12/13 only then start building the other facilities. Hire staff when your facilities reach level 10/11.

Good luck.

We got 4 teams playing some tough hockey to this point in the season. Should make for a interesting race for Seeding in the Playoffs and then to find out who will be the 2 teams playing for the Championship.

Not to leave out the other 4 in the Top 8, a tough game can happen with anyone in the top 8.

Just a friendly reminder, especially U18/U20 national teams, please post any players you have that are good, and please post them often, as that is how they are updated. Thank you!
http://usa-db.powerplay.nixiweb.com/index.php

Hello, it would be very helpful if anyone with good players, 18 and under (as well as over 18 for the u20 and senior national teams), could post those players to the database. It would also help if scouted players who were previously posted could be updated, especially if they were not posted since a previous season. Your support for the USA national teams will be very much appreciated.


Post players to:

http://usa-db.powerplay.nixiweb.com/index.php


Directions:

1. Open a player's profile which you want to upload or update on PPM.
2. On the player's profile page, right-click on the blank page and choose "View source code" or alternatively use CTRL+U (or check how to access source code on your particular type of browser).
3. Highlight everything with CTRL+A and then copy everything with CTRL+C.
4. Paste copied source code with CTRL+V in the form on the Upload Players tab.
5. After confirming by clicking on "Send,” the player will be uploaded or updated in database.