Temat: Worthy Investments?

Hey all!

I'm a "new" user (returning from the dead after a year or two). While the game has not changed much at all, I was just wondering what are some worthy investments to make going forward? Basically, how do I make money, but more than just that black and white.

Thanks ahead of time,
Cherry Limeade.

well first of all i have found it good to try and play some away games against division 2 or 1 teams that have big stadiums because u can gain lots of money from those. i have also put lots of money into my hr department so i can get good sponsorships. also start putting money into upgrading the capacity of your stadium

Truthfully, the BEST way to make money is to buy a pro pack and credits. Selling players seems to be the one variable that separates people like myself that haven't spent the money from those that have, the option to advertise and sell quality players when you need to is critical. As I have learned, it is time to pay up.
IMO, from my own personal experience, winning in the lower leagues early on only hurts you. I went undefeated my first season, move up to a much better league where i can't compete, zero fun factor. But the sponsor deal i received was enormous compared to what i have previously, sounds good right? Wrong. In order to compete you need players, they are expensive to buy and pay a salary through out the season.
So i find myself now in my 3rd season, still in the same higher league completely unable to compete, so at this point i have gotten rid of some really good players to save money for stadium and facilities,knowing i'll relegate this season. Problem still exists when that happens as i've got a team of decent players that will kick @ss at the lower level but with a now crappy sponsor deal,i'm not getting anywhere with my stadium or facilities.
I wish i had tanked my first season. I screwed myself early on. Lesson learned the hard way.

this is true to a certain point. i was going through a major financial crisis myself, but once my arena finished building, i was in the green again (my team is usually a non playoff team in my league)

also if your team is too much better than the team you are competing against, it won't help with otr as much as you'd think it would

I don't think the credits or pro pack are really necessary to make money in the game or to be successful. It is just helpful if you want a logo/puck/jersey, if you don't feel like adjusting training every day, or if you want to scout the market before selling a player, among other things. All of these things are convenient, but it's not absolutely necessary to be able to have a good team. Both my hockey team and soccer team are in the top 30 or so in the country, and I only have pro pack in hockey.

The stadium definitely helps in the long run. I am getting a ton of money this season with a completed stadium, a lot of accessories, and a lot of popular players. HR and good managers help as well. Those remain the most important things.

It is possible that the cost of players could outweigh the other financial gains from promoting, but I did notice that my team had built facilities much faster than the teams from my original division III league that remained in division III for more years while I built a team capable of sticking around in division II (it probably also helped that after putting together a competitive team, I put all of my money into my HR and stadium for many seasons). I still have a few players starting on my team from when I first promoted to division II since I managed to purchase decent players, including 2 defenseman (Possen and Back), a right wing (Dzedzina), and my starting goalie (Mokris), all of whom have at least continued to gain really high experience.

Of course, there have been a few teams that have really put a lot of money into players, neglecting everything else. Mobile Rain and the Blue Mountain Rebels in I.1 are good examples of this strategies, though it is yet to be seen how long they will be able to remain competitive with just that strategy (assuming they haven't already changed to a new strategy). Even so, they have both been really successful in the short run.

Staff are a waste of money for low level facilities. Training and regeneration don't really help until later on. If you build the sports academy to at least level 10 or so, there is at least a probability of pulling a player that can be sold for a decent profit, though it's not a sure thing.

To sum everything up, focus on the HR facility and the arena and build a team of quality discount older players capable of maintaining whatever level of performance you want to shoot for, whether in division II or division III. I'm probably in the same position as Skeptimist at the moment, except I'm going back and forth between I.1 and division II, but my focus on the stadium is finally paying dividends. I didn't start playing until season 5.

There are other threads that you could find relating to this topic with other points of view as well.

Very valid & experienced points. In reference to my suggestion that a Pro pack is an advantage, allow me to point out two things that i feel are valuable advantages. And if i am wrong pls do not hesitate to correct me.

Pro pack offers the option to set specific deadlines for players and staff members on the market. This I believe is extremely important.My understanding is vague, but i believe a person listed for sale without a pro pack simply sits on the market, buried with all the other potential players, as i have had a goalie with a OR of 1526 on the market all season with no bites, i have even readjusted the minimum sale price without any luck. With a pro pack you can set a time line and force the player into the highlighted area, where most people will only search for a player for sale. Otherwise i'm at the mercy of all those looking for goalie, do they dig deep enough to find what they really want or simply look at todays grabs?

Secondly,automatic friendly game scheduling, Yes, this can be accomplished without a pro pack but what a huge time consuming task that can be. You will need this extra income in exchange for offering another wealthier team the additional team points, which factor into their end of season sponsorship deals, its a fair trade. If you start looking too late for friendly games against the type of teams that may be willing to help you out, you're really facing an uphill battle trying to fill the slots. It can be financially challenging to plan ahead when you haven't filled your schedule.

But as capsaicin has pointed out, it is indeed possible to achieve high success without Pro Pack. The one thing I am certain of after nearly a year is there are a couple of ways to succeed, but in the end, there are no short cuts, other than selling quality players.

Both of these can be accomplished without pro pack, though pro pack makes these easier, which at the very least might discourage quitting.

If you promote to a higher league and/or work on your stadium, or post in the exhitiion thread, people will send you challenges. I usually fill most of my schedule in hockey and soccer without actually spending time on it (I generally accept all challenges), though in my case, it is enough to just accept challenges in my stadium.

Another consideration is that what may have worked for me might not necessarily work for teams now. Although I was helped a lot when a lot of the teams ahead of me quit, there might be more quality teams to compete with now than there were 5-10 seasons ago (though I can't say whether this is the case or not for sure).

How do i get the player i am selling onto the sellers block without a pro pack? I don't have that option available. Maybe I am over looking something?
I agree that what may have worked for some may not work for others. It truly depends on how one has focused their initial energies IMO.

Do you mean the list of players under the market tab? All players go onto that list as the deadline approach. Sometimes it is within 30 minutes to an hour of the deadline and at night, it can extend up to a few hours.

There are definitely better times when there are more people active to put players on the market. I've lost a lot of potential money on a few players by putting them on the market carelessly (I once had an elite prospect whose deadline occurred just after system maintenance).

In the afternoon in the United States, I find that there are more alternatives to look for, so I am less likely to bid on a particular good player (though it may or may not be the case that there are also more bidders at this time). Your player will appear on the market page during this time, though there will be a lot of alternatives, but usually not enough to make it impossible to find a 1,500 OR goaltender (was your price reasonable?). When I sold a few players last season, I sold them at night, and my three players were the only 3 worthwhile players on the market, and I made about $40,000,000 on the three of them since everyone present was bidding on them.

Back to the main question, generally, teams will only look at the market tab (at least this is what I do unless I am looking for a specific role). If you have a player with elite OR or a prospect with elite qualities, then it might be more likely that other managers will specifically look for your player in a search.

With all that said, the more specific deadline does help with making money, but you can accomplish the same thing by waiting until the time you want to sell the player (I only bother to do this in soccer or handball on the rare occasion when I have an especially valuable player to sell).

The three players I sold were ~25 year olds trained with level 11 facilities. Although you can make a lot of money selling elite prospects, the mediocre prospects are worth more if you train them for a few years. Although it's generally not recommended for teams with weak facilities to train their own players, I've actually been able to sell 18-20 year olds capable of starting on even weaker teams for $5 million -$10 million each. Even though I don't often train a prospect that breaks into my starting lineup, I use my spare roster spots to train decent players that I eventually sell. This has at least worked for me.

The players I train are either respectable pulls from my sports academy or players with perfect qualities except from one really flawed quality and/or CL that I initially purchased for $500,000-$4,000,000.

Hmmm, interesting. I have had my goalie on sale since the very beginning of this new hockey season. I spoke with Canucks357 maybe a month ago regarding this and he told me basically my player will sit there UNTIL some actually puts a bid on him and THEN he will go to the sellers block where he would be highlighted for others to bid on or time runs out. So if i understood that correctly, until someone shows interest he's in limbo. When i put my player up for sale i entered in the price I would accept as minimum price and not provided an option to put him on the sellers block for any length of time, like 3,5 or 7 days. No option.
Players name, Team name, division. Francesco Sarcoli, USA RAMPAGE, USA II.1

There must be something i'm not doing right or that i have over looked. I've actually got my best goalie sitting the bench now to keep him from getting tired. He needs to go, i need the money for my stadium.

This may boil down to user error. If i could post a screenshot i would.

I looked at your roster, and apparently I didn't realize you were talking about a player marked for sale rather than a player put onto the market.

That sounds right, that a player will not appear on the market page until someone makes a bid. In addition, I can't see Sarcoli's attributes unless I scout him or make a bid on him.

I have propack in hockey. When I clicked on the mark for sale tab, I only have the option to set the price. The player would be placed on the market for 7 days if someone finds the player and makes a bid. Apparently propack allows a manager to mark a player for sale once per season for free, and then it costs credits.

In the case of a player marked for sale, I guess that you were right that paying for advertising can help (though it would be simpler to put your player on the market and hope you don't stuck with no bids, being forced to pay the fee without making any money).

But if i put him on the market i run the risk of a very low ball offer?

I'd love to keep him but i just don't have the supporting defensive players to do him any justice. Relegation is in the near future so i can do without him.

I'll need to see if i attempted to sell another player this season, maybe that is why i don't have that option.

NEVERMIND.....LOL....i sorted it out. Like i said, user error. omg. I'm an idiot. Yes, i should have put him on the market.I put him up for sale.

Ok, well, i appreciate your time and help, i wouldn't have realized what i had done, nor the difference between market and sale.

#facepalm.

There is a risk of a lowball offer, but this risk can be reduced by planning to sell a player and looking at the price similar players go for. If your asking price is above the market price for your player, then you probably won't sell the player. I probably wouldn't bid more than $20,000,000, maybe $30,000,000 on him (this isn't necessarily the market price, just what I would personally be willing to pay).

The credit features may help to diminish your risk, though it isn't guaranteed to maximize the value of a player on the market (especially if the price is over the market price) Ultimately, the credit features may help save fees from failed attempts to sell a player, but it is still possibly to make a reasonable amount of money without the features. I don't think the features help so much that they amount to a pay to win scheme (it's more of a start on day 1 or wait until everyone else quits scheme...).