new to CB19

[blazertaz13]

I had given a very old version a go, but never really got very good at it. So with the anniversary sale, I thought I would give it a go again.

Since I would consider myself new to the game, I was wondering if someone would be able to answer a couple of questions for me to help me get started:

1. When creating a new coach, how do you go out sorting out his skills? Is there a way to randomize the beginning the skills for both beginning and maximums? So if I start out as rookie, but not all skills show as 30 and all at elite with 85?

2. When signing on at a school can you find new assistant coaches (firing old assistants)? Do the old assistant coaches salary count against your budget?

3. When you start at a new school what are the first steps you take? Coaches, then practice, recruiting, etc.?

I am looking for some ideas of the best way to start and then keep from getting frustrated (hopefully that makes sense).

Thanks,

Taz

[Wayne23]

1. Got to "Custom" I think it is. That allows you to put in whatever values you want at the beginning. Then do it again in the other column.
2. If you fire assistants on the first day you are hired or the first day you change schools it does NOT count against your budget. But be careful, better coaches will cost more money and you will want to save about $40,000 for recruiting if you can.
3. First steps are to set my Strategy, Coach Assignments, Practice plan. Then I look at my roster and coaches.

This is an active forum. Ask and you'll likely get fairly quick answers from a few of us. And we all play the game our own way; there's no single way to play and no formula that guarantees success. When I started I was quick to kill an association. When I had learned some things and made my share of mistakes I killed the association and started a new one (And kept a file for notes). It was several months before I actually took on an association that lasted for many years. The game is very deep and very complex. I've been playing since 2007 and I'm still here. That says something (maybe it says I'm a slow learner).

[PointGuard]

Welcome to DDSCB and the forums here.

Wayne's comments are on target (sheeez, how I hate to say that about his comments )

I've been playing since 2007 and I'm still here.

We've all been trying for ages to get him to move on to Tiddly Winks sim management, but he just won't take the hint.

The "Randomize Skills" link on the Create Your Player page does a good job of randomizing skills, but you can't set the parameters for beginning and potential for your coach and it tends to start your coach in the overall 25-40 range.

If you want to randomize each of the beginning and potential coaching skills between a specific range for each coaching attribute, follow what Wayne said for "Assign Your Skills", then use a free online random number generator for each beginning and potential skill range you desire...enter each of those ranges in the random number generator and it will provide you a random number for each...then on the Customize Skills page during the game creation process, enter each random number that was produced. VOILA!

Enjoy the game. Hope to see you participating on the forums here.

[blazertaz13]

Thanks for the tips so far.

I am not afraid to ask questions. :-) I hope to finally give it a go this weekend as the last 10 days have been unreal with work and family (obviously Sunday will be out Mother's Day and all).

Thanks again,

Taz

[blazertaz13]

Quick follow up question.

When at a lower prestige school (I am starting out a Northern Arizona) - how do you start out your recruiting? What I mean, do you start with those who have interest in you (state most likely), do you shoot for the stars for top recruits or do you look for those recruits that fit your system regardless of rank?

Thanks again,

Taz

[Your_Imaginary_Friend]

Quick follow up question.

When at a lower prestige school (I am starting out a Northern Arizona) - how do you start out your recruiting? What I mean, do you start with those who have interest in you (state most likely), do you shoot for the stars for top recruits or do you look for those recruits that fit your system regardless of rank?

Thanks again,

Taz

You can only go for recruits who like you when you play at lower rated schools. The top players will blow you off and you will be wasting valuable recruiting actions. Plus, even players who like you a lot may take forever to commit and that can be frustrating and annoying.

I would suggest starting out no lower than, say, A-10 level for your first plays. Otherwise you may become quite frustrated with the level of difficulty. Also, this level will enable you to buy the gold level scouting which has inforamtion on recruits that greatly add to the immersion of the game. Seeing who is after your recruits is interesting and adds greatly to the gaming experience. I greatly miss that when I can't afford the gold. Recruiting becomes far more a crap shoot with limited choices the game forces to you.

I'd like to see an option where you can ask a recruit who he is looking at and he reveals his list. Would add immensely to the game for me.

Myself, my next play will be a top quality team so I can learn how things SHOULD work out.

[PointGuard]

Good point about starting at mid-level or high-level school to get your feet wet. At a low prestige school it's often difficult to get guys to take your phone calls or visit your campus whereas at a higher prestige school this becomes much easier. And of course, it's easier to get recruits interested in a higher prestige school (and ultimately willing to accept a scholarship offer).

Remember also, that you can change the recruiting difficulty level, so when you're first beginning to play the game, put it on an easier level and then when you become proficient with recruiting, you can bump up the difficulty level.

At a low prestige school, you're pretty much going to be able to get in-state and (to a lesser degree) in-region recruits. Some out-of-region JC players MAY be more open to considering your school than out-of-region HS players. You can go after recruits who don't show interest initially and build that interest level in SOME of them, but of course if the guy (who shows a lot of interest in your low-prestige school) is offered a scholarship at a prestigious school, he's more likely to take that even if his interest level is +++ and you're in his top 3 schools. You're not likely to be getting top 100 players at a low-prestige school although occasionally you can get one (typically an in-state guy or a guy whose parents went to your school or a guy with low GPA who hopefully will clear your min. SAT requirements). If you don't fill all your scholarships in the summer/fall, you MAY be able to get a highly rated guy or an out-of-region guy in the spring.

[Wayne23]

Save some recruiting dollars for March and April. Some decent in state and in region recruits will not have signed because the schools they wanted did not want them. I've had pretty good luck grabbing some of those guys late, sometimes even guys from out of region or out of the country.

[blazertaz13]

Once again thank you for the replies. Once I get through this weekend, I will playing again.

[blazertaz13]

When recruiting how much weight do you give to rankings? Or do you focus more on skill ratings?