How to handle scouting?

[Mike Lowe]

It's a bit overwhelming. Any tips on how deep to get at different times of the year? Can this be on auto?

Also it seems you have different scouts for your academy?

Confused!

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[doyce7]

First the easy questions. No, there is no "auto" although there should be. The youth scouting is completely independent of the GTN(global transfer network).

Now on to working with GTN, great idea, horrible in practice. Send scouts out to the countries with instructions, have at least 2 but no more than 4. I suggest that you always use "first team quality" if you don't, well they give you nothing but crap players. If you send a scout out there with less than 2(not including first team quality) instructions you will get WAY more players than you can handle. If you have more than 4 instructions then he won't find any players at all.

I usually shift through the GTN once a month or so, all through the year. That means each scout has brought at least one or two new groups of players.

What you do from here depends on wether you are a Man U type team or lower level team. Although there are many similarities. If your a Man U type then get rid of all players from teams that aren't really very good. odds are these players are not good enough to help you now and probaly won't help you in the years to come. They just waste your time.

If playing as a smaller team(say lower level england) it's a bit harder. With the small teams it can be kind of a gut feeling. Your scouts are not really good enough to scout a ton of guys without it taking over a month to get reports. This is too long. Try to narrow it down with said gut feeling to about 5 guys and scout them. Then in a few weeks move on to another 5 guys. Once you have the guys scouted, if you like a guy shortlist him, if you don't, get rid of him. The reports don't last forever so having them on your shortlist will help you find all the players your interested in, in the shortest manner.

If you need to(I do this) keep a notebook and write down some of the players stats and value. This will help tons if the report is gone. His stats and value may have changed but you will still have an idea of what you'll have to pay to get him and what type of player he is without having to scout him again.

Lastly the best thing about the GTN is it's the easiest way to find guys with to sign on pre-contract. You can build superstar teams using pre-contracts but I usually limit myself to 1 every 2 years.

Hope this helps and be sure to ask about anything I haven't covered.

[Matty Aqua]

I found this extremely helpful also as i am new to FIFA! and managing Peterborough!..thank you!, also what is a pre-contract?...I am a very big NBA2k player but this manager mode is just so deep,it's a great game!

[doyce7]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquaman

I found this extremely helpful also as i am new to FIFA! and managing Peterborough!..thank you!, also what is a pre-contract?...I am a very big NBA2k player but this manager mode is just so deep,it's a great game!

A player who is 23 or older and less than 6 months left on his contract can sign with another team. The player will then play out the season with his current team then join you at the start of the next season. This is known as pre-contract. The CPU has a tendency to let too many good players get to the point of having less than 6 months left, that's why I limit myself.

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[Murph]

Quote: Originally Posted by doyce7

A player who is 23 or older and less than 6 months left on his contract can sign with another team. The player will then play out the season with his current team then join you at the start of the next season. This is known as pre-contract. The CPU has a tendency to let too many good players get to the point of having less than 6 months left, that's why I limit myself.

The most important thing about this not mentioned is that it allows you to avoid massive transfer fees. If you're a smaller team or don't have much money, you can feast on signing contract expiry players.

[doyce7]

Quote: Originally Posted by Murph

The most important thing about this not mentioned is that it allows you to avoid massive transfer fees. If you're a smaller team or don't have much money, you can feast on signing contract expiry players.

Yes thanks for adding that. I thought I did lol

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[tessl]

Quote: Originally Posted by doyce7

First the easy questions. No, there is no "auto" although there should be. The youth scouting is completely independent of the GTN(global transfer network). Now on to working with GTN, great idea, horrible in practice. Send scouts out to the countries with instructions, have at least 2 but no more than 4. I suggest that you always use "first team quality" if you don't, well they give you nothing but crap players. If you send a scout out there with less than 2(not including first team quality) instructions you will get WAY more players than you can handle. If you have more than 4 instructions then he won't find any players at all. I usually shift through the GTN once a month or so, all through the year. That means each scout has brought at least one or two new groups of players. What you do from here depends on wether you are a Man U type team or lower level team. Although there are many similarities. If your a Man U type then get rid of all players from teams that aren't really very good. odds are these players are not good enough to help you now and probaly won't help you in the years to come. They just waste your time. If playing as a smaller team(say lower level england) it's a bit harder. With the small teams it can be kind of a gut feeling. Your scouts are not really good enough to scout a ton of guys without it taking over a month to get reports. This is too long. Try to narrow it down with said gut feeling to about 5 guys and scout them. Then in a few weeks move on to another 5 guys. Once you have the guys scouted, if you like a guy shortlist him, if you don't, get rid of him. The reports don't last forever so having them on your shortlist will help you find all the players your interested in, in the shortest manner. If you need to(I do this) keep a notebook and write down some of the players stats and value. This will help tons if the report is gone. His stats and value may have changed but you will still have an idea of what you'll have to pay to get him and what type of player he is without having to scout him again. Lastly the best thing about the GTN is it's the easiest way to find guys with to sign on pre-contract. You can build superstar teams using pre-contracts but I usually limit myself to 1 every 2 years. Hope this helps and be sure to ask about anything I haven't covered.

Excellent information, thanks.

[orion523]

A lot of good info here so far, I'll add some of the things I do as well:

-First off, one thing that really burned me was this: When you see a player eligible for a pre contract signing and you want him, sign him then and there if possible. I let several players go in one CM expecting to be able sign them on frees in the summer, every single one of them had new contracts once season two began

-Secondly if your unfamiliar with the real game, sites like outsideoftheboot.com can really help you with scouting, while a site like zonalmarking.com and whoscored.com can help with formations/tactics and statistics.

-The Global Transfer Network in the end was a great idea carried out less than optimally, with a few tweaks it could really be tremendous but as it stands it can get overwhelming, especially if you don't really know the game/players. Doyce has some great advice above, use it. Besides that it all comes down to knowledge and the only way to acquire that is through watching games, and reading sites like outside of the boot.