Blackout Rugby

[MrB]

You're paying £25k per week for two extra training sessions and the opportunity to have slightly better (and more expensive) coaches. Just doesn't seem worth it to me, save that for 4 weeks and £100k gets you a pretty good player on the TL!

 

[mcrabb]

Yep - I think level 3 is the only sustainable level at the moment. My player wages have jumped up again this year and are at around 140K a week which may be challenging to sustain anyway, without more expensive facilities. I might have to sell a few of my reserves to raise some cash and get down to the minimum squad size of 25.

Pretty disappointed with the end of the season. I finished 3rd and won my semi-final. I then lost in the final 39-34 (I think it was). Pretty close and only one try in it. As it is I'll stay in league II for another season and it looks like I've got pretty strong competition this year, with all three promoted teams looking pretty strong and the team down from league I not looking too bad either (no bots to help guarantee safety).

Going to try and build up my youth team a bit more this season as last season I had complete dross. Investing 20K at the moment but might increase this if I get some decent income from the cup games. Should have a fairly stright-forward match in my cup game on Wednesday.

 

[MrB]

I'm running a pure 15 with three weak reserves and 7 nobodies. Reserves burn a lot in wages , $3k per week minimum. Worked last year as I went out of the cup first round, might be tougher to maintain fitness this time.

I'm only investing $5k in the youths

 

[Grayson]

I got promoted in both leagues last season with only logging in twice. Have a Wales international and an u-20. One day I'll have to look at it again properly, just never understood it.

 

[mcrabb]

Both leagues? How do things work in Wales? Do you mean the league and then the playoffs?

Yeah I probably overdo things a bit with the reserves with 10 of them over 10K CSR. Could probably cut that down and get a bit of money at the same time if I need to cut down on costs. Although at the moment, I'm quite pleased I've kept a bit of a backup as my 23K CSR flanker just got injured till mid-Dec in the first cup game.

In terms of fitness, I don't actually find playing two games a week that draining on fitness for players with stamina of greater than average (assuming no playing like there's no tomorrow). So probably your tactic of 15 core players is a good one. Maybe keep 1 or two utility forwards and backs as back up for injury and then fill the other slots with low wage dummies.

 

[Grayson]

Both leagues meaning junior as well as senior.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Both leagues meaning junior as well as senior.

Your junior team plays in whatever league your seniors are in.

Any thoughts on what to do with my youth pull?

Haven't really got any training sessions free at the moment, but should have one or two come free as the season progresses. Is he worth anything on the transfer market?

Matthew Kevane
17 years old | 6,268 csr


Player ID: 4571619
Plays for: Southend Invicta
Nationality: England
Salary: $54,863 ($3,429 per week)
Weight: 90kg
Height: 186cm
Joined: 19th Nov 2008 12:26pm

Right handed, right footed, in satisfactory form, and perfect energy levels.
A conservative player with rebellious discipline, decent leadership, and non-existent experience.
Stamina: Satisfactory Handling: Average
Attack: Satisfactory Defense: Decent
Technique: Limited Strength: Limited
Jumping: Despicable Speed: Average
Agility: Average Kicking: Satisfactory

 

[Grayson]

That shows how little notice I pay of the game!

 

[MrB]

With a high skill of decent he is almost worthless. Seen better players going for under $10k.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

With a high skill of decent he is almost worthless. Seen better players going for under $10k.

That's what I thought would probably be the case, but the fact that he's got at least average in every relevant back skill makes me think he might be worth training up. If I can spare a couple of training sessions he could look quite handy at the end of the season on not much training.

 

[mcrabb]

Alternatively, you could just keep him on the team training and he'll probably pop in one or two skills before the end of the season. With a few of those averages up to satisfactory you might get a few thousand more for him. Having said that - if you have to pay his wages for all those weeks you'll not be making money on him so if you do train him it would only be worth it if you intend to keep him as a back up in case of injuries.

 

[MrB]

Yep, my best players started on similar levels, it doesn't take long to get them up to speed. I'm actually struggling to allocate my 27 nets at the moment, trying to avoid training the top players and struggling to find decent young replacements. I picked up a new centre and a lock to train:

Tyler Brazier
17 years old | 12,551 CSR | 204 cm | 80 kg
Right handed, right footed, in decent form, and perfect energy levels.
An aggressive player with flawless discipline, impressive leadership, and non-existent experience.
Stamina: Satisfactory Handling: Reputable
Attack: Satisfactory Defense: Decent
Technique: Average Strength: Limited
Jumping: Despicable Speed: Decent
Agility: Reputable Kicking: Non-Existent

Francis Leo'o
18 years old | 10,064 CSR (+346) | 200 cm | 115 kg
Right handed, right footed, in moderate form, and supercharged energy levels.
A psychotic player with controlled discipline, admirable leadership, and despicable experience.
Stamina: Satisfactory Handling: Average
Attack: Despicable Defense: Reputable
Technique: Satisfactory Strength: Reputable
Jumping: Satisfactory Speed: Moderate
Agility: Limited Kicking: Moderate

Not sure if that height is a disadvantage for a centre but then there's a hell of a lot else I don't know about this game so I'm not going to worry!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Alternatively, you could just keep him on the team training and he'll probably pop in one or two skills before the end of the season. With a few of those averages up to satisfactory you might get a few thousand more for him. Having said that - if you have to pay his wages for all those weeks you'll not be making money on him so if you do train him it would only be worth it if you intend to keep him as a back up in case of injuries.

My team training is geared up for forwards though. I think I'll hang onto him and give him a net or two if any free up but hopefully I'll get even better youth pulls.

 

[MrB]

Opened up with a 20-0 win over a promoted team. With a bot dropping into the division I should make the top 4 yet again. Remarkably there's still two of us in the same division from the day the game started!

 

[mcrabb]

I thought you needed to improve your forwards, not train another centre?

If you do have him as a centre, you'd probably want him as outside centre as he has no kicking skill. I don't think you'll have any penalties for his height - although he does sound a bit of a bean pole.

I won my first game 29-3 against another human team (no bots in the league this season). I managed to score 5 tries as well so got the bonus point which puts me to the top of the table. It'll probably be short-lived as I think that will be one of my easiest fixtures all season.

I've got a bot tomorrow in the cup so that will help keep the money coming in. I have to say this is one of the hardest games to make money, although I don't generally sell any of my top players and I am investing a bit in the youth team (with little reward in the last season or so).

I don't know how you are managing to pay for level 4 facilities.

 

[MrB]

I sold my Level 4 facilities last season as it was a real drain.

My nets are massively split now, I've picked up two props so my front row, one lock and one flanker are getting sessions. In fact only 2 of my starting XV haven't had a session of some kind this season!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I don't know how you are managing to pay for level 4 facilities.

My level 4 facilities aren't ready until January. My thinking was that by then I should have got my extra sponsor and that should pay for it.

As for how I pay for my wage increases and the extra trainer that I need my additional sponsor to pay for, I'm less certain.

A cup run would certainly be useful.

 

[mcrabb]

I've been spreading my nets across quite a number of players from the start. Not really got any stars but a reasonably solid team throughout.

Here's my team's CSRs:

1) Dash - 21773
2) Parer - 17086
3) Denner - 15271
4) Sullivan - 18287
5) Temata - 17235
6) Rullo - 24122
7) Faustino - 23867
8) Tinsley - 18022
9) Simpson - 21535
10) MacGibbon - 21665
11) Keate - 17492
12) Goldfinger - 17691
13) Daines - 26641
14) Bourchier - 15249
15) Grierson - 17847

I'm not far off some of the better teams, but I'm not sure if it's tactics, or a lack of any real star players (30K+) that I seem to lose out in the big games.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I've been spreading my nets across quite a number of players from the start. Not really got any stars but a reasonably solid team throughout.

Here's my team's CSRs:

1) Dash - 21773
2) Parer - 17086
3) Denner - 15271
4) Sullivan - 18287
5) Temata - 17235
6) Rullo - 24122
7) Faustino - 23867
8) Tinsley - 18022
9) Simpson - 21535
10) MacGibbon - 21665
11) Keate - 17492
12) Goldfinger - 17691
13) Daines - 26641
14) Bourchier - 15249
15) Grierson - 17847

I'm not far off some of the better teams, but I'm not sure if it's tactics, or a lack of any real star players (30K+) that I seem to lose out in the big games.

This is my team

1) Hayes - 16,998
2) Taylor - 19,631
3) Brace - 17,139
4) Doherty - 16,886
5) Goode - 15,731
6) Bernard - 14,530
7) Milton - 17,197
8) Hynes - 12,520
9) Zanazzi -21,220
10) Jung - 14,528
11) Greig - 12,746
12) Hazlitt - 11,891
13) Mackey - 11,194
14) Jagger - 19,309
15) Mestrye - 9,197

I've got a couple of other 10,000+BTR forwards as well

Zanazzi, Milton and Hayes are all 19 and getting 3+ training sessions. Doherty, Taylor and Hynes are 20 and Jagger 21 and they are getting 2 training sessions a week.

 

[MrB]

More 'stars' but less balanced. Also shows how back heavy we are.

1. Conor Broder - 14,542 CSR (3 nets)
2. Zachary Monaghan - 30,369 CSR (1 net)
3. Michael Stewart - 13,382 CSR (2 nets)
4. Francis Leo'o - 10,417 CSR (3 nets)
5. Moronobu Murakami - 13,647 CSR
6. Phil Higgs - 12,147 CSR (1 net)
7. Lance Paige - 16,495 CSR
8. Tikaroa Waara - 14,808 CSR (6 nets)
9. Dwight Idle - 34,261 CSR (1 net)
10. Xavier Blain - 26,030 CSR
11. Patrice Cork - 15,364 CSR (2 nets)
12. Norman Beaton - 35,276 CSR (1 net)
13. Tyler Brazier - 12,883 CSR (2 nets)
14. Rhys Hughes - 39,530 CSR
15. Michael Flaherty - 21,540 CSR (4 nets)