PowerPlayManager.com - Part 9 - Hockey, Soccer and Handball? Oh my!

[canucks357]

And addicting. I can't wait to add another dman. And then, after spending around 500M on 5 players, I'm going to get really serious about buying players

I hear you. In hockey I just toss around money like it is nothing. I finally got my soccer stadium up to 80,000 so that should help my bank account come next season in addition to a nice OTR thanks to the ChL competition and a decent league showing.

 

[SkepticalDougO]

The sad thing is I'm not even a great team.
1st in II.4
1st in I.1
11th (3rd in ChL)
4th
6th
11th (CWC Champ)
4th
4th
7th

I wasn't joking when I said I've been coasting on my very early success. It's bad enough when teams like Obryantj's or the Coronas are getting stupid money, but when it's a second tier team like mine, it's insane.

And addicting. I can't wait to add another dman. And then, after spending around 500M on 5 players, I'm going to get really serious about buying players

Man, that's my only gripe with the game- it seems the gap keeps getting wider instead of shrinking- I think I've done a good job going from III to I, but to close the gap from barely surviving in I to being in the upper half of the league is pretty insurmountable when you have that kind of cash to spend on players with facilities and arena (almost?) maxed out.

 

[tujague]

Man, that's my only gripe with the game- it seems the gap keeps getting wider instead of shrinking- I think I've done a good job going from III to I, but to close the gap from barely surviving in I to being in the upper half of the league is pretty insurmountable when you have that kind of cash to spend on players with facilities and arena (almost?) maxed out.

I agree 100%. There is no catching up if you're not at the top of the I.1 table by season 3 or 4, like Canucks said. I have basically done nothing except introduce youth pulls to my lineup since season 3 or so. I think I bought one or two other youngsters years ago who are now getting some PT. But I've sat on my ass for the most part. Up until the end of last season when I revamped my midfield.

And I'm ready to buy great players, but my team is actually in pretty good shape right now.
I'm set in goal with 20yo Shipp.
Forwards are in great shape. My top four are 22, 21, 19 & 18yo.
The starting four Mids are all20yo and 1100-1150 OR.
I'm weak on D because I started the season with zero depth and then the bad things happened. But now I have 5 players 21-22yo who could start on any team outside of the top few. Plus I have five youngsters who are coming up. One of he 18yos is about to hit 1000 OR, the 16yo will also get there during his 18 yo season, and the other two 18yos will be very close.

I'm not sure what the hell I'm going to spend the money on. I guess I'll start collecting NT players like Obryantj

 

[redcard]

I haven't bought a soccer player on the market since 4/24/2012, just can't afford to buy anyone usefull without falling farther behind in facilities or stadium upgrades.

 

[canucks357]

I agree 100%. There is no catching up if you're not at the top of the I.1 table by season 3 or 4, like Canucks said.

Well, there is, but it's a long long road. I've just started phase 3. Phase 1 was get rich. Phase 3 was get development facilities maxed. Phase 3 is acquire the young prospects. After that you wait 10 seasons until they're 25 and are equivalent to the other teams' best players if not better since I've been playing them all along and they have more EXP. The problem is, who says PPM will be around in 3 years? If it is, this 2nd server may kill the current hockey server.

 

[SkepticalDougO]

Well, there is, but it's a long long road. I've just started phase 3. Phase 1 was get rich. Phase 3 was get development facilities maxed. Phase 3 is acquire the young prospects. After that you wait 10 seasons until they're 25 and are equivalent to the other teams' best players if not better since I've been playing them all along and they have more EXP. The problem is, who says PPM will be around in 3 years? If it is, this 2nd server may kill the current hockey server.

Are they going to get a 2nd hockey server (as in a new game?)

 

[Obryantj]

It's been a while since I posted, but things have been very busy for me lately and became busier with my birth of my child.

I'm not sure what the hell I'm going to spend the money on. I guess I'll start collecting NT players like Obryantj

All of the following is related to soccer:

I haven't bought that many NT players (or at least it doesn't seem like it). In addition, its becoming difficulty to pick up any immediate impact players. There seems to be more money flowing around in soccer and many teams are at the point of spending all of their post-expenses cash on players. If I wanted to pick up a player ready to be immediately inserted in the starting lineup, I'd probably expect to pay 400-800M (which I do not have).

Here's a season by season look at my purchases:

This season I've spent ~405M on 7 players (four U17 NT players)
Last season I spent ~239M on 2 players (one U20 NT player)
In season 8 I spent ~70M on 5 players (two U17 NT players, one other player flipped)
In season 7 I spent ~136M on 5 players (one SrNT player, one starter, three others flipped)
In season 6 I did not purchase any players
In season 5 I spent ~49M on 5 players (zero NT players, one starter, four others flipped)
In season 4 I spent ~13M on 4 players (zero NT players, one starter, one other flipped)
In season 3 I spent ~22M on 5 players (one starter, four others flipped)
In season 2 I spent ~4M on 4 players (one starter, one flipped, two released)
In season 1 I did not purchase any players

Overall, I've spent 939,014,998 on player acquisitions and received 671,737,315 from player sales. I think the key is the stretch where I added one of my current starters in 5 out of 6 seasons. Targeting weak positions and then spending around 75% of my acquisition budget on a player that can start immediately at that position seems to have worked out well for me. Some of the early players purchased following that logic will be sold soon.

Season by season performance:
Season 9: 1st
Season 8: 2nd
Season 8: 1st
Season 5: 1st
Season 5: 3rd
Season 4: 1st
Season 3: 2nd (II.4)
Season 2: 4th (II.4)
Season 1: 3rd (II.4)

Currently sitting in 15th in OTR after spending a few weeks in the 12-14th range.

---------------

Hockey

Still fighting to stay near the top of the standings and currently sit in 4th place. The highlights of the season have been an overtime win against the Psychos (currently in 2nd) and a regulation win over the High Hitterz (currently in 3rd).

Started TF-15 which should help my players keep up with the rest of the playoff-caliber teams. Hopefully it also leads to more NT players (currently only two, both U20).

 

[canucks357]

Are they going to get a 2nd hockey server (as in a new game?)

It's on their to-do list.

 

[suprvilce]

Notice anything strange about this player?

 

[canucks357]

Notice anything strange about this player?

That happens from time to time. When they're not tied to a team and not on the market they drop in C/L but don't age - if I recall correctly.

 

[tujague]

I haven't bought that many NT players (or at least it doesn't seem like it). In addition, its becoming difficulty to pick up any immediate impact players.

Overall, I've spent 939,014,998 on player acquisitions and received 671,737,315 from player sales.

'I haven't bought that many NT players', he says. Then lists the 8 players he has bought. Not to mention the other 12 that he has apparently pulled from his Sports Academy. That's right, people. Obryantj has 20 NT players on his team.

S10 - 265M on 3 players.
S9 - 220M on 2 players.
S8 - 0 for 0.
S7 - 47M on 5 players. 40M of that on 2 of them. Racvolgyi was forced to start at LCD this season because I was too cheap to find a proper player. Korbetsky is my 4th forward.
S6 - 10M on 2 players. Bortmanski is sort of a 3rd CM.
S5 - 0 for 0.
S4 - 0 for 0.
S3 - 46M on 4 players. This was my big season. all four are/were starters. Two have been sold recently, the other two are sort of being phased out.
S2 - 4.4M on 7 players. 3M on goalie Cernohorsky. Starter for many seasons, now a solid backup.
S1 - 260k on 4 players. I assume some of them started some games, but they were rubbish.

590M on player acquisition. Only 105M spent in the first 8 seasons. Huge mistake.

769M on player sales. Better than I expected. Good lord. I'm going to hit 5B in revenues with today's home game.

 

[Obryantj]

'I haven't bought that many NT players', he says. Then lists the 8 players he has bought. Not to mention the other 12 that he has apparently pulled from his Sports Academy. That's right, people. Obryantj has 20 NT players on his team.

To my own defense, I typed that statement before listing the purchases and then added the "or at least it doesn't seem like it" comment after listing the purchases. 16 of the 20 NT players are on junior teams (seven U20, nine U17) that may or may not eventually make their senior NTs. Six of the eight purchases are U17 players, one is a U20 player and one is a SrNT player. I can't afford to stockpile SrNT players and the 40-50M price range seems to be a sweet spot for U17 players. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having U17 and U20 NT players on the roster (especially on the USA team). Junior NT players do not help as much as SrNT players when trying to reach my goals now. [Current goals being top 10 in OTR, 1st in I.1, top 4 in ChL] Obviously they'll help with those goals in the future.

Of my time spent judging my team, I probably spend most of it looking at the team with better players than me (FC Corona) and hope to stay ahead of him in the standings. Thinking about that, I might assume that many of the teams in I.1 (and most likely including all of the USA leagues) look at Corona and the Boilermakers when doing the same analysis.

S10 - 265M on 3 players.
S9 - 220M on 2 players.
S8 - 0 for 0.
S7 - 47M on 5 players. 40M of that on 2 of them. Racvolgyi was forced to start at LCD this season because I was too cheap to find a proper player. Korbetsky is my 4th forward.
S6 - 10M on 2 players. Bortmanski is sort of a 3rd CM.
S5 - 0 for 0.
S4 - 0 for 0.
S3 - 46M on 4 players. This was my big season. all four are/were starters. Two have been sold recently, the other two are sort of being phased out.
S2 - 4.4M on 7 players. 3M on goalie Cernohorsky. Starter for many seasons, now a solid backup.
S1 - 260k on 4 players. I assume some of them started some games, but they were rubbish.

590M on player acquisition. Only 105M spent in the first 8 seasons. Huge mistake.

769M on player sales. Better than I expected. Good lord. I'm going to hit 5B in revenues with today's home game.

Here's the details on my current (as of season 10, day 1) starters I purchased as well:
Season 2: Universal Side Defender ~2.7M (I was still in division II)
Season 3: Universal Center Forward ~10.4M (I was still in division II)
Season 4: Right Center Defender ~2.3M
Season 5: Universal Center Midfielder ~29.4M
Season 7: Right Center Midfielder ~119.7M

There's some value deals in there and some big purchases as well. Valina and Piposiar will not be starters much longer. Cergel would be expensive to replace and many of the possible replacements I've seen on the market are similar age/CL/defensive attributes, but with higher shooting (such as this guy I wanted ). Hrebec was bought as a prospect. He's also my top SD and universal to boot and should be on the roster until, at the very least, he enters RFA. Taganovich is my top CM and my only foreign SrNT player. He's 22 and in his second season at 4/6 and should also be on the roster until, at he very least, he enters RFA.

 

[suprvilce]

When handball starts we're all supposed to start with 100 OTR, how come that wasn't the case in beta?

 

[canucks357]

When handball starts we're all supposed to start with 100 OTR, how come that wasn't the case in beta?

It was for my league... at least when the first person in on beta came. After that it kept track of OTR based on noname vs noname results etc.

 

[tujague]

To my own defense, I typed that statement before listing the purchases and then added the "or at least it doesn't seem like it" comment after listing the purchases. 16 of the 20 NT players are on junior teams (seven U20, nine U17) that may or may not eventually make their senior NTs. Six of the eight purchases are U17 players, one is a U20 player and one is a SrNT player.

What's your plan for all the young guys? Do you expect them to make your starting lineup?

Of my time spent judging my team, I probably spend most of it looking at the team with better players than me (FC Corona) and hope to stay ahead of him in the standings. Thinking about that, I might assume that many of the teams in I.1 (and most likely including all of the USA leagues) look at Corona and the Boilermakers when doing the same analysis.

I'm terrible at this stuff. I don't pay nearly enough attention to my team much less anyone else. The only time I compare my team to another is the few times I post on here comparing ours. I don't do this nearly enough. I'll write down your starters IGRs, then track mine in comparison. But I never update yours until the new season, and I never really look at other teams or players. Unless I notice something weird like Stamper's IGR at CM.

Here's the details on my current (as of season 10, day 1) starters I purchased as well:
Season 2: Universal Side Defender ~2.7M (I was still in division II)
Season 3: Universal Center Forward ~10.4M (I was still in division II)
Season 4: Right Center Defender ~2.3M
Season 5: Universal Center Midfielder ~29.4M
Season 7: Right Center Midfielder ~119.7M

This is what I meant when I said I made a huge mistake. You've added above average starters throughout the years. After I won the title and did that little reload in season 3, I completely stopped improving my team. I didn't buy a starter for five years. Every player who made it into the starting lineup would have been a pull with less than adequate experience. That's just stupid. I have to assume that one or two solid players could have improved my lot quite a bit.

 

[Obryantj]

What's your plan for all the young guys? Do you expect them to make your starting lineup?

It varies by position. Three or four of the current U20 guys may be starting for my team next season. The future of some of the current U17 guys will be affected by their CL path going forward.

I'm terrible at this stuff. I don't pay nearly enough attention to my team much less anyone else. The only time I compare my team to another is the few times I post on here comparing ours. I don't do this nearly enough. I'll write down your starters IGRs, then track mine in comparison. But I never update yours until the new season, and I never really look at other teams or players. Unless I notice something weird like Stamper's IGR at CM.

I occasionally have a certain level of free time where I'll do a detailed analysis (as I'm sure you're aware). Other times I just compare my team to where Corona is at. Near the beginning of soccer, I had a lot of free time and was able to set up my team in a way that I was happy with. I may have a similar amount of free time when handball starts (although I don't know that it will help given my team's performance in Beta).

This is what I meant when I said I made a huge mistake. You've added above average starters throughout the years. After I won the title and did that little reload in season 3, I completely stopped improving my team. I didn't buy a starter for five years. Every player who made it into the starting lineup would have been a pull with less than adequate experience. That's just stupid. I have to assume that one or two solid players could have improved my lot quite a bit.

In soccer, depth is not nearly as important as in hockey (even with suspensions). That drove me to work on starters more and sell off depth when it made sense. Being able to vary the formation helped in the case of injuries and suspensions. In handball, I think with fewer players actually playing and larger penalties for having more than 25 players, that depth will be less important than in soccer.

In terms of IGRs, If I had two 10s on the roster and they were the lowest on he team, I'd prefer to upgrade one to a 14 rather than both to 12s and then worry about the other 10 later. I'd be willing to pay a premium to do so. Early in the game, I'd avoid higher OR, older players.

 

[tujague]

It varies by position. Three or four of the current U20 guys may be starting for my team next season. The future of some of the current U17 guys will be affected by their CL path going forward.

You have some disturbingly good youth. That Canadian forward is sick. And only 200M? Amazing deal. I'm not in the position to make those moves yet.

I occasionally have a certain level of free time where I'll do a detailed analysis (as I'm sure you're aware).

What kind of analysis are we talking about? Literally all I've done is compare your player ages/OR to mine. I think I've only done this somewhat seriously the last two seasons. When I was buying my latest group of Mids, I went after players who would be as good (in the case of Mark and Taganovich) or better (Seay & Piposiar). I'm very happy with this group. Hopefully a couple of them make it to 22yo at 5/6.

In soccer, depth is not nearly as important as in hockey (even with suspensions). That drove me to work on starters more and sell off depth when it made sense. Being able to vary the formation helped in the case of injuries and suspensions. In handball, I think with fewer players actually playing and larger penalties for having more than 25 players, that depth will be less important than in soccer.

In terms of IGRs, If I had two 10s on the roster and they were the lowest on he team, I'd prefer to upgrade one to a 14 rather than both to 12s and then worry about the other 10 later. I'd be willing to pay a premium to do so. Early in the game, I'd avoid higher OR, older players.

I'm stuck doing the later right now. I was desperate for some bodies on the backend. I screwed that up royally. I was supposed to add a CD after selling Melenec, but I couldn't pull the trigger. If I wasn't in the CWC, and if I didn't get screwed out of the NC, I wouldn't have added that last dman (Sauvage- 22yo 4/6 1212OR and currently a backup on the French NT). He was from a dead team, so I'm hoping he remains at 4/6 for another season or two. And I would have thought a bit longer about the first one, Gregorovich. Bad Qs, but not a horrible price. He's a perfect stopgap.

I'm in decent shape right now. I'll still be on the lookout for another dman, but I don't feel like I have to make a move right now.

And depth is huge for me in soccer. My team can't seem to perform if I play less than Normal and play aggressive and hurry up. hat leads to less energy and suspensions galore lately. I'm running 3 forwards (McCready benched for CWC), 4 SMs, 9 dmen and 3-4 CMs.

Congrats on the baby, man. That's beautiful

 

[canucks357]

although I don't know that it will help given my team's performance in Beta

Your team's? Mine is tied for top OTS and is last in I.1!!! FIRE THE MANAGER!!!

I think I need some:

Edit: I checked your team. Yup. Same boat as me.

 

[suprvilce]

I have 8 straight wins in handball, but i just know i will fail terribly when it starts for real (by that i mean with arena, facilities development and buying/selling players).

 

[canucks357]

I have 8 straight wins in handball, but i just know i will fail terribly when it starts for real (by that i mean with arena, facilities development and buying/selling players).

Tell me your secret. I have the top OTS team and am in last place...

 

[suprvilce]

Tell me your secret. I have the top OTS team and am in last place...

Secret? My top player (also has highest agression) is pivot. I have 3 subs for off-def. I look which player has highest play in field and of those highest shot plays on offence, highest block on defence. Ratios are pretty random with all players right now so i don't really look at that. Also trying some random tactics to see what works with what.

Or most likely it's just random on my side which will be gone when real season starts.

 

[canucks357]

Secret? My top player (also has highest agression) is pivot. I have 3 subs for off-def. I look which player has highest play in field and of those highest shot plays on offence, highest block on defence. Ratios are pretty random with all players right now so i don't really look at that. Also trying some random tactics to see what works with what.

Or most likely it's just random on my side which will be gone when real season starts.

Is a pivot the most important position? Ie. it is to handball what strikers are to soccer and goalies are to hockey?

 

[suprvilce]

Is a pivot the most important position? Ie. it is to handball what strikers are to soccer and goalies are to hockey?

I don't want anyone here to think that i really know much about handball. I don't know who the most important players are, i just read important parts of the guide few times to get the idea what is what, also wikipedia helped I guess we'll soon see what position is most important. My goalie played pretty well i guess that helped (though he doesn't have a single 7m save ) I'm guessing pivot is pretty important since there are 3 backs and 2 wingers. After i lose by a fat score today you probably won't want to listen to any of my theories anymore

EDIT: Ugh, another goal on 1st shot against on hockey. Damn my goalies are terrible!!

 

[tujague]

Is a pivot the most important position? Ie. it is to handball what strikers are to soccer and goalies are to hockey?

I'm not sure. I had my best player at Pivot and it wasn't really working. I switched him to a backer position and the team has been on a roll lately. Of course it could all be a coincidence. I have made a few other changes as well. And I did play Obryantj's Derby City Elite quite a bit. Now that I think about it, that's probably why I'm suddenly doing so well

 

[canucks357]

Totally misread the source code of soccer today. Went into leg 2 with a 1-0 win at home. Originally read the source code as a 2-2 tie, thus advancing to the final-8 of the ChL 3-2. In fact it was a 3-1 loss with the final goal coming in the 88th minute. Had that goal not been scored I would have advanced 2-2 with away goals as the deciding factor