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I tried getting a little creative with FML Radio, but that seems to be a bit thick for users not already involved with the NT. I honestly think the biggest problem is the dwindling onsite population. If the game is losing traction then it only makes sense that entities like the offsite will decrease with it.

I don't view FML radio as being hand in hand with the u21/NT. I also expected it to be more of a monthly thing rather than an every once in a while sort of thing. Get someone on there who can stir things up instead of being civil. Or basically A-dub.

Haha well we ran into some problems with khenry quitting the game, and now I'm trying to get it up again but my life is super busy right now.

It wasn't hand in hand with the NT, but it wazs definitely one of my goals to use it as a platform to give the NT some more exposure and promote involvement with the offsite.

Where i can find scouts for NT?. I sent pm NT-coach but he didn't respond to my message.

I'm not an official scout, but I believe I can help you out.

If you have any questions about the USNT and/or training, feel free to contact me via BB-Mail.

I am a member of the US offsite and help with USNT prospect development

FML was legend.

There are a couple of problems here. Primary is that the game is formatted for a PC and people are moving away from that format. Not sure how it translates to a tablet or phone, but I play several other manager games and they are all in the same boat.

The problem with the offsite is that it's just one more website to sign up for and I know for me personally, there's a fair amount of fatigue in that. I come here to check up on my team. I don't really want to go to another site just to hope that someone has posted something relevant to me. There's also a fair amount of snark and condescension there. I don't think it's intentional. But there's a huge gap between managers that have played for years and newer players. Managers that might otherwise want to help realize pretty quickly that they are outclassed. I don't know how you bridge that gap.

On top of it, the training in this game is the most bizarre one I've seen. It doesn't suit new teams well at all. The only real option is to sell decent draft pulls (if you get them) and buy someone else's leftovers. I've been playing the game for a year and the only reason I have a good chance to promote is a couple of beast teams went bot. That and I got really lucky in the draft a couple seasons ago.

So you're left with a dying format, an inconvenient meeting place and a brutal grind to make it out of the bush leagues. Kind of hard to make anything of that.

In another game I play, we have a decent NT system. But it's really helped by the fact that we can form a private conference in the forum and discuss NT matters there. That's not available here unless you're a supporter. Even then, not that many people follow it.

What Phyr did with his elastic training guides is a good start. It wouldn't be a bad idea to post some of that here and use that as an intro to the offsite. It wouldn't hurt to reorganize the forums. A lot of the stuff is out of date and it's not really newbie friendly. The problem is you'll have an influx of people asking the same questions and it does get tedious. And the payoff is likely a handful of new players. But that's all I have.

I've been reading this thread with some amusement and I have a few comments I can't hold back any longer.

#1 - I have no idea if the offsite is useful. I've read things about it and it sounds like it is. However, I tried to sign up for it three times about a year ago. Despite following the instructions given my account was never approved. That's not how you convince people to use it. Ignore me once, I chalk it up to miscommunication. A second and third time though? Now you're just being rude. I have no use for that kind of attitude so I will never try to register again. If that's how things are usually done its no wonder its having issues.

#2 - In the 2 years and 4 months I've been playing here I've been contacted twice about potential U21 players. The first contact was actually very helpful as it was early on and helped point me in a good direction on training. The second, more recent contact was a tad off putting as it suggested that I focus on training the player in question and tank this season to do so. I didn't appreciate that type of approach. I ended up selling the player because I didn't want to be contacted about him again.

A word of advice for the "U21/NT scouts": stop making your contacts with other owners sound so condescending. Stop making it sound like owners who want to play the game to win and have fun are doing things the wrong way. Some (like me) are insulted by that kind of approach.

#3 - Of course this dilemma of facing the choice of trying to compete in the league or focus completely on training, and losing a lot in the process, is exactly why many new owners don't stick around. New teams face:

- An noncompetitive initial roster
- An inability to add useful talent through the transfer list.
- A system of adding young talent that gives them 1 useful player a season, if they are lucky.
- An incomprehensible, illogical training system.

Now on top of all these challenges new owners are supposed to know they should help train U21 and/or NT players too? I can't be the only one who sees the problems with that sort of logic? Nobody really wants to go 0-22 and lose by 50 points every game.

#4 - The training system here is so complex, confusing and useless that it could be 6 months before a new owner figures it out. I've played a number of management games like this and this is the only one I've found that does not allow you to give maximum training points to every player on your roster each week. WHY??? That is simply insane and is costing the game, and subsequently each and every nations U21 team and NT. Fix this and team will be more competitive sooner, players will stick around longer and the U21/NT's will have a broader pool of useful players to choose from.


Last edited by lvess at 11/27/2016 12:14:00 AM

I definitely empathize with your frustration. I don't think the BBs really thought out some of the long term consequences of some of the changes they have made over the last year or two. The inflation in the market makes it really tough for new managers to compete.

However, I totally disagree with the notion that you can't train and be competitive at the same time. I have done it my whole BB career. I would even argue because of inflation on the TL, it is essential to train your own players.

If you are a new owner and your goal is to field the most competitive team possible in the shortest amount of time, the U21 training plans are perfect because those are exactly the goals of the U21 team. At a minimum, the U21 training plans will give you a great DIII starter that depending on potential and secondaries might even be good enough with more training for DII/NBBA.

The supply of trainees are there and plentiful. There are going to be a ton of trainees after the draft, that you can easy buy for less than 10k if you are not looking for an MVP/HOF calibur player.