retired_mrsjb

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I suppose the best approach is to handle it in a realistic and restrained fashion: scout only those competitions where the players are affordable for your side, and at a parallel level of quality, and then use scouts to follow up any players that pique your interest. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That was my thinking, but having attempted it, the way that scouting competitions works just seems wrong. As a second division side (not sure how I managed that, btw), I scouted Div 3, but the scout basically came back with what looked like an entire list of every player in the division, as others have noted. My big problem with that was that it felt too much like I had used the search function.

I think I'll be sticking with the flawed national or regional searching as it seems fairer.

What I felt scouting competitions should be was essentially a "normal " scout but limited to players in one competition. You'd hope that the scout might be able to deduce what kind of players yuo're looking for too - a conference side scouting Div 3 is likely to be looking for youngsters or cast-offs that can be had cheaply, (where by cheaply I mean free ), wheras I was, in my example of a Div 2 team scouting Div 3, looking for a guy that could make the step up without breaking the bank.

retired_holden

That was my disappointment too jcb23.

It'd be nice if SI consulted us Llamas about scouting for FM2005... has anyone posted ideas in the forum for that yet?

retired_mrsjb

Thinking about it, I wonder if it may be a bug. IIRC I once did a World Cup scouting (on 01-02 I believe) , having accepted a job with a struggling premiership side just prior to that.
That was more like my expectations in that the scout came back with suggestions from a selection of games. Of course, being a CM scout, most of the suggestions were carp, but at least he was trying and it felt a little more realistic, as the recommendation came after he had "seen" a particular game.
Anyone running 01-02 that can check the accuracy or otherwise of my reccollection?

retired_asohailpk

I haven't see anything about scouting in the FFM thread but I have seen a few people commenting on LLM. People I've never heard of saying that LLM is too easy and they want it making much harder.

Poofs!

It would be easy using someone elses tactics and player recommendations.

retired_pmetzger1

digger bloke;

You remember almost correctly - in 01/02 the scout will only report back on players involved in games that day, however, he does sometimes manage to get to more than one game at the same time.

retired_asohailpk

You mean like spilt-personality; having watched the first half of a games down south, then tracelled 200 miles in 15 mins to watch the second half of a game in the north.

What's unrealistic about that?

retired_bethx

Television, Video and Sven Goran's travel agent may provide realistic means for watching multiple games, however I agree not simultaneously.

It is just possible that a complete masochist, who was paid to do this type of thing, may be able to get through a complete set of fixtures over a week or long weekend.

My personal jury is still out on this issue.

retired_jmeshew

Maybe what we're really objecting to here is the speed in which you get results after scouting a competition. I would like to set a scout on a 2 or 3 month mission to watch all the sides in a division, for example, and only have the results filter in as he is able to watch matches. The larger the division of course, the longer it would take. And then I wouldn't expect to see attributes fully unmasked, just partially based on what you could reasonably see in a game like pace, etc. Injured guys and unselected/unused guys would not get scouted. This would be much better.

retired_mrsjb

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Maybe what we're really objecting to here is the speed in which you get results after scouting a competition. I would like to set a scout on a 2 or 3 month mission to watch all the sides in a division, for example, and only have the results filter in as he is able to watch matches. The larger the division of course, the longer it would take. And then I wouldn't expect to see attributes fully unmasked, just partially based on what you could reasonably see in a game like pace, etc. Injured guys and unselected/unused guys would not get scouted. This would be much better. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think thats true. If I let my scout spend six months on the road, then he'd better come back with a pretty long list. Ranking just about every player in the third division within a couple of days just isn't realistic. Even with midweek games, he could't possibly look at more than say 8 teams a week and as you say, one look probably won't be enough for full disclosure of a players ability.

As far as I am concerned, scouting off the telly just doesn't cut it. You can't see what the guy does off the ball, which to my mind is just as important as on the ball, e.g. on tv you never see the opposite winger making the dangerous run to draw the defence and create some space for the strikers because the camera too often stays close on the winger with the ball. I'd consider myself beyond even the grey areas of ethics if I used that as an excuse for fast scouting.

retired_berrysale

I do think that scouts return too many players.

What my preference was for in this situation is to scout a particular division.

What returns is a list of potential players to sign, based on rumours and a bit of match-watching.

From there, I choose to scout the individual players to see if they would be any good for the team