Yes. OC and DCs level up according to their goals, but you can assign their upgrades as they earn them. However, you can't spend their earned upgrades on either of the HC trees.
Good point. We might need to reassess how much cushion we get in our ODs, instead of # of SRs +3 we go to +4 or 5 especially if we are running with high profile schools that will likely have stud Jrs.
At one point we used SRs +2 + # of Juniors who are 90+ Or something to that effect. In my test dynasty runs I have had 85 OVR JRs and one SO(RS) go pro.
I think the main problem that Spayer is mindful of is that if you are at a high level school, like Notre Dame, and you end up losing 3 user games you could et canned. We played 8 seasons straight in Chompions league over this last year. Some users never got a chance to win their conference or beat a user rival, and at some schools that could get you canned.
Are there any elite recruits? Every year before this, the best recruits would be around 83-84 (before position changes), without fail. I'm just wondering if elite players actually exist (ones that will be upper 90s as true juniors/redshirt sophomores).
I thought of a recruiting question for any who already have the game: Have you found it possible or probable to get onto a players list if you start outside their top 10? If so have you been able to sign any of these recruits? Thanks!
Thanks drifter for answering all of these questions and having a positive impact on the game. Are you finding gems and busts at all prestige levels? Also what is the highest rated recruit you've seen so far?
ok, thanks. was gonna say if that was a true frosh...that's nuts. but that is nice to know. Playing as Tulsa in our OD a 74 JR would be atop the depth chart, lol.
GRRRRRRR! The CPU still signs extra guys. It's easy to miss because, unlike '13, it doesn't pop up a window listing everyone extra that it signed for you (which makes it even worse since in '13 at least you could write down all their names so you knew exactly who to cut). I just went through 1 season while only recruiting and buying coach skills. By signing day I only had 13 guys on my board and I had personally signed 10 of them. but, I was pretty shocked when I was told I had a top 3 class (with so few guys) so I checked "top classes" and saw that I in fact had signed 18 guys (10 by me and then a whopping 8 phantom guys signed by the CPU). Yes, I had all recruiting assists turned off. There was 1 improvement though. The and the 9 were all signed by me. The CPU signed the 8 guys. In '13, they were signing a fair number of too.
Here's my brief thoughts after 1 season of only recruiting and buying coach skills. Coach Progression: I played on normal progression speed as a baseline. I think it'll be very important to get data for coach progression over the course of about 10 seasons. Each level requires more points to gain than the previous ones. What this means is that if you gain roughly the same amount of XP per season, then each level will take progressively longer to attain (IE. it takes 640 points to go from 1-> 2 but 3,360 points to go from 10 -> 11). What will likely happen in some ODs is that they'll see how fast the early levels are and then go to a slower progression level to slow it down. Then the higher levels will probably be way too long to gain. I originally planned on using "slowest" but I'll have to get data for 10+ seasons and not just 1 season. This is especially important because once you set the speed at the beginning of the dynasty, it's stuck forever. Anywho, here's what happened in year 1: Normal SPD Started as level 1 coach. Got up to level 10 after 1 year with an 8-5 record. Even without 10 years worth of data, I'm sure that's too damned fast for my tastes. Recruiting: There's definitely a learning curve. I didn't struggle as much as VolTool, but I was using Michigan while he had Tennessee too. I needed to sign 16 guys, but I only signed 10. Considering my only knowledge came from EA blogs that's probably not terrible. I didn't bother selecting the correct guys (by position or anything like that) I just grabbed the top 20 guys that had me in their top 10. Because of that I only pursued and guys. Had I been doing this for real and also targeted kids I'm sure I would've been more successful. Learning the lockout mechanism and figuring out the opportune time for a visit will be crucial I think. It's pretty easy to build leads or gain on teams, but visits make a HUGE difference. There were multiple times when I thought I was safe from getting locked out and was patiently waiting for my visit, only to get locked out following some other school's visit. I don't like the "cash grab" offseason (at least after trying it only once). I entered offseason with 7 unsigned guys (I signed 4 of them and lost 3), half of which I had leads, and half I didn't. With any recruit capable of receiving 0-10,000 points from any school (that isn't locked out) I don't see how you'll ever be able to come up with a strategy for how to distribute your points. Do you spend 5,000 points on 1 kid? Even if you do that, you have no clue what'll happen. Maybe the other school didn't spend any so you just wasted 5,000 points (if you were leading). Maybe the other school spends 10,000 so you have no chance of signing him. I haven't played with game management coach skills as I figured I'd focus heavily in recruiting. After just 1 season I absolutely plan on focusing on recruiting!
Are there any indicators that a guy will reach his lock at point at a certain week, or does it just happen at random?
I just finished a season with tulsa with slow coach progression. Heisman everything. I finished at level 6, my OC/DC each finished at level 3. Recruiting: I got 9 commits in season. They are: 2 4* ATH 7 3*....HB, G, OLB, DT They range from 77 OVR to 61 OVR, 2 gems. Offseason I signed 5 more: 1 5* lulz 3 more 4* double lulz and 1 more 3*. And now I notice...the game signed 4 extra guys not on my board....all 1* players in the low 50s. #25 tulsa at 10-3 finished with the #15 recruiting class! Mind you all i did was recruit, no games were played and this is all on heisman. Tomorrow I will see how many coach points I get in season 2 on slow. But if it took 1 season for 6 pts, and there are 54 pts, and the xp needed for each level increases as you go, that will take a loooooooooooooooooooong time.
There is a percentage bar at the top of the screen that shows you how far along they are. For example "68% locked."
The offseason is what is so tough to me. Anyone can build leads during the season, but you have to lock out as many schools as possible to make sure you have enough points to outbid schools for the remaining prospects. You cannot rely on the offseason as extra recruiting time.
And I guess a couple other thoughts: - Recruiting in an offline dynasty will always be easier than online dynasty. Or at least it should be. - Bonus points are really the indicator of your chances with a recruit. Bigger schools will have a distinct advantage here and, provided you don't schedule your visits like a FBR, should eventually out muscle other programs.
If I have big schools competing against me and my bonuses are not that good, I'm not even putting them on my board. Also cool that you get bonus points for visits by meeting goals. Definitely adds tension to a big recruits visit
Yeah, previously if you lost a game a recruiting was visiting on it wasn't THAT big of a deal. Now you lost out on 400-600 points (assuming you didn't hit other goals).
Another thing! I think you only get awarded the bonus points if that recruit is on your board, thus it makes no sense at all for you not to have 35 guys on your board AT ALL TIMES. I successfully recruited half a dozen players just by having them on my board and monitoring their progress. Once they got closer to lock and I signed a few of my big dogs, I loaded them up with points to get them to the lock point and have them commit. Also, some of you may think offering a scholarship is a waste of 50 points without the insta-commit coach skill, but it effects the recruits interest in you. If a recruit doesn't have 50% interest, then he will not give you a visit. Thus, it's still important to get that scholarship out of the way earlier in the season (within the first 4 weeks I would say) so that you don't get behind the wave of schools looking to get him in on a visit.
