Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Recruiting
- When do RPs replinish?
RPs are replinished at the end of each game week (Fridays except for the Friday before regular season games start).
- My Recruiting actions weren't processed this week? Why not?
I get this question an average of once per month. Sometimes it is the result of an honest mistake, forgetfulness, or even plain old dishonesty (I have actually had this admitted after the fact). In any event, I can honestly say that there's never been a true case of a single person's recruiting actions being ignored, forgotten, or otherwise misprocessed. You should be aware that we provide you the opportunity to view a listing of your recruiting actions once they're submitted. You should do this to verify that they were properly received by the system. If you see
your actions there, they will be processed. Here's why this is so definitive.....
The recruiting file is a write-only file. Nothing can be deleted from it. The verification scripts read from this file. Thus, if you get a verification, your actions made it into the file. They cannot be deleted from it. Even when you "delete actions", this is handled at processing time. The original actions still remain in the file. Thus, when I get this question, review the files, and confirm that there's nothing in there for a certain team, I know 2 things: (1) No actions were ever successfully submitted, and
(2) The coach did not verify his/her actions (or, at least, didn't see any actions when he or she did so).
I often get the follow-up response of "why would I forget?" or "How could I forget?". Well, it happens. I've done it. Coach doctorhoop did it one week even though he probably posted 32 messages on the MB that week. Others have knowingly done so and admitted it after claiming otherwise at first. Others have held steadfast for days, only to apologize later ("you know, maybe I didn't submit them afterall"). Regardless, the issue is an open-and-shut case. The only times that someone's actions
might get "ignored" is if I were to fail to process all of recruiting before uploading. This has happened once or twice, but it's an obvious problem -- it affects everyone, not a single coach.
- My team just finished the Exhibition season. Why weren't my RPs replinished?
The Exhibition season and the first 3 games of the regular season are all considered "week 1" for recruiting purposes. Thus, you do not receive your 2nd batch of RPs until after the 6th total game (3rd game of regular season, or the end of real-time week 2). The reason for this is fairness to new players. New players can join the league during the exhibition season. It would not be fair for new players to have missed a week of recruiting.
- How are the High School players within a city/region related to one another?
The HS players within a city are on the same team. That teams plays a region-heavy schedule, but it is usually not totally restricted to regional teams only.
- What is an RPE?
RPE stands for "Recruiting Points Earned. It is the measure of credit a recruit is giving you for your recruitment efforts. It includes RPs spent directly plus any bonuses earned (e.g., for getting in early).
- What should I make of the High School Position a recruit played?
The position played in high school is best used to help interpret stats. For example, if a recruit had to play out of position (according to what you view as the "best" position for him, then perhaps his stats will be negatively affected. Further, if you see a recruit playing "out of position" (for example a 6-10 PG), you should not necessarily assume that that is a fitting position, nor a wise decision. We don't know what other talent/height is on the player's high school team, and you should also remember that the computer just isn't always as "smart" as humans.
- How can I improve my recruting results?
The top recruits will always garner the greatest competition. You probably will not be able to consistently sign the "best" player out there. However, there are things you can do to improve your overall chances and (hopefully) your results:
- Play the precentages. Recruit from your hometown and region as much as possible (note that hometown advantage is weaker for the better players, but the in-conference advantage is independent of talent).
- Build a safety net. You should probably try to target one or two recruits that aren't blue-chippers, but would be much better than walk-ons.
- Earn the 8 Bonus RPs that are available each week. They could, for example, be used to build the aforemetioned "safety net".
- To avoid the most intense competition, you might want to consider recruiting "specialists". By this, I mean that you may find less competition for a solid PG who scores very than you would for one scoring 20 ppg. However, depending on your team makeup, the lesser scorer may be a suitable fit who is more easily recruited.
- Why do I want/need to rank recruits with priority points?
You don't have to. However, if you are in a position such that more than 3 players would be willing to sign with you, you may want to dictate an order of preference for them. If you do not, the computer will use its rankings and give you its 3 highest-rated players.
Also, you need to realize that sometimes a recruit may be unrecruited (or available because the team(s) that recruited him signed 3 better players) that is better than 1 of the recruits you would otherwise sign. If you do not want to accept these more highly-ranked "walkons" over your other recruits, then you need to allocate at least 1 PP to anyone that you want to have preference over any walkon. If a higher-ranked "walkon" wants to sign with you, he will supercede any of your recruits that have zero PPs.
- Does allocating many Priority Points to a recruit gain me an advantage signing him? Does it help if I submit them early in the season?
Priority Points only provide you with a means of ranking your recruits in order of your desire for them. It does nothing to enhance your chances of signing them.
- Can I allocate more than 9 Priority Points on a single recruit in a single day/week? Do Priority Points count against my RPs? Why is there a 99-point limit?
You can allocate Priority Points freely, up to the 99-point limit. That limit only exists because I allocated 2 digits to saving the value in my database. Of course, most coaches will not need nearly that many points to get his/her recruits ranked. Priority Points are just a means of expressing your preferences for recruits - there is no "cost" to using them.
- What does "Flag Recruit" do?
"Flagging" a recruit will make him appear on your "Top Recruits" page ahead of any nonflagged recruit with equal RPE. This is most useful during early scouting. You can "flag" players without spending points to create a "short list" of guys you are interested in. Then, when you are ready to spend points, you can quickly re-visit the guys you flagged. There is no cost nor recruiting credit associated with this option.
- Human players can recruit all throughout the week. When do computer coaches recruit?
Computer coaches all recruit on Friday, just before the weekly deadline.
- If recruits all sign after week 8, why would I ever offer a scholarship early?
There are 2 primary reasons to do so and 2 not to do so. By offering early, you assure yourself that come week 8, you will not forget or be too busy to make the offers. Also, offering scholarships is considered a commitment to a recruit and making commitments early tends to impress recruits (rewarded in the form of an RPE bonus). On the other hand, by offering too early, you do not get to see the recruit's performance over the course of the season. Also, you do not have the entire season to evaluate your own team needs.
- Doesn't the "Most-Recruited" list give away some secrets?
In real-life, everyone generally knows who is recruiting who. Everyone generally also recognizes the most-heralded recruits in the country. Thus the game is somewhat realistic in that way. Further, the "most-recruited" players get to the top of that list because several teams are recruiting them very hard (i.e., the secret's already out). If anything, the additional exposure generated from being on that list may "scare off" some teams and balance out the overall impact.
- What does "Exam" mean when I am viewing a recruit?
The value respresented in "Exam" is an entrance exam score for the student. We are using a grading system that ranges from 0-100. Generally speaking, anything below 50 is a very poor score, while anything above 65 is an extremely good score.
- I was clearly leading on a local recruit with 26 RPE and no one else even close. How could I lose this guy?
The actual behavior of any given recruit is hard to predcit. However, in this case, there may have been a special consideration come into play. Any RPE total lower than 28 is subject to failing to sufficiently impress a recruit, and his signing decision may be more unpredictable than normal.
- I just did my first recruiting, and I spent 17 points on a player. Why do I show 32 RPE?
There is an RPE bonus for showing early interest in a recruit. This bonus is 15 RPE in week 1, and it declines by 2 each week.
- What does "Scout" mean when I am viewing a recruit?
The "scout" attribute reflects the confidence you can have in the talent evaluations. Poor "scout" ratings indicate an admission that the player in question is hard to evaluate. This reflects real life to an extent, as there are always good players at all levels who have their ability to make the move up to the next level questioned. In cases of low "scout" ratings, you may want to give extra emphasis to statistics.
- What do "W-3" and "W-12" mean?
The W-3 and W-12 columns list the number of teams within 3 and 12 RPE of you for a given recruit. The count EXCLUDES your team, but INCLUDES ties and anyone ahead of you. For example, if you lead on a recruit and have 0/0 for W-3/W-12, then no one is within 12 RPE. If you are 0/1, then no one is within 3, but there is 1 other team within 12. 1/1 would indicate that there is 1 team within 3 (and of course that same team is also within 12).
- Are High School games generated with the same game engine as the college games?
Yes, basically. The biggest difference may be the fact that every HS team is computer-coached.
- When do HS games start? What is the numbering scheme for HS games?
HS games are played every night that a college game is played, including during the Exhibition season. Since the college games start at game #1 with the first regular seaosn game, this means that the HS game numbers are always 3 ahead of the college game numbers.
- What exactly do the Recruiting Class Rankings mean? How are they compiled?
In real-life, there are countless sources that publish rankings of the incoming Freshman classes. We have 2 such "publications," and they are intended to interpreted much as you would a real-life publication. They are "all-knowing," but instead represent a ranking from one point of view. The variance between the 2 rankings should be sufficient to indicate that there is some inprecision to them. On the other hand, they are far from arbitrary. Don't over-emphasize the rankings, and most importantly - Enjoy!
- At one time, weights were visible for recruits. Why are weights no longer available?
Weights were eliminated when the "athl" (athleticism) attribute was added. It is a much stronger indicator of the types of things that you expect "weight" to tell you. For example, an undersized center with good athleticism has a better chance of succeeding than does one with lesser athletic ability.
- Why was the hometown advantage factor changed per the 04/14/01 "New Game Info"?
There are 3 main reasons for the change (not necessarily in any specific order): (1) To better reflect real life, (2) To keep results and/or expectations from becoming "automatic" or too predictable, and (3) To add better balance and more strategy to the recruiting process. Before the change, a great amount of one's recruiting (and therefore, overall team) success was correlated to the talent levels of the 3 hometown recruits. Although everything should balance out over time, it is mathematically possible, and even likely, that some hometowns will be talent-rich for extended periods of time, while other hometowns will be talent-deficient. The change helped lessen the importance of getting star high school players in your hometown.
