You are probably right with scaling it down a bit. What I meant by making the fan interest and loyalty inverted compared to the market size was just a quick little formula I created. My line of thinking was that an expansion team in Sioux City would be met with extreme interest and immediate loyalty as opposed to the New York Launch showing up in an area with two baseball teams and nine other professional teams.
In my sims, it actually worked out fairly well. The one problem was, after about twenty years, the New York team started winning consistently. Thus, the interest went up quite a bit and they were basically filthy rich as attendance and merchendising skyrocketed. I assume once fan loyalty came around, it would have been completely ridiculous.
All in all, all of us in this league like some disparity. Our roots are in a 120-man NCAA 10 (for PS3) league. Obviously, there are guys who, like me, are stuck with the University of Buffalo or similar teams and we basically spend our whole season getting our teeth kicked in. The good players win what games they can (or vastly exceed expectations) and maybe get that job at Ohio State or Nebraska. Guys who aren't that good or who don't practice/try get stuck at Buffalo for ever and ever and ever.
So, we are not only used to playing games where we are behind the 8-ball, we kinda welcome it.
In any case, my next test sim will be tonight and I am going to test it with: no cap, equal market sizes ($25m media arevenue), random fan interest, no fan loyalty at all, no max cash, and a 100/25 soft cap. We'll see how that goes.
Also, as for scouting, the whole reason these guys all bought the game was almost solely because of the scouting. I IM'ed one of the commissioners of the football league and said, "Dude, you have to check this game out." After some quick back-and-forth, he asked a question that led to scouting and he was sold. We all get a kick out of it. Every so often, I get an IM, "Yo, tell me what your scout says about so-and-so." "Oh, he thinks he sucks." "What?! My guys says he is a 310/35 guy!" The waiver wire has been a blast, too, seeing some of the guys that have shown up on there. Personally, I am getting hit hard by it, having signed a 2B for 3/23 that, well, doesn't seem to be very good. No wonder he was untouched for two full sims.
And, by the way, kq, I appreciate your input very, very much. I hope I am least asking some interesting questions! I always try and do a search first, but having been a veteran on other forums, I know how much of a pain in the ass some of these questions can be. Thanks again!