Scouting- On or Off?

[hank9481]

The MBL has been running for several years without scouting. Recently, it's become a hot button topic for us on whether to implement scouting or not. So my questions-

1. Do you use scouting in your league? Do you recommend it for online leagues?

2. Does it add anything? Any realism or increased difficulty or depth?

Thanks

[battists]

Is MBL stats-only, or are there ratings?

[hank9481]

Ratings

[battists]

So, I will give you my two cents from a solo player perspective:

I like it, because it just adds another level of "fog of war" to the whole thing, and in real life I would have to rely on my scouts. I like that I can focus on different areas. I like that different scouts have different strengths.

That said, as with most things, scouting benefits the richest teams, as they can afford to spend more. I can imagine some silly crap around hiring the best scouts for ridiculous dollars.

I am sure other people have used scouting in online leagues and have feedback on that. I am certain there are pros and cons. I just don't know how debilitating the cons are.

[Déjà Bru]

What I do, because I miss the star ratings otherwise but I agree with battists that having to get (and generally always ending up with) a blue-rated scout is both required and boring (coaching is off altogether for the same reason), is this:

I set my self up with a generic scouting bureau, actually renaming a scout "NYY (first name) Scouts (second name)." I give the scouting bureau all decent ratings, in exchange for which I charge myself only $1 a year. This requires occasional maintenance to keep my scouting bureau "decent" because ratings improve with experience, and I need to periodically renew the 10-year, $10 contracts.

So this gives me a scouting perspective on the world, a decent one but not great (thereby giving me a bit of a handicap so as to not consistently dominate) while I avoid the tedium of searching for "top-talented" scouting. Again, in previous versions at least, it was never very hard to get and keep the blue-raters. Then I would feel both guilty and bored with "Mr. X."

Not for everybody, I know, but this works for me.

[24Rocks]

Originally Posted by hank9481

The MBL has been running for several years without scouting. Recently, it's become a hot button topic for us on whether to implement scouting or not. So my questions-

1. Do you use scouting in your league? Do you recommend it for online leagues?

2. Does it add anything? Any realism or increased difficulty or depth?

Thanks

As a Solo player I dont use scouting but it does add a variable to each player and a bit more realism for each owner, They will have to work around what they see and what somebody else sees. I also depends on what your % is going to be if its really low then it might be difficult for some of the more casual players to adapt to, if you us 90% accuracy that might be to high for people who like difficulty .

It gives more difficulty but also forces you to look at stats as well as ratings, you might see some more lopsided or interesting trades. The small market team cant do as much as a big market team that and people might not like the low offer for a player that is 4 stars for them but 2 stars for somebody else.

I say try it for 2 seasons at 80% or something and then have the league vote on it again

[SirMichaelJordan]

I use scouts and set it to very low accuracy

[TwinsTHunter]

Originally Posted by hank9481

The MBL has been running for several years without scouting. Recently, it's become a hot button topic for us on whether to implement scouting or not. So my questions-

1. Do you use scouting in your league? Do you recommend it for online leagues?

2. Does it add anything? Any realism or increased difficulty or depth?

Thanks

For online leagues, I think it's best to have scouting on (so teams can still find their own international prospects during the season) but at 100% accuracy. The real benefit is for GMs discussing trades and whatnot; they can continue to use the website to look at players. If scouting is turned on but not 100% accurate, every team will see different ratings, so they'll need to log into the game anytime they want to see what their scout thinks about a player.

Having scouting on and not 100% accurate can be fun, and it does make trading a little more fun since teams will have different viewpoints on different players, but to me having it on with 100% accuracy is the easiest for a majority of owners to use in an online league.

[byzeil]

I run an online league with scouting on (accuracy normal) and I generally only play on leagues with scouting on (I am in 4 leagues plus the one I run).

I much prefer this because of the 'Fog of War' that is created. The fact that each GM sees a different scout on a player adds intrigue to trades. Remember, you also have stats and OSA that you can/should use in addition to your scout. In fact, for major league players and players with a few seasons in the minors I rely more on actual performance though my scout and OSA give me some additional info that helps me to confirm what I am seeing stats wise.

IMO if you know the players real ratings then trading is more about adding up the numbers to figure out a 'fair' trade. I much prefer the opportunity to do my research looking at actual performance and maybe finding that diamond in a rough in a trade,

Now if you want a more casual type league that doesn't require digging into the stats nearly as much then by all means turn off scouting or set it to 100% accurate.

[hank9481]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It helps.

So those who use 100% accuracy, is there any need for a scouting budget with this setup? If you can see what they see, what am I missing?

[TwinsTHunter]

Originally Posted by hank9481

Thanks for the feedback guys. It helps.

So those who use 100% accuracy, is there any need for a scouting budget with this setup? If you can see what they see, what am I missing?

It makes the scouting budget less important, for sure.

I've never tested it, but have been told that the budget has a small effect on how many and what kind of international prospects your own scout will find during that season.

[rpriske]

I like scouts but would never use 100% accuracy. To me that is almost like playing in commish mode. I prefer opinions and uncertainty.

[BIG17EASY]

Originally Posted by rpriske

I like scouts but would never use 100% accuracy. To me that is almost like playing in commish mode. I prefer opinions and uncertainty.

This is kind of how I feel. I don't play online, so I can't speak from that perspective, but as a solo player, I don't want my scout to be right all the time. Not only do I find it to be unrealistic, but that makes it too easy.

[TwinsTHunter]

Originally Posted by BIG17EASY

This is kind of how I feel. I don't play online, so I can't speak from that perspective, but as a solo player, I don't want my scout to be right all the time. Not only do I find it to be unrealistic, but that makes it too easy.

I use scouts and normal accuracy for all of my solo leagues too. But for online leagues its nice for GMs to be able to talk trades at work and use the website.