How to make trading (REALLY) hard

[majesty95]

So, I've been playing with this a bit in a new franchise I started up. I never quite understood how guys said this game was so easy to exploit. So, I'll start by giving you my setup and then explain why I think it's more difficult than most.

Historical replay
Recalc off
Development on
25 TCR

Owner sets budget on
Player personalities off
Scouting off
Coaches off

Trade difficulty: Very hard
Trade preference: Neutral
AI eval: 30-40-20-10
CPU trades: Very low
Trading of draft picks: No

Ratings: 20-80
Overall: not displayed
Potential: Stars

For me, this is almost not fun. Actually, it isnt any fun, lol. I've had to change from these settings as its just too hard to do anything. Now, I'm not one to work hard to find bug or glitches in the AI. I play pretty straight forward. I don't handicap myself by I also dont try to pull off lopsided trades. So, take that for what you will. Your experience may differ.

First, let me say unequivocally, 100% DO NOT use 1-100 ratings. There's nothing easier than seeing exactly how players are rated. Also, turning overall off and just using potential (and stars at that) really adds a degree of difficulty. You have to really look at ratings to gauge where they are in development.

Second, do not use coaches or scouting or draft picks. Those are all things you can exploit. Nobody hires average coaches or scouts. So you ALWASYS have the edge over the CPU with them. Draft picks are the single biggest way to cheese the CPU from what I've seen so keep it real, and turn them off.

Third, don't put the slider to heavily favor prospects. I actually think it helps you by having the AI overvalue your prospects. Of course, if you only deal for prospects then your results may vary. Ive found, trying to both trade for prospects and veterans, that a middle ground settings is the best.

Lastly, and this is interesting, CPU trade frequency seems to affect trading difficulty. I had it on very low and tried to shop a player. Nothing much. I decided to bump it up to low and ran the same shop player again and I had more players being offered.

My theory is that the trade frequency opens up the number of players the AI is willing to part with which leads to them making more trades. Consequently, if you don't like seeing the CPU make a lot of trades, trades are damn near impossible for you. Its anecdotal and a small sample size but its seemed to hold true trying it in multiple franchises.

What do you think? Is trading as easy and flawed as some people think or do you have your own set of super hard trade settings that keeps you in the red every year?