Increase International Amateur Finds

[ovccsteve]

My owner has given me the goal of increasing international amateur finds, but my scout is just not signing people. I have the scouting budget set to max, and Int'l scouting is 27%, highest of the choices. In the past, my scouts have signed quite a few players, but now almost nada. Any ideas how to increase this? (Thanks)

[Leo_The_Lip]

Originally Posted by ovccsteve

My owner has given me the goal of increasing international amateur finds, but my scout is just not signing people. I have the scouting budget set to max, and Int'l scouting is 27%, highest of the choices. In the past, my scouts have signed quite a few players, but now almost nada. Any ideas how to increase this? (Thanks)

How many players in your International Complex? If it is the max of 50, then you simply can't sign any more until you back down, usually when the kids age out of the complex. But you can cut the dross, too.

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

How many players in your International Complex? If it is the max of 50, then you simply can't sign any more until you back down, usually when the kids age out of the complex. But you can cut the dross, too.

that's a good point about your complex size.

[ovccsteve]

I currently have 11 players in the international complex.

[SirSaab]

Not to dig up the dead, but I’m noticing this too. Default live start settings, plenty of room in complex, scouting budget 25,750,000, international set to a whopping 35%! (I have the same owner goal listed above) I’m getting nada as well. Very low rate of funds, to the point I’m worried about having a short DSL club next season (currently in January 2025).

[MathBandit]

OOTP24 as part of the IAFA re-haul has significantly lowered the amount of random discoveries- that might be what you both are seeing here. Check the settings to see if the approx number of discoveries per year per team is what you want it set to.

[MathBandit]

See below screenshots of the settings for 23 (blue hue) and 24 (grey hue).

[koohead]

Originally Posted by MathBandit

See below screenshots of the settings for 23 (blue hue) and 24 (grey hue).

I get it that this is a by-product of the new international amateur recruiting mechanic and the expectation is that the majority of your "finds" will come from that...but what if one chooses to NOT use that new mechanic and is satisfied with the random discoveries of yesteryear? The downward shift in discoveries possible almost forces you to use that new mechanic if you wanted to have 20+ additions to your international complex every year.

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by koohead

I get it that this is a by-product of the new international amateur recruiting mechanic and the expectation is that the majority of your "finds" will come from that...but what if one chooses to NOT use that new mechanic and is satisfied with the random discoveries of yesteryear? The downward shift in discoveries possible almost forces you to use that new mechanic if you wanted to have 20+ additions to your international complex every year.

Correct. I play in an online league that had removed IAFAs years ago and touched up discoveries slightly to compensate, and now that we are moving to 24 we've decided to reinstate IAFA on a trial basis for specifically that reason- that even the highest setting for discoveries won't mirror what we had in 23.

[SirSaab]

Yeah, after I posted, realizing I was at default settings (8 discoveries per year), I pumped it up to the only option above that, 16 per year. Considering the new IAFA rehaul still results in one signee per year if you want to compete for the top guys, or 3-4 if you want to go for the also-rans, 16 seems just fine. The Giants run two DSL squads, so 17-20 finds per year seems adequate. Not accounting, of course, for the terrible finds with terrible traits that won’t even stay in the complex….

[Daniel_09]

Originally Posted by SirSaab

Yeah, after I posted, realizing I was at default settings (8 discoveries per year), I pumped it up to the only option above that, 16 per year. Considering the new IAFA rehaul still results in one signee per year if you want to compete for the top guys, or 3-4 if you want to go for the also-rans, 16 seems just fine. The Giants run two DSL squads, so 17-20 finds per year seems adequate. Not accounting, of course, for the terrible finds with terrible traits that won’t even stay in the complex….

Of course, decreasing the maximum number of findings and by default maintaining some demand from the owner that increases is the strange thing.

I still recommend watching some videos on Youtube as it is possible to sign many players in the IAFA (Like 14 or 15) without exceeding the maximum amount for international signings.

It is the most similar to IRL as you sign 1 or 2 players with high potential and for a higher amount, while you can sign many players for little money. Of course, these players are not expected to be superstars, but from time to time the TCR is activated, and you get all star players for absolutely nothing.

That's only the first year, in the following years you can sign fewer players of better quality and let go of players that will never make it to the lower levels of the minors, not to mention that every year X number of players' graduate.

[SirSaab]

Originally Posted by Daniel_09

Of course, decreasing the maximum number of findings and by default maintaining some demand from the owner that increases is the strange thing.

I still recommend watching some videos on Youtube as it is possible to sign many players in the IAFA (Like 14 or 15) without exceeding the maximum amount for international signings.

It is the most similar to IRL as you sign 1 or 2 players with high potential and for a higher amount, while you can sign many players for little money. Of course, these players are not expected to be superstars, but from time to time the TCR is activated, and you get all star players for absolutely nothing.

That's only the first year, in the following years you can sign fewer players of better quality and let go of players that will never make it to the lower levels of the minors, not to mention that every year X number of players' graduate.

Haha! You’re not wrong, but I can live with fudging the numbers to meet the demand rather than just having the demand be impossible to achieve.

As far as the new system, I DO enjoy it, but you have to admit, in the end, money wins more often than favor, even when you have very strong favor with a “loyal” personality, in my experience so far. I feel like it’s a choice: quantity or quality. Unfortunately for a team that must fill 2 DSL rosters, quantity must be the norm. I feel like 2/3 IAFA periods are dedicated to quality, and maybe -maybe- one to quality, though that may be closer to 3:1.

At any rate, I’ll play like this for a couple more seasons and adjust as needed.

[jmuelly]

Do scouts automatically find international players or do I have to do it? I have my internation prospects set to myself but I believe that only affects the offseason international pool, but I could be wrong.