HELP! Draft Budget Allocation/Can't sign first overall pick

[rarefind]

Currently in year 2 of my save using the Toronto Blue Jays. I lucked out and ended up first the first pick in the draft and I've selected Ethan Holliday.

Small problem. It looks like my budget was automatically allocated and I don't have enough room in my draft budget to meet his 10m demand.

I've played this game forever and have never ran into this problem. Having cash or room in my total budget would always be good enough. I can't modify my budget at this point and I really rather not go into commissioner mode to fix this.

This is brutal and completely breaks game immersion. It may even be a bug as the season prior I offered my FRP a 10m signing bonus as well. I am really curious why the ai would alter my budget especially with a first overall pick in hand.

Not sure where to go with this but this basically breaks my save here. I am pretty disappointed overall and regret the amount of time I've sunk into the game this weekend. The kicker is I can't seem to open a support ticket. I imagine this isn't a "bug" but intended functionality.

[SalTnutZ1]

What was your draft budget set at before the draft? I tend to adjust mine yearly based on the pick I have, the players around that first pick and their average bonus demand, and alter accordingly, so I’ve not ran into this, but they seem to hard lock you on draft and IFA budgets if a bonus(es) take you over that amount. Really not much you can do unfortunately as far as I know other than than offer what you can, let them refuse, and take the comp pick

[locuspc]

This year's version gave the draft budget actual teeth. If you want to avoid this, you have to set a higher draft budget. You can't offer above slot if it would put you over your draft budget without your owner's permission. The good news is you can offer slot and get a comp pick if he refuses, so it's hardly save-breaking. Your owner and Holliday's agent couldn't agree on a signing bonus so he went to college, happens all the time.

[Pelican]

Couldn't you go into the Editor for Finances and increase the budget now? As Commissioner, you could do that, even if you didn't have the money elsewhere in the budget.

[jksander]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Couldn't you go into the Editor for Finances and increase the budget now? As Commissioner, you could do that, even if you didn't have the money elsewhere in the budget.

He could, but he doesn't want to feel like he cheated. I get it, but in the case of a new change in OOTP, I'd get over it pretty quickly and make the edit myself.

[MoneyBawl]

My argument would be:

Ok. Let's say you can't sign the guy for 10M.

Fine. (Worst "feature" I've seen in a lonnnnnnnng time but....fine.)

Let's say (for argument) you can't sign anyone.

Offer everyone the slot. They all refuse.

Shouldn't you get that 8.24M sent back to your "available money" (for trades, FA, etc.) after they refuse?
You didn't spend it.
Why are you punished with dead money ?

I could be wrong but I don't think IRL teams are forced to give the league 15M for nothing if they only spent 5M on the draft but "budgeted" 20M aside for it.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by MoneyBawl

My argument would be:

Ok. Let's say you can't sign the guy for 10M.

Fine. (Worst "feature" I've seen in a lonnnnnnnng time but....fine.)

Let's say (for argument) you can't sign anyone.

Offer everyone the slot. They all refuse.

Shouldn't you get that 8.24M sent back to your "available money" (for trades, FA, etc.) after they refuse?
You didn't spend it.
Why are you punished with dead money ?

I could be wrong but I don't think IRL teams are forced to give the league 15M for nothing if they only spent 5M on the draft but "budgeted" 20M aside for it.

No, but please understand that the owner doesn't necessarily regard his money as fungible either. You are the GM and not the owner. You worked on a budget for the draft. Specifically, and exclusively for the draft. Not for stuff in case the draft didn't work out. So be thoughtful on what you set that budget on if you think you will be able to sign literally no one.

I give my kid $40 to bring home food for dinner. The store was closed. Wanna know what I'd think about his complaint that the $40 shouldn't be dead money to him just because he couldn't spend on what we agreed it was to be spent specifically on? Not his money, I gave him a job and funds to do it. He failed to do use it or the prescribed purpose, so the money comes back to me.

Also, if the game didn't let you go into the draft with the amount of money you needed, it was likely that you exceeded the overall operations budget the previous year. Draft budget and development budget are casualties if you breach the overall budget the owner gives you (if not in Commish mode). They become automatically set and locked at a lower level in such a circumstance. Lots of real teams have chosen players in the draft based on their budget and not based on talent irrespective of signability/cost. That's the card you drew. You were one of those teams. Take the comp pick, if any, if you didn't plan well this year. Be careful and don't bid on players you can't afford. Don't go over budget and expect to control the development or draft budget. That seems more immersive and challenging. And if you want to not have consequences related to the budget, that's a fine way to play too and it's why Commish mode exists.

EDIT: per Matt below, the funds to go back to a general fund. Seems I still gotta let my kid have the $40 but it is still subject to other game mechanics. Why have a budget at all is the question then...

[MoneyBawl]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

No, but please understand that the owner doesn't necessarily regard his money as fungible either. You are the GM and not the owner. You worked on a budget for the draft. Specifically, and exclusively for the draft. Not for stuff in case the draft didn't work out. So be thoughtful on what you set that budget on if you think you will be able to sign literally no one.

I give my kid $40 to bring home food for dinner. The store was closed. Wanna know what I'd think about his complaint that the $40 shouldn't be dead money to him just because he couldn't spend on what we agreed it was to be spent specifically on? Not his money, I gave him a job and funds to do it. He failed to do use it or the prescribed purpose, so the money comes back to me.

Also, if the game didn't let you go into the draft with the amount of money you needed, it was likely that you exceeded the overall operations budget the previous year. Draft budget and development budget are casualties if you breach the overall budget the owner gives you (if not in Commish mode). They become automatically set and locked at a lower level in such a circumstance. Lots of real teams have chosen players in the draft based on their budget and not based on talent irrespective of signability/cost. That's the card you drew. You were one of those teams. Take the comp pick, if any, if you didn't plan well this year. Be careful and don't bid on players you can't afford. Don't go over budget and expect to control the development or draft budget. That seems more immersive and challenging. And if you want to not have consequences related to the budget, that's a fine way to play too and it's why Commish mode exists.

I appreciate your response but your kid not spending 40 dollars does not equal a multi-billion dollar franchise missing out on several million dollars of a signing bonus that they "budgeted" for....missed out on. And then re-investing that somewhere else.

This mechanic is broken.

[LansdowneSt]

I just think it’s a conversation with ownership much like this is all:

https://youtu.be/JXyisZLObHc?feature=shared

Draft centric but same. It is being reinvested. Just not with you. It’s not team money. It’s the owner’s. And it’s most definitely going somewhere else. Probably real estate. Or a hedge fund. That’s the mechanic at play, I’m afraid.

It’s always been that way. The only change this year is the game checks if you were over budget the previous year automatically whereas it used to only levy the penalty if you touched the budgets and tried to change them. They closed that bug/loophole this year.

[MoneyBawl]

Sorry.....no....that makes no sense.

No one anywhere has made any sense as to why the game is forcing a GM to invest dead money for no reason.

This is a terrible "feature" from the devs and I would ask them to remove it.

"Draft Budget" as a concept has made no sense for 10+ years.

[MoneyBawl]

This is coming from someone who has over 1k hours invested in your game.

Someone who has made videos to help people learn/play your game.

Someone who is very, very ready to just tell others to abandon this game.

There is no reason for the devs to force this.

It is a broken concept.
It should have never been in the game in the first place (10+ years ago).

Get over it, devs.

Forcing people to use your **** is a bad strategy.

[Matt Arnold]

After the draft signing period is over, any excess budget space is "returned" in the projected calculations. So if you don't sign anyone if you had placed a larger draft budget you can use that for something else.

Otherwise, you should always be able to spend up to your draft budget, and you shouldn't have trouble offering slot bonuses to everyone, even if that puts you above your budget. If you want to spend above that, it should probably take it from your "general" revenues (same budget as for trades and stuff). If it's not adding up, we can certainly take a deeper look and correct.

[snepp]

Have to say I'm impressed, my 8-year-old can't throw a tantrum that well. Though in her defense, she generally communicates with others without feeling the need to stomp her feet, take her ball, and pout her way home. *shrug*

Anyway, budgeted draft funds aren't simply lost to the ether if they're not used, those funds are made available for general use at the draft pick signing deadline.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by MoneyBawl

This is coming from someone who has over 1k hours invested in your game.

Someone who has made videos to help people learn/play your game.

Someone who is very, very ready to just tell others to abandon this game.

There is no reason for the devs to force this.

It is a broken concept.
It should have never been in the game in the first place (10+ years ago).

Get over it, devs.

Forcing people to use your **** is a bad strategy.

You had a civil conversation going on. One long time user (not a developer) gave an opinion. You countered saying you would like the developer to make a change. Whether anyone agrees or disagrees with you it's all good so far. Maybe the conversation continues and we find there is a problem and a way to make it better in the game? Or we find the feature is working and there is a misunderstanding on the part of the OP in how to get what he wants? But rather than continue a civil conversation you double down with a "I'll tell all of my friends" tantrum? Using your words, it "is a bad strategy". What did you hope to accomplish?

[omg_pwnasaurus]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

Draft budget and development budget are casualties if you breach the overall budget the owner gives you (if not in Commish mode).

Interesting point about commish mode. Does that mean if I'm playing in commish mode (i only do so in case something goes horribly wrong and I need access to put a player back somewhere or whatever), I will still receive such a popup/over draft budget blocker or will it just bypass because commish mode.

I'd prefer it to still be rigid like in the the OP's example even in commish mode as I want to keep the realism while still allowing for control on the backend for anything major w/r/t CPU to CPU trading or whatever.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by omg_pwnasaurus

Interesting point about commish mode. Does that mean if I'm playing in commish mode (i only do so in case something goes horribly wrong and I need access to put a player back somewhere or whatever), I will still receive such a popup/over draft budget blocker or will it just bypass because commish mode.

I'd prefer it to still be rigid like in the the OP's example even in commish mode as I want to keep the realism while still allowing for control on the backend for anything major w/r/t CPU to CPU trading or whatever.

See the lower left of the screen. I am the GM of Marlins with little money to spend. It still tells me that I am over what I can offer the Free Agent, but I need to note that and manually adhere to it if Commish. Because it will let me offer and sign Snell to this contract in Commish Mode. Same thing on the draft. You can ignore the slot restrictions when you have blown the previous year's budget and should be restrained. Not sure if the pop-up comes up per se but, generally speaking, you can see your budget and do the math as you offer money to the draftees.

That's why some only turn it on when they want it on for a specific task. If you leave it on you can still mind the rules... or not.

[omg_pwnasaurus]

Ok, thanks. Yeah I still self police everything and have noticed the note in the past but was just curious if '25 or any updates to '25 had initiated any hard stops even in commish mode or something like that.