Posted by the0nlyis on 9/2/2014 12:03:00 AM (view original):
are there different strategies either recruiting or gameplay?
I assume recruiting is more nationally with a bigger budget for each school and that prestige will play a bigger factor.
You must unlearn what you have learned. In this game, as recruiting currently works, the larger your budget the more you can dominate your LOCAL market! There are more coaches that recruit nationally at D3 than D2, I'd wager. The same issue exists at every level: if a recruit is worth signing at all, then a local team will have an advantage in a battle over a distant team.
Prestige doesn't matter until D1; at least not a significant difference, except insofar as the higher prestige team may immediately be able to put recruiting effort into a player, while the lower prestige team has to pull down first or may not be able to recruit that same kid at all. That makes more difference than the small % bump on effort that an A+ D2 team receives on its effort over, say, a C+ team (D1 is a different animal on that point).
I would caution against spending too much budget on FSS for distant states. Your prime area is within 70 at both levels, then within 200, then within 360. Check a distance chart on HV, CV & ST costs or make one of your own during your next recruiting cycle. It's eye-opening.