Here's one strategy for scouting at D1:
Here's something I sent to someone a week or two ago, and I have been kind of updating it as people ask. I don't mind helping at all. So feel free to ask if you have any questions.
One thing to keep in mind is that the real worlds seem to be more challenging than Beta, so I am having to kind of keep revising my strategy.
I would do the private camp first, and do 200 players. Once you select it, it will run on the next 3 hour cycle of HD (5,8,11,2,). Be sure to let this run before you send out your assistant or do any individual scouting trip. The private camp increases the scouting level by 2 for all who come.
Then FSS all of the states in your area - or you can do this before the camp. You could also FSS internationals if you want to. You should definitely FSS Canada if your school is near there.
To me the public camps are not that great of a value. I do them sometimes. You might do the one that is in your area, but you will have to wait for it to run before you finish your scouting then.
If you skip the public camp, you can pretty much finish recruiting right away.
If that's the case, you can finish scouting in a couple of ways.
AFTER YOUR PRIVATE CAMP HAS RUN (IMPORTANT) - I would definitely send out my assistant coach to discover new talent and further scout discovered players within 200 miles. I would set it to 25 at a time, and keep doing it until they are all discovered and up to Level 4. You'll know you have hit this point when it stops costing you money, since if he does not do the entire 25, you are not charged for the ones he does not do. Once this happens, you will have a complete list of all players within 200 miles, including all of the potential (high-High, etc.). You could go to 300 miles if you have a ton of scouting cash left. That is even better. You can then search for players that are in that group that like close to home as a preference. If they match on a lot of other preferences and are good, these are good ones to target.
Once you have a list of all of the players in your area scouted to Level 4, you'll probably still have a decent amount left for individual scouting trips on players who are farther away.
You want to rank the players with the colors as you go. I make Blue my prime targets, and if I am not positive, I start players there until I make a decision. I make Green my backup choices, Yellow my pretty doubtful ones (I never seem to bother with them later) and red is ones I know I will not want.
I would then search for any players that match BOTH your offense and defense. If there are any that look really good, definitely target them in recruiting because the match is a big help. If some appear on the list, and they are not scouted up to at least Level 3, get them to that level, so you can get an idea of potential. There is a chart in the guide for what the letter grades mean. You could plug the number that is in the middle of the range that the letter grade is in, and you’ll have a very close idea of what their values are (within 3-4 points). You can look and see from that if they are worth scouting to Level 4 with an individual scouting trip. At level 4 you get the actual numbers, and you see high high and low low. If they suck at level 3, then don't bother using your cash going to Level 4.
You could also just check for players that match your offense, then check for your defense. You could also search players over 600 miles that like Far From Home. Over 600 miles is Good, Over 800 is Very Good. If they match a lot of your preferences, they may be good to recruit, but they will eat a lot of your budget if you end up battling for them.
You can then research any players that you have discovered but not yet ranked with your color scheme. I typically look at the ath and def on the list, and if they suck with either of those, I make them yellow or red. If they are at Level 1, you will not totally know. I typically eliminate any at Level 1 that are D or F prospects. These are all going to be over 300 miles away, since you already have level 4 info on all of the close players. If they look good, especially if they match preferences well, you can do individual scouting trips on them to decide
Hope this helps.
RECRUITING: (This was to a guy that had 6 openings at Brown)
I think you will be amazed at what you can accomplish at Brown. I just signed two 5 star guys with 2 openings in this Beta. Granted, there are not a ton of humans, but you can get better players than you can now.
My strategy is to find very good players that match my offense and defense and hopefully another preference or two really well. At first, I'd spread the points around to maybe 4 guys so you can unlock a scholarship on all 4 of them.
Then, offer a scholarship
Once it processes, look and see who you can possibly guarantee minutes to. This helps a lot. Can you guarantee a start to any of them? These are both very powerful. I would guarantee a start if you have a shot at a 5 star guy. Make your promises early, especially if they have a playing time preference because it boosts every action you do after that, including attention points.
Do your CV on each player ASAP, since they only take 5 total from all teams combined.
At that point, you might go ahead and unlock two more, but you could just focus on 4 guys as long as you don't play press.
The strategy for me is to not show my hand early. If you can go ahead and get in the lead on a few, by doing some HVs and minutes, that's a good idea. For ones that you get in a battle for, especially if there is one guy you really want, I would not do any HVs until right before signings. Instead, try to do 140 AP every cycle on them. You'll actually start catching up to the leading team, but he will probably assume you are doing HVs so he may do more HVs to stay ahead. When it gets to the cycle before signings, do all 20 HVs and you may end up all alone at the top, with no one even at high. If you get really lucky, he'll sign the first cycle, but even if he does not, the AP lead you have will probably be insurmountable because he can't do more than 20 HVs just like you.
I'd also take a look at recruits on the west coast, or at least 800 miles away, and see if there is one that matches your preferences really well, and wants far from home. You will have enough cash to do 20 HVs on him but that will take a lot of your budget, and if that happens you will need to hope that you don’t get in too many battles for local prospects. I'd calculate it first. You could use the APs on him, if he is your target, because they are free. I did my son's recruiting at Tennessee Chattanooga, with a B-, and landed a 5 star player in Montana this way. At Dartmouth, I got a 5 star player in Georgia.
9/23/2016 11:16 PM (edited)