I need help quickly. I am new to HBD with all that that implies about learning curve. Normally I take time out to look at the forums, ask questions etc, but I had a family emergency and my league's schedule was set during this. I only have until 3:00 to get my budget set and need to avoid trashing this team with a bad budget. Can you help? Will the default settings kill me?

There are some owners in the topic of mentors that will help you. Ask one of the owners listed under the topic MENTORS.

No, default settings will not kill you.

I'd recommend upping training to 14m immediately. Other than that you can work with 10m in everything else while you learn.

thank you that gives me a little breathing room if my mentor doesn't have time to get back to me

14 mill in college scouting is probably a good idea also.

thanks spud found out that even though the deadline said 3:00pm it is actually 3:00am but I appreciate any help offered this is a lot to digest

Well since we have a tiny bit more time, here's another suggestion...

14 mill dedicated to Advanced Scouting will make it worth using in some capacity, but it's really only useful for players 2-3 years after they've been drafted.

10 mill is so untrustworthy that you may as well knock it down to 6 mill.

For a newer player you may want to consider going up to 14 mill AS, but if you're willing to adjust your strategy around not dealing prospects until they've finished 2-3 years of growing, then you'll want to drop it to 0 long-term.

Ok I boosted the AS to 14 mil.
I have the coaches payroll set at 15mil because returning coaches salary demands shows as 15mil. Am I missing something here or is this reasonable?

You may want to see which coaches you need to sign, and decide how much you want to spend by looking at the available guys (knowing that a good chuck may re-sign).

Get a feel for how much the top guys get from previous seasons, and compare that with how you want the rest of your budget to play out.

Also: Read the help section to get a better handle on what each category means.

The only consensus you'll get from the forums is that training needs to be as high as you can afford. The rest depends on how you plan to run your team.