Any advice for a newbie?

[Stealingsilver]

Hi Guys,

 

First ever time I have played this. I'll cut a long story short and say that used the real world mod and created my own promotion with 0 Rep based in London. Running fortnightly shows with 6-8 bouts per card. I have had 5 shows so far but still only getting around 45 atttendance per show.

 

For more information I try to have 16-20 guys in each weight division, 5 divisions.

 

A few questions I should ask:

 

How much should I trust my cheif scout?

 

How much negotitiating can be done with each fighter? I normally delegate this but get annoyed when they only sign for 2 fights and have to be renewed straight away.

 

What should I be looking for in a fighter?

 

Any tips on siging a fighter. IE trying to get an exclusive contract fighter from another promotion?

 

Thanks!

[Target Practice]

I wouldn't put too much faith in the chief scout - I've had far better results just by checking local show results (although that's with the default database). It can't hurt to check the scout's page every now and then, but I wouldn't bet your house on finding the next Anderson Silva there.

 

As for what you're looking for, well it depends really - at this stage, you probably want guys who put on exciting fights in order to get your fighters (and therefore your promotion) noticed - a quick way of doing this with fighters you've not seen is to check the 'performance' stat on their profile. 50% is average - anything north of 60% is generally a fighter that puts on entertaining fights, anything south of 45% is probably not going to be thrilling to watch. One thing to beware, though - even exciting fighters can be dragged down by superior but dull fighters, so for example, a guy like Diego Sanchez, who'd probably be up around the 60-65% mark theoretically faces Jon Fitch 3 times in a row, and Fitch drags him down and lays on him the whole time. All three fights suck, but it's not poor Diego's fault. Also, it's a bit of a sweeping generalisation, but I've always found that strikers tend to put on more exciting fights than wrestlers. Might just be my game, though.

 

I'll leave the other questions for those who have more in-depth experience than me - don't want to confuse you with bad information.

[Rebby]

First ever time I have played this. I'll cut a long story short and say that used the real world mod and created my own promotion with 0 Rep based in London. Running fortnightly shows with 6-8 bouts per card. I have had 5 shows so far but still only getting around 45 atttendance per show

 

For more information I try to have 16-20 guys in each weight division, 5 divisions.

 

For starters, I'll say that if this is your first time, I would probably start with a high level regional company. Either pre-made or you can make your own. But if you're brand new, then managing a tiny low level regional company might be a bit too much to learn at once.

 

Not to mention, because in the real world the UFC has such a hardcore strangle-hold on the industry, it's going to be very difficult to find new stars. I would suggest learning the game through the default database, then branching out.

 

How much should I trust my cheif scout?

 

Only use your chief scout to fill up your roster when you're short. Don't actively look for good talent there - either check local shows or go to the 'Fighters' list and filter your search by 'available', 'gender', 'weight' and any other fields you want to filter.

 

In the default database, you can generally find good talent by reading the biographies and using the 'skill' tree. If you're having trouble reading the limited stats, you can try turning Fog of War off in the options so you can the full skill list. I personally think Fog of War is easier to read.

 

How much negotitiating can be done with each fighter? I normally delegate this but get annoyed when they only sign for 2 fights and have to be renewed straight away.

 

Depends on their personality. Delegating will always get the lamest contract possible, so if you don't want to renew every event, then you'll need to offer them more fights.

 

What should I be looking for in a fighter?

 

That's completely up to you. I prefer big divisions, so I'm not very picky. As long as people arn't losing 3-5 fights in a show, I could care less how good they are. But Target was right in that performance is a good way to figure it out.

 

Also, high ranked fighters are good for your company, but it's more difficult to keep them.

 

Any tips on siging a fighter. IE trying to get an exclusive contract fighter from another promotion?

 

The three things that fighters care about the fight (when comparing two companies in a bidding war) is contract price, amount of fights, and performance +/-.

[Stealingsilver]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I will start a game with regular database for experience.

 

Any other answers or tips would be great!

[Stealingsilver]

Another question. How do you know when a fighter in another promotion's contract is going to expire?

 

What I am trying to say is that other than adding all the top fighters to your shortlist is there an easyway to know when a top fighter is coming towards the end of his contract and is open to negotiations?

[Rebby]

Another question. How do you know when a fighter in another promotion's contract is going to expire?

 

What I am trying to say is that other than adding all the top fighters to your shortlist is there an easyway to know when a top fighter is coming towards the end of his contract and is open to negotiations?

 

The shortlist is the only way to be notified about the contract coming towards the end. This is how I, personally, keep myself informed:

 

After each AI event (as in, the very next day) there is a news story about which fighters have one fight left and can be offered a contract. I simply make sure to not fast-advance past those days so I can peek through the list of who has a 'contract status' news story.

[Target Practice]

I did mention it already, but just to re-iterate, keep an eye on the local shows. I reckon about 60% of the fighters I signed in the first three years I found through local shows. Some of the best fighters in the regular database start out there too, as well as all the regens.

The other plus side to this is that often any fighters you sign through this will be dirt cheap, which is pretty handy if you're starting out as anyone other than ALPHA-1 or GAMMA, because money can sometimes be short to start with.

[atomzero]

I have one tip I can give...

 

Sometimes you'll end up with fighters on your roster who end up being jobbers. They lose every match badly. You may be tempted to dump them, but often their early knockouts mean pretty good performance ratings, and they can be worth keeping around to boost other fighter's ratings and, even more so, for cheap performance pops

[BHK1978]

I have one tip I can give...

 

Sometimes you'll end up with fighters on your roster who end up being jobbers. They lose every match badly. You may be tempted to dump them, but often their early knockouts mean pretty good performance ratings, and they can be worth keeping around to boost other fighter's ratings and, even more so, for cheap performance pops

 

True but I often get to the point where I just can't justify keeping them around. I go by the UFC rule of if you lose three fights in a row I dump them. That is unless they still have a lot of popularity.

[atomzero]

True but I often get to the point where I just can't justify keeping them around. I go by the UFC rule of if you lose three fights in a row I dump them. That is unless they still have a lot of popularity.

 

Oh yeah, there definitely comes a point where they aren't boosting the guys they beat at all, and I get rid of them as well. After a long while, they may get some local show wins and boost their rep, and they can be worth bringing back for another go. I usually have a minimum rep to resign fighters, and I dump them if they sink below it.

[Stealingsilver]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the replies. I started a new game with the regular database as the BCF. I am running fortnightly shows and am on my 7th show now.

 

I am only running shows so often as I want to improve my rep quickly. I am thinking that it is better to have 2 cards of 6 fortnightly than one card of twelve monthly. Am I right?

 

When can I start getting tv and ppv contracts? Also what is the difference? I would have thought ppvs were of better quality than TVs but the UFC have been having some massive cards on Fox.

 

Oh also any advice on who and how to hype?

[Rebby]

You can start getting TV and PPV deals at Mid Level Regional, but using the default database (without the WeidtTV add-on), there might be limited options in terms of what it available.

 

TV Shows are just extra exposure for you, and PPV just turns your regular events into more income and popularity. You can set TV shows to Minor, Medium or Major...Major would be a FOX type card. Minor would be your undercard guys.

 

The pros to more shows is that your fighters are fighting more often, and depending on your size you're bringing in more income (but also paying more in contracts). The cons are that you need to find more headliners for the fight, and could potentially grow to the next size level without having fighters that can carry your shows. For example, you can have a ton of Mid Level Regional guys that work at that level, but move up to High Level, and all of a sudden those guys arn't good enough to carry your shows.

 

Personally, I don't mind fluctuating up and down in popularity so I don't mind doing as many shows as my roster allows. But, if you take this route, I suggest turning "Job Security" on in the settings, to ensure you don't get fired.

 

On hype...hype a FIGHT if you know it'll be exciting (both fighters have a high performance stat). Hype a fighter if you are sure they're going to kick ass. Hype, supposedly, does not have anything to do with the result of the fight, just the fighters popularity gain afterward.

[Lucien Sanchez]

1)How much should I trust my cheif scout?

 

2) How much negotitiating can be done with each fighter? I normally delegate this but get annoyed when they only sign for 2 fights and have to be renewed straight away.

 

3) What should I be looking for in a fighter?

 

4) Any tips on siging a fighter. IE trying to get an exclusive contract fighter from another promotion?

 

5) Another question. How do you know when a fighter in another promotion's contract is going to expire?

 

6) I am only running shows so often as I want to improve my rep quickly. I am thinking that it is better to have 2 cards of 6 fortnightly than one card of twelve monthly. Am I right?

 

7) When can I start getting tv and ppv contracts? Also what is the difference? I would have thought ppvs were of better quality than TVs but the UFC have been having some massive cards on Fox.

 

8) Oh also any advice on who and how to hype?

 

1) Never. There is almost always a better option than the scout suggest. Especially as a regional company.

 

2) Depends on their personality. At regional it's best not to deal with guys who play hardball as you often end up paying over the odds to get the deal done as quick as possible. As for delegating, I use it for guys I can afford to lose. I tend to run a lot of tournaments so delegating bears some of the burden on the numerous renewals. As a rule of thumb, anyone whos popularity is equal or above the companies I deal with myself (or if they're a future star I want to definintely lock down). If they're a no-name then I delegate as even if they reject me, I probably don't have plans for them.

 

3) Depends. I look for three different types. Stars, who can carry the company for one. There you want someone good marketability but the ability to back it up in the cage. Try and make sure they are at least fairly well rounded. For example, Diego Arteta starts off as good a striker as there is, but against the wrong opponent can be horribly exposed. I also look for those who can test my young stars when they're ready and to feed to title holders for a solid defence. These want to be guys who can easily build a streak but not quite at the top level. Finally you want a fair few guys who are almost assured of a loss. Stability is a good thing when it comes to building stars and they help provide it. All that said, as a regional company you might experience a ton of talent turnover. All you can do is roll with it and hope to keep a few fighters.

 

4) Basic pay, number of matches are the vital things with a few other smaller factors. I'd suggest not going to exclusive contracts until you're at least competitive with the likes of SIGMA. They cost more and provide pretty much the same security as a well used standard deal. This is especially important for a 0 popularity company. It might even be worth sticking with associate for some guys.

 

5) Shortlist vital guys you don't want to miss and check the news every day. Don't just check after the events as the AI tends to leave some big names on the sidelines for years, in which case you're looking at their contract running down naturally, which could just appear randomly at any time. I take every day as it comes in WMMA to avoid missing them.

 

6) Depends on your finances, maybe every three weeks? You need to gamble your business strategy on when you think you can reach some sort of exposure that will turn a profit. The smaller your company the more time you need to spend on the finance screens to make sure you can keep going.

 

7) TV will improve popularity (fighter and company) quickly, but doesn't provide as much revenue as PPV. It also only allows for less fights as a rule. Major shows are Fox style spectacles while minor shows are something like Strikeforce Challengers. I find getting on a small PPV provider ASAP is vital.

 

8) The default data has a ton of young stars to choose from that it's impossible to list them all. I personally like from FW to HW: Lamont Banner, Manoel Cabral, Diego Arteta, Esteban Vega/Isiah Monroe, William Harrison/Toby Sorkin and Wilson Franklyn/Pai Cheng.

 

---------------------

 

Hope that helps but perhaps the best way is just to dive in and get it wrong a few times? For me a lot of the fun comes from the adversity and overcoming problems. Plus if I tell you all the easy stars there's no fun in building your own.

[atomzero]

A big warning...a lot of good fighters will refuse to sign a contract if you delegate in negotiations, and you'll lose the chance to re-sign them. Anyone you really care about should be dealt with personally.

 

Some advice to save you money...

 

I have negotiate maxed out, so your results may vary, but at regional, nearly every fighter I am hiring is willing to accept:

 

25% win bonus (for average fighters, stars may want much more)

 

0% merchandise - they almost never ask to negotiate this with me.

 

$100 signing bonus - is good enough for 19 out of 20 fighters you'll be hiring at regional.

 

If you decide to start a new game with a smallish company, I recommend maxing out negotiation first. Aside from getting better deals, it gives you much more time...I've never run out of time or had to leave negotiations with a fighter I personally negotiated with.

 

Take it easy and try to save money. Don't be alarmed if you lose a little money each month, as long you can make it to ppv eventually. In my experience, PPV is like printing money...Unless you do something crazy, your money problems will cease to be once you have a deal.

 

If running a company somewhere like England is difficult due to the available TV networks, PPV carriers...don't be ashamed to change them. It's your game, your world, your experience. Having Public Access Select in America and Canada accepting up to 5 companies at 80% regional is tremendously helpful to companies in that region in my opinion. No shame in giving yourself a similar opportunity.

[westerby]

Somebody might have mentioned this but I didn't see it.

 

If you are running BCF there is no point signing a huge Alpha or Gamma guy until you are getting to mid-national or international level.

 

Look for guys who are mainly over in Britain. I usually get a roster of 20-30 guys and keep the same guys unless their aura is low.

 

I shy away from hyping one guy to win because if he doesn't he loses a lot of momentum. Hype the fights, think about the ME as the most hyped fight on every show. Do you see PPV promos featuring the undercard and not the main event. It doesn't always matter if the fight stinks.

 

Running every two weeks until you get a ppv is smart as you have monthly costs to cover anyway and I've found that a 20 match card and a 6 match card don't do different numbers really. It's the ME and co-me that sell each card, the undercard could 20 matches of fan feedback co-me's but two top matches of great main event and 4 decent undercard matches will do better.

 

It's important to build a few 'national' stars (and black ethnicity stars for the uk) because if you reach a point where you need them and you don't have them it could take you a year or so to build them.

 

I'd never listen to the scout as the search fighter options are so useful that you can find everything out quickly here, play around with the parameters and see who is willing to join different division you have.

 

TV shows are useful but once you expand them you can't change the number of matches or slot unless you get back down to screening on one network only.

I use TV every month and it is for building stars, if you set the level to low fans expectations are minimal but the fighters reputations and viewing fugures aren't affected.

 

Another tip that you might find useful is to focus on 3 divisions, you could go lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight then most fighters will still have a division to compete in but you will have more fighters ranked in the blurcat rankings than if you spread your talent over 6 divisions. Once you grow you can move people into different divisions but early doors it helps.

 

Once regens start popping up check for fighters at the beginning of every month as you can sign the best young talent up cheaply and it's easier to keep people than snatch them later.

[batsnumbereleven]

Also, BCF has a very good roster for their size at the start of the game.

 

I'm recently been playing a game where other than those on the roster in the default database, I can only sign British and Irish fighters, and have gotten BCF up to High Level National.

[Blackman]

SIGMA also has good talent at the ready. In fact, almost every organisation has enough talented fighters. I would'nt recommend SIGMA for a first time though as there is definately work needed in order to make it a competitive organisation (hiring lots of people etc).

 

If I had to recommend something, it'd be BCF but the 'old' BCF, that had only a LW, MW and HW title. I love the idea as every fighter would have a division he could fight in, and you could basically stack it with talent. I'd go for that. If you started with all 5 titles, I'd strip a couple and set up 'superfights' between champions.

[Stealingsilver]

Thanks so much guys. This is all really useful. I am about 10 cards in with BCF. I am mid level regional. Doing really well. I'm stealing some decent names from alpha 1 and others (some top 25 talent and some high performance fighters). However I lost my 2nd best welterweight (ranked 14th) in contract negotions. He has 1 fight left. I am thinking about putting him up against my biggest Heavyweight as revenge.

 

One question is that I know that guys that run out of patience with you won't want to sign for 6- 24 months. However what if I cancel contract negotions near the start because I know I can't afford them at the time. Will they still hold a grudge against me?

[Rebby]

Nope, that's perfectly okay. If you think you're losing the negotiations, just back out and try again later. But if it causes the fighter to leave the company, you'll have to wait the time for him to want to return (but they won't mad at you, at least >_>)

[Stealingsilver]

So I reckon I will play out this game untill I get some experieince in TV deals and tour other countries.

 

Then I will either load up the dawn of MMA mod and create a competing promotion to The UFC. Or I will start the real world mod and Start from the bottom.

 

In regards to the best way to set this up should I be asking about this in this forum or the modding forum?

[Target Practice]

I'm playing a BCF game on the default database too, and the biggest problem I've had is finding a PPV carrier.

I had to get to High level National before I could even find one that was willing to negotiate with me, and even then I had to give them a 70% cut before they'd agree to sign.

I did manage to get a TV show fairly easily, I think it was with Euro Sports 4 or something. They're only Tiny in size, but they also cover Russia and Europe, which is a nice little bonus.

[Stealingsilver]

How do I up my rep and get more people to my shows?

 

I am still getting less than 1000 to each show. However all of my top 25 pound for pound guys are ranked in the global top 25 of their weight class. Surely this should be drawing the fans?

 

Running 2 cards a month means it is taking ages. It has probably taken me 10 hours to complete 6 months

 

Thanks guys

[Target Practice]

Patience.

 

I'm in 2004, and even then I'm only just making that leap from Mid level National to High level National. I'll probably jump back and forth for a little while longer, too, as I only have two or three fighters of a sufficient name value to headline cards, and they're all well apart in terms of weight divisions.

Granted, this is the save I started when I first fired up WMMA3, so I probably made a fair few mistakes, but yeah, it's taken me 6 game years to get to this point, and I'm still some way behind GAMMA and ALPHA-1.

[atomzero]

I'm playing a BCF game on the default database too, and the biggest problem I've had is finding a PPV carrier.

I had to get to High level National before I could even find one that was willing to negotiate with me, and even then I had to give them a 70% cut before they'd agree to sign.

I did manage to get a TV show fairly easily, I think it was with Euro Sports 4 or something. They're only Tiny in size, but they also cover Russia and Europe, which is a nice little bonus.

 

I just made a regional British PPV carrier...it's my game anyway, darnit.

[Stealingsilver]

Hi guys, just a quick update I am now in October of my first year.

 

The problem I have been having is I am signing huge talent from overseas that is not (sorry to use a wrestling term but) over in the UK. They are not making any difference to my attendances and it takes them a couple of fights to be gain rep to become main eventers. However I am a sucker for a good deal. I did this by putting everyone on my shortlist and just saying to be notified of contract updates so I knew when guys were coming off contracts.

 

I also cheated a bit and dropped the rep that the local TV channel would sign me at. I now have a medium prioity show in the UK on the graveyard shift. however this seems to be really helping my popularity.