Finances and some other questions

[TheEquinox]

Hello, I just discovered this game a few days ago, so bear with me please :-)

 

I started using MAW and realized quickly that I have to rely on very cheap workers in order to financially survive. When I had reached about 20 % popularity, NYCW was open and I got that job.

 

With NYCW I managed to rise to regional size and after working a second territory for a while I now got a TV deal with a very small station.

 

Now my problem is, since I got the TV deal, I have to do a show every week which is killing me financially. What I don't understand is the ticket sales income. I have a C- popularity in TriState where I'm holding my shows. I use a Tiny venue with a capacity of 1000 people for the shows (always sold out).

 

I've set my event ticket price to 17 so I would expect to make 17.000 per show in ticket sales. If I check the finance screen after the first show in a new month, I see that I only get 8.000 per show. How can this be ? Is this a bug ? Or is it related to the fact that it is a TV broadcasted show ? I remember back at MAW I always got the correct ticket income.

 

Would be great if someone could shed some light to this and give me some advice how I can afford this TV show.

 

Another question is, what are the criteria for a TV show to get cancelled by the TV station ? I only get about 200 to 400 viewers per show, but the station doesn't seem to care about it. The other shows which are running get 300.000 + spectators.

 

Thx.

[luminafire]

Check the sliders for the ticket prices. Firstly, I never mess with any of those numbers because if you increase the prices even a bit, fans become unhappy within weeks if not days. At least that's been my experience. You could be loosing potential ticket sales if you're not careful because high sales will eventually turn off your fans.

 

Maybe I just had bad luck and this isn't true for everyone, but it has been for me and I've been playing the same for 7 years (in-game time).

 

Also, the ticket prices are relative to the overall rating of the show and there are three different options per rating price.

 

In my file (which I'm sure are the default numbers) it's $34 per person for an A* show but $15 per person for a C+ rated show.

 

An episode of one of my two flagship shows, Tuesday Night Storm, got an A* rating and sold out a small arena which holds 5,000 people so I made $170,000 in ticket sales but if I had had a C+ rated show, I only would have gotten 5,000 people * $15 which is $75,000, less than half of what I would have gotten on a stellar A* show.

 

If I had to take a guess, I'd say that you either have your slider set for $17 on a specific rating your shows aren't actually getting (in other words, you set the C rating slider for TV shows at $17 but your show is doing a higher or lower overall rating like C- or lower which means you're not making C rated money). Either that of you've set only the sliders for PPV or House Shows and not the column for TV shows. Double check the Finance section in business.

 

Ironically, I run an NYCW file too but I changed it to sports entertainment style. Traditional promotions are really difficult to make popular IMO-- especially with the talent NYCW has by default. Seven years into my game and the only person who is on the roster from the default in 2005 is Hell's Bouncer. And I just sent HIM to development after he had a horrible match with Bruce the Giant on a major PPV. Good luck lol but if you haven't already, I'd totally make some new acquisitions.

[TheEquinox]

Hello luminafire,

 

Thanks for the hints. I found out that the lower income was related to the different tv show price being used when it is a show which is recorded for tv. I ended up doing an additional "normal" event of 30 minutes length each month which then settles my finances for that month so I can afford the 4 tv shows / month.

 

What you said about getting workers popular, that's still something I totally don't understand. In order to maintain my popularity (C by now) I have to let my main eventers face each other every show. If I use any of the low midcarders or midcarders, the show ratings drop from B-/C+ to C/C- which then makes me lose popularity again. Because the low midcarders or openers do not have any popularity, they always just get a D or even an E for their matches, which doesn't make them gain popularity.

 

The only way I found to make them rise in popularity is to let them win against main eventers but then the big guys will get unhappy and quit most of the time when their contract expires.

 

Do good angles have any effect on the worker's popularity ? If I would let a new worker with entertainment skills do interviews with a popular announcer, would that make them gain popularity ? I tried it a couple of times but didn't see any effect...

 

Basically the game is now starting to get a little boring, because I keep booking more or less the same show every week and I get about the same rating every week. If I try to change a bit and include some low midcarders into the matches, the show rating suffers and I lose popularity.

[luminafire]

Angles work, but they take longer to increase popularity than winning matches in my experience and you need to consistently use said-worker(s) in segments and have the segments be ones they can really excel at. The best combination is really using workers you plan to push consistently in both angles and matches.

 

Make sure you utilize the "pre-show segment" spot. I usually squeeze two matches in the pre-show spot ending with an angle to hype the crowd before the show goes on the air (in case the crowd is underwhelmed). Anything in the pre-show slot won't affect the overall rating of the show as long as the crowd isn't dead by the end of the pre-show. The good thing about dark matches ans segments is that you can boost momentum and push for guys that aren't good enough for TV in the area the show is being taped in. In other words, if I have a TV deal that broadcasts nationwide and I'm doing dark matches for a TV show, even if the jobbers I put in those matches do C or lower ratings, as long as I end the pre-show on a reasonably high note over time I can get those guys over. In some cases, I've seen it affect the popularity ratings of the pre-show workers marginally too.

 

A guy I hired with F ratings in the US eventually got to C- because I kept jobbing him out to more popular wrestlers every week that needed a win. Check popularity ratings often to see who has a low popularity cap and who doesn't. Whatever the highest rating is on whatever continent it's on is the lowest possible popularity grade. What that means is that if I have a guy from overseas with a B rating in the U.K. I already pretty much know that he can get AT LEAST a B rating in the US territories if not more. If guys have low popularity caps, don't waste your time and job them out. I hired Mainstream Hernandez when I started with NYCW but his popularity cap was C+ so even though I wasted a lot of time trying to push him (since sometimes trial and error is the only way to find someone's cap) it ended up being wasted time I could have spent on someone like Billy Russell who eventually ended up having no popularity cap and is current A* nationwide.

 

Another idea might be to start booking weekly non-televised events to showcase your undercard. Main Eventers will get annoyed if you don't use them on this second card but if you're booking them all on the TV tapings, it shouldn't really be that bad. Maybe throw in a main event with the upper card or main event on each of these non-televised shows too.

 

A well-timed gimmick change or hee/face turn can give a nice boost in popularity also. And don't forget that the "Momentum" grade affects how quickly or slowly a worker is going to get popular. Also, be prepared the take losses as you build up your card.

 

My game is many years more advanced than your file but a good rule of thumb for me is to have the main events face the upper card and have the upper card face the mid/lower card and save Main Eventer vs. Main Eventer matches for PPVs or end them in a draw. Ideally you want your main eventers to be at an B+/A/A* momentum rating at all times, the upper card at B+/B, the midcard at C+/C and everyone else in the undercard. You want your main eventers to be able to help boost your attendance when you advance book them in shows or PPVs so they need B+/A/A* momentum and the upper card needs to look like a credible threat so try to keep them at B+/B-. If your momentum ratings are all over the place currently, it's going to take a while (maybe even a month or two) to get them straightened out.

 

Your main eventers shouldn't really be loosing on TV. The problem with what you're doing is that by having main eventers fight EACH OTHER every TV show, unless it's a draw or a stellar match, more often than not your main eventers are loosing popularity or they're loosing momentum and without those two, your main eventers are not going to be able to put asses in seats with advance bookings. Less anticipated advance bookings = less attendance = small audience = more time trying to get wrestlers over.

 

You should have a good idea of who you want to push and who you don't. You can't make them all stars-- especially at the level you're at. Pick one or two expendable main eventers and have them job to the upper carders you're trying to push and give them a win every now and then to keep their own popularity up while you're using them to put other guys over. You also needs your "guy" -- your main star like a Hulk Hogan or a Rock or Austin who almost never loose (especially not clean). Build your company and cards around him and make him semi-untouchable, have a veteran or someone putting over the younger guys and the other main eventers can be a bit more varied as long as you keep their momentum high. The same is true for the upper card in relation to the midcard and so forth. This game is very hard in the midterm if you don't know who your main guy is and who is putting over talent.

 

If you keep using PPV-caliber matches with main eventers going at it against one another, you're going to eventually loose popularity anyway because your main eventers are always going to be loosing momentum and popularity so it's worth giving it a try and be prepared to take reasonable losses for a while with a company like NYCW. You're not really going to be turning a decent profit anyway until you are maybe Cult or National level.

 

Worry less about your current size and ratings and more about expanding into new territory. It's going to be painful for a while and you probably don't want the events in new territories to be televised because they'll do horribly at first but the sooner you expand, the broader your audience (the larger your audience and fanbase, the more quickly your guys get over) and the more areas you're popular in, the better chance you have at getting a better TV deal since I assume you're probably on a small or tiny network at this point that only broadcasts in one area. It's a bit harder since you have to do TV tapings and they need to do reasonable ratings. In my own file I started with NYCW in 2005 and didn't do a TV deal until I was popular in both the Tri State and Mid Atlantic which allowed me to get a TV deal with a network that broadcasted in both of those locations as well as New England.

 

I hope some of that makes sense and this is just the stuff that worked for me. I could be wrong. Getting a fed below National level off the ground is always going to be rough.

[Greylocke]

Another idea might be to start booking weekly non-televised events to showcase your undercard. Main Eventers will get annoyed if you don't use them on this second card but if you're booking them all on the TV tapings, it shouldn't really be that bad. Maybe throw in a main event with the upper card or main event on each of these non-televised shows too.

 

 

Just to add a bit on this.....there's a way to get around the morale problem using the game mechanics, namely the Brand Split. If you do a roster split, put all the Main Eventers and other guys you wish to feature on TV on Brand 1, and the rest on Brand 2, set your TV show as Brand 1 and your live event shows as Brand 2, they'll never complain. That's what I do in a lot of my games. You can still use the Main Eventers on your Brand 2 shows (and vice versa), but you'll never have to.

 

I actually exploit the Brand Split quite a bit, sometimes by setting ALL my shows to Brand 1 and basically throw all the guys I have no plans for on Brand 2 until I think of something for them. It's also useful in small promotions where you sometimes can't afford to use the entire roster but don't actually want to fire/piss off those you can't use yet.

[luminafire]

That's an interesting idea actually.

[TheEquinox]

<p>Hello luminafare,</p><p> </p><p>

thanks again for the detailed reply, I will try to adapt what you said and see how it goes. I've been taking a break from my game and continuing now.</p><p> </p><p>

My game is now in August 2011, I've got 45% popularity in Tri State, around 40% in Quebec & Ontario, 35 % in new England and 15 % in South East and Mid Atlantic. I've especially focused on expanding to canada, hoping I would be able to get a PPV deal there easier because there are less territories, but it didn't pay off yet.</p><p> </p><p>

Some more questions...</p><p> </p><p>

- How reliable is the booking advice ? It basically says all my Main eventers should be used as stepping stones for new talents. Does that mean I have to let my Main eventers lose against upper midcarders ? I have this one guy which was a new generated worker. He has extremely nice skills for my level (Looks A*, Star quality A-, around B in entertaining skills B- in rumbling, B- in technical skills). The booking advice says I should make him win against main eventers to put him over. I've tried it and he grew to C popularity in my screening areas and delivers B- matches now in average. </p><p> </p><p>

- I don't seem to be able though to get any of my workers higher than a C+ momentum. My main guy (Dean McWade, Heel) made 15 title defenses now, and has a winning streak of 20 matches against other main eventers or upper carders - still he's stuck at C+ momentum. The good thing is that he delivers A to B+ matches against my main Face (Nathan Coleman) because they have good chemistry. I put the two in storylines where Coleman keeps trying to get the title from McWade but fails all the time. I keep Coleman's momentum at C by letting him beat some friends of McWade within the story line. Is this the wrong approach ?</p><p> </p><p>

- I noticed that for every contract extension with a worker, they demand significantly more money than for the last contract. Even average midcarders grow up to 1000 bucks per show after 2-3 extensions even without being popular anywhere. Is there anything to make this stop ? I will soon have to fire my main eventers because their salaries have grown exorbitantly high (3500 / show + 1800 downside) and I'm starting to get into financial trouble.</p><p>

Any advice here would be great.</p>