Can't outbid other company

[Browning]

I can't speak for the other poster, but yes, I have done that. 20% event bonus, Exclusive written, whatever their signing bonus was I rounded it up (think it was about $7800 and I rounded it up to 10k), various contract lengths (they were offering 4 years, which in my experience wrestlers don't like... but I tried everything from 6 months to 4 years) and people would still rather sign for TNA than my WWE. Granted, a mod is a bit different, but I'm by far the bigger company, and they had lots of friends in my company. Something just isn't right.

[Peter.1986]

I can't speak for the other poster, but yes, I have done that. 20% event bonus, Exclusive written, whatever their signing bonus was I rounded it up (think it was about $7800 and I rounded it up to 10k), various contract lengths (they were offering 4 years, which in my experience wrestlers don't like... but I tried everything from 6 months to 4 years) and people would still rather sign for TNA than my WWE. Granted, a mod is a bit different, but I'm by far the bigger company, and they had lots of friends in my company. Something just isn't right.

 

If that’s the case then that’s one for the tech support.

 

you could upload a pic of your offer, their offer and exact words the worker says to see if anyone can spot anything.

[Browning]

If it hasn’t been resolved I will do that next time I encounter it, but I’m glad other people have noticed it.

[Remianen]

When you say you matched everything.

 

Contract type:

Contract length:

Usage:

 

Whilst offering more perks and 10x more money?

 

The AI doesn't use the 'usage' field, from what I've seen. They always default to 'whatever is needed'. So usage is a human advantage.

 

My contract templates all look the same. Exclusive written or written (for shared workers), 10 year length, ironclad clause, whatever the default amount is (which is often adjusted), no travel cover, 25% of merch and then I customize depending on the worker. If it's a non-wrestler type, I start with 'never involve wrestling' and change it depending on the worker's available roles. Then I match the event bonus and looking at the competition's financial position, I'll adjust the wage and signing bonus to exploit their weaknesses. For example, CWA is cash poor so a big signing bonus will get them to back off quickly (or try to adjust minor aspects of event bonus or merch percentage) whereas USPW is cash rich so I have to strongarm and go in with big numbers that make them back off. I never offer creative control, wage matching, or hiring veto. Ever since I figured out how the AI works, I haven't lost a single bidding war, though I have dropped out of some (or let them time out so the worker definitely takes the AI's offer) to leave the AI stuck with a bad contract.

[thadian]

The problem is, the AI spite bids against the player. Their negotiation strategy seems entirely aimed at trying to force the player into bleeding out 20%+ events, 40%+ merch, creative control, and wage matching. Nobody would give these out unless they were forced to, so the game spite bids against you to basically try to make you, so you either don't get the guy or get the guy on really awful terms. It's just a fake difficulty mechanism.

 

The companies don't even negotiate for their own self-interests:

 

I've bankrupted the big companies just by waiting for their contracts to come up, bid up, they offer 20% events, 40% merch, over 15k/month for midcarders, then I withdraw my offer. Wash, Rinse, Repeat over a period of 2-3 years, and the AI companies will all collapse. Because they're not negotiating to improve themselves, they don't even really bid against each other unless it's someone like Remo, Tyson Baine, Rocky Golden, Nicky Champion, Rick Law, Rich Money... Outside of the top top stars in the world, the AI only really gets serious when it bids against you, the player.

 

So if you want, you can take advantage of this by bidding the guys up to force the AI to really pay, then withdraw the offer and cackle as you inject the poison into their veins. When they're paying everyone Creative Control, giving every jobber 20k/mo and 40% merch, and their bigger stars ALL get creative control, wage matching, and like 30%-40% of events, the AI won't be able to stay afloat no matter how many millions it has in reserves. It takes a few years to kill their companies, but it's easy.

 

I wish the AI Negotiations didn't feel like a gamey system of fake difficulty. It forces me to use the above technique with the hope the AI will begin collapsing and discontinue offering such generosities to unsigned well-known and recognizables just because I placed a bid. Most of the time when they start bleeding money, they stop signing people and even release some people. And that's when I finally get to sign some people.

 

 

One final note: Many of the best potential stars to start a company with are in COTT, and if I am right, 2 of the companies (MAW, RIPW?) are affiliated with the bigger companies. So if you bid on their handshake development workers or workers the company signed on its own, then of course the AI should ask "Do I want to lose this person" and play hard to protect their roster's future.

 

I've also noticed when I just offer 3 years for 6k/mo, and nothing from events, I usually get the worker, and don't usually get outbid, and if I do, I change strategy into forcing the AI to increase the percentage of events then withdraw.