BuzzerBeater Forums

Game Shape
1. How do I maintain/improve game shape?
Game shape is determined by the number of minutes that a player has played during the week. There is a popular theory that also believes that it is not just this week’s minutes that matter, but also the previous week’s minutes. Aim to play each player between 48 – 72 minutes each week and you should see game shape staying on Strong or Proficient each week. There is a random factor involved in game shape though, and so you can play less than 48 minutes or more than 72 minutes and still get a pop up in game shape however it is much less likely. Similarly, you can play between 48 and 72 minutes and get a drop in game shape due to the random factor, but most weeks your game shape will be good. Managing your minutes properly will allow you to keep all game shapes on strong or proficient.

2. Should I train game shape?
Training game shape should not be done in most circumstances; however there are some circumstances where it might be beneficial. This would be at the beginning of the season, training game shape will give you a boost in game shape and so your players will play better and you will have a small advantage over other teams. Another situation might be just before playoffs or finals, if your players game shape is low then it might be beneficial to train them up. This training is only applied for that 1 week. Game shape cannot be trained above proficient.

Note that game shape is reset at the end of each offseason so it is not advised to train game shape for that week.

Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 1:11:43 PM

Enthusiasm
1. How does enthusiasm work?
Each game (except scrimmages and private leagues which are set to normal by default) you may select an effort level in the lineup page. Next to this there will be a number telling you your enthusiasm level. The higher the enthusiasm level the better your players will play. Playing TIE will mean that your players won’t play as well, but your enthusiasm level will increase by 1/3. Playing Normal will mean that your enthusiasm level will not be affected. Playing CT will mean that your players will play better, but enthusiasm level will go down by 50%. However, for all levels of enthusiasm, it will automatically tend back to 5, and the further away from 5 the quicker it jumps back. The enthusiasm is updated at the daily update each day and after each match.

So consider an enthusiasm level of 5. Playing TIE will increase it to 6.66 which will show as 7 enthusiasm. If you play normal for the next few games you will see your enthusiasm level drop slightly each day until it gets back to 5. If you play CT with an enthusiasm level of 5 then it will drop to 2.5 which will show as enthusiasm 3. This will tend back to 5 each day as well. If you have an enthusiasm level of 15, then the next day it will drop a lot, for example it may drop to 12. Then the next day it might be 10. Then 8 the next day. Then maybe 7 the next day and over the next week or so it will continue to tend back down until it reaches 5. As you can see, the higher your enthusiasm level (or if it is really low) the quicker it jumps back to 5, but if the enthusiasm level is 6, then it takes a while to eventually get back to 5.

It is a generally accepted rule that playing TIE with an enthusiasm level of 8 is the same as playing Normal with an enthusiasm level of 5.


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:24:47 AM

Injuries
1. How do I prevent an injury?
Injuries occur randomly. However, when a player receives an injury the time that it takes to get back to full health is dependent on the doctor level that you have. The higher the doctor level the quicker the player will return back to normal. Some injuries can just be for that match, some might last a week and some might even last 5 weeks. Injuries are not the result of bad game shape or anything like that. However, the more minutes you play, the more time the player is on the court and hence the more likely he is to be injured.

2. “The injury said it was for 1 week but it has been more than 1 week. Why?”
This is because the time is an estimate. It is just like the arena construction estimates and can often be shorter or longer than first estimated. Another reason might be because 1 week can mean anything from 1 day to 13 days and so although it says 1 week, this is because it has been rounded to 1 week.


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:25:25 AM

Staff
1. What are the best staff levels to have?
For most managers, especially new ones, a trainer level of 4 (advanced) is the recommended trainer due to its cheap signing bonus and cheap salary. A level 5 trainer is thought to give an extra 2 weeks of training per season compared to a level 4 trainer.

The ideal PR manager depends on a lot of circumstances, but a PR manager of level 3 is generally good enough for most new managers.

The ideal doctor level is very much dependant on the level that you are playing at. A new manager could probably survive with a level 3 or less, however at higher levels where players are far better in terms of skills, and the competition is a lot closer, higher level doctors are required so that players are not being injured for 2 or 3 weeks.

2. What are the specialties and does level affect how good the specialty performs?
The different types of specialties can be found here: http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/rules.aspx?nav=Staf...

Note that the level of a staff member does not affect the effectiveness of the specialty. This means that a Level 2 PR manager with National Appeal specialty will affect your opponents home court advantage as much as a level 7 PR manager with National Appeal specialty.


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:26:18 AM

Forums
1. How to find more forums?
In this forum, on the left hand side, if you look towards the bottom there is a link that says “Find more Folders”. Click on that and it will take you to a list of forums that you can look at.


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:26:45 AM

Tactics
1. What tactics are good against other tactics?
Listed below are some of the offensive tactics and the defensive tactic that is best used against it. Obviously this is generalised, and may not be best for your team if you have weaknesses in particular areas of the game.

Offensive Tactics................. Corresponding Defensive Tactic
Base Offence...................... Man to Man
Push the Ball....................... Man to Man
Patient.............................. Man to Man
Look Inside ........................ 2-3 zone
Low Post............................ 2-3 zone
Motion............................... 3-2 zone
Run and Gun...................... 3-2 zone or 1-3-1 zone
Princeton........................... 3-2 zone or 1-3-1 zone

For more information on tactics visit: http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/rules.aspx?nav=Tact...


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:28:49 AM

Scouting and the Draft
1. How much should I spend on scouting?
This really depends on the situation you are in. If you are in a league full of bots then it might be well worth it to spend some decent money on the scouting process because chances are you will still get your first pick. If you are in a higher league with human competitors, then it depends on where you think you will finish on the ladder at the end of the season. If you think you will finish towards the bottom, then it is well worth spending a lot of money on the draft as you get one of the first picks and so chances are you will get someone good. If you think you will finish top and promote then it might not be worth scouting at all, or maybe just spend 5k a week. It is a balancing act. In terms of value for money, scouting 10k a week seems to be a good way to go as it doesn’t cost you much for the whole season, and you still get a decent look at the draft.

2. Why can’t I see the draft at the moment?
The draft isn’t available until the end of the regular season. More information will be available in forums closer to the date.

3. “I can see the draft, but when I scouted this week it did not add anything extra to the draft info. Why?”
Once the draft has become visible for you, any scouting done is for the next draft. So you are not wasting money by scouting now, you are simply scouting for the next seasons draft.


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:29:42 AM

Merchandise and TV contract
1. What affects merchandise?
There are many ways to increase your merchandise income. Having local players increases merchandise sales and having local draftees (ones you got from the draft) increases merchandise. Also, the better the players are the more your merchandise increases. Winning games increases merchandise while losing games lowers it. Having players that are also on the National Team or National U21 Team will also increase merchandise.

2. What is the TV contract and how is it calculated?
The TV contract is something that all teams get in all leagues. All the teams in a particular league get the same amount of money from the TV contract. Higher divisions get more income from the TV contract. The TV contract is calculated at the beginning of each season depending on what league you are in and how competitive your league is and stays the same for the entire season.


Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/11/2010 9:30:21 AM

Players and Potential
1. How does potential work?
Potential acts as a cap on training. Different potential levels cap out at different skill levels. So an MVP can be trained longer than an Allstar potential player. There is a rough salary estimate corresponding to the cap for each potential level, but at the moment this is somewhat outdated due to the recent salary increase. Once the skill set of a player reaches a particular point that is equal to the potential level of the player, training really slows down and it becomes ineffective to train the player anymore.

0 Announcer: < 6k
1 Bench warmer: < 6k
2 Role player: < 11k
3 6th man: 13-15k
4 Starter: 23-26k
5 Star: 36-44k
6 AllStar: 47-70k
7 Perennial allstar: 88-110k
8 Superstar: 137-160k
9 MVP: 215-250k
10 Hall of famer: 500k+
11 All time great: 1M+

The above is a rough estimate, and is not entirely accurate now because of the recent salary rise. Once there is an updated version I will post it here.

2. “My player had a drop in stamina. Why?”
All players will experience random drops of stamina throughout their careers (generally 1 per season). This cannot be avoided and has nothing to do with game shape or training or the number of minutes played. You can always train stamina back up if you wish.

3. “My player had a drop in his main skills. Why?”
When players reach their 30s they tend to experience random skill drops. As they get older (33 years onwards) this becomes increasingly more common. So if your player had a drop in skills it is because he is old.

4. What is DMI?
DMI stands for deliberately meaningless index. It is very heavily dependent on game shape, and many managers ignore it. However, it can be a useful way to guess how good an opponent’s player’s skills are without being able to see the actual skills.

4. "My player keeps fouling out. Why?"
There are a number of reasons that could be causing this. The first main reason is that the player is a bad defender. Bad defence means the player will try and stop the other player from scoring or getting past and this will result in a foul. Training up the defence can easily solve this problem. The second major reason is that all players have a hidden attribute that is called their 'physicality' atribute. This attribute is basically how aggressive the player is. The more aggressive the player is, the more fouls they are involved in. There is no way to lower this hidden attribute. If you are unhappy with him constantly fouling out then you may just need to sell him. Conversely, you can try playing different tactics which often affects how many fouls are committed, or you could try playing the player at a different position to see if there are less fouls then.

Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/12/2010 11:43:24 AM

I would like to thank Superfly Guy, who has produced some great information that is posted later on in this thread. To go there now click: http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/forum/read.aspx?thr...

I would also like to thank RiP88, who has also produced some great information for new players which he has posted later on in this thread. To go there now click: http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/forum/read.aspx?thr...

Last edited by Naker Virus at 4/12/2010 2:21:23 PM

Great stuff.

Some overlap with the game manual but this would have been very useful when I first started as it answers many of my initial questions. One point though, I believe scrimmages do affect enthusiasm as they count as a game playing at normal level. Meaning that if you have an elevated enthusiasm (7-8 for example) this will drop after the scrimmage. Conversely your enthusiasm will increase if it is depleted. I recall reading that in a thread but someone please correct me if this is wrong (because then I will change my enthusiasm strategy!)