BuzzerBeater Forums

II. The Basics

Staff - Part 2

Can you see where I’m going with this? In my opinion, training is the most important aspect of this game so a quality trainer is vital to your team’s success. I’m well aware that trainers don’t come cheap; both salary wise and the initial price you have to pay for them off the TL. With this in mind, you need to buy a trainer based upon your team’s financial situation and the prospects you are training. If you’re a new team it would not be too bright to spend all your money on a level 6 trainer and then realize you have no good prospects to train. The quality of your prospects should determine the quality of your trainer and not the other way around. Ideally, I’d say it’s a good idea for a new team to purchase a level 4 trainer (level 3 if you’re really struggling financially) but don’t forget that you need to have the right prospects first! For a team that’s been around for a few seasons I’d recommend a level 5 trainer and I’d recommend a level 6 or 7 trainer only if you have obtained a set of great prospects. These trainers are extremely expensive and since each level has less impact on training than the previous one (The levels are not linear), it is unnecessary to get these trainers unless you meet the above example... or you’re filthy rich with money to throw around. I wouldn’t worry too much about trainer specialties although I suppose the fitness specialty could be useful.

Public Relations Managers help market the team to the fans, encouraging more people to show up to games and be willing to pay more for tickets. Public Relation Managers can have the following specialties:

Crowd Involvement: Your team will experience a slightly stronger Home-Court Advantage for your home games.

National Appeal: When your team is on the road, your opponents will have a slightly decreased Home-Court Advantage.

Notes: as stated, PR-Managers are in charge of getting people to show up, buy tickets, and buy merchandise. It should come as no surprise that PR-Managers are directly related to attendance. Any team that wants to compete should have at least a mid-level PR-Manager. Newer teams may want to start with a level 3 PR-guy while the veteran teams might prefer a level 5 or 6 guy. Truthfully, I am unfamiliar with how much of an effect a high level (6 or 7) PR-Manager will help a team as I have always stuck with the mid-level ones. I am a fan of the PR specialties and would recommend trying to get one or the other if possible. They can give your team a boost either at home or away (depending on the speciality) which you can use to your advantage. Remember, your opponents don’t know what level staff you have or what their specialties are.
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 the National Appeal specialty. Also note that all staff of the same level will yield identical results no matter what their salary is. You will probably also find that staff with specialties tend to cost more when buying them

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What are the best staff levels to have?
For new managers, a level 4 trainer (advanced) is the recommended trainer due to its cheap signing bonus and cheap salary. A level 5 trainer is thought to give an extra one to two 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 and how much of a risk you are willing to take. 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.

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...)

Be aware 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.

If I buy a new trainer/doctor/PR manager today, when will I see his effect?
Training takes place on Friday, and so the only thing that matters is the trainer level that you have at the time training takes place. If you have a basic trainer from Saturday to Thursday, but get an advanced trainer on Friday before the training update, then players will receive training from the advanced trainer for all minutes.
PR managers and doctors are used at the beginning of each game, and so the level of doctor and PR manager that you have at the time of the game is what matters. PR manager’s levels are also taken in to account at the time of the financial update for merchandising income. Seeing as salary is paid for staff at the time of the financial update.
So based on the information above you can work out when it is best for you to change the level of your staff.

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II. The Basics

End of Season Processing

Once the finals of every playoffs in BB is complete, the end of season processing begins. It’s also known as “Off-Season Processing” and consists of the draft, organization of the new divisions, salary update and game shape reset. Apart from setting your draft order and the line-ups for the two scrimmages you have in this week, you don’t have to worry about anything. The BBs take care of everything else. Just know that salaries will increase for players that have been trained and that the game shape of every player is reset to respectable. It’s generally not worthwhile to train game shape at all but doing so during this week would be a complete waste.