FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

[Gnemi]

Much like the conversations surrounding Youth Academy and Player Growth, I'm intending this thread to be used as a repository for suggestions, observations, and strategies related to this new feature in FIFA 14.

In years past, I confess to having heavily utilized SOFIFA and other resources to peel back the layers of mystery involving the scouting and recruitment of players. Hopefully, the Global Transfer Network will be a robust enough system to keep Career Mode managers like myself both informed and intrigued as I look to populate my roster with savvy veterans and lottery ticket youngsters.

I'll have my Season Ticket early release installed within the next half hour and hope to start the conversation by tomorrow.

[orion523]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

Cheater! LOL seriously I'm pretty intrigued by the GTN and feel its a great addition. What I like best is that it's really no longer possible to take a small lower division club and quickly move them up the ranks, they just don't have the scouting firepower to do it and since you cannot make a transfer for a player that your scouts don't recommend you'll be lucky to bring in one good player a season, just as it should be.

[Gnemi]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

So I took a quick peek under the hood yesterday and wow, it's very clear that EA are not happy with websites like SOFIFA. It's also clear that they'd like to make the Career Mode a richer, deeper experience for FIFA nerds. For that alone, I'm appreciative.

As you've pointed out, Orion, it's going to take a lot of patience and preparation to grab a 2nd tier team and bring them up from the scrap heap into the top flight.

Right now, I'm pretty much going to wait for the Catalog to open up so I can plunk down the coins on a Financial Takeover. Otherwise, it could take an entire career to get from the Championship to the EPL!

First, I have to put all my custom formations and tactics back in the game.

[mctrees02]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

If you have a championship side that makes it up to EPL, do they see a substantial bump in transfer funds availability now? In prior year this wasn't the case and I would have to stockpile money by buying/selling players so that I had 40-50mm once I got my league 2 side to the top flight.

Also, are you saying that if your scouts do not first recommend a player that you cannot buy him? Do you no longer have the ability to search the player database directly and make an offer?

[NaturalSelected]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

So I took a quick peek under the hood yesterday and wow, it's very clear that EA are not happy with websites like SOFIFA. It's also clear that they'd like to make the Career Mode a richer, deeper experience for FIFA nerds. For that alone, I'm appreciative.

As you've pointed out, Orion, it's going to take a lot of patience and preparation to grab a 2nd tier team and bring them up from the scrap heap into the top flight.

Right now, I'm pretty much going to wait for the Catalog to open up so I can plunk down the coins on a Financial Takeover. Otherwise, it could take an entire career to get from the Championship to the EPL!

First, I have to put all my custom formations and tactics back in the game.

Can you elaborate on why you think they were unhappy with SoFIFA and other sites? My understanding is you could still look up those players overall ratings now after each update. I won't be doing that, but isn't it still possible?

[Gnemi]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

Can you elaborate on why you think they were unhappy with SoFIFA and other sites? My understanding is you could still look up those players overall ratings now after each update. I won't be doing that, but isn't it still possible?

You're right, I should probably re-phrase. I've always imagined a company like EA being uneasy with the traffic generated by SOFIFA and while I'm sure that had some part in the conversation at EA Canada about the development of the Global Transfer Network, it may not have been critical.

Until I know more about how the GTN works in practice, I'll reserve judgment. I hope it creates a deeper experience by giving me a realistic role-playing scenario for recruiting talent on the transfer market. In years past, regrettably, I'd just use the built-in search or SOFIFA to scour the globe for precisely what I wanted, then plunk down the cash. It made putting together a squad of unbeatables rather trivial.

If I'm forced to accept the pool of talent made accessible through successful scouting, that's awesome. After all, there's a reason why lower clubs don't have heaps of talent and it's not just cash. It's the quality of their academy and their scouts. E.g. - Wenger became the envy of Europe by recruiting the gems of Africa.

Anyway, I might not have time this week to explore the GTN so I hope other folks in our community use this thread to share their thoughts.

My very initial observations:

I started a career with AFC Bournemouth. I was given three of a possible six scouts. The three I was given all have horrible judgment so I'm not counting on turning up anything more than a pile of excrement with their services. However, I only have €5 million and from that, I also have to hire scouts for my youth academy! It's going to be, to put it mildly, slow-going to improve this squad.

So with six scouts in the GTN, it raises the obvious question of...quantity over quality? Why six? How do the number of scouts influence your success? Can you get away with having three crap scouts if you hire three more good ones?

[Gnemi]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

If you have a championship side that makes it up to EPL, do they see a substantial bump in transfer funds availability now? In prior year this wasn't the case and I would have to stockpile money by buying/selling players so that I had 40-50mm once I got my league 2 side to the top flight.

Also, are you saying that if your scouts do not first recommend a player that you cannot buy him? Do you no longer have the ability to search the player database directly and make an offer?

Great questions.

1. In years past, when my 2nd tier team was promoted, I did see an increase in funds. When you approach European competition, you also see an increase. In my 5th year with Cardiff City, I saw €20 million in funds to make me viable for the UCL.
   
2. This is correct. I used the old search feature and it's been massively pared down. All you see are position, age, nationality, and a couple other simple criteria for filtering results. You can no longer search by value or wages. All of that is left up to your scouts. Ratings are also of course gone. So sure you can do a search for Aaron Ramsey but your only options once you find him are to have your scouts approach him and make a recommendation. My guess is that unless your club have a good reputation AND cash, you won't be getting Ronaldo to join your crap club.

[hedache]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

Great questions.

1. In years past, when my 2nd tier team was promoted, I did see an increase in funds. When you approach European competition, you also see an increase. In my 5th year with Cardiff City, I saw €20 million in funds to make me viable for the UCL.
   
2. This is correct. I used the old search feature and it's been massively pared down. All you see are position, age, nationality, and a couple other simple criteria for filtering results. You can no longer search by value or wages. All of that is left up to your scouts. Ratings are also of course gone. So sure you can do a search for Aaron Ramsey but your only options once you find him are to have your scouts approach him and make a recommendation. My guess is that unless your club have a good reputation AND cash, you won't be getting Ronaldo to join your crap club.

I like this. I started a CM last night with Everton, mostly because I'm not good enough nor have the time to take a lower team to success. I figured Everton would be a good pick that has some space for improvement over what Moyes left behind, especially after losing Fellaini.
I started this more to test out some slider values so I didn't spend time with GTN yet, but what I've seen in the interface combined with what I'm hearing here makes CM a lot more fun this year. A little more realism added, a new challenge.

[mctrees02]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

Great questions.

1. In years past, when my 2nd tier team was promoted, I did see an increase in funds. When you approach European competition, you also see an increase. In my 5th year with Cardiff City, I saw €20 million in funds to make me viable for the UCL.
   
2. This is correct. I used the old search feature and it's been massively pared down. All you see are position, age, nationality, and a couple other simple criteria for filtering results. You can no longer search by value or wages. All of that is left up to your scouts. Ratings are also of course gone. So sure you can do a search for Aaron Ramsey but your only options once you find him are to have your scouts approach him and make a recommendation. My guess is that unless your club have a good reputation AND cash, you won't be getting Ronaldo to join your crap club.

Very cool. It definitely needs to be a bit harder than using SOFIFA to find talent in the game.

On FIFA 13, I started all the way down in League 2 working Bristol Rovers up to the top. To grow my squad, it was a combination of buying access to the royal family fund in year 1 to get a jump start, finding players in lesser leagues (Omar Gonzalez, Hong Jeong Ho, etc), growing them to 80-85 OVR and then selling for cash. I could sink that into the youth academy, get a few good scouts, and then find studs in the US, Brazil and Argentina to improve the depth/quality of the side.

The other big play was taking in youths on loan from the big clubs, tagging a high future fee onto them, and hoping to grow them beyond that fee by seasons end. I would save up enough to pay the club off, and then sell the player at the next transfer window. The best example I had of that was loaning in Lucas Piazon w/ a future fee of $2.2mm, growing him to $7mm in form at season's end and then selling on for $17mm afterwards. This move was particularly easy to do with a goal between 70-75 OVR that was 25 yrs or younger. Put a good goalie in League 1 or 2, he'll load up on saves, grow 3-4 OVR, be in form, and you could flip him at the next transfer window for a $5-10mm profit and then buy another goalie for the 2nd half of the season.

As much as I enjoyed finding a lot of ways to drum up revenue for the club beyond the financial takeover, it will be nice if FIFA 14 makes it tougher to find players in faraway lands to buy/sell if I'm a 3rd division English side.

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

I have no problems with SOFIFA.

In fact I think of it as a great scouting tool for those who play in lower leagues.

How else would you be able to find out about the only players that you can realistically afford without being able to watch them play?

I look at SOFIFA as a directory. I refer to it and make notes.

The problem I see is people who cheese it. Either people using top level clubs or FUT players.

How do people have a problem with SOFIFA but are quick to talk about using coins to get a Financial Takeover?

[NaturalSelected]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

I have no problems with SOFIFA.

In fact I think of it as a great scouting tool for those who play in lower leagues.

How else would you be able to find out about the only players that you can realistically afford without being able to watch them play?

I look at SOFIFA as a directory. I refer to it and make notes.

The problem I see is people who cheese it. Either people using top level clubs or FUT players.

How do people have a problem with SOFIFA but are quick to talk about using coins to get a Financial Takeover?

I don't disagree that's a good resource, and I've used it in certain situations in the past. What's nice this year is if you don't go to SoFIFA, you can avoid seeing a players' overall before you sign him.

I tend to play a couple careers each season, and I don't often sign the same players each career, so for me personally, this is a nice development.

[Gnemi]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

How do people have a problem with SOFIFA but are quick to talk about using coins to get a Financial Takeover?

I agree with the entirety of your post. For me, the "problem" is strictly personal! I was finding that it was far too easy to spend hours and hours on SOFIFA scouring its database for the perfect assemblage of talent. I had plenty of my own homegrown rules for who I'd look to sign in an effort to keep it realistic.

If the GTN can do this for me, then I'll be quite happy.

Every year, I like to do the same thing. I play one or two Careers, one with a 2nd tier club and one with my favorite club (self-loathing Newcastle supporter). It's all about role playing and splashing the cash for the Financial Takeover makes sense if your goal is to reach the top flight within a few years of your Career starting. Now, with the GTN, hopefully I won't have to "manually" role-play the notion of scouting players. I just really love the idea of the GTN, but I have a lot of experimenting to do before I can whether or not EA have executed well on the concept.

[Gnemi]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

What's nice this year is if you don't go to SoFIFA, you can avoid seeing a players' overall before you sign him.

I tend to play a couple careers each season, and I don't often sign the same players each career, so for me personally, this is a nice development.

It sounds like we take a similar approach to the Career Mode...could you explain what you mean? I don't get how avoiding the OVR is a good thing.

[drunkenferret]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

For a big club (Chelsea), the GTN works much like the old system. I went and bought three 5 star scouts, and started with a four star and two 3 star scouts. When you send out a 5 star scout and tell him to scout a player he will reveal all of the player's stats, but not the overall. You also have the choice to inquire about purchasing players. I was quoted 40 million for Lewandowski, and told Pique was not for sale, although if what you all are saying is true about the lower clubs that is awesome that you can't do financial takeover and buy a great player until you get up to where it makes sense.

[NaturalSelected]

Re: FIFA 14 - Global Transfer Network

It sounds like we take a similar approach to the Career Mode...could you explain what you mean? I don't get how avoiding the OVR is a good thing.

Mostly mental preference. If overall is exposed, I'll rate players entirely on that. I'd rather scout and sign based on my system, and then see the overall's develop within my team.

Also, once you get 4-5 seasons in, you won't know immediately who the highly rated 16-18 year olds are with a simple search.