BuzzerBeater Forums

I. Getting Started

Setting The Lineup

You can set the lineup for a game up to 15 minutes before the game begins. In order to do this, go to the schedule page and click the "Set lineup" button for the game you wish to set your lineup for. You will then be taken to the page where... you guessed it, you set your lineup.
At the top of the page you'll see a box which allows you to load the tactics you had used in any previous game. Below that, you choose what players you want to be active for the current game. You are allowed to pick up to 12 players that can play in the game. Continuing downward, you will see a basketball court where you list what players you want to start the game. You can use the box below it for help as it shows you the skills of all the players on your team, how many minutes they've played that week and what game shape they're in. I will go into more detail about these concepts later in the guide. Make sure to set your backups and reserves (optional) for each position. Finally, decide what type of substitutions, offense, defense, foul trouble and attitude your team is going to use and then click submit orders. You're team is now ready to play!

It also comes in handy to have a standard lineup set in case you forget to set your lineup for a game or didn't have time to do so.

I. Getting Started

Buying and Selling Players

Now that you're aware that your team is composed of mostly scrubs and random hobos off the street, you need to do something about it. For starters, it's a good idea to cut your team down to about 13 players (or 12). I think the best way to go about this would be to select the two best players for each position and then the next best three. If you're unfamiliar with what a player from a certain position would need, you can go to the "Position Breakdown" of GM-RiP's guide (144856.35). You probably won't need to do that though, as it matches up pretty closely with the skills a player would need in real life (Ex. A point guard needs to be able to pass and defend the perimeter). Now that you have your 13/12 players you can sell or fire the other five guys who didn't make the cut. Since the best player on your team at this point probably isn't worth that much on the transfer list, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to try and sell your worst five. It's best to just fire them and move on but I suppose it doesn't hurt to try and sell them if you really think you can get something for them.

Now, before you go out and buy that stud center it would be wise to play a few games with your current team so you can analyze how your players compare to the rest of your league. You can do this by looking at the box scores of your games. Just go to schedule and click the final score of a game to bring up the box score. This will also allow your team time to accumulate money from your home games and the bonus money given to new teams for the first month.

After you've analyzed some game data you can begin changing up your team. When buying and selling players, the "Transfer Price Estimate" gives a good indication of what a player is worth. When selling, it's a good idea to list your players at the high end of the TPE (Transfer Price Estimate) because even if they don't sell you can always re-list them again for a lower price.
When buying a player, the transfer list page (http://www.buzzerbeater.com/manage/transferlist.aspx) allows you to search for the type of player you want. Just set the restrictions and "Voila!", a list of all the current players on the TL that fit your requirements. As a new team, you're going to want to buy trainees. These are generally young players who are 20 years of age or less that have a decent skillset for the position(s) you want to train. As players age, the rate in which they train and increase skill decreases, so you want to make sure your training young players. GM-RiP got more into the details regarding trainees and training plans. If you want to know more click here (144856.30). But for now the goal was to make you understand how to buy and sell players. Also note that once a player hits a certain age (around 32), their skills will start to decrease, so be careful when buying veterans off the TL.

II. The Basics

Game Shape

Game shape is one of the most important concepts to be aware of in BuzzerBeater. Each player has a game shape that will fluctuate between pitiful (2) and proficient (9) game shape based on how many minutes they play in the previous week. Generally speaking, the game shape of a player will not rise or drop more than about two levels from one week to the next. No one is sure exactly how game shape works but the general consensus is that you want to get your players between 48 and 75 minutes. By doing this, you have a good chance that your players GS will rise or at least not drop much. In terms of game shape, your goal should be to try and maintain all your players (or at least the ones you normally use) between respectable and proficient. Game shape heavily affects how well your players perform so having the best team isn't going to help you much if your best players are at mediocre GS. It's very important to balance your minutes and not overplay or not making any players play enough minutes.

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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 it is not just this week’s minutes that matter, but also the previous week’s minutes. Aim to play each player between 48 and 75 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 75 minutes and still get a pop up in game shape, however, it is much less likely. Similarly, you can play between 48 and 75 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 between respectable and proficient on a regular basis.

Should I train game shape?
Unless you have a very good reason to train game shape, in general, do not train game shape! If you do wish to train game shape, before training it I recommend seeking the advice of others via the help forum as it may not be the best move for your team. Note that game shape is reset at the end of each off-season so it is DEFINITELY not advised to train game shape for that week.

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II. The Basics

Game Engine and Match Ratings

The BuzzerBeater game engine is undoubtedly the most mysterious and complex part of this game. It is responsible for determining the outcome of each and every game. Apart from the BBs, no one really knows the intricacies of the GE (Game engine) so we have to get our knowledge of it by watching games and analyzing box-scores. The box-score can give you a rough indication of what took place in your game based on team ratings, match-up ratings and player ratings. The team ratings display how well a team performed in each category (Outside scoring, inside scoring, perimeter defense, inside defense, rebounding and offensive flow). The match-up ratings display a position vs. position match-up (Ex. PG vs. PG) that indicates how many points would be made per 100 shots. The match-up ratings are a little obscure and aren’t always great at explaining what happened in the game but they can still give you a rough idea of what’s going on. Lastly, every game a player will get a rating based on how well they played in the game. This rating is based on their skills, the position they're playing, their game shape, their stamina and potentially many other things hidden away in the GE.

BuzzerBeater can be a confusing game at times but it is this unknown element that makes it fun and interesting. If we knew everything about the game engine and the way it worked, there wouldn't be much point to playing. Games are only fun when they are challenging.

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Does height affect performance during a game?
Height does not affect performance during a game. Height is only considered for training purposes. Therefore, two players with Respectable rebounding, and with vastly different heights, will rebound just as well as each other.

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II. The Basics

Scouting and The Draft

At the end of every season there is a draft (AKA The Lottery) that takes place for every league. There are three rounds in which 48 players are drafted (16 teams x 3). At the beginning of a season, all the prospect information will appear on the "Draft and Scouting" page. On this page you will be given information about all the prospects. The information you have available about each player depends on how many times he has been scouted. It works as follows:

* Unscouted: Your scouts have provided a very rough estimate of the player's skills and potential based on the word on the streets. Expect this evaluation to be fairly inaccurate.
* Scouted once: Your scouts have seen this player play one game, and have provided the player's boxscore for that game. They are now able to give a more accurate assessment of his current skills. Scouting a player uses 1 scouting point.
* Interviewed: Your scouts have invited this player to a workout at your team's facilities. Along with all of the information you have learned from the initial scouting, you now have a very good understanding of this player's current skills (grade rating) and potential abilities. You also discover how tall the player is and whether he is 18 or 19 years old. Interviewing a player uses an additional 2 scouting points.

In addition, there will be two options available following the All-Star break for 10 scouting points each:

* Scouting Combine: Every player in the upcoming draft class will show up to be measured. You can send a scout to the combine to learn the ages and heights of all 48 players in the upcoming draft class.
* Group Demonstration: In order to help get their names out there, all of the players your scout estimated to be 1-ball or 2-ball prospects have offered to arrange a demonstration of their skills. This option is equivalent to scouting each of these players once, though it will not provide any additional information for players you have already scouted.

Set the order that you would like to draft these players by dragging players around in the list. When you are satisfied with your draft ordering, click Submit Ranking below to submit this list. You must click on the button for the list to be used when the draft is conducted during the next offseason. Clicking the button to scout or interview a player will also submit the current ordering of the draftees.

Your investment on scouting provides the following results:
- No Scouting (0$/week)
- 1 point/week ($5000/week)
- 2 points/week ($10000/week))
- 3 points/week ($20000/week)
- 4 points/week ($40000/week)

How much money you put into scouting depends greatly on:
A. How much value you put in the draft - You might not be into the idea of spending 300K and risking drafting three scrubs that aren't worth anything.
B. Where you predict you'll finish in your league standings. As expected, the team with the worst record in a league will get the first pick and the second worst team the second pick etc... If your expectations are that you'll be finishing in the top half of the league it might not be wise to invest a lot into the draft.

II. The Basics

Scouting and The Draft - Part 2

As for my opinion, if you think you're going to finish as a top team in your league (Let's say top 5), you might want to consider investing between $0 - $5000 each week. Your chances of drafting a superb player as a top team isn't very high so it's best not to worry about the draft. If you think you're going to end up as a middle of the pack team (6th through 11th), I'd recommend investing between $5000 - $20000. It's really up to you how much you want to invest as there's a possibility that you could stumble upon a really nice pick from one of these positions. If you think you're going to finish near the bottom of the pack (12th through 16th), I'd recommend investing $10000 - $20000. At this point you're probably thinking to yourself, "If I'm going to be getting one of the first picks of the draft shouldn't I be spending the maximum 40K a week?" As far as I'm concerned, the answer to that question is NO! It's really not worth the extra 20K to 30K a week to obtain one more piece of information about the prospects. The majority of people who invest 40K all season long are usually very displeased with their draft results in return for the money they invested. The draft is a lottery and there's no sure thing about it. It's also worth knowing that even if you put no money into scouting you still get 14 free pieces of information.

One last thing I'd like to point out is that if you are in a league with several inactive teams or bots I'd recommend investing in scouting as if you were a middle of the pack or bottom of the pack team; even if you think you'll win your league. The bot teams and teams with inactive managers will only end up drafting the best players if they get really lucky (Bot teams draft randomly).

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What do the draft balls translate into in terms of player salary and potential?

Salary
5 balls = $3,700 and higher
4 balls = $2,800 - $3,700
3 balls = $2,300 - $2,800
2 balls = $1,900 - $2,300
1 ball = $1,900 and lower

Potential
5 balls = 10 - 12 (MVP - All-time Great)
4 balls = 8 - 9 (Perennial Allstar - Superstar)
3 balls = 5 - 7 (Star - Allstar)
2 balls = 3 - 4 (6th Man - Starter)
1 ball = 1 - 2 (Announcer - Role Player)

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II. The Basics

Arena

Once a week you will have a game that is played at your team’s arena – A home game. This is important because your arena is the main source of revenue in BB. Fans buy the tickets to your games which allows your team to make money. There are four types of seats in every arena and each has a minimum and maximum price you can set for that type of seat:

- Bleachers (Min: $5, Max: $20)
- Lower Tier (Min: $17, Max: $70)
- Courtside Seats (Min: $50, Max: $200)
- Luxury Boxes (Min: $400, Max: $1600)

I wish I could tell you that there are optimal ticket prices that are universal to the BB world but the truth is that in order to make max profits from your arena you’re going to have to play around with the prices. The fans who buy bleacher and lower tier seats are fickle and don’t show up in as heavy a volume when your team is doing poorly. The fans that purchase courtside seats and luxury boxes are far more likely to show up every game as long as your prices are reasonable. It’s important to note that you can only change your arena prices three times a season: once before the first game, once before the 8th game and once before the last regular season game (16th game). Because of this you should analyze how many fans you’re getting for which seats and adjust the prices accordingly. For example, if your bleacher seats are set at $14 and you sell them out every game despite your team losing a lot, that’s a good sign that you can increase the price. On the contrary, if you’re often failing to sell out the bleachers with a winning team on the floor, that’s a sign you might want to lower the price. As I said before, you’ve got to analyze the results and play with the prices until you find what works for your arena.

As the general manager of your team not only are you responsible for adjusting ticket prices, but also for expanding the arena. Each team starts out with an arena that has a maximum capacity of 5000 seats: 4500 bleachers, 450 lower tier seats and 50 courtside seats. There are two things that you’re going to want to avoid with regards to arena expansion: Over expanding and under expanding.
Over expanding takes places when a manager keeps expanding his arena even though he’s getting poor attendance with his current seating capacity. If you’re already failing to sell tickets adding more seats isn’t that great of an idea now is it?
Under expanding occurs when a manager doesn’t expand his arena enough. If your team is doing well and you’re selling out most of your seats make sure you add more! It might be a good idea to look at the arenas of other teams in your league to see how many seats they have and how much they’re selling their tickets for. In the short term it may seem like a good idea to buy a quality player off the transfer market but eventually the teams around you (Assuming they expanded regularly) will be raking in a lot more money per week and surpass you. If you have the money and you’re doing well make sure to expand regularly. The profits will come eventually.

Lastly, be careful about expanding too much at one time. The more seats you build at once the longer it is going to take for it to be completed. The quicker the seats are put in, the faster you’re going to see profits from them.

II. The Basics

Economy

I COULD make a write up about the economy in BB, but seeing as it would be more or less identical to the economy page in the Game Manual I think I’ll just give you a link to it instead.

(http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/rules.aspx?nav=Econ...)

The only thing I’d like to add is that it is very useful to compare your economy numbers to the league averages. This will keep you informed on how well your team is doing financially compared to other teams that are of a similar calibre to your own.


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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, particular ones from your country, will also increase merchandise. If a player on your team makes the All-Star game this will not result in an increase in merchandise.

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.

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II. The Basics

Staff

What’s up doc? Every team has three different staff members that are responsible for their own designated task. They are a Doctor, a Trainer and a PR-Manager. Like players, you have to buy staff members off of the transfer list so the best ones are going to be the most expensive. Each staff member has a skill level between 1 and 7 (Basic to world-renowned) which indicates how well they perform their specific job. Furthermore, each staff member can potentially have one of two specialties. Here’s a breakdown of the staff members and their potential specialties:

From the Game Manual

Doctors help reduce the severity of player injuries. Once a player is injured, a Doctor will also help him heal more quickly, but the effect is much smaller than the initial reduction in severity. Doctors can have the following specialties:

Taping Injuries: There is a small chance that a player's minor injury can be taped up immediately, and he will be able to return to the game at the start of the next quarter.

Massage: Players who play too many minutes in a given week will not experience as severe a drop in game shape.

Notes: Doctors are probably the cheapest staff members to pick up off the TL but they certainly have their importance. The difference between a level 1 and level 5 doctor could be the difference between a player being injured for three weeks to that same player being injured for the remainder of the game. Doctors become especially valuable when you have young trainees that can’t afford to miss a week’s worth of training or when you have an all-star player (figuratively) that your team just can’t afford to lose. For new teams, I’d recommend at least having a level three doctor and for more experienced managers I’d go with a level five. I guess the level of doctor you choose all depends on the amount of risk you want to take with regards to injury time. In terms of doctor specialties, I’m partial to massage especially if your team relies on a core group of players that see a lot of minutes.

Trainers assist the coach in making the most of the team training hours, both in-game and during the week. Trainers can have the following specialties:

Career Extension: Older players will not experience skill drops as frequently.

Fitness: The magnitude of the Stamina drops experienced by your players is decreased.

Notes: Trainers are undeniably the most important staff member in the game and their prices on the TL are a good indication of that. Here’s some logic that might help you see the value of having a good trainer:
- The goal of BuzzerBeater is to have the best team possible.
- To create the best team possible you have to have the best players (It also doesn’t hurt to be a manager that can take advantage of the economy and is smart tactically but we’ll disregard that for now).
- The best players in the game are the ones who have received the most training.

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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