[EWR] Backyard to Global Challenge (Guide included)
Mar 23, 2020 21:07:49 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Kira Izumi, and 3 more like this
Post by ViciousLothario on Mar 23, 2020 21:07:49 GMT -5
The mythical Backyard to Global Challenge comes to XHF.
Basically, you start an EWR game with a created Promotion, the only rules are that you start with 0 of everything (Money, PI, Merchandising, Advertising etc.) and no staff or wrestlers. You can play on whatever difficulty you choose and essentially it's all about getting to 100% Global... You can post as much or as little as you want in here. Be it, just a short overview of what's going on in your fed... or entire shows written out in full,, the more variety the better. I find this little competition usually sparks a good bit of discussion and helps to freshen up EWR a bit.
Share your story with us in this thread. I will post my stuff as well here. Good Luck.
Basically, you start an EWR game with a created Promotion, the only rules are that you start with 0 of everything (Money, PI, Merchandising, Advertising etc.) and no staff or wrestlers. You can play on whatever difficulty you choose and essentially it's all about getting to 100% Global... You can post as much or as little as you want in here. Be it, just a short overview of what's going on in your fed... or entire shows written out in full,, the more variety the better. I find this little competition usually sparks a good bit of discussion and helps to freshen up EWR a bit.
Share your story with us in this thread. I will post my stuff as well here. Good Luck.
First of all, let me start off with a point here; backyard federations in EWR are not the same as backyard federations in real life. Backyard is a term used for a wrestling promotion that is smaller than small level. It is not designed for matches where you have guys doing triple moonsaults of a roof, through 16 tables onto a guy covered in thumbtacks. It is simply a really small wrestling federation; that's not to say you can't have hardcore characters such as Slash and Scar for instance.
Hopefully this guide will stop most of the questions about backyard federations, if you do have anything to say on what I say in the guide below, then please feel free to comment. This is a guide of how I would play and what works for me, not necessarily the best way for everyone to work with; it is only a rough guide on how to run a backyard fed of course.
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Money
A question that comes up all the time in the EWR forum is, "how much money should my backyard federation have?", and my answer to that is none. Chances are that if you did have any money, you'd have to spend it all on renting an arena, buying a ring, weapons, microphones, etc: So if you want to play a backyard game properly, my advice is don't start with any money, after all, if you play it well, you should make money relatively quickly.
Sponsors
Now, this is the only part of the game that I approve of "cheating" in, because for some reason, in more recent updates there aren't enough sponsors suitable to running a 0% PI backyard federation. Before you start the game, I suggest adding sponsors such as a local off-license, a local newspaper, local restaurant, other small local businesses with a decent morality (about 25%) and a fairly high payment ($8,000 - $10,000). I only approve of doing this because it's a fault in modern updates, earlier versions of the game (such as the original data) actually have good enough sponsors to accommodate a backyard federations needs.
When you start the game, have your risk at zero and hire the best sponsors you can, and then raise your risk level in accordance to how much you can get away with without your sponsors ditching you.
Product Controls
I've already talked about the risk level, which usually ends up between 70 and 80, however another commonly asked question in these parts is "how high should my PVs be?". Personally, I don't have any production values (other than the standard $1k per show) to pay for. Your merchandising needs to be set to "0", do not set it to anything else, because you won't make any money simple as that.
Advertising; now, if I were you, I'd put my advertising to 1% to begin with (and 1% above what Sophie recommends at all times). A lot of players disagree with this tactic, but the $10k per month is more than worth it for the additional 3/4 PI points you will gain per month. Without the advertising - barring a market boom - it will take you 51 shows to get enough to earn higher paying sponsors, I for one aren't too keen on waiting that long.
Also, this is slightly out of the way of the topic at hand, but it sort of ties in, I suggest playing on Rock Hard difficulty for maximum enjoyment of a backyard game, playing as anything else takes a lot of the downsides of the game out, which make it far too easy and hence, less fun.
Staff
You'll hear a lot of different stories regarding staff around the boards, and technically you don't need any staff; however I like to sign a few cheap staff. Firstly, an announcing team; I usually make sure at least one worker I hire has high charisma and announcer ability checked, simply so I can use them as my colour commentator. On top of that I try to hire IWS' Phatdrew for $1k before my first show. If, however, he doesn't become available to me by the time my first show comes around, I hire Laughing Larry for $4k until he does.
For a referee, sometimes I have to do without a referee, but 95% of the time, Johnny Guy becomes available for $1k from IWS. If he doesn't I simply do without until he does become available. Road agents: for road agents, I generally approve of creating one in the editor yourself, as there are no affordable ones available, and they are a pretty important part of seeing how well each show goes. I usually create myself as a low talent road agent with no wages, because after all, if I'm running a wrestling business, I can track overness changes, right? You don't have to do this, as it's not 100% essential to the game play, though it is useful.
You don't need medics, production workers, trainers or writers at this point in the game - and you won't need writers until you wish to use angles, which given their price I suggest waiting until you have a sponsor upgrade for.
Tag Teams, Stables, Title Belts and Feuds
For tag teams and stables, I do encourage having them in your federation, as it can be a great way to bridge 2 matches together, by having two singles stars fight, only for both partners to interfere, queue impromptu tag team match. However, try not to make so much of a proper tag division, make the tag teams more part time than anything, as it reduces the amount of matches you can have, and chances are there aren't too many combinations early in the game.
Title belts aren't really necessary to begin with, and I certainly suggest only having one whilst you're in the backyard phase. When you do introduce the title belts, I suggest making the first champion a long drawn out process, as it helps move the game along quicker. I'm not a fan of the "introduce title belt on the first night and let two random people on my roster fight for it" method, as you don't know which workers are, going to go over with the fans. And the last thing you want is to give the belt to a guy who can't get above 5 overness whatsoever.
Feuds are something I suggest keeping to a minimum, at least in game feuds, this is simply because your workers will gain overness quick which causes problems later on with them being picked up by bigger feds or not signing a written deal with you, if you need them to.
Shows
Hold small monthly pay per views; do not attempt to run a TV show or weekly pay per view event because you will end up bankrupt within a matter of months. Wait until you get to regional to get a television show, and never go to weekly pay per views, they lose far more money than they make no matter what level you are at.
Ticket prices; keep the ticket prices to whatever the finance department recommends, nothing more and nothing less. The meetings room is a really useful tool when running a backyard promotion, because it warns you about booms and slumps as well as gives you useful tips in regards to what levels different controls should be.
As for the shows themselves, have the skilled wrestlers do most of the wrestling and those with high charisma doing the interviews, that being said, try and keep as many workers as you can with good overness, vary the people you push every so often.
Slumps and Booms
Ride out the slumps, they can be really bad and you can lose 20 PI points if it drops to 0, but look on the bright side, it'll then head to a 100% boom where you'll gain 30-40 PI points in a matter of months. Don't quit the game when you're going through a slump, because in the end you'll end up beyond where you already were. If you can get to small before you get a slump, you should be able to hold on throughout the slump period. Don't try and fight the slump by increasing your advertising or anything else, concentrate on putting out good shows.
The Workers
The most important of any federation is the workers, and for a backyard fed choosing the right workers is paramount to your success. Before you start, have a look at everything else you've got so far, from sponsors to staff, and work out how much money you'll begin with.
Supposing you have $40,000 in sponsorship, you'd have to subtract $10,000 for your advertising costs, $1,000 for the production values that are built into each show, which leaves you with $29,000. Now, your staff; lets suppose you couldn't get Phatdrew, but you did manage to pick up Laughing Larry and Johnny Guy, that'll take your funds down to $24,000 per show. You probably want to put a little bit of money aside for a rainy day, so lets say that you have $21,000 available per show, lets have a look at some of the workers you can buy, looking at a maximum of $2,000 per worker.
There are a lot of cheap workers in EWR, take advantage of them, and try not to spend more than $2k for workers ($3k in some cases - unless of course you're playing the original data, which is much harder because of the lack of cheap workers), until you get upgraded sponsors at that crucial 51% PI mark. Always try and keep the correct amount of workers or more on your roster.
The End
Just remember, taking a backyard fed to the very top is difficult but its also a lot of fun, if you manage it properly and be patient. Don't jump the gun and try and grab the PI points too fast, it'll happen in its own time, chances are you'll end up flopping if you try to pick up PI points quicker than necessary, anyway.
Good luck and most importantly have fun.
Hopefully this guide will stop most of the questions about backyard federations, if you do have anything to say on what I say in the guide below, then please feel free to comment. This is a guide of how I would play and what works for me, not necessarily the best way for everyone to work with; it is only a rough guide on how to run a backyard fed of course.
--------------------
Money
A question that comes up all the time in the EWR forum is, "how much money should my backyard federation have?", and my answer to that is none. Chances are that if you did have any money, you'd have to spend it all on renting an arena, buying a ring, weapons, microphones, etc: So if you want to play a backyard game properly, my advice is don't start with any money, after all, if you play it well, you should make money relatively quickly.
Sponsors
Now, this is the only part of the game that I approve of "cheating" in, because for some reason, in more recent updates there aren't enough sponsors suitable to running a 0% PI backyard federation. Before you start the game, I suggest adding sponsors such as a local off-license, a local newspaper, local restaurant, other small local businesses with a decent morality (about 25%) and a fairly high payment ($8,000 - $10,000). I only approve of doing this because it's a fault in modern updates, earlier versions of the game (such as the original data) actually have good enough sponsors to accommodate a backyard federations needs.
When you start the game, have your risk at zero and hire the best sponsors you can, and then raise your risk level in accordance to how much you can get away with without your sponsors ditching you.
Product Controls
I've already talked about the risk level, which usually ends up between 70 and 80, however another commonly asked question in these parts is "how high should my PVs be?". Personally, I don't have any production values (other than the standard $1k per show) to pay for. Your merchandising needs to be set to "0", do not set it to anything else, because you won't make any money simple as that.
Advertising; now, if I were you, I'd put my advertising to 1% to begin with (and 1% above what Sophie recommends at all times). A lot of players disagree with this tactic, but the $10k per month is more than worth it for the additional 3/4 PI points you will gain per month. Without the advertising - barring a market boom - it will take you 51 shows to get enough to earn higher paying sponsors, I for one aren't too keen on waiting that long.
Also, this is slightly out of the way of the topic at hand, but it sort of ties in, I suggest playing on Rock Hard difficulty for maximum enjoyment of a backyard game, playing as anything else takes a lot of the downsides of the game out, which make it far too easy and hence, less fun.
Staff
You'll hear a lot of different stories regarding staff around the boards, and technically you don't need any staff; however I like to sign a few cheap staff. Firstly, an announcing team; I usually make sure at least one worker I hire has high charisma and announcer ability checked, simply so I can use them as my colour commentator. On top of that I try to hire IWS' Phatdrew for $1k before my first show. If, however, he doesn't become available to me by the time my first show comes around, I hire Laughing Larry for $4k until he does.
For a referee, sometimes I have to do without a referee, but 95% of the time, Johnny Guy becomes available for $1k from IWS. If he doesn't I simply do without until he does become available. Road agents: for road agents, I generally approve of creating one in the editor yourself, as there are no affordable ones available, and they are a pretty important part of seeing how well each show goes. I usually create myself as a low talent road agent with no wages, because after all, if I'm running a wrestling business, I can track overness changes, right? You don't have to do this, as it's not 100% essential to the game play, though it is useful.
You don't need medics, production workers, trainers or writers at this point in the game - and you won't need writers until you wish to use angles, which given their price I suggest waiting until you have a sponsor upgrade for.
Tag Teams, Stables, Title Belts and Feuds
For tag teams and stables, I do encourage having them in your federation, as it can be a great way to bridge 2 matches together, by having two singles stars fight, only for both partners to interfere, queue impromptu tag team match. However, try not to make so much of a proper tag division, make the tag teams more part time than anything, as it reduces the amount of matches you can have, and chances are there aren't too many combinations early in the game.
Title belts aren't really necessary to begin with, and I certainly suggest only having one whilst you're in the backyard phase. When you do introduce the title belts, I suggest making the first champion a long drawn out process, as it helps move the game along quicker. I'm not a fan of the "introduce title belt on the first night and let two random people on my roster fight for it" method, as you don't know which workers are, going to go over with the fans. And the last thing you want is to give the belt to a guy who can't get above 5 overness whatsoever.
Feuds are something I suggest keeping to a minimum, at least in game feuds, this is simply because your workers will gain overness quick which causes problems later on with them being picked up by bigger feds or not signing a written deal with you, if you need them to.
Shows
Hold small monthly pay per views; do not attempt to run a TV show or weekly pay per view event because you will end up bankrupt within a matter of months. Wait until you get to regional to get a television show, and never go to weekly pay per views, they lose far more money than they make no matter what level you are at.
Ticket prices; keep the ticket prices to whatever the finance department recommends, nothing more and nothing less. The meetings room is a really useful tool when running a backyard promotion, because it warns you about booms and slumps as well as gives you useful tips in regards to what levels different controls should be.
As for the shows themselves, have the skilled wrestlers do most of the wrestling and those with high charisma doing the interviews, that being said, try and keep as many workers as you can with good overness, vary the people you push every so often.
Slumps and Booms
Ride out the slumps, they can be really bad and you can lose 20 PI points if it drops to 0, but look on the bright side, it'll then head to a 100% boom where you'll gain 30-40 PI points in a matter of months. Don't quit the game when you're going through a slump, because in the end you'll end up beyond where you already were. If you can get to small before you get a slump, you should be able to hold on throughout the slump period. Don't try and fight the slump by increasing your advertising or anything else, concentrate on putting out good shows.
The Workers
The most important of any federation is the workers, and for a backyard fed choosing the right workers is paramount to your success. Before you start, have a look at everything else you've got so far, from sponsors to staff, and work out how much money you'll begin with.
Supposing you have $40,000 in sponsorship, you'd have to subtract $10,000 for your advertising costs, $1,000 for the production values that are built into each show, which leaves you with $29,000. Now, your staff; lets suppose you couldn't get Phatdrew, but you did manage to pick up Laughing Larry and Johnny Guy, that'll take your funds down to $24,000 per show. You probably want to put a little bit of money aside for a rainy day, so lets say that you have $21,000 available per show, lets have a look at some of the workers you can buy, looking at a maximum of $2,000 per worker.
There are a lot of cheap workers in EWR, take advantage of them, and try not to spend more than $2k for workers ($3k in some cases - unless of course you're playing the original data, which is much harder because of the lack of cheap workers), until you get upgraded sponsors at that crucial 51% PI mark. Always try and keep the correct amount of workers or more on your roster.
The End
Just remember, taking a backyard fed to the very top is difficult but its also a lot of fun, if you manage it properly and be patient. Don't jump the gun and try and grab the PI points too fast, it'll happen in its own time, chances are you'll end up flopping if you try to pick up PI points quicker than necessary, anyway.
Good luck and most importantly have fun.
Although I recomend running the game in Hard difficulty so you can see morale values. The difference between Hard and Rock Hard is barely existent.