Scout Reports - Do you take any notice?

Is it worth taking notice of the scout reports? I always scout a player before buying, but in my Liverpool game, I scouted Edu from Betis and my best scout said it wasn't worth buying him. I went ahead with the transfer because I had sold Benayoun so needed back up for my wings and he seemed a snip at £2.5 million. 2 months into the season and he has been my best player and the fans are delighted with the signing.

If a player has all the required attributes, is it worth signing him no matter what the scout says?

What was his JCA?

Sometimes scouts can be wrong.

What was his JCA?

Sometimes scouts can be wrong.

His rating is 19 for both JCA & JPA.

Attributes>CA, so yes. Scouts (and indeed all staff members including non-human managers) don't look at attributes, just CA and PA.

Taht's odd, I'm sure even the best scouts make mistakes.

Is it worth taking notice of the scout reports? I always scout a player before buying, but in my Liverpool game, I scouted Edu from Betis and my best scout said it wasn't worth buying him. I went ahead with the transfer because I had sold Benayoun so needed back up for my wings and he seemed a snip at £2.5 million. 2 months into the season and he has been my best player and the fans are delighted with the signing.

If a player has all the required attributes, is it worth signing him no matter what the scout says?

I use my scouts and take notice what they say but also use my own judgment.

In your example Edu probably won't improve but you only wanted a squad player and he had the good skills in the right area. At the right price I would have done the same.

if the scout thinks you already have enough plyaers in that position i think he will say he's not worth it.

or if the player is JUST lower in CA than your other 4 players that play in that position then he'll say he's not worth it. of course, if you intend to sell one of the others or make them a back up then thats your call and that will make all the difference as to whether hes worth buying or not.

I use my scouts and take notice what they say but also use my own judgment.

In your example Edu probably won't improve but you only wanted a squad player and he had the good skills in the right area. At the right price I would have done the same.

I think you're right. It was worth taking a gamble because of the price. In my opinion I think the only way to make good use of the scouts is to scout the world and let them find potential targets for the future, rather than scout players that you have searched yourself.

I think you're right. It was worth taking a gamble because of the price. In my opinion I think the only way to make good use of the scouts is to scout the world and let them find potential targets for the future, rather than scout players that you have searched yourself.

Scouts have several uses, personally I use them for:

A) I play with fog of war so scouts reveal attributes.

B) CA stars to give me an idea how good the player is compared to the other member of my squad.

C) PA stars to see if the player can improve.

D) Personality to see how he fits in with my squad.

E) What are his strengths and weaknesses.

That probably covers most of the report tbh.

As scouts only look at CA/PA, I've noticed in general:

Good PA & Decent stats: Good signing

Good PA & Good stats: Good signing

Decent PA & Good stats: Decent singing

Even though the decent PA and good stats could be the "better" player out of all of them.

I kind of like this about the scouting system because it means you get help from the scouts, but the purchase is still your decision. I think the uncertainty of some scout reports provides a good test of the manager.

I quite like seeing "decent signing" players I didn't buy become awesome, because a game where your scout got it bang on every time would become too easy and dull imo

As others have touched on here, the problem is the scouts are a bit dumb at times. They don't know what your plans are for the other players in your squad, or for the player you're scouting. I often find the most inaccurate scout reports are on very versatile players where you get a report on his strongest position even if you're thinking of playing him somewhere else, or, int he case of Edu, using him as a handy back-up to cover multiple positions.

In those situations I think it's better to take more notice of the specific strengths and weaknesses the scout reports and not just look at the overall recommendation.

A) I play with fog of war so scouts reveal attributes.

B) CA stars to give me an idea how good the player is compared to the other member of my squad.

C) PA stars to see if the player can improve.

D) Personality to see how he fits in with my squad.

E) What are his strengths and weaknesses.

That's the only reason I use scouts. I unmask attributes and have no interest in CA or PA.

Scouts are the only way of having an idea of potential, but they're pretty useless for current ability tbh.

I don't pay much attention to personality, but if I did, I wouldn't use scouts, I'd probably just look at the player.

I tend to look at the player's attributes then if I think he has good enough attributes then I might scout him to see the pirce of him and things like what cougar2010 said.

Scouts are idiots. Their only use is to get an idea of a player's potential - something which they're unrealistically good at.

I usually trust the scout if he's good enough... Like have 20 in Judging Pot, Judging Abi and atleast 17 in Determination, Discipline and Motivating (just because that's what I think matters).

Either way, you could say I use it for the "first round evaluation"... Anyone my scouts don't say "sign at all costs" or "is a definite signing" or such, is dropped straight away. Then I go by attributes for second round and personality at third... Then fourth round is the prices of the remaining candidates.

Scouts have several uses, personally I use them for:

A) I play with fog of war so scouts reveal attributes.

B) CA stars to give me an idea how good the player is compared to the other member of my squad.

C) PA stars to see if the player can improve.

D) Personality to see how he fits in with my squad.

E) What are his strengths and weaknesses.

That probably covers most of the report tbh.

Yeah exactly. I dont know how I would improve my squad without that. I never buy a player if he is not potentially going to be good enough for my team. An exception would obviously be if i was desperate and even then he would be equal. Or has a potential ability to be as good as.

I use scouts for youth players mostly to judge potential and to unmask attributes for slightly older players. In general, I take into account the scouts' opinions to the extent that I usually won't look at a player if he's not recommended more than 3 stars.

My personal gripe is that if you have a single player who's very good in one position, e.g. Ronaldo for me on the wings, the scouts never rate anyone else very highly even if they will be a very good back-up for ronaldo.