How can I permanently delete this nonsense? (completed scout assignments)

[AntSou]

I have given up on attempting to figure out the revamped scouting system they introduced I think a couple years ago, and I want to spend as little time in there as possible.

Now I have to deal with this:

 

Apparently each little change I make to active assignments adds a new entry to the "completed" list. But I can't figure out how to delete them so they just keep piling up.

[fc.cadoni]

For now, you can't. 

[AntSou]

Bummer. Thanks.

[gunnerfan]

I wish there was a complete guide to the scouting system that was introduced in FM23 that would answer the following:

1. How may scouts do you need to sufficiently cover a country? A region?
2. Once a country or region is selected to be scouted, do you really need to establish a separate recruitment focus for competitions within those nations? For example, I have a recruitment focus for Central Europe, and now I'm getting suggestions that I may want to establish focuses for Croation, Austrian, and Hungarian top divisions. I would think that would be automatic with the region.
3. What is the best way to set up a focus for an established player to fill a specific positional need (CA and PA)? If I set CA at the level I really need (say, 3 stars), I get no results. Too low, and I get flooded with players I can't use. 
4. Does the personality of my chief scout really matter (i.e. the way it matters with the HOYD)?

Thanks for any and all replies.

[Jonthedon26]

On 10/02/2024 at 18:25, gunnerfan said:

I wish there was a complete guide to the scouting system that was introduced in FM23 that would answer the following:

1. How may scouts do you need to sufficiently cover a country? A region?
2. Once a country or region is selected to be scouted, do you really need to establish a separate recruitment focus for competitions within those nations? For example, I have a recruitment focus for Central Europe, and now I'm getting suggestions that I may want to establish focuses for Croation, Austrian, and Hungarian top divisions. I would think that would be automatic with the region.
3. What is the best way to set up a focus for an established player to fill a specific positional need (CA and PA)? If I set CA at the level I really need (say, 3 stars), I get no results. Too low, and I get flooded with players I can't use. 
4. Does the personality of my chief scout really matter (i.e. the way it matters with the HOYD)?

Thanks for any and all replies.

This is a very good post. Scouting currently feels like a completely broken mess to me. I either get no results at all for very basic parameters that you would imagine there should be hundreds of matches, or very few results that keep getting recommended to me over and over again. I often see other teams signing players who are decent from a region I am scouting and I sit there scratching my head as to why they were never in my recommendations. I would go as far as saying I hate the new scouting system, especially as scouting is such a big part of the game.

[Dagenham_Dave]

4 hours ago, Jonthedon26 said:

This is a very good post. Scouting currently feels like a completely broken mess to me. I either get no results at all for very basic parameters that you would imagine there should be hundreds of matches, or very few results that keep getting recommended to me over and over again. I often see other teams signing players who are decent from a region I am scouting and I sit there scratching my head as to why they were never in my recommendations. I would go as far as saying I hate the new scouting system, especially as scouting is such a big part of the game.

To get the best from recruitment focuses, you need to, you know, actually focus on something. I see so many people just having open wide parameters and expecting hundreds of results. If you're doing that, you're as well just using player search and scouting players individually. 

Narrow your search down. Don't just search for players 15-18 without any other focus. Give your scouts instructions on the type of player to look for, otherwise they'll have no clue who to recommend. 

I've not had any issues with scouting in this year's game, and this is the method I use. 

[gunnerfan]

13 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:

To get the best from recruitment focuses, you need to, you know, actually focus on something. I see so many people just having open wide parameters and expecting hundreds of results. If you're doing that, you're as well just using player search and scouting players individually. 

Narrow your search down. Don't just search for players 15-18 without any other focus. Give your scouts instructions on the type of player to look for, otherwise they'll have no clue who to recommend. 

I've not had any issues with scouting in this year's game, and this is the method I use. 

Thanks, Dave. I appreciate your advice and will take it on, but this really doesn't answer my questions.

[Bahnzo]

I think Zealand showed last year you are better off scouting counties instead of regions. I've also noticed I don't get many results if the country isn't loaded and playable in my save. 

I think/feel you need to have 2 scouts to cover a country efficiently. I have 2 for Brazil and it returns a decent amount. If I start adding more countries to that focus, then it seems to slow down. Again, no hard data on that, just "feels". 

[Etebaer]

Well, i do not use it but i still have some entries in that list and having it only grow should break the game at some point i guess.

There should realy be a way to delete that nonsense!

[Domoboy23]

Does not being able to delete it, not cause a lot of bloat?

I really wish on specific scouting assignments you were able to delete or close off certain people if they don't interest you.

[metallimuse]

I have each scout scout 3 countries with my preferred focus (15-23, 2 star CA, 4 star PA, ongoing, transfers, current tactic used) while having no other leagues loaded other than the country I'm in but I do set my database up like @SecondYellowCard suggests so I have all the newgens come through and my scouts are returning a good amount of prospects.

In 4 years they've returned 592 options.

[metallimuse]

On 10/02/2024 at 14:23, AntSou said:

I have given up on attempting to figure out the revamped scouting system they introduced I think a couple years ago, and I want to spend as little time in there as possible.

Now I have to deal with this:

 

Apparently each little change I make to active assignments adds a new entry to the "completed" list. But I can't figure out how to delete them so they just keep piling up.

They do drop off in time due to new reports generating.

[TheHuss]

On 12/02/2024 at 18:30, Dagenham_Dave said:

To get the best from recruitment focuses, you need to, you know, actually focus on something. I see so many people just having open wide parameters and expecting hundreds of results. If you're doing that, you're as well just using player search and scouting players individually. 

Narrow your search down. Don't just search for players 15-18 without any other focus. Give your scouts instructions on the type of player to look for, otherwise they'll have no clue who to recommend. 

I've not had any issues with scouting in this year's game, and this is the method I use. 

That makes sense, unfortunately it goes totally counter to the official advice in both of the threads in the Bugs Forum. The communication there said that having too narrow parameters is the reason users are seeing little to no results from recruitment focuses. 

 

It's great that scouting is working for you, but the Bugs Forum shows that there are known issues with scouting. Personally, I've noticed that sometimes recruitment focuses work, sometimes they don't. All in the same save game and with the same staff. 

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I can manually scout at least 3000 players a season. Only problem it takes a million clicks. 

The scouting focus is so inefficient compared to doing it manually. 

I also haven't seen scouts actually able to increase their knowledge from scouting nation's like they were able to before scouting focuses. 

Whatever scouting focuses tried to achieve is anyone guess. The old scouting mechanic seemed to be more effective and a lot easier for noobs to setup. 

Honestly seems to be a mechanic that wasn't fully done baking then forgot about in fm24 because it's exactly the same as 23

[kevaggel]

1 hour ago, JimmysTheBestCop said:

I also haven't seen scouts actually able to increase their knowledge from scouting nation's like they were able to before scouting focuses. 

For some weird reason scouts do not increase knowledge if i have their focus "ongoing"

To go around it i make normal focus that i repeat until they learn the country... scouting is bugged as hell

[Jonthedon26]

On 12/02/2024 at 17:30, Dagenham_Dave said:

To get the best from recruitment focuses, you need to, you know, actually focus on something. I see so many people just having open wide parameters and expecting hundreds of results. If you're doing that, you're as well just using player search and scouting players individually. 

Narrow your search down. Don't just search for players 15-18 without any other focus. Give your scouts instructions on the type of player to look for, otherwise they'll have no clue who to recommend. 

I've not had any issues with scouting in this year's game, and this is the method I use. 

I have tried all sorts from narrowed down focuses to much broader searches, setting transfer values to leaving the values as open ended, selecting a position, selecting an age range, and basically none of them work.

One current example of a broad search - I have requested a scout search for any position for my tactic, in England, 3 star - 3 and a half stars, ongoing. I am Birmingham City, have some decent scouts, this scout has exceptional knowledge (apparently) of England, and I have had back 2 results all season, one of which is Adam Wharton who I manually scouted. I don't have scouts or analysts on multiple assignments so this is literally their only scouting assignment. I would love someone to explain to me why I am not getting loads of hits on that assignment. 

The only assignment I have had multiple results on is scouting for out of contract players, any position from my tactic, across the whole of Europe ongoing, I got 20 recommendations on that. Again I would expect there to be hundreds, but with this years scouting mess I deem 20 to be a success.

[metallimuse]

56 minutes ago, Jonthedon26 said:

I have tried all sorts from narrowed down focuses to much broader searches, setting transfer values to leaving the values as open ended, selecting a position, selecting an age range, and basically none of them work.

One current example of a broad search - I have requested a scout search for any position for my tactic, in England, 3 star - 3 and a half stars, ongoing. I am Birmingham City, have some decent scouts, this scout has exceptional knowledge (apparently) of England, and I have had back 2 results all season, one of which is Adam Wharton who I manually scouted. I don't have scouts or analysts on multiple assignments so this is literally their only scouting assignment. I would love someone to explain to me why I am not getting loads of hits on that assignment. 

The only assignment I have had multiple results on is scouting for out of contract players, any position from my tactic, across the whole of Europe ongoing, I got 20 recommendations on that. Again I would expect there to be hundreds, but with this years scouting mess I deem 20 to be a success.

So your focus is 3 star CA with 3.5 PA? That is very specific player you are looking for.

[Jonthedon26]

5 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

So your focus is 3 star CA with 3.5 PA? That is very specific player you are looking for.

I agree it is fairly specific, but I want someone who is basically around first team level who is pretty much in their prime. There should be far far more than 2 results for that criteria, in fact I imagine half of the players in the Championship alone fit that criteria for my current squad. I don't play the game as often as most people and only get through about 5 seasons per yearly release, so I don't want to search for a load of 1 star CA with 4 star PA that will be good in several years time, I like to look for people who are first team ready now, and it seems that doesn't generate many results. 

[metallimuse]

8 minutes ago, Jonthedon26 said:

I agree it is fairly specific, but I want someone who is basically around first team level who is pretty much in their prime. There should be far far more than 2 results for that criteria, in fact I imagine half of the players in the Championship alone fit that criteria for my current squad. I don't play the game as often as most people and only get through about 5 seasons per yearly release, so I don't want to search for a load of 1 star CA with 4 star PA that will be good in several years time, I like to look for people who are first team ready now, and it seems that doesn't generate many results. 

I mean I don't know the numbers but I don't think half of the championship would be in that narrow window, it will be far more varied in my opinion.

If, from what you are saying, you are looking for ready made players then have your 3 star CA but increase the PA to 4.5. You're still going to get the 3 star players you want but doesn't restrict the search so much. To have only a half a star wiggle room in your search is so specific. That means anyone above that 3.5 star is omitted, why would you do that?

[Jonthedon26]

7 hours ago, metallimuse said:

I mean I don't know the numbers but I don't think half of the championship would be in that narrow window, it will be far more varied in my opinion.

If, from what you are saying, you are looking for ready made players then have your 3 star CA but increase the PA to 4.5. You're still going to get the 3 star players you want but doesn't restrict the search so much. To have only a half a star wiggle room in your search is so specific. That means anyone above that 3.5 star is omitted, why would you do that?

I will give that a try see what comes from it, thanks. 

**EDIT** just coming back to this as I have fired up FM this evening. The PA in recruitment focuses is a "minimum", so surely a minimum of 3 and a half star should pick up more than a minimum 4 and a half star, as the 3 and a half star should pick up that level and above, as it's a minimum, right @metallimuse? So 3 star CA and MINIMUM 4 and a half star PA is a narrower search?

Edited February 14 by Jonthedon26

[TheHuss]

You're going to drive yourselves up the wall trying to work this out. SI have acknowledged that this isn't working as intended. It doesn't make sense because it is breaking for some people at some points. SI is looking into it for the next patch, let's hope they fix this basic that seems to have worked more often than not in the past.

[ratty2584]

I agree that something is wonky in Scouting in FM24. After banging my head against the wall with focuses that didn't update at all I've had some success recently doing a technique i saw on a youtube video.

 

Basically create the recruitment focuses you want (but make sure you check the box to EXCLUDE results from other focuses so you dont get duplicates), wait for a week or so for the In Progress to populate then manually scan and move the best looking ones from there into a shortlist to manually scout. After that just delete the recruitment focus and repeat as needed (ideally with different scouts selected or different region focuses for new results).

 

Edited February 14 by ratty2584

[Jonthedon26]

9 hours ago, ratty2584 said:

I agree that something is wonky in Scouting in FM24. After banging my head against the wall with focuses that didn't update at all I've had some success recently doing a technique i saw on a youtube video.

 

Basically create the recruitment focuses you want (but make sure you check the box to EXCLUDE results from other focuses so you dont get duplicates), wait for a week or so for the In Progress to populate then manually scan and move the best looking ones from there into a shortlist to manually scout. After that just delete the recruitment focus and repeat as needed (ideally with different scouts selected or different region focuses for new results).

 

Interesting, will give this a try as well, cheers. 

[gunnerfan]

14 hours ago, ratty2584 said:

I agree that something is wonky in Scouting in FM24. After banging my head against the wall with focuses that didn't update at all I've had some success recently doing a technique i saw on a youtube video.

 

Basically create the recruitment focuses you want (but make sure you check the box to EXCLUDE results from other focuses so you dont get duplicates), wait for a week or so for the In Progress to populate then manually scan and move the best looking ones from there into a shortlist to manually scout. After that just delete the recruitment focus and repeat as needed (ideally with different scouts selected or different region focuses for new results).

 

Do you set your focus for "top", "regular", or "ongoing"?

[ratty2584]

5 hours ago, gunnerfan said:

Do you set your focus for "top", "regular", or "ongoing"?

Usually ongoing but I don't think it really matters as you will be ending and replacing the recruitment focus with a new one before it completes. That is what seems to help with getting your scouts to bring you new players to investigate further.

Look up Ironowl on YouTube and you'll see the videos with the full guide of how to it works...it's still a pain compared to old FM though.

[stevemc]

The Ironowl videos on YouTube are great but they're still hit and miss when applying them to your own save (not his fault, it's FM).

Scouting has issues and frustrations which need fixing - I'm many seasons in on my save, I have 32 scouts, all set up like the Ironowl videos, however they still don't bring back players, or occasionally I'll get a couple which are B-D rated reports, that I ain't interested in. And you're talking about some of the best scouts in the game too.

The most frustrating thing, for example, is a scout I have with 20/20 + a high rating on adaptability can be sent to France and pick up barely anyone in 12 months of being there, but I can jump to the France national team screens and find 5+ players from across the age groups that I'd be interested in, within a couple of minutes. Just makes me think, what the hell is the scout doing there and why am I paying him, if it's easier for me to do his job? The point of this is you're supposed to trust the delegation.

To this degree, I manual scout alot as I fear I'll miss out on a lot of the quality newgens coming through - getting Team Reports on U18/19 teams is great too, if you keep on top of that you can have a report come through every day, 365 days of the year too, you get players come through that which you can scout further.

Personally, scouting needs fixing properly or revamping for FM25+.

Edited February 17 by stevemc

[JimmysTheBestCop]

If you could add more then 50 players to a scouting report it eoukd improve things then you wouldn't even need scouting focuses. It is really inefficient and ineffective compared to manually doing it.

Manual however requires a billion clicks and more time. 

 

The weird thing is if you manage a national team you can tell the scouts to scout everyone and aren't limited by the 50 player. 

 

Hopefully this is redone in Unity and we won't be limited.