Hello,
Title explains. I’m 500 fights in and just wanted to give my commentary as a new player. I made sure not to include any duplicate tips already provided by TartanTornado and his awesome beginner’s tip post. I tried to make these as original as possible, and they are all exclusively coming from my own way of playing. I’m by no means an expert and I’m sure there are some BEASTS just destroying this game like I couldn’t even dream of. I just wanted to give the perspective of a new player in his first 2 weeks of drinking from a fire hose and learning to play this game. I’ve included my gym stats as well for full transparency so you can see how good (or bad haha) I am. Hopefully this helps you with starting up.
Disclaimer: Obviously these are general tips. So many factors can make or break some of these. And I could be completely wrong. Just use your best judgment in combination with.
Record: 416-71-13
Weeks: 801
Total Fighters: 19
Gyms (size): USA (8) Japan (6)
Funds: $224,019,673
6 undisputed champions (11 total weight classes), 63-12 (51) Title Fight Record
Weekly To-do List - Generally how I structure my week. Nice to just KNOW what you’re going to do, especially once your stable grows it can be overwhelming and time consuming if you forget what to do next. Use or tweak and create your own.
- Stable fights - I like to do this first. Hard to focus on admin when I have a title fight on my mind. Not to mention it makes more sense to do contracts/target opponents/adjust training after a bout.
- Renew contracts/Re-negotiate contracts
- Schedule fights/Review rankings to target potential next opponent (Top 10-20 ranked fighters typically)
- Adjust training schedules of fighters not scheduled if needed
- Review available fighters to sign (if open stable room)
Training
- For the first 10 to 15 fights of a fighter’s career, sacrifice Strategy and set to Minimal or None in exchange for attributes you need (probably chin and/or ringcraft). If you signed good boxers you should be picking fights they are large favorites for so you won’t be needing fight strategy as much early in their career. During the first year or two of your fighter’s career you can maximize training on two of the most important attributes and hopefully squeeze a few attribute increases out of it. Especially once you have better gym facilities.
- This bullet point goes hand in hand with the Scheduling Fights tip below in the guide. Early in the fighter’s career, take an extra few weeks or full ranking cycle to just train your fighter before immediately scheduling the next match after a recent bout. If you do this over the fighter’s first 10 to 15 matches, you are giving your fighter potentially up to an extra 30 to 50 weeks of training their attributes before they are hitting the Top 20-30 and you are facing much tougher opposition and can’t be as patient and selective on who you choose to fight. More training over a fighter’s career means more of a chance for attribute changes. Especially when their potential is at the highest.
- Using Potential - Honestly, just bank your potential and experience points until you’re in the Top 10 or so if possible. Accruing interest is the only way you’re going to maximize your experience points. The total potential also impacts your attribute training so the longer you can hold onto this, the better. Only use it early on if you absolutely need an edge for a fight that will lead to an eventual title shot. Or if your fighter is already a beast and you just need to fill out his one bad attribute.
Scheduling Fights
- This is connected to my Training tip above. Don’t feel pressured to have to schedule your fighter immediately after the first ranking update early in their career. Doubly so if there isn’t a particularly highly favored matchup for your fighter. The majority of fighters will wait 6-8 weeks before they complain about not getting a fight. If your fighter fought 2 weeks before the ranking update, give them an extra month of training and wait for the next update before scheduling a fight. Take advantage of the early part of your career to get the most training time possible and chances of attribute increases.
- Once in the Top 20-30, you need to have a Top 3-4 fighters you’d like your fighter to match up with in his next match. Be ready to schedule a fight when they become available. When is their next match? When do they recover from injury? Will your fighter complain about not getting a match if you wait too long? Knowing these things will make sure you don’t panic schedule a fight because you have no plan, or you lose out on a potential good matchup because you weren’t paying attention.
- In addition: If you just can’t find a good fight that will boost your rankings, and your fighter is complaining for a fight, don’t be afraid to schedule a fight with a lower ranked opponent that’s an automatic win. Better to be 1-0 in your next fight than schedule a really bad fight out of panic and derail your title shot run by a year or two
Contracts
- ABN (Always be Negotiating) - Never hurts to take a look at your fighters contracts on at least a monthly basis. If they’ve lost a fight recently, go into the contract screen and see if you can lower their fight fee. You’ll be shocked at how many guys will agree to re-negotiate because they lost recently. You will save tens and hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions because you do this over time.
- This goes for fighters on a winning streak also. It might make sense to re-negotiate him to a higher fight fee mid-way through a current reasonable contract if you know he’s about to blow up or win a title in the next 2-3 fights. Get him on that 6 fight contract early to maximize your earnings!
- The Stable section is an easy place to look at your fighter’s remaining fights, current fight fee, and estimated purse for the next fight. Analyze it here and there.
Fight Strategy - Keep in mind you have to keep your own fighter’s attributes in mind when deciding to take some of this advice. Use your best judgment.
- Stick with default if your fighter has advantage in style modifier or your fighter’s attributes are far greater than opponent’s. If your opponent has a huge modifier advantage (8+) and your attributes are close or if you’re an underdog, consider starting the fight with another strategy. (Which one to pick explained below)
- Pick a strategy/backup strategy that can take advantage of a low attribute of your opponent, or a fighting style they have a low modifier rating that they are weak against. (example below). If you can find a strategy that takes advantage of both the style and attribute, then what are you waiting for!?
- Always have a backup strategy if you’re starting on default. See what your opponent is weakest against, and plan to use that as a backup style if the first 3-4 rounds of the fight are not going well. (example below)
- Style Example: Your fighter has a Boxer fighting style and are against an opponent with a rating of 18 against the Boxer style. They however have ratings of 7 against Pressure Fighters and Counter Punchers. Your backup strategy should potentially be to use Pile on Pressure or Cover Up. Maybe they have a 5 rating against Brawlers. Smother Inside/Go to Body/Look for KO might be a good backup strategy depending on the opponent. Keep in mind this isn’t an exact science, but it’s better to have a Plan B or C than no backup at all!
- Attribute Example: If the opponent has a Chin or Canvas <10, Look for KO should always be on reserve if fight isn’t going your way. Possibly even a starting strategy. Even if you have mediocre power, you only need 1 punch to win the match. Opponent has <10 Stamina. Go to Body for 3-4 rounds is almost a guarantee their stamina will be depleted. If you can keep the fight close to this point, you have many rounds with a clear stamina advantage. Good strategy when underdog, or if you’re thinking late TKO or going to points and need to win the late rounds.
- Neutralize a TKO risk or large TKO advantage - If you’re going into a round at-risk to be TKO’d, or your opponent has a much lower TKO %, don’t be afraid to switch to Use The Ring strategy for one round to attempt to neutralize this. I’ve done this many times and, although I might lose the round, only getting hit 6-8x in the round will lower your TKO% by a ton and bring you back into the fight. Better to sacrifice points and stamina and live another round than get KO’d.
I hope some of these tips can help a new player! Feel free to comment positively or poke some holes where needed, or add-on anything you feel like a new player would want to know.