New to the game? Look here!

[PowerBug]

You have just made the best decision of your life so far, signing up. There are so many things you can do, and might look like a blur to start off with. This thread will hopefully clear things up for you a little bit.


Schedule
From the Pavilion is a complex game with many things going on in a single week, and eventually it'll come naturally and you'll know exactly what time your Tuesday Twenty20 match is. The best place to see all this, is here. I will quickly run through the key things on each day.
- Monday is the start of the week, on this day your youth squad will have it's training, and the ratings of those players will go up. Also the finance update occurs, and you'll see your bank balance drop most likely.
- Tuesday is Twenty20 day
- Wednesday is the day for Youth matches (40 over)
- Thursday is when your senior squad has it's training
- Friday is the main day, Senior One Day (SOD) matches. 50 over a side
- Saturday is a rest day for most, National teams will play friendlies on this day
- Sunday is for the Pavilion Cup, a 2048 team KO tournament starting Week 1, ending week 11.

On all days that league matches are not on, your club can organize a friendly with someone else. (If you are a Pav Member, otherwise Sunday is the only day you can challenge people for)
It's important to note that if your team is in New Zealand, Australia or Bangladesh, then some of these things will appear in the previous days list, but at times like 21:30, which is 8:30am AEDST.

That is all on how the schedule runs, you can now move on to the fun stuff, buying a squad!

[PowerBug]

Strategy
The next bit, just before buying a squad, is working out what squad to buy. There are many ways to play the game, none are wrong. Below I will list the main ones, and fill in which existing FF members use/have used the following methods to some success.

Senior Squad Only:
Ignore the youth squad, let it be full with 'fillers' (Players automatically added to the squad that have next to no skill) and buy players from 20 years old and keep them to ~30. Youth Academy is obviously ignored, and the Senior Academy is up at a high level, Superior and above. Nails has had success using this tactic, reaching Div 1 in SOD and T20 before deciding to change tactics. Alex (AFEV) also is doing alright in this area, in Div 2 for both and close to promotion in both this season.

Youth Squad Only:
Buy at 16, sell at 20, and repeat. Senior squad and academy is ignored, Youth academy would be at Deluxe.
Another variation of this is to buy at 16 and keep a squad right through to ~30. Honey Badger (Wilko25/CrowsFan) is the best example of the latter, but he had $22 million to buy his squad with. Valkorum uses this tactic and is Div 1 YOD now.

Home Grown:
The toughest option, and the one that requires the most patience. You do not touch the transfer market and pray that you get good enough youth pulls that you hold onto for a while. No one here has done this, and it's very tough to maintain, especially as you can go a season getting terrible youth pulls.

Running both squads:
A bit of everything. You buy players, keep youth pulls, run both academies and squads. HP and myself both attempt to do this.

Many say to start by ignoring youths, and focus on seniors only. I somewhat agree, I wouldn't go spending heaps of money on youths early, just rely on your youth pulls, and leave your academy at a lowish level. Spend money on senior players.


Time to buy a squad!

[PowerBug]

Using the transfer market
Everyone that starts in your senior squad has to go, and you'll see why here.

It's best to not overspend early on, keeping the finances in check are also important. The best way to approach early spending to buy a squad that is young, and well rounded. The following search is for players aged around the 20 year old mark, that age can be for 19-21 year olds, depending on the time of the season. Purchasing a couple of players that are a little older will also help the team progress quicker, and promote a little quicker.




Important to have a variety of bowlers. Don't buy three mediums and 2 finger spinners (They will be cheaper), try to get a wrist spinner, a fast medium, and if you can find one, a fast bowler. Relevant talents are also recommended if you can get them too. Be patient, don't overspend, the right player will slip under the radar for you :)


That essentially rounds up how to start off, the rest comes through clicking random buttons, trying thins out yourself, and seeing what works. In this section of the FTP forums there is a very good description on how to set your bowling orders.


For any more questions, I'm happy to answer them, as a few others would be too. Just ask in private message or on the main thread here.

[BratPack]

On all days that league matches are not on, your club can organize a friendly with someone else.

If you're a Pavilion member yes otherwise you can only do Sundays if you're not still in the Pav Cup