Scouting; Breaking Down Regional Knowledge Further

[displaced_seagull]

An idea I've had for a while relates to Scouting; At present, scouts both in the game at the start and newly generated have regions and indeed countries that they know a lot about. Whilst this is fine, it is also a little unrealistic. If I am managing say, Torquay, and I sign a newly generated scout with an unknown reputation, straight away he will have extensive knowledge of the whole of England. It might be better if each country was split, using the regions already present in the game - so my hypothetical Torquay scout, born in Devon and who has lived there all his life, might have an extensive knowledge of the South West, a moderate knowledge of the South as a bordering region, but hardly any knowledge of the North East. The better the scout is, the more regions they would be knowledgeable about. This would also have an impact on the players they recommend to you - for example he might be able to recommend me a non-league gem at Bodmin or Plymouth Parkway, but is far less likely to have heard about or indeed watched a 16 year old wingback with potential at Ashington or Durham City. In other, larger countries it would be be even better - nobody could expect to have a complete knowledge of somewhere like Russia, China or the USA with thousands of miles of countryside to cover.

You could take this further by giving each scout a number of 'contacts' - so whilst my man in Devon might not personally know much about players in the North East, he may have a contact who does. This too could be taken further by having a reliability indicator for each of those contacts (similar to the Judging Player Ability/Potential stats for those actually in the game). If his contact in say, East Anglia isn't particularly reliable, you would know to take that reccomendation with a larger pinch of salt than his one in the South East who has an excellent reliability indicator. 

A recommendation could come through as something along the lines of;

"My contact in <region a> has recommended we take a look at Joe Bloggs. His/her insight is usually excellent/very good/reasonably good/adequate/poor/very poor'

All in all, it would add a huge level of depth to the scouting process without requiring a massive increase in the number of in-game staff.  

Edited August 30, 2020 by displaced_seagull

[Jimmy Wong]

Reviewed so locked.