Interesting question Craig, I find it helpful, not that it has helped me with winning recruiting. So not sure how to vote.

I absolutely use that information to help steer some of my recruitment efforts.

It's part of the game 

Great question/topic CB!  

When I started playing these games on the Internet (rec.games.pbem I think?) back around 1987 I was confused as to why I did not know the finances (I think that was a thing) but even more so the skill levels of players.  

I think I quickly learned that you have the GM guy who doesn't have a team so he can keep all that info to himself.  At least I think that's how it worked.

CB raises a good topic as it has come up from time to time.  The reason you MUST KNOW everything is that I MUST KNOW everything.  I have to be able to debug/fix issues that pop up and it is just really not feasible without knowing all the RPs, Skills, etc.  

I have to tell you also that I never liked not knowing...  😎

I'd also argue that knowing the RPs (with the hover function) is really helpful but its also up to each manager to see that "one of those teams you are competing with for a specific position "next" session is about to win that same position "this" session".  And its already really hard.

As an aside, regarding the "catalyst" for this poll (CB lost a player by 1 RP) my continuing thought is that:

The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks...

I'll be interested to see the "dice rolls" but I suspect the RS players that CB signed (301 RP // 3-star // MAX +2 ATK) and KM signed (385 RP // 4-star // MAX +2 SRV) may end up being equivalent from a potential level (somewhere B to A- I think)...we will see...

Ok Al, how much do you need in a little brown envelope to re-roll for the Bulldogs where required? ;)

I don't think any of us want to know what the Bulldogs leave in little brown envelopes

Well, CB, if you aren't named "QUINCY" per Rob's analysis you will do fine.

Good to see Roy jumping in on this CB-Roy regional rivalry!  😎

Well it certainly wouldn't be an envelope...it would need to be one of those padded ones at the very least 🤢

I wonder if people do think this is a problem.

I think one of the ways to fix this would be to add a "secret recruit" to the game.

Now obviously Al has to be able to see everything, the omnipotent presence that he is.

But once a season, for say 100 or 125 RP, a team could use their "secret recruit" token to bid on a player at the auction stage of recruiting.

This would simply give a team access to the auction. If they don't win the auction, they don't get the player.

Example: Team Qunicy is the only team bidding on a 3-star player. Team St Charles wants that 3-star player. They bid 125 RP and make a bid of 500. Team Quincy makes a minimum bid of 300. Team St Charles gets the player for 301 RP + the 125 RP + the secret auction token and cannot make a secret bid for the rest of the season.

I'm not 100% sure I like this idea but it would force people to make bids for the actual worth of the player just in case.

Those balances impact my recruiting early and often. 

Nice to see John coming up with that secret recuit idea, but is perhaps a level of complexity too far. It already seems far too hard to get the players you really want!

Yay!  I'm omnipotent!  I told Amy that and sadly she shut that down right away.  😥

I laughed at John's: "I'm not 100% sure I like this idea.."  😎

Secret Recruit sounds like Secret Santa to me.  

I think my summary is really that:

1) There are 30 5-star recruits per season

2) 30 recruits  /  32 teams does not equal three 5-stars per team.  😎

3) Perhaps 1 or 2 five-star players a season is the target plus the 4-star or "Max skill" 3-star players (will anyone ever be as smart or sneaky as JT again?  What a recruiting haul Cinci had!!).

I think I still like where we're at on recruiting but am always open to hearing more arguments and like these discussions...

Wait... does "Max" mean "maximum" in this context and not "Max Sellers?"

It feels like a bit of a cheat, but effective recrutiing is such a big challenge anyway that I welcome the help. It is definitely part of my strategy for landing cheap/min players.

JK I know how to check lol.