The only "luck" involved is the part that saves you some VIP cash when you land the combination of factors you were looking for / desired at the early farming stage, what comes after that is further selectivity, whittling away the also rans from the greats until your roster is full of killers, and of course making sure your training regimen is smart & tailored to each fighter you are building. As far as becoming top manager for sure knowledge is a factor, I wasn't claiming the "farming" aspect is all there is to it, after all if you don't know what to farm for in the first place you will still suck, but if you are not farming & doing it well you will not be competing at the same level as those guys. With "only" luck you might find a great prospect, but without the knowledge to train him right & focus on what the fighter is best at on the sliders you may end up dropping him before he ever gets to show his true potential. But take anything I say with a pinch of salt, I'm only 2 years in a game with people who have been here like 14 years, I just know from my own interactions with CK & some of the other top tier guys that their knowledge is what makes them good.

Ahah, giusto punto.

È imbarazzante portarne uno fuori a ballare, altrimenti lo avrei fatto.

I dont have a horse in this race, and definitely dont want to stir up any beef - although i kind of enjoy it - to me it seems obvious Convicted have some special sauce recipe going on. Would love to know what it is, I'm on the journey to find out! If any of you top dog alliances want to invest in a new subject, my DM's are open!

The amount of experience a fighter starts with is randomised so some may already have enough to show as experienced on the TotT if they have no hidden abilities to hide that, and some will be low enough to show as inexperienced if they have no hidden abilities that hide that. As far as how quickly any fighter gains experience, I am not sure there's any way to identify that to know if it varies between fighters.