written by Guldmann
To get you going and improve your team in the first couple of weeks, I recommend buying old players, as you can get those very cheap. Look for players who are 30-32 years or older as the price take a steep dive around there. Keep your eye on CO (constitution, the player's stamina) and look for weak, but he will need decent to finish a match without getting tired.
Key for using the Transfer List and this guide:
30-39 weak
40-49 dec
50-59 good
60-69 exc
70-79 sup
80-89 bri
90-100 awe
Central defenders (CB)
Try looking for at least: 60 Tackling, 60 Defensive positioning. If you can get 70+ it is good, but 60+ together with some experience will do just fine to start with. Some AE is nice, but usually not necessary in the lowest divisions.
Backs (LB, RB, LWB, RWB)
50 tackling, 60 defensive positioning, 40 constitution, 50 passing (and if you want them to not lose the ball) 40 ball control and 30 offensive positioning.
Centre midfielders (CM, OM, DM)
Pretty much the same as the above will give you a good well-rounded midfielder. You will need more passing though, so go for 60+ at least. 40+ Ball control and 30 Tackling.
Side midfielders (LM, RM, LW, RW)
These need more offensive positioning, so set the requirement at 50+. Other than that, they are the same as central midfielders (and backs). Positioning is more important on the flanks/sides of the pitch, so you can have lower Ball Control when buying side midfielders.
Attackers (FW, ST)
There are several kinds of attackers.
Offensive positioning attacker: Go for 70+ offensive positioning and 50+ Scoring and 40 Ball Control.
Ball control attacker: Go for 70+ Ball control and 50+ scoring and 50 Offensive Positioning.
Well-rounded attacker: Go for 60+ Ball control, 60+ offensive positioning and 60+ scoring.
Aerial attacker: Go for 60+ aerial, 50+ scoring and 50+ offensive positioning and 60 ball control.
Goalkeepers (GK)
70+ Reflexes, 60+ goalkeeper positioning, 40+ interceptions, 50+ control, 30+ organisation. The first two (RE, GP) are easily the most important, then CT, IN, OR.
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Keep in mind that these examples are the minimum, current numbers for players at least 30 years old. I would go for 32 years of age though. Don't pay more than 1,000 a player (except Goalkeepers) and actually, try to keep it lower than that.
November 17, 2009
Bonuses and Penalties
written by Jonny_RIP
I will try to summarise the bonuses / penalties a little. Note that only positioning bonuses are included in the denomination.
Bonuses/penalties to saving attempt (for GK)
(values are not confirmed just estimated by me)
- On the right spot 15-25 points bonus to saving attempt
- Ready 5-15 points bonus to saving attempt
- Hesitant 5 points penalty - 5 points bonus to saving attempt
- Fooled 15-5 points penalty to saving attempt
- Totally in the wrong position 25-15 points penalty to saving attempt
Keeper positioning bonuses / penalties
- Bonus to keeper's positioning if the challenging defender has better DP than attacker's OP (higher the difference, more bonus to keeper's GP)
- Bonus to keeper's positioning if the attacker puts the ball down after a high pass (~15 points - estimation)
- Penalty to keeper's positioning if the attacker wins the duel with the defender (higher the difference between reception and tackle, higher penalty to keeper's GP / if the defender is close the penalty will be very high)
- Penalty if the keeper misses an interception (~15 points estimation)
Scoring attempt bonuses / penalties
- Totally free bonus when the keeper cannot close the player down. If the keeper doesn't try to close the angles of the attacker then the bonus is higher (~ +25 points estimation). The bonus is not applied to headers and volleys.
- Long shot scoring attempt penalty if the BC skill is way lower than PA and SC
Positioning bonuses
- 15 points bonus to DP when defender faces a high pass in the penalty box
- 1 point bonus to defender's TA(AE) for every DP point over 2 x attacker's OP (in the PB or center midfield).
- 1 point bonus to defender's TA(AE) for every DP point over 1.5 x attacker's OP (on the flank midfield)
- OP bonus for the player who executes a one touch pass, based on the value of the pass of the player who makes the final pass (higher the pass value, higher OP bonus)
Skill bonuses
- bonus to the effect of the pass for the player who executes short passes, based on his SC skill (if PA > SC then the bonus is equal to the SC skill, if SC > PA then the bonus is (PA+SC)/2 )
- Special Abilities: Playmaker / Sure feet-Hands bonuses - if a player has one of those abilities they can use (estimation) 25% more of their PA / BC when calculating MF skills
I will try to summarise the bonuses / penalties a little. Note that only positioning bonuses are included in the denomination.
Bonuses/penalties to saving attempt (for GK)
(values are not confirmed just estimated by me)
- On the right spot 15-25 points bonus to saving attempt
- Ready 5-15 points bonus to saving attempt
- Hesitant 5 points penalty - 5 points bonus to saving attempt
- Fooled 15-5 points penalty to saving attempt
- Totally in the wrong position 25-15 points penalty to saving attempt
Keeper positioning bonuses / penalties
- Bonus to keeper's positioning if the challenging defender has better DP than attacker's OP (higher the difference, more bonus to keeper's GP)
- Bonus to keeper's positioning if the attacker puts the ball down after a high pass (~15 points - estimation)
- Penalty to keeper's positioning if the attacker wins the duel with the defender (higher the difference between reception and tackle, higher penalty to keeper's GP / if the defender is close the penalty will be very high)
- Penalty if the keeper misses an interception (~15 points estimation)
Scoring attempt bonuses / penalties
- Totally free bonus when the keeper cannot close the player down. If the keeper doesn't try to close the angles of the attacker then the bonus is higher (~ +25 points estimation). The bonus is not applied to headers and volleys.
- Long shot scoring attempt penalty if the BC skill is way lower than PA and SC
Positioning bonuses
- 15 points bonus to DP when defender faces a high pass in the penalty box
- 1 point bonus to defender's TA(AE) for every DP point over 2 x attacker's OP (in the PB or center midfield).
- 1 point bonus to defender's TA(AE) for every DP point over 1.5 x attacker's OP (on the flank midfield)
- OP bonus for the player who executes a one touch pass, based on the value of the pass of the player who makes the final pass (higher the pass value, higher OP bonus)
Skill bonuses
- bonus to the effect of the pass for the player who executes short passes, based on his SC skill (if PA > SC then the bonus is equal to the SC skill, if SC > PA then the bonus is (PA+SC)/2 )
- Special Abilities: Playmaker / Sure feet-Hands bonuses - if a player has one of those abilities they can use (estimation) 25% more of their PA / BC when calculating MF skills
November 16, 2009
Attackers - Building your Offense
Cafa talking to suzukii regarding Attackers:
Diversify your offense. So you can make use of different holes in opponents' defenses. You need an OP attacker, a BC attacker, and an AE attacker.
Just decide what's the best player order for each of your attackers in each match, regarding the defense & goalie you're playing against. That's the key.
You check both defenders. If they lack AE (aerial), naturally, it's good to field AE offense.
If they lack DP, you field OP offense.
If they lack TA, you field BC offense.
DP (defensive positioning) = OP (offensive positioning)
TA (tackling) = BC (ball control)
The value of the pass affects the positioning duel.
Look at it this way. A defender has excellent DP. Attacker has good OP. But if he receives an awesome pass, he might lose the defender.
TA/BC duel happens only if the defender won the positioning challenge and is "there" with the attacker. Assistance affects this duel.
Markov talking
The perfect striker balances the probability of beating the defence with the probability of beating the keeper perfectly. So SC should be high enough, but not too high at the cost of other skills. And this is of course highly dependent on what goalkeeper and defender you are facing.
I personally prefer attackers with SC just below the other skills of BC and OP, but not much.
High SC strikers are important at the top level because you face "wall" keepers all the time (high RE, GP) so even an exc/awe/awe (SC/BC/OP) might struggle to score. You will find this at national team level especially. Personally I find that a high SC/BC combo makes for a great forward/striker, with good+ OP.
The trick in this game is to keep winning with as cheap players as possible. Then you advance constantly, as you always have money for reinforcements.
Diversify your offense. So you can make use of different holes in opponents' defenses. You need an OP attacker, a BC attacker, and an AE attacker.
Just decide what's the best player order for each of your attackers in each match, regarding the defense & goalie you're playing against. That's the key.
You check both defenders. If they lack AE (aerial), naturally, it's good to field AE offense.
If they lack DP, you field OP offense.
If they lack TA, you field BC offense.
DP (defensive positioning) = OP (offensive positioning)
TA (tackling) = BC (ball control)
The value of the pass affects the positioning duel.
Look at it this way. A defender has excellent DP. Attacker has good OP. But if he receives an awesome pass, he might lose the defender.
TA/BC duel happens only if the defender won the positioning challenge and is "there" with the attacker. Assistance affects this duel.
Markov talking
The perfect striker balances the probability of beating the defence with the probability of beating the keeper perfectly. So SC should be high enough, but not too high at the cost of other skills. And this is of course highly dependent on what goalkeeper and defender you are facing.
I personally prefer attackers with SC just below the other skills of BC and OP, but not much.
High SC strikers are important at the top level because you face "wall" keepers all the time (high RE, GP) so even an exc/awe/awe (SC/BC/OP) might struggle to score. You will find this at national team level especially. Personally I find that a high SC/BC combo makes for a great forward/striker, with good+ OP.
The trick in this game is to keep winning with as cheap players as possible. Then you advance constantly, as you always have money for reinforcements.
November 15, 2009
Buying Youth Players
PepsiGiggs talking to suzukii regarding Youth Players:
Lets look at two players both 15 years old:
Player 1
SC 10 60
OP 20 80
BC 30 50
PA XX XX
AE 25 50
CO 20 40
TA XX XX
DP XX XX
Player 2
SC 40 50
OP 40 70
BC 30 50
PA XX XX
AE 25 50
CO 30 40
TA XX XX
DP XX XX
Player 1 has great skill potentials for being an attacker, but only 105 (currents) in total in the relevant skills.
Player 2's potential is a bit worse but has 165 in "currents" skills.
Player 2 will almost certainly become a very good player, and with some luck a star player. Player 1 has very bad currents and will most likely never reach his "star" potential.
Ask yourself these questions before buying a youth player:
Lets look at two players both 15 years old:
Player 1
SC 10 60
OP 20 80
BC 30 50
PA XX XX
AE 25 50
CO 20 40
TA XX XX
DP XX XX
Player 2
SC 40 50
OP 40 70
BC 30 50
PA XX XX
AE 25 50
CO 30 40
TA XX XX
DP XX XX
Player 1 has great skill potentials for being an attacker, but only 105 (currents) in total in the relevant skills.
Player 2's potential is a bit worse but has 165 in "currents" skills.
Player 2 will almost certainly become a very good player, and with some luck a star player. Player 1 has very bad currents and will most likely never reach his "star" potential.
Ask yourself these questions before buying a youth player:
- Will he play for my youth team?
- If I can't use him myself, can I train him for one season and somehow make a profit?
- What season will he be ready for my youth team compared to my current youth players?
- What will he look like in his last year (between age 19-21) of youth team eligibility?
- What will he look like as a senior player?
- Will he reach his potential skills (can I train him good) before age 27, the age when skills start to deteriorate?
November 12, 2009
Tips for Day One
awesomeau talking
Get to know the game. Challenge managers to friendlies, as many as possible, and have a look at teams around your league to get an idea for the game. Don't make any big decisions yet, you may regret them later.
If you want to build up a team from a young age - great. In fact, now is the perfect time to do it. As you're in the Amateur leagues, you won't need great players to achieve some success. In fact I would recommend buying some 'oldies but goldies' even if you are going for the training-up-youths idea.
Why? All you need is 3 good players, a CB, a strong FW (high in OP or AE works best) and a GK. As a result you'll win more, get more sponsorship money and have a better economical situation with which to bring in those younger players. Furthermore, make the rest of your team relatively young... but with some nice potentials. They will grow for you, and you will use them regularly... and they will thus get some great experience. I bought a few 20-ish old players when I first started, and because they kept raising in skills as I trained them and went up the divisions, they kept being in my first team for a long time. This gives you a great base of players to build upon.
Cafa talking
If you invest in little league so early, you'll have financial problems, you won't have a competitive team, and it will take you at least 5-6 seasons before your first draft secures a place in the senior team. Players age 1.6 years per season, and a season lasts 14 weeks, meaning, it will take you a year and a half before your 15 year old player becomes an important senior first team player.
You need a team which will keep winning, so you get the sponsor money and increased attendance due to popularity and flair.
For this you need quick success. Old experienced players (age 30+) are severely undervalued in FK economy and they can be bought very cheap, even though they're the best players due to experience, which reduces the random factor. Most managers just don't like them as they dream of developing a top class player. Just buy a developed player. "Buy young and cheap, sell when old and expensive" doesn't work here. It's upside-down.
If I restarted playing the game, I'd buy fifteen players aged 30+, replacing the ones who get really too old, and I'd save the sponsors / attendance money as much as I can, to be able to buy even better old players when I advance to the higher league.
That's the way you'll have success quickly, and later your team will be strong / rich enough to support a big little league investment without influencing your senior team strength.
And, you have to learn much about tactics. Use normal 4-4-2 for a start, and learn which players go to which positions. Players are tactics. So 4-4-2 can be many different things, depending on the players you field.
Avoid the usual newbie mistake. Midfielders have to have some defensive skills. You won't get far with 4 offensive guys. Don't copy real-life soccer, learn the rules of THIS game. Weak defending and weak tackling might work, at the minimum.
braeken talking
One big difference with T.O.G (Hattrick) for me is that you always have to look far ahead. You can not sit back for a season and do nothing. Players age quickly and you need to make a plan. Therefore I would recommend to focus on the youth and that includes older youth players. Look where your weak spots are plan for that.
Now you could also buy older players to cover your weak spots. Keep in mind that they lose skills quite quickly (and of course value).
Freekick is totally based on players and not on the average of all the players skills as in T.O.G. Technically you could have 1 great CB but if the other CB is very weak, you do have a weak spot in the back since the strong CB might be able to stop a striker in 8 of the 10 chances but in the other 2 chances the weak CB might be one who needs to stop the striker. I think it's better to have a well balanced team in each area of the field. Don't spend all your money on 1 player.
Now which area is more important? Good question. This season the goalie is definitely very important but they are going to be toned down next season. But I think a goalie is definitely important. The reason is that he is normally often mentioned in a game report.
Now which is more important: attack of defense? I think they are equal. And the midfield is important when it comes to starting chances or the prevent the other team from starting a chance. It's not as T.O.G, where midfield is the most important. I think each area is pretty much equally important. A strong offense is useless when you can't create chances for instance.
It also depends on tactics. I play long ball which means that my midfield is less important than when you would play passing since the ball will often flying over the midfield players. But then again, midfield players can prevent chances for the opponent.
Get to know the game. Challenge managers to friendlies, as many as possible, and have a look at teams around your league to get an idea for the game. Don't make any big decisions yet, you may regret them later.
If you want to build up a team from a young age - great. In fact, now is the perfect time to do it. As you're in the Amateur leagues, you won't need great players to achieve some success. In fact I would recommend buying some 'oldies but goldies' even if you are going for the training-up-youths idea.
Why? All you need is 3 good players, a CB, a strong FW (high in OP or AE works best) and a GK. As a result you'll win more, get more sponsorship money and have a better economical situation with which to bring in those younger players. Furthermore, make the rest of your team relatively young... but with some nice potentials. They will grow for you, and you will use them regularly... and they will thus get some great experience. I bought a few 20-ish old players when I first started, and because they kept raising in skills as I trained them and went up the divisions, they kept being in my first team for a long time. This gives you a great base of players to build upon.
Cafa talking
If you invest in little league so early, you'll have financial problems, you won't have a competitive team, and it will take you at least 5-6 seasons before your first draft secures a place in the senior team. Players age 1.6 years per season, and a season lasts 14 weeks, meaning, it will take you a year and a half before your 15 year old player becomes an important senior first team player.
You need a team which will keep winning, so you get the sponsor money and increased attendance due to popularity and flair.
For this you need quick success. Old experienced players (age 30+) are severely undervalued in FK economy and they can be bought very cheap, even though they're the best players due to experience, which reduces the random factor. Most managers just don't like them as they dream of developing a top class player. Just buy a developed player. "Buy young and cheap, sell when old and expensive" doesn't work here. It's upside-down.
If I restarted playing the game, I'd buy fifteen players aged 30+, replacing the ones who get really too old, and I'd save the sponsors / attendance money as much as I can, to be able to buy even better old players when I advance to the higher league.
That's the way you'll have success quickly, and later your team will be strong / rich enough to support a big little league investment without influencing your senior team strength.
And, you have to learn much about tactics. Use normal 4-4-2 for a start, and learn which players go to which positions. Players are tactics. So 4-4-2 can be many different things, depending on the players you field.
Avoid the usual newbie mistake. Midfielders have to have some defensive skills. You won't get far with 4 offensive guys. Don't copy real-life soccer, learn the rules of THIS game. Weak defending and weak tackling might work, at the minimum.
braeken talking
One big difference with T.O.G (Hattrick) for me is that you always have to look far ahead. You can not sit back for a season and do nothing. Players age quickly and you need to make a plan. Therefore I would recommend to focus on the youth and that includes older youth players. Look where your weak spots are plan for that.
Now you could also buy older players to cover your weak spots. Keep in mind that they lose skills quite quickly (and of course value).
Freekick is totally based on players and not on the average of all the players skills as in T.O.G. Technically you could have 1 great CB but if the other CB is very weak, you do have a weak spot in the back since the strong CB might be able to stop a striker in 8 of the 10 chances but in the other 2 chances the weak CB might be one who needs to stop the striker. I think it's better to have a well balanced team in each area of the field. Don't spend all your money on 1 player.
Now which area is more important? Good question. This season the goalie is definitely very important but they are going to be toned down next season. But I think a goalie is definitely important. The reason is that he is normally often mentioned in a game report.
Now which is more important: attack of defense? I think they are equal. And the midfield is important when it comes to starting chances or the prevent the other team from starting a chance. It's not as T.O.G, where midfield is the most important. I think each area is pretty much equally important. A strong offense is useless when you can't create chances for instance.
It also depends on tactics. I play long ball which means that my midfield is less important than when you would play passing since the ball will often flying over the midfield players. But then again, midfield players can prevent chances for the opponent.
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