A twist of fate or simple update?

In gw4 we have become accustomed to monthly updates in FML. The updates are to fix bugs and roll out new features. So what has this month brought us apart from the Football manager live logo? Theres several uninteresting things which have been fixed and theres some hotly debated subjects.

I'm most of you will be aware from other gameworlds the inclusion of tactic skills. Tactic skills mean you have to learn nearly all tatical options available to you. So most initial reactions are of shock horror when they cant suddenly make drastic tactical changes on the new match engine. So why would SI include this in am fm game which always have relied heavily on people knowing and using the tactical interface?

New users are not always familiar with fm there for don't always have knowledge of the how to make tactics. This in turn means they can still enjoy a level of success and gradually learn tactical options.



The next one is the removal of arrows now they are included as part of the forward runs movements of players. There has been many discussions on this and I won't dwell on it too much but I do feel usuing arrows meant of players were making movements that are not natural to how they would usually play. One of the main ones was using a forward arrow on an AMC which in turn meant you was basically playing three upfront when in possession. I agree with the people losing options on cutting inside and I believe the game could include a player width slider so represent how you wish the player to play giving a player narrow width would naturally mean he move inside when in possession and go back when not in possession

so as well as new stuff in game SI have also been working behind the scenes improving the FMl website which has now moved into phase 1 of SI plans. http://www.footballmanagerlive.com/
check it out for new all new looking website with links to a few other blogs etc for FML.

One other thing SI have recently updated is the look of the FMl section of the SI forums adding a new skin and look to those as well making FML now really stand out form the rest of the FM forums. http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/2342058213

End season delight or fright?

Well season has finished again today and my Superstars have managed to improve slightly. last years disappointing 15th finish is forgotten as my team rise to a new high of erm 13th. It's an improvement but I can't help thinking back to the odd game here and there where I might just of picked up a few extra points. Due to fed rules though theres a couple inactive teams who have had too many AI games this season and will likely lose their place in XFA prem.



Xfa cup didn't improve my fortunes this season either again going out in the second round. Going down 3-1 to Dan Wiles Faversham town who at least are a decent side and finished third in the XFA championship. I just cant seem to recreate that form of my first season where I made the last sixteen.

A new comp this season was the XFA League cup which doesn't include the top eight teams from the XFA. So without those big boys in there surely the Tradesmen have a chance in this comp. Well as it happens I went out in the second round of that comp as well losing 3-1 to FC Belgrade Dragons another side from XFA prem and a quite a strong team last season.


There is some good news though my ranking seems to have settled a bit and I am inside that top hundred that I have been striving for all season now to maintain that form. 84th Is my current highest ever I am standing 88th as it is now so maybe i can set a new high in the coming weeks.

Lots happening this week in the gameworld and quite a few changes are afoot more on that after the update so next time.

Superstar Tradesmen who are they?

Francisco Rey
Signed for £93,500 from an Inactive team rugby Consenza. A bargain if you ask me fairly consistent and can only improve with age. The other really cool thing is the tiny wage he asks shhh tell him any different.













Breno
Anybody who has played FM08 visits the FM forums (which everyone should btw) will know the name of this centreback. Much sort after in fml even had offers of 2 million but erm no thanks Rich not quite ready to let go yet. Signed from Kaswell for £500, 101.














Yalcin Kerem
What a steal this player was from the free agents list. Signed by his previous team Athletico Pathetico for £300, 000 and then released when his manager unfortunately had decided to leave the beta for personal reasons had all his players released I was quick to pounce. A snip at £55,000.


Daniel Larsson
Now this player was part of a huge debate in the lobby as to which young centreback was better. He was in auction at the time his club Portsmouth football club like to develop youths and make money on them. I decided I would have a cheeky bid and was prepared to pay upto a million for him. But after my bid went in the FML servers decided they needed an easter holiday and no one else had the chance to beat my bid. Signed for £500,001 thanks Paul. this player is awesome as much a threat at the other as he is at the back. 87 goals in 320 odd games is not bad going for a centreback. Already attracting the same kind of interest as Breno does and again lads hes not for sale.












Diego
Not the famous Diego but a star in my eyes never the less. Signed from my initial squad and still going strong now. Almost played a thousand matches under me now and seems to get better every season low wage a real hero and the club penalty taker.













Jared Zito
Just a token Aussie thrown in to my squad? Not a chance my biased views rate him as the best young left winger i have come across on the game. Again nicked from Rugby Consenza cost a cool £255,000.

Sebastian Durbarbier
Another one of my inspired picks from Initial squad. An unslefish player who makes as many goals as scores them. On his way to 400 goals for the side and around 300 assists. One of the biggest stars in the squad.


Jesper Jensen
My last steal and potential and actual superstar. I bought him as a backup to my usual front pairing while good occasionally both would be out of form and I wanted another striker who would add an aerial presence in the box. Signed from Mr Corleone for only £50,000 its fair to say I practially mugged the guy. 103 goals in 241 games shows how much ability the guy possesses also 42 assists this season I will need to teach him to be more selfish in front of goal.

You may have noticed its not a full 11 I have given thats because the remaining places are up for grabs once this season ends so maybe I can blog on some wheeling and dealing in the next couple of weeks.

The difficult second season syndrome

What happens when you mix a squad full of rubbish players you were stuck with from initial squad and XFA premier league?

Two words car crash. The second season could simply summed up this way might be a little harsh but then I'm the manager I have to analyze the teams performance. Now I saved what cash I could to introduce a new striker into the team. Scoured the free agents list for a classy striker who would be able to help me compete as it happens I came up with a fairly good deal my most expensive purchase Anderson (not the ManU midfielder). This wasn't all a bed of roses though as I was now spending too much on wages and struggling to shift the deadwood from my squad. A number of things put me in an unfortunate position as SI were in the process of changing contracts so that they would expire in the close season for all teams as a new team all players from my initial squad were locked to me for 2 seasons. Now I had replaced quite a number laying around and paying them off meant £100k payoffs so could only do 1 or 2 at a time save my cash repeat. The other factor was due to another 2 gw's going live at the start of our second season we didn't get many new managers into the gameworld. This meant most teams were more established then mine and not interested in my rejects.

After making a decent start to the league my sole ambition was to survive, In the middle of my season I hit a brick wall. 23 games without a win this in all comps and friendlies etc. The thing with runs like that is it destroys the morale of the team who then sulk for a fair amount of time. I tried different tactics, dropped players with lowest morale . Then after a few discussions with mods in my gw ( yes you fruitloops and the modfather Reevito). I trialled some players on better morale switched to a basic out of the box fm tactic and then lightly tweaked to fit the strength of my players and managed a strong credible finish to the season. Overall I was happy not to be on way to the championship but if I could have avoided that huge brick wall I might have been a very good season. As you can imagine my ranking also took a hammering during my good run in the season i went up to my highest point 84th the next week i was 150th but the real dip was in that week it went all the way down to 270th.

End of season was the time for me to really do some wheeling and dealing finally rid of those lingering from my initial squad i was ready to hunt down some new talent to further strengthen my Superstars. I made a decision to try and get some youngsters I could bring sharpen a rough diamond or two. Well as luck may have it The much acclaimed on FM08 centreback was being sold by Kaswell for £500k I chanced my arm with million in the bank and made the bid so one was coming together. Next came an exceptional 18yr old centreback again going in auction I bid 500k. The greatest time ever for this to happen but the servers crashed and were down for roughly 24 hrs which meant no one could outbid me in the auction and my next superstar was born. I then promptly added A 5 star potential left back who was free after one the high ranking sides decided to call it a day on the beta. I also added a young left winger and a young keeper to my squad my 1st team squad was to include 7 players under the age of 21 for the start of the next season.

My next blog will be meet the Superstars where I will go through the key members of my squad.

The difficult 1st season!

So first season into the beta and my mighty team have seen some rather erratic. There has been some fairly high points 120th in world rankings and a fall from grace backdown to 250th.



Now there can be lots of reasons as to why you move up and down but one of the main reasons is tactics. Now its easy to setup a winning tactic but since most games are against other real people and not a computer coming up a team a few times and they can well workout how to counter your tactic. You need to be able to adapt at any time.

Another factor is money all teams have now more cash to spend on players and wages there for improving there sides. Now i took the route of just strengthening where I need to and not spending too much others have piled into debt buying the top players in the world. As debt works basically money is worked out on a 28 day projection. Earn money per day based on your ranking in the gameworld and also federation money and any transfers or prize funds you may earn. There is flexibility to go a million in debt but hit 2 million and the bank will call in the receivers auction off your players and leave you potless.

The third factor is inactive users now this affects me because I have federation league which I think i highlighted earlier. i have resolution dates to play games by now if the opponents are not logging into the beta makes it difficult to play those games. Wins in federation competitions give more ranking points then other comps or friendlies do. I didn't enter my team into many comps forcing me to play friendlies this I feel contributed to the fall in rankings.

In my fed league XFA Qual Division A I ended up winning and earning my team a place in the XFA Premier league where the truely rich and famous players can be found. Now while its great to win my league putting up my squad against the likes of messi pato etc is quite a scary thought.

The next thing I want to cover is the skills system so that can be my next blog.

First up where to start? Oh the beginning

Well I'm finally going to start one of these blog things.

I have often read others views on the FML beta things they like, things they don't like, even things which probably shouldn't get mentioned at all. So I thought I would get round to making my own blog of my experiences in gw 4.

Upon entering the FML gameworld Its a rather daunting overwhelming place. You have the gameworld but also a chat client with the lobby, market place and associated league tabs. Also be prepared for plenty of ingame mail from other players selling players. Now initially you have a small amount of cash and wage budget to purchase a squad. I recommend making sure you have read the guide on getting started.

You can allow the game to randomly select you a starting squad if you like but if you like me and enjoy browsing the database for players like in FM then select your own.

Once A squad is picked and submitted you are then able to play matches either challenge anybody online or use the matchmaker icon which will find a game for you. There is even the option to create your own friendly tournament if you wanted to. I choose to play a few friendlies and join some tournaments created for new players in the gameworld which meant playing teams of similar skill and experience as my own.

The playing of matches is pretty much the same as FM once a game is started you have 5 minutes to select and submit your team. Then once game has started it will show you highlights from the game also the game includes a chat window so banter can be encountered with an opponent or anybody who may have choose to watch your game. Generally a mod will come and sit in on a new players game just to make sure they fitting in ok.

No the way the game handles gaining money and reputation is through ranking the better ranking the team has the more daily income they receive. This makes a huge difference to the teams as more more money the better standard of players you can sign. My team have moved just outside the top 150 ranked teams now the money received is almost double to the amount I started with.

The other way of earning cash and reputation is by joining a federation. The feds are split up into when you expect to be online to play games like a weekend fed evening fed daytime fed. I joined the extreme fed as i expect to play a lot of games. These all have league structures as a new team i started in the 4th division working your way up also means more cash and higher reputation.

Now I don't expect many people who don't like football to joining this when the game goes live but even casual fans can join and have a highly entertaining game without having to spend all the time online like certain other mmos wow. that said there will also be plenty of people who may replace their life with an FML one.