Gaming Thread

[StrikerCW]

yeah the fact that the world cup was on, and my roomate scooped up fifa hs pulled me away from fm. my last game i was with wigan struggling in the opening stages of the premier league after getting fired from the england job after losing 2-1 to france in the round of 16. i thought i was better than erickson. i guess not. it would help if i didn't suck chode in fm. as soon as a tactic that i actually designed myself gets broken after a month or so, i just cannot get another one that works. even when i get frustrated and download some just so i can get some breathing space, none really seem to make much difference.

and i lost with ireland in the world cup final yesterday. :(
Just dont do anything besides a standard 442 or one of its variants.

[holytoledo]

Just dont do anything besides a standard 442 or one of its variants.

yeah its what i always use. what do you do when your tactic just goes to shit though. how do you normally tweak it?

[StrikerCW]

Yeah... it should last longer than a month
Just get it to where you can kick some ass in the preseason or close enough and watch closely to the match to wot players are doing wrong and just go with what you think you should do.

[holytoledo]

Yeah... it should last longer than a month
Just get it to where you can kick some ass in the preseason or close enough and watch closely to the match to wot players are doing wrong and just go with what you think you should do.

OK thanks ill give it a try. I think the main problem is i have left lee martin on my wigan team in the reserves. he should be running up and down that left flank for the senior team!
Up the Lactics!

thanks again.

[Numquam Moribimur]

I play a 4-4-2 and when things start go to shit i play a 4-3-3 for a couple matches then go back to the 4-4-2

[Republic of Mancunia]

Yeah... it should last longer than a month
Just get it to where you can kick some ass in the preseason or close enough and watch closely to the match to wot players are doing wrong and just go with what you think you should do.

Wise words, wise words indeed.

I usually play a variation of "4-4-2 free" myself (highly modified over time) and found that the opposition would often switch to a 4-2-4 at around the 70th minute if I was winning by one or two goals. Now as my tactics are usually quite offensive-minded I found that my full-backs were often getting caught out of position and my team was very vunerable to counter attacks via long balls played down the wing and we were conceding way too many goals late on.

The solution was simple and now I often switch into the default "5-3-2 defensive" at around that time. It gives me extra protection at the back, still got a man advantage in midfield (although the AI tends to try and bypass this area of the field in 4-2-4) and keeps a credible goal attack. It's now usually me who scores late on, often on the counter-attack instead of the opposition for once.

[holytoledo]

Wise words, wise words indeed.

I usually play a variation of "4-4-2 free" myself (highly modified over time) and found that the opposition would often switch to a 4-2-4 at around the 70th minute if I was winning by one or two goals. Now as my tactics are usually quite offensive-minded I found that my full-backs were often getting caught out of position and my team was very vunerable to counter attacks via long balls played down the wing and we were conceding way too many goals late on.

The solution was simple and now I often switch into the default "5-3-2 defensive" at around that time. It gives me extra protection at the back, still got a man advantage in midfield (although the AI tends to try and bypass this area of the field in 4-2-4) and keeps a credible goal attack. It's now usually me who scores late on, often on the counter-attack instead of the opposition for once.

neat thanks.
i tweaked mine into a 442 with a withdrawn striker and a d-mid to help my shite defense.
0-1 charlton. outplayed the addicks but couldn't find a goal. had two called back.
1-0 leeds. murdered them but couldn't put the game to rest.
1-2 liverpool. thought i was gonna nick one to tie it at the end. at anfield.
0-0 chelsea. same as above. finally playing well, just need a goal. camara needs to learn how to shoot. rossi needs to get some wheels.
1-3 arsenal. murdered at highbury.
ive climbed out of the relegation zone and despite picking up only one point out of the last three games it was improved play against 3 world class teams so im pleased. man city, bolton and either southampton or sunderland up next, can't recall. definately a chance to pick up points. so now my poor defense has improved (relatively) but im struggling for goals. lee martin has impressed on the left for the first team so far!

[Numquam Moribimur]

Going to start a new game ! i am thinking wigan myself ! hehe nicking of holytoledo :D

[Republic of Mancunia]

Going to start a new game ! i am thinking wigan myself ! hehe nicking of holytoledo :D

That gives me an idea of sorts.

If we're never going to get a network game going how about we all take over the same team and play under the same rules/conditions?

We could either have a one season challenge where the "winner" is the one who gets the most points or we could just keep on going and see how far we can take the chosen team, coming on here to boast of our successes/faliures from time to time.

We could even set a goal, say Wigan to win the Champions League for example and could have it that you "win" by achieving it no matter how long it takes or make it competitive and see who can do it in the shortest time?

Might be easier and then we could all play at our own pace and wouldn't have to commit to play on the network game. Of course, something like that would require honesty but for my sins I pretty much trust you guys to stick by any agreed rules/not fabricate results.

Failing that, someone get their arse in gear and organise a network game, lol. :)

[Numquam Moribimur]

Oh that sounds like a good idea ! if we can get 5-6 ppl up for it ill do it !

[StrikerCW]

The problem is that a few of us over here would do it. But a few others (maybe you RoM and some others) would want to play on the other side of the pond, so comes the question of timing.

Also work/school is really taking my time and any free time I do get (not working/studying/workingout/being with friends/attempting to find a mate, etc.) is spent lounging around trying to rest watching tv or on here... :(

[benni...]

Sunday would be a good day to do it.

[Numquam Moribimur]

Redcafe did something like that ROM i am trying to find the thread ..we could use the rules from that or base them on that just a thought !

[StrikerCW]

Is it possible to vacation a network game ahead of time? That way we could do the world cup or something.

I am willing to set a few hours Sunday morning to WSM if anyone else is interested in at least getting the ball rolling now.

[Republic of Mancunia]

Is it possible to vacation a network game ahead of time? That way we could do the world cup or something.

I am willing to set a few hours Sunday morning to WSM if anyone else is interested in at least getting the ball rolling now.

If I was around I'd be interested but like you said, timing is the big problem. I work some pretty crazy hours, hence me still being up at this time but don't know if it would fit in with the rest of you. Feel free to go ahead without me though.

That's why I came up with my alternative suggestion.......

Redcafe did something like that ROM i am trying to find the thread ..we could use the rules from that or base them on that just a thought !

Nice one, if you can find the rules we could go with that.......got my idea from the LLM (lower league managers thread) at SI games. We wouldn't have to be so strict with the rules that they play to (unless you all wanted to) but here's what they went with:

The team I have selected for the Official 2006 LLM Challenge is…Workington.

The story behind it is this – upon loading the Beta demo, I noticed that Workington are now in the ECN, being a newly-promoted team, and therefore not playable in FM2005 from the start.

Now, I'm one of the old gits who remember Workington being a League club, and a bloody crap one at that. However, doing a bit of research (out of curiosity) and looking up their history I found that the best they ever finished in the League was 5th in the old 3rd Division.

The essence of this challenge is to use the English Quick Start (everyone's data starts the same, same size database, only one league loaded, etc.), start as Workington and aim to not only get them back in the League, but to eventually beat their club record finishing position – in today’s money, by finishing 4th in League One or better.

This is not a challenge as in the old days where it was a five-season-who-does-best competition. You can take as many seasons as you like - the challenge is just to achieve it. It is not about doing it before anybody else, it’s meant to be a rite-of-passage not only for experienced LlaMas, but can also be used to encourage those who wish to join our ranks. (ie anybody who comes into the forum wanting to know who to manage can now be safely (and politely) pointed in the direction of the challenge).

I think this is better, because those taking up the challenge shouldn't feel pressured to master the game from the first day – it’s a good learning curve to get used to the new game with. Ideally it’ll help the idea of an LLM community as well, because I hope that other LLaMas will be forthcoming in mutual support to those who are finding it more of a struggle (me, probably). Look at it not as a race, but more of a gauntlet thrown down by us mods.

There are several points that I think make this a good challenge to throw down. Workington have a crap ground, no money, expect relegation (always a good sign!), and have a not very good squad with little prospect of persuading anybody worth signing to join them. There is a lot of scope there for LlaMas to have to make some telling decisions as to whether to try to sign players, try to adopt your tactics to the players available, play players out of position to fit a particular formation, try to sign and train up some grey players (and these are even worse than the players you have), or a combination of these.

I’ve been giving this challenge a bit of a play test with the 6.0.1 patch, and you’ll be pleased to know that at just over halfway through the first season I’m firmly esconced in the relegation area, with little prospect of that situation changing. I have come across a problem that I haven’t had before – one area of my squad is continually outplayed by the opposition’s equivalent, and it wasn’t until I looked at some of the attributes new to FM2006 that I’ve discovered why…not that I can do much about it…

A nice little sideline of this challenge is of course that it finishes whilst still in what I would call the lower leagues, as you don't have to get into the top two divisions to finish - it's all in the leagues below that. Should you manage to complete the challenge, you may very well want to carry it on further…

The update rule still applies – no updates until you’ve completed three seasons, unless of course you’re heading in my direction and likely to get relegated or sacked within the three years. If that happens, dust yourself down and have another go – I’m finding it great fun because I’m so utterly awful.

How To Start:

Firstly, please make sure you have downloaded and installed the 6.0.1 patch.

If you can, you should use the England Quickstart that comes with the game (so everybody starts from the same position)

Some people have had problems with their quickstarts. If you have the same problems, you should start a new game with the following settings:
League to – English Conference N/S
Detail – Normal
Database – Small
Load all players from – England
Team to Manage - English Conference North; Workington
Favourite Team – Optional.


They have a strict protocol on there like player attribute masking on, no "player search" button to be used etc. and you have to use your scouts to find players/ realistic numbers of staff for the size of club you're at/using the job centre to recruit staff/ must devise your own tactics etc. etc. but we could roll with any set of rules/pick any team as long as we all agreed.

[holytoledo]

Is it possible to vacation a network game ahead of time? That way we could do the world cup or something.

I am willing to set a few hours Sunday morning to WSM if anyone else is interested in at least getting the ball rolling now.

I'd be down, just if we could set up a time. i work most sat. and sundays during the day. sunday evening i would be fine though. im pretty flexible aside from my work schedule. don't do much. work-soccer-bar. rinse, repeat.

[benni...]

Yeah, sunday evening sounds good.

[holytoledo]

******** off FM!
Four more games, three losses and a nil-nil draw. Despite outplaying my opponents in all four games, more chances, possession, better player ratings etc. continue to give up ridiculous "wonder" goals from outside the box with silly curve. ********ing stupid. henry camara can't hit the broadside of a ********ing barn.

[mhtwins113]

******** off FM!
Four more games, three losses and a nil-nil draw. Despite outplaying my opponents in all four games, more chances, possession, better player ratings etc. continue to give up ridiculous "wonder" goals from outside the box with silly curve. ********ing stupid. henry camara can't hit the broadside of a ********ing barn.
buy one of four men: fernando genro, evandro roncatto, sergey kisliy, or man utd's own eddie johnson. one of them should do the trick for you in terms of solving your goal scoring problems. and also, swallow your pride and shoot an enquiry over at john obi mikel. absolute monster in this game. for defense, look at nik besagno.

[benni...]

Did anyone else notice how suprisingly good Alan Smith can be in the game? He went from the reserves, to my realistic rotation. Once I got his confidence up, he never stopped scored, no matter who it was against.

Mascherano is probably the best defensive midfielder in the world, in the game. He never gets lower than a 7.7 avg rating.