Coincidence, or are some matches already partly played?

Had a weird moment in fm. Played an away game against fiorentina and 10 mins in to the first half they score a header from a corner. In the second half 10 mins from time I get a penalty and miss. Score is 1-0. Anyways, dreaded crash dump occurs but luckily I've saved before game in anticipation of this. 10 or so minutes into first half, fiorentina score from a corner. Same side, same type of goal. Lo and behold 15 mins from ft, I get a penalty. This time tho I score(different taker) and draw 1-1.

Little strange or what? Can games be pre defined?

Games are pre-defined to a certain extent, but not in the way you probably think.

Firstly it depends on when you saved the game, if it's right before the match then a lot of variables will already be set (confidence, moral, media interaction etc). If you then use the same team talk the it's entirely conceivable that the game will take a similar pattern because once you press 'Play' the processing and calculations are done for the first half of the match and you're shown the results of those calculations in the form of highlights. If everything is set and the same before both matches then the only difference will be a random 'luck' element that you'll get in all matches. In these two matches that random element appears to have been very small and had little effect.

chopper is right, but iirc you can change the inevitable. If you alter tactics, make substitutions etc, it is recalculated, am I right? I.e. the first half is calculated, but as soon as I make a change it's recalculated.

chopper is right, but iirc you can change the inevitable. If you alter tactics, make substitutions etc, it is recalculated, am I right? I.e. the first half is calculated, but as soon as I make a change it's recalculated.

Yes, you are indeed right.

What does iirc mean? I have seen it on loads of threads and still can't figure out what it means.

if i remember correctly

I've saved right before a game, quit out in disgust :o, then came back the next day and restarted the game and the result is normally completely different. I don't do it that often, but even with the same team tactics and team talk the game can play out completely differently (once I was losing a game 0-4 and on reloading I won 6-0).

I've saved right before a game, quit out in disgust :o, then came back the next day and restarted the game and the result is normally completely different. I don't do it that often, but even with the same team tactics and team talk the game can play out completely differently (once I was losing a game 0-4 and on reloading I won 6-0).

The o/p is probably very lucky - or unlucky - to have all the random elements play out in the same way.

The o/p is probably very lucky - or unlucky - to have all the random elements play out in the same way.

Very, very lucky, because even though the result/goals might be predetermined, I don;t think the likes of injuries/knocks/cards are.

chopper is right, but iirc you can change the inevitable. If you alter tactics, make substitutions etc, it is recalculated, am I right? I.e. the first half is calculated, but as soon as I make a change it's recalculated.

This is correct. Every time you make a change it re-processes and then shows you those new outcomes in the form of highlights.

I've saved right before a game, quit out in disgust :o, then came back the next day and restarted the game and the result is normally completely different. I don't do it that often, but even with the same team tactics and team talk the game can play out completely differently (once I was losing a game 0-4 and on reloading I won 6-0).

If you've made changes at all during the game then that will affect it, as explained above. And on top of that there is the random element which can have a big effect at times.

If you've made changes at all during the game then that will affect it, as explained above. And on top of that there is the random element which can have a big effect at times.

I know every tiny tactical change you make during a match causes the game to "regenerate" the match. Though in the case I described the difference was I scored an early goal and romped to victory rather then conceeding three in the first 10 minutes and losing 0-4 in the 80 minute. There were no tactical changes at all from my end until the 60th minute, so it was the random element of the ME causing a nice snowball effect to my benefit (for once ).

Very, very lucky, because even though the result/goals might be predetermined, I don;t think the likes of injuries/knocks/cards are.

I don't like the word predetermined, but they are in the same way calculated at the start of every game based on a set of variables - injury proneness, condition etc. in the case of injuries. However, the difference is that with every injury or red card and hence substitution, everything is recalculated.

I'd liken it to flipping a coin and getting heads 100 times in a row, theoretically not impossible but very difficult.

Well I must admit it was a match I didn't really have to win and in both cases I would have probably just done the bare minimum before and during the game. Sort of my generic pre and during game setups.

.... maybe a little off-topic but in my current save playing in the Belgina lower leagues I noticed half way through the season that two teams had P's by their names (in the league table) to indicate they had secured promotion. One of the clubs was in 2nd whilst the other was around about 6th - needless to say that the leagues two promotion spots went to these clubs, with one winning the league and the other going up via the play-offs.

I can't remember seeing this mentioned before, but it would seem to me that not only are the matches pre--calculated but also the season?!?