Questions Re: Influence & Long Shots

1. Can I improve a players influence through training or is it just a waiting game? The reason I ask is I currently have a central midfielder who has been excellent for me for 8 years and i'd love to make him captain but his influence is only 11 and others have better scores.

2. Are long shots affected by weather conditions? Has anyone tried using long shots when it's raining and seen any difference in their success rate due to the surface?

1. Can I improve a players influence through training or is it just a waiting game? The reason I ask is I currently have a central midfielder who has been excellent for me for 8 years and i'd love to make him captain but his influence is only 11 and others have better scores.

2. Are long shots affected by weather conditions? Has anyone tried using long shots when it's raining and seen any difference in their success rate due to the surface?

I have no idea about the first question, indeed I have asked a same question in the Good Player & Team Guide Forum.

About the second question, I have to say that the game should reflect weather conditions. I mean, you have more chances to score a long shot when the grass is wet and the ball bounces before it reaches goalkeeper's position. Once the ball bounces the speed increases.

q1 dont forget its not only influence you need i would say determanation also but also a 17 year old with influence 20 may not be better than a 30 year old with 11

q2 i think the weather only plays part in tempreture as my players do get tired easier if its hot

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Smoggster:

q1 dont forget its not only influence you need i would say determanation also but also a 17 year old with influence 20 may not be better than a 30 year old with 11

q2 i think the weather only plays part in tempreture as my players do get tired easier if its hot </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

17 yr old and 20 for influence - That would have to make him the young Dalai Lama!

but you get my point

weather conditions do make a difference but not sure if they make a difference to long shots. if its torrential rain and the pitch is churned up and muddy, short passing play on the ground is not as effective.

Nomis, giving the player responsibility such as Captain or Vice-Captain should help increase his Influence.

Influence cannot be trained but will come with age, experience and responsibility.

Influence should be able to be 'trained' by tutoring him.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Arthur Li:

Influence should be able to be 'trained' by tutoring him. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

you cant train influence you either have it or you dont

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by gcormack:

weather conditions do make a difference but not sure if they make a difference to long shots. if its torrential rain and the pitch is churned up and muddy, short passing play on the ground is not as effective. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I always up the long shots in rain - by my reckoning the keeper is more liable to make a mistake. Plus, the alternatives are passing, which is more likely to go astray or dribbling which will also be harder.

My players' long shots are rarely on target anyway so it wouldn't matter how dodgy the goalkeeper was in the rain

Many thanks for all the replies.

The long shots question was more out of curiosity than anything else.

The captaincy question is currently affecting my game, as Bayern Munich, Oliver Kahn is the immediate chocie as captain in season one, in season two the recommendation from the ass man is to select Philip Lahm as captain. This seems to make sense as Lahm is a world class youth product, I selected Schweinsteiger as vice captain, Lahm has influence of 13 and Schweinsteiger of 16. I'm now 8 seasons in and both players remian as captain and vice captain, my initial question was about Vailatti but it also affects Lahm as his influence has not increased in those 8 years and I notice a difference in team performance when Schweinsteiger captains the team.

The team seem to play better without Lahm as captain and I can't take the captaincy off a player who is steadily approaching the club record for appearances. I'm concerned that after 7 years as captain 13 is as high as Lahm will ever achieve.

Probably it is. I don't think Influence improves all that much. It's an attribute that you either have or you don't. Only for young players will it improve a little with experience I think.

I tend to pick a player with high influence (obviously) as captain, but I also like to think about who the player is, especially for vice captain. At Bremen I ignored my Ass Man's advice and chose Diego (Influence ~13 I think) as my vice captain behind Torsten Frings simply because he is the heartbeat of the side and my favourite player. Nowadays that means he tends to be captain most of the time because Frings tends to be on the bench mostly. Might have been better to pick someone else, but I'm happy with Diego as captain and he was also my captain at Derby in FM07 were he was a cult hero too so it's a bit of a sentimental decision!

17 yr old and 20 for influence - That would have to make him the young Dalai Lama!

I am sure I had an youngster a few years back that had a very high score in Influence & Flair. Not sure about determination tho' - I clearly remember being somewhat surprised at these two attributes being so high.

Well as far as I know Flair doesn't change so if a player doesn't have flair as a 17 year old kid then he never will.