Tactics wizard, suggestion

With all the discussions on these boards about tactics and many complaints that the game is becoming too hard I wonder if it is time for a tactics wizard to be added to the game. I envision this wizard to be a helpful tool for many of the more casual players and a rough guide for the more hardcore ones.

What this wizard does is give the player a fairly quick way to create tactics optimized for his specific team. To incorporate this into the game smoothly it will be done through a question & answer session with his assistant manager. To make it more interesting, the skill of the assistant manager can be taken into account when determining how much helpful information he will give the player while asking questions. Every question comes with a multiple choice answer(s), checkboxes or perhaps a slider bar. In some cases follow-up questions will be asked where needed.

For example (in this example the result shows what happens in the player takes the Ass.Man suggestions):

Question: What basic formation would you suggest?

Advice: Based on our team I would suggest a 4-4-2 formation. We currently have no fullbacks who are capable of operating well in a wing back position. We have a relatively weak team and need at least four defenders. Our current squad cover all the required positions for a 4-4-2 formation.

Result: Basic 4-4-2 is picked.

Follow-up question: Would you like to retrain <Name> to M L?

<Name> is a natural AM L and is only competent in M L. A 4-4-2 requires a M L.

Result: AM L is retrained to M L

Question: What overall mentality would you suggest?

Advice: We are a relatively weak squad in this league. I'd suggest taking a defensive approach and play on the counter. <Name> has high pace and acceleration which will suit this style well. Our defense is slow overall, so we cannot push up too far or risk being caught too far from our goal.

Result: Overall mentality is set to defensive with midfield on slightly defensive and offense on low attacking. All defensive players are set to not make forward runs.

Question: Would you like to push up the full backs?

Advice: We can either have our defense be one flat line or push up the fullbacks. Considering the positioning and pace of both our fullbacks I think we can take the risk and push them up a little

Result: Two ticks are added to both fullbacks mentality. Both fullbacks are set to mixed forward runs.

Question: Would you like to stagger the midfield?

Advice: Staggering the midfield means we pick one M C to have a defensive mentality and one M C to have an offensive mentality. Considering <Name A> has better defensive attributes and <Name B> has better offensive attributes I would suggest we stagger instead of using a flat line.

Result: One tick is removed from A and one tick is added to B. A is set not to run forward, b is set to mixed run forward.

Question: How about creative freedom?

Advice: Considering many of our players have poor intelligence on the football pitch I would suggest sticking to a tight formation with little creative freedom. <Name> is our strongest and most creative player, he should be able to find some space if allowed to.

Result: Creative freedom will be set low, but will be adjusted for players with high creativity and decision attributes.

Question: What about passing style?

Advice: Our defense is rather slow and have low passing ratings. Using a counter attack style I suggest instructing them not to take risks and to pass the ball long.

Result: Passing style is set to long for defense and mixed/direct for midfield and offense.

Question: About closing down

Advice: Our defense is rather slow and might be caught out of position if closing down too much. I suggest we do not close down with our defenders.

Result: Closing down will be set to low for the defense and average for midfield and offense.

Follow-up question: <Name A>, <Name B> and <Name C> have high stamina, would you like them to close down more?

Advice: Players with high stamina can close down more often without getting tired.

Result: Two ticks are added to A, B and C

(More advanced questions: )

Question: <Name A>, any specific instructions?

Advice: Our AM L, <Name A>, is a good runner. He might be able to get past the defense and set up from the side. A counter attacking 4-4-2 is ideal for wingers to break out and cross the ball. <Name A> is a fairly good crosser, so I suggest we allow him to put it in the box as often as he can.

Result: A is set to often run forward, often run with the ball and often cross.

Question: <Name B>, any specific instructions?

Advice: Our M R, <Name B>, is fairly slow. I suggest we do not have him run forward too often. He can cross the ball fairly well, but I suggest he does not go to the byline.

Result: B is set to mixed run forward, mixed run with ball and often cross from deep.

And so on down the whole list of tactical options. The result would be a tactic that is standard yet tailered by the player to the current team selection. It should be good enough to reflect the quality of the squad and for any above-average team to do well in the league. Obviously the total number of questions can become quite long, but it seems you can click through them quite quickly if the questions themselves are short and clear.

I understand SI might have considered this type of wizard before and they might have rejected the idea internally. The problem is that if players use the wizard and not win the Champion's league fifteen times in a row with Man Utd, SI will get the blame for it. Also, the advice given by the wizard can never be as good as a player who does his homework and who reacts and adjusts tactics mid-match when needed. Still, I believe this would still help out the casual player who doesn't want to have to read forums and articles online to have fun.

PS. The questions and advice I wrote are just some examples. My interpretations of the tactics might be wrong, but that is not the topic for this thread.

Who asks the questions? Where does the italic come from? These are both created by the assistant, yes? It's more of a recommendation than a wizard if I'm reading correctly.

It does not really matter who asks the questions, but you can see this as the Assistant Manager asking you, the Manager the questions and then writing down your answers. The Assistant Manager will make recommendations, but you do not have to take them. The recommendations are done just so casual players can take them, but they can naturally still be tweaking or completely ignored.

You have to imagine a screen with the question, the advice and then a list of comboboxes, check boxes and sliders set to the recommendations, but you can set them however you want.

Very cool idea. And very workable. It would be a great way for those who don't want to work with the sliders to use a preset tactic to match their club and level.

This is sacrilege! How DARE you suggest that the wonderful and almighty FM be made easier and more enjoyable!?! Go to the corner of the forum and declare thine allegiance to FIFA Manager. Seven readings of the Tactical Theorems & Frameworks as penance.

<jokes>

Good idea.

This is sacrilege! How DARE you suggest that the wonderful and almighty FM be made easier and more enjoyable!?! Go to the corner of the forum and declare thine allegiance to FIFA Manager. Seven readings of the Tactical Theorems & Frameworks as penance.

<jokes>

Good idea.

Oh my god, 7 readings! Thats 126,000 words!

Though, seriously, the last thing I want to happen is for the FM game to be dumbed down because of complaints on this forum. Whole game markets have already been dumbed down enough that there's not much left for me to enjoy. Football Manager is one of the few games that mentally challenge me and I'd like it to stay that way. For a player who is willing to sit down and understand the mechanics, the game is already too easy. No need to make it even easier.

So, instead of adjusting the game engine, the other approach would be to give the player more optional help. This should satisfy both groups of players.

PS. I am a firm believer that a difficulty option would be the ultimate solution. A simply small attribute adjustment during the match to offset the AI's lack of intelligence on the transfer market vs. the player.

Was clearing out some old subscriptions and found this old thread! I guess Zappa's a little bit of a prognosticator Not in this exact form, of course, but he got some of what he asked for

Well found Toon.

I think the tactics wizard suggested by the OP would've been going far too far..

While I'm very much in favour of more suggestions by your assistant in to how to get the most out of your players and where your tactics may be going wrong, I'm very much against a system (be it either through assistant's 'advice' or the tactics wizard) that essentially does all the work for you.

The tactics wizard should allow those who want to use it to create a simple, effective tactic to hopefully utilise their players to the best of their abilities. It should be up to the manager to decide who to play and why, to what strategy and in what formation. Your assistant should then critique your choices to the best of their ability - but the manager remains in charge.

At present there is more than enough backroom advice from your assistant, coaches and scouts to put together a tactic to get the most out of your players and exploit the opposition's weaknesses. There is however room for, particularly in a match, your assistant to suggest changes. It should not be put on a plate and spoon fed to you - if it was that easy, and the assistant knew everything, what'd be the point of the manager?

I've had a horrid image in my mind..

Well found Toon.

I think the tactics wizard suggested by the OP would've been going far too far..

While I'm very much in favour of more suggestions by your assistant in to how to get the most out of your players and where your tactics may be going wrong, I'm very much against a system (be it either through assistant's 'advice' or the tactics wizard) that essentially does all the work for you.

The tactics wizard should allow those who want to use it to create a simple, effective tactic to hopefully utilise their players to the best of their abilities. It should be up to the manager to decide who to play and why, to what strategy and in what formation. Your assistant should then critique your choices to the best of their ability - but the manager remains in charge.

At present there is more than enough backroom advice from your assistant, coaches and scouts to put together a tactic to get the most out of your players and exploit the opposition's weaknesses. There is however room for, particularly in a match, your assistant to suggest changes. It should not be put on a plate and spoon fed to you - if it was that easy, and the assistant knew everything, what'd be the point of the manager?

I've had a horrid image in my mind..

HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! OMG, that's amazing...

Hehehehehehehehehehe!

dude...i cant believe u spent so much time writing this crap...dont get me wrong its a good game...but the real fun of the game is to come up with ur own tactics...its like ur assman is preparing a pie for you to eat...you need to prepare it and eat it too...but back to topic it absolutely makes no sense...imagine ur assman making all the decisions for you? whats the point of the game then???? Guys spend half their day scribling tactics on sheets of papers and you want an assman to prepare them for you???

The OP wrote this a good 9 months before anyone even saw the Tactics Creator. It is hardly 'crap'.

Please try to refrain from using such derogatory language when responding to others' ideas.

Hershie you are a genius for that pic.

Heh, nice Hershie.

I've often thought that you should be able to get more advice from the asst manager.

It would make up for something that real managers have that FM ones dont.

In real life a manager can talk to a player, he can watch him in training, he can test him on tiny elements of his ability in certain positions, he can ask him to stay late in training and work on one particular piece.

In FM we rely on numbers and occasional 'training reports'.

The ast manager could be your eyes and ears.

It could work as a difficulty level option in a way because you could ask him to perform various tasks (Such as teamtalks which are already there)

But the more you ask him for advice the more money he'll want and the more annoyed he'll be that you don't know how to do your own job.

But if for some reason you really can't work out why something really isn't working and youi're conceding five goals a game, you can ask him for tactical ideas.

What irritates me is in the past I've gone on 'holiday' when I've been really struggling and the ast manager has come in and done a decent job.

I employ the guy, I'm his boss, why can't I ask him what he did differently?

You wouldn't HAVE to use everything he said, and you could ignore him completely.

It would even add something to the game where you need to get the right Ast manager to suit. some might prefer to be more hands on with the team and some might just want to be a coach.

You could even add elements of unrest if the ast manager thinks you are taking the mickey and he's doing your job for you.

But as it stands you might as well not have an assistant manager and just set 'automaticly arrange friendlies and tamtalks' because that's all the guy does.

Hershie you are a genius for that pic.

thank you.

thank you.

Aye, great pic.

I've often thought that you should be able to get more advice from the asst manager.

It would make up for something that real managers have that FM ones dont.

In real life a manager can talk to a player, he can watch him in training, he can test him on tiny elements of his ability in certain positions, he can ask him to stay late in training and work on one particular piece.

In FM we rely on numbers and occasional 'training reports'.

The ast manager could be your eyes and ears.

It could work as a difficulty level option in a way because you could ask him to perform various tasks (Such as teamtalks which are already there)

But the more you ask him for advice the more money he'll want and the more annoyed he'll be that you don't know how to do your own job.

But if for some reason you really can't work out why something really isn't working and youi're conceding five goals a game, you can ask him for tactical ideas.

What irritates me is in the past I've gone on 'holiday' when I've been really struggling and the ast manager has come in and done a decent job.

I employ the guy, I'm his boss, why can't I ask him what he did differently?

You wouldn't HAVE to use everything he said, and you could ignore him completely.

It would even add something to the game where you need to get the right Ast manager to suit. some might prefer to be more hands on with the team and some might just want to be a coach.

You could even add elements of unrest if the ast manager thinks you are taking the mickey and he's doing your job for you.

But as it stands you might as well not have an assistant manager and just set 'automaticly arrange friendlies and tamtalks' because that's all the guy does.

I certainly want to see more assistant feedback on your tactical choices and more advice on roles and strategy (as well as maybe some advice on man management and resting players, eg. reminding you of cards, big games coming up etc).

The backroom advice is a big step forward though, and I don't think there's all that much more to improve in some areas.

its like ur assman is preparing a pie for you to eat...you need to prepare it and eat it too...

Isn't it fair enough that some people may want to just eat the pie? Or even may simply want to buy a ready-made pie mixture from a supermarket and add water?

I think the suggested wizard above would have been a bit complicated, but the creator we have now is a great time saver.

Others might not want a pie at all.

Does that work? I'm kind of lost.

I don't know about pies or anything, I just thought it was pretty cool that this post went up way before we saw the FM 2010 demo with the Tactics creator which, while it isn't nearly as involved, in a way does what he was suggesting. That's all