Has the AI of the players in the ME of FM16 improved for the counters?

One of the things I hate the most about FM15 is how 90% of the times, the players make horrible decisions about what to do during a counter attack.

I am talking about even players with high values of decisions, technique, passing and vision (16+ in all of them mostly).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx4OHFM6HlT4dHJ6RzZ2MTB3MlE/view?usp=sharing

That's a link to a pkm for who is interested to check what I am talking about (let me know if the link doesn't work), in the file name there is even the specific minute of when said counter starts.

It's just the last of many other similar occurrences, so that's the one I saved on file, I could easily add more as I play.

I know that nobody at SI is working on FM15 anymore, so I am not expecting anything to change for that, I am just wandering if this sort of things keep happening on a regular basis on FM16 as well.

I am not saying of course, that every counter should go flawlessly. But in the hundreds of hours I spent with FM15 I can't recall a single counter attack involving a series of passes that ended well.

The only counters that result in goals (sometimes...) are those rare one man dribbling in open space with nobody standing in the way.

The rest of the times they will either senselessly go for the corner flag for no reason (even if they would have the pace to get rid of that slow defender just behind them), or make horizontal passes instead of passes in the space, sometimes even backpasses or wasting a lot of time thinking what to do while the full squad of the opponent gets back.

I would like to add that I am not talking about anything tactical about how to start more counters, or what the optimal setup should be.

I am simply asking about when the counter DO happen, if the players will actually be capable of making it deadly, and not wasting it in inconceivable ways.

One of the things I hate the most about FM15 is how 90% of the times, the players make horrible decisions about what to do during a counter attack.

I am talking about even players with high values of decisions, technique, passing and vision (16+ in all of them mostly).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx4OHFM6HlT4dHJ6RzZ2MTB3MlE/view?usp=sharing

That's a link to a pkm for who is interested to check what I am talking about (let me know if the link doesn't work), in the file name there is even the specific minute of when said counter starts.

It's just the last of many other similar occurrences, so that's the one I saved on file, I could easily add more as I play.

I know that nobody at SI is working on FM15 anymore, so I am not expecting anything to change for that, I am just wandering if this sort of things keep happening on a regular basis on FM16 as well.

I am not saying of course, that every counter should go flawlessly. But in the hundreds of hours I spent with FM15 I can't recall a single counter attack involving a series of passes that ended well.

The only counters that result in goals (sometimes...) are those rare one man dribbling in open space with nobody standing in the way.

The rest of the times they will either senselessly go for the corner flag for no reason (even if they would have the pace to get rid of that slow defender just behind them), or make horizontal passes instead of passes in the space, sometimes even backpasses or wasting a lot of time thinking what to do while the full squad of the opponent gets back.

I would like to add that I am not talking about anything tactical about how to start more counters, or what the optimal setup should be.

I am simply asking about when the counter DO happen, if the players will actually be capable of making it deadly, and not wasting it in inconceivable ways.

How do you know that that what you claim to happen, happened to everyone else? If what you say is true for everyone then its true and its an issue. However I recorded my longest unbeaten run in FM15...500 games undefeated in ALL competitions. It lasted till the launch of FM16. So I'm sorry to say this, you may need to change the thought process behind your tactical creation

The counter attack in itself isn't always 100% perfect. I have had successes and I have had failures, it all depends on where the second ball lands

Nonono, wait a minute, I am not talking about success in general at the game. Or with a "counter attack" tactic. It's not like most of the goals would be scored on a counter anyways even for a counter attack tactic. You can't force a defensive team to expose itself enough to trigger real counters after all.

I am merely talking about when the "counter" triggers in the ME. I am just talking about the decision making process of the players when the counter attack is triggered.

I am not saying you or everyone else did not have success with a counter based tactic.

I am just saying that when the counter triggers, as far as I understand it, the TI and PIs are ignored, and the sense of urgency is set to the maximum for as long as the counter last. So what happens during the counter does not have anything to do with the tactical setup (again, as far as I understood it while reading the Art of counter attack).

The problem is what the players decide to do with the ball during the counter, and their inability to make use of it properly.

Counters are more effective in FM16 than FM15, but you can and will still get misplaced passes and poor decisions when the counter is triggered - that's part of football. Some of it is genuine decision making issues, some of it is residual buggy behaviour, but overall it's a load better than FM15.

Thanks a lot RTHerringbone, just what I wanted to hear, as long as it's at least better, I have nothing to complain, after all I do understand it's not easy to fix something without breaking something else when it comes to something so complicated as a ME.

Thanks a lot RTHerringbone, just what I wanted to hear, as long as it's at least better, I have nothing to complain, after all I do understand it's not easy to fix something without breaking something else when it comes to something so complicated as a ME.

Note that counters have improved so much, that it's really causing people issues who have become accustomed to using pretty aggressive tactics for years (again, this is a good thing). If you've read this section of the forum, you'll have seen a few threads to that effect, and generally the advice is to just set up more balanced systems: there's no need for a 4-2-3-1 to have an MC joining the forward line. Having two aggressive wing backs without cover from midfield can and will leave space behind - just as a couple of examples.

That's great, in fact the ME is pretty much the only reason I am looking forward to the new FM. It has gotten to the point that I don't really care much about new stuff like make a club, or seeing my own avatar or new press conferences... as long as the ME has improved for real, I am all good.

I just need to decide if I am getting the full version again or if I'll switch to the touch version... there are things I like about the full version (like the pep talks) and others I don't like so much (like having to repeat the same exact sentences to the players asking to be sold to bigger teams or to have more first team football, which rarely becomes an issue anyways if you choose the right options).