jmlima
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Posts posted by jmlima
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Correct nation list, correct transfer system, correct squad selection rules, correct foreigner rules, correct international cups, correct stadiums.
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RPGs have been trying to do interaction for aeons and they are still lackluster, repetitive and scripted. It's little wonder SI did not fare any better. I mean, they are no different from staff meetings, player meetings and other forms of interaction in the game. Don;t think the model has much improvement that can be done other than in what regards the choice of questions by the engine. Introducing AI would be a can of worms since measuring answer and then imputing that into the calcs to obtain the results in terms of mods would be akin to impossible. I mean you could use a parser but then someone would discover the 'magic words' and answer would become a selection of random words that would deliver max effect in the calcs. And we would be back to this thread.
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7 hours ago, CamAshworth said:
Surely if a team with very low Mental and/or Physical attributes would get ripped apart trying to play in a non stop pressing system. This Leaving big gaps all over the pitch for the opposition to exploit.
However in the current FM Match engine this is simply not the case.
Quite. And that is something you see every weekend when crap teams try to imitate the playing style of the top teams.
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12 minutes ago, Mitja said:
Oh come on. Winning leagues trophies promotions should be an achievement which drives you on not something that puts you off playing the game.
Trust me. People prefer winning to grinding.
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1 minute ago, El Payaso said:
...then that is not a grown adult's behavior in my opinion.
Just imagine a realistic management game in which you are at the whims of events totally out of your control, implementing a new tactical system takes ages and sometimes fails entirely, scouting is a bit of a crystal ball at lower levels, and transfers do not allow you to stockpile those 'wonderkids' as soon as the game starts... not popular probably.
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27 minutes ago, El Payaso said:
But has the game ever been more difficult to be honest?
Not sure if it was much more difficult but, think the argument is that there should have been some significant progress re AI management, transfer realism, scouting realism, etc. That, by itself would make the game harder. If the difficulty stays the same and the human player is better, then the game will feel ever easier.
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On 17/04/2024 at 06:37, SimonHoddle said:
...I don’t think FM would fall for the tackiness of 3D modelling players in an office etc. there is nothing in their history which suggests they have any interest in that route. ...
Neither did CK, until it showed-up as a DLC...
Honestly, re 3d, I would settle for the stadiums to have any passing resemblance to the actual stadiums clubs play in. Of course, in this day and age, I can see all sorts of issues re architectural copyright to come up from that, so I don't expect it to happen.
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10 minutes ago, Brodie21 said:
I feel that i've just had my palm read & been told the future's bleak :-(
Seriously, appreciate your thoughts & very much appreciate they are only predictions
It's not bad, it's just different. Games are not static, the time where you could deploy one of those old style spreadsheet games and sell it on the scale that FM currently sells is well and truly dead. You can still get away in some types of games with tedious and spreadsheet (see crusader kings, EU, stellaris) and, if it wasn't for the specific mention of graphics being a driver, I could see FM continue as we know it. But I find really hard to justify such a monumental move as this for the sake of graphics, if graphics are not going to be driving your game going forwards. I also forgot something, I can see 3d graphics starting to be more integrated into the UI, can be as tacky as making the staff meetings with 3d chars (let's hope not as that always looks tacky as hell, just look at those throne rooms in CK...) but that is also something that will certainly feature more and more going forward. Perhaps your player screen will now feature the player's 3d model for example. That sort of eye candy.
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1 hour ago, Brodie21 said:
Think that is an excellent point. I think they'll just want everything that's currently working, to work on the new platform. Maybe an alternative question is how do you think the game will be on the new platform. Better? Worse? Little difference to now? Thoughts?
Pretty much a crystal ball exercise. Going into unity means you are trading full control over your engine, for something else. In this instance it seems it's graphics. Only SI can evaluate that side of things. I honestly never expected that if you were looking for a graphics engine your choice would be unity so, there must be more behind it. I suspect easier multi-platform development. They will for sure be more focused in getting everything to work rather than adding new variables into this already complex equation. I'm not sure what was the base language for FM and how easy they can port that into unity. If it's not a direct(ish) port that can be such a monumental task that I'm not sure how it could be completed in the stated timeframes, without some horrendous investment in development. (I wouldn't want to be the one financing such a task.) Now, for the games I know better (wargames, the hard core type) every single one that is done in unity suffers from being sluggish, simplistic, 'light', when compared to their peers done in proprietary c++ or even delphi engines. They do not look any better. That might be down to the fact that the wargame companies that tend to use unity are the ones that either see in it as an advantage for one of two reasons: multi platform or that it simplifies their development environment. No one thinks unity by itself will deliver a better game, they just know it delivers a better game than they would otherwise be able to do. I expect, in the long run, a 'lighter' game that will start to become more and more a portable / console game and less of a PC spreadsheet game. Focusing on graphics possibly also means a long-term aim to have the 3d action become more central to the game. Again, crystal ball.
Edit to say, Every unity game I have also has ginourmous patches. So be ready for that. As an example, just recently, mtg arena had a 7gb patch (pretty much the size of the entire game).
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Think so much work is going into migrating into the new engine that new features, most of all significant ones, are a pipe dream.
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17 hours ago, El Payaso said:
... In the Finnish online save I used 17 seconds to set up a tactic, never really did anything after that, played with extended highlights and won the domestic triple with a team that was predicted to finish seventh. ...
Playing devil's advocate, we also need to remember that obtaining that type of outcome works well for sales. Players prefer to win rather than lose and, if they have an impression that the game is veryyyy complex (ie, by the game having loads of numbers, screens and options) and still obtain a great outcome they will prefer it to the opposite, which is a grinding game where your survival as manager is at sometimes at the whims of a temperamental president / ceo and largely out of your control... Talking from my own experience with video game players, the illusion of difficulty with the reward of a win is preferred to the reality of difficulty and a highly variable sometimes feel-bad outcome. It's a delicate balance SI must thread on that front. The people that post in forums (more so those very vocal) are a tiny, tiny minority of the overall player universe so, if sales are going well, those half-a-dozen guys moaning and bitching in forums will never be heard. Again, companies do a good job these days with a legion of moderators in the big games boards, discords, etc giving a good pretence of listening, much like Frasier Crane's 'I'm listening'. I think the sheer longevity of the game series speaks volumes to the fact that, even if too easy and unrealistic, SI know what they are doing when it comes to delivering a good football management themed game (emphasis on game) that will sell well.
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Think the problems are a trifecta. On one hand it's dead easy to find and sign players. At any level. Way, way worse of a problem at the highest levels. In reality, scouting is massively difficult and costly and that's why local clubs resort to local / same division players and don't go searching for players around the country or even the continent. I also think players are wayyyyy overrated. There should be a much more dramatic difference between player levels. Some small leagues have players that are either way too good when compared to reality, or top clubs in europe are drunk and have never heard of them.
On the other hand, tactics and tactical alterations are far too easy to implement. I've never seen the 'learning gap' between you deciding to go from a 4-4-2 kick-and-rush into a 4-2-3-1 tiki-taka be of any significance in the game.
The third, you have far, far too much information at the tips of your fingers. I mean, in FM my local club can field an analyst that provides excruciatingly detailed analysis of everything under the sun. In reality they can barely pay the manager, let alone anyone else.
Disclaimer. Many of the impressions we gather are our own experience with the game, they may not be anyone else's.
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Great job doing this so quickly!
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FOOTBALL - SERIE A
Mid-Season Report.
JAMES NESBITT
23 DECEMBER 2021At the Serie A Christmas break we make our usual update, this year with plenty of drama at both ends of the table. Let's start with an overview of the table:
Team - Points
Inter - 48
AC Milan - 45
Atalanta - 40
Fiorentina - 38
Juventus - 36
Napoli - 32
Torino - 32
Sassuolo - 28
Lazio - 28
Bologna - 28
Verona - 23
Roma - 22
Udinese - 20
Spezia - 18
Empoli - 17
Genoa - 16
Sampdoria - 16
Cagliari - 15
Salernitana - 12
Venezia - 9<news report clipped>
On the 4th place are a somewhat surprising Fiorentina. The team was always expected to be a safe bet for a UEFA League spot, but changes in the team's management at season start had many doubting their prospects. In fact, Lima has now safely defied earlier season sweepstakes that had him leaving after a month in charge, he even managed to outperform his fellow countryman Mourinho that had the dubious honour of being the first sacked manager in Serie A, sacked by Roma on the 1st of November. Despite a strong Serie A performance which saw Fiorentina beating AC Milan and Juventus there was bit of a damper for Fiorentina as they were out of the Coppa Italia on the second round.
The team is an attacking powerhouse, well above the Serie A average for goals, whilst having a very tidy defence that his well below the Serie A average for goals suffered. An interesting high pressure 4-4-2 that either has forward or counter-attacking momentum depending on the game situation has served the team well thus far. One of the biggest selling points is that the team shots accurately and with danger, rarely does the ball find its way into the stands. If there is one area that has let the team down is that its aerial prowess, both in attack and defence has been poor.
Typical formation : Dragowski; Odriozola, Milenkovic, Igor, Biraghi; Sottil, Castrovilli, Pulgar, Bonaventura; Vlahovic, Gonzalez
The Star : Dusan Vlahovic. The 21 year old Serbian romped to the top of the Serie A goalscorers with 19 goals, leaving him just two goals short of his past season total. He's now a wanted man, with rumours that top clubs like Chelsea, Man Utd, Bayern and Inter are about to start a bid war to get his services. With a hefty price tag, likely to be in the region of €75m, if Fiorentina can hold on to him will be one of the talking points of the next transfer window.
The Dissapointment : After a €23m transfer from Stuttgart great things were expected of the Argentinan Nicolas Gonzalez. Unfortunately, two in juries in quick succession had him down for seven weeks, on his return he has been anything other than discrete. In 16 games, 2 goals and 3 assists are very little for the expectations and for a player that has a bigger salary than his companion in the attack, Vlahovic. Lima will be wanting a lot more of Gonzalez on the second-half of the season.
One for the future : Riccardo Sottil. The 22 years old Italian is exploding this season and showing glimpses of what can be a bright future. After some rather obscure past seasons, the fast winger has proven deadly by its own (5 goals) or assisting other (7 assists). A star in the making?
The Unsung Hero : Nikola Milenkovic. The huge Serbian defender has been a defensive stalwarth. Solid in the centre and capable on the right flank he's been like as resilient and dependable as grade 316 stainless steel. Very few people notice him but his defensive production as been second to none.
The Where Are You Award : Lucas Torreira. On loan from Arsenal, the Uruguayan was probably trying to re-kindle the past magic from his days in Genoa, playing for Sampdoria, alas, ten appearances as a sub was the best he got thus far, barely making any impact and raising serious questions about his loan price tag.
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OPINION - FOOTBALL
The alure of the unknown.
JAMES NESBITT
13 JUNE 2021
Every year thousands of anonymous tourists walk under the beautiful Duomo di Firenze. What few of the supporters of Fiorentina ever thought was that one of those anonymous visitors could end up as manager of their beloved club. Even few would imagine that would happen on the season that the club is due to celebrate its 95th anniversary.When Rocco Commisso aquired the club, supporters expected massive investment and famous names coming through the gates of the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The announcement of the departure of the manager, speculation was rife as to his replacement. Big names were hinted at, the question was how big, there was never any doubt it would be someone famous.
The appointment of the unknown Lima was received with disbelief. So much, that at the start even the famous Gazzetta dello Sport made the mistake of stating that Lima was to be appointed as the Director in charge of finding the new manager. The club had to issue a public statement declaring that no, Lima was not a director, he was the new manager.
Lima, largely an academic of football, with a career that saw him being assistant manager, scout, even Director of Football Development for the Samoan national team, but crucially, never manager, much less of such an historical team as Fiorentina, the former team of notorious players such as Batistuta, Rui Costa, Toldo, Hamrin and Antognoni.
The appointment was greeted with disbelief by supporters, but Commisso himself intervened and defended the appointment asking the supporters to judge the appointment by the results, not by names. In answer to this, the local newspaper La Nazione launched a sweepstake on its website asking how many days would Lima last as manager, at the time of writing, in news that must be unwelcome to Lima the most popular answer is one month... the alure of unknown proved irresistible for Commisso, will he pay the price, or reap the profits, time will tell...
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Been playing like many since CM 93, time to do one of these. In short, I'll publish the background info for the Manager, then there will a series of news clip type reports where intrepid reporter Jams Nesbitt follows the career of our manager. The news clips will be done at significant moments of the seasons. If this gains any interest, I may increase the frequency of them. Without further ado, let's get this show on the road with a wiki style intro to our manager, Lima of its name.
Lima was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. Following his graduation, Lima entered the Columbia University sports management graduate school in 2000.
Assistant Coach
While at Columbia University, Lima's career began when, at the age of 26, he was named assistant coach of the Columbia University Lions's Ivy League soccer program. He stayed in that capacity for the duration of his studies, serving under long standing manager Dieter Ficken.
Analyst and Scout
After the rather notorious seasons of 2002 and 2003, where the Lions had a 10-5-1 and 10-4-3 records, Lima was ending his studies and intended to leave the Lion's coaching team. He received high praise and, recommended by Ficken he joined Sampson's coaching team for the Costa Rican national football team as an analyst and opponent scout. The debacle against Cuba and the subsequent sacking of Sampson, meant that this experience was short lived and, after only 6 months, Lima left together with Sampson's team.
With the new MLS season soon to start and two new teams making their league debuts, Lima was again recommended by Ficken and joined head coach Thomas Rongen at the Chivas USA franchise as analyst and opponent scout.
He would form a strong partnership with Rongen, that would see him working as his assistant during the Chivas USA first and poor 2005 season and then during the US U-20 national football team years. During this period, the pair managed to lead the team to the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
In 2007, the team remarkably won their group, ahead of Brazil and Poland, won against Uruguay on the round of 16, being defeated by Austria on the quarter finals. 2009 represented a step back that saw the team eliminated at group stage.
Director of Football Development
With Rongen leaving the US team after a notorious scandal and joining Samoa as their head coach, Lima joined them as Director of Football Development. 2011 was to be a remarkable year for Samoa.
Since joining FIFA, the team was regarded as one of the world's weakest teams and were, until November 2011, the joint-lowest ranked national team in the FIFA World ranking. On November 23, 2011, American Samoa recorded their second and first FIFA-recognised win when they defeated Tonga 2–1 in the first round of qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was also the team's first victory after 38 consecutive defeats.
Analyst and Scout
Having managed to make a name for himself as a very able and talented analyst of football's tactics and players, he was hired by Arsenal Holdings plc to form part of the analyst and scouting team at Arsenal.
With a desire for a more 'hands-on' role, he left after only two seasons, to join the coaching team of newly appointed Celtic manager Ronny Deila as the de-facto assistant coach. Once again, the manager's departure meant Lima's departure.
For the 2016 season, Lima headed to Edinburgh and joined Hibernian as the head of scouting and analysis. This would a very successful period for the team as they would catapult to promotion by winning the 2016–17 Scottish Championship. In their first season back in the top flight, Hibs finished fourth in the Premiership and qualified for the Europa League. With Lennon's departure, Lima made the news by refusing to take the top spot in the club following a disagreement over transfer and youth policies. He ended-up joining Lennon at Celtic as his assistant coach but this was to be a short-lived experience and Lima left after the first successful season. The following debacle has been blamed by several courses on the fact that Lima was actually the eminence grise behind Lennon and his departure left the entire coaching team in chaos. With results going south, Lima was approached by Celtic for a return, with a view to try to steady the boat, but Lima refused and publicly went on record stating that his next role would be main job, he had no desire to continue to do background work and was more than ready to take the centre stage.
Manager
Rocco Benito Commisso is an Italian American billionaire businessman that Oon June 6, 2019, formalized the purchase of ACF Fiorentina. It is believed that Commisso bought Fiorentina for somewhere between $150–200 million. Commisso is planning to grow Fiorentina's brand in the US market. The club's first venture will see it play in the preseason tournament, the International Champions Cup 2019.
Commisso, a former Columbia Lion, played soccer for the Columbia University Lions in the 1967–1970 period, being a three time All-Ivy League Honouree. Since his time as a student, Commisso has been a contributor to Columbia men's soccer program. From 1978 to 1986, he was Chairman of Friends of Columbia Soccer. Presently, Columbia awards an Annual Men's Soccer Prize in his name. On 12 October 2013, Columbia University named its soccer venue at the school’s Baker Athletics Complex as the Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium and was inducted into the 2016 Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame Special Category. As a former Lion, Commisso was well aware of Lima's time with the team and had always been very impressed with the successive recommendations provided by Ficken. After a dissapointing first season under his ownership, the departure of manager Montella opened the top-spot and Commisso decided to make his mark. After holding discussions with both Lima and Ficken, Commisso was reportedly utterly impressed with Lima's presentation covering the recent past, present and possible future of the Fiorentina team and decided on the spot to appoint Lima as manager for the new season.
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8 minutes ago, forameuss said:
And for every one person that's like that, there's probably at least two that are the complete opposite, charging through the game and not caring about those things.
It's unfortunate that certain approaches aren't working, and probably no more so than to SI themselves. Those that feel they can't enjoy it can either soldier on or wait for a fix, but don't discount that there's likely plenty of people out there who can still have a lot of fun with the product regardless.
That's correct and fair enough but we also then have to acknowledge that it's a game and not a simulation which, again, is fully ok, but when you have a 'simulation' of something that does not allow to simulate the most common high-level exponent of such a thing (possession football) then you have a fun game, not a simulation. Much like many car racing games advertise themselves as simulators but are really arcade.
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3 minutes ago, WizbaII said:
.. What FIFA and Konami do every year with their big budgets is admirable, but nothing compared to what SI is trying to accomplish. ...
Sega is a pretty big company...
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27 minutes ago, JPChenet said:
... YouTube quickly being filled with unrealistic 'best tactic' content. ...
This a positive marketing wise, modern gamers like these exploits, it feels to them like a game-within-a-game where their superior knowledge of the 'secrets' gives them an advantage over their peers. It's part-and-parcel of modern competitive gaming, when you have ladders, rankings, etc, all of these things become part of the game. The concept of a 'realistic' game (in modern gaming) if far from the strict meaning of the word and far from what where the ambitions of simulation games back in the late 90s early 00s.
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4 minutes ago, Tony Wright 747 said:
I totally agree, thats why I think it would be a good idea if the stadiums could be removed completely
Heck, I would love an option where you could disable all of the 3d bits you do not want, most of all those pretty useless 3d menus and that
absolutely shgraphically poor avatar. I also find it a particularly bizarre thing when you have have your match set not to show any highlights or replays in 3d but when you do a tactical change or sub, the game starts playing the 3d in the background. It's just a poor optimization of resources.2 -
10 hours ago, CoffeeFueledCurmudgeon said:
Same here. I'm watching the pitch. I started leaving crowd off on laptop and macbook for heat reasons, but I turn it off on the desktop now because it's just superfluous. As is the pre match and post match stuff. I can see where it creates immersion for those who believe it does, and if that's what makes 'em tingle that's fine, i'm just genuinely not fussed by it all.
I find they (stands and crowds) actually detract from immersion since we know the stadiums and (9 out of 10 times) they look nothing like the actual stadiums do.
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10 hours ago, TheArsenal63 said:
One final point in central play, there is actually no problem with teams setting up to deny you space in the center. That happens in real life as well and teams are forced wide sometimes.
However, it is a problem to be solved rather than a harcoded balancing act. I want the players to ATTEMPT to play through the middle, maybe they get pressed and have to play with back to goal, maybe I don't have the players or vision to do this and we fail. They lose the ball and I get beat. Then it is a signal to me as a manager to then work harder at pulling teams apart (if the ME allows that) to CREATE that space in the center. That would be deeply rewarding to notice a problem, solve it with tactical changes and then buy a player who genuinely makes a big difference in what you want to do.
The problem is that the ME is making the decision for me, I never get to solve the problem because the ME has decided that a crowded center is a no go and just decides to exploit wide spaces instead.
I don't even want a Nottingham Forest side to play fantastic football like Ajax, it should have alot of errors and make the manager realise he doesn't have the players for it and he needs to be practical to get promotion. Then when he has money and he buys players with the correct attributes, it should be obvious in the ME that they made a huge improvement.
That's the gold standard for FM but it's not obvious enough at the moment. I don't know if anyone can confirm, but it doesn't feel like creativity is tied enough to the players. Players like Ozil (in his prime) should pulling out some amazing passes compared to a much worse player. I haven't seen this enough, the separation between elite creative players and mediocre.
This is actually a good point. Usually, certainly at higher level and in modern times, denial of the centre 'forces' possession and circulation (to open spaces). From circulation come unbalances that lead to wing play. If a team that is denied the centre just starts railroading plays in the wings, then the other team will quickly adjust to deny them the wings, leading you back to stage zero. Inevitably, there will be wastage of time in all of this, leading to showering balls as a last resort for the less able teams. My perception of the ME is that this dynamic interplay of styles just does not happen, it's an either / or situation, rather than a multitude of intersecting possibilities.
Your second point re 'Nott Forest' needing to have loads of errors, making it obvious certain types of football do not work is also a good and valid point. In fact, you see this week in and out, when poor managers try to copy what they see big teams do and fail repeatedly due to the inability of their team to be able to play those highly-technical and advanced styles of football.
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3 minutes ago, forameuss said:
The Match Engine does all the calculations, and serves up something that can be visualised, either by the 3D or 2D visual engines.
Metaphorically, the Match Engine is a big bag of shopping full of ingredients. The 3D and 2D engines are chefs, both with very different recipes to make, but both with the same list of ingredients. Improving the match engine would be like improving all of those ingredients in the bag. That benefits both chefs, even if they're cooking the same recipes.
Or something, maybe lost my way a bit there.
That's a good example, most of all since it's almost lunch time.
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14 hours ago, DarJ said:
Looking at it from a game development prospective and remember they have to bring out a new game each year. Is it more important to have a team of developers tailoring your experience for every division in every country or is it better to save time and build a template that every club can use in every division and every country and tweak a few things.
You guys have to keep your expectations realistic.
Of it was a game that cones out ever 5 years and costs more then I'll agree with you. Time is money and the more time they spend in development the more the game will cost.
Ah, but this is a rather fundamental issue. Let's say you have a game that features and historical period and, on the same period, allows you play as a Roman Caesar or a Celt Chieftain. Now, what would you say if that same represented those two leaders options as the same, their form of government as essentially the same, the feedback from their advisors as the same, they way they procure strategic options as the same and their people's reactions as the same? Would that be a correct way of portraying these two leaders?
In what concerns football cultures, that's what we get at present in FM. I've pointed in another thread, the issue here was expanding massively the game (to attract sales) but never allowing for what was needed to make this expansion work correctly. Yes you get rules, of course you get mostly correct rules, but since people are hammering about 'experience' and 'immersion' , in there it fails big time.
Of course, the correct answer to this is to just point me to the Steam sales ranks, so I'll just shut up.
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gegenpress - overpowered
in Football Manager General Discussion
Posted
Yup. Just about sums it up. Loads and loads more examples could be added to that list, but that's really the gist of the issues surrounding squad management, transfers and squad selection. For all the eye candy and loads of screens with random stats, people in the game are still unable to behave like real people do, or even come to a semblance of it. And the game is about managing people so...