Match Engine Update 13.1.3 - quick overview. ME feedback here please.

[Kriss]

Agreed. It is either that the animation shows something that didn't happen or that the ME thinks there was a valid goal but failed to award it. I am fairly sure it is the first one, but either way, it needs to be fixed and great to see the examples posted in the right place.

It's the first one and PaulC did say it involves some rather complex 3D code, it's certainly on the "to do" list

[eye-switcher]

Longshots? where are they? can we have some please? why dont players shoot? Hey its not only my tactic, no team shoots long shots. I have seen very few, so few that i only remember one in three seasons.

[ajw10]

For the love of God, please stop with the own goals, it's driving me insane.

I'm losing away to Spurs in a vital match because of 2 own goals that are just comically bad.

[Ackter]

Are they actual own goals or those annoying deflected ones that clearly aren't own goals despite being awarded as such?

[ajw10]

Actual own goals. First one was a cross coming in and Mertesacker turning the ball home despite being under zero pressure. The latter was Gibbs who was facing the goal and decided to smash it home.

The vast majority of own goals I see are the former. I reckon I've seen about 15-20 this season alone and I'm in March.

[Herbert Fandel]

Actual own goals. First one was a cross coming in and Mertesacker turning the ball home despite being under zero pressure. The latter was Gibbs who was facing the goal and decided to smash it home.

The vast majority of own goals I see are the former. I reckon I've seen about 15-20 this season alone and I'm in March.

I have never seen either of those type of own goals in hundreds of games played. What I have seen are too many slide tackles by defenders that see the ball go into their own nets

[milnerpoint]

I have never seen either of those type of own goals in hundreds of games played. What I have seen are too many slide tackles by defenders that see the ball go into their own nets

Yeah thats what ive seen, but none of what is mentioned above.

[hsvruled]

Is it only me ? Or are the players always waiting til they get tackled ? 2 free players .. but no pass .. happens often

[ajw10]

Ahhh, replayed the match and now I'm losing at Spurs 1-0, thanks to.... ANOTHER OWN GOAL. This time the sliding tackle one.

[ajw10]

Lost 3-0, anyone want to guess how many of those were OG's?

[Ackter]

7 .

[hsvruled]

7 .

....

[milnerpoint]

lol trolled

[Jibby123]

I often think too many want to 'beat' the game, not 'play' it.

I accept that it's meant to be fun, and it can be frustrating when things are going wrong and you have no idea why, but take it all with a pinch of salt. It's just a computer game; imperfect just like real life; football or otherwise.

How many real managers would love to have their "I set this tactic up, but x happened. Not realistic" or "my tactic worked last year, now it doesn't. I don't know why. FA rules are bonkers" listened to and acted upon?? Every manager interview I hear is bitter and twisted and the world is against us/it's not fair. Or a lot them are

[Ackter]

I often think too many want to 'beat' the game, not 'play' it.

I accept that it's meant to be fun, and it can be frustrating when things are going wrong and you have no idea why, but take it all with a pinch of salt. It's just a computer game; imperfect just like real life; football or otherwise.

How many real managers would love to have their "I set this tactic up, but x happened. Not realistic" or "my tactic worked last year, now it doesn't. I don't know why. FA rules are bonkers" listened to and acted upon?? Every manager interview I hear is bitter and twisted and the world is against us/it's not fair. Or a lot them are

Everyone's always going to want to beat the game. Unfortunately for them, this is the strongest ME yet meaning that there's no sure-fire way to dominate*

*or if there is, no-one's found it yet. Even Mr. Hough appears to have given up.

[Jibby123]

That's a good thing.

[Ackter]

Mr. Hough, the ideal example of someone who used to beat the match engine instead of play it, is now creating threads about the tactics creator and use of in-match shouts. It's a great thing to see.

[milnerpoint]

I did read that earlier, good on him, at least he has been big enough to say he hasnt really enjoyed the past few years when he has done nothing but try and beat the game, rather than enjoy it.

Its also good to see what he used to be able to do quite easily is now proving next to impossible.

[mandella]

Question to someone from SI team: are you guys planning another ME update before Christmas?

[Welshace]

There is an update in production and there was a rough guide of sometime around christmas... but no definite date.

[ho2n]

Don't tell me it was my tactic... I was playing Legia

It seems that the players statistics are useless.

[Welshace]

In fairness they had 11 shots on target.. you only had 5.. and you clearly got outplayed judging by those stats and your selection.

And I haven't seen results like that since before the patch tbh.

[MrBlonde]

Ignore...

[BiggusD]

Don't tell me it was my tactic... I was playing Legia

It seems that the players statistics are useless.

In fairness they had 11 shots on target.. you only had 5.. and you clearly got outplayed judging by those stats and your selection.

And I haven't seen results like that since before the patch tbh.

A combination of an overly naive tactic and a complete motivation/focus failure could do that. Either/or wouldn't end up 1-7 so would need to be both. Unless you can show me a video of 7 stupid ME goals in the same match, of course. I still believe that there are too many silly goals in this ME, too many absolutely horrible mistakes compared to small mistakes, but with the right tactical setup most of those disappears most of the time. I dislike the design decisions that made the tactics so "sensitive" to minor changes, and I hope this can be balanced better with the next patch.

[nonleague]

Like many of you, I had a problem with goals being conceded from crosses but I have found a way to stop that now. It's a mixture between OI's, using shouts and having a DM. It also helps to have a deeper D Line to counter act the through balls that the AI plays which is quite effective due to the delayed reaction of the DCs response time to react and turn around.

The black line is where I started to use shouts for my matches. If I came up against a flat 442 then I would attack the middle and if I came up against a tactic with many players in the middle I would attack the flanks. I use various shouts to dictate if we push up, drop deep, play direct or play possession football.

For OI's I use the following:

Full Backs: Closing Down

Wingers/MLR: Close Down, Weak Foot, if they're not strong also Hard Tackle

MCs, AMCs, DMCs: Close Down, Weak Foot, if weak, Hard Tackle.

Strikers: Close Down, Weak Foot. If weak, Tackle Hard

I hope this helps you a bit to tighten up at the back.

[stegri84]

My team has 5/6 long range shots each game (which always results in poor shots from midfield)... it must be the tactics

Longshots? where are they? can we have some please? why dont players shoot? Hey its not only my tactic, no team shoots long shots. I have seen very few, so few that i only remember one in three seasons.

[BiggusD]

Longshots? where are they? can we have some please? why dont players shoot? Hey its not only my tactic, no team shoots long shots. I have seen very few, so few that i only remember one in three seasons.

Long shots have likely been toned down a bit too much, since the previous patch when they would go in from everywhere regardless of who shot them. I am certain SI gets the balance right this time when they have had over a month of testing.

As for the -number- of long shots, it is fine in my game. I have Rarely throughout and two defensive midfielders, so unless their manager is clueless he will restrict shooting from distance since there is no space to do so. If you have a very centrally strong tactic the opponent will try to cross or through-balls from the flanks, not getting shots in from outside of a very well-guarded box.

[oguzcan11]

Please release this patch soon!

I've seen this on youtube:

[video=youtube;QK_MnOtnO-M]

[Welshace]

Good lord... we're posting OTHER people's video's and complaining about them now?

Can we at least stick to what we find ourselves in game please.. You can't possibly know what version of the game he's running or the circumstances...

[milnerpoint]

Are people searching youtube for ME bugs just to post them on here? Amazing.

[Cheshire Gaz]

Having played 2 and a half seasons now, (full matches) I feel that I have enough of a sample size to give some relevant, hopefully constructive feedback. Bear in mind that I've not played the 2012 incarnation as you did such a fantastic job on 2011 I didn't feel the need to buy 2012 (victims of your own success there I'm afraid ).

Match engine feedback:-

The good

*Player movement is generally very good.

*Overhead kicks look superb, really nice addition.

*zoomable camera is also a useful addition.

*The matches have a combatative feel to them which I like very much.

The not so good

*Seen 2 direct free kicks go in over my 2 and half seasons.

*Keeper's kick the ball out of play under no pressure a bit too much in my opinion. I know this is being addressed in the next patch so nice one for that.

*Anomalous tackling numbers. Again I've seen this mentioned elsewhere and hope this will be looked at.

*anomalous passing numbers. Too often teams are getting players with 70-100 passes per game. Played Aston Villa and Nigel Reo Coker (passing 9) had 100 passes from 107 attempts. Teams such as West Brom and Norwich were chalking up 480 plus passes in games against my Liverpool. I looked at their other games and they averaged about 320 passes per game. Maybe the simmed games are worked out differently to full matches?

That's about it, overall the game is very enjoyable, just a bit of tweaking and it will be spot on.

*

[themadsheep2001]

Freekicks have been noted as an issue, so has the high number of tackles.

[TFoA]

Wanna know how this patch fixed the game and everything is back to normal? I'm currently in Brazil playing as Gremio in the State Championships and I got pushed to a 2-2 penalty shootout by a C-level team who only had 2 shots the entire game, both were on target, and both were goals. Yeah, that's the FM that I know.

[fmFutbolManager]

It might be a little hard to see this, but goal of the season? A perfect overhead kick by my defender to set up the AC Milan stikers volley. Beautiful.

[video=youtube;5reYQnw7Qtw]

[OldSwanner]

Where did the last 2 days of posts go?

[Magnus]

I am Benfica

Lost at home to Napoli 1-3 in Uefa Cup

Away Game:

I score one, they score one. Series is 2-4

They get a red card at the 62 minute mark, Cavani now is playing as a central defender.

I score one more. the series is 3-4

five minutes later Rodrigo scores another, series is 4-4. I score another, making it 4-5. Amazing.

And then...

Cavani, still playing as a central defender somehow receives the ball in the edge of the area and scores a goal while my central defenders stand there watching him run and score another goal. Series is now 5-5 but i have the advantage.

And then... a central defender for Napoles, with 92 minutes in... receives the ball in his midfield gives it to the winger. The winger runs while everyone watches, goes in through the side, runs past 4 defenders, scores one of those totally realistic goals in the near post with the goalkeeper just there. Result is now 6-5 to Napoli.

This is not real. Nothing in this game was real. The moment the game passed the 80 minute mark it just became the twilight zone, goals that don't make real sense. Wingers who couldn't get a pass straight now look like Messi. My defenders who had grades of 7.5 now are just looking at them, doing nothing. My midfielders giving away the ball directly, my wingers not running, just holding the ball until the fullbacks took it away.

My players were motivated and composed, nothing in the grades showed anything wrong. They did not appear as nervous or anything like that.

This is the twillight zone of football.

Now go ahed and say that i am a bad manager, that i just need to read more of the threads and all that ****.

Truth is i was on a 16 game winning streak, players were on maximum force... and then the game just "decided" NO, **** IT, YOU'RE NOT GONNA WIN.

This is not well done.

[MacZidane]

Truth is i was on a 16 game winning streak.

How can you be that upset after ONE defeat in the middle of a 16-game winning streak? Where are your posts detailing everything wrong with the game when you were winning all these games?

Besides, high scoring games happen all the time IRL, remember Arsenal's 7-5 win over Reading recently?

[Jibby123]

How can you be that upset after ONE defeat in the middle of a 16-game winning streak? Where are your posts detailing everything wrong with the game when you were winning all these games?

Besides, high scoring games happen all the time IRL, remember Arsenal's 7-5 win over Reading recently?

His post sums up ~90% of the whining here methinks. Unless it's a hidden, [not so] clever attempt at a wind up.

I've just been sacked as well. Gutted. Left Lokeren (where I was Mr Lokeren/god rolled in to one) to take on Heerenveen and it's just not worked out. I'm blaming...umm....Steam, because it's been a while since I've been sacked on FM. A long while.

[Magnus]

Oh trust me... there were alot of wins by stupidity of the ME.

This one however was just a little too convenient in how it went.

My wins where the ME came into play were usually the result of own goals from crosses, and they were usually by 1-0 or 2-1, never by turning the game into the twillight zone at the most convenient and illogical time.

[Magnus]

This one is even better, just now, if i won or draw i would be champion.

This is what happened against a middle table team:

How convenient!

[Welshace]

You keep saying convenient as if the ME is out to get you

Surely you don't believe in fairytales about the engine MAKING you lose on purpose....

Thought those theories went out with believing in father christmas and witches?

[Generation-Next]

It's a conspiracy iirc

[RobertPage]

This post makes me think the match engine simply can't be save game compatible and that I must be missing something here.

I know it's all about opinions, but I just find it hard to believe that anyone can honestly be happy with the match engine in it's current state.

For me, the match engine is definitely the worst it has ever been. It simply doesn't give you any insight whatsoever as whether your tactics work or not.

^^^^THIS

I had to change one of my midfielders roles to get my tactic working after the last update. Watching the matches i could not tell why my tactic suddenly wasn't working and it was just a case of trial and error and i knew when my tactic was working again (although not as good as before the update) simply because my team were playing better. As far as i can see the match engine doesn't play out the tactics with enough detail which makes it very difficult to see why tactics do and don't work

[Chalky1989]

After playing with this ME since the patch came out, the only real issue I would highlight is that my goalkeeper appears to be comepletely useless. I'll give up about 2-3 chances a game against small teams(got a team of world class players, mostly regens), will have 15-20 chances, will score 2-4 goals normally. They always seem to score if they have 1-2 chances in the game. I can't believe that my keeper is that useless.

Rest of it works fine though.

[superposh]

Ball "bursting" the net and flying out the back when a goal is scored. Thought that had been fixed? Just seen it happen. Anyone else seen this since the last patch?

[catafan]

My Assistant Manager tells me I should close down an Opp. Winger more often because he's putting dangerous crosses into the box... so, I do... but my FB will track the winger for a bit... and then STOP, dead in his tracks, letting the Opp.

Exactly what a serious issue is in the current version.

The fullbacks, even physically much faster than the opponent wingers, cannot press the winger enough. As said by KingJason13, when the opponent winger dribbles the ball down, the FB does close him down initially, but then moves away by a few yards (what the hell!) and offers the winger much space to cross the ball in.

And when the ball is crossed in the box, defenders often stand idle and let one opponent player easily make a shot.

That's why (nearly) most of our goals conceded are from crossing.

Would SI please fix ASAP.

Or could anyone else tell me how to solve this tactically.

Cheers

[dogs]

if i see another 40 yd pass back under no pressure from the full back that goes back to the gk at head height so the Gk headers it out to one of the opposition strikers causing a CC chance I'll pull my hair out. Also the gk diving over a static ball in penalty area so a striker just rolls it into an unattended net happens every few games or so.

[milnerpoint]

Oh trust me... there were alot of wins by stupidity of the ME.

This one however was just a little too convenient in how it went.

My wins where the ME came into play were usually the result of own goals from crosses, and they were usually by 1-0 or 2-1, never by turning the game into the twillight zone at the most convenient and illogical time.

So could you out line a match where you won by the ME being "stupid"?

If its as bad as you claim then every single one of your 16 games should have been won by some ME bugs.

[Saevel]

When can we expect the next update?

I'm not asking for an exact date, of course, but I imagine you have a feel for when it might be done. I'm taking a break until the most serious issues with the match engine are fixed, and I'd like to know when I should start paying attention again.

[foth1989]

cup final game extended highlights, lose a goal in 5th minute tweek it constatly go overload push everybody forward at half time there is no highlight in the whole game after 5th minute wtf ??!?!!???? not even the usual keeper drops ball and dives over it doing cartwheels 8 times?!?! this match enging needs tweeking a lot cumon guys fix this it is no fun at all tweeiking and doing so much stuff for nothing to happen. how can you change anything if nothing happens at all ?!?!?!??!?!!?!??!!?!?!??!?!