Could someone help me try to understand this game better?

[gubbs]

Hi there. I have been trying for a while now to understand how to play the fm13 match engine.

I did a lot of googling and read all the guides and blogs etc. They all presume you understand the quirks of the match engine. I don't.

Now I found a good little summary of what everything does in FM13 here:

http://soccerlens.com/football-manager-tactics/71996/

Its a great way to get an overview or general idea of how the ME works and how you should conceptualize your approach to the AI.

Would someone who really understands please go through that list of features and flesh it out a bit more? Specifically: how this will work in practice, if it is flawed, how it can be used to counter specific approaches, how best to use this etc.

I find a lot of guides tend to say 'yeah pressing means this in ME terms' but they dont say 'pressing means this in ME terms - but if you want your team to play a certain way dont do it, or do it like this etc'. Its the missing link! The difference between being able to grasp how this game works and how to be successful and not. I know what everything does but I need to know how it actually pans out and how in effect to avoid making silly mistakes in strategy approach.

I would also be really grateful if someone could explain how formation has an effect on your teams performance abstracted from your team mentality/player roles. Is it true that any 'recognized' standard formation will be fine as long as your match day approach, defensive lines, marking, mentalities etc are tailored to suit the opposition?

Also I find, frustratingly, in FM13 and in previous FMs to an extent, you are more often required to react to the AI's approach to succeeed. Instead of say, trying to play your own game and overwhelm and force the AI to react to your approach. I find that really annoying and was just wondering if its ever really possible to play that way?

[BiggusD]

That link was posted in 2009, four years ago, but most of what it says should still count.

I think the missing link for you is that Defensive Line, Closing Down, Tempo, Passing Style(range) and Mentality should be roughly aligned in your tactic (in FM13). The TC is designed to do this automatically to some extent, and it is also designed to allow strategic changes to be done efficiently. However, as you say in your final paragraph the game often requires you to do so when using the TC since it won't (necessarily) create tactics that are balanced enough to be good at both quick counter-attacks and slow attacking buildups while remaining defensively sound. If you want to avoid this you will have to either manually tweak your TC tactic or convert to Classic tactics.

If you do that, there is no quick and simple way of getting your tactic to work. You will have to test it the old-fashioned, time-consuming way; each change applied in several matches and scenarios. I recommend saving your current game as a separate test save, and then re-play the next match testing different ideas until the aspect you are looking to resolve appears to function as intended. For instance, if you want to achieve crosses from both flanks, test different formation and Width constellations until your wingers have enough space to do so regularly to a sufficient number of players in the box. When you are happy with that aspect, move on to the next match and try again until the opponent somehow stop you. Replay that match until you figure out how they stop you and see if you can retain the functionality against the other strategies you faced while also deal with this one (either through temporary or permanent changes). If you cannot, move on to the next project; central play while retaining the good bits of your current wing play. Then move on to deal with ultradefensive opponents (if you haven't already), as well as superior opponents, so that the same tactic allows your players to be patient when needed but still launch quick attacks when the opportunity arises. Once this is done you have created an attacking base tactic that should work most of the time (or two or three different attacking tactics - remember you can have three loaded at a time). It is now time to quit the testing game and start/continue a real game using this tactic.

As you probably understand by now, this takes a lot of time and requires you to be able to read between the lines when watching the 3d match animations. The primary skillset is to be able to choke that little footballer's voice in your head chanting "next time you will succeed"... because if a tactic doesn't work everything is wrong with it so you won't succeed - contrary to real life your players will continue to attempt at certain failure until the end of time and it is all your doing even if the ME is ****. Play in Extended mode and make mental notes; 1st highlight: which team gets the chance? If it was you, all ok. If not, check the 2nd highlight. Still not yours? Beware. 3rd highlight still not yours? Scrap tactic. How to pinpoint the problem? If all three were the same, it should be possible to remedy the problem somehow, for instance (in FM13.2) your full-backs may be too alone, too wide, too narrow, too far forward, too passive etc. If there were no patterns, go to full match and spot how you fail going forward.

The question about formations can be answered quite simply: A MR and a AMR will behave differently even though both positions have exactly the same instructions and is the same player. A DR who has a MR in front of him will play differently than one who has not even though both are the same player with the exact same instructions.

[Domus Clamantium]

I find that the roles you set for players make a big difference to how each player plays and a lot of what you do with sliders does not affect their habits in each role. Regardless of what you set, I find, each player will primarily carry out the role described in the Player tab of Tactics, e.g. Target Man holds up ball/scores headers a lot/flicks on, regardless of setting him to run with ball and make forward runs often. Using this guideline you can reduce long shots and cutting inside by playing around and paying close attention to the descriptions of the player roles and duties. Yes the ME is pretty bad but you can get what you want out of it sometimes if you are tactically sound.

[gubbs]

Thanks for the detailed info BiggusD and Domus! o7