Tying the new features together with training

[puttockboy]

Firstly, I haven’t had any major problems so far with the demo apart from a few little bugs. I am enjoying playing it and I like some of the new features. Of course it got me thinking about how maybe they could be tied in better to make the game even better.

I really like the 3D match engine; it gives me a far better perspective of what is actually going on and how my team is performing. A number of times I have watched half of the match completely in 3D and it has highlighted some areas where I need to improve the tactics for my team and so I have modified sliders to improve the way they are playing. This is definitely a step up on the 2D view where it was sometimes difficult to understand exactly what was going on. In my opinion, this is what the 3D match engine is all about rather than it being a magnificent work of graphics. It is simply a great visual aid to improve the team and enjoy watching how they play.

I had one specific issue where I wanted all of my attacking players and attacking midfielder to close the ball down at all times and put pressure on the opponent’s backline. I can see clearly that they are not pressing as much as I would like on the 3D engine even if I have the pressing slider at maximum for these players and ask them specifically to close down the defenders. At half time I read the Assistant Manager feedback and he tells me that player X isn’t used to closing down as much as he is today. I am sure this is because that player is not so great defensively, but his workrate stat is high, off the ball is high and stamina is good so potentially he could be good at closing down.

Also I like the new streamlined tactics and the greater emphasis on the sliders and the individual players abilities and tendencies. You can see that some players will be very direct and make certain movements, while if you substitute them for another player they make different moves. That is really cool and makes much more sense to me than having arrows going all over the place. I did find myself getting annoyed when some of my players weren’t doing certain things and I couldn’t control them or find a way to make them do something. For example I have two wingers and two strikers. My right winger is swinging a cross in from the right, my two strikers are in the box and my left winger is almost nowhere to be seen. The cross goes right over the heads of the strikers and I’m thinking that if my left winger and attacked the back post from deep he would have had a clear opportunity to score. Also on occasions the ball has broken out of the box and I don’t have anyone attacking from the edge of the box, which is strange as I have committed men forward, they just don’t seem to be in the positions I would like them to be.

All of these features which I really like got my thinking about how maybe there could be something in the game that would allow you to improve on these things and they have an effect on the way your team plays and become noticeable in the 3D view.

My idea is this: New training module

Since the tactics are more effected by player tendencies and the tactical instructions you give to them it seems only logical that you can work more on these things on the training field to bring your tactics to life.

The current training module is good for improving player stats, but as for seeing things happen in the match it doesn’t seem to tie in with the new tactics module. I want to be able to have players press better and it show up in the 3D engine. I want to be able to see my forwards and attacking players make more intelligent runs. I want to see my defenders become better at getting the second ball.

My idea is to keep the current sliders as they are and to keep the coaching assignments as they are, but to improve on these to add more character to the coaches and more instructive training.

Where you have the ‘attacking’ slider for example there should also be a few check boxes that have some specific tactical options. The more you move the slider up, the more options (or more detailed options) you get. Also the better the coaches, the better the training options and the more effect it will have on the players in the match engine. Maybe the coaches can even have a specific collection of training routines that are associated with them, giving the coaching staff more character.

For example as you move the agility slider up, you get two or three options and you can choose one that you would like to give more emphasis too. For example long distance running (stamina), sprints (acceleration) etc. Then in the match engine you could see this happening.

This could be more specific in some areas of the training module, for example for set pieces you could have the option to give more emphasis to ‘attacking corners’ if you feel your team is poor in that area. This brings up a small pitch screen where you can place specific ‘target positions’ and movements you would like to be typical when attacking corners. Of course the better the players and coaches are the better they will get at following your set piece instruction.

The same could be done for a specific tactical situation in the ‘tactics’, ‘attacking’ or ‘defending’ modules. Or there could be a mix of options depending on the type of coach. So for example ‘defending’ could have 3 options to emphasise on, 1. a tactical positioning option, 2. Aerial defending, 3. Tracking players. These would show up in the match engine as players would now have different tendencies and maybe it would be possible to have player X become better at pressing, or my left winger attacking the far post on crosses because they have trained to improve those areas of their game.

This would tie in the new features and would also breathe fresh air into the training section of the game as well as the coaching staff.

It is just an idea, but it would have been a lot of fun on this game to be able to really influence the players on the training field and see it come through with the more intuitive tactical system and the 3D match engine.

[UnieeQ]

Firstly, I haven’t had any major problems so far with the demo apart from a few little bugs. I am enjoying playing it and I like some of the new features. Of course it got me thinking about how maybe they could be tied in better to make the game even better.

I really like the 3D match engine; it gives me a far better perspective of what is actually going on and how my team is performing. A number of times I have watched half of the match completely in 3D and it has highlighted some areas where I need to improve the tactics for my team and so I have modified sliders to improve the way they are playing. This is definitely a step up on the 2D view where it was sometimes difficult to understand exactly what was going on. In my opinion, this is what the 3D match engine is all about rather than it being a magnificent work of graphics. It is simply a great visual aid to improve the team and enjoy watching how they play.

I had one specific issue where I wanted all of my attacking players and attacking midfielder to close the ball down at all times and put pressure on the opponent’s backline. I can see clearly that they are not pressing as much as I would like on the 3D engine even if I have the pressing slider at maximum for these players and ask them specifically to close down the defenders. At half time I read the Assistant Manager feedback and he tells me that player X isn’t used to closing down as much as he is today. I am sure this is because that player is not so great defensively, but his workrate stat is high, off the ball is high and stamina is good so potentially he could be good at closing down.

Also I like the new streamlined tactics and the greater emphasis on the sliders and the individual players abilities and tendencies. You can see that some players will be very direct and make certain movements, while if you substitute them for another player they make different moves. That is really cool and makes much more sense to me than having arrows going all over the place. I did find myself getting annoyed when some of my players weren’t doing certain things and I couldn’t control them or find a way to make them do something. For example I have two wingers and two strikers. My right winger is swinging a cross in from the right, my two strikers are in the box and my left winger is almost nowhere to be seen. The cross goes right over the heads of the strikers and I’m thinking that if my left winger and attacked the back post from deep he would have had a clear opportunity to score. Also on occasions the ball has broken out of the box and I don’t have anyone attacking from the edge of the box, which is strange as I have committed men forward, they just don’t seem to be in the positions I would like them to be.

All of these features which I really like got my thinking about how maybe there could be something in the game that would allow you to improve on these things and they have an effect on the way your team plays and become noticeable in the 3D view.

My idea is this: New training module

Since the tactics are more effected by player tendencies and the tactical instructions you give to them it seems only logical that you can work more on these things on the training field to bring your tactics to life.

The current training module is good for improving player stats, but as for seeing things happen in the match it doesn’t seem to tie in with the new tactics module. I want to be able to have players press better and it show up in the 3D engine. I want to be able to see my forwards and attacking players make more intelligent runs. I want to see my defenders become better at getting the second ball.

My idea is to keep the current sliders as they are and to keep the coaching assignments as they are, but to improve on these to add more character to the coaches and more instructive training.

Where you have the ‘attacking’ slider for example there should also be a few check boxes that have some specific tactical options. The more you move the slider up, the more options (or more detailed options) you get. Also the better the coaches, the better the training options and the more effect it will have on the players in the match engine. Maybe the coaches can even have a specific collection of training routines that are associated with them, giving the coaching staff more character.

For example as you move the agility slider up, you get two or three options and you can choose one that you would like to give more emphasis too. For example long distance running (stamina), sprints (acceleration) etc. Then in the match engine you could see this happening.

This could be more specific in some areas of the training module, for example for set pieces you could have the option to give more emphasis to ‘attacking corners’ if you feel your team is poor in that area. This brings up a small pitch screen where you can place specific ‘target positions’ and movements you would like to be typical when attacking corners. Of course the better the players and coaches are the better they will get at following your set piece instruction.

The same could be done for a specific tactical situation in the ‘tactics’, ‘attacking’ or ‘defending’ modules. Or there could be a mix of options depending on the type of coach. So for example ‘defending’ could have 3 options to emphasise on, 1. a tactical positioning option, 2. Aerial defending, 3. Tracking players. These would show up in the match engine as players would now have different tendencies and maybe it would be possible to have player X become better at pressing, or my left winger attacking the far post on crosses because they have trained to improve those areas of their game.

This would tie in the new features and would also breathe fresh air into the training section of the game as well as the coaching staff.

It is just an idea, but it would have been a lot of fun on this game to be able to really influence the players on the training field and see it come through with the more intuitive tactical system and the 3D match engine.

Yeah, i totally agree with you with a *NEW* training module. Like having to train your squad at least once, two or three times a week with different training sessions.

[puttockboy]

Yeah, i totally agree with you with a *NEW* training module. Like having to train your squad at least once, two or three times a week with different training sessions.

They had the training session system before and it didn't work that well. I quite like the slider system they have but being able to focus on something more within that slider might be pretty cool. Just that 'attacking' or 'defending' can be quite ambiguous. I would rather 'attacking' with an emphasis on 'one touch passing' for example and then see in the 3D engine better interplay between the team especially you have the tactics set up in that way. The heavier the training and the better the coaches the more options you have to choose from to emphasise on.

You may not have the coaching staff to improve what you want to improve, but you should be able to effect things in the team training that show up through the tactics and match engine.