Testing League - What would you use? Brainstorming

[godzilu]

Hey guys

I am thinking about making myself a testing league so I can tinker a couple or three tactics to use home/away/cups/favorite/etc, and first and foremost I need some input because I have no idea what people use and how they do it. I have FMRTE, I have Football Manager, I have Cheat Engine if needed, I know how to edit the game, I have some development skills, so I have the tools.

I will start with a few questions, but the list is not exhaustive, since I am going to play FM for the next 20 years (already got almost 20 if not 20), I am going to use this as a base for every launch date, it's faster than having to rely on websites. Once I will have the league created I will be able to update it each year quickly. If anyone needs it, it will be public, but there are already a bunch available that do good.

a. What would you use, a default league over several seasons or a custom league, no cups? Detail if possible please.

b. What type of leagues would you use, what CA/PA and what type of results would you look after?

c. Is it possible to export league information in an excel? I suppose it is, if I understand from a quick Google search. No need to detail, but you are welcome if you want, I can search for details myself.

d. Would you level reputation for all teams? Level CA/PA? Use the same players everywhere? I am thinking that a league with 200 CA average will make the tactic more important, because the players will be able to follow the instructions better than, let's say, some pinkies with 5 in passes. A league with 100 CA would theoretically make tactics less important because the players won't be able to deliver as good as the big players, downleveling the effects of a tactic.

e. Also, what kind of attributes do you think that influence the unexpected things a player can do? Because I am thinking to set up as 1 creativity things, flair, etc, so the players are more forced to play by the tactic rather than by their creativity. Pros or cons? List of attributes you would lock to 1? Is it possible to set up attributes to 1? If I change an attribute to 1 and the CA is let's say 150, the difference will be randomly added to some other attribute, right?

f. List of attributes you'd want to be high so tactics are easier to follow?

g. What would you freeze? Why?

h. Any other things I am missing? As I said, this is just brainstorming, so any ideas are great.

i. Do you think the number of PIs matter? By a basic logic, multiple PIs would make a player less effective than a player with just a few PIs. Do you think that this thing is implemented in the game? 

Ho ho ho and Merry Christmas!

Edited December 26, 2019 by godzilu

[Guest]

Hmm .. This is not short answer and how to setup a test league. Having FMRTE or Cheat Enginee is completely different from making your own league.

I am suggesting having a communication with FM BASE and Mr. L first. FM BASE is new to Test League, Mr. L is up and running tests again (they have missed FM19).

I found these test leagues out of date (sorry Liam & Mr. L), but FM Base is looking for new test formula. Why? Because CA or Reputation isn't play alone. The game takes more parameters.

As for "i"... It's more tactical issues or ideas; rather than setting up a test league.

[godzilu]

Thanks, will do.

[enigmatic]

The other people that run tactic testing competitions all seem to do it with superstar clubs, so doing it with a league of very ordinary CA110ish players would stand out more from how people normally test tactics on FM forums.

Ultimately nothing's going to be perfectly balanced. If you set players' flair to 1 then you're unfairly penalising tactics which are all about encouraging players to use their freedom in possession over direct battering ram tactics. I think there's a better argument for setting attributes like Concentration to high values to stop random errors, but then you're not giving enough credit to tactics with good cover so they don't rely too heavily on not making mistakes.

[godzilu]

Tactics encouraging players to decide what they want to do depend on the players, I want to test the tactics. And this way the tactics will be very good for lower leagues because there flair is something rare.

And I want to do a chain of league tests, starting with a small disqualifying league, if a threshold is met, going to 200CA to 120-100CA. If a tactic passes a threshold, it will get tested in the next league.

All will have default set pieces, because I don't want to test set pieces, but tactics. I will start with 200CA because players need attributes to follow a tactic, else the random factor is too big. If the tactics gets the minimum points required to go to the next CA, same league, less CA will get tested, so on. Probably 5 or 6 test leagues, but starting with a small qualifier league so I don't waste time testing no showers. This way most of the tactics will stop after 2-3 league tests so I don't waste time.

About Concentration, you are right, getting it high might be bad for checking the backup options in a tactic.

PS: I will also use different reputation, so the tests might get quite complicated :)) One 200CA with identical reputation, one 200CA with the lowest reputation for my team, one 200CA with the biggest reputation for my team, etc.

Edited December 26, 2019 by godzilu