CM4 Training

[SunDancer]

Any advice on setting up training for players. I am new to CM4, and not sure how to go about doing it.

[McSweeny]

www.pretty-addicted.com has a very nice section on training and helped me out quite a bit. You also may want to check out the sigames message boards(though you have to register) because they have tons of great discussion revolving around training

[Havok]

Whoever thought up the way training is done in CM4 should be shot.

Players take 'FOREVER' just to gain a few stat points. I've all but given up on my youth squads. when i first started playing, i thought i'd buy a bunch of young prospects and in a few years i'd reep the benfits. Well, most of them barley developed at all in 2 years. I had good facilites and i was using a very popular training program i found on the CM boards.

So in my last game i just said screw youth players and bought 22-25 year old players who had already developed. If i had to make a list of things i hate about CM4, training would be right near the top :)

[Chief Rum]

Hey, Havoc, I found this little thing linked to in the training section. Maybe it's a worth a look by you, since you haven't had any luck with the "popular" training methods. :)

I am using it right now for Kettering in my dynasty. I can't tell yet if it's really working (I'm just in early October, 2002), but the methodology on which it is based is pretty solid (discussed in the link below). Basically someone used a spreadsheet to track improvements by training method, to determine what helps what areas and how much across the course of a season. They also claim to have done the test numerous times and come up with similar results each time to what they display there.

So, once again, no promises that it will work, but since nothing else is working for you, maybe you wanna give it a shot? ;)

This Greek CM Fan's System (http://www.cmgreece.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1416&sid=6f9261b5d2a9af02ec9f5194c897e5c7)

CR

[Havok]

Im currently boycotting CM4 for destroying my beloved Viola dynasty because of the Itailian League bug where sometimes the next season never starts :)

But if i ever get back into CM4 i'll give it a try. I don't quite understand why they felt the need to make training so complicated. Sure i wanna feel like the manager/coach of a team, but i don't wanna set-up every freaking workout they do morning/noon/and night. I think its overkill bigtime.


Also, there is no way to track your players skills as they raise and fall. You just kinda gotta remember all 50 of your players 30+ skills!! Im not sure what the reseasoning behind this is either. Even if they just had a scouting report at the end of every season that showed how much each skill went up/down in that year. That would make me happy.


I think its time i stopped fooling myself and bought OOTP5, i keep putting it off buying other sports sims and they just don't compare! :)

[Samdari]

Thanks for the link, ChiefRum, that is one of the better articles I have seen. There is a lot of chaff with on the SI boards (my theory is that's why MV comes here - all wheat, all the time) and a lot of people obsessed with arrows. I agree with the approach that actual improvement of skills is what matters.

[SunDancer]

I always wonder why MV comes here. Maybe we view it more as game then a real passion due to soccer/football not being in our feelings like in Europe, and seems we are more educated (not offense, but seems always complaining and too many fanboys over at SI forums).

Another question, Training grounds/facilities. The level of shape they are in, does that relate to player development. Do teams loaning out their young talent look at that?

[bamcgee]

the SI forum is unreadable. Good luck finding any useful info there.

[illinifan999]

Wow, I must be really lucky. I've been developing players pretty easily. I see some guys jump up 4 or 5 points in a stat in a season. Others dont gain any or minimal. Very first thing I did though was do my stamina training cause most o fmy players were low in that. Once I did that I gave them Sunday afternoons, and Sunday nights off. Otherwise they are always training.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally posted by SunDancer
I always wonder why MV comes here. Maybe we view it more as game then a real passion due to soccer/football not being in our feelings like in Europe, and seems we are more educated (not offense, but seems always complaining and too many fanboys over at SI forums).
Another question, Training grounds/facilities. The level of shape they are in, does that relate to player development. Do teams loaning out their young talent look at that?

I come here because I enjoy the level of conversation on the board, I help out with CM threads here because ...... well thats what I do ;)

[Karim]

CR is right. That is the best analysis done on CM4 training.

From that thread, I've developed my own system and have had some success. I did cheat however, by looking at the values in the .tat files. I justified it by the lack of explanation regarding training by SI. ;)

Basically, I made sure that the daily cap of 56 is never exceeded and that the individual categories never exceed 14. It's unknown whether these caps actually exist but I took it as a given.

I've managed to get a roster that's almost always at least three stars. Various players occasionally get to four or five stars. Every week a couple lazy players drop below three so basically they don't get to be in the starting eleven. ;)

Other than the actual schedules, other things impact training such as the quality of coaches and individual morale. You also have to make sure that everyone gets playing time. If there's someone on your senior squad who isn't playing, it's better to put them on the reserves so they get a regular turn.

[Marc Vaughan]

From that thread, I've developed my own system and have had some success. I did cheat however, by looking at the values in the .tat files. I justified it by the lack of explanation regarding training by SI.
To be honest I don't regard that as 'cheating' really - the game should (and will in future versions) give better feedback as to the effects of a training schedule.

This will take some screen reorganisation however and a lot of textual changes so will have to wait for the next version.