Football Manager Live Beta Dynasty

[MJ4H]

Alright, I have decided to start from scratch in the Beta World of Football Manager Live, and give you guys an idea of what it will be like from the beginning. You can start over at any time in the game. This means that you can cut all of your players, lose all of your rankings, money, etc. and just start fresh. If you are in a federation, there might be a backlash (my federation has a no-restart rule, and if you restart, you will be demoted to a lower division automatically, I think).

However, our official qualifications haven't completed yet, so I think it is ok (if not, I will take my lumps).

So, I cut loose all of my players (and by rule I am not allowed to re-sign any of those players for 7 RL days--RL=Real life, GW=Game World--28 RL days = 1 GW year, by the way).

Now, you are only allowed to sign "free agents" or players that have no contract with a team at the outset. These players are obviously terrible, so my strategy here will be just to get the cheapest roster fillers I can.

The lowest wage is 200/RL day for any free agent, and there are a lot with that demand. So I sign 11 of them. I would tell you their names, but there is no point. They will go right back into the bin at first opportunity.

Now that I have an actual team, I "confirm" it and am allowed to participate in auctions and buy and sell players with other teams' players. This is where I will build my team.

My strategy is to build a competent but not outstanding team at the beginning (I will shoot for about #100-200 in the world ranking wise for the first RL month) with players that don't demand very high wages.

Looking through the auctions (players can be put on the auction block with a starting bid and "instant buy" price of the owning team's choosing) I find what I think are some good buys and I spend away.

Financially, you start out with a cash balance of 500,000. You generate income based on your position in the world rankings and any prize money from competitions (or selling players). You can spend money on players, competition entry fees or dues, and wages. I have decided to limit my spending to about 250k-300k for my initial team. My goal is to keep my wage bill under 100k/RL day.

I will detail the players I have acquired in the next post.

[MJ4H]

My initial team looks like this:

Player Name (COUNTRY) Age (wage/RL day)

Goalkeepers:
Calvin Marlin (RSA) Age: 31 (2,000)

Defenders:
Freddy dos Santos (NOR) Age: 31 (6,500)
Dmitry Davydov (RUS) Age: 32 (3,700)
Sergey Gorelov (RUS) Age: 22 (3,150)
Tim Hoogland (GER) Age: 22 (4,000)

Midfielders:
Fabian Pena (MEX) Age: 34 (2,900)
Shlomi Arbeitman (ISR) Age: 22 (4,500)
William Tabi Etchu (CMR) Age: 28 (3,950)
Esteban Bujan (ARG) Age: 28 (6,550)

Forwards:
Mota (BRA) Age: 28 (3,000)
Zinho (BRA) Age: 28 (2,650)

Substitutes:
GK Ali Saeed (BHR) Age: 27 (1,350)
DR/DM Jarno Heinikangas (FIN) Age: 28 (3,600)
DM Jose Alberto Hernandez (MEX) (3,850)
S Atsushi Matsuura (JPN) (2,650)
MR Radim Konig (CZE) Age: 30 (3,950)

Finances:
Cash: 338,141
Wages: 65,200/day

Income:
Rankings: 4,200,000
Prize Money: 982,124
TOTAL: 5,182,124

Expenditures:
Player Wages: 1,825,600
NFA Membership: 100,00
TOTAL: 1,925,600

NET INCOME: 3,256,524
PREVIOUS BALANCE: 338,141

PROJECTED BALANCE (after 28 RL days): 3,594,665

There is no budgeting in the game aside from what you do yourself, so teams in the Beta World are routinely getting themselves in WAY over their heads. The trick is not to do that. Keeping your budget under control I think is one of the keys to long term building.

[Radii]

I'm looking forward to this. I'm most curious initially about the flow of the game. A year every 28 real days seems like a lot, requiring some fairly hardcore involvement to be competitive.

[MJ4H]

Using my new team, my first goal is to get onto the World Ranking chart so I can start earning Ranking-income. You probably earn even if you are only provisionally rated, but I don't want to take chances. So I need to play about 10-15 games to get an established rating and ranking.

At the time of night (in USA) I was on at this time, the number of players online is drastically reduced (Europe is sleeping away or getting up for work) so I didn't play as many friendlies as I wanted, and I didn't get much choice of teams to play. My first 7 friendly matches went like this:

Fixtures:
FRIENDLY-
Radnicki Pirot (W 3-0) [UNR]
at Babytta Team (W 7-6) [#152]
Redblacks FC (D 2-2) [#183]
at Italian Stallions (L 2-3) [#107]
Rent Bear Town (L 1-2) [#35]
at Italian Stallions (L 1-3) [#100]
North Hills Galaxy (W 3-1) [#379]


Not a bad start. The second game was insanity at its finest. That game was 4-4 after 23 minutes. I was a little disappointed with the way things went, but not too much so. It looks like breaking into the top 200 might be a little bit more of a challenge than I had hoped. (There are about 615 teams in the beta world now).

The following morning, I played more friendlies. They went like this:

My Face (L 0-2) [#329]
Axis of Evil (L 0-4) [#35]
McRovers (D 0-0) [#243]
Rusty's Dumpy Nuts (L 0-3) [#209]

Yikes! At this point, I knew we had a problem. Four games, no goals. Losing to teams I need be able to beat most of the time to get into the top 200. I decided to upgrade to key positions for my team. I need a better keeper, and I need a better playmaker. I caught a bit of luck because in my game with McRovers, their manager told me he had a bit of a financial crisis and needed to unload some wage bills. He told me to have a look at his team and make some offers.

Now, I was familiar with his situation. Before I restarted, I
ran into some wage bill problems. In this game, players with very high wage bills can be like poison. They are hard to sell because other managers don't like inheriting that kind of recurring problem. If you are willing to take a high-wage
player off of the hands of a team with a problem, you can get them for very low transfer fees.

McRovers had some very high wages on their team, but there were two players that I thought would really help my team. I had to make some changes based on those last 4 matches, so I pulled the trigger. The players I purchased were:

GK Brad Friedel (USA) Age: 36 (15,520)
AMC Marian Aliuta (ROM) Age: 29 (10,500)

I paid 40,000 to buy Brad Friedel, and felt fortunate. The
other manager asked 80k, but I wouldn't go that high because I won't have more than a season or two with him based on his age. I could get lucky and he could play until he's 39 or 40, but he won't be as good and I can't count on it anyway. I need immediate help and 40k is a great price for a good keeper. He is an order of magnitude better than what I have.

I paid 80,000 for Aliuta. This guy is an all around with
exactly the attributes I was looking for (nothing higher than
15, but 15s in a lot of the right places). I had found my new playmaker.

Well, my team really responded, and Marian Aliuta must like his new team. He scored 4 goals in his debut. My next series of friendlies went like this:

Babytta Team (W 5-3) [#136]
Portugal (W 1-0) [#193]
Babytta Team (D 1-1) [#136]

An immediate improvement, but I need to play more to see where we are as a team. The drop-off in output after the first match was a little disappointing, but we are looking at a very small sample-size for the team at this point.

[MJ4H]

Here is a screenshot of my current team. You will notice the logo I have been working on at the top. Thanks to some FOFCers for helping with that, too. You will also find that I am currently ranked exactly #300.



EDIT: jpg compression makes my logo look crappy.

[MJ4H]

Federations

There are several different federations which you can join. You can join only one, though. They are based off of when you will be online the most. That way, players that play during the evenings will be paired often with other players that play during the evenings.

Since I'm in the USA, and most others are in Europe, I chose the NFA (Nighttime Football Association). There are 80 teams total in my federation. We will be dividing that up into 5 divisions:

One premier division
Two second tier divisions
Two third tier divisions

To determine which tier each team will be in to start, we are having a qualification league. The 80 teams were divided into 4 20 team groups (equally-weighted based on world rankings at the time). These groups will play 38 games (each team twice). The top 4 in each of the 4 groups will make up the first premier division. Teams 5-12 will go into the second tier. Teams 13-20 will go into the third tier.

Qualification is still ongoing. I may be penalized for restarting my team, but I'm not sure. The rules aren't clear about restarting before the actual leagues begin. I'm not going to mention it to anyone and just see what happens.

I have played most of my 38 matches already. A lot of teams have not. After 33 qualification matches, my record is:

NFA Qualifying Section B
W 15, D 6, L 12 (51 PTS, 33 Played) ranked #3

Now, I am ranked 3rd in the group, but only because I have played a lot of my matches and most teams have not. I should finish high enough to qualify for the second tier, in my estimation. I don't think I will make the premier division, and that's just fine with me.

[wbatl1]

This is a good read. Keep it going!

[MJ4H]

Hanging around 300th place today. I've played a few more friendlies. Disappointing results. Near-miss upsets of some top 200 teams, but no big wins.

Dynamo Dave FC (D 1-1) [#135]
Campioana Provinciei (L 1-4) [#71]
Rounders (D 1-1) [#172]
Redblacks FC (L 2-3) [#151]

My current rank is 304th (out of 621 teams)

I put a bid in for S Francis Jeffers (ENG) of 10k. It was rejected and the other manager wanted 50k. Probably fair, but it is not in my budget. I withdrew from negotiations with him. The right player will come along at some point.

I could definitely use more defenders, and I don't feel like my strikers are finishing as consistently as I'd like. My cash is at about 262k right now, which I would say I need to sign 3 more players with. Probably 2 of those defenders and one more striker (maybe an AM/F C).

I'm hanging out in the marketplace chat channel all day looking for deals

[MJ4H]

I did come across two players I wanted, but I spent more than I wanted, too. I am still doing fine financially, but not as well as I wanted. Now, I hope I overacheive. I really have to be done spending for the next few weeks.

My two new faces are:

AM LC Jan Rezek (CZE) Age: 25 (5,450)
DC Lee Wilkie (SCO) Age: 27 (3,700)

Both were very reasonable wage-wise. I had to pay 60k and 40k respectively, though. This put me 40k over what I had budgeted. This shouldn't be a major problem, though. I could sell off a few players and maybe make that up, but I like depth. We will see how things go over my new few friendlies.

Also, I am dealing with an injury to Freddy dos Santos for 3-5 days (RL). Ugh.

[MJ4H]

FC Barocks (W 4-2) [#303]
*Park West (D 1-1) [#98]
Athenian Fire (W 1-0) [#357]
Ignite FC (L 1-2) [#104]

*NFA QUALIFIER

Official competition matches count twice as much towards world rankings as friendlies. Jan Rezek came right out and scored in his debut against FC Barocks. Kind of disappeared since then, but he was out of shape, too.

After this latest series of matches, my "rating" is 1372, and my world ranking is 231st (of 623).

My finances are quite comfortable:

Cash: 258k
Wages: 100k
Projected cash (after 4 weeks): 3.6M

This is an ideal financial situation for me. Going from 500k to 3.5M in one season would be terrific. My initial strategy is in good shape now. I have only 31 places to move up in order to crack the top 200, which was my other goal.

After I get my cash up in that area, I will probably start looking for a world class striker or attacking mid-fielder so I can really start putting the opposition to the sword.

Here are the standings of NFA Qualifying in my Group.

[MJ4H]

Rounders (L 0-1) [#157]
FC Pope Tutin (L 0-1) [#264]
Rounders (W 3-0) [#149]
San Miguel Federation (W 3-2) [#193]

A good pair of wins followed a couple of ugly losses. Moved the team up to 209th in the world. I am nearly there.

[MJ4H]

Another couple of friendlies and I am up to 181st! My initial goal is complete. I am now 1) very profitable, 2) in the top 200.

Rounders (W 1-0) [#140]
Rounders (W 3-1) [#157]

[MJ4H]

I won't detail every friendly I play, but I've played a few since the last post and I'm hovering right around 200th in the world.

I did some calculations to see where I can expect to finish in the NFA Qualifying Group B using current points and games played. I did Points/Games and then multiplied by 38 to get how many points the team is on pace for. Using this method, I am on track for about 7th place. This will put me in one of the two second tier divisions.

[MJ4H]

My financial situation is improving all the time, too. I am up to 719k in cash on hand, my wage bill is still only 100,100. I am projected to be at 4.18M after 28 days.

Good stuff.

[RPI-Fan]

Do you have to re-sign players to contracts? How do contracts work?

[MJ4H]

I haven't had to renegotiate any contracts yet, since they are all one month RL (1 year) contracts. I do see an option for each player to be set to "auto-renew contracts." I'm assuming when a contract is coming to an end I'll be given a warning.

Here is the dialog that comes up when I select to "auto-renew" a player's contract:



It appears that you can only do this for 5 players, which will make them "protected." I'm not really clear on this (there isn't exactly a manual for the game at this point". I'll try to detail what I learn about contracts as I learn it.

[MJ4H]

Here's a feature I haven't mentioned because I always ignore it. I think it is a poor idea to have this feature, frankly, but I guess if it is what everyone else wants, then ok.

The feature is gambling. Before a match, you may agree with another manager to bet some of your money on the outcome. To me, this goes against the basic premise of the game, so I have ignored it. Occassionally I get someone that wants to make a wager with me. I always politely decline, and then I get subjected to a speech about how much more interesting the match is/will be.

Oh, gee, I hadn't considered that. Anyway, I will be playing my entire career without gambling or wagering. I'm probably the only one that thinks that the feature is damaging to the premise of the game, but I'm not one to shy from unpopular opinions.

I just played a friendly match with the #154 ranked team (I was #178). He wanted to wager 30k on the game. I politely declined, was asked why, and I just said it was not fun for me. He then thanked me profusely for not accepting when I was winning 4-0.

I am now #157 in the world.

I would like to hear your opinions on this feature, if you don't mind.

[gi]

Generally I understand why it is in the game. I am of the like mind in that I will not be using it.

[Radii]

Is this money your own personal money(ie tracked by your wage as manager) that has no impact on the team's finances in any way? If its completely a side feature and 'just for fun' then I wouldn't use it but wouldn't have a problem with it.

If the money or gambling impacts the team in any way at all I'd have a serious problem with it to the point that I probably wouldn't consider playing, and if it impacts your ranking as a manager b/c of the amount of money you have, then I would find it to be a signifigant annoyance b/c gambling could easily be used to skew your ranking as a manager.

[MJ4H]

It is the team's money. There is no separate manager's income in the game right now.

[MJ4H]

New version of the client is out now. Downloading as I type.

[MJ4H]

I started a thread in the beta message board about the gambling topic. So far, everyone that has responded has been against the concept, one even calling it "cheating" (when used in conjunction with the restart function). Encouraging, at least to me. I hope this trend continues. I really thought I would be one of very few that was against the idea.

[Young Drachma]

I like this. Thanks for the insight and I'll be following along.

I too, think the gambling idea is silly and counterproductive. There is so much else for them to be worrying about, that gambling (let alone the team's cash) seems silly to me.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

It is the team's money. There is no separate manager's income in the game right now.

That would be enough for me, in an online environment, to consider the game unplayable. That is *WAY* too easy to exploit isn't it? If there are exploits in an MMO, people will find them and will abuse them until banned or the exploit is corrected. MMORPG's have been dealing with money exploits since the beginning. The in game economy of almost every Everquest server was completely FUBAR b/c of people exploiting money/item bugs and the devs being too slow to fix them. In a FM MMO that seems to me to be a much more dangerous problem. The integrity of the financial system in the game is paramount.

[MJ4H]

Remember, though, that this is what the beta period is for. It does appear that a lot are against the idea even conceptually, so it will probably get ironed out.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Remember, though, that this is what the beta period is for. It does appear that a lot are against the idea even conceptually, so it will probably get ironed out.

Oh I understand, I've beta'd a couple MMO's before, and its very rare that I've run across something that was enough to make me say "if this is in the game, I don't think there is any way I would consider buying it" ... this is one of those rare things.

Great dynasty btw, this is something I'm looking forward to, I love the sneak peek we're getting.

[MJ4H]

I certainly agree that I hope it is removed.

[Marc Vaughan]

gambling

Its not something which 'excites' me and I traditionally fight against the inclusion of such things in our games because I like the products to have an 'innocence' to them.

With regards to it in FML - I'm torn, it looks like a bad thing but is actually no different to someone setting up a quick double or nothing cup competition (for instance 2 players both pay entry fee's and then winner takes all).

As such allowing the 'gambling' just makes such matches easier to configure for the user and only seems difference because of the terms involved in it really.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

no different to someone setting up a quick double or nothing cup competition (for instance 2 players both pay entry fee's and then winner takes all).

I'm against this for the same reason. I think user created competitions should be strictly regulated. 2 team competitions are exactly the same thing as the wagering option. In my opinion, if user created competitions are allowed, there should be restrictions on size, prize fund allocations, and frequency (only 2 per season or something).

[MrBug708]

Wouldnt you just be able to have a friend who'll tank and you'll get his funds?

[MJ4H]

Why would your friend who is paying to play the game want to give you his funds?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Why would your friend who is paying to play the game want to give you his funds?

Because your friend is actually your second, or third, or fourth account that you've set up so that you can have three teams tanking to one of them so that you can get wealthy beyond your means.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Radii

Because your friend is actually your second, or third, or fourth account that you've set up so that you can have three teams tanking to one of them so that you can get wealthy beyond your means.

We'll have active moderators watching for this sort of thing (ie. blatant cheating) and people will be restricted to one account per game universe as in many other MMO's - people found to be violating those rules will suffer the usual consequences I'd expect...

[MrBug708]

I was thinking more along thelines of someone is sucking and you decide to give him all your money (lose a game easily) and then cancel your account and then open it back up again...

[MJ4H]

Even though I am not currently in the market for any new players, I peruse the auction list daily, playing with filters, trying to find that diamond in the rough. I came across a player last night that I couldn't pass on. His penalty taking, free kicks, and long shots ratings were 18, 18, and 19. The rest of his ratings were all over average aside from a few inconsequentials (long throws, flair, etc.). He has a relatively high wage demand, but I was able to get him very cheaply.

It took a lot of weighing pros and cons, but considering my financial situation is still very, very good and will be even after buying this player, I went ahead and nabbed him. He will undoubtedly help out with those specialized skills and competence elsewhere.

My new player is:

AMC Soumaila Coulibaly (MLI) Age: 29 (Wage: 17,750)

I will be playing him out on the right instead of in the middle. I hope this won't penalize his abilities too much.

[MJ4H]

Scanning the NFA Qualifying Group B table, I see that 6 of the 20 teams have played all of their games. Including me as I finished fairly strong with 2 wins and 1 draw in my last 3 matches.

By my calculations, I can finish no worse than 9th. I will most likely either finish 8th or 9th. The best I can finish is 7th. I will take a top half finish. This will put me firmly in the second tier.

In financial news, I am now considered financially "secure." This appears to be caused by my cash balance breaking 1 million. My projection is still to be about 4 M after 28 more days. My daily profit is just over 100k.

My current world ranking is 180th.

[MJ4H]

Just because I now know he checks this dynasty:

"Arkansas FC have climbed four places to 177th in the World Rankings after their 2-1 win over Marc Vaughan's Sedgeford Utd.

Sedgeford Utd drop eight places to 212th."

We will not discuss the times we played while he had Schevchenko.

[MJ4H]

The qualification for the NFA multi-tier league has completed fully. We finished in 8th spot, giving us a spot in the second tier. I will expound on the setup of the tiers, including promotion and demotion spots, as soon as I know. Here is what the final table looks like:



The prize money for my finish has been distributed, which made my financial status go from "secure" to "rich." I now have 2.664 M on hand. My team is ranked 193rd in the world, so my plan is really going well. With this nice infusion of cash, I can probably afford a big name player or two much sooner. Depending on the market, I may pull the trigger on a top notch defender or striker soon (I like my midfield much better than those two spots right now, though they will be upgraded, too, eventually).

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Just because I now know he checks this dynasty:

"Arkansas FC have climbed four places to 177th in the World Rankings after their 2-1 win over Marc Vaughan's Sedgeford Utd.

Sedgeford Utd drop eight places to 212th."

We will not discuss the times we played while he had Schevchenko.

Looking forward to a rematch now that my team rebuilding is a little more established

PS> Reasonable chance we might end up in the same federation division ...

[MJ4H]

I have signed two more strong defenders:

DC Norberto Araujo (ARG) Age: 29 (3,300) for 10k
DC James Collins (WAL) Age: 24 (7,950) for 75k (+15% sell on)

I'm pretty pleased with these two players. Of course another 10k on my wage bill, but it is still in good shape. I could probably afford another 20k or so before I would need to start making myself more comfortable.

My next goal is to secure a big name/big talent striker. Honestly, I will probably be willing to pay up to 1-1.5 million if the talent is worth it, but I have to be discriminating on the wage demands and see if I can keep close to 20k. I will also be trying to sell some of the players that have become excess weight on my roster.

[MJ4H]

Well a striker that is in the class I was looking for made a brief appearance in the Marketplace. Tomas Podolski was available for 3 million (and his wages were in the 30k range). I just can't go that high yet. It was non-negotiable. I don't think anyone there could go that high. Oh well. That is the kind of player I need to move me up into the next tier of teams I think.

Realistically, I should probably just find a striker that has the right qualities and see how much he can help out. I think I actually found a very good one. He is:

S Shefki Kuqi (FIN) Age: 31 (13,500)

I picked him up for 250k. He is old, but I think he can hold up for me for a seaon or two until I can afford the upper echelon names. Of course, he comes right out in the first game and makes a huge impact.



Too bad Friedel picked that match to poop the bed.

[MJ4H]

I will spend the next few posts detailing my starters. There is one obvious weak point, but if you guys have any other ideas of where I should be plugging a talent/skill leak, feel free to comment.

[MJ4H]

My starting Keeper is Brad Friedel.

[MJ4H]

My starting defenders from left to right:

[MJ4H]

My mid-fielders, which I usually have in a diamond formation. Here, they are listed back to front, and left to right in the middle:






Pena is my holding mid-fielder, Aliuta is my playmaker with a free role.

[MJ4H]

Finally my forwards, left to right:

[MJ4H]

I think it was pretty clear that I have a couple of weaknesses. I feel my DL is pretty weak and my AMR is somewhat weak. I have sold a few guys that will likely never see the pitch again (Matsuura and Saeed) and I still have a little room under my new 150k wage budget I have made for myself (I could go higher than that, even, but I want to make sure I'm not only profitable, but very profitable over this first month).

I came across a deal I thought wastoo good to pass up today. I bought Ariel Montenegro (somewhat old, but not too much so) for 60k. Very good deal, and he will take over for Esteban Bujan on the right side.

I am battling a few injuries right now. Zinho, dos Santos, and Aliuta are all out. The latter hurts the most, but Montenegro can actually fill his spot nicely until he is back.

[MJ4H]

Let's see how this works.

Having just scored on the #139th ranked team "Hotspurs," Arkansas FC doubled their lead with one of the more spectacular goals of thier season.

Hotspurs had some players forward for attack, but a cross gets intercepted by Pena.


Pena puts it forward for Mota to run onto.



The keeper sees it and jumps on the ball that was a little too heavy. However he is outside of the box and under pressure.


Coulibaly intercepts the quick clear.


Coulibaly might catch the keeper out of position!


A spectacular goal!


Arkansas FC 2, Hotspurs 0 F/T. Arkansas moves up to #153 in the world.

[MJ4H]

Even with my injuries, my team is obviously much improved and I am climbing the ranking ladder quite nicely today. I am currently up to 125th. My ranking for this week only is 66th, so I am definitely pleased with my progress.

[MJ4H]

Clicking on all cylinders lately, haven't lost in my last 15 matches or so, and I've climbed into the top 100. 94th in the world!