Rescuing the Beautiful Game(FTG, Interactive)

[Brian Swartz]

First of all, if you haven't read larrymcg421's excellent dynasty then you're in the wrong darn thread. Do it now.

This is inspired by that. I'm always on the lookout for something that'll work for an interactive project; a game that allows for RP elements but doesn't make the readers & contributors do too much work. I think this should be a fun adventure with Football: Tactics & Glory, hybrid soccer and strategy game. I'll put up explanations of game concepts in the third post, and keep a running tally of participants in the second one.

Anyone who signs up will become a coach in a dubious experiment; a football club run on democratic principles. My hands are very much going to be off the reins in most aspects of this. We will succeed, or flounder, based mostly on the decisions all of you make. Make the RNG have mercy on our squad. They'll need all the help they can get. To begin with, I'll need the following information:

** Name -- What should I refer to you as(if different than your forum handle)

** Preferred Roster Assignment -- All coaches will be assigned a roughly equal number of players to handle. Choose Defense, Midfield, or Forwards, or be more specific if you wish. Accomodating everyone precisely is not guaranteed or even likely, but I'll do the best I can. Assignments will also vary as people join and leave the thread, naturally.

** Starting Nation Vote -- Five choices here. I'd like to get this going in a few days, and I don't have a great criteria for picking the starting spot. I can tell you we are going to Europe; there's 32 nations there, twice that of the American and Asia/Oceania theatres combined. Additionally, almost all of the top nations are there. Australia is close and Brazil is as strong as these, but that's about it. So choose from the following options(logos shown below), listed in alphabetical order. Choose wisely; we'll be looking at this nation, club, and logo for many years. The names and appearances of the players will also be affected.

** England(Chesterfield)
** France(Thonon Evian)
** Germany(Stuttgarter Kickers)
** Italy(Cavese)
** Spain(Cacereno)

These were chosen because they all start with the top-level Premier League at about the same competitive level: most clubs there are at 4.5 stars out of 5, with a few at 5 and a few at 4. There is some randomness to it but these elite nations will ensure that we have some serious opposition when getting to the top; being in Europe ensures the continental cups will have a varied amount of tough competition as well. The selected clubs are naturally the worst ones in the Amateur League of each nation; if you pick a powerhouse like Barcelona or Chelsea, etc. it'll just set them down to Amateur level as well so it doesn't affect the starting conditions, but I want those familiar names to be there waiting for us when we ascend. We're taking a real low-level club here.
















Ground Rules

These are pretty much the same as always, but are worth stating so we're all on the same page. Or at least in the same library, as it were.

1. No knowledge of or familiarity with the game is required. Feel free to ask questions; I intend to explain game concepts for the uninitiated.

2. All decisions are given 48 hours, after which things will proceed. This attempts to strike a balance between allowing everyone to have a life and not have to check the forum every day to participate, and keeping events moving. I also try to put the most important stuff up earlier in the week as many aren't around on the weekends.

3. Anyone who fails to respond to three consecutive choices is removed from the game. Same reasons really as #2; these projects depend on participation, so your players will be assigned to another coach if you aren't contributing. You can have them back for the asking by signing up again at any time.

And that's it for now! We'll get going after there's been some time for some initial signups to(hopefully) percolate and we've got a choice for the starting nation & club!

[Brian Swartz]

Current Staff

DavidCorperial(Wingers preference)
larrymcg421(Forwards preference)
thehitcat(Defenders preference)

[Brian Swartz]

reserved for future info

[DavidCorperial]

Let's be unique with Cavese and I'd be interested in working with Wing players.

[larrymcg421]

Awesome idea. I'd like to work with Forwards.

[thehitcat]

Great idea, I have always been sad that I missed out on the chance to praise Boojie.

I was a left back and backup goalkeeper in younger days so I'd love to coach your defenders. If you need it to be more specific I'd be more than happy to work with the outside D, Left and Right backs.

thehitcat

[thehitcat]

Oh and I vote for the Stuttgarter Kickers (to many FCs and ACs out there we need more fun and action in our names.)

[Brian Swartz]

I'll get this started late tomorrow, if everything goes according to plan. In a perfect world, we'll get another signup before then to break the tie we have in terms of starting country. If not, RNG will choose where we begin.

[larrymcg421]

I'll throw in a vote for Stuttgart.

[Brian Swartz]

Stuttgarter it is! And ... we're off!!

Here's what I've got for the four basic beginning options. There's also cheaty stuff like infinite money, turning injuries, off, etc. but we're not touching that stuff.

** Hard Mode -- I think this will be a lot more satisfying with more difficult and therefore interesting decisions. There's no danger of being unsuccessful in the long run here; it's more a case of how challenging the journey is, and the player has a big advantadge that needs countering so I like this the best. Hard mode increases player development on the AI teams and the cost of everything(upgrades, player contracts, etc.) by 50% across the board. It also gives us nearly the worst possible roster to start out.

** Tutorial On -- This will allow me to show you 'my' backstory as the manager for a bit more flavor.

** Match Duration(48 actions) -- This is at the default recommended; there are longer options but they ultimately just make things easier and unbalance some things.

** RNG Type: Decreased -- The default settings allow any player to play horribly badly, no matter how good they are. This sets the minimum roll they can get at 30%, which I think is more sensible. It will also keep the AI teams from evening out as much; elite teams will tend to stay elite more, which should somewhat improve the standard of competition in the endgame.




The tutorial/backstory thingy starts up right away. What isn't explained here is that the National Cup is the top domestic cup, so this is a pretty high-level shindig going on. I'm a talented prodigy, it seems - the guy in blue at the lower-right of the screen, not the one with the ball. I'll get into the match tactics & mechanics stuff later. What happens here in terms of the story is that the ball is passed down to me, I move a bit closer, and then blast a shot by the keeper. It's scripted, so I can't miss. My name is Couthard, as it happens. Despite being from Germany, we're playing Bournemouth, because all football is English-centric or something. Anyway, I add another score for good measure before the half, and we're up 2-0.

It's still that way nearing the end of the match, and I'm told that 'the supporters are awed by my performance'. Aren't I just the cat's meow. As we press the attack again, one of Bournemouth's midfielders tackles me from behind, and ...




Fate deals a cruel blow. I could have really been something special, a dynamic scoring threat from the right wing the likes of which have rarely been seen. But instead, I was cut down by an arguably dirty play before I could even manifest my full abilities. A la Herb Brooks of Miracle fame, I must now attempt to do as a manager what I never got a chance to do as a player ...

The screen goes black, with only a simple line of text:

"15 Years Later".




That's a bit small with the shrinking down, but I just love the 'Unknown Contact' part. Because everyone knows in the internet age you definitely always open emails from people you don't know. Nothing bad ever comes of that. They could have at least gone full cheese and called this guy 'Chairman Cheapskate' or something. At this point we select the starting club, and a new message comes in from the same guy, now identifiying himself as the 'President of Stuttgarter Kickers'.

I'm hired on as of May 12th, 2017: he says I'm expected at their facilities in July, by which time everything will be prepared. And that's pretty much that.

Assignments

DavidCorperial -- Wing players at all levels(defense, midfield, and forwards)
larrymcg421 -- Central forwards and central midfielders
thehitcat -- Central defenders and keepers

I'll get more specific with what players, etc. you'll be responsible for in time, but for the first brief half-season I'm going to start things off myself. I also need to do some explanation-type stuff. I'm well aware that some of you know all this already, but I still want it here for lurkers and anyone who might consider joining in the future.

Club Resources

** Reputation -- The standard 0-5 star ranking system is used. Normal starts you at at 1-star, one of the better clubs in the Amateur ranks. At Hard, we're at 0 stars, the bottom of the barrel.

** Money -- The lifeblood of any aspiring sports franchise is cold, hard cash. There are no ongoing or maintenance-type expenses. Upgrading the stadium or youth facilities, as well as signing player contracts, requires cash. Sponsors, ticket sales, and selling players are our income sources. To begin with, we're flat broke; signing our current pathetic roster took everything the skinflint president was willing to contribute.

** Glory -- Personal fame of GM Clouthard, yours truly. We can use this to convince players to play past the normal retirement age, sign transfers in some cases, convince players to complete advanced training more quickly, or recruit better assistant coaches to improve how quickly our players improve their technical attributes. Guess how much of this I have as a rookie manager?? That's right, zippo zilch nada nothing.

** Fans -- Number of paying customers willing to attend home matches. This starts at 50. A smattering of family, friends, and locals who want to have front-row seats for this train wreck.

** Stadium Capacity -- If our Fans count grows beyond this, the surplus is turned away and keeps their money. That's a bad thing ... but expanding our grounds is not cheap. Right now we have a whopping 100 capacity. I imagine that's a few wooden or cheap alumimum bleachers set up on one side.




Let's just gaze fondly at the stuff we can't afford anytime soon.

[Brian Swartz]

A wall of exposition text this way comes ... world rankings as well.

Competitive Structure

Domestic league play is always divided into 5 levels:

** Premier League(4.5-star quality) -- 18 teams, 34 matches
** First League(3.5-star) -- 16 teams, 30 matches
** Second League(2.5-star) -- 14 teams, 26 matches
** Third League(1.5-star) -- 12 teams, 22 matches
** Amateur League(0.5-star) -- 8 teams, 14 matches

Top 3 promote, bottom 3 are relegated always, no playoffs for that; except of course that you can't get promoted from Premier or relegated from Amateur level.

Domestic Cups

** National Cup -- Premier and First League teams play here.
** Prestige Cup -- Second League, Third League, and Amateur teams

Continental Cups

Qualifying for these depends on placement in the Premier League(unless you somehow win the National Cup while in the First League), and how highly the nation ranks compared to the others(based on results the last five years in continental competition). Until we get to the Premier League, which will be a long time from now, we needn't concern ourselves with this. The EFA Cup is the second-tier competition here, with the European Cup pitting the top clubs from varying nations against
each other.




Here's how things stand at game start. All 32 nations will send at least four teams to the continental cups this year. It's a pretty safe bet 5-7 German clubs will participate each year. I'll be keeping brief tabs on this annually but won't spend a lot of time with it until it becomes a larger concern.




Here's Germany's Premier League. There's one more team we'd have to scroll down to see, but it's not that important. Interestingly, it was high-parity generation. All 4.5-star teams except for the top two which are full 5-star ones. Usually there's a couple more elites and a few 4-star clubs as well in the mix. That matters because it affects the quality of youth players they'll get.




Here's the roster, or most of it, for FC Bayern Munchen. Presented only for comparative purposes.




This one's 3-star Holstein Keil, top-rated club in the middle tier, Second League.




Schweinfurt, a roughly typical initial Amateur League side. Doesn't take a whole lot of careful observation to determine that they really suck. But they're bloody royalty compared to us.




Here's what our merry band of misfits looks like. We should probably be called the Stuttgarter Trip-and-Fallers though, not Kickers. Collectively, we have a fraction of the athletic ability of Charlie Brown iconically flying through the air as Lucy snatches the ball away at the last instant.




Ah yes, there's our dreck. A couple more players below the screen, but they're not important for now. The other amateur teams, like Schweinfurt are ... well, they're amateurs. It's a recreational league with electricians, plumbers, customer service professionals, etc. all thrown together due to their passion for the sport. But these guys? I think they went down to the local pub and found all the drunks who were too stupid/inebriated to really know what they were signing up for. Which doesn't say much about us, who need to whip them into shape.




This diagram of our starting tactical position would normally show different shapes and maybe some directional arrows to indicate the responsibilities of each player. These green circles indicate that these guys have, at best, the capacity to stand in an area of the pitch and generally try to get in the way of the opposition if they come too close. Reacting to things happen further away? Not gonna happen. Coordinating efforts with the rest of the team? You're having a laugh.

Back to the previous image though ...

Class

All have a ?, meaning zero-class; they have no clue what they are doing out there. They are totally incapable of doing any advanced training for obvious reasons, and the unfortunate tool who is in goal has all of their already-pathetic attributes halved in effectiveness. They can move only the minimum of one space in any direction, with or without the ball. They probably know the difference between a soccer ball and a similarly-sized melon, but even that might be stretching it.

Attributes

** Acc(Accuracy) -- Shooting at the goal.
** Pas(Passing) -- What it sounds like.
** Def(Defense) -- Tackling and intercepting shots/passes in the vicinity.
** Ctr(Control) -- Intercepting crosses(for keepers), fighting for position on corner kicks, maintaining possession when being tackled, etc.

As indicated by the highlighted numbers, Defense is considered the primary attribute of defenders & keepers, Passing for midfielders, Accuracy for forwards. It's a little more complicated than that though -- while it's never going to be real important for a keeper or defender to have high accuracy, most attributes are useful in various places on the pitch.

Level

The technical ability, or overall attribute points, of a player is indicated their level. These range from 1-100, so we're as rubbish as it is possible to get. Three attribute points are granted each level that is gained. This is impacted by something called 'Fate'. Look at Komolong, for example. He's best at Defense, has some Control, Accuracy and Passing are non-existent. He'll tend to gain points in roughly the same proportion, so it's probably never going to be a good idea to play him in a spot where he needs to pass or shot primarily. Others, such as Ortag, have no particularly great natural strengths but are more versatile.

Players need match experience to gain levels here. How much they get depends on the level of competition, success of the team, and how much/how well they personally participated in the flow of the action. Eventually support staff will allow even unused substitutes to benefit, but for now it's play or stagnate.

Skills

Whaddya know, we don't have any. At all. Advanced training in special abilities, both active and passive, shows up here. Rather logically though, a basic competency in playing a defined position on the pitch is required first.

Contracts

We've got essentially 1-2 year deals signed and paid for with everyone, so at least we'll be able to field a team, such as it is, for a little while. The Cost is the amount of euros that we could currently sell the right to each player's services for. It's important to note that this value is changed by the interest in the player around the league, which is based on how much they've played recently. All of our players are current at Low, because nobody's ever heard of them. Medium interest players will generate 4 times the sale price, High 6 times as much. Any player, no matter how rubbish, can be improved to High interest if they play enough. If they play well, interest will increase faster.

It also cannot be overemphasized that other factors impact the price. Skills are more important than attributes in terms of a player's value(and performance); when you learn a skill their sell price will rise sharply. There is also a natural decline each year, on their birthday, based on age. Level and Specialization Level(see below) also increase it to a lesser degree.

You can't extend the contract of a player until it has less than a year left, so we couldn't do that even if we wanted to(or actually had any money to do it with). Additionally, you cannot sell or extend the contract of a player who is 34 or older. The lion's share of income, especially at the lower level, will come from selling players so it is absolutely vital that all coaches pay attention to these details.




This view allows us to choose which attribute to focus a player's improvement on. To begin with, that means one of the three attribute points they get when they level up will be guaranteed to go to whatever aspect we choose. And when I say we, I mean you -- once your probationary period is over and the lot of you take over direction of your players, this will be your responsibility. We'd also see skills here of course ... if there were any.




Specialization is another name for 'figuring out what the heck to do on the pitch other than stand there navel-gazing and inspecting the landscaping'. More advanced concepts will come, but that's what it is for now. The SL, or Specialization Level, is improved when you've gained enough experience in a specific position during matches. Just being out there for an entire match gains 5 points here(less if you only play part of it); taking actions increases this amount. For example, merely moving on the pitch gives you +1, a missed shot at the goal is +2, scoring a goal is +5, etc. Similarly on the defensive side, a failed save attempt gives +3 while a successful one grants +8. A core principle in FTG is that nothing succeeds like success. The better a player plays, and also the more active/important a role they take in a match, the faster they will improve. The first level takes 70 points to achieve; nobody here starts with more than 2, which is why the bars are so short.

We'll see the later options in the future, but the first couple of SLs achieved grant the ability to play a specific position adequately for the first one, and proficiently for the second. After that there are many choices to choose from. Making those choices will be another responsibility for you as coaches.

That's enough of that for the time being; let's get to our first season!

[thehitcat]

That is a hilariously bad roster topped off with the fact that we have a Mengele on the team. I realize we're not coaching yet but you have a couple of guys on the bench in green that might be better than the starters (Blank in as a second midfielder taking out one of our 7 defenders maybe Ortag and Pfeiffer starting for Mengele...) Also if you have one more high defense guy on the bench starting him at GK in half the games just so we can build a backup probably wouldn't hurt us much.

[larrymcg421]

So my long term strategy based on what worked in my dynasty is to develop midfielders with Long Pass and FW's with either Cannon Shot or Rainbow Feint. That is a deadly combo because you can easily move the FW's next to the keeper to receive the Long Pass. I used CM's, but I think MF's are better for their felxibility. We can also train up CF's with Head Play to take advantage of GK's with low control.

Once we train our Forwards up to Amateur Forward and see their skills, we can decide on where to go from there. My initial thought is, if we are only using 2 Forwards, Pfeiffer should start over Tiel. Tiel is better than Mengele, but Mengele is 4 years younger.

[thehitcat]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

So my long term strategy based on what worked in my dynasty is to develop midfielders with Long Pass and FW's with either Cannon Shot or Rainbow Feint. That is a deadly combo because you can easily move the FW's next to the keeper to receive the Long Pass. I used CM's, but I think MF's are better for their felxibility. We can also train up CF's with Head Play to take advantage of GK's with low control.

Once we train our Forwards up to Amateur Forward and see their skills, we can decide on where to go from there. My initial thought is, if we are only using 2 Forwards, Pfeiffer should start over Tiel. Tiel is better than Mengele, but Mengele is 4 years younger.

Works for me you are the Forwards guy I think the one question we should figure out is how generic we want our team to be vs unique. For instance should we be thinking about RD/LD and Sweeper or Just CD and DF for outside the box. Same with MF vs. CM, DM and RM/LM and for Forwards. I've had success with all types.

[Brian Swartz]

I did adjust the lineup a bit. Having said that …

Originally Posted by thehitcat

That is a hilariously bad roster

You're not wrong. It's hideous even by Hard Mode standards. Mengele even features prominently in our first match …

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

if we are only using 2 Forwards, Pfeiffer should start over Tiel. Tiel is better than Mengele, but Mengele is 4 years younger.

I've played just the first match at this point, so I'll make that switch in the next one. Won't change that much.

Originally Posted by thehitcat

Blank in as a second midfielder taking out one of our 7 defenders maybe Ortag and Pfeiffer starting for Mengele...) Also if you have one more high defense guy on the bench starting him at GK in half the games

On the second part; we don't. First part; there's a method to my madness. Wasn't going to get into this quite yet but basically to get competitive* my goal is to get three key defensive positions up and running asap: goalkeeper, sweeper, defensive midfielder. I'm going to turn one of the defenders into a DM(probably just get them started on it, really). That'll turn this 7-1-2 into a 6-2-2 on it's way to a somewhat more balanced formation.

*relatively speaking

[Brian Swartz]

Competition Report

I'll present this twice a year, once at the start of each transfer window. The purpose here is to look at our team, the others in our league, and the league above and below(once we actually get a promotion) us to see how we stack up. We'll be able to see if we're getting better or worse compared to the others, and make adjustments accordingly.

These are all on a 100-point scale, with 100 being perfect/fully developed and 0 being nothing. They should be taken only as a general indicator. The 11 Starters and 7 Substitutes(at half value) are included in this; any more players than that are considered part of the Reserve Squad and not considered.

Stuttgarter

Classes -- 0
Levels -- 1
Skills -- 0

Amateur League Averages

Star Rating -- 0.5
Classes -- 34
Levels -- 11
Skills -- 1

Even by the standards of the bottom of the barrel, we really suck. You can also see that Amateur teams are in general quite low-level, have virtually no skills(for now), but there's a number of them who at least have some manner of basics down.

Third League Averages

Star Rating -- 0.88
Classes -- 59
Levels -- 17
Skills -- 5

For now, it's sufficient to note that the Third League has a better idea what it's doing than the clubs we'll be facing, but isn't setting the world on fire with high-quality football by any stretch.

This seems to be a good place to put in a couple comments about how AI clubs operate. First, their stadium and youth facilities(at least, and maybe coaching upgrades) are static. They'll never get any better. This fact is of considerable comfort considering that no matter how far ahead of us they get, we'll eventually be able to surpass them with better youth players. The issue is how painful that will be. The second point is related to the first; they operate in all other facts(transfers, resigning players, etc) the same as the player does, with the exception that they don't have to deal with a budget. They'll just buy any available player that fits what they are looking for, and keep players if they think they are useful.

Understanding these two facts can keep us from panicking when we notice that the other clubs are quickly improving(and they will). It's critical to remember that there is a limit to this. They'll eventually hit a ceiling and plateau. Our challenge is to reach a level where we can compete with that sooner rather than later.

7.15.2018 - Kickers Offenbach vs. Stuttgart Kickers

The battle of the Kickers? This is a pretty good draw, as Offenbach is among the weaker teams in the Amateur League. I won't usually do this, but I'll walk through this match in a fair bit of detail to demonstrate how things play out with the basic actions set.




Our options are quite limited here, but this particular design element gives the player a major advantage in general. That's because the opponent sets their formation, and we can deploy to best take advantage of it. It can get quite interesting contemplating the best strategy, so this is both a strength and a weakness. It is what it is, but we will often be able to beat a somewhat better team because of this mechanic.

They've got lots of useless zero-class players as well, but you can also see a couple of midfielders and a forward who aren't totally so. We are always on bottom, the other team on the top; white outer borders are ours, black ones are theirs.

On our side, I've chosen a very defense-heavy formation for the purpose of putting as many players between our goal and the ball as possible. The game's mechanics generally tend(though there are definitely exceptions) toward a 5-3-2 formation in my opinion. As we're able I'll shift towards something more similar to that, but for the moment we're just trying not to be demolished. In terms of who I'm playing and not playing, I wanted to get the oldest players out there and also play a mix of ages; there's a tension between those two ideas. If we don't get some experience for the older ones then we won't be able to improve them enough to sell them before they hit the critical age. Komolong seems clearly to be the best keeper candidate we have with 'good' defense and a bit of control, though I'd have preferred it if he was a bit younger. For Offenbach, Jurgens can shoot or dribble through our defense at his leisure basically, and Vetter is a more accurate striker even. Their keeper Endres rather sucks, but unfortunately we have virtually no chance of getting the ball through to him.




There are several kinds of possible weather. I'll get to them as we run into them, but today it's hot. That's going to tire everyone out more quickly. Bruns kicks off for Offenbach. The basic match mechanic is that each team gets an allotment of actions to take(three unless you get bonus ones by using skills, which will become more and more common later), then the other team gets a set of actions, and so on. They pass it up to Jurgen, who dribbles into our defense and beats Komolong for the score. 0-1, and I literally haven't been able to do anything yet. Sigh. There goes the first six minutes of Stuttgarter football. Decidedly less than inspiring.




Welp, now we get to try to do something. One option is to just kick it out of bounds. They'll have to throw it in, and this can be useful to get subs in, waste time, etc. Not something I want to do with our first action, but I'll probably make liberal use of this for a while. Also note the yellow part in the bar at the top. This is how much energy it would take to do this. In 'normal' matches I usually go through a process of deciding what to do:

** Do we have a realistic chance of scoring on this 'turn/set of actions'?
** If not, can we set things up to have a decent chance of doing so on the next set?
** If not, how do we make it less likely we'll concede a goal on the opponents turn?

For now though, it's going to be strict super-defensive play. That means we can skip the first two questions and go straight to the last one. And generally, esp. in low-level competition with few if any skills -- Offenbach has none -- the right way to go about this is getting the ball as far away from our goal as possible. Since it's a kickoff, dribbling it isn't an option. I've got to pass it to somebody. The forwards are the obvious choice.




Here's one option. Marx, one of their midfielders, would try to intercept the pass since it's headed right through his zone. It would be a bit more likely to be completed than not: Hirsch is a slightly better passer than his defensive ability in this situation. He'd roll a 2 through 8, we'd roll a 3 through 9, and whoever got the higher number would 'win'(ties favor the active player, in this case Hirsch). But rather than take that risk, I'd much rather just pass it diagonally to Mengele instead of Tiel. Nobody can intercept that, and in this case it doesn't really matter to me who ends up with it.




I've got two choices here. This is the standard pass, with a range of up to 3 tiles(the dotted line shows the range for it). This will automatically succeed unless there is a defender in the two yellowish squares the line passes through, which there isn't right now. The Lofted Pass can get it further ... but is also harder to complete.




The 35 on Mengele is the range factor. This can be as high as 110 if attempting a particularly long Lofted Pass. If it's unsuccessful, the ball will end up in a random location adjacent to the target. And that's not such a bad idea for getting the ball downfield and out of danger. With a 9 from Hirsch, he would have a very low chance of successfully doing this. The lofted pass is one of those things that is not very useful at the amateur level, but moreso later on. I go for the standard pass, and see +1 MF by Hirsch. He gets a specialization point for this action. Go me.




Having really no chance of scoring, I decide to get one of our defenders a bit of experience. Scepanik here is one of the better ones. He can move anywhere there isn't a defender, one space in any direction; if he moves somewhere that we have another player, they'll just switch spots. I slide him to the right, closer to the goal.




Time for our final action. If Mengele tries to dribble towards the Offenbach goal, well ... this wouldn't be very likely to succeed. He'd get at most a 6, and the defender at least a 6. So it'd have to be perfect. Shooting from here would be even worse, a literal guaranteed fail. I could also kick it out of bounds, or move in any direction.




Or this. Holding increases the player's control until the start of our next turn. It also makes tackling them less likely to result in a foul. The idea here is that it will take more effort for Offenbach to get the ball back, and therefore make it harder for them to advance it into scoring position.




They respond by pressing. Twice. Pressing is a great way to limit what the player with the ball can do. It lowers Accuracy, Passing, and Control by 15 each, lowers the ability to use skills - not that I have any -, and makes it impossible for them to move Not that I have any. Additionally, it's cumulative with more players doing it. The defender at the top of this image then tackles Mengele and takes the ball ... but that's the end of their turn.

We have won a small moral victory. Not only did they not score, but they barely managed to get the ball back. Now what? Well, in keeping with our super-defensive approach, I try this:




I move Tiel in position to block the easiest pass forward, and press with Mengele. They pass it down a couple times, and Jurgen tries another shot but Scepanik is in position to block it. We're now at 30 minutes, just a little more time to waste in this half. I have to use the lofted pass now since our defenders can't pass to save their life and one of their forwards is in the way. The ball gets loose, Hirsch picks it up, and they eventually recover it from him -- but not in time to do anything with it. Hirsch is able to tackle it back and get a pass through their midfield, then I move a defender who hasn't gotten any action in yet and we've made it to intermission.




It's hilarious to me that we are winning possession here. I think I want to keep Scepanik in that middle spot in front of the keeper for now, that'll make it a bit harder for them to score. Other than the first shot of theirs, we've done pretty well all things considered. Spreading around the action to other players, if possible, and doing more of the same defensive and delaying strategy is on the agenda for the second half. Normally I'd look at subbing out tired players here, but I really don't care if they fall over from sheer exhaustion. I just need the starters to get as much match experience as they can.




We keep things bogged down in their end for a while, then at the 70-minute mark they get it up to Jurgens again here.




With one defender pressing him, his control attribute is down low enough that we get the weak or 'Wk' indicator. That means a tackle here will be an automatic success. The reverse situation, strong, is also possible and means automatic failure. Jager makes the tackle and sends a lofted pass down the field to get the ball out.




It's enough to keep them at bay for a while, but just as time expires Vetter chimes in with this shot that beats Komolong like the rented keeper he is. It's hard to get upset about rolling a 1 when the highest your peak is a 2.

Kickers Offenbach 2, Stuttgart Kickers 0

Things will get much worse against the better teams in our league. Time to see what we've learned from this loss, the first of many.



Everyone got at least 9 XP; that's what you get for playing an entire Amateur League match and losing. It's more for a draw, and even more for winning. Again, nothing succeeds like success. The amount you gain after a match is Match XP(the 9 here) + Coaches Bonus(nothing, but it would be a % of the Match XP if we had any upgraded coaches) + Specialization XP(bonuses we can eventually select as we improve the players) + Best Player Bonuses(the Men of the Match awards on the right). Almost half of Hirsch's gain comes from that.

A couple players are now up to Level 2 and will suck slightly less now. Very slightly less.




Here's the progress our guys made towards not being complete failures at the sport.




We have money now!! 32 whole euros. That's courtesy of our ever-so-generous sponsor SlideX. Normally you have a choice of sponsors at the beginning of the year, but for the first season it's just grandfathered in. If we won, we'd get more money and also some sort of glory improvement. Since it was a road match, there's naturally no ticket sales for us, and the fans have been nice enough to not start deserting yet. Don't worry, they will.

Just remember that a journey of a thousand miles ... often ends very, very badly. Or something like that.

[thehitcat]

Perfect. You're the driver of this jalopy We're just shouting out occasional probably contradictory instructions from the back seat. Auf die Kickers!

[Brian Swartz]

7.22.18 SG Wattenscheid 09(0-0-1, 8th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-0-1, 7th)




Another road match. Jerks. Wattenscheid is only team in the league that is nearly as bad as we are. It's almost like looking in a mirror. They lost their first match even worse than we did(4-0), but they had a tougher matchup. I start Pfeiffer over Tiel as requested. They are 100% zero-class drek just like us, but they have somewhat better attributes because they had better luck of the draw in their roster. Still, this is the only chance we're going to have at a result in a while. Hirsch and Mengele are still pretty tired from the first match. Weather is normal today so it won't effect them as much, but more to the point I really don't care just as I didn't in the last match. They're staying out there till they collapse.




Let's hear it for Abruscia, who takes the ball away from one of their forwards Kresch on the first possession! We have survived the opening kickoff without conceding a goal -- or even a shot. That's a first.




A couple of passes later, and we're on the attacking end. I can deal with the shooting options now. Precision Shot places emphasis on aiming, lowering the defense by 20%. As you can see we'd still have a low chance of scoring here. Power Shot, the other alternative, doesn't get the defense reduction instead of the defense taking possession the shot will 'bounce off' and end up in a random nearby tile. Sometimes that means a corner kick if it gets through to the keeper. Also to note is that while Pfeiffer has 12 accuracy, he only maxes out at 6 here because there's a range penalty. Three tiles away like this it's 50%; 80% if you are within two. I elect to just hold the ball here again. The rest of the half consists of each team constantly trading possession, neither team able to retain it for long or have enough time to do anything with it once they do.




To start the second half, we have the kickoff advantage and I decided to take one shot at scoring. Mengele has better control than Pfeiffer, even though he doesn't shoot as well. If, though the odds are against him, he can dribble past this defender, he'll have an action left to shoot from closer range(2 instead of 3). If not, I'll probably be reduced to playing for a scoreless draw.

It fails, both players rolling their max. They move it forward to attack, but Kresch's shot is blocked by our defensmen Jager. That actually gives me one even longer-shot try at getting an attempt on goal.




Theoretically possible we could complete this pass ... nope. Later in the match they try to shoot through our defense again. This time Jager can't get in the way, but just in front of the keeper Doringer is there to make the play. Ultimately useless passes ensure on both sides, and fulltime ensues with no further drama.




This game slays me sometimes with it's possibly uninentional hilarity. 'There weren't significant events'. That just about sums it up for this drab affair. But for our roster, this is a success. We could have shot from distance like they did, but it wouldn't have accomplished anything; the odds would have been even more against us.

We get 13 Match XP instead of the 9 we got last time for losing. Umm, progress?? 10 of 11 starters are up to level 2; Abruscia was already there after the last match.

*** Hirsch
** Jager
* Mengele

Looks like two more matches before we start having classes develop. Another 32 euros come in from our sponsor, no change in glory or fans.

Coming Up: Over the weekend I'll finish the first half of the year, get into classes a bit more as we get to them and talk a bit about the Specialization upgrades 'tree'. That'll set the stage for a whole bunch of stuff starting on Monday as ya'll will get to put in your orders for Winter Break, our first 'real' transfer window and start shaping the team the way you want it. And talk amongst yourself about how utter crap the GM's tactics are as well, that's just par for the course.

[Izulde]

Trying to resist the urge to buy this. Luckily I have Until Dawn to tide me over (and scare the crap out of me like it did repeatedly last night) to procrastinate on things.

[Brian Swartz]

You will surrender eventually. The Matrix has you.

[Brian Swartz]

So a thing happened last night; temporary power outage and I lost some of the writeups. That'll make things a little shorter and less descriptive for a few matches.

7.29.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. 1. FC Saarbrucken




We were just totally screwed here. I leaned our defense to the side where their best defenders are, but their wing midfielders charged up either flank for unimpeded shots after pathetic tackling attempts by our outside defenders. They could have dribbled or shot through us as well had they felt the inkling.




Here we can see our fans, such as they are, on the lone bench that is more empty than full. There's less than a dozen here, but I figure the rest are just off somewhere disgusted at our display.

1. FC Saarbrucken 3, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

We find out just how inadequate we are compared to one of the best teams in the amateur ranks.




But get our first ticket sales, 5 euros per paying customer along with the usual 32 per-match sponsor bonus. That's the lion share of our income to date.




Here's the transfer list. It's worth noting that the players on here are typically sold for just over 10%(one-ninth, to be exact) above their fair market value(aka, what we could sell them for if at High interest). So there's a bit of a surcharge. F Gortler here, with the 15% discount, is therefore actually a good deal. He'd become the best player on the roster instantly ... but we can't even afford the cheapest guy on this list yet.


8.5.18 TSV Halvese vs. Stuttgarter Kickers




I had some small hope that, due to a relatively aggressive 4-3-3 formation employed by Halvese, we might be able to get around the wing and have a shot at scoring. This hope proved unfounded.



While Pfeiffer has an excellent chance to beat the keeper here, their defenders - unlike ours - are skilled enough to have the awareness to react to his attempt. And that's exactly what happened; though he had a small chance to get it through, they cut off and intercepted the ball.




A pair of twos doesn't get you much in poker. It does little better here. This shows the standard just-shoot-through 'em 'strategy' employed by our opponents. You don't have to be smart to kick our butts.

TSV Halvese 2, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

We also started losing fans, a handful of them. That will happen when you lose a lot. However we did get our first position specialization:




This is the SL upgrade 'tree'. The Specialist category has to be filled in first, partly because some of the other ones depend on what we get here. Hirsch is now an Amateur Midfielder, meaning he's more mobile; movement without the ball is doubled to two tiles. Also, he is the first of our players to be eligible to learn a skill, which comes with the Amateur class. And which I would proceed to screw up.




Here are the choices. Intercept is a passive ability that counters the other two, keeping opponents from using them. Layoff Pass allows you to 'lead' the target of a pass into a better position; they'll move one square in whatever direction you choose to receive it, without consuming an extra action. Long Pass permits a pass of up to five tiles, much more range than the three permitted by the standard Pass action.

I want to go for the quickest skill initially because of how much it increases the player's well value; that will give the coaches choices in terms of getting more income in if it is determined to be needed. And then I screwed up and selected Long Pass anyway. Since FTG is an enforced persistent autosave kind of game, I can't just reload and fix it, so we're stuck with it. There are always three choices though, and always relatively appropriate ones. Some are more useful than others, and it's another way to mold the capabilities of a player to your liking.

[Brian Swartz]

8.12.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Rot-Weiss Essen




I've got our defensive formation shifted to the right here to combat their forward on that side; wide forwards can be problematic with their 'Break-In' flank attacks. Also worth noting is their quality sweeper(the blue both-directions arrow in front of their keeper). He basically guarantees it's a waste of time to try to score.




Desperate times call for desperate measures. My own campaign is almost a decade in, and I've never pressed with a keeper in it. But it was the only way I could find to tackle the ball away from this forward, so I did it.





I think it was in this match that I gave up the longest-range tally I've ever surrendered. This was four tiles out, maximum shooting range, by one of the two guys in the bottom middle. You can see how thrilled our players were about it.




They scored early and often, shooting right through our defense like it wasn't even there. This was a massacre. There was compensation with two more players getting their amateur positions:




Mengele is now an Amateur forward, meaning that motivation lasts an extra action(7 instead of 6) and missing a shot on goal doesn't stop him from taking any further actions that turn. Slide Tackle will make him more of a 'support' style of forward; he'll be able to tackle players even if they have a high Control rating with that skill. Cannon Shot is a powerful shot that is tough to stop, but you need a straight-shot to the keeper with nobody in the way, either straight on or at a diagonal. It can be tricky to get into a position to use it. Head Play is useful for competing for balls in the air(corners, lofted passes, crosses, etc.). Forwards who learn this can be dangerous to almost any defense.

It was also sometime around here that I spent a lot of time one match just moving Komolong around so he could reach the Amateur Goalkeeper class. That means a +10% boost to Control and Defence while he's in goal, instead of a -50% that zero-class players get. Effectively he's twice as good(or half as inadequate) between the pipes now.

(AbrusciaAnger)

8.19.18 Alemannia Aachen(1-1-3, 5th) vs. Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-4, 8th)

I emptied the bench for this one, after having played the same eleven in the last four matches. The reason for that is to have our best players rested for the next one, which is our most important match of the year. So I'm basically writing off this one to get ready for that. We don't have enough players to take all the starters out, so I'll but out the most tired ones at the half.

I gave Blank and Tiel, our best subs, as much action as I could. Meanwhile, with our defense even more sad-sack than usual, Alemmania tore through it and basically scored at will.




At the end of the game, with us already down 4-0(all goals by the same player), they fouled Tiel who was injured. Not seriously thankfully, and he'll be out for just two days. But it did give us our first free kick, which shows off a couple things. That box with the affects is visible anytime by using the Ctrl key(not Control rating) on a player.

As it shows, you get accuracy doubled on a free kick. Counteracting that, the defense can put multiple players into one square to form a 'wall' to try to block a direct score. But here, we're too far away so I set up the forwards instead. Mengele came on for Tiel, and I had him shoot. Their defender in the middle was too good though, and that was the end of things.




Definitely a good and proper buttkicking.

Scepanik hit Level 3; getting to Level 2 were Blank, D. Muller, and Weibenfels.

*** Blank
** Tiel
* Wachter

Another 6 fans lost ... we're down to 32 now.

[Brian Swartz]

8.22.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. SG Wattenscheid 09
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round

The tickets for the early rounds of the Prestige Cup, as well as the experience gained, are a whopping triple those for a normal Amateur League match. Also, we've gotten the best possible draw, against the only team we have a chance to beat. Wattenscheid has leveled up faster than us ... but none of them even have their first position specialization yet. That gives us a big advantadge. I'm confident that with Komolong's new found adequacy, we have an excellent chance at keeping them from scoring ... and a small chance of manufacturing a goal for ourselves. Another scoreless draw like our last match is the most likely, but we just might steal a win. And if we do that, we've got a good shot at moving on to the next round of the competition, which would be a major xp boon for our fledgling club -- while limiting the growth of our only real rival at this point. That's why I called this the most important match of the year. Komolong and Hirsch are still not back to their full energy complement; I may have to bring on a sub later, but we'll see how that goes.




As you can see, it's raining -- our first match in that kind of weather. Passing suffers and fouls are more likely. We won't want to take any unnecessary risks. This here is the biggest hurdle on our best chance of scoring. Mengele is going to make the attempt. Pfeiffer is the better shooter, but shooting isn't the problem; it's getting close enough to do so against the 5-wide defensive line. Mengele has better control, so he has a chance, although the odds are definitely against us, of dribbling past this weakest point.

And he pulls it off!! Eureka! Rolled a 6 and only a 4 for the defender.




Our final action of the first turn of the game. He has just better than a 50-50 chance due to an open look from fairly close range against a keeper who doesn't know what he's doing. Precision here of course ...

6 vs. 7. Pretty good roll for us, and anything but a 7 would have resulted in a score but their keeper is equal to the challenge. That's bad luck for us when we needed just one more stroke of good fortune. Now we can only focus on defense ... we will probably not get another shot today as only a kickoff presents enough time to get into position.

They get it up for a shot, but Doringer blocks it away. They foul Hirsch in an attempt to get the ball back, which gives me enough time to get Mengele another shot, but this one has a defender in the way who intercepts the attempt. I put on Blank in midfield at intermission. We won't lose much there and Hirsch is gassed.




58 minutes into a still-scoreless match. After they start the second half with another long-range shot with the same results as the first one, I have Blank hold the ball at midfield ... and they foul him. This gives me a chance to try the same maneuver as before with Mengele. Incredibly, he dribbles by again ... and Sancaktar again rolls a max-7 on the save. Twice in a row we win a dribble against a superior defender and fail a shot against an inferior keeper. These chances are so few and far between for us.

They shoot again, and once again can't get through our initial line, and that's it.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, SG Wattenscheid 09 0

Either somebody scores in our third matchup on the away leg in a few weeks, or this will go to penalties.

50 XP for those who played the full match, triple what we get for a draw. Only one player who appeared(Hirsch) didn't level up.

*** Ortag
** Mengele
* Doringer

Schwarz, one of our older players, becomes our first Amateur Defender. This completes our tour through the four Amateur-level classes. And this is an important one; along with the usual skill acquisition, he can intercept shots on adjacent tiles. Those trying to fire through our line in his vicinity will find increased resistance. Reaction is his skill; Long Pass and Layoff Pass were the other choices. The others who haven't reached their amateur classifications are now getting close, we should see more progression soon.




15 euros a head here, and if we'd scored either one of our two shots, we'd have gotten four Glory out of it with the bonus for winning a Cup match. Arglebargle. This nearly doubles our balance to approach 1200 euros. I could buy a player now ... but I want to let all of you decide what, if anything, to spend our cash on. We're approaching the end of your 'probationary period'. Also the draw stopped the bleeding on the fans front, at least for now.

8.26.18 Stuttgarter Kickers(0-1-5, 8th) vs. 1. FC Schweinfurt 05(3-2-1, 3rd)

This is our last stop on the tour of the amateur league foes. Both Hirsch and Blank are quite tired, but we run Hirsch out there anyway. We have over two weeks off after this, so he can rest then. He's getting more experience if it kills him.




Here's our setup. They have a proper defense so we have no shot to score, but on the other end we have something to build around. Schwarz is positioned in the middle of the line to intercept a long-range shot from any direction, and if their forward dribbles into his vicinity which seems likely, our next-best Scepanik, who actually is a bit better in terms of defense rating, is positioned behind him. The other forward isn't good enough to dribble into our defense. We're starting to actually be able to try some things which have a chance at stopping a half-decent amateur opponent.




Big moment here, 36 minutes in. Early in the first half, Bodenheimer mixed it up with our defense. We eventually go the ball back, but he got behind us in the process and one of their midfielders later used the Long Pass skill to penetrate the formation. This is Komolong's first save ... and just barely as you can see. If they'd gone Precision instead of Power shot here they would have been more likely to score, but the AI likes to create corner opportunities and stay on the attack when they can. We dodge a bullet, and the rebound just bounces off to the other side of the box. Another attempt at the same tactic is foiled when Jager intercepts a pass at the end of the half.

All of that is put at naught though when Bodenheimer dribbles through Abruscia after the second-half kickoff, then puts a shot through everyone else. More resistance than before, but it still wasn't enough for us. Jager features prominently again, playing opposite that twirp and keeping him from getting through our defense the rest of the way.

Stuttgarter Kickers 0, 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 1

Jager and Mengele both reach Level 5.

*** Jager
** Hirsch
* Landeka

Specialization Upgrades Galore!

-- Pfeiffer(F) will learn Cannon Shot. Head Play and Slide Tackle are the longer ones.
-- Jager(D) gets Head Play. I doubt anyone tries many crosses against us at this level but he'll be ready if they do. Slide Tackle and Layoff Pass as well.
-- Abruscia(D) gets Layoff Pass. Olympic Kick(a powerful ability allowing a direct score from corner kicks, which we haven't seen yet and Head Play were the others.

** 192 more euros, 26 fans now(-6).




With the transfer window closing, we get a look at the top activity. There were none in the Amateur League. We can laugh at the stupid amounts of money we could only dream about from the top activity in th Premier League. We're only told about our current league and the premier; First through Third aren't included in this report.

[Brian Swartz]

9.12.18 SG Wattenscheid 09 vs. Stuttgarter Kickers
Prestige Cup Qualifying Round, 2nd Leg

Well, here we go. If we don't win this, it's the last match of the first half-season and the break will be upon us. Let's see if our luck changes from the first meeting, or a third straight scoreless match is our fate.




Well that kind of sucks. Not entirely unexpected though. They've got some positions filled now including an amateur keeper. I think our window of opportunity to score against them is closed for the moment. Also, despite 17 days to do it, Hirsch is still not fully recovered. I ran him to death in that last match, and that turned out to be suboptimal.

Nobody shoots in the first half. We're able to be the aggressors more often than not and keep the ball in their end, but only had one faint hope at generating a shot. I bring on Blank at intermission for the fatigued Hirsch.




Then this early in the second. I didn't take the screenshot of the attempt, because the odds of it were low. 14 max for Pfeiffer to shoot, 25 for a defender to block it, and then the keeper behind. This all arose because we held the ball with Mengele in their end, they took it back but couldn't do anything with it, then we were able to win a dicey tackle right away to grab possession. But the bottom line is he was able to find a hole around the right end of their defense and a lucky strike for our first-ever score! Only took nine matches ...

They could get anything going. Ortag intercepted a desperation lofted pass at the end and retained it, and that was it. .




We scored! We won!! Most importantly, we get two more Prestige Cup matches now.




Look at all that beautiful, beautiful leveling! For some of these guys it's about as much experience as they'd gotten in the rest of the season to date combined!! Additionally Ortag(Long Pass) and Doringer(Layoff Pass) both become Amateur Defenders.

** 77 Euros income -- it was an away match but we got a bit more due to the sponsor bonus for winning. Our first 4 Glory as well: 1 for winning by a goal, 3 for winning in the Prestige Cup.

The other qualifying round matchup saw Schweinfurt eliminate Offenbach 3-0.

10.10.18 Chemnitzer FC vs. Stuttgart Kickers
Prestige Cup Round of 32, First Leg

We got a month off to ponder this fate. Chemnitzer is a Second League side(1.5 stars).




You can see that they have a fair number of fully-classed players. As for us, I'm leaning the defense towards their left-most forward Klinger, due to his level 2 Cannon Shot and overall biggest threat. We couldn't score on a keeper of this quality even if their entire defensive line decided to create a highway for us, so this is merely an exercise in making it as hard for them to score as possible ... and a chance to gain more experience.

It's rainy today, which probably plays in our favor. Klinger promptly dribbles into our defense, but Doringer blocks his attempt. It's all we can do to get the ball back, and one of their other forwards is more successful with his finishing attempt. Took them 18 minutes to guarantee they would move on to the next round.




As the pummeling proceeds, here's an example of a skill in process. Here, one of their defenders uses Slide Tackle on one of our forwards. The x2 is because they have Level 2 in the skill, giving them two rolls at it. Both players start with a maximum of 10 on all skill rolls. Unless the player using the skill is fatigued(which lowers their maximum roll) or the opposing player has a skill that counters it, higher levels of skills will usually succeed. And using a skill against a player like this(as opposed to doing, say, a Long Pass with nobody in the way) doesn't cost an action. In this way you can extend your turn and have more involved, and more likely successful, counterattacks.

Their forwards had control ratings in the low 40s, which meant I basically had to press them twice to even tackle the ball back. Then I couldn't advance it, so they just took it back from my defender and blasted a shot from long range as the line was inept to get in the way most of the time.

Chemnitzer FC 4, Stuttgarter Kickers 0

An effective demonstration of the different level that Second League clubs play on. It doesn't resemble anything we've yet seen; even Saarbrucken would have gotten pummeled by these guys most likely.

Losing here though, is still twice as good as drawing a league match in terms of XP.

Pfeiffer is now Level 8; reaching Level 7 were Landeka, Doringer, Schwarz, Jager, Abruscia, Hirsch, and Mengele. Most of the lineup, in other words.

*** Hirsch
** Schwarz
* Pfeiffer

Landeka(D, Head Play) and Scepanik(D, Layoff Pass) are the last two starters to get their amateur class. And because they don't care about who we were playing, just that we lost, we lose another 9 fans.

10.31.18 Stuttgarter Kickers vs. Chemnitzer FC
Prestige Cup, Round of 32, Second Leg

Time to take our medicine one more time. I've made one change; Landeka, one of our younger defenders, is up closer to midfield. That's because he's going to start learning his second class. After this match I'll go into the second-level classes and why I put him there -- then you'll have to decide if you want to leave him in that spot, or go with another approach. This is my final match on the reins of that stuff.




Oh look we 'held' them to one fewer tally this time. That's good right? A mere 7-0 aggregate defeat. We, uh, managed one tackle. That's the positive here.

Level 8 for Hirsch; Level 7 for Komolong and Scepanik.

*** Hirsch
** Doringer
* Schwarz

287 Euros ... and we lose 2 more fans. It'd be more, but we're now down to 15, the floor beyond which it can't drop further. Those are rabid boosters and/or family members who feel too guilty not to attend occasionally. We have more players on the team than paying customers. Yep, that's a thing.

The President notes that "You fought as best you could. But our footballers still have not enough experience to carry out your tactical objectives." An understatement worthy of a trophy, sir.

[Brian Swartz]

Winter Break

The next three months pass uneventfully. I hope you're well-rested, because there's a lot to do. Players need your direction and instructions. We've got a new transfer list, and some funding in case there are any transactions you wish to have done. And, as happens twice a year at the beginning of each transfer window, we also have a new player from the 'youth academy'. I think what that means is the 'staff member who we connived into getting plastered enough to sign up their kid'. Much like 'stadium' clearly means 'rented space in a public park', with the volleyball net/closthesline thing at one end, and bikes and clothes strewn all over at the other.

Classes

We've already met the first bit here, but just for review:

Zero-class(?) -- All the players started out here at Level 1. Can move 1 tile with or without the ball. -50% to all attributes when in goal. Equally poor in any role, understanding only the basic rules of the game. Cannot do any skill training.

All of our starters have now progressed to an Amateur Class. All of these can learn one Level 1 skill.

Amateur Goaleeper(G) -- +10% to Control and Defence when in goal. Can learn one Level 1 skill. There's no reason to ever play them anywhere but in goal.
Amateur Defender(D) -- Can intercept shots on adjacent tiles.
Amateur Midfielder(M) -- Can move twice as far without the ball(2 tiles)
Amateur Forward(F) -- Motivation lasts one action longer(7). Can still take actions if any are left following a failed shot attempt.

The Amateur Classes are all helpful and an important step. Goalkeepr and Defender ones are particularly essential. Going to the next level though, things get more interesting. There are two types of advanced classes:

Univeral -- Universal classes allow a player to learn two different skills eventually. They can operate with equal effectiveness anywhere on the pitch, unless they are a goalkeeper. This versatility comes with the limitations that they are not as good at a specific role, and can never be crosstrained. No matter where they are, their specialization gains will always be in the same universal class.

Specialized -- All amateur classes other than keepers will have a choice in how they develop further. The specialized classes can only learn one skill and have a limited area on the pitch in which they can operate, but within that role they have powerful strengths.

UNIVERSAL CLASSES

Goalkeeper(GK) -- +50% Control and Defence when in goal. All keepers will eventually become this, there is no branching off for them.

Universal Defender(DF) -- They can intercept not only shots but also passes on adjacent tiles.

Universal Midfielder(MF) -- Can move 2 tiles with the ball; before they could only move 2 without it.

Universal Forward(FW) -- Movement without the ball increased to 2 tiles, and Control is 30% higher during the opponent's turn, giving them a better chance to retain possession.

SPECIALIZED CLASSES

There are a lot more of these. This diagram is quite useful:




In order to gain more specialization experience in their class, they must stay in these areas. They can still sometimes operate outside of them with no ill effects, but upgrading the SL will be affected. For example, a LD can go anywhere up and down the left wing and still retain their LD abilities. If they move into the middle or right-side sections though, they will not be as effective. If they wander forward, they'll be gaining LM or LF experience instead of LD. This is helpful for cross-training, but there will be times you don't want that.

Sweeper(SW) - Whenever the ball is on the defensive side of the field, the sweeper will automatically move to match it without costing an action. This enables them to block any shot on goal that's not at close range.

Central Defender(CD) -- Tackles any player who comes into an adjacent tile automatically. However, they lose the Amateur Defender's ability to intercept shots on adjacent tiles. Their role is to try to prevent physical penetration of the defensive line.

Full Back(LD/RD) -- Reduces the maximum role for skills by adjacent players by 5, limiting the use of them significantly in their vicinity. Can move 3 tiles with/without the ball on the flanks.

Defending Midfielder(DM) -- Intercepts any passes within 2 tiles; 100% bonus on intercepting any that go through the tile they are on; +1 level of intercept talent(counters Long Pass/Layoff Pass)

Central Midfielder(CM) -- +20% to passing; Pressing does not cost an action.

Wing Midfielder(LM/RM) -- Pressing does not cost an action; can move 4 tiles with/without the ball on the flank. The most mobile class in the game.

Attacking Midfielder(AM) -- 60% penalty to defence for opponents intercepting their passes. That makes an AM ideal for penetrating a defensive formation in that fashion to set up forwards closer to the goal. Also, the range penalty for shooting from distance is halved, which makes them the best option for sniper duty. Finally, they can do the False Kick, which can pull a defender out of position towards them.

Central Forward(CF) -- Automatically moves one tile closer to the goal if there is space in the defensive line, without costing an action. Also gains +1 level of Head Play talent, for battling in the air for the ball including scoring via headers.

Wing Forward(LF/RF) -- From the deep corners on their respective flanks, uses the Break-In maneuver which doesn't cost an action. That allows them to get into the box next to the keeper, and any automatic tackles are given a 50% penalty. This will wreak havoc on any defense without a properly positioned fullback. They also can move 2 tiles with/without the ball.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by thehitcat

I think the one question we should figure out is how generic we want our team to be vs unique. For instance should we be thinking about RD/LD and Sweeper or Just CD and DF for outside the box. Same with MF vs. CM, DM and RM/LM and for Forwards. I've had success with all types.

This question is now going to become quite important. Mostly it's going to be up to you all, but you'll have to co-ordinate your thoughts to a degree. For example, in dividing up players, how many we give to our winger coach DavidCorperial is going to partly depend on how many wingers you want to actually play. When I get the Winter Break Briefings up you'll have an opportunity to try and come up with some sort of coherent approach.

[Brian Swartz]

Scoring Methods: Problem-Solving and Squad-Building

FTG is essentially a fairly elaborate problem-solving exercise. It was designed to allow for many viable solutions and tactics. Here are the main ways of scoring:

** Accuracy. Just beating the keeper/defense with shooting ability. The simplest, most basic, and common at our current level. It's less useful the further you go up the pyramid, but never gets completely sidelined.

** Crosses & Headers. This involves a wing player(usually a midfielder) crossing from an advanced flank position to a CF in the middle.

** Olympic Kick. You've got to be able to get a corner kick first, which is best done via long-range Power Shots. Than any player with this ability can be a major scoring threat.

** Cannon Shot. Depending on the defensive formation, it can be trivial or very difficult to get in the right position for this.

** Rainbow Feint. A player with this skill lobs the ball over the player in front of them, whether defender or keeper.

** Flank Attack. Break-in + dribbling for a wing forward with high control can be devastating.

** Counters None of these techniques is invincible. Defenders with high-level Head Play or Keepers with Playing Out can counter the Header and Olympic Kick variants. A high-level keeper will be very resistant to just using Accuracy. Cannon Shot(Strong Goalkeeper) and Rainbow Feint(Reaction) also have defensive abilities which can cancel them out.

Because of the two-skill limit, no keeper can be strong against all types of threats. Both having a defense which can cover for whatever weaknesses there are, and an attacking strategy to take advantage of what is found in the opposition, require a skilled, versatile, and deep roster. That takes a lot of time though, and is expensive; the more players we have, the more contracts we need to pay for. And there's only so much playing time to go around in order to develop these players. Deciding how much effort to put into making the stars as good as possible, and how much to put into tactical flexibility and developing the standouts of the future is a huge part of your job. I've got some tools for you now - they're not so much the Craftsman Professional type as the 'some guy read a third-hand account of a half-arsed YouTube tutorial on how to make a primitive stone axe and gave it a whirl' type - but they are what we have and it's up to you now to make of them what you will.

[larrymcg421]

Did you pick a skill for Mengele or anyone else yet? I usually like picking the shortest skill, unless it's Throw In, which I never pick. Mengele is young enough to maybe make it worthwhile to spend 2 years on Cannon Shot, but going with Slide Tackle would be the quickest way to make him more valuable for sale purposes.

The advantage of going with MF's for midfielders is that David and I can share some of those players.

My first time playing through, I always went up the 30%/70% specialization tree, but I've since learned that the skill tree is a much faster path to profitability. Once they hit a lvl 2 skill, they explode in value.

As for glory upgrades, I had great success with the defensive coach upgrades and still think thats the way to go because:

1) Defender attributes are still important at high levels, moreso than for the other positions.

2) We're running more defenders than any other position.

In my own personal run at hard mode, I've had success ignoring the scout upgrades and just buying the global lists whenever I needed someone.

[Brian Swartz]

I've got skills for all of them actually. With exception of the screw-up on Hirsch, I went with the quickest one for the reason you mention of having the option of selling them. Later on I imagine it'll be more important to be concerned with having specific skills for specific positions.

As far as the other stuff:

1). We aren't there yet

2) What you're talking about is a viable way that can be quite successful. I would counter though that it's just that: one viable way. There are others. I don't think it's necessarily the case that defender attributes are more important than those of other positions, for example; there's no law saying we have to play more defenders than other positions indefinitely; etc. We could still go that route of course, I'm just trying to keep options open for everybody when there's more than one way to skin the cat here.

[larrymcg421]

Oh I agree that there are multiple ways to go about it. I was just throwing my 2 cents in. Happy to go with the consensus.

[Brian Swartz]

2018/19 Winter Break Briefings

The next series of post will walk us through the info dump and required decisions for the transfer window. I think this will work best with a bunch of decisions being made at that time, in most cases enough to cover the next half-year, and then minimal contributions needed while I play out what happens as a result.

Competition Report

Stuttgarter

Valuation* -- 18.7k(+18.2k)
Star Ranking -- 0(--)
Classes -- 38(+38)
Levels -- 6(+5)
Skills -- 0(--)

* This is the total asset value of our club. It includes the investment made in the Stadium and Youth Academy(currently zilch) and the total value of all players, if they were sold at High interest at their current abilities. It was just over 500 euros at the beginning of the season, so the difference between the value of our players then and now is that now they have some.

Basically we've made major progress. We're almost as good as the rest of the league was at the starter of the season. We don't have any skills yet, but there hasn't been time and we're learning a bunch of them now.

Amateur League

Star Ranking -- 0.5(--)
Classes -- 45(+11)
Levels -- 13(+2)
Skills -- 5(+4)

The skill development is what is the most concerning here. We're now the only club in the league that doesn't have any, which is going to make our lives more difficult until we start getting some of that training finished up. In the other categories we've made significant headway.

Third League

Star Ranking -- 0.96(+0.08)
Classes -- 64(+5)
Levels -- 19(+2)
Skills -- 8(+3)

Modest gains across the board here.




So far Germany has not lived up to it's billing this season. It's not going to get any better, at least in 2018/19. There were two clubs who made it to the group stage of the European Cup; FC Bayern Munchen and RB Leipzig. Neither advanced to the knockout rounds. Leipzig had a postive goal differential but was too drawish, while Bayern just isn't as good as they are cracked up to be, sitting midtable in the Premier League. At this rate, they won't be playing in any continental competition next season.

I also noticed with bemusement that Chemnitzer FC, who knocked us out of the Prestige Cup, is actually sitting dead last in the Second League and was quickly knocked out in the next round. No Amateur League side got through the round of 32, though Rot-Weiss Essen was close; after identical 2-1 scores each way in their matchup they lost on penalties ... 10-9.

Club Resources

** Money -- 1,176
** Glory -- 4
** Stadium Capacity -- 100
** Fans -- 15

[Brian Swartz]

Roster Details

Here's where I'll put everything you need to know about your players, organized by coach.







Fetscher is our first youth pull, which will always come at the beginning of each transfer window. The rest are the guys we started with. Then the rest of the information, by coach. Here's an example:

G Komolong
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(11m 9d, 114)
SL: GK(57/120), GK(forced)
Playing Time: Starter

The screenshots give age, attributes, birthdate, remaining contract, and value. Then this stuff here, to avoid putting a whole bunch more screens up, is:

** Interest from other clubs in buying the player. That'll let you know if they are at peak selling price or not, so you can gauge the actual value better.
** Attribute Focus so you can change what attribute is being focused on for level-ups.
** Training -- this gives whatever skill is being trained, how much time is left, and the last number there is the glory required to 'buy' it sooner.
** SL -- Specialization Level progress. I'm not going to put tiny random bits in there if somebody has 2 points of AM and they never play there or whatever, but their primary position and any others they have a significant amount in will be shown. Also, what the next SL upgrade is going to be. In this case there isn't a choice in the matter, but there will be soon.
** Playing Time -- This one needs explanation because it's not actually a game setting. Rather, it's a selection from a series of player 'roles' that I've come up with based on how we might want to use players, so I know who to play and how much.

Playing Time Roles

** Starter -- Plays any time we need to put our best foot forward.
** Rotation -- A position where multiple players may start, depending on what the best tactical situation is for matching up with the opponent.
** Emergency Backup -- A sub that we aren't trying to get more playing time in order to develop; he's just here to provide quality if a starter is injured, tired, suspended, etc. Most often a veteran player where the starter is better, but it might also just be a younger one being kept around in case of need.
** Regular Backup -- Unlike the Emergency Backup they'll be in the mix for regular playing time more often. Most common version of this is probably someone who is younger and not as good as the starter, being groomed for the future but not ready to be the man yet.
** Prospect -- A player who isn't good enough to contribute yet, but is young enough that there's the potential for that to happen. Prospects will play in garbage-time, blowout situations, or other cases when the result doesn't particularly matter(i.e., we've confirmed our place in the league table this season and we're just trying to develop players for the next year).
** Showcase -- A player we want to sell, but it's worth investing playing time in them enough to get interest maxed out. They'll play just enough to reach High Interest(or medium if you specify).
** Dead Weight -- We're waiting for the right time to sell this player. If there are any other options, they aren't going to see the pitch during a game. It's not worth taking playing time away from others to get their price up, we don't have any use for them and just want them gone.

By using these(any suggestions on them are welcomed, I'm hoping every possibility is covered here) it should be doable to have a relatively quick-n-dirty way to give instructions on how much to play various guys.

[Brian Swartz]

Forgot to include this a couple posts up. Pretty clear what's going to happen here; at least Essen and Saarbrucken are going to promote. Three more in the middle, and then the drek at the bottom including us. Due to our win over them in the Cup, we actually surpassed Wattenscheid by a bit; their starters are at Level 6-7, ours at Level 7-8. We might have a chance at beating them or Offenbach now, but for the most part we'll have to use our newfound abilities to try and scrape together draws once in a while against the better teams. It's still a near-impossibility to conceive of us scoring on them for the time being.

[Brian Swartz]

PLAYER ASSIGNMENTS

I tried to do this as evenly and sensibly as possible. Feel free to switch or 'trade' guys among yourselves if you want to; I'll need the approval of both coaches involved to do that. Except for our youth pull I put everyone at Starter or Regular Backup but feel free to change all of that around. I'm going to need to know what Specialization Upgrade(for now that's just the position you want them trained in) for all players at a minimum here.

DavidCorperial(Wingers)

D Ortag
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Long Pass(7m 10d, 74)
SL: LD(17/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

D Abruscia
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(7m 23d, 78)
SL: RD(20/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

? Blank
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(53/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Tiel
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: F(35/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Tunjic
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(6/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

? Preiss
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Control
Training: None
SL: M(9/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

larrymcg421(Central Forwards & Midfielders)

D Landeka
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Head Play(1y 1m 7d, 133)
SL: DM(16/120), ??
Playing Time: Starter

M Hirsch
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: Long Pass(2y 3m 2d, 271)
SL: CM(72/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

F Pfeiffer
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: Cannon Shot(11m 23d, 118)
SL: CF(59/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

F Mengele
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: Slide Tackle(11m 9d, 114)
SL: CF(66/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

? Wachter
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Accuracy
Training: None
SL: F(8/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup?

? Fetscher
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: None, ?
Playing Time: Prospect

? Muller D.
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Passing
Training: None
SL: M(8/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

thehitcat(Central Defenders & Keepers)

G Komolong
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(11m 9d, 114)
SL: GK(57/120), GK(forced)
Playing Time: Starter

D Doringer
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(8m 9d, 84)
SL: SW(37/120), ??
Playing Time: Starter

D Scepanik
Interest: Average
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Layoff Pass(10m 7d, 103)
SL: CD(14/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

D Schwarz
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Reaction(11m 19d, 117)
SL: CD(47/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

D Jager
Interest: High
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: Head Play(8m 23d, 88)
SL: CD(25/120), ?
Playing Time: Starter

? Weibenfels
Interest: Low
Attribute Focus: Defense
Training: None
SL: D(5/70), G(2/70), ?
Playing Time: Regular Backup

[Brian Swartz]

Transactions & Priorities

A couple of ground rules. When it comes to managing your players(attributes, playing time, training, specialization), each coach has absolute authority. You can do whatever you want. Train that raw rookie in nothing but accuracy and throw him in goal for every Cup match? Play no midfielders in the middle so we have to kick off from the defensive line? Start three sweepers and nobody in front of them so we can have five forwards? Whatever idea comes into that head of yours, we can do - so long as you are willing to put up with the wrath of your fellow coaches if it backfires.

When it comes to spending the 'corporate' resources though, things will be a little more restricted. I'm open to suggestions on the guidelines, but for now:

** Anything that spends more than 25% of our glory or money must be approved by majority vote
** Same for selling a starter who hasn't reached their prime yet, extending a player past age 34, not selling a player who has reached that mandatory sell age.
** I'll automatically sell anyone you choose not to renew when their contract runs out. It's worth remembering that if you sell someone with a couple years left on their contract you get none of that investment back; if you just let their contract expire you get nothing from them either.


Extensions

We have three eligible players right now. All have 7 months left so we could wait until the next transfer window to do it. Player demands increase as their abilities and value grow, so if you know what you plan to do with them locking them in early is cheaper. On the other hand, waiting gives you more flexibility in case someone better comes along. It can also be a good idea to extend them just before they finish learning a skill, so you get the cheaper rate before the cost soars.










Upgrades

We can't afford any, but the status of these will usually be updated in the transfer window. These fall under the mentioned 25% rule and will usually need majority approval.




Here's our personal transfer list. The global one gives additional players, and costs 37.5k. So we can forget about that for now. See anyone you like? If so, this is the time to buy them.

General Playing Time

This vote will tune the team overall in terms of how hard we want to push for results vs. developing the youth and depth.

** Best XI: Put our best team on the pitch every match. Every year will start out this way for the first handful of matches at least. Cup matches will also be handled in this manner. There comes a point in most seasons though where we need to decide what our realistic aims for the year. At that time we will consider changing this approach.

** Mixed: Top players will play the majority of the time, but reserves will be sprinkled in regularly in 'spot starter' roles to give a modest chance for them to develop while still trying to produce fairly strong results in competitive matches.

** Rotation: Playing time is shared roughly evenly between the top players and the developing ones(Rotation, Regular Backup, and Prospect roles) in an attempt to boost the depth and overall strength of the roster. This puts improving for the future ahead of current results.

I should mention here that there are times when even if you can promote to the next league up, it doesn't mean you should. Doing it too quickly will often mean a big losing streak, getting relegated back down ... and this time with the loss of a bunch of the fanbase and ticket sales. Going from Amateur to Third League is the biggest jump, with double the xp per match and 50% more of them, so effectively tripling how much we can improve. We'll want to do that as soon as possible, but it can still be a net negative if we aren't ready for it.

Ok then, time for me to step aside and all of you to take over. Fire away with what you want done; anytime between now and the middle of next week is plenty soon enough.

[DavidCorperial]

From what I'm familiar with on the game, 32 is the last real selling age so I'd say extend all 3 to 32 as much as you can and sell them at top value my them. I'd also absolutely buy Maslanka as at that price, age, and atributes he could be a good attacking minded midfielder.

[Brian Swartz]

Close. It's 33 actually for the last selling age.

[DavidCorperial]

I've heard that value drops heavily from ages 32 to 33, or am I misunderstanding on that?

[thehitcat]

I agree on extending Mengele and Ortag. I'd personally sell Preiss because to me he's deadweight and taking up space on the bench plus if we don't play him he won't be worth what we spent to extend him.

My vote on how we play currently is Rotational with maybe best XI for cup games where the XP is worth it. We need to get all these guys XP and skills so we can ship them out for a couple players that might be worth a damn.

As for the transfer list Zeitz looks like a hell of a DM at this level. If we could afford him (and we wanted to play a DM) I'd be interested.

[thehitcat]

Other thoughts, we're currently training Doringer as a Sweeper. I've liked and used Sweepers in a couple of playthroughs that said having a sweeper means that you don't have an offside line and specifically for DavidCorperial if we use a Sweeper and two CD/DF in the box unless we stick with 5+ defenders which I know larrymcg421 did to great effect but I never have, he loses one of his two LD/RD fullback options...I guess for now we keep training him there but then make the decision when he'd pick a class. But I'd like to hear from everyone on what they would like on D.

[thehitcat]

Finally far be it for me to turn down the Defense coach as it would help my players first and most but I prefer to start by maxing out my bench coach so that all of the players whether they play or not are getting XP as though they did play. I feel like this along with a Rotational strategy, at first, really helps you bring the entire team forward. Also I believe that the Bench coach is the quickest to max (least amout of glory.) When it comes to transfer lists if I use them I prefer to extend the age of the players available over extending the length of the list. For the most part I'd rather buy 22 year old guys that need some seasoning over 28 year old players I need to sell in 4 seasons.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by DavidCorperial

I've heard that value drops heavily from ages 32 to 33, or am I misunderstanding on that?

You aren't wrong, but it starts before that. It drops every single year, regardless. It's more and more of an issue the better a player is, and less of one for low-level players like ours. Example: Schwarz(32) and Jager(28) are both level 7 Defenders. Schwarz is worth 1350, Jager 1700 right now with both at High interest. Age is the difference there. Right now though, any player who plays regularly is going to gain enough value to outpace the age decline. That won't be the case once we start getting players up to, say, level 25-30 or so. Sometime around then value starts peaking earlier unless they are getting more skills or something. The better they get, the earlier their value peaks.

We absolutely can still stop at 32 if you want, I'm just trying to explain the mechanic.

Originally Posted by thehitcat

I believe that the Bench coach is the quickest to max (least amout of glory.)

They're all the same price. 15 Glory for the first upgrade, and we have 4 right now. Hopefully we'll have to decide this in the next window.

Current Transactions

** Preiss is David Corperial's player so if he wants him extended, that being as cheap as it is, that's what's going to happen. If we're going to sell him at 32, that'd be the 1-year deal for 15 euros

** Maslanka signing is the same way, cheap enough not to need everyone's vote.

** We don't have nearly enough money to do everything else. 1767 to start and it's 1040 to sign Zeitz, 896 for the max extension on Mengele, 528 for a 2-year deal with Ortag. Combind with Preiss and Maslanka that's 2636, 869 more than we have. So we'll need to decide whether it's worth waiting on one of the extensions, selling a player, whatever but not all of those things can happen at once right now.

[thehitcat]

Training updates for a couple of the defenders.

Please move the following 3 players Skill Focus from Defense to Control.
Doringer, Jager and Weibenfels. I'd like to get them all into double digits in Control before swapping back over to Defense.

[thehitcat]

What does everyone think about selling Landeka and then turning most of that fee into Zeitz. Here are their key attributes and age.

Pos Name Acc Pas Def Ctl Lvl Age Skill Value Interest Focus Specialization Lvl
D Landeka 4 12 18 4 7 27 Head Play(1y 1m 7d, 133) 1190 Avg Def DM 16/120
? Zeitz 5 12 11 16 9 26 None 1070 ? ? None

We'd actually come out 120 ahead and it would mean we'd have the money we needed for all three extensions and Maslanka 1596 Euros from our current balance plus 120.

I'll let everyone weigh in

[larrymcg421]

I agree with the above suggestion. Zeitz looks very promising and a DM at this level is pretty powerful since MF/CM's at this level are not very good at the lofted pass.

I like the rotational style until we get everyone training a skill. Once that happens, I think we should stick with our best XI.

[Brian Swartz]

Ok then good stuff. That takes care of most of it. I don't yet know what we want done with the Specialization Upgrades(SL). Other than Zeitz, after we buy him, I don't know what we want in terms of what position to train everyone into. I.e., DF/CD/RD/LD for the defenders, do we want all of the midfielders to go MF, FW/CF for the forwards, is Doringer going to be SW or not, what DavidCorperial wants to do with his wing guys(LM/RM, RF/LF).

[thehitcat]

Right forgot to say that in my training bit about the defenders. Keep training their specialization the way we are now. When Jager and Schwarz are ready to choose make them both CDs, and Scepanik should be a DF. I'll hold off on Weibenfels until he becomes at least a D (or in case of an injury to Komolong a G) and then gets a Skill started and we'll wait on Doringer to hear if DavidCorperial and larrymcg421 want to play with a sweeper, if yes he becomes and SW if no he becomes a DF like Scepanik. None of these things should hold us up until we have to choose for Doringer.

[DavidCorperial]

I'm fine with either position so I'll defer.

[larrymcg421]

Mengele - CF. He's a terrible accuracy, so we might as well give him one level of head play talent to be useful there.
Pfeiffer - FW.
Wachter - FW, but I'm not sure it's worth it to get him trained up, unless Mengele or Pfeiffer are tired.
Fetscher - MF
Muller - MF

[Brian Swartz]

Any preference on Hirsch?