Soccer Superstar - a New Star Soccer dynasty

Radii · 12-12-2005, 05:55 PM

The game is New Star Soccer 3. The thread on it is: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/...ad.php?t=43791

This is a RPG Soccer game, its similar in concept to ITP, inside the park baseball where you are a baseball player on the OOTP engine. This game seems much, much deeper and more well rounded than that.

In between matches you control your relationships with your family, friends, lovers, and fans, you also train up your skills RPG style, and you act as your own agent working with your contract. You earn a salary and can buy a number of items, though at this point I don't know much about the RPG effect of buying stuff.

On match day, if you're selected for your squad, you watch the game live, using an old Sensible Soccer engine. If you're put in the game you control yourself, and yourself only. This is the most fun part about the game IMO, you're on the pitch as yourself the entire time.

I'm going to start up a character in the English Conference, the lowest level in England, and try to work my way up to an international superstar. So far, I've only played part of a game on the beginner level(not even a full season), but I like jumping into stuff like this and learning as I go in these kinds of things. I'm going to play on the pro level. I plan on posting a running diary, probably one post a month, that will be a mix of concentrating on my own individual career and the success of my team, and my country(USA). Even though most of the windows appear to be some kind of text, there doesn't seem to be a nice cut and paste option. I may do a number of screenshots though in some places.

If anyone has any questions about the game, please ask, and if anyone who has more experience playing than me has advice, please offer it! As always in my dynasties, I am usually way too wordy, and often go into too much detail, so if something is making this difficult to follow, let me know.

Radii · 12-12-2005, 05:56 PM

Starting the Game

I start a new league using most of the default options. I am going to be a central attacker, right footed. I switch the level up from Amatuer to Pro.

Initial Attributes

On pro I have 15 technique points to distribute between 3 stats: Flair, Control and Both Feet(ability to use your off foot). Based on my one game at Amatuer flair was the most useful to me but I go ahead and start things evenly, 5 points in each here.

I also have 15 points for fitness, to distribute between pace(speed), strength, and stamina. While I'd like to eventually be a guy with breakaway speed, I'm going to allow myself to start slow here. 15 points into stamina, and we'll see if its signifigantly detrimental to my early career or if its ok to do that and build my stamina way up while I suck everywhere else for faster advancement.

The final category is "tactics" where I have 10 points to spread between 2 categories, positioning and vision. I put 7 in vision and 3 in positioning. My one game I messed with on easy saw very few headers and volleys come my way(which seems to be the main advantage of positioning), so I'll concentrate on vision, which the little overlay help says "increases your range of passing".

Character Details

Name: Richard Dixon
Nickname: Richard

Date of Birth: October 29th

Appearance: Body Type: Tall, Hair: Dark Red, Skin: Light

I'm from the United States, and look forward to eventually being the star striker on a world cup winner for my home nation.

League: I'm going to play in England

Team Choice: I decide to find a team with a "Demanding" Manager. This type of manager does not want me talking to the media and wants me to make every choice I make for the team. The advantage is that my skills will increase faster under this type of manager.

I end up selecting Exeter in the English Conference.

Initial Trial

Basically this consists of doing each level 2 skill test. If I don't screw up badly I'll get a contract offer. I get them all and get my offer:

480 per week, 5 years, goal bonus 135, assist bonus 255. I try to negotiate down to 3 years, Exeter accepts and we are off!

Other initial info:

Bank: $1,000
Cost of Living: $100

Relationships

These actually have an impact on your stats, you can get boosts to your ratings by maintaining your relationships. The various ones are:

Manager: 75% - increases by playing well, and for a demanding manager, by making my every action for the team.
Teammates: 50% - This will have an affect on how often I get the ball on the pitch
Supporters: 50%
Girlfriend - I have none
Media - I am not known in the media at all
Sponsers: I have none
Family: 75% - I can improve this by spending time with them. This uses up my stamina but I get ratings bonuses for keeping this high.
Friends: 75% - Same as family.

Health

Confidence - 50% - This has an an effect on my in game play and can change based on my status with a girlfriend, and my play on the field. I can also drink alcohol to improve confidence, but that has other effects.

Gambling Addiction - 0% - I plan on keeping this at zero. Seems like if it gets high you can get noticed in a negative way by the media.

Alcohol - 0% - One may drink to improve confidence, but it has a number of negative effects, it increases your flair but decreases strength and can cause you to simply fall over on the pitch. my manager also won't like it. And it also slows the rate of stamina gain.

Drug Use - 0% - you can improve your fitness abilities by buying performance enhancing drugs but it seems as though there are random drug tests int he game and if this rating is not 0% when you have a drug test you're in bad bad trouble. I plan on playing clean.

Energy - 100% - this gets used up by training, match play, and by visiting friends/relatives, girlfriends. It increases at a rate that depends on your stamina. Since this is crucial for skill development, this is why I decided to put all my fitness points into stamina for now.

Radii · 12-12-2005, 06:34 PM

August 2006

I'm 17 years old, about to turn 18(Last game I started at the age of 16, is that based on skill level?) in October.

Week 1

We have only one match this week, on August 6th. I don't expect to play anyway, so I'm going all out training.

I train my stamina up 3 times, its now at 18. We'll see how fast that lets me regen. Engery level down to 10%. Sure hope I don't have to play yet.

--August 4th
- Energy at 55%. Time to get the stamina up some more. One more point, to 19.

--August 6th
Exeter opens the season hosting Dag & Red

Uhhh, WOW. I don't expect to even be listed as a sub, but I'm starting. And my bonuses to my tactical abilities apparently set me ahead of everyone else. I am the free kick taker with a 2 Set Pieces rating, I have no idea how that happened, but in the 22nd minute, I score the first goal of the season for Exeter! It was funny, free kick right outside the box. I can't shoot for shit, I am for the left post, the ball goes way off target... right into the right side of the net. 1-0 Exeter! I get a number of touches, but all I can do is pass ASAP b/c I dribble so slowly. In the 58th minute, I get the ball on the left side and the other Striker(named 'Fleck') is one on one with a defender in the box. I lob it in and it is almost on target, Fleck takes it and volleys it in, assist Dixon! We win 3-0, I get a 10 rating and my goal and assist bonus. Insane.

I wonder if the conference level is just too easy, or maybe Dag & red is just that bad. We'll see

-- NEWSPAPER REVIEWS
-- I get 4 positive comments on my debut, with one comment about my passing being below average.

-- August 7
I meet a woman and ignore her. I don't need the troubles that can bring just yet.

Week 2

We have two matches this week, which will hurt my ability to train.

--August 8th
I am at 48% energy and get a chance for some extra training. Stamina is up again!

--August 11th
64% Energy, but I have two games in the next 6 days. Right now I don't care about games. I train stamina twice, and if I can't play I can't play.

--August 13th
Energy back to 39% already. That is very good news and encourages me to work on stamina til it's 30. That's a stamina increase rate of about 17.5% per day.

We travel to play at Forest Green, who lost their first match.

One thing I don't like about this game is that if you're not on the pitch but are a sub, you still have to watch it. I'd rather be able to fastforward to when I come in(or don't).

I'm a sub in this one, and I come in in the 64th minute of a very boring 0-0 tie. I get a few touches, one shot that is horribly wide, and one pass to an open man in the box that ends up way off target. More like I would have expected.

Exeter 0, Forest Green 0

MEDIA REVIEWS

-- average performance, reasoanble passing, lackluster performance, and a mention that I failed to score.

--August 14th
I ignore another Woman

--August 15th
I train Stamina up 2 more points and leave myself at 9% a couple of days before our next mathc.

Week 3

--August 17th
The fixtures list said this was a week 2 game, but its now week 3 in game... either way, we vist Crawley, currently 7th in the division very early on(we're 4th, again, very early on).

I start in a 4-4-2 formation up front with Fleck. I play awful soccer, Fleck tries to work a couple of give and go's with me and I botch them badly in the first half. In the 2nd half I have a couple of crosses go way off target, and a couple of passes that I could have made but didn't simply b/c of inexperience w/ the game(I hit them way too softly).

I'm pulled, exhausted, in the 77th minute. Our team doesn't fire a shot the entire game, and we end up in a 0-0 draw.
August 18
-- Ignoring another woman.

MEDIA REVIEWS
-- Reasonable passing, I had little impact, and couldn't score.

August 20 - GAMEDAY
--We're 6th right now with 5 points and a +3 differential early on. Today we play Canvey Island, who is 13th, but just 1 point behind us this early. My health is at 70% with just a couple of days between games and no chances for extra training.

--Ah this isn't good. We give up an early goal(7th minute) and we just can't get the ball. Canvey runs a 3-5-2 and their defense looks wide open but my guys can't ever get control of the ball to send it up. I have a few disappointing chances and finish with a pathetic 2 rating as we lose 1-0.

MEDIA REVIEWS
--Couldn't score. dismal performance by me. My passing sucked.

August 22
-- Stamina trained up to 26. Almost maxxed out and I'll actually start gaining some skill in September.

August 25
-- Stamina trained to 28. It makes a huge difference and I think this was the right way to go for me.

August 27 - GAMEDAY
--We visit Cambridge United, who are tops in the conference with 9 points. We're 12th.

-- For the first time this season, I'm not selected at all, even as a sub, so I quick sim this match. We upset Cambridge 2-0! (Not good for me, I wasn't out there helping)

August 28
-- I get a request from a family member to "help build a wall" .. ok, it helps family relations which give me bonuses on the pitch, gotta do it.

--After that I go ahead and cap out my stamina. I'm down to 2% energy and probably won't play much in our next game, but Stamina is full and I can really get to work now.

August 31 - GAMEDAY
-- Stamina training has helped me so much. My energy went up from 2% to 74% in just 3 days. We host Burton Albion. We're tied in points with them.

-- I am again not selected to play, and we lose 1-0 to Burton Albion.

End of August

Boring month for the most part, and if I can get back into the lineup once I start improving my skills things should get better quickly.

Finally, I've uploaded a few screenshots:

August 2005 Relationships
August 2005 Skills
August 2005 Standings
August 2005 Stats

Radii · 12-14-2005, 02:24 PM

September 2005

September 1
--My energy was over 95% so I was able to train 3 times. I go twice for dribbling and once for pace. The idea here is that I can't get off shots and passes if I'm so slow and sucky when I get the ball that I get tackled immediately, so this fundamental will give me the fastest improvement on the pitch.

September 2
-- The club sold 36 shirts with my name on it in August. Hah, suckers. I do get $504 for it.

Sept 4
-- Here is something I've never seen before. My teammates notice my confidence is down adn suggest I visit a personal trainer. Or I could buy some "exotic vitamin" tablets online... the trainer is $10,000, which I don't have. The tablets sound shady. I do nothing.

-- However, there's an alternative here. DRINKING! I buy some beer for $100, which gives my confidence a 20% boost(from 20% to 40%, still low...). My alcohol rating is 25% now, which will slow my energy gain.

Sept 5
-- Energy at 90%, and we don't play again til the 10th. time to train.

-- I train Dribbling up to 6, and Pace up to 2 and have 0 energy now. I should note that dribbling isn't just "press a button, get a point" ... they actually take you into the game engine and have you dribble around some cones. Trivial at least through the first 10-15 levels of so though. For Pace/Str/Stamina, I do just press the train button and gain a point.

Sept 8
-- More trianing. Dribbling up 1 to 7, pace up 1 to 3. I plan on working dribbling up to 10, pace up to 5, and then I'll move to passing and will probably build up my strength a bit.

Sept 10 - GAMEDAY

Altrincham vs Exeter - We're tied with 8 points each, 10th and 11th in the table.
-- I get the start in the 4-4-2 as the left central forward. I can see the improvement when I have the ball, but I couldn't do much with it. 3 completed passes, 2 tackles, one near great pass, but the attacker I fed was offsides. We lose 1-0, and I am pulled in around the 80th minute.

-- After the game though, my control, pace, strength, and positioning all improve, a great result for me there.

MEDIA REVIEW
--I failed to score(as usual), I need to do the simple things more, "apparently he has potential" -- woohoo, something positive at least!

Sept 12
-- Dribbling up one more to 8. But barely. I'm just so slow. Gotta get the pace up a few before I try any more dribbling skill challenges.

Sept 14 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Aldershot - We're 14th with 8 points. Aldershot is dead last in the league, 22nd.

-- I again get the start and this time play all 90 minutes, but come away with a poor rating, a 3, after just 2 shots, 2 passes, and 2 tackles. I had two chances to set up teammates in the box that failed, and I had two solid shots on goal. One was on target and blocked. The other one is pretty painful, 0-0 in the 86th minute, I get one on one vs the keeper in the box(but there are defenders right behind me so I can't take much time) and I shoot the ball high. 0-0 draw.

Sept 15
-- Confidence down to 33%, I have another drink, its back up to 53% and my alcohol level is up a bit again.

-- I train pace up to 5.

MEDIA REVIEWS
--Dixon doesn't score, I occasionaly pass the ball. I'm not great in front of goal.

Sept 17 - GAMEDAY
-- Accrington Stanley vs Exeter - We're in 17th place, Accrington is in 10th. We need a win, its been awhile.

-- Again I get the start and have a number of chances to turn this into a breakout performance, but I just can't do it. 4 shots, 3 of them on target, one of them wide open but way wide. Time to work on my shooting, as I have to gain a bit of accuracy here. That's 6 shots in the last two games, if I shot a bit better I could have scored 3 goals easily. I come away with a 3 rating in yet another 0-0 contest.

MEDIA REVIEWS
--Just couldn't score. Failed to distinguish himself, passing below average

Sept 19
-- I train scoring up 2 points to 4. Two trivially easy challenges(shots into an empty net from long distances)

Sept 21
-- Both my family and friends ratings in the relationship sections were down under 70%. I decide to visit both to try to get the skill boosts that are gained from having good relationships there.

Sept 24 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs York - We're 17th with 10 poitns. York is 7th with 15 points.

-- Holy crap. york runs a 3-5-2, which we appear to have big problems with. THey're also faster, stronger, better passers and tacklers at nearly every position. They get 6 shots in the first half to our none. I get one shot in the 2nd half but it doesn't have a chance really, and York dominates us 2-0. I get a terrible 1 rating.

Sept 26
-- I'm at 100% energy, time to go do some quality training. Shooting is trained up to 5, and then 6. When I pick up level 6 in shooting I also gain an extra point in flair, moving that up to 6 as well, woohoo! I don't train a 3rd time because of what I have to do next.

-- confidence is way down, time to go drinking. I've never had my alcohol level at 50%, but I do it now. confidence up to 68% at the cost of bringing my alcohol level way up. We'll see how it effects things.

Sept 28 - GAMEDAY
Woking vs Exeter - Woking is as bad as us, they have 11 points and are in 16th, we have 10 and are in 17th.

-- Another shitty outing! Two shots that were both deflected, a few other "shots" that didn't get counted as shots probably b/c they were so far off target, and a few completed passes. Nothing is going right at all right now, and we lose 1-0.

Sept 29
-- A chance for some more training, I pick up another poitn in pace and another point in shooting. THis shooting challenge is a short goal but the goal is defended by a keeper. It's easy though, just fire a hard, straight shot towards one of the sides of the net, no sweat.

END OF MONTH

That takes us into October. My teammates confidence in me is the thing I'm worried about most. I just need one good game to turn everything around, and I think that good game could happen at any moment. I have to just keep working and have to take advantage of one of my opportunities when I get a chance to score.

Relationships
Skills
Standings
Stats

Icy · 12-14-2005, 05:32 PM

Good one, i'll follow it, this game is so fun. I advice you to train stamina until you max it out, that way you will be able to train more without loosing all your stamina.

Radii · 12-14-2005, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icy

Good one, i'll follow it, this game is so fun. I advice you to train stamina until you max it out, that way you will be able to train more without loosing all your stamina.

already done, and I'm glad I did, it makes a huge difference compared to the last game I played where I just kept it in line with everything else.

Thanks for following along, this'll obviously be secondary to FBCB and poker but hopefully i'll keep it moving along at an acceptable pace too, I'm really enjoying this game.

fantastic flying froggies · 12-15-2005, 03:11 PM

FWIW, I'm reading too...

RPI-Fan · 12-15-2005, 03:40 PM

Phenomenal dynasty!

Interesting to see you having some struggles so early on!

VPI97 · 12-15-2005, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fantastic flying froggies

FWIW, I'm reading too...

Me too.

Kodos · 12-15-2005, 04:29 PM

This just proves it. There's a soccer (dynasty) born every minute.

Radii · 12-15-2005, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Interesting to see you having some struggles so early on!

It'll be interesting to see how many matches I can earn ratings of 1 through 3 without getting canned.

Conference level in England feels particularily difficult. It feels like i have to make something happen entirely on my own because my teammates suck. When I can get a pass off i have zero margin for error. As badly a I am playing(and as badly as Fleck, the other striker on the team) is, we're only -1 in goal differential, so it seems tough on the other side as well.

RPI-Fan · 12-15-2005, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii

It'll be interesting to see how many matches I can earn ratings of 1 through 3 without getting canned.

Conference level in England feels particularily difficult. It feels like i have to make something happen entirely on my own because my teammates suck. When I can get a pass off i have zero margin for error. As badly a I am playing(and as badly as Fleck, the other striker on the team) is, we're only -1 in goal differential, so it seems tough on the other side as well.

I wonder if having a "demanding" manager means he'll have "his guys"?

I'm messing around more with the demo, thinking about getting the real thing.

The one thing I will say is that this game is as rewarding as any I've ever played when you're successful!

Radii · 12-16-2005, 11:00 AM

October 2005

No games until the 12th, hooray! Lots of training time

Oct 2
-- I increase pace by 2, its up to 8 now.

-- The club sold 24 shirts of mine last month. That's 336 for me.

Oct 3
-- Strength gets a 1 point bump

Oct 6
-- I train shooting, my test is to score on 2 volleys, which I easily do, and that again gives me a flair improvement in addition to the shooting, hooray! I then visit my friends which gets my friend rating back in the green over 75%, I'd like to keep it that way.

Oct 8
-- I've been neglecting my passing skill, primarily because the foward I play opposite of SUCKS. its next to worthless even when I can get him the ball, but I decide its time to raise it a little, I train passing twice. Passing drills at this level are simple, hit cones about 5 yards away with a pass.

-- I get the opportunity to work with the youth team to improve my relations with my teammates. Teammate relation goes up to 37%. The other option looked to be to work with my coach(probably for a skill increase?) but I desparately need the confidence of my teammates.

Oct 9
-- "Your family miss you" ... I visit them. I have a bit more time after this so I visit my friends as well to keep that up.

Oct 12 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Tamworth -- We're 17th and struggling, well behind the top spots. Tamworth is 16th, hopefully we have a shot.

-- Its another 0-0 draw, and I get another bad rating(a 2). 1 shot, 3 passes, 1 tackle. I fired 3 crosses into the box but my mate at foward is disastrous, he's slow as molassas. I know I'm playing poorly, but I really want to put some of the blame here on my teammates.

Oct 13
-- I train up Strength one more. Shooting and dribbling are higher than anyone else on the team, but even my 9 pace is slower than some of my teammates, and my 3 strength is of course low.

Oct 15 - GAMEDAY
-- Stevenage Borough vs Exeter - They're 4th in the table to our 18th, they only have a +2 goal differential though, maybe we can hang vs them.

-- FINALLY. Some positive play. In the 10th minute we get a counter attack, and i get the ball, Fleck is ahead of his man and faster than him, I have some margin for error, and I lay the ball ahead of him, he runs onto it and scores!!! In the 24th minute I get a great shot on goal, its blocked, but Fleck picks up the rebound and scores again, no assist but my shot on goal adds to my rating anyway. I get a couple more shots that the keeper blocks, but we don't score again. I play very well in the second half too, and end up with 7 completed passes as I help burn time off the clock in our win! I end up with an 8 rating.

MEDIA REVIEW
-- solid passing, a 'clever player', 'dixon was influental' !! One negative, failed to add to his season tally, no problem there, I needed this positive result badly.

Oct 17
-- I increase my pace by 2. My instinct says to work on passing, but when I compare myself to my teammates it seems like I crush them skill wise but i'm behind on the pace and some on the strength.

Oct 20
-- 2 more points into Pace. Its up to 13 now, I'll get it to 15, get strength to 6 or 7 or so and go from there.

Oct 22 - GAMEDAY - ENGLISH CUP
Exeter vs Aston Villa - Right, as in premier league aston villa.

-- Well, I learned a lot about what I have to look forward to there. They score a goal before we touch the ball a single time. They only win 2-0, I get 1 pass, nothing else, and a 1 rating. Those guys are faster dribbling the ball than we are running full out.

Oct 23
-- I'm invited to the track with my coach and teammates. I go and win a few bucks betting the favorites. I didn't realize though, that you can bet forever. There's a 'next race' button, I kept waiting for it to end, and it didn't until I closed the window. I probably bet on 10-15 races. I have a 27% gambling addiction now.

Oct 24
-- I train pace up one and visit my family.

Oct 26 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Southport - We're in 16th in the table, Southport is dead last at 22nd with a -10 goal differential.

-- Well, i'm disappointed after that one, we held the ball over 60% of the time, but couldn't muster a goal. I had 8 passes and 2 shots, a 5 rating despite no goals, which is, for me, pretty solid. I *almost* had an assist to Fleck but his shot was blocked. I got a shot off a free kick that went just high, and a shot off a rebound that was saved. I got tired late and was subbed out around the 80th minute

MEDIA REVIEW
--'a mediocre performance', 'Dixon had chances but couldn't score', 'good passing by dixon'

Oct 29 - GAMEDAY
Scarborough vs Exeter - Scarborough is just 1 point behind us in the standings, but with a -10 goal differential.

-- Unfortunately I'm a bit tired. Before the game I spend $100 on an energy drink which gets me up to 47%. We don't play well at all and we lose 1-0. I get 3 shots off, though none really have a good chance of going in. Another poor rating.

END OF MONTH
That ends the month. I'm worried about my relationships more than anything right now. I've had one solid performance, but my confidence remains low and I'm struggling to keep the fans on my side, and even more improtantly, my teammates. I don't know what'd be best for me right now, a number of good passing performances where I can keep a rating around 5 or so, or just one good game w/ a goal. I really need to get a goal in November.

Relationships
Skills
Standings
Stats

Radii · 12-16-2005, 11:07 AM

A couple of random notes... my value has gone up from $10,000 to $20,000, which is good.

My relationships are killing me right now. I think its the supporters hating me that's doing it, I go into the games with a -5 to pace/-3 to strength/-3 to stamina that slows me down quite a bit. There's a "sign autographs" option with the supporters, but at this point they don't like me, and all that does is hurt my confidence.

I think right now I need to worry about my in game play more than my skills, my skills are fine for this level. There are a couple of things i can do actively that i can think of now. Train just slightly less to make sure I have the max energy possible for each match. Keep the alcohol coming(but in small doses) to keep my confidence up, and make liberal use of energy drinks, espicially on gameday.

I haven't focused on money or material posessions at all yet, right now I see myself as a minor league type guy who is living in his bus basically. I have never experimented much with buying stuff, does if affect my mood at all? I'll read up on this. I think I have around $6,500 right now.

I had one great performance in October, and one acceptable one, but I'm a striker who has played 14 matches and only has one goal, that isn't good.

I'll do some reading on this too, for those that have the game, is there anything i can do w/ the supporters to raise that aside from just playing well?

RPI-Fan · 12-16-2005, 11:25 AM

If I were you, I'd play as more of a central midfielder (even if you aren't allowed to change your position officially)... in my game in the demo, I'm a left winger, and noticed that at the lower levels you can just kind of roam free and be the playmaker.

This kind of makes sense, too, as long as moving up in levels makes this less useful. When you're in one of the top couple levels it seems to me that it's probably really important to stay in your position since the speed of play will be so fast.

RPI-Fan · 12-16-2005, 11:26 AM

How do you see how much negative affect your relationships have on your skills?

Radii · 12-16-2005, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

How do you see how much negative affect your relationships have on your skills?

When the lineups are announced going into a game you can click on each of the players to look at their ratings. If you click on yourself next to any rating that's been effected(positively or negatively) you'll see a (+3) or (-3) or whatever the adjustment is next to the rating name.

Radii · 12-16-2005, 12:11 PM

Well I read through some of the NSS3 forums and I don't see any discussions on buying items, so I'll check the help files to make sure I'm not missing out on something there.

Also, some of the guys who are scoring an insane number of goals mention training stamina and pace to the max possible first, then working mainly on shooting training.

I think at the conference level where my teammates are so poor, dribbling is as important as shooting for now, since I often have to make everything happen by myself, but I am going to work real hard on my pace for the next month or so when I am training.

Also, to answer RPI's suggestion about pulling back and being more of a midfielder, that is pretty much what i'm doing. I'll often get the ball 40 yards out or so, on the left sideline, and either just pass to a close teammate for a successful pass, or try to run up the sideline and make a cross, but those are rarely successful at this level.

RPI-Fan · 12-16-2005, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii

Well I read through some of the NSS3 forums and I don't see any discussions on buying items, so I'll check the help files to make sure I'm not missing out on something there.

Also, some of the guys who are scoring an insane number of goals mention training stamina and pace to the max possible first, then working mainly on shooting training.

I think at the conference level where my teammates are so poor, dribbling is as important as shooting for now, since I often have to make everything happen by myself, but I am going to work real hard on my pace for the next month or so when I am training.

Also, to answer RPI's suggestion about pulling back and being more of a midfielder, that is pretty much what i'm doing. I'll often get the ball 40 yards out or so, on the left sideline, and either just pass to a close teammate for a successful pass, or try to run up the sideline and make a cross, but those are rarely successful at this level.

I'd try to worry a little less about getting a good rating, and more about making plays. You should be able to rather easily dribble the ball near the opponents area, where you can make a play with it.

Radii · 12-16-2005, 08:36 PM

November 2005

Nov 2
-- We don't play until the 12th. I work on my pace a little, though my goal is to have my energy at 100% when gameday arrives.

-- The club sold 28 of my shirts last month, that's $392 for me.

Nov 7
-- I train Pace up 1 and Strength up 1, and I've had too much alcohol trying to boost my confidence. Hopefully though that will be down most of the way by gameday.

Nov 12 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Morecambe - Morecambe is 8th in the table, we're 7 points behind and 17th. I enter the game at 44% confidence, 32% alcohol, and 100% energy. Lets see how it goes.

-- Well, not great, but not bad. I take a free kick in the 7th minute, my pass leads to the pass that leads to the goal. Course, no assist for that, but I'm happy nonetheless. We give up the tying goal in the 18th minutes and neither team seriously threatens again. I do end the game with one shot, 7 passes, and 3 tackles, not bad numbers, but no goals, no assists. I get a match rating of 5.

-- For my efforts, my control and positioning both improve. Good good!

MEDIA REVIEWS
-- "has good stamina", "adequate", "Dixon's passing was solid", "the defense managed to control Dixon"

Nov 13

-- New message there... "Your boss is concerned that you are not happy with the club, he offers to put you on the transfer list." I assure him that I'm not unhappy, I'm not taking the easy way out like that yet.

Nov 14
-- We don't play again until the 23rd, so I have some room here again to do some things.

-- I buy some alcohol, which sends my confidence over 60% for the first time in a long time. Alcohol is only at 48% and will be down nicely by the next match.

-- I also train pace up two more times. Its up to 21.

Nov 20
-- Easiest decision ever. Some fans are chantnig racial slogans during our games. I'm asked on TV what I think of it. I can either call out those fans, or say that 'everyone is entitled to his opinion'. I call the racist fans out and get a nice little free boost from the supporters.

-- I also get the chance to train and train pace up twice. Its up to 24.

Nov 23 - GAMEDAY
Kidderminster vs Exeter - Kidderminster is good, 4th in the table, 13 points ahead of us. But this is the best form I've been in for awhile. 60%+ confidence, 99% energy, I'm fast and ready to go!

-- WOOHOO. The speed was *very* noticible here, I got open a number of times, I was able to position myself where I wanted, to get to balls first, a number of times. I got a few shots off early but they didn't go in. In the 35th minute though, one of our midfielders got wide, sent a fairly nice cross into the box, and I headed it into the net!!!! We led 1-0 at that point. Kidderminster toughened noticibly, and they did tie up the game, it ended 1-1, but in the end, my match rating actualyl went up after that goal, as I was all over the pitch, I got a number of good passes in and a few more shots. In the end, 1 goal, 6 shots, 6 passes, 2 tackles, 9 match rating.

Match Review
-- "They couldn't stop Dixon", "opportunities galore", "Dixon is a rare talent", "solid passing by dixon"

-- not a negative review in sight! My managers relationship rating went up to 58% (from 50), teammates went up to 32%, supporters are back up to 35%, and hopefully on the right track.

-- We play again on the 26th, so no full out training for me. I do visit my family which helps that rating some.

Nov 26 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Hereford - Hereford is 9th with 26 points, we're 16th with 17 points.

-- Going into match day my alcohol rating was at 0%. I have a drink, it raises to 25% but it gets my confidence up to 91% for this one. Energy is at 100 too.

-- BOOYAH. 22nd minute, Fleck is ahead of me, I pass it to him, he lays it back to me, and I shoot, my shot is off the keeper but Fleck puts it in, that's an assist, baby!!! 32nd minute I take a shot from out wide to the left, the keeper blocks it and no one is there to put it in. 58th minute I make a really nice lob but Fleck's shot is *just* wide, and 81st minute I get a shot that also goes inches wide. We win this one though, 1-0, and I am the man of the match!!!!

-- After the match I'm asked to do an interview. I know interviews are bad bad bad when you have a demanding manager, but if I play well it will be ok, and I need the points elsewhere. I do the interview and praise my teammates.

-- My support fro my manager is at 57%, and surely would have gone up if not for that interview. Teammates are at 46%, way up in just two good matches, supporters back up to 44% as well. My confidence has reached 100%!!!!

MEDIA REVIEWS
-- A full 8 notes on the game today, the media is all over me. "not great in front of goal" (booo), "Dixon passed the ball around well", "Dixon was special", "Dixon set it up", "just one goal separated them", "had plenty left in the tank", "Dixon had numerous chances", "Dixon got the man of the match award"

Nov 29
-- I receive a signed ball of Stanley Matthews for my birthday from the boss. I thought my birthday was October 29. I probably entered something wrong there. I'm now 18 years old.

Nov 30 - GAMEDAY
-- Halifax vs Exeter - Halifax is 6 points ahead of us in the table, 11th vs 16th. My confidence and energy are soaring.

-- Halifax opens early on us, they get a break and a goal in the 17th minute. I'm struggling in this one to get the ball in any sort of decent position. I get a couple of shots but one sails 30 feet over the net, and the other is wide. In the end, we lose 1-0. I get 2 shots, 3 passes, 3 tackles, and 1 foul(I never slide tackle, but if I had landed this one I would have had a one on one vs the keeper, worth the chance). There are positives though, that was a bad game but I still made some stuff happen, and I got a 4 rating. If my down games are now 4's instead of 2's I'm in for a much better time.

END OF MONTH

Everything was better in November. Hopefully I'll keep rolling along and improving and hopefully getting my pace up will be what's allowed me to turn this corner.

Relationships
Skills
Standings
Stats

Radii · 12-17-2005, 01:04 AM

December 2005

Dec 1
-- We've got til the 7th, so lets train a bit... Pace is up to 28, almost maxxed.

-- The club sold 56 of my shirts last month, that's $784 for me, way up from last month.

Dec 3
-- CONCACAF Stage 1 play is over. The US team I eventually hope to play for made it through. CONCACAF Group 2 is Honduras, Costa Rica, USA, Barbados, Mexico, and Jamaica. Go USA!

-- A group of friends invite me to a casino. I bet 3 times on roulette then stop, I hope that helps my friends rating. I lose all 3 bets.

Dec 4
-- Pace is now maxxed out. Shooting and Dribbling with some occasional passing and strength mixed in come next.

Dec 7 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Grays Athletic - Grays is 5th in the table, way above us. I visited some friends a couple of days ago as well and I'm not as rested as I'd like, 68% going in.

-- Its snowing. I hate snow. Grays should have scored in about the 3rd minute, the first time they took the ball down field, 3 deflections later though its a goal kick. Told you I hate snow... I get tackled hard from behind in the 20th minute or so, and I hurt my neck. I'm going to miss a week. We end up tying 0-0. Exeter never takes a shot.

Dec 10 - GAMEDAY
Gravesend vs Exeter - Gavesend is 7 points behind us and has a -19 goal differential. Too bad I can't play in this one.

--We win 2-0. 15th in the league right now with 24 points.

Dec 11
-- There are rumors that Man U is interested in me. Stupid media. I deny the rumors. More free love from the fans.

Dec 14 - GAMEDAY
Dag and Red vs Exeter - Dag and Red is 2nd in the conference, almost certain to promote. We are 15th, certain not to.

-- I think I'm back from my injury, and will come into this game at 60% energy.

-- Good news, and bad news. The good news is that I earned a 6 match rating with 7 passes and 8 tackles. The bad news is that we trailed 3-0 at the half, having not taken a shot yet, and never did score. My control and positioning both increase which is great news as well.

MEDIA REVIEWS
-- "Struggled up front", "Passing was solid", "he was nothing special"

Dec 17
-- We're off til the 24th(thanks to being out of the league cup), so I get some extra training. Scoring Drill #9 is an 18 yard shot(outside the penalty box) w/ a keeper. Got it on the 2nd try. Dribbling #9 is dribbling between 9 cones in 15 seconds. 2 seconds to spare, whew. Dribbling and shooting are both up to 9.

Dec 18
-- Your friends want you to go out drinking with them. No thanks, I've heard horror stories about 100% drunkeness and a pissed off manager when you do that. Instead, I have pissed off friends, down to 57%.

-- I try to buy my friends off, it doesn't work. I spend $500 on a couple of things for them, no change in friendship rating. Oh well. I'll work it back up visiting them.

Dec 19
-- Shooting up to 10, on a 'score 3 volleys' challenge. Those are painfully easy(hold down the shoot button, the end). Volleys also earn me a point in flair, flair is up to 8.

Dec 21
--Friends are back up to 67% as I visit them again.

--I also train shooting up to 11 in preparation for my next game. Shooting challenge 11 is to score from outside the box with 1 defender. Get the ball, line up near one side of the net, fire hard and straight before the defender gets there. Took me a few tries, but I got it.

Dec 24 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Forest Green - We're 15th, 24 points. They're 19th, 18 points.. I'm at 94% energy and 99% confidence with no alcohol in my system. Lets go!awhile. 60%+ confidence, 99% energy, I'm fast and ready to go!

--BREAKOUT GAME - I'd righted the ship in November, but *this* is the game I've been hoping I could have... and I got totally overshadowed in it by my teammate. Forest Green is slow. 17th minute, my proudest moment yet. I get a free kick from about 25 yards out(a ways outside the penalty box). I try to bend the ball into the corner of the net, and it works just like I'd planned. Lots of luck I know. But it was a thing of beauty. 34th minute, I lay a perfect pass into the box to Fleck, he scores. Assist! 2-0 Exeter. 43rd minute, I pass the ball ahead to Fleck from just inside midfield. He takes it and scores again, but no assist b/c he had the ball tackled away and had to recover it. 3-0 halftime! 2nd half, 55th minute, I get a shot, its blocked, rebound right to Fleck, HAT TRICK(for him), but on rebounds like that I get an assist. 69th minute I get the ball in the box and get taken down from behind. PENALTY! I hit the penalty!!!!!! I'm subbed out in the 79th minute. In the 85th minute Fleck gets his 4th goal and we crush Forest Green, 6-0!

-- My stats - 2 goals. 6 shots. 2 assists. 7 passes. 3 tackles. 10 match rating!!!!! That was FUN.

Match Review
-- "Dixon was a decisive influence", "Dixon looked Dangerous", "Dixon passed the ball around well", "Dixon put away two goals", "a goal fest", "Dixon put in a first class performance"

Dec 25
-- I have to miss training to go home and visit a sick relative.

Dec 28
-- Shooting is up to 12. Challenge is to score vs the keeper from 25 yards out. Trivial(line up so a straight shot hits near the right edge of the goal. Fire hard. Keeper can't get there). I'd like to train again but I have a game coming up and I need to visit my friends to continue to recover that rating. Its now back up to 71%

Dec 31 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Crawley - We're 15th with 27 points, they're 18th with 18 points. We hope to dominate!

-- We do dominate, everywhere but the score. Fleck gets an early goal(I have no part in it). I get a free kick in the 37th that I misplay, a few more shots in the first half go wide, and a few more in the 2nd half are saved. I should have scored at least once, and could have had a hat trick. Instead I come up empty. Partially my scoring rating and partially my personal keyboard skill I imagine. We hang on for the 1-0 win. I get 8 shots, 3 passes and 4 tackles for a 6 rating in the win.

MEDIA REVIEWS
-- "a mediocre performance", "Dixon carved out numerous opportunities", "not great in front of goal", "Dixon didn't pass the ball well"

END OF MONTH

December was a good month. We moved up in the standings, my family loves me, my friends I'm winning back over even though I won't let them ruin my career, and my manager, teammates and supporters are all on my side again, at least more than last month, though it will take some more consistancy there. We've got 18 more games, so we're a bit mroe than halfway through the season. We are too far behind to win promotion I assume, but there is the opportunity for us to go on a run and get into the top 10, maybe the top 5. We're 17 points behind 3rd, that seems to be just too far even if we've turned a corner as a team and win a ton more.

Personally, I am now just starting to get more chances to score, and right now, I'm not taking advantage of them when they're not free kicks/penalty kicks. But I'll be getting more practice in and will hopefully start to improve there in game as well.

Relationships
Skills
Standings
Stats

Radii · 12-17-2005, 02:45 AM

Jan 2006

Jan 1
-- I get in an argument with the boss in practice. He throws a cone at me and it gives me a black eye. He asks me to keep this private, and I do. This pleases him and my relationship with him actually goes up...

-- I train passing up to level 5. Based on the message boards, I see that when taking penalty kicks and goign one on one with the keeper in a game, most people find the ball easier to control by passing, so I'll catch passing up a few points. This drill was to make a pass and land the ball on a little target on the field a few yards wide.

-- The US and Mexico are running away with CONCACAF early. Mexico 4-0-0, US 3-1-0 (using soccer formatting, that's win/tie/loss).

-- The club sold 112 shirts with my name on it last month. $1568, that puts me over $10,000 and that's the most money I've earned at any one point by a long shot.

Jan 4 - GAMEDAY
-- Canvey vs Exeter - We're 14th with 30 points, they're 20th with 17 points.

-- My worst game in some time. Canvey plays the 3-5-2 which we seem to struggle with a lot. It's only terrible, terrible shooting on Canvey's part that kept it scoreless for so long. I get one wide open shot vs hte keeper and I can't put it by him. We get a last minute goal by Fleck(89th minute) for the 1-0 win, which is great, but 3 shots/3 passes for me gives me my worst rating in awhile, a 3.

MEDIA REVIEW
--"Dixon stays on 4 goals this season", "Dixon tried to pass the ball", "Dixon needs to focus his talents"

Jan 7 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Cambridge - Cambridge is at 57 points overall, we're so far behind them its silly. They lead the group.

-- My confidence was down under 80%, and I decide to have a drink.

-- We should have gone up 1-0 in the 9th minute, I fed fleck perfectly in the box, but his shot was just wide. The rest of the first half, I had a ton of chances, I am so much faster than their defenders, I got a couple of breakaway chances and either missed my shot, or it'd get blocked and my rebound shot would miss too. Finally in the 64th minute in the 2nd half, I shoot, the keeper dives, blocks it, and I get to the rebound and put it in!!!! 1-0 Exeter, and I should have scored again, but same old same old, right at the keeper. But we hang on and win, thanks to my one goal, 1-0!

-- 1 goal, 10 shots, 3 passes, 2 tackles, 9 rating for me. If I get this many chances I have to score more than once, but hey, we beat the top team, and we've moved up to 12th in the table with the big win.

MEDIA REVIEW
--"A clinical finish from Dixon", "Dixon was simply superb", Dixon looked sharp, "Dixon occasionally passed the ball"

-- I am asked by a reporter what my goals for this team are. "Finish at the top", "Finish mid table", or "avoid relegation"... I select "finish at the top" and get a response that my goals are too unrealistic. No matter.

Jan 8
-- I fail my first challenge. Knock over 3 cones in 20 seconds passing the ball. I get 10 balls. This one is extremely easy and I have no idea how I fucked that up! Oh well.

-- Mexico beats the US 1-0. Jamaica is within striking distance of the US halfway through qualifying.

Jan 11 - GAMEDAY
Burton Albion vs Exeter - They're 7th with 38 points, we're 12th with 36 points. We're right in the middle of the pack here, this is big for us. We're still 17 points out of 3rd, but we want to do as best as we can stil.

-- 11th minute, I make a nice long pass ahead to fleck, and he buries a shot in the corner, 1-0, assist Dixon! Burton Albion never really threaten, and I'm better than anyone on the pitch. I should have scored 4 goals. But, none. Still gotta work on this, because I tried about 3 different things on breakaways and nothing worked. We win this one 1-0.

-- After the match I gain in Control, Both Feet, and positioning, very good!

MEDIA REVIEWS
-- lots of notes, the big ones... "had 9 shots", "needs to learn that sometimes the simple passes are best", "extrodinary performance", "just couldn't score", "credit for the assist", "was still goign strong at the end"

Transfer Offer

-- Whoa, whoa. Southend in League One is offering me $1655 per week for 2 years. I want to take it, but I decide not to. I can absolutely dominate this level, and until I learn how, I don't want to move up. I still have to learn how to score against weaker competition. When I do that, I'll probably take the first offer I get.

Jan 12
-- I train shooting to 13. Score from 25 yards w/ a defender. Takes 4 tries. I go for 14 as well. Score a volley from 18 yards out vs a keeper. That takes me 8 or 9 tries(I think I had 20 tries) but I got it eventually. Scoring to 14, Flair up as well.

Transfer Offer

-- Plymouth is 8th in the League Championship (between Premier and League One). Offering less money but more bonuses. But I still wnat to stay for now

Jan 14
--I go ahead and get passing up to 6. The same 'hit 3 cones' drill I missed before. The hard part was that I only had 6 tries. And level 7... 5 cones, 10 balls. Got it on the 9th one.

Jan 18
-- Shooting to 15, score from 30 yards out vs keeper. And level 16, from 30 yards out, 1 defender. And out of nowhere(energy was 100%, 3 trainings!), set pieces up to 3. Free kick vs no one from the right side.

Jan 21 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Altrincham - Whew, lots of training coming into this game. We're 9th with 39 points, Altrincham is 12th with 38 points. Big game, and we can move up a slot or two with a win and some help.

--Its pouring down rain and both teams have trouble controlling the ball it seems,but we struggle a lot early. For the first 20 minutes we can't get it out of our half of the field. I get a scoring chance in the first half and blow it, that's it. 50th minute of the 2nd half I get the ball and basically do the drill where I shoot vs a defender and keeper, and drill the ball intot he left side of the net!!! 1-0! I get a few more chances and just can't do anything right with them, but in the 76th minute I take a shot from 30 yards out, it's off the keeper, Fleck drills it home, assist! We win this one 2-0 and I get a perfect 10 rating.

Contract Offer
I get a contract offer from Luton Town in the League Championship... this one I'd consider taking, looks like its time for me to move up, but these guys are likely going to get relegated. I'm not sure if I want to screw with that, so I reject this one too.

Jan 23
-- Dribble through 10 cones in 20 seconds... dribbling up to 10. Also score vs the keeper from 40 yards out. No sweat. Shooting is now 17.

Jan 26
-- Passing up to 8 after hitting two targets within 20 tries(took me 3). I have more energy but I'm saving it for the game.

Jan 28 - GAMEDAY
Aldershot vs Exeter - We're 7th, 42 points, 15 points out of 3rd. Aldershot is 6th, 44 points. We can jump into 6th with a win, obviously.

-- 96% energy today. This is a tough one early. We go to the half 0-0 without much action at all. I have a fairly bad 4 rating. The second half is better though, in the 62nd minute I'm able to find fleck and he shoots, gets his own rebound and scores. I don't get an assist but we need to win here! 75th minute a hard shot is blocked by our keeper, but he can't totally stop it, and its tied 1-1. It looks like this is going to end in a draw, I get one last chance in the 88th minute, I get around my man, fire a shto at the keeper, he is there but the rebound is mine. GOAL!!!! 2-1 Exeter, on a game winner in the final minutes.

-- 1 goal, 5 shots, 5 passes, 3 tackles, 8 rating. It was a 3 rating until that goal, whew.

MEDIA REVIEW
--"fantastic at times", "reasonable passing by Dixon", "Dixon finished it in style"

END OF MONTH

Well, I got better in January. Its apparent that I won't be with Exeter long, I'm League One/Championship talent now it appears, though I wish I had more goals.

I'm not going to do screenshots every month anymore, things don't change a ton there.

We made a huge run this month and are up to 6th, but we're too far out to consider promotion. My value has shot up to $70,000, and my ratings have gone way up too. Things are looking good! My manager is up to 75% on me, so are my teammates, the fans are over 70%, things are good, too bad I'll be leaving soon.

RPI-Fan · 12-17-2005, 11:15 AM

Isn't there a playoff for 2nd-5th place???

If so, I say stay with Exeter and try to remain the big-fish/little-pond at least until the summer, if not another year!

Radii · 12-17-2005, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Isn't there a playoff for 2nd-5th place???

If so, I say stay with Exeter and try to remain the big-fish/little-pond at least until the summer, if not another year!

Everything I know about soccer I learned from CM, and I never played a team in the lowly conference there. Do they do a playoff at that level too? If so I think you're right, I may need to stay on the rest of the year.

hawk4669 · 12-17-2005, 05:01 PM

Very enjoyable read!

I bought NSS3 the other day and am enjoying it as well. At the point now where I need to move up beyond amateur.

Looking forward to reading more of your career!

Cheers!

Radii · 12-18-2005, 02:25 AM

Feb 2006

Feb 1 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Accrington Stanley - We're 6th, 2 points ahead of 7th/5 points behind 5th, we gotta keep winning. Accrington is 11th, 4 points behind us.

-- Confidence is high, energy 100%, relationships good, lets go!

-- We can't get much going for most of the first half, though it feels like we're dominating posession and ball control. It looks like we're heading for a scoreless halftime when I get the ball in the box in the 44th minute, a defender brings me down hard from behind, PENALTY!!! and red card for him, we've got an advantage! I make the PK and we lead 1-0 at the half. In the 2nd half we get a good goal off a corner, but I wasn't involved. I get a few open chances and still can't score consistantly on them, which is frustrating. I end the game though with a 10 rating, 1 goal, 6 shots, 5 passes, 6 tackles in our 2-0 win.

MEDIA REVIEW
--"a stunning performance", "Dixon occasionally passed the ball", "numerous shots at goal", "a good finish by Dixon"

-- The club sold 304 shirts with my name on it last month. That's $4256, almost 3 times as many as February!

Feb 4 - GAMEDAY
-- York vs Exeter - This is a big test, can we beat another playoff contender(assuming there are indeed playoffs at this level). They're 4th with 61 points. We're 6th with 48 points.

-- York is so much better than us, faster everywhere, so much better passing. They scored in the 6th minute. We should have tied it up in the 90th, I got the ball down the sideline and fired a rare quality cross, the keeper went the wrong way after it, Fleck had a wide open net and missed. I get 4 shots but they weren't quality chances, 4 passes, 1 tackle, and a 4 rating. We lose 1-0 and it could have been worse.

-- We remain in 6th after the loss but Grays Athletic has tied us. We have the goal differential edge over them though.

Feb 5
-- I get one shot at training, and I go for Shooting level 17. Score 3 volleys from 18 yards out, 1 defender. This one was tough to get down, but I found the right spot to volley from, finding the right spot + curling the ball away from the keeper a bit and I got 3 shots in a row, skill up! I get a point in flair from this too, which is big.

-- The US clinches a spot in the world cup. We still have a final qualifying match vs Mexico, but we can't win the group and can't finish worse than 2nd. Bragging rights only

Feb 8 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Woking - We're still 6th, but tied for the spot, we need to win. Woking is 11th but only 4 points behind us.

-- uggggh. We're so much better than them, but I just can't get these open shots to go in. 0-0 draw, and that's really all to say about that one. No one else on my team could get open without going way offsides, it was all on me, and I could have won this one for us. I get an 8 rating with a number of passes and tackles too, though I'm frustrated.

-- We remain in 6th with the draw. 2 other teams are now tied with me.

Feb 11
-- Passing up to level 10 - lob the ball over a row of cones and land it on a target. Passing up to 11, knock over 3 cones, land a ball in a target in about 12 trieS(I forget how many balls I got total).

Feb 13
-- Set piece training #4. Score a free kick from the left side w/ a keeper. I can't f'ing doing it. UGH. I seriously have to learn how to shoot, heh. 20 tries, no good.

Feb 15
-- Ok, I got the set piece training, but its still damn hard. I also do training #5 for set pieces... that takes me 13 shots, its the same challenge but from the right side.

Feb 18 - GAMEDAY
Tamworth vs Exeter - Still tied for 6th. Tamworth is 17th and way down the table, we're 17 points ahead of them.

-- 10 shots! 10... no goals. 3 shots in one posession where I hit the damn goalie every time. But, I got the assist to fleck for the one goal we did score, and tamworth sucked. 1-0 win, I got a 10 rating, and we hang on to 6th for now.

Feb 19
-- I'm given a chance to appear on TV to debate football. But, I know my manager would be pissed, I just leave it alone.

-- I train tackling twice. Two easy cone tackling drills gets tackling up to 4.

Feb 22
-- I train 'both feet' up one, I play on the left side, some of my shots are left footed, might as well.

Feb 25 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Stevenage Borough - another huge game. These guys are 5th in the table. We're 7 points behind them, but the big job is to stay in 6th now.

-- We're better than this team, I felt like we were in control and we had the pressure on most of the match. I get a few shots but they're generally longer shots without much of a chance. Finally, 67th minute of a 0-0 match, there's me, Fleck, and two Stevenage defenders rushing after the ball. I just start pounding the shoot button, I get there first and my shot goes by the keeper!!!! 1-0, and that's the final margin. I also have 10 passes to go with my goal, and of course 7 shots, which earns me a 10 rating in our big win.

-- Grays loses today, so we're now 3 points above 7th place in the table.

Feb 27
-- Shooting up to 19, score from 60 yards vs the keeper.

END OF MONTH

My form is pretty impressive right now, an average of 8.2 even with a 4 ratign. 3 of my last 5 matches have earned 10s.

March is going to be big, its the last month of the season, and we play a lot, 8 matches, so there won't be much trainign at all. Exeter is in 6th with 55 points, 3 points ahead of Grays in 7th, 5 points ahead of Hereford in 8th. Stevenage is 4 points ahead of us in 5th. 4th is Kidderminster with 69 points, way way ahead of us.

Radii · 12-18-2005, 04:08 AM

Mar 2006

Mar 1 - GAMEDAY
Southport vs Exeter - Southport is dead last, 15 total points, a negative 31 goal differential. We'd better destroy them.

-- 6th minute, I get the ball in the box, one on one vs the keeper, on the left side coming in at an angle, I lob the ball over the keeper and SCORE!!! Finally, a good open field goal. 10th minute, I pass the ball ahead to Fleck, he gets the goal, assist!!! We are in control, though I get a number of other shots(7 total) that's the last of the scoring. That's a 10 rating for me, and a 2-0 win.

-- I now have 10 goals and 9 assists on the season.

-- Grays loses, there's now 3 teams tied for 7th behind Exeter, but they're 6 points behind, so we have some room.

Mar 2
-- We have enough of a break early in the month that I go train set pieces to 6. That's a penalty kick, very easy.

-- The club sold 346 shirts with my name on it last month. That's $4704 and I've got some cash building up now($24,919 now)

-- Arsenal beats Charlton 2-0 to win the English League Cup.

Mar 5
-- Set pieces to 7, a free kick from inside the box with a 3 man wall. Easy to pass around though. Set pieces to 8 on a free kick from outside the box. This one was harder, took about 10 shots, but I got lucky and scored on it eventually.

Mar 8 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Scarborough - Scarborough is 15th in the table, way behind us, and we expect to win. We have a pretty tough 3 match stretch somewhere in here, so we need to win these.

-- 10th minute, I get open in the box, Fleck finds me, and my shot actually goes right where I wanted it to, right by the keeper into the side of the net!!! That's the only shot of the first half by either team. Second half we open up a bit more, but have some trouble scoring. 82nd minute though, I pass the ball to Fleck, he fires a shot off the post, but the keeper dives after it and is down, way out of position. I walk up to it and walk it into the net, two goals!!!! We win 2-0, I have 2 goals on 3 shots, 6 passes and 6 tackles.

-- For the second time in my career, I am man of the match.

-- My value goes over $100,000 for the first time in my career, I'm up to $110,000.

-- My national team selection chances have gone from "no chance" to "not good" !!!

-- With a stevenage draw, we're only 1 point out of 5th. Burton Albion is now in 7th, 6 points behind us.

Mar 11 - GAMEDAY
-- Morecambe vs Exeter - Morecambe is 8 points behind us, in 9th place in the league.

-- A very hard fought game. In the 17th minute Fleck gets a goal, I have nothing to do with it. In the 40th though Morecambe gets one back. Neither team has any chances in the 2nd half. Total shots on the game: Morecambe 4, Exeter 1. I have to be thrilled with a tie there. 1-1, I pull in a 2 rating as I hardly touch the ball.

Mar 13
-- Dribbling 11, 10 cones, 14 seconds, I make it with 1 second to go, whew. Set piece 9, a free kick vs a wall from a bit further out. I land it on the first try, just inside the side of the net.

Mar 15
-- Dribbling to 12, I made better use of diagonal running that time and made it pretty easily.

Mar 18 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Kidderminster - 5 matches to go, we're 6 points ahead of 7th place. A win over a better team(and a team we're likely to face if there's a playoff down here) would be huge.

-- We are better than this team, I hope we get them in the playoffs!! In the 5th minute I run into the box with the ball, I really don't have anywhere to go, but I'm fouled, penalty!!! But, I shoot the penalty shot off the post, DOH. 29th minute, same thing happens again pretty much. I'm faster than everyone and get in the box, but while I'm building up power for my shot, I'm fouled. Amazingly, this penalty shot is high, and we go to the half scoreless. My two PKs are the only two shots of the match at the half. 49th minute I try a shot from 30 yards out or so, its deflected but Fleck is there, he scores, assist Dixon! We totally control this game, Kidderminster never takes a shot. In the 87th minute I get the ball from about 20 yards out, and I fire a straight shot past the keeper, GOAL! 2-0 Exeter, and that's the final. That's a 10 rating for me.

-- 13 goals, and 10 assist on the season now.

-- We're now 9 points ahead of 7th, that hasn't mathematicaly clinched yet, but we can do that next match with another win.

Mar 20
-- Score from 18 yards out vs 2 defenders. Just back up, call for the ball, fire past keeper, easy.

Mar 22 - GAMEDAY
Hereford vs Exeter - Hereford was tied for 7th for awhile, but have fallen to 11th. Stevenage ahead of us by only 3 points, has to play Dag and Red, the 2nd team in the table. We could move to 5th today with some luck.

-- Hereford is better than Kidderminster IMO. Their defense is at least, we controlled the ball most of the match, but had a hard time finding openings. I didn't get a single shot off myself, but 7 passes kept my rating up a bit. In the end, I made the key pass to Fleck in the 71st minute for the only goal of the match, that assist led to our winning goal, and gave me a 6 rating on the match. We're now 8 points ahead of 7th with 3 matches to go.

Mar 25 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Halifax - Halifax is 13th, 16 points behind us. Earn a win here and we'll clinch 6th for sure, and we could still pass Stevenage(they're 1 point ahead of us after a draw last match)

-- scoreless 1st half, I get a few shots but they're not good ones, I was just trying to force something in a few bad spots. 64th minute of the 2nd half, Halifax gets one past our keeper, and they lead 1-0, we have struggled to get anything going. But in the 73rd minute, I pass a long pass up to fleck, its actually slightly long, but fleck tackles the man that picks it up and scores!!! 1-1, no assist there but so what! 86th minute, I take my first ever corner kick. I send a high lob right to fleck, and he heads it in, GOAL!!!! That is an assist, and its an 8 rating for me in a 2-1 comeback win!

-- We move into 5th place as Stevenage loses!

Mar 29 - GAMEDAY
--Grays Athletic vs Exeter - when I looked at the schedule to end the month, I thought this match might be for 6th, but nope. They're 10th, 13 points behind us, and we're on a roll. We need to stay in 5th though, as York has wrapped up 3rd(they could improve but won't drop). If we fall back to 6th we could well play York assuming there's a playoff. We don't want to play York.

-- 3rd minute, we take the opening kickoff down, I line up a shot just like in training, and fire it by the keeper! 1-0, goal Dixon! And uh, that's it. 1-0 finish. I shoot 3 more shots off the post and a few more just over. So close to a giant game and a hattrick but so far away still. Stevenage ties today and that puts me 4 points above them.

Apr 1 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Gravesend - we have a huge edge over them, they're in 19th, less than half the points we have.

-- We close out the season strong, a 2-0 shutout. Fleck gets both goals, but I get one of the assists(and made the pass on the other as well but a deflection on Fleck's first shot cost me the assist).

-- Club sold 464 of my jerseys for $6496 in March!

END OF SEASON

There is no playoff, anywhere. This game doesn't appear to implement that at all(if it does at least, it wasn't mentioned in any of the higher levels).

The USA draws Senegal, Sweden and Australia in the world cup.

--I train strength 3 times before the offseason starts. Once it does, I'm not allowed to train any more.

I'll post some end of season screenshots tomorrow, this had some bad 'just one more game' moments tonight, I should have gone to bed an hour ago but had to finish the season!!

RPI-Fan · 12-18-2005, 11:18 AM

Sorry to get your hopes up!

Radii · 12-18-2005, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Sorry to get your hopes up!

I didn't get any more transfer offers anyway, so it wouldn't have affected any sort of outcome at all anyway

Also, I don't think our team could have possibly beaten York, which was required to advance.

Radii · 12-18-2005, 12:51 PM

Here's how everything looks at the end of the season:

Relationships
Skills
Stats

I'm happy with how my stats ended up, espicially give how I started the season. It seems I made a ton of quick advancement this year. I hope I don't end up with a near maxxed out player by age 20 or something.

I think that it would make the most sense for me to listen to transfer offers and be willing to leave for a higher division. I don't know if those offers will come during the offseason or not, we'll see.

Also note that I finally got a little media attention, that is up to 10%

Radii · 12-18-2005, 12:57 PM

The US misses out in the world cup. With a 2-0 win over Senegal things looked great, but a 2-0 loss to Sweden made the final match vs Australia critical. That ends in a 0-0 tie, while Senegal pulls up with a 3-3 tie vs Sweden. Sweden advances easily, we tie with Senegal, same goal differential but Senegal has 5 total goals to the USA's two, and Senegal advances.

Skip ahead to the quarters:

Czech Republic 0, Netherlands 2
Portugal 0, Greece 0 (Portugal 4-3 penalties)
Brazil 3, Croatia 2 (in extra time)
Senegal 2, England 3 (in extra time)

Semis:

Brazil 2, Portugal 0
Netherlands 2, England 1

Finals:

Brazil 1, Netherlands 0

Brazil wins it all. Whee.

Radii · 12-18-2005, 01:01 PM

Awards

You have won the Conference Young Player of the Year Award

WOOHOO!

New Season Start

I get 2 points to each 'category' to train up. I train shooting 2 points in the skills category. In Technique I go with 'both feet'. In Fitness Pace and Stamina are maxxed so I go with Strength. In Tactics 'Positioning' goes up on its own from match experience a fair amount, so I put both points in vision instead.

There is a list of offseason transfers and transactions, one Exeter player retires, not someone I recognized. Its August 2006 now and its time to dominate the Conference this season, matches start in just a few days.

Vince · 12-18-2005, 03:22 PM

This is cool. Except for the fact that you got me playing this game, and I stayed up until 6 AM playing 'just one more game.' Bastard

Radii · 12-19-2005, 06:25 PM

Aug 2006

-- A computer issue caused me to lose the first week of the season or so. We run into Canvey in our opening game and I struggle, and the team struggles, they run a 3-5-2, and by the 2nd half we're in a 5-3-2 playing very defensive. We got very few chances anywhere.

Aug 12
-- I train shooting up to 23... score from 30 yards out, 2 defenders. TOok me 4 or 5 tries, not a big deal.

Aug 14
-- I visit my friends and family to get those ratings back high enough to earn me bonuses.

Aug 17
-- Shooting up to 24, score from 40 yards out, 2 defenders. Easy as pie. Shooting to 25, score from 25 yards out vs 2 defenders, but only 20 seconds to do so. That one was tough, one defender was on me quite a bit, but I got it done on the first try.

Aug 19 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Crawley

-- I spent most of my time this game explaining how the game works to my son who was watching over my shoulder. I didn't do much to impress him as I missed 7 shots, a few of them were open chances that I should have scored on. In the 12th minute I get the ball to Fleck, who shoots, has a deflection, then scores on the rebound, no assist for me. In the 27th Crawley ties it up, and we can't ever score again. Exeter has 2 points after 2 matches, both on draws.

Aug 20
-- Scoring level 26 - score from 30 yards out, 20 seconds to do so vs 2 defenders. My first shot curls into the left corner, whew. Level 27 - 3 volleys, 1 defender. Done easily, this one increases flair too, woohoo!

Aug 23 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Bristol Rovers - Bristol was demoted from League Two last year.

-- NOTHIN. These guys are good, at this level at least. We give up a freak goal, a header from forever away that snuck by our keeper somehow. I get a few shots, one of them a good shot that I should have scored but it was saved, and we end up losing 1-0. I get a 4 rating on 3 shots/4 passes.

Aug 26 - GAMEDAY
--Altrincham vs Exeter - We have to get off the blocks with a win here!

-- ALRIGHT. We start out in a 4-4-2 attacking formation and it seriously pays off One of the midfielders(McConnal I believe is his name) who I've recognized as a good passer for awhile, is great crossing the ball in when he can get up ahead. In the 4th minute he gets the ball to me on a cross and I head it into the net, GOAL!!! 21st minute Fleck gets the ball and scores on his own, 2-0!!! 41st minute McConnal finds me again and I get a breakaway, and I'm able to put this one past the keeper!!! 3-0 at the half! 2nd half we fall back to a 4-5-1 so I'm int he midfield a bit more. I pass a lot, and I go up and try to score too, but we give up a goal and don't score anymore, 3-1 win. I am man of the match!! 2 goals, 6 shots, 10 passes, and 6 tackles on the day!

Sponsorship Offer
-- My first one!!! My media rating is up to 12% and I didn't think this would come for quite some time, but woohoo! Mitre offers a deal for me to wear their boots for 3 years for $275,000 per year. Considering I have $58,000 in the bank right now that seems pretty damn awesome. I accept w/o negotiating. I get to pick the color of my boots, and I choose black.

-- I get paid and have $333,000 in the bank now, as my wife would say, "Time to go shopping!!"

-- I also notice my value is up to $150,000, a new high.

-- Ah-hah, buying nice things for relatives does help! I buy a $13,000 rolex for a family member and my family rating goes through the roof. That's right, screw hanging out with friends and family, I just spent a total of $30,000 and got both of those ratings to 90%. I'm saving my cash for that now.

-- Shooting is up to 28, score from 40 yards out in 20 seconds w/ two defenders. Just a matter of lining up the shot well. And up to 29 as I score 5 volleys frmo 25 yards out in 25 tries. It takes 5 or 6 tries to find the right spot/angle/curve to shoot from, then I get it easily.

Aug 31

-- I try training shooting to 30 but fail. Score from midfield in 30 seconds, two defenders. This one is hard to line up just right w/ the defenders and time limit. I'll get it soon enough though.

END OF MONTH

We got off to a slow start but I hope that last game will have us coming along nicely. I have 2 goals in 19 shots, slightly better than my 1 goal ever 10.69 shot career average.

Radii · 12-19-2005, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince

This is cool. Except for the fact that you got me playing this game, and I stayed up until 6 AM playing 'just one more game.' Bastard

Glad to have another reader! Its all part of my master plan really. I'll get you hooked and I'll quit playing just in time to put the pefect gameplan together to beat the 49ers in GEFL in a few weeks.

nfg22 · 12-19-2005, 10:16 PM

question...
if I buy this game...can I play it on different comps...assuming I use the same name?

RPI-Fan · 12-19-2005, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfg22

question...
if I buy this game...can I play it on different comps...assuming I use the same name?

Yep... licensing is totally off-line!

nfg22 · 12-19-2005, 11:14 PM

aight ill buy it thenn...thanks for convincing me

nfg22 · 12-20-2005, 01:30 PM

Im playing in the irish leagues and I find it the easiest to score if I use the pas button because it keeps it low

VPI97 · 12-20-2005, 02:29 PM

radii, did you happen to notice Fleck's stats from the first season? Has it been more of you setting him up or vice versa? In my careers as a forward, I've teamed with both types...a scorer and a table setter.

Radii · 12-20-2005, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VPI97

radii, did you happen to notice Fleck's stats from the first season? Has it been more of you setting him up or vice versa? In my careers as a forward, I've teamed with both types...a scorer and a table setter.

I didn't ever go back and look at the team's stats. i'll have to make sure to do that this year.

In my first amatuer career there was a pretty well defined relationship there, the other striker was fast and a good shot, I got a lot of assists, it was clear how I could best put up some numbers and help the team.

Here there's not really a strong relationship between me and Fleck on the field. I think ideally he'd set me up more often than not, and he'd be the table setter, but he's such a terrible dribbler that he just can't do it. If he doesn't pass the ball right after he receives it, he gets tackled. But when we're both in the open field and get the chance to pass back and forth a couple of times, its a near certainty that I'll be the one taking the shot at the end.

When I have the ball, Fleck has a tendancy to spend 90% of his time offsides. If I can see that he's running towards a good spot, I'll feed him and he can score, but if my pass to him isn't clear while we're heading downfield, he'll run offsides and never come back. I get about half of my assists feeding him this way(the other half coming when Fleck scores on a rebound when I have a shot blocked).

The one game in August where we played a 4-4-2 attacking formation was very refreshing. Getting two of our good passing midfielders further forward was signifigant. If we stayed in that formation I think i'd be a goal scoring machine, but it looks like that won't be the norm.

Icy · 12-20-2005, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii

I didn't ever go back and look at the team's stats. i'll have to make sure to do that this year.

In my first amatuer career there was a pretty well defined relationship there, the other striker was fast and a good shot, I got a lot of assists, it was clear how I could best put up some numbers and help the team.

Here there's not really a strong relationship between me and Fleck on the field. I think ideally he'd set me up more often than not, and he'd be the table setter, but he's such a terrible dribbler that he just can't do it. If he doesn't pass the ball right after he receives it, he gets tackled. But when we're both in the open field and get the chance to pass back and forth a couple of times, its a near certainty that I'll be the one taking the shot at the end.

When I have the ball, Fleck has a tendancy to spend 90% of his time offsides. If I can see that he's running towards a good spot, I'll feed him and he can score, but if my pass to him isn't clear while we're heading downfield, he'll run offsides and never come back. I get about half of my assists feeding him this way(the other half coming when Fleck scores on a rebound when I have a shot blocked).

The one game in August where we played a 4-4-2 attacking formation was very refreshing. Getting two of our good passing midfielders further forward was signifigant. If we stayed in that formation I think i'd be a goal scoring machine, but it looks like that won't be the norm.

Isn't this really beatifull to read? i love how this game makes you feel that you're really in a team, with different players and how you need to adapt your playing style to them. It has some thuings too simple in my opinion, like the girlfriends, friend srelationships, that you can keep happy buying DvD's etc, it ends being repetitive, but for other things the game is a real sport RPG. In my dreams somebody will make something like this for USA sports. EA tried it with a light version in Madden and NCAA06, but it was so stupid as you manage the whole team when playing the games, when the fun and immersion factor is on managing only yourself. Imagine being only the WR, trying to follow the routes, to fool your CB, while waiting for the QB to throw a pass. Ahh i'm about to have an orgasm...

nfg22 · 12-20-2005, 08:14 PM

My biggest problem is tackling...maybe as a forward I shouldnt but I end up getting a yellow a game and a red pretty often...any tips..oh and what moves do you use when it is one on one?

Radii · 12-20-2005, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfg22

My biggest problem is tackling...maybe as a forward I shouldnt but I end up getting a yellow a game and a red pretty often...any tips..oh and what moves do you use when it is one on one?

dont' slide tackle, just block tackle. Slide tackling is tapping the lob button, holding any of the buttons down when you're on an opponent with the ball will just try to block tackle your opponent. Simply being faster than everyone will give you a big edge in tackling b/c you can ride your opponent until you poke the ball out.

Radii · 12-21-2005, 12:59 AM

Sept 2006

Sep 2 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Accrington Stanley

-- This one is scoreless for 70 minutes. I didn't take a single shot in the first half, but I started taking some chances in the 2nd half. Accrington was fairly fast and we dropped back to a normal 4-4-2, and it was much harder for Fleck and I to get involved. I finally got involved in the 70th minute, I go down the left side and cross the ball(pretty poorly) into the box. Fleck runs it down and the keeper is out of position, and Fleck puts it in! In the 83rd minute somehow the other team gets a striker one on one with our keeper, and they tie it up. I get 3 shots in one flurry in the 89th minute, the first shot was just saved, and the two rebounds I just couldn't get it over the keeper.

-- We end up in a 1-1 tie, 6 shots, 1 assist, 8 passes and a tackle or two for me, for a 9 rating overall.

-- Only 64 shirts with my name on it, that's worth $896.

Sep 3
-- Shooting is trained to 30!!! That last one was hard, I curved the ball in front of the keeper from right to left.

-- Set pieces is up to 10 as well. I take all the free kicks and corners and penalties, I'd really like to get some more assists and goals off of these set pieces, so I'm going to concentrate on this until at least 15.

Sep 5
-- Set pieces up to 11, the same free kick from the right side, 5 defenders. I'm getting a bit better at those. Set Pieces gets trained one more time here up to 12, 3 PK's in 10 balls. Those are trivial though.

Sep 9 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Tamworth

-- We dominate that one pretty well,I didn't take specific notes, as my son was watching me play again and asking a million questions

I scored a goal, got a 10 rating, and we won this one 3-0, easy enough!

-- We're up to 8th in the table after that win, and only 5 points off the top of the table.

Sep 13 - GAMEDAY
-- Exeter vs Southport - We're in 8th place with 9 points, Southport is in 20th with 5 points.

-- We're faster than them, but its pouring down rain in the first half, and I think that negates our speed advantage some, it makes everyone slower for sure. I get 2 shots, 2 passes and 1 tackle in the first half but neither team seriously comes close to scoring. In the second half we switch to a 4-3-3 and its easier to get chances, and I get a bunch. In the 75th minute I get a flurry of what feels like 5 shots in the box, finally one of them scoots in, GOAL, 1-0!!! It stops raining and I help run out the clock for the win. 9 shots, 6 passes, 4 tackles, 1 goal, man of the match!!!

Sep 16 - GAMEDAY
--Morecambe vs Exeter - We're 8th, they're 9th right now, this is a big game to separate us early on and to keep us near the top of the table.

-- This team is pretty fast, and speed seems to separate the good teams from the bad most of the time, so we have some problems with them. In the end I get about 7 shots but none of them are real good ones, 3 of them are on free kicks that I didn't have good angles on but I fired in anyway. But in the 78th minute(after we've switched to a 4-3-3 again) I pass the ball up to Ampedu, the 3rd forward, and he gets a goal, a very nice long shot past the keeper from 30 yards or so out to the left side, assist Dixon!! I get a 9 rating and we win another close one, 1-0.

Sept 20

-- Over two training days I train dribbling up to 13, 14, 15, and 16. 15 is the first one I've ever seen that isn't just dribbling through cones. "Dribble to the penalty box(from midfield) without getting tackled"

Sep 23 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Hereford - We're 6th, they're 12th, 5 points behind us.

-- 8 shots, 10 passes, 8 tackles, that's easily good for a 10 rating. We only got one goal, and seriously I should have had a ton of goals here, but oh well. I got tackled in the box for a penalty in the 28th minute, red card for the other team, we had a big edge. I hit the PK forthe only goal. 1-0 win!!

-- That's 5 goals in 9 matches for me so far this season, not bad! 2 assists also.

Sept 25

I am interviewed after my last man of the match game and I decline to talk to the media, b/c that pisses off my manager. Then I am asked by a review board about an elbow that I saw a teammate give during a match. I deny I saw anything. That knocks my media attention all the way down to 0, and I lose my shoe sponsorship. Oh well! Its apparently pretty hard to do well in the media's eyes with a Demanding manager.

-- Dribbling up to 17. I'm getting noticibly better(faster) at it too, at least in training.

Sep 23 - GAMEDAY

Grays Athletic vs Exeter -- We're 1 point off the top of the table, 18 points, in 3rd place. Grays is in 19th, way back and with a -4 goal differential.

-- The dribbling skill makes a *huge* difference against a slower team, I was able to do a lot more on my own this game. On our opening posession, I pass the ball ahead to fleck, he's in great position to shoot, but his shot is deflected. I dive onto the ball and head it into the net!! GOAL in the 3rd minute. After that, its pretty slow, I have some chances starting from midfield, and I actually went andhelped out in defense a couple of times. My 6 passes and 5 tackles after the goal preserved yet another 1-0 victory.

-- Two of our starters are hurt, midfielder mcConnal that I like so much, and now a defender.

Sep 30 - GAMEDAY

Exeter vs Forest Green - we're still 3rd, with 21 points, Forest Green is 17th, with 9 points. We're still 1 point out of 1st.

-- Two good passes to fleck early in the 1st half but he comes up empty. By halftime its 0-0 and I haven't done much else. In the 2nd half my stamina gives me more chances, and I end the match taking 7 shots total, but not a single one can find the back of the net, a couple of them I really should have made, one where a well aimed pass would have been fine but I pressed the shoot button instead. 0-0 draw.

END OF MONTH

We're winning, and we're near the top of the table, in a position to be in first if we can beat the good teams in the conference.

My form is spectacular, average of 9.0 in my last 5 matches. I have 6 goals in 11 appearances this season, 2 assists. I'm on pace for about 3 times more tackles than I had last season.

I am, in fact, top 5 in the league in passes, tackles, and goals. I'm not leading the league in any though.

Radii · 12-21-2005, 01:20 AM

I'm done for the night and won't get to finish the month until tomorrow at the earliest, so I wanted to post the start of October, you'll see why.

Oct 2006

Oct 1

-- I complete dribbling level 18, but fail at 19, silly me, I just took off and hit a cone.

-- The club sold 232 of my shirts, giving me $3248 last month.

Oct 3

-- That's better, dribbling up to 19 and now 20.

-- For now, I'm going to work on a combination of Strength and Both Feet, I'd like to see both of those improve.

Oct 11 - GAMEDAY
Carlisle vs Exeter - This is a good test. They got relegated and are 4th in the group riht now, just 1 point behind us.

-- This line was a pretty normal one for the most part. 7 shots, 8 passes, 7 tackles, I've been getting games like that for awhile now. But this time there was just one little difference. Those shots were going in. ALL OF THEM for awhile. My first FIVE shots found the back of the net. All but one were the same, shots right into the side of the net, their keeper must be slow, the same type of shot that gets blocked as often as it gets by(or goes over/by for a goal kick). But todya, they all hit. My fifth goal was on a penalty kick in the 2nd half.

-- Oh yeah, I didn't score them all... I found Fleck for the final goal, ASSIST

-- So that line: 5 goals, 7 shots, 1 assist, 8 passes, 7 tackles. I am the man of hte match, and I do the post game interview, boss be damned. I now have 11 goals in 12 matches, my shots per goal is down to 6.55 (from up around 10 most of the time).

-- I now lead the league in goals and passes, and am 3rd in Tackles. I have the only hat trick in the league so far this season.

VPI97 · 12-21-2005, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii

So that line: 5 goals, 7 shots, 1 assist, 8 passes, 7 tackles. I am the man of hte match, and I do the post game interview, boss be damned.

Radii · 12-21-2005, 05:15 PM

Oct 14 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Burton Albion - We're in 3rd with 25 points, Burton Albion is in 19th with 11 points. Lets hope they're a lot like Carlisle

-- This one seemed tougher for awhile, We actually trailed 1-0 after 37 minuets, despite attacking 90% of the time. Finally in the 41st minute we got moving, I got into the box and fired a shot past the keeper, 1-1 tie! That was the halftime score as I had 2 shots, 2 passes and that was it. The second half I moved around more and took control of the ball from further out, and it paid off. I can dribble around a lot of these guys with ease, and I rolled off two more goals for my 2nd straight(and 2nd career) hat trick before it was over. 3-1 Exeter, 3 goals on 8 shots, 6 passes and 2 tackles. I did actually go outo f my way to try to grab an assist, but Fleck couldn't finish.

Oct 16
-- Both feet gets trained twice.

-- Doing interviews kills your relationship with yoru manager. I decide I don't want a demanding manager when I get transferred out.

Oct 21 - GAMEDAY
Boston United vs Exeter - We're now 2nd, 28 points, Boston is 1st with 31 points, another good test, and our chance to take over 1st.

-- No man of the match for me today. We score in the 3rd minute, I run down the field with the ball but there are 5 guys on me, I'm abel to get it to fleck and he scores, but I don't think I get an assist there b/c of keeper rebounds or something. 8th minute they come right back and tie it up, 1-1! 19h minute I cross to fleck who scores, same situation, I get ahead quickly and 5 defenders are all over me, fleck is slower and comes up the right side late, I pass to him when I'm fully covered, he's wide open. AGAIN no assist and I don't know whythis time, it looked clean to me. 28th minute I get an easy goal, a hard shot from 30 yards straight into the side of the net. 35th minute Fleck again, same situation, GOAL for him, hat trick in 35 minutes!! AGAIN no assist though, and again I don't know why. We lead 4-1 at the hlaf. 63rd minute Fleck shoots, goalie blocks it, I head it in!! GOAL ME! 5-1. 79th minute I shoot, Fleck gets the rebound when the keeper saves it and scores. That one nets me an assist. I'm subbed out in the 80th minute, we lead 6-1 at the time. Boston gets another final goal before its over, 6-2!

-- 2 goals, 10 shots, 4 passes, 1 assist, 2 tackles. I really thought I earned 3 assists there, if not 4, but no credit for them.

Oct 23

-- Both feet is now up to 15. I am still ignoring women by the way, just not mentioning it every time I do.

Oct 25 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Aldershot - We now lead with 31 points and our +19 goal differential, Aldershot is 8th.

-- Another one where it takes us awhile to get going. Aldershot is reaosnably quick and they're making a number of good tackles. I can't get anything going with my teammates and my individual timing is off. But no fear, opening the 2nd half I run down and score all by myself. 62nd minute I get the ball at midfield, run down and score all by myself. 82nd I shoot, fleck is there to put in the miss, assist for me, goal for him. 3-0 win and its time to get a transfer to a higher group.

-- 2 goals/8 shots/1 assist/4 passes/4 tackles.

-- My international selection prospects are now "good" !!!

Oct 25 - GAMEDAY
English Cup
Exeter vs Bristol City - Bristol City is 10th in League One(two steps down from the premiership). This'll be interesting.

-- We got owned. I had 3 shots to score, 3 *good* shots to score, but it would have taken every single one of them to keep us in this one. As it is, one I just choked on and put wide, the other two were saved by the keeper. We lose 3-0. 5 shots, 4 passes, 3 tackles and a 4 rating for me.

Oct 31
-- I train Vision to 10 and Control to 16 or so(forget the exact number) and that's the end of the month.

END OF MONTH

I think there's no way we would end up anywhere but first place if I stay in the conference all year. But this level of dominance is not going to keep people entertained for long. I'd also really liketo move to a different team where I can work on my media relations without pissing my manager off.

To finish out the month, I request a transfer to another English League team. I'd like to bypass League Two altogether, but anything in League One or higher with a manager style I can live with is fine with me.

MacroGuru · 12-21-2005, 06:13 PM

BTW...your dynasty forced me to buy the game.

Radii · 12-22-2005, 12:51 AM

Nov 2006

Nov 1
-- The club sold 592 of my shirts, giving me $8288 last month.

Nov 4 - GAMEDAY
Woking vs Exeter - Woking has 18 points and is 13th in the table, near the middle of the pack.

-- 17th minute, I find Fleck, well, sort of, I pass the ball but their keeper gets to it first, Fleck takes it when the keeper tries to pass it out and scores though. 23rd minute Fleck gets a goal all on his own, and finally in the 76th minute I get a solo goal all on my own. We win 3-0 easily. 1 goal/6 shots/1 pass/6 tackles today for an 8 rating.

-- My value is as high as ever with a $240,000 rating.

-- I get an offer from LOTTO boot company to wear their boots. The offer is for $349,000. I take it. That feels like somewhat of an exploit to get money early, get a sponser, get full payment, get dumped by sponor, get a new one... Now I have $658,895, and if I lose this spnosorship b/c I have to stay out of the media to keep my manager appeased, I won't take one again while I'm with this team.

Nov 8 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Stevenage - Stevenage almost won promotion last year, and they're in contention this year, in 8th place. We're tied at the top with boston united still, but have a stunning +25 goal differential in 16 matches.

-- They have no prayer. 28th minute, I'm fouled in the box, their keeper makes a nice save on it though, but its a corner. I take the corner and lob it to Fleck who heads it in!! We don' score again in the first half but they wear down in the 2nd half and I take over. Goal in the 58th, goal in the 75th(on a beautiful cross from the left side that I volley in), goal in the 80th minute, then I'm pulled, we win 4-0, man of hte match for me, I do the interview after the game and piss off the boss agian.

Nov 11 - GAMEDAY
Scarborough vs Exeter - Boston United lost, so we lead by ourselves. Scarbrough is in the middle of the table with 21 points, in 14th. The next victim.

-- On the opening kickoff I take the ball down and score a goal all by myself. I do something similar(take the ball from midfield to score) in the 29th, 42nd, 45th and 60th minutes. After that I try to pass as much as possible in midfield, before I'm pulled in the 63rd minute with 05 goals on 8 shots, 7 passes and 1 tackle, a 10 rating and man of the match.

Nov 14-17
-- I train up vision and positioning a bit, I'm catching up on the traits/abilities that are lagging behind before making pushes at passing and dribbling and the other stats that are lagging badly(tackling/heading)

Nov 18 - GAMEDAY
Exeter vs Kidderminster - These guys are in 7th, not bad.

-- These guys are fairly quick and I had a hard time setting up the easy shots. In the 42nd minute I was in the box but covered heavily and was able to slide the ball over to Clay, the front man in a 4-4-2 diamond formation that we played, Clay fires a shot in, and we lead 1-0, my assist. We don't let them come even close to scoring and finaly in the 83rd minute I get a solo goal, I took the ball from behind midfield all the way up and scored. 2-0 Exeter!

HAH
--" At the end of training your boss openly criticizes you for your lack of effort" I want to tell him to kiss off but I stay and practice later to keep people happy. That annoys my friendS(my other option was to go out drinking with my buddies). I find though, that art solves all problems, and I spend $50,000 on a modern art painting for my friends. They love me again(I spent more than necessary... all the way up to 100%).

Nov 22 - GAMEDAY
Halifax vs Exeter -- Halifax is 20th with 11 points and a -14 goal differential. Our goal diff is up to +36, this should be easy.

-- Well, we get on the books early, I fire a long shot by accident(just after a tackle) in the 3rd minute, it bounces off the keepers hands and Fleck drives it in. 16th minute Teylor, another midfielder of ours, scores to make it 2-0. 21st minute I get a solo goal(1 goal/1 assist), but in the 28th minute, we have a problem. I'm tackled hard and I come out hurt. We go on to score again and win 4-0.

Injury
--My physio thinks I will be out for NINE weeks. UGh.

Nov 29
Happy Birthday to me. I receive a signed Alessandro Del Piero shirt from the boss. I'm now 19.

END OF MONTH

Up until I got injured, it was looking like a goal scoring marathon until I get picked up by another club. Now I have to click 'continue' for 9 weeks it appears.

12-12-2005, 06:34 PM	#3
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	August 2006 I'm 17 years old, about to turn 18(Last game I started at the age of 16, is that based on skill level?) in October. Week 1 We have only one match this week, on August 6th. I don't expect to play anyway, so I'm going all out training. I train my stamina up 3 times, its now at 18. We'll see how fast that lets me regen. Engery level down to 10%. Sure hope I don't have to play yet. --August 4th - Energy at 55%. Time to get the stamina up some more. One more point, to 19. --August 6th Exeter opens the season hosting Dag & Red Uhhh, WOW. I don't expect to even be listed as a sub, but I'm starting. And my bonuses to my tactical abilities apparently set me ahead of everyone else. I am the free kick taker with a 2 Set Pieces rating, I have no idea how that happened, but in the 22nd minute, I score the first goal of the season for Exeter! It was funny, free kick right outside the box. I can't shoot for shit, I am for the left post, the ball goes way off target... right into the right side of the net. 1-0 Exeter! I get a number of touches, but all I can do is pass ASAP b/c I dribble so slowly. In the 58th minute, I get the ball on the left side and the other Striker(named 'Fleck') is one on one with a defender in the box. I lob it in and it is almost on target, Fleck takes it and volleys it in, assist Dixon! We win 3-0, I get a 10 rating and my goal and assist bonus. Insane. I wonder if the conference level is just too easy, or maybe Dag & red is just that bad. We'll see -- NEWSPAPER REVIEWS -- I get 4 positive comments on my debut, with one comment about my passing being below average. -- August 7 I meet a woman and ignore her. I don't need the troubles that can bring just yet. Week 2 We have two matches this week, which will hurt my ability to train. --August 8th I am at 48% energy and get a chance for some extra training. Stamina is up again! --August 11th 64% Energy, but I have two games in the next 6 days. Right now I don't care about games. I train stamina twice, and if I can't play I can't play. --August 13th Energy back to 39% already. That is very good news and encourages me to work on stamina til it's 30. That's a stamina increase rate of about 17.5% per day. We travel to play at Forest Green, who lost their first match. One thing I don't like about this game is that if you're not on the pitch but are a sub, you still have to watch it. I'd rather be able to fastforward to when I come in(or don't). I'm a sub in this one, and I come in in the 64th minute of a very boring 0-0 tie. I get a few touches, one shot that is horribly wide, and one pass to an open man in the box that ends up way off target. More like I would have expected. Exeter 0, Forest Green 0 MEDIA REVIEWS -- average performance, reasoanble passing, lackluster performance, and a mention that I failed to score. --August 14th I ignore another Woman --August 15th I train Stamina up 2 more points and leave myself at 9% a couple of days before our next mathc. Week 3 --August 17th The fixtures list said this was a week 2 game, but its now week 3 in game... either way, we vist Crawley, currently 7th in the division very early on(we're 4th, again, very early on). I start in a 4-4-2 formation up front with Fleck. I play awful soccer, Fleck tries to work a couple of give and go's with me and I botch them badly in the first half. In the 2nd half I have a couple of crosses go way off target, and a couple of passes that I could have made but didn't simply b/c of inexperience w/ the game(I hit them way too softly). I'm pulled, exhausted, in the 77th minute. Our team doesn't fire a shot the entire game, and we end up in a 0-0 draw. August 18 -- Ignoring another woman. MEDIA REVIEWS -- Reasonable passing, I had little impact, and couldn't score. August 20 - GAMEDAY --We're 6th right now with 5 points and a +3 differential early on. Today we play Canvey Island, who is 13th, but just 1 point behind us this early. My health is at 70% with just a couple of days between games and no chances for extra training. --Ah this isn't good. We give up an early goal(7th minute) and we just can't get the ball. Canvey runs a 3-5-2 and their defense looks wide open but my guys can't ever get control of the ball to send it up. I have a few disappointing chances and finish with a pathetic 2 rating as we lose 1-0. MEDIA REVIEWS --Couldn't score. dismal performance by me. My passing sucked. August 22 -- Stamina trained up to 26. Almost maxxed out and I'll actually start gaining some skill in September. August 25 -- Stamina trained to 28. It makes a huge difference and I think this was the right way to go for me. August 27 - GAMEDAY --We visit Cambridge United, who are tops in the conference with 9 points. We're 12th. -- For the first time this season, I'm not selected at all, even as a sub, so I quick sim this match. We upset Cambridge 2-0! (Not good for me, I wasn't out there helping) August 28 -- I get a request from a family member to "help build a wall" .. ok, it helps family relations which give me bonuses on the pitch, gotta do it. --After that I go ahead and cap out my stamina. I'm down to 2% energy and probably won't play much in our next game, but Stamina is full and I can really get to work now. August 31 - GAMEDAY -- Stamina training has helped me so much. My energy went up from 2% to 74% in just 3 days. We host Burton Albion. We're tied in points with them. -- I am again not selected to play, and we lose 1-0 to Burton Albion. End of August Boring month for the most part, and if I can get back into the lineup once I start improving my skills things should get better quickly. Finally, I've uploaded a few screenshots: August 2005 Relationships August 2005 Skills August 2005 Standings August 2005 Stats Last edited by Radii : 12-13-2005 at 06:45 PM.

12-15-2005, 03:11 PM	#7
fantastic flying froggies Pro Rookie Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sunny South of France	FWIW, I'm reading too... __________________ Detroit Vampires (CFL) : Ve 're coming for your blood! Camargue Flamingos (WOOF): pretty in Pink

12-15-2005, 03:40 PM	#8
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	Phenomenal dynasty! Interesting to see you having some struggles so early on! __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

12-16-2005, 11:25 AM	#15
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	If I were you, I'd play as more of a central midfielder (even if you aren't allowed to change your position officially)... in my game in the demo, I'm a left winger, and noticed that at the lower levels you can just kind of roam free and be the playmaker. This kind of makes sense, too, as long as moving up in levels makes this less useful. When you're in one of the top couple levels it seems to me that it's probably really important to stay in your position since the speed of play will be so fast. __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

12-16-2005, 11:26 AM	#16
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	How do you see how much negative affect your relationships have on your skills? __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

12-12-2005, 05:56 PM	#2
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Starting the Game I start a new league using most of the default options. I am going to be a central attacker, right footed. I switch the level up from Amatuer to Pro. Initial Attributes On pro I have 15 technique points to distribute between 3 stats: Flair, Control and Both Feet(ability to use your off foot). Based on my one game at Amatuer flair was the most useful to me but I go ahead and start things evenly, 5 points in each here. I also have 15 points for fitness, to distribute between pace(speed), strength, and stamina. While I'd like to eventually be a guy with breakaway speed, I'm going to allow myself to start slow here. 15 points into stamina, and we'll see if its signifigantly detrimental to my early career or if its ok to do that and build my stamina way up while I suck everywhere else for faster advancement. The final category is "tactics" where I have 10 points to spread between 2 categories, positioning and vision. I put 7 in vision and 3 in positioning. My one game I messed with on easy saw very few headers and volleys come my way(which seems to be the main advantage of positioning), so I'll concentrate on vision, which the little overlay help says "increases your range of passing". Character Details Name: Richard Dixon Nickname: Richard Date of Birth: October 29th Appearance: Body Type: Tall, Hair: Dark Red, Skin: Light I'm from the United States, and look forward to eventually being the star striker on a world cup winner for my home nation. League: I'm going to play in England Team Choice: I decide to find a team with a "Demanding" Manager. This type of manager does not want me talking to the media and wants me to make every choice I make for the team. The advantage is that my skills will increase faster under this type of manager. I end up selecting Exeter in the English Conference. Initial Trial Basically this consists of doing each level 2 skill test. If I don't screw up badly I'll get a contract offer. I get them all and get my offer: 480 per week, 5 years, goal bonus 135, assist bonus 255. I try to negotiate down to 3 years, Exeter accepts and we are off! Other initial info: Bank: $1,000 Cost of Living: $100 Relationships These actually have an impact on your stats, you can get boosts to your ratings by maintaining your relationships. The various ones are: Manager: 75% - increases by playing well, and for a demanding manager, by making my every action for the team. Teammates: 50% - This will have an affect on how often I get the ball on the pitch Supporters: 50% Girlfriend - I have none Media - I am not known in the media at all Sponsers: I have none Family: 75% - I can improve this by spending time with them. This uses up my stamina but I get ratings bonuses for keeping this high. Friends: 75% - Same as family. Health Confidence - 50% - This has an an effect on my in game play and can change based on my status with a girlfriend, and my play on the field. I can also drink alcohol to improve confidence, but that has other effects. Gambling Addiction - 0% - I plan on keeping this at zero. Seems like if it gets high you can get noticed in a negative way by the media. Alcohol - 0% - One may drink to improve confidence, but it has a number of negative effects, it increases your flair but decreases strength and can cause you to simply fall over on the pitch. my manager also won't like it. And it also slows the rate of stamina gain. Drug Use - 0% - you can improve your fitness abilities by buying performance enhancing drugs but it seems as though there are random drug tests int he game and if this rating is not 0% when you have a drug test you're in bad bad trouble. I plan on playing clean. Energy - 100% - this gets used up by training, match play, and by visiting friends/relatives, girlfriends. It increases at a rate that depends on your stamina. Since this is crucial for skill development, this is why I decided to put all my fitness points into stamina for now.

12-14-2005, 02:24 PM	#4
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	September 2005 September 1 --My energy was over 95% so I was able to train 3 times. I go twice for dribbling and once for pace. The idea here is that I can't get off shots and passes if I'm so slow and sucky when I get the ball that I get tackled immediately, so this fundamental will give me the fastest improvement on the pitch. September 2 -- The club sold 36 shirts with my name on it in August. Hah, suckers. I do get $504 for it. Sept 4 -- Here is something I've never seen before. My teammates notice my confidence is down adn suggest I visit a personal trainer. Or I could buy some "exotic vitamin" tablets online... the trainer is $10,000, which I don't have. The tablets sound shady. I do nothing. -- However, there's an alternative here. DRINKING! I buy some beer for $100, which gives my confidence a 20% boost(from 20% to 40%, still low...). My alcohol rating is 25% now, which will slow my energy gain. Sept 5 -- Energy at 90%, and we don't play again til the 10th. time to train. -- I train Dribbling up to 6, and Pace up to 2 and have 0 energy now. I should note that dribbling isn't just "press a button, get a point" ... they actually take you into the game engine and have you dribble around some cones. Trivial at least through the first 10-15 levels of so though. For Pace/Str/Stamina, I do just press the train button and gain a point. Sept 8 -- More trianing. Dribbling up 1 to 7, pace up 1 to 3. I plan on working dribbling up to 10, pace up to 5, and then I'll move to passing and will probably build up my strength a bit. Sept 10 - GAMEDAY Altrincham vs Exeter - We're tied with 8 points each, 10th and 11th in the table. -- I get the start in the 4-4-2 as the left central forward. I can see the improvement when I have the ball, but I couldn't do much with it. 3 completed passes, 2 tackles, one near great pass, but the attacker I fed was offsides. We lose 1-0, and I am pulled in around the 80th minute. -- After the game though, my control, pace, strength, and positioning all improve, a great result for me there. MEDIA REVIEW --I failed to score(as usual), I need to do the simple things more, "apparently he has potential" -- woohoo, something positive at least! Sept 12 -- Dribbling up one more to 8. But barely. I'm just so slow. Gotta get the pace up a few before I try any more dribbling skill challenges. Sept 14 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Aldershot - We're 14th with 8 points. Aldershot is dead last in the league, 22nd. -- I again get the start and this time play all 90 minutes, but come away with a poor rating, a 3, after just 2 shots, 2 passes, and 2 tackles. I had two chances to set up teammates in the box that failed, and I had two solid shots on goal. One was on target and blocked. The other one is pretty painful, 0-0 in the 86th minute, I get one on one vs the keeper in the box(but there are defenders right behind me so I can't take much time) and I shoot the ball high. 0-0 draw. Sept 15 -- Confidence down to 33%, I have another drink, its back up to 53% and my alcohol level is up a bit again. -- I train pace up to 5. MEDIA REVIEWS --Dixon doesn't score, I occasionaly pass the ball. I'm not great in front of goal. Sept 17 - GAMEDAY -- Accrington Stanley vs Exeter - We're in 17th place, Accrington is in 10th. We need a win, its been awhile. -- Again I get the start and have a number of chances to turn this into a breakout performance, but I just can't do it. 4 shots, 3 of them on target, one of them wide open but way wide. Time to work on my shooting, as I have to gain a bit of accuracy here. That's 6 shots in the last two games, if I shot a bit better I could have scored 3 goals easily. I come away with a 3 rating in yet another 0-0 contest. MEDIA REVIEWS --Just couldn't score. Failed to distinguish himself, passing below average Sept 19 -- I train scoring up 2 points to 4. Two trivially easy challenges(shots into an empty net from long distances) Sept 21 -- Both my family and friends ratings in the relationship sections were down under 70%. I decide to visit both to try to get the skill boosts that are gained from having good relationships there. Sept 24 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs York - We're 17th with 10 poitns. York is 7th with 15 points. -- Holy crap. york runs a 3-5-2, which we appear to have big problems with. THey're also faster, stronger, better passers and tacklers at nearly every position. They get 6 shots in the first half to our none. I get one shot in the 2nd half but it doesn't have a chance really, and York dominates us 2-0. I get a terrible 1 rating. Sept 26 -- I'm at 100% energy, time to go do some quality training. Shooting is trained up to 5, and then 6. When I pick up level 6 in shooting I also gain an extra point in flair, moving that up to 6 as well, woohoo! I don't train a 3rd time because of what I have to do next. -- confidence is way down, time to go drinking. I've never had my alcohol level at 50%, but I do it now. confidence up to 68% at the cost of bringing my alcohol level way up. We'll see how it effects things. Sept 28 - GAMEDAY Woking vs Exeter - Woking is as bad as us, they have 11 points and are in 16th, we have 10 and are in 17th. -- Another shitty outing! Two shots that were both deflected, a few other "shots" that didn't get counted as shots probably b/c they were so far off target, and a few completed passes. Nothing is going right at all right now, and we lose 1-0. Sept 29 -- A chance for some more training, I pick up another poitn in pace and another point in shooting. THis shooting challenge is a short goal but the goal is defended by a keeper. It's easy though, just fire a hard, straight shot towards one of the sides of the net, no sweat. END OF MONTH That takes us into October. My teammates confidence in me is the thing I'm worried about most. I just need one good game to turn everything around, and I think that good game could happen at any moment. I have to just keep working and have to take advantage of one of my opportunities when I get a chance to score. Relationships Skills Standings Stats

12-14-2005, 05:32 PM	#5
Icy Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Toledo - Spain	Good one, i'll follow it, this game is so fun. I advice you to train stamina until you max it out, that way you will be able to train more without loosing all your stamina.

12-15-2005, 04:29 PM	#10
Kodos Resident Alien Join Date: Jun 2001	This just proves it. There's a soccer (dynasty) born every minute.

12-16-2005, 11:00 AM	#13
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	October 2005 No games until the 12th, hooray! Lots of training time Oct 2 -- I increase pace by 2, its up to 8 now. -- The club sold 24 shirts of mine last month. That's 336 for me. Oct 3 -- Strength gets a 1 point bump Oct 6 -- I train shooting, my test is to score on 2 volleys, which I easily do, and that again gives me a flair improvement in addition to the shooting, hooray! I then visit my friends which gets my friend rating back in the green over 75%, I'd like to keep it that way. Oct 8 -- I've been neglecting my passing skill, primarily because the foward I play opposite of SUCKS. its next to worthless even when I can get him the ball, but I decide its time to raise it a little, I train passing twice. Passing drills at this level are simple, hit cones about 5 yards away with a pass. -- I get the opportunity to work with the youth team to improve my relations with my teammates. Teammate relation goes up to 37%. The other option looked to be to work with my coach(probably for a skill increase?) but I desparately need the confidence of my teammates. Oct 9 -- "Your family miss you" ... I visit them. I have a bit more time after this so I visit my friends as well to keep that up. Oct 12 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Tamworth -- We're 17th and struggling, well behind the top spots. Tamworth is 16th, hopefully we have a shot. -- Its another 0-0 draw, and I get another bad rating(a 2). 1 shot, 3 passes, 1 tackle. I fired 3 crosses into the box but my mate at foward is disastrous, he's slow as molassas. I know I'm playing poorly, but I really want to put some of the blame here on my teammates. Oct 13 -- I train up Strength one more. Shooting and dribbling are higher than anyone else on the team, but even my 9 pace is slower than some of my teammates, and my 3 strength is of course low. Oct 15 - GAMEDAY -- Stevenage Borough vs Exeter - They're 4th in the table to our 18th, they only have a +2 goal differential though, maybe we can hang vs them. -- FINALLY. Some positive play. In the 10th minute we get a counter attack, and i get the ball, Fleck is ahead of his man and faster than him, I have some margin for error, and I lay the ball ahead of him, he runs onto it and scores!!! In the 24th minute I get a great shot on goal, its blocked, but Fleck picks up the rebound and scores again, no assist but my shot on goal adds to my rating anyway. I get a couple more shots that the keeper blocks, but we don't score again. I play very well in the second half too, and end up with 7 completed passes as I help burn time off the clock in our win! I end up with an 8 rating. MEDIA REVIEW -- solid passing, a 'clever player', 'dixon was influental' !! One negative, failed to add to his season tally, no problem there, I needed this positive result badly. Oct 17 -- I increase my pace by 2. My instinct says to work on passing, but when I compare myself to my teammates it seems like I crush them skill wise but i'm behind on the pace and some on the strength. Oct 20 -- 2 more points into Pace. Its up to 13 now, I'll get it to 15, get strength to 6 or 7 or so and go from there. Oct 22 - GAMEDAY - ENGLISH CUP Exeter vs Aston Villa - Right, as in premier league aston villa. -- Well, I learned a lot about what I have to look forward to there. They score a goal before we touch the ball a single time. They only win 2-0, I get 1 pass, nothing else, and a 1 rating. Those guys are faster dribbling the ball than we are running full out. Oct 23 -- I'm invited to the track with my coach and teammates. I go and win a few bucks betting the favorites. I didn't realize though, that you can bet forever. There's a 'next race' button, I kept waiting for it to end, and it didn't until I closed the window. I probably bet on 10-15 races. I have a 27% gambling addiction now. Oct 24 -- I train pace up one and visit my family. Oct 26 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Southport - We're in 16th in the table, Southport is dead last at 22nd with a -10 goal differential. -- Well, i'm disappointed after that one, we held the ball over 60% of the time, but couldn't muster a goal. I had 8 passes and 2 shots, a 5 rating despite no goals, which is, for me, pretty solid. I almost had an assist to Fleck but his shot was blocked. I got a shot off a free kick that went just high, and a shot off a rebound that was saved. I got tired late and was subbed out around the 80th minute MEDIA REVIEW --'a mediocre performance', 'Dixon had chances but couldn't score', 'good passing by dixon' Oct 29 - GAMEDAY Scarborough vs Exeter - Scarborough is just 1 point behind us in the standings, but with a -10 goal differential. -- Unfortunately I'm a bit tired. Before the game I spend $100 on an energy drink which gets me up to 47%. We don't play well at all and we lose 1-0. I get 3 shots off, though none really have a good chance of going in. Another poor rating. END OF MONTH That ends the month. I'm worried about my relationships more than anything right now. I've had one solid performance, but my confidence remains low and I'm struggling to keep the fans on my side, and even more improtantly, my teammates. I don't know what'd be best for me right now, a number of good passing performances where I can keep a rating around 5 or so, or just one good game w/ a goal. I really need to get a goal in November. Relationships Skills Standings Stats

12-16-2005, 11:07 AM	#14
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	A couple of random notes... my value has gone up from $10,000 to $20,000, which is good. My relationships are killing me right now. I think its the supporters hating me that's doing it, I go into the games with a -5 to pace/-3 to strength/-3 to stamina that slows me down quite a bit. There's a "sign autographs" option with the supporters, but at this point they don't like me, and all that does is hurt my confidence. I think right now I need to worry about my in game play more than my skills, my skills are fine for this level. There are a couple of things i can do actively that i can think of now. Train just slightly less to make sure I have the max energy possible for each match. Keep the alcohol coming(but in small doses) to keep my confidence up, and make liberal use of energy drinks, espicially on gameday. I haven't focused on money or material posessions at all yet, right now I see myself as a minor league type guy who is living in his bus basically. I have never experimented much with buying stuff, does if affect my mood at all? I'll read up on this. I think I have around $6,500 right now. I had one great performance in October, and one acceptable one, but I'm a striker who has played 14 matches and only has one goal, that isn't good. I'll do some reading on this too, for those that have the game, is there anything i can do w/ the supporters to raise that aside from just playing well?

12-16-2005, 12:11 PM	#18
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Well I read through some of the NSS3 forums and I don't see any discussions on buying items, so I'll check the help files to make sure I'm not missing out on something there. Also, some of the guys who are scoring an insane number of goals mention training stamina and pace to the max possible first, then working mainly on shooting training. I think at the conference level where my teammates are so poor, dribbling is as important as shooting for now, since I often have to make everything happen by myself, but I am going to work real hard on my pace for the next month or so when I am training. Also, to answer RPI's suggestion about pulling back and being more of a midfielder, that is pretty much what i'm doing. I'll often get the ball 40 yards out or so, on the left sideline, and either just pass to a close teammate for a successful pass, or try to run up the sideline and make a cross, but those are rarely successful at this level.

12-16-2005, 08:36 PM	#20
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	November 2005 Nov 2 -- We don't play until the 12th. I work on my pace a little, though my goal is to have my energy at 100% when gameday arrives. -- The club sold 28 of my shirts last month, that's $392 for me. Nov 7 -- I train Pace up 1 and Strength up 1, and I've had too much alcohol trying to boost my confidence. Hopefully though that will be down most of the way by gameday. Nov 12 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Morecambe - Morecambe is 8th in the table, we're 7 points behind and 17th. I enter the game at 44% confidence, 32% alcohol, and 100% energy. Lets see how it goes. -- Well, not great, but not bad. I take a free kick in the 7th minute, my pass leads to the pass that leads to the goal. Course, no assist for that, but I'm happy nonetheless. We give up the tying goal in the 18th minutes and neither team seriously threatens again. I do end the game with one shot, 7 passes, and 3 tackles, not bad numbers, but no goals, no assists. I get a match rating of 5. -- For my efforts, my control and positioning both improve. Good good! MEDIA REVIEWS -- "has good stamina", "adequate", "Dixon's passing was solid", "the defense managed to control Dixon" Nov 13 -- New message there... "Your boss is concerned that you are not happy with the club, he offers to put you on the transfer list." I assure him that I'm not unhappy, I'm not taking the easy way out like that yet. Nov 14 -- We don't play again until the 23rd, so I have some room here again to do some things. -- I buy some alcohol, which sends my confidence over 60% for the first time in a long time. Alcohol is only at 48% and will be down nicely by the next match. -- I also train pace up two more times. Its up to 21. Nov 20 -- Easiest decision ever. Some fans are chantnig racial slogans during our games. I'm asked on TV what I think of it. I can either call out those fans, or say that 'everyone is entitled to his opinion'. I call the racist fans out and get a nice little free boost from the supporters. -- I also get the chance to train and train pace up twice. Its up to 24. Nov 23 - GAMEDAY Kidderminster vs Exeter - Kidderminster is good, 4th in the table, 13 points ahead of us. But this is the best form I've been in for awhile. 60%+ confidence, 99% energy, I'm fast and ready to go! -- WOOHOO. The speed was very noticible here, I got open a number of times, I was able to position myself where I wanted, to get to balls first, a number of times. I got a few shots off early but they didn't go in. In the 35th minute though, one of our midfielders got wide, sent a fairly nice cross into the box, and I headed it into the net!!!! We led 1-0 at that point. Kidderminster toughened noticibly, and they did tie up the game, it ended 1-1, but in the end, my match rating actualyl went up after that goal, as I was all over the pitch, I got a number of good passes in and a few more shots. In the end, 1 goal, 6 shots, 6 passes, 2 tackles, 9 match rating. Match Review -- "They couldn't stop Dixon", "opportunities galore", "Dixon is a rare talent", "solid passing by dixon" -- not a negative review in sight! My managers relationship rating went up to 58% (from 50), teammates went up to 32%, supporters are back up to 35%, and hopefully on the right track. -- We play again on the 26th, so no full out training for me. I do visit my family which helps that rating some. Nov 26 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Hereford - Hereford is 9th with 26 points, we're 16th with 17 points. -- Going into match day my alcohol rating was at 0%. I have a drink, it raises to 25% but it gets my confidence up to 91% for this one. Energy is at 100 too. -- BOOYAH. 22nd minute, Fleck is ahead of me, I pass it to him, he lays it back to me, and I shoot, my shot is off the keeper but Fleck puts it in, that's an assist, baby!!! 32nd minute I take a shot from out wide to the left, the keeper blocks it and no one is there to put it in. 58th minute I make a really nice lob but Fleck's shot is just wide, and 81st minute I get a shot that also goes inches wide. We win this one though, 1-0, and I am the man of the match!!!! -- After the match I'm asked to do an interview. I know interviews are bad bad bad when you have a demanding manager, but if I play well it will be ok, and I need the points elsewhere. I do the interview and praise my teammates. -- My support fro my manager is at 57%, and surely would have gone up if not for that interview. Teammates are at 46%, way up in just two good matches, supporters back up to 44% as well. My confidence has reached 100%!!!! MEDIA REVIEWS -- A full 8 notes on the game today, the media is all over me. "not great in front of goal" (booo), "Dixon passed the ball around well", "Dixon was special", "Dixon set it up", "just one goal separated them", "had plenty left in the tank", "Dixon had numerous chances", "Dixon got the man of the match award" Nov 29 -- I receive a signed ball of Stanley Matthews for my birthday from the boss. I thought my birthday was October 29. I probably entered something wrong there. I'm now 18 years old. Nov 30 - GAMEDAY -- Halifax vs Exeter - Halifax is 6 points ahead of us in the table, 11th vs 16th. My confidence and energy are soaring. -- Halifax opens early on us, they get a break and a goal in the 17th minute. I'm struggling in this one to get the ball in any sort of decent position. I get a couple of shots but one sails 30 feet over the net, and the other is wide. In the end, we lose 1-0. I get 2 shots, 3 passes, 3 tackles, and 1 foul(I never slide tackle, but if I had landed this one I would have had a one on one vs the keeper, worth the chance). There are positives though, that was a bad game but I still made some stuff happen, and I got a 4 rating. If my down games are now 4's instead of 2's I'm in for a much better time. END OF MONTH Everything was better in November. Hopefully I'll keep rolling along and improving and hopefully getting my pace up will be what's allowed me to turn this corner. Relationships Skills Standings Stats

12-17-2005, 01:04 AM	#21
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	December 2005 Dec 1 -- We've got til the 7th, so lets train a bit... Pace is up to 28, almost maxxed. -- The club sold 56 of my shirts last month, that's $784 for me, way up from last month. Dec 3 -- CONCACAF Stage 1 play is over. The US team I eventually hope to play for made it through. CONCACAF Group 2 is Honduras, Costa Rica, USA, Barbados, Mexico, and Jamaica. Go USA! -- A group of friends invite me to a casino. I bet 3 times on roulette then stop, I hope that helps my friends rating. I lose all 3 bets. Dec 4 -- Pace is now maxxed out. Shooting and Dribbling with some occasional passing and strength mixed in come next. Dec 7 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Grays Athletic - Grays is 5th in the table, way above us. I visited some friends a couple of days ago as well and I'm not as rested as I'd like, 68% going in. -- Its snowing. I hate snow. Grays should have scored in about the 3rd minute, the first time they took the ball down field, 3 deflections later though its a goal kick. Told you I hate snow... I get tackled hard from behind in the 20th minute or so, and I hurt my neck. I'm going to miss a week. We end up tying 0-0. Exeter never takes a shot. Dec 10 - GAMEDAY Gravesend vs Exeter - Gavesend is 7 points behind us and has a -19 goal differential. Too bad I can't play in this one. --We win 2-0. 15th in the league right now with 24 points. Dec 11 -- There are rumors that Man U is interested in me. Stupid media. I deny the rumors. More free love from the fans. Dec 14 - GAMEDAY Dag and Red vs Exeter - Dag and Red is 2nd in the conference, almost certain to promote. We are 15th, certain not to. -- I think I'm back from my injury, and will come into this game at 60% energy. -- Good news, and bad news. The good news is that I earned a 6 match rating with 7 passes and 8 tackles. The bad news is that we trailed 3-0 at the half, having not taken a shot yet, and never did score. My control and positioning both increase which is great news as well. MEDIA REVIEWS -- "Struggled up front", "Passing was solid", "he was nothing special" Dec 17 -- We're off til the 24th(thanks to being out of the league cup), so I get some extra training. Scoring Drill #9 is an 18 yard shot(outside the penalty box) w/ a keeper. Got it on the 2nd try. Dribbling #9 is dribbling between 9 cones in 15 seconds. 2 seconds to spare, whew. Dribbling and shooting are both up to 9. Dec 18 -- Your friends want you to go out drinking with them. No thanks, I've heard horror stories about 100% drunkeness and a pissed off manager when you do that. Instead, I have pissed off friends, down to 57%. -- I try to buy my friends off, it doesn't work. I spend $500 on a couple of things for them, no change in friendship rating. Oh well. I'll work it back up visiting them. Dec 19 -- Shooting up to 10, on a 'score 3 volleys' challenge. Those are painfully easy(hold down the shoot button, the end). Volleys also earn me a point in flair, flair is up to 8. Dec 21 --Friends are back up to 67% as I visit them again. --I also train shooting up to 11 in preparation for my next game. Shooting challenge 11 is to score from outside the box with 1 defender. Get the ball, line up near one side of the net, fire hard and straight before the defender gets there. Took me a few tries, but I got it. Dec 24 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Forest Green - We're 15th, 24 points. They're 19th, 18 points.. I'm at 94% energy and 99% confidence with no alcohol in my system. Lets go!awhile. 60%+ confidence, 99% energy, I'm fast and ready to go! --BREAKOUT GAME - I'd righted the ship in November, but this is the game I've been hoping I could have... and I got totally overshadowed in it by my teammate. Forest Green is slow. 17th minute, my proudest moment yet. I get a free kick from about 25 yards out(a ways outside the penalty box). I try to bend the ball into the corner of the net, and it works just like I'd planned. Lots of luck I know. But it was a thing of beauty. 34th minute, I lay a perfect pass into the box to Fleck, he scores. Assist! 2-0 Exeter. 43rd minute, I pass the ball ahead to Fleck from just inside midfield. He takes it and scores again, but no assist b/c he had the ball tackled away and had to recover it. 3-0 halftime! 2nd half, 55th minute, I get a shot, its blocked, rebound right to Fleck, HAT TRICK(for him), but on rebounds like that I get an assist. 69th minute I get the ball in the box and get taken down from behind. PENALTY! I hit the penalty!!!!!! I'm subbed out in the 79th minute. In the 85th minute Fleck gets his 4th goal and we crush Forest Green, 6-0! -- My stats - 2 goals. 6 shots. 2 assists. 7 passes. 3 tackles. 10 match rating!!!!! That was FUN. Match Review -- "Dixon was a decisive influence", "Dixon looked Dangerous", "Dixon passed the ball around well", "Dixon put away two goals", "a goal fest", "Dixon put in a first class performance" Dec 25 -- I have to miss training to go home and visit a sick relative. Dec 28 -- Shooting is up to 12. Challenge is to score vs the keeper from 25 yards out. Trivial(line up so a straight shot hits near the right edge of the goal. Fire hard. Keeper can't get there). I'd like to train again but I have a game coming up and I need to visit my friends to continue to recover that rating. Its now back up to 71% Dec 31 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Crawley - We're 15th with 27 points, they're 18th with 18 points. We hope to dominate! -- We do dominate, everywhere but the score. Fleck gets an early goal(I have no part in it). I get a free kick in the 37th that I misplay, a few more shots in the first half go wide, and a few more in the 2nd half are saved. I should have scored at least once, and could have had a hat trick. Instead I come up empty. Partially my scoring rating and partially my personal keyboard skill I imagine. We hang on for the 1-0 win. I get 8 shots, 3 passes and 4 tackles for a 6 rating in the win. MEDIA REVIEWS -- "a mediocre performance", "Dixon carved out numerous opportunities", "not great in front of goal", "Dixon didn't pass the ball well" END OF MONTH December was a good month. We moved up in the standings, my family loves me, my friends I'm winning back over even though I won't let them ruin my career, and my manager, teammates and supporters are all on my side again, at least more than last month, though it will take some more consistancy there. We've got 18 more games, so we're a bit mroe than halfway through the season. We are too far behind to win promotion I assume, but there is the opportunity for us to go on a run and get into the top 10, maybe the top 5. We're 17 points behind 3rd, that seems to be just too far even if we've turned a corner as a team and win a ton more. Personally, I am now just starting to get more chances to score, and right now, I'm not taking advantage of them when they're not free kicks/penalty kicks. But I'll be getting more practice in and will hopefully start to improve there in game as well. Relationships Skills Standings Stats

12-17-2005, 02:45 AM	#22
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Jan 2006 Jan 1 -- I get in an argument with the boss in practice. He throws a cone at me and it gives me a black eye. He asks me to keep this private, and I do. This pleases him and my relationship with him actually goes up... -- I train passing up to level 5. Based on the message boards, I see that when taking penalty kicks and goign one on one with the keeper in a game, most people find the ball easier to control by passing, so I'll catch passing up a few points. This drill was to make a pass and land the ball on a little target on the field a few yards wide. -- The US and Mexico are running away with CONCACAF early. Mexico 4-0-0, US 3-1-0 (using soccer formatting, that's win/tie/loss). -- The club sold 112 shirts with my name on it last month. $1568, that puts me over $10,000 and that's the most money I've earned at any one point by a long shot. Jan 4 - GAMEDAY -- Canvey vs Exeter - We're 14th with 30 points, they're 20th with 17 points. -- My worst game in some time. Canvey plays the 3-5-2 which we seem to struggle with a lot. It's only terrible, terrible shooting on Canvey's part that kept it scoreless for so long. I get one wide open shot vs hte keeper and I can't put it by him. We get a last minute goal by Fleck(89th minute) for the 1-0 win, which is great, but 3 shots/3 passes for me gives me my worst rating in awhile, a 3. MEDIA REVIEW --"Dixon stays on 4 goals this season", "Dixon tried to pass the ball", "Dixon needs to focus his talents" Jan 7 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Cambridge - Cambridge is at 57 points overall, we're so far behind them its silly. They lead the group. -- My confidence was down under 80%, and I decide to have a drink. -- We should have gone up 1-0 in the 9th minute, I fed fleck perfectly in the box, but his shot was just wide. The rest of the first half, I had a ton of chances, I am so much faster than their defenders, I got a couple of breakaway chances and either missed my shot, or it'd get blocked and my rebound shot would miss too. Finally in the 64th minute in the 2nd half, I shoot, the keeper dives, blocks it, and I get to the rebound and put it in!!!! 1-0 Exeter, and I should have scored again, but same old same old, right at the keeper. But we hang on and win, thanks to my one goal, 1-0! -- 1 goal, 10 shots, 3 passes, 2 tackles, 9 rating for me. If I get this many chances I have to score more than once, but hey, we beat the top team, and we've moved up to 12th in the table with the big win. MEDIA REVIEW --"A clinical finish from Dixon", "Dixon was simply superb", Dixon looked sharp, "Dixon occasionally passed the ball" -- I am asked by a reporter what my goals for this team are. "Finish at the top", "Finish mid table", or "avoid relegation"... I select "finish at the top" and get a response that my goals are too unrealistic. No matter. Jan 8 -- I fail my first challenge. Knock over 3 cones in 20 seconds passing the ball. I get 10 balls. This one is extremely easy and I have no idea how I fucked that up! Oh well. -- Mexico beats the US 1-0. Jamaica is within striking distance of the US halfway through qualifying. Jan 11 - GAMEDAY Burton Albion vs Exeter - They're 7th with 38 points, we're 12th with 36 points. We're right in the middle of the pack here, this is big for us. We're still 17 points out of 3rd, but we want to do as best as we can stil. -- 11th minute, I make a nice long pass ahead to fleck, and he buries a shot in the corner, 1-0, assist Dixon! Burton Albion never really threaten, and I'm better than anyone on the pitch. I should have scored 4 goals. But, none. Still gotta work on this, because I tried about 3 different things on breakaways and nothing worked. We win this one 1-0. -- After the match I gain in Control, Both Feet, and positioning, very good! MEDIA REVIEWS -- lots of notes, the big ones... "had 9 shots", "needs to learn that sometimes the simple passes are best", "extrodinary performance", "just couldn't score", "credit for the assist", "was still goign strong at the end" Transfer Offer -- Whoa, whoa. Southend in League One is offering me $1655 per week for 2 years. I want to take it, but I decide not to. I can absolutely dominate this level, and until I learn how, I don't want to move up. I still have to learn how to score against weaker competition. When I do that, I'll probably take the first offer I get. Jan 12 -- I train shooting to 13. Score from 25 yards w/ a defender. Takes 4 tries. I go for 14 as well. Score a volley from 18 yards out vs a keeper. That takes me 8 or 9 tries(I think I had 20 tries) but I got it eventually. Scoring to 14, Flair up as well. Transfer Offer -- Plymouth is 8th in the League Championship (between Premier and League One). Offering less money but more bonuses. But I still wnat to stay for now Jan 14 --I go ahead and get passing up to 6. The same 'hit 3 cones' drill I missed before. The hard part was that I only had 6 tries. And level 7... 5 cones, 10 balls. Got it on the 9th one. Jan 18 -- Shooting to 15, score from 30 yards out vs keeper. And level 16, from 30 yards out, 1 defender. And out of nowhere(energy was 100%, 3 trainings!), set pieces up to 3. Free kick vs no one from the right side. Jan 21 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Altrincham - Whew, lots of training coming into this game. We're 9th with 39 points, Altrincham is 12th with 38 points. Big game, and we can move up a slot or two with a win and some help. --Its pouring down rain and both teams have trouble controlling the ball it seems,but we struggle a lot early. For the first 20 minutes we can't get it out of our half of the field. I get a scoring chance in the first half and blow it, that's it. 50th minute of the 2nd half I get the ball and basically do the drill where I shoot vs a defender and keeper, and drill the ball intot he left side of the net!!! 1-0! I get a few more chances and just can't do anything right with them, but in the 76th minute I take a shot from 30 yards out, it's off the keeper, Fleck drills it home, assist! We win this one 2-0 and I get a perfect 10 rating. Contract Offer I get a contract offer from Luton Town in the League Championship... this one I'd consider taking, looks like its time for me to move up, but these guys are likely going to get relegated. I'm not sure if I want to screw with that, so I reject this one too. Jan 23 -- Dribble through 10 cones in 20 seconds... dribbling up to 10. Also score vs the keeper from 40 yards out. No sweat. Shooting is now 17. Jan 26 -- Passing up to 8 after hitting two targets within 20 tries(took me 3). I have more energy but I'm saving it for the game. Jan 28 - GAMEDAY Aldershot vs Exeter - We're 7th, 42 points, 15 points out of 3rd. Aldershot is 6th, 44 points. We can jump into 6th with a win, obviously. -- 96% energy today. This is a tough one early. We go to the half 0-0 without much action at all. I have a fairly bad 4 rating. The second half is better though, in the 62nd minute I'm able to find fleck and he shoots, gets his own rebound and scores. I don't get an assist but we need to win here! 75th minute a hard shot is blocked by our keeper, but he can't totally stop it, and its tied 1-1. It looks like this is going to end in a draw, I get one last chance in the 88th minute, I get around my man, fire a shto at the keeper, he is there but the rebound is mine. GOAL!!!! 2-1 Exeter, on a game winner in the final minutes. -- 1 goal, 5 shots, 5 passes, 3 tackles, 8 rating. It was a 3 rating until that goal, whew. MEDIA REVIEW --"fantastic at times", "reasonable passing by Dixon", "Dixon finished it in style" END OF MONTH Well, I got better in January. Its apparent that I won't be with Exeter long, I'm League One/Championship talent now it appears, though I wish I had more goals. I'm not going to do screenshots every month anymore, things don't change a ton there. We made a huge run this month and are up to 6th, but we're too far out to consider promotion. My value has shot up to $70,000, and my ratings have gone way up too. Things are looking good! My manager is up to 75% on me, so are my teammates, the fans are over 70%, things are good, too bad I'll be leaving soon.

12-17-2005, 11:15 AM	#23
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	Isn't there a playoff for 2nd-5th place??? If so, I say stay with Exeter and try to remain the big-fish/little-pond at least until the summer, if not another year! __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

12-17-2005, 05:01 PM	#25
hawk4669 High School JV Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Northern California	Very enjoyable read! I bought NSS3 the other day and am enjoying it as well. At the point now where I need to move up beyond amateur. Looking forward to reading more of your career! Cheers! __________________ Hawk4669 www.hbfire.org

12-18-2005, 02:25 AM	#26
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Feb 2006 Feb 1 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Accrington Stanley - We're 6th, 2 points ahead of 7th/5 points behind 5th, we gotta keep winning. Accrington is 11th, 4 points behind us. -- Confidence is high, energy 100%, relationships good, lets go! -- We can't get much going for most of the first half, though it feels like we're dominating posession and ball control. It looks like we're heading for a scoreless halftime when I get the ball in the box in the 44th minute, a defender brings me down hard from behind, PENALTY!!! and red card for him, we've got an advantage! I make the PK and we lead 1-0 at the half. In the 2nd half we get a good goal off a corner, but I wasn't involved. I get a few open chances and still can't score consistantly on them, which is frustrating. I end the game though with a 10 rating, 1 goal, 6 shots, 5 passes, 6 tackles in our 2-0 win. MEDIA REVIEW --"a stunning performance", "Dixon occasionally passed the ball", "numerous shots at goal", "a good finish by Dixon" -- The club sold 304 shirts with my name on it last month. That's $4256, almost 3 times as many as February! Feb 4 - GAMEDAY -- York vs Exeter - This is a big test, can we beat another playoff contender(assuming there are indeed playoffs at this level). They're 4th with 61 points. We're 6th with 48 points. -- York is so much better than us, faster everywhere, so much better passing. They scored in the 6th minute. We should have tied it up in the 90th, I got the ball down the sideline and fired a rare quality cross, the keeper went the wrong way after it, Fleck had a wide open net and missed. I get 4 shots but they weren't quality chances, 4 passes, 1 tackle, and a 4 rating. We lose 1-0 and it could have been worse. -- We remain in 6th after the loss but Grays Athletic has tied us. We have the goal differential edge over them though. Feb 5 -- I get one shot at training, and I go for Shooting level 17. Score 3 volleys from 18 yards out, 1 defender. This one was tough to get down, but I found the right spot to volley from, finding the right spot + curling the ball away from the keeper a bit and I got 3 shots in a row, skill up! I get a point in flair from this too, which is big. -- The US clinches a spot in the world cup. We still have a final qualifying match vs Mexico, but we can't win the group and can't finish worse than 2nd. Bragging rights only Feb 8 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Woking - We're still 6th, but tied for the spot, we need to win. Woking is 11th but only 4 points behind us. -- uggggh. We're so much better than them, but I just can't get these open shots to go in. 0-0 draw, and that's really all to say about that one. No one else on my team could get open without going way offsides, it was all on me, and I could have won this one for us. I get an 8 rating with a number of passes and tackles too, though I'm frustrated. -- We remain in 6th with the draw. 2 other teams are now tied with me. Feb 11 -- Passing up to level 10 - lob the ball over a row of cones and land it on a target. Passing up to 11, knock over 3 cones, land a ball in a target in about 12 trieS(I forget how many balls I got total). Feb 13 -- Set piece training #4. Score a free kick from the left side w/ a keeper. I can't f'ing doing it. UGH. I seriously have to learn how to shoot, heh. 20 tries, no good. Feb 15 -- Ok, I got the set piece training, but its still damn hard. I also do training #5 for set pieces... that takes me 13 shots, its the same challenge but from the right side. Feb 18 - GAMEDAY Tamworth vs Exeter - Still tied for 6th. Tamworth is 17th and way down the table, we're 17 points ahead of them. -- 10 shots! 10... no goals. 3 shots in one posession where I hit the damn goalie every time. But, I got the assist to fleck for the one goal we did score, and tamworth sucked. 1-0 win, I got a 10 rating, and we hang on to 6th for now. Feb 19 -- I'm given a chance to appear on TV to debate football. But, I know my manager would be pissed, I just leave it alone. -- I train tackling twice. Two easy cone tackling drills gets tackling up to 4. Feb 22 -- I train 'both feet' up one, I play on the left side, some of my shots are left footed, might as well. Feb 25 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Stevenage Borough - another huge game. These guys are 5th in the table. We're 7 points behind them, but the big job is to stay in 6th now. -- We're better than this team, I felt like we were in control and we had the pressure on most of the match. I get a few shots but they're generally longer shots without much of a chance. Finally, 67th minute of a 0-0 match, there's me, Fleck, and two Stevenage defenders rushing after the ball. I just start pounding the shoot button, I get there first and my shot goes by the keeper!!!! 1-0, and that's the final margin. I also have 10 passes to go with my goal, and of course 7 shots, which earns me a 10 rating in our big win. -- Grays loses today, so we're now 3 points above 7th place in the table. Feb 27 -- Shooting up to 19, score from 60 yards vs the keeper. END OF MONTH My form is pretty impressive right now, an average of 8.2 even with a 4 ratign. 3 of my last 5 matches have earned 10s. March is going to be big, its the last month of the season, and we play a lot, 8 matches, so there won't be much trainign at all. Exeter is in 6th with 55 points, 3 points ahead of Grays in 7th, 5 points ahead of Hereford in 8th. Stevenage is 4 points ahead of us in 5th. 4th is Kidderminster with 69 points, way way ahead of us.

12-18-2005, 04:08 AM	#27
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Mar 2006 Mar 1 - GAMEDAY Southport vs Exeter - Southport is dead last, 15 total points, a negative 31 goal differential. We'd better destroy them. -- 6th minute, I get the ball in the box, one on one vs the keeper, on the left side coming in at an angle, I lob the ball over the keeper and SCORE!!! Finally, a good open field goal. 10th minute, I pass the ball ahead to Fleck, he gets the goal, assist!!! We are in control, though I get a number of other shots(7 total) that's the last of the scoring. That's a 10 rating for me, and a 2-0 win. -- I now have 10 goals and 9 assists on the season. -- Grays loses, there's now 3 teams tied for 7th behind Exeter, but they're 6 points behind, so we have some room. Mar 2 -- We have enough of a break early in the month that I go train set pieces to 6. That's a penalty kick, very easy. -- The club sold 346 shirts with my name on it last month. That's $4704 and I've got some cash building up now($24,919 now) -- Arsenal beats Charlton 2-0 to win the English League Cup. Mar 5 -- Set pieces to 7, a free kick from inside the box with a 3 man wall. Easy to pass around though. Set pieces to 8 on a free kick from outside the box. This one was harder, took about 10 shots, but I got lucky and scored on it eventually. Mar 8 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Scarborough - Scarborough is 15th in the table, way behind us, and we expect to win. We have a pretty tough 3 match stretch somewhere in here, so we need to win these. -- 10th minute, I get open in the box, Fleck finds me, and my shot actually goes right where I wanted it to, right by the keeper into the side of the net!!! That's the only shot of the first half by either team. Second half we open up a bit more, but have some trouble scoring. 82nd minute though, I pass the ball to Fleck, he fires a shot off the post, but the keeper dives after it and is down, way out of position. I walk up to it and walk it into the net, two goals!!!! We win 2-0, I have 2 goals on 3 shots, 6 passes and 6 tackles. -- For the second time in my career, I am man of the match. -- My value goes over $100,000 for the first time in my career, I'm up to $110,000. -- My national team selection chances have gone from "no chance" to "not good" !!! -- With a stevenage draw, we're only 1 point out of 5th. Burton Albion is now in 7th, 6 points behind us. Mar 11 - GAMEDAY -- Morecambe vs Exeter - Morecambe is 8 points behind us, in 9th place in the league. -- A very hard fought game. In the 17th minute Fleck gets a goal, I have nothing to do with it. In the 40th though Morecambe gets one back. Neither team has any chances in the 2nd half. Total shots on the game: Morecambe 4, Exeter 1. I have to be thrilled with a tie there. 1-1, I pull in a 2 rating as I hardly touch the ball. Mar 13 -- Dribbling 11, 10 cones, 14 seconds, I make it with 1 second to go, whew. Set piece 9, a free kick vs a wall from a bit further out. I land it on the first try, just inside the side of the net. Mar 15 -- Dribbling to 12, I made better use of diagonal running that time and made it pretty easily. Mar 18 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Kidderminster - 5 matches to go, we're 6 points ahead of 7th place. A win over a better team(and a team we're likely to face if there's a playoff down here) would be huge. -- We are better than this team, I hope we get them in the playoffs!! In the 5th minute I run into the box with the ball, I really don't have anywhere to go, but I'm fouled, penalty!!! But, I shoot the penalty shot off the post, DOH. 29th minute, same thing happens again pretty much. I'm faster than everyone and get in the box, but while I'm building up power for my shot, I'm fouled. Amazingly, this penalty shot is high, and we go to the half scoreless. My two PKs are the only two shots of the match at the half. 49th minute I try a shot from 30 yards out or so, its deflected but Fleck is there, he scores, assist Dixon! We totally control this game, Kidderminster never takes a shot. In the 87th minute I get the ball from about 20 yards out, and I fire a straight shot past the keeper, GOAL! 2-0 Exeter, and that's the final. That's a 10 rating for me. -- 13 goals, and 10 assist on the season now. -- We're now 9 points ahead of 7th, that hasn't mathematicaly clinched yet, but we can do that next match with another win. Mar 20 -- Score from 18 yards out vs 2 defenders. Just back up, call for the ball, fire past keeper, easy. Mar 22 - GAMEDAY Hereford vs Exeter - Hereford was tied for 7th for awhile, but have fallen to 11th. Stevenage ahead of us by only 3 points, has to play Dag and Red, the 2nd team in the table. We could move to 5th today with some luck. -- Hereford is better than Kidderminster IMO. Their defense is at least, we controlled the ball most of the match, but had a hard time finding openings. I didn't get a single shot off myself, but 7 passes kept my rating up a bit. In the end, I made the key pass to Fleck in the 71st minute for the only goal of the match, that assist led to our winning goal, and gave me a 6 rating on the match. We're now 8 points ahead of 7th with 3 matches to go. Mar 25 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Halifax - Halifax is 13th, 16 points behind us. Earn a win here and we'll clinch 6th for sure, and we could still pass Stevenage(they're 1 point ahead of us after a draw last match) -- scoreless 1st half, I get a few shots but they're not good ones, I was just trying to force something in a few bad spots. 64th minute of the 2nd half, Halifax gets one past our keeper, and they lead 1-0, we have struggled to get anything going. But in the 73rd minute, I pass a long pass up to fleck, its actually slightly long, but fleck tackles the man that picks it up and scores!!! 1-1, no assist there but so what! 86th minute, I take my first ever corner kick. I send a high lob right to fleck, and he heads it in, GOAL!!!! That is an assist, and its an 8 rating for me in a 2-1 comeback win! -- We move into 5th place as Stevenage loses! Mar 29 - GAMEDAY --Grays Athletic vs Exeter - when I looked at the schedule to end the month, I thought this match might be for 6th, but nope. They're 10th, 13 points behind us, and we're on a roll. We need to stay in 5th though, as York has wrapped up 3rd(they could improve but won't drop). If we fall back to 6th we could well play York assuming there's a playoff. We don't want to play York. -- 3rd minute, we take the opening kickoff down, I line up a shot just like in training, and fire it by the keeper! 1-0, goal Dixon! And uh, that's it. 1-0 finish. I shoot 3 more shots off the post and a few more just over. So close to a giant game and a hattrick but so far away still. Stevenage ties today and that puts me 4 points above them. Apr 1 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Gravesend - we have a huge edge over them, they're in 19th, less than half the points we have. -- We close out the season strong, a 2-0 shutout. Fleck gets both goals, but I get one of the assists(and made the pass on the other as well but a deflection on Fleck's first shot cost me the assist). -- Club sold 464 of my jerseys for $6496 in March! END OF SEASON There is no playoff, anywhere. This game doesn't appear to implement that at all(if it does at least, it wasn't mentioned in any of the higher levels). The USA draws Senegal, Sweden and Australia in the world cup. --I train strength 3 times before the offseason starts. Once it does, I'm not allowed to train any more. I'll post some end of season screenshots tomorrow, this had some bad 'just one more game' moments tonight, I should have gone to bed an hour ago but had to finish the season!!

12-18-2005, 11:18 AM	#28
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	Sorry to get your hopes up! __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

12-18-2005, 12:51 PM	#30
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Here's how everything looks at the end of the season: Relationships Skills Stats I'm happy with how my stats ended up, espicially give how I started the season. It seems I made a ton of quick advancement this year. I hope I don't end up with a near maxxed out player by age 20 or something. I think that it would make the most sense for me to listen to transfer offers and be willing to leave for a higher division. I don't know if those offers will come during the offseason or not, we'll see. Also note that I finally got a little media attention, that is up to 10%

12-18-2005, 12:57 PM	#31
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	The US misses out in the world cup. With a 2-0 win over Senegal things looked great, but a 2-0 loss to Sweden made the final match vs Australia critical. That ends in a 0-0 tie, while Senegal pulls up with a 3-3 tie vs Sweden. Sweden advances easily, we tie with Senegal, same goal differential but Senegal has 5 total goals to the USA's two, and Senegal advances. Skip ahead to the quarters: Czech Republic 0, Netherlands 2 Portugal 0, Greece 0 (Portugal 4-3 penalties) Brazil 3, Croatia 2 (in extra time) Senegal 2, England 3 (in extra time) Semis: Brazil 2, Portugal 0 Netherlands 2, England 1 Finals: Brazil 1, Netherlands 0 Brazil wins it all. Whee.

12-18-2005, 01:01 PM	#32
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Awards You have won the Conference Young Player of the Year Award WOOHOO! New Season Start I get 2 points to each 'category' to train up. I train shooting 2 points in the skills category. In Technique I go with 'both feet'. In Fitness Pace and Stamina are maxxed so I go with Strength. In Tactics 'Positioning' goes up on its own from match experience a fair amount, so I put both points in vision instead. There is a list of offseason transfers and transactions, one Exeter player retires, not someone I recognized. Its August 2006 now and its time to dominate the Conference this season, matches start in just a few days.

12-18-2005, 03:22 PM	#33
Vince Pro Starter Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Willow Glen, CA	This is cool. Except for the fact that you got me playing this game, and I stayed up until 6 AM playing 'just one more game.' Bastard __________________ Every time a Dodger scores a run, an angel has its wings ripped off by a demon, and is forced to tearfully beg the demon to cauterize the wounds.The demon will refuse, and the sobbing angel will lie in a puddle of angel blood and feathers for eternity, wondering why the Dodgers are allowed to score runs.That’s not me talking: that’s science. McCoveyChronicles.com.

12-19-2005, 06:25 PM	#34
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Aug 2006 -- A computer issue caused me to lose the first week of the season or so. We run into Canvey in our opening game and I struggle, and the team struggles, they run a 3-5-2, and by the 2nd half we're in a 5-3-2 playing very defensive. We got very few chances anywhere. Aug 12 -- I train shooting up to 23... score from 30 yards out, 2 defenders. TOok me 4 or 5 tries, not a big deal. Aug 14 -- I visit my friends and family to get those ratings back high enough to earn me bonuses. Aug 17 -- Shooting up to 24, score from 40 yards out, 2 defenders. Easy as pie. Shooting to 25, score from 25 yards out vs 2 defenders, but only 20 seconds to do so. That one was tough, one defender was on me quite a bit, but I got it done on the first try. Aug 19 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Crawley -- I spent most of my time this game explaining how the game works to my son who was watching over my shoulder. I didn't do much to impress him as I missed 7 shots, a few of them were open chances that I should have scored on. In the 12th minute I get the ball to Fleck, who shoots, has a deflection, then scores on the rebound, no assist for me. In the 27th Crawley ties it up, and we can't ever score again. Exeter has 2 points after 2 matches, both on draws. Aug 20 -- Scoring level 26 - score from 30 yards out, 20 seconds to do so vs 2 defenders. My first shot curls into the left corner, whew. Level 27 - 3 volleys, 1 defender. Done easily, this one increases flair too, woohoo! Aug 23 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Bristol Rovers - Bristol was demoted from League Two last year. -- NOTHIN. These guys are good, at this level at least. We give up a freak goal, a header from forever away that snuck by our keeper somehow. I get a few shots, one of them a good shot that I should have scored but it was saved, and we end up losing 1-0. I get a 4 rating on 3 shots/4 passes. Aug 26 - GAMEDAY --Altrincham vs Exeter - We have to get off the blocks with a win here! -- ALRIGHT. We start out in a 4-4-2 attacking formation and it seriously pays off One of the midfielders(McConnal I believe is his name) who I've recognized as a good passer for awhile, is great crossing the ball in when he can get up ahead. In the 4th minute he gets the ball to me on a cross and I head it into the net, GOAL!!! 21st minute Fleck gets the ball and scores on his own, 2-0!!! 41st minute McConnal finds me again and I get a breakaway, and I'm able to put this one past the keeper!!! 3-0 at the half! 2nd half we fall back to a 4-5-1 so I'm int he midfield a bit more. I pass a lot, and I go up and try to score too, but we give up a goal and don't score anymore, 3-1 win. I am man of the match!! 2 goals, 6 shots, 10 passes, and 6 tackles on the day! Sponsorship Offer -- My first one!!! My media rating is up to 12% and I didn't think this would come for quite some time, but woohoo! Mitre offers a deal for me to wear their boots for 3 years for $275,000 per year. Considering I have $58,000 in the bank right now that seems pretty damn awesome. I accept w/o negotiating. I get to pick the color of my boots, and I choose black. -- I get paid and have $333,000 in the bank now, as my wife would say, "Time to go shopping!!" -- I also notice my value is up to $150,000, a new high. -- Ah-hah, buying nice things for relatives does help! I buy a $13,000 rolex for a family member and my family rating goes through the roof. That's right, screw hanging out with friends and family, I just spent a total of $30,000 and got both of those ratings to 90%. I'm saving my cash for that now. -- Shooting is up to 28, score from 40 yards out in 20 seconds w/ two defenders. Just a matter of lining up the shot well. And up to 29 as I score 5 volleys frmo 25 yards out in 25 tries. It takes 5 or 6 tries to find the right spot/angle/curve to shoot from, then I get it easily. Aug 31 -- I try training shooting to 30 but fail. Score from midfield in 30 seconds, two defenders. This one is hard to line up just right w/ the defenders and time limit. I'll get it soon enough though. END OF MONTH We got off to a slow start but I hope that last game will have us coming along nicely. I have 2 goals in 19 shots, slightly better than my 1 goal ever 10.69 shot career average. Last edited by Radii : 12-20-2005 at 09:25 PM.

12-19-2005, 10:16 PM	#36
nfg22 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Mar 2004	question... if I buy this game...can I play it on different comps...assuming I use the same name?

12-19-2005, 11:14 PM	#38
nfg22 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Mar 2004	aight ill buy it thenn...thanks for convincing me

12-20-2005, 01:30 PM	#39
nfg22 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Mar 2004	Im playing in the irish leagues and I find it the easiest to score if I use the pas button because it keeps it low

12-20-2005, 02:29 PM	#40
VPI97 Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Kennesaw, GA	radii, did you happen to notice Fleck's stats from the first season? Has it been more of you setting him up or vice versa? In my careers as a forward, I've teamed with both types...a scorer and a table setter. __________________ CT & Jivin - "Surprisingly Entertaining"

12-20-2005, 08:14 PM	#43
nfg22 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Mar 2004	My biggest problem is tackling...maybe as a forward I shouldnt but I end up getting a yellow a game and a red pretty often...any tips..oh and what moves do you use when it is one on one?

12-21-2005, 12:59 AM	#45
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Sept 2006 Sep 2 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Accrington Stanley -- This one is scoreless for 70 minutes. I didn't take a single shot in the first half, but I started taking some chances in the 2nd half. Accrington was fairly fast and we dropped back to a normal 4-4-2, and it was much harder for Fleck and I to get involved. I finally got involved in the 70th minute, I go down the left side and cross the ball(pretty poorly) into the box. Fleck runs it down and the keeper is out of position, and Fleck puts it in! In the 83rd minute somehow the other team gets a striker one on one with our keeper, and they tie it up. I get 3 shots in one flurry in the 89th minute, the first shot was just saved, and the two rebounds I just couldn't get it over the keeper. -- We end up in a 1-1 tie, 6 shots, 1 assist, 8 passes and a tackle or two for me, for a 9 rating overall. -- Only 64 shirts with my name on it, that's worth $896. Sep 3 -- Shooting is trained to 30!!! That last one was hard, I curved the ball in front of the keeper from right to left. -- Set pieces is up to 10 as well. I take all the free kicks and corners and penalties, I'd really like to get some more assists and goals off of these set pieces, so I'm going to concentrate on this until at least 15. Sep 5 -- Set pieces up to 11, the same free kick from the right side, 5 defenders. I'm getting a bit better at those. Set Pieces gets trained one more time here up to 12, 3 PK's in 10 balls. Those are trivial though. Sep 9 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Tamworth -- We dominate that one pretty well,I didn't take specific notes, as my son was watching me play again and asking a million questions I scored a goal, got a 10 rating, and we won this one 3-0, easy enough! -- We're up to 8th in the table after that win, and only 5 points off the top of the table. Sep 13 - GAMEDAY -- Exeter vs Southport - We're in 8th place with 9 points, Southport is in 20th with 5 points. -- We're faster than them, but its pouring down rain in the first half, and I think that negates our speed advantage some, it makes everyone slower for sure. I get 2 shots, 2 passes and 1 tackle in the first half but neither team seriously comes close to scoring. In the second half we switch to a 4-3-3 and its easier to get chances, and I get a bunch. In the 75th minute I get a flurry of what feels like 5 shots in the box, finally one of them scoots in, GOAL, 1-0!!! It stops raining and I help run out the clock for the win. 9 shots, 6 passes, 4 tackles, 1 goal, man of the match!!! Sep 16 - GAMEDAY --Morecambe vs Exeter - We're 8th, they're 9th right now, this is a big game to separate us early on and to keep us near the top of the table. -- This team is pretty fast, and speed seems to separate the good teams from the bad most of the time, so we have some problems with them. In the end I get about 7 shots but none of them are real good ones, 3 of them are on free kicks that I didn't have good angles on but I fired in anyway. But in the 78th minute(after we've switched to a 4-3-3 again) I pass the ball up to Ampedu, the 3rd forward, and he gets a goal, a very nice long shot past the keeper from 30 yards or so out to the left side, assist Dixon!! I get a 9 rating and we win another close one, 1-0. Sept 20 -- Over two training days I train dribbling up to 13, 14, 15, and 16. 15 is the first one I've ever seen that isn't just dribbling through cones. "Dribble to the penalty box(from midfield) without getting tackled" Sep 23 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Hereford - We're 6th, they're 12th, 5 points behind us. -- 8 shots, 10 passes, 8 tackles, that's easily good for a 10 rating. We only got one goal, and seriously I should have had a ton of goals here, but oh well. I got tackled in the box for a penalty in the 28th minute, red card for the other team, we had a big edge. I hit the PK forthe only goal. 1-0 win!! -- That's 5 goals in 9 matches for me so far this season, not bad! 2 assists also. Sept 25 I am interviewed after my last man of the match game and I decline to talk to the media, b/c that pisses off my manager. Then I am asked by a review board about an elbow that I saw a teammate give during a match. I deny I saw anything. That knocks my media attention all the way down to 0, and I lose my shoe sponsorship. Oh well! Its apparently pretty hard to do well in the media's eyes with a Demanding manager. -- Dribbling up to 17. I'm getting noticibly better(faster) at it too, at least in training. Sep 23 - GAMEDAY Grays Athletic vs Exeter -- We're 1 point off the top of the table, 18 points, in 3rd place. Grays is in 19th, way back and with a -4 goal differential. -- The dribbling skill makes a huge difference against a slower team, I was able to do a lot more on my own this game. On our opening posession, I pass the ball ahead to fleck, he's in great position to shoot, but his shot is deflected. I dive onto the ball and head it into the net!! GOAL in the 3rd minute. After that, its pretty slow, I have some chances starting from midfield, and I actually went andhelped out in defense a couple of times. My 6 passes and 5 tackles after the goal preserved yet another 1-0 victory. -- Two of our starters are hurt, midfielder mcConnal that I like so much, and now a defender. Sep 30 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Forest Green - we're still 3rd, with 21 points, Forest Green is 17th, with 9 points. We're still 1 point out of 1st. -- Two good passes to fleck early in the 1st half but he comes up empty. By halftime its 0-0 and I haven't done much else. In the 2nd half my stamina gives me more chances, and I end the match taking 7 shots total, but not a single one can find the back of the net, a couple of them I really should have made, one where a well aimed pass would have been fine but I pressed the shoot button instead. 0-0 draw. END OF MONTH We're winning, and we're near the top of the table, in a position to be in first if we can beat the good teams in the conference. My form is spectacular, average of 9.0 in my last 5 matches. I have 6 goals in 11 appearances this season, 2 assists. I'm on pace for about 3 times more tackles than I had last season. I am, in fact, top 5 in the league in passes, tackles, and goals. I'm not leading the league in any though.

12-21-2005, 01:20 AM	#46
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	I'm done for the night and won't get to finish the month until tomorrow at the earliest, so I wanted to post the start of October, you'll see why. Oct 2006 Oct 1 -- I complete dribbling level 18, but fail at 19, silly me, I just took off and hit a cone. -- The club sold 232 of my shirts, giving me $3248 last month. Oct 3 -- That's better, dribbling up to 19 and now 20. -- For now, I'm going to work on a combination of Strength and Both Feet, I'd like to see both of those improve. Oct 11 - GAMEDAY Carlisle vs Exeter - This is a good test. They got relegated and are 4th in the group riht now, just 1 point behind us. -- This line was a pretty normal one for the most part. 7 shots, 8 passes, 7 tackles, I've been getting games like that for awhile now. But this time there was just one little difference. Those shots were going in. ALL OF THEM for awhile. My first FIVE shots found the back of the net. All but one were the same, shots right into the side of the net, their keeper must be slow, the same type of shot that gets blocked as often as it gets by(or goes over/by for a goal kick). But todya, they all hit. My fifth goal was on a penalty kick in the 2nd half. -- Oh yeah, I didn't score them all... I found Fleck for the final goal, ASSIST -- So that line: 5 goals, 7 shots, 1 assist, 8 passes, 7 tackles. I am the man of hte match, and I do the post game interview, boss be damned. I now have 11 goals in 12 matches, my shots per goal is down to 6.55 (from up around 10 most of the time). -- I now lead the league in goals and passes, and am 3rd in Tackles. I have the only hat trick in the league so far this season.

12-21-2005, 05:15 PM	#48
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Oct 14 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Burton Albion - We're in 3rd with 25 points, Burton Albion is in 19th with 11 points. Lets hope they're a lot like Carlisle -- This one seemed tougher for awhile, We actually trailed 1-0 after 37 minuets, despite attacking 90% of the time. Finally in the 41st minute we got moving, I got into the box and fired a shot past the keeper, 1-1 tie! That was the halftime score as I had 2 shots, 2 passes and that was it. The second half I moved around more and took control of the ball from further out, and it paid off. I can dribble around a lot of these guys with ease, and I rolled off two more goals for my 2nd straight(and 2nd career) hat trick before it was over. 3-1 Exeter, 3 goals on 8 shots, 6 passes and 2 tackles. I did actually go outo f my way to try to grab an assist, but Fleck couldn't finish. Oct 16 -- Both feet gets trained twice. -- Doing interviews kills your relationship with yoru manager. I decide I don't want a demanding manager when I get transferred out. Oct 21 - GAMEDAY Boston United vs Exeter - We're now 2nd, 28 points, Boston is 1st with 31 points, another good test, and our chance to take over 1st. -- No man of the match for me today. We score in the 3rd minute, I run down the field with the ball but there are 5 guys on me, I'm abel to get it to fleck and he scores, but I don't think I get an assist there b/c of keeper rebounds or something. 8th minute they come right back and tie it up, 1-1! 19h minute I cross to fleck who scores, same situation, I get ahead quickly and 5 defenders are all over me, fleck is slower and comes up the right side late, I pass to him when I'm fully covered, he's wide open. AGAIN no assist and I don't know whythis time, it looked clean to me. 28th minute I get an easy goal, a hard shot from 30 yards straight into the side of the net. 35th minute Fleck again, same situation, GOAL for him, hat trick in 35 minutes!! AGAIN no assist though, and again I don't know why. We lead 4-1 at the hlaf. 63rd minute Fleck shoots, goalie blocks it, I head it in!! GOAL ME! 5-1. 79th minute I shoot, Fleck gets the rebound when the keeper saves it and scores. That one nets me an assist. I'm subbed out in the 80th minute, we lead 6-1 at the time. Boston gets another final goal before its over, 6-2! -- 2 goals, 10 shots, 4 passes, 1 assist, 2 tackles. I really thought I earned 3 assists there, if not 4, but no credit for them. Oct 23 -- Both feet is now up to 15. I am still ignoring women by the way, just not mentioning it every time I do. Oct 25 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Aldershot - We now lead with 31 points and our +19 goal differential, Aldershot is 8th. -- Another one where it takes us awhile to get going. Aldershot is reaosnably quick and they're making a number of good tackles. I can't get anything going with my teammates and my individual timing is off. But no fear, opening the 2nd half I run down and score all by myself. 62nd minute I get the ball at midfield, run down and score all by myself. 82nd I shoot, fleck is there to put in the miss, assist for me, goal for him. 3-0 win and its time to get a transfer to a higher group. -- 2 goals/8 shots/1 assist/4 passes/4 tackles. -- My international selection prospects are now "good" !!! Oct 25 - GAMEDAY English Cup Exeter vs Bristol City - Bristol City is 10th in League One(two steps down from the premiership). This'll be interesting. -- We got owned. I had 3 shots to score, 3 good shots to score, but it would have taken every single one of them to keep us in this one. As it is, one I just choked on and put wide, the other two were saved by the keeper. We lose 3-0. 5 shots, 4 passes, 3 tackles and a 4 rating for me. Oct 31 -- I train Vision to 10 and Control to 16 or so(forget the exact number) and that's the end of the month. END OF MONTH I think there's no way we would end up anywhere but first place if I stay in the conference all year. But this level of dominance is not going to keep people entertained for long. I'd also really liketo move to a different team where I can work on my media relations without pissing my manager off. To finish out the month, I request a transfer to another English League team. I'd like to bypass League Two altogether, but anything in League One or higher with a manager style I can live with is fine with me.

12-21-2005, 06:13 PM	#49
MacroGuru Coordinator Join Date: May 2003 Location: Utah	BTW...your dynasty forced me to buy the game. __________________ "forgetting what is in the past, I strive for the future"

12-22-2005, 12:51 AM	#50
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Nov 2006 Nov 1 -- The club sold 592 of my shirts, giving me $8288 last month. Nov 4 - GAMEDAY Woking vs Exeter - Woking has 18 points and is 13th in the table, near the middle of the pack. -- 17th minute, I find Fleck, well, sort of, I pass the ball but their keeper gets to it first, Fleck takes it when the keeper tries to pass it out and scores though. 23rd minute Fleck gets a goal all on his own, and finally in the 76th minute I get a solo goal all on my own. We win 3-0 easily. 1 goal/6 shots/1 pass/6 tackles today for an 8 rating. -- My value is as high as ever with a $240,000 rating. -- I get an offer from LOTTO boot company to wear their boots. The offer is for $349,000. I take it. That feels like somewhat of an exploit to get money early, get a sponser, get full payment, get dumped by sponor, get a new one... Now I have $658,895, and if I lose this spnosorship b/c I have to stay out of the media to keep my manager appeased, I won't take one again while I'm with this team. Nov 8 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Stevenage - Stevenage almost won promotion last year, and they're in contention this year, in 8th place. We're tied at the top with boston united still, but have a stunning +25 goal differential in 16 matches. -- They have no prayer. 28th minute, I'm fouled in the box, their keeper makes a nice save on it though, but its a corner. I take the corner and lob it to Fleck who heads it in!! We don' score again in the first half but they wear down in the 2nd half and I take over. Goal in the 58th, goal in the 75th(on a beautiful cross from the left side that I volley in), goal in the 80th minute, then I'm pulled, we win 4-0, man of hte match for me, I do the interview after the game and piss off the boss agian. Nov 11 - GAMEDAY Scarborough vs Exeter - Boston United lost, so we lead by ourselves. Scarbrough is in the middle of the table with 21 points, in 14th. The next victim. -- On the opening kickoff I take the ball down and score a goal all by myself. I do something similar(take the ball from midfield to score) in the 29th, 42nd, 45th and 60th minutes. After that I try to pass as much as possible in midfield, before I'm pulled in the 63rd minute with 05 goals on 8 shots, 7 passes and 1 tackle, a 10 rating and man of the match. Nov 14-17 -- I train up vision and positioning a bit, I'm catching up on the traits/abilities that are lagging behind before making pushes at passing and dribbling and the other stats that are lagging badly(tackling/heading) Nov 18 - GAMEDAY Exeter vs Kidderminster - These guys are in 7th, not bad. -- These guys are fairly quick and I had a hard time setting up the easy shots. In the 42nd minute I was in the box but covered heavily and was able to slide the ball over to Clay, the front man in a 4-4-2 diamond formation that we played, Clay fires a shot in, and we lead 1-0, my assist. We don't let them come even close to scoring and finaly in the 83rd minute I get a solo goal, I took the ball from behind midfield all the way up and scored. 2-0 Exeter! HAH --" At the end of training your boss openly criticizes you for your lack of effort" I want to tell him to kiss off but I stay and practice later to keep people happy. That annoys my friendS(my other option was to go out drinking with my buddies). I find though, that art solves all problems, and I spend $50,000 on a modern art painting for my friends. They love me again(I spent more than necessary... all the way up to 100%). Nov 22 - GAMEDAY Halifax vs Exeter -- Halifax is 20th with 11 points and a -14 goal differential. Our goal diff is up to +36, this should be easy. -- Well, we get on the books early, I fire a long shot by accident(just after a tackle) in the 3rd minute, it bounces off the keepers hands and Fleck drives it in. 16th minute Teylor, another midfielder of ours, scores to make it 2-0. 21st minute I get a solo goal(1 goal/1 assist), but in the 28th minute, we have a problem. I'm tackled hard and I come out hurt. We go on to score again and win 4-0. Injury --My physio thinks I will be out for NINE weeks. UGh. Nov 29 Happy Birthday to me. I receive a signed Alessandro Del Piero shirt from the boss. I'm now 19. END OF MONTH Up until I got injured, it was looking like a goal scoring marathon until I get picked up by another club. Now I have to click 'continue' for 9 weeks it appears.