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Quackles posted:BTW, I changed my mind. If I do get a punchable, I'd like to control them directly as per everyone else. Certainly. This isn't an if it's a when, most likely next transfer window as you are presently at the top of the list.
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Feb 13, 2023 18:35
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Really tempted by Long Pass but I don't how often the Keeper ends up with the ball, so I will go Defence and Reaction please. Up the Crabs!
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Feb 13, 2023 22:07
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ShadowedFlames posted:- Stadium Expansion: No. As documented by others, we’re not going to be above cap for long. What we have is just fine. Plan ShadowedFlames works for me. Delighted to see my guy’s gimmick put to good use as we win promotion.
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Feb 14, 2023 02:24
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Coward posted:Really tempted by Long Pass but I don't how often the Keeper ends up with the ball, so I will go Defence and Reaction please. Done. The answer to how often you have the ball is 'it depends'. Goal kicks happen rarely. If the opponent is trying to score a lot with skills/Precision Shot you end up with the ball quite a bit; if they're going with crosses/power shot most of the time then it can be quite rare. Basically the better the rest of our defense is the less it happens, and the opponent also has a great deal to do with it - so it just varies.
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Feb 14, 2023 06:33
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Strategic Sage posted:Done. The answer to how often you have the ball is 'it depends'. Goal kicks happen rarely. If the opponent is trying to score a lot with skills/Precision Shot you end up with the ball quite a bit; if they're going with crosses/power shot most of the time then it can be quite rare. Basically the better the rest of our defense is the less it happens, and the opponent also has a great deal to do with it - so it just varies. Yeah, I was thinking our Defence is pretty solid, so if they get past that, the Keeper needs to be upskilled to stop them, rather than counter-attacking. Maybe if we go a secomd skill.
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Feb 14, 2023 06:39
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Vote Results - Youth Signing: G Weimer, 11 in favor, 0 against, 0 abstain - Playing Time: Rotation, 10 in favor, 0 against, 1 abstain - Youth Work: Rivalry. 8 in favor, 2 abstain, 1 for Request Defender - Stadium: 0 in favor, 9 against, 2 abstain - Academy Staff: 2 Second Youth Coaches out of 11 votes - Training Grounds: 4 in favor, 1 against, 6 abstain - Training Staff: 7 GK, 2 Defender, 3 Midfield out of 11 votes - Medical Center: 7 in favor, 4 abstain - Medical Staff: 1 Head Physio, 6 Chief Physician out of 11 votes. Overwhelming consensus was achieved for: - signing G Weimer, now known as G Coward - Rotation playing time approach - Youth Rivalry - Rejecting the Stadium proposal Other matters were less clear. We have decided to upgrade the Medical Centre and the Training Grounds, the latter of which narrowly made the minimum quorum of support. 40% is needed, and 45% voted on the issue. In terms of staff, an average of 0.2 Academy staff were voted for; none will be hired. 1.1 Training staff, so we will get one; a clear majority wanted a Goalkeeper Coach. 0.6 average Medical staff, so we narrowly get a hire there as well. Chief Physician was the runaway choice. If I may vent here for a moment - this is just sarcasm, don't take it personally - I nominate the three coaches who voted for the Training Grounds but did not actually vote for hiring enough coaches to make use of it as medal winners in the Money-Wasting Olympics. Up to you to answer this question. Of course, it's not as bad as all that; we can still use it later and assuredly will, but it will be useful to remember in future votes that Training Grounds and Medical Centre upgrades are only helpful in allowing more staff to be hired. If you don't actually hire any, they are unused buildings collecting dust and every bit as valuable as that sounds. Enjoy your 84,000-Euro monument to largesse. After implementing the above purchases as well as the routine contract extensions, we have 42 Glory and 10,863 Money left.
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Feb 14, 2023 06:44
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In my defense, I initially wanted two midfield coaches in addition to the Chief Physician, but then realized that we didn’t have enough glory to get three staff and also youth rivalry. At this point, I see it as an investment for the future and locking down the upgrade. And money just sitting there gathering dust doesn’t help any more than a better training ground. I mean, I could have voted for three staff, but that would feel like gaming the system.
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Feb 14, 2023 07:20
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As someone who voted for the training ground - what DTurtle said. This way, next time it comes time to spend Glory, we don't have to be like "and upgrade the Training Grounds". We will have it to hand.
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Feb 14, 2023 07:23
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DTurtle posted:I mean, I could have voted for three staff, but that would feel like gaming the system. Actually, that was covered in one of the voting adjustments; if you vote for more than we can afford, that part of the vote is discarded. On the rest, I will bite my tongue like a good manager and do as I'm told.
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Feb 14, 2023 08:10
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Oh, yeah, we locked down Training Grounds. Youth Academy? What's that? I'm sure we can just intake more 1-star players and feed them through enough coaches that they can get to, like, level 35, right? Yes, I'm very salty about this. To put things in some perspective: with our sponsors and at the ticket price of 15 euros, and our stadium size of 500, the maximum amount of money* we can make this entire season is 204 100 EUR. Realistically, it won't be that much, since we'll probably lose fans and the ticket income that comes with them. By the winter break (and the next coach vote), we can expect about half that (depending on our schedule). So we've spent 80% of the autumn round income on a building that does nothing for us now and which we won't be able to take full advantage of even if we had the Glory (and considering that we're looking at a whole lot of losing this season, we won't be earning that much of it, either). I will say that if we were going to grab a money sink like that, it's probably the best moment for it - there's only two contracts we'll have to deal with in the next transfer window: megane and myself. Megane will likely be very affordable and if we roll a good defender out of the Academy then we can probably sell my contract. *provided we don't get any more Fan Favourites into the team, but that's obviously impossible to predict.
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Feb 14, 2023 12:18
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It's cool. Sage is just going to keep winning against better teams while we get drunk in the pub, chanting the crab songs and deciding how to waste more money next time.
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Feb 14, 2023 12:56
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Tevery Best posted:Oh, yeah, we locked down Training Grounds. Youth Academy? What's that? I'm sure we can just intake more 1-star players and feed them through enough coaches that they can get to, like, level 35, right? I voted against you, but I gave you credit for accurately identifying a couple major problems we face: a bunch of 1-star players, including possibly future rookies, and a roster balance issue that has us short Defenders. Everyone here knows that as soon as we sell Insurrectionist I will resume yelling about double upgrading the Youth Academy, but we don’t have €525k so for now I don’t see an alternative to position coaches. The Training Grounds cash cost is dwarfed by the massive escalating Glory cost of the coaches so getting crappier staff from the Academy or Centre to pinch pennies does not appeal to me. We only have a single 1-star (Fat Samurai) receiving position coaching. I agree a Defender Coach does not work out great because our average Giftedness there is 1*, but getting our 2-star and 3-star players levels is good value IMO. The alternatives are nominally better stats on rookies and somewhat mitigating injuries and they don’t seem as good as a bunch of levels. The Defender issue is rough. We need more of them, but I don’t want to spend Glory requesting a Defender and getting a 1-star. If we don’t get any good defensive players soon, I might grit my teeth and join you. But I’m not gonna like it.
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Feb 14, 2023 13:28
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I'm sorry about the tone of that post. I got really salty over a video game I'm not even playing. I don't know what came over me. In my view, sure, Midfielder Coaches have been decent value in the sense that we have two 2-star players there, but also not so much because we have a grand total of 3 midfielders. Now, I'm not exactly sure how the various bonuses and maluses to XP interact - are they additive, are they multiplicative - but my instinct is that at least the giftedness malus is a multiplier to the actual base XP gain, and so the XP is just not coming in as hot. Basically training grounds coaches let us hit the ceiling faster, and after that that XP is kind of wasted. It's not that I am entirely against position coaches on principle or against Training Grounds in general, I just think trying to max them out ASAP means a lot of diminishing returns while we could be saving up to invest into actually making the team better instead of reaching mediocrity faster. The thing about Youth Coaches is that they benefit all of our players after we buy them, since we're playing a homegrown-only team. Having the new players start out better in their positions and collecting bonus XP for the first few years let us keep the cycle of replacements going. If you have a new defender, but his points are scattered around the stats, then you're wary of playing him and are forced to keep ageing players on the roster or risk losing games. This is a great mitigation for it, which causes new talent to enter the lineup sooner, and thus gives us more value out of them over the course of their careers. As for the Physios, the 2% reduction in injury risk or 20 days shorter injuries are not that impressive at first, but you have to invest in them to see the benefits compound until they become not just noticeable, but significant. They do suffer from the fact that you can't see them work - you don't get notified that you would have suffered an injury if not for your Head Physio or anything - but an injury or two can make or break our season. Right now, when we have almost no bench, is where they are the most dangerous, and any insurance that can prevent it is good.
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Feb 14, 2023 15:09
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7.20.31 Backpfeifengesichter @ Wurzburg It's hot for our first Second League match, in which we visit the one club we should be confident of winning.  There are a couple of forwards and green-shirts below this. I get off the bus here in terms of defending the roster makeup. They have two defenders and no keeper and aren't working on getting more; instead they are playing their glut of midfielders out of position. This level of fail shouldn't be allowed to happen. Subs: BraveLittlToaster, ShadowedFlame, PotatoManJack They start by challenging Tevery Best who takes the ball, then loses it, and immediately our defensive formation is swiss cheese. Among other stupidity, they miss a slide tackle on Dragongem, but that ends up with him out of position and pressed so we have no effective way to attack. Later Odd Wilson misses a slide tackle, and the result on the other end is this after they get a long pass through megane.  A successful break-in allows Dragongem to dribble past the keeper ... I'm sorry, I meant the midfielder, treating him like a rented turnstile to equalize. The heat gets to him after a repeat performance to start the second half, and he's out for ShadowedFlame. Then they shoot one through our line to even the score again. A turning point late as megane picks off their pass on a second attempt, then sets up Odd Wilson for one to give ShadowedFlame an easy goal. It proves to be the margin of victory, thanks only to Torranor stopping their last-ditch attempt to pass through us again.  Coach Level 13 is awarded; I take the 38 Glory. ShadowedFlame pre-selected his upgrade, 70% training time reduction.  I think it's weird that this comes here instead of during the off-season. Regardless, the President has  about the Second League. AJ_Impy gets L1 Olympic Kick completed, but he can't yet improve on it. 7.27.31 Bochum (1-0-0, 1st) @ Backpfeifengesichter (1-0-0, 3rd) It's hot again, and we're hosting probably the second-best club in the league. I can do without this kind of weather. Subs: Dragongem, Coward, Tevery Best  Their keeper has 104 defense. We either use a skill to score, or we're not scoring. Their fullbacks will make that hard as well. A weird 'checkers' defense formation, but I expect it to be effective. They hold it on the flank with LM Tagwerker, who has 76 control and L3 Slide Tackle. What do we do here? Answer: nothing, pretty much. Fat Samurai presses him, and is placed wide to stop any runs up to put in a cross easily, but in this heat I can't consider running Odd Wilson over to slide tackle, so ... we can't really do much of anything. CF Gehman has 111 accuracy. No, that isn't a typo, there are three digits in that. Fortunately he doesn't hit a great strike, and Torrannor manages to intercept. That was a gift. To the surprise of nobody whatsoever our try at running PotatoManJack up the flank fails, and Gehman gets a 65 on his next try. Ain't nobody on our squad stopping that. Tevery Best in for PMJ, Coward in at goal and Odd Wilson is out, BLT playing at wing defense. This is all just fatigue management. We're almost certainly losing this match, I don't want to lose more of them because nobody can stand up due to energy issues. A couple of more not-at-all-great goals from the foot of Gehman easily beat us. Rack up those missed saves, Coward; you'll stop some eventually. Although not from the likes of this guy. They bring a different forward in and the rest is an exercise is not getting anyone too worn out. An emphatic 3-0 buttkicking is our real intro to Second League play. Bochum beat Kaiserslautern 3-1 in their opener, so it's not like they aren't going to be doing this to quite a few opponents. In the process, PokeyTax has become an Amateur Defender (D) and has a skill choice to make. We also make a hair over 12k from tickets and sponsor payments combined. That's ... different than we are used to. Second League is really the beginning of starting to make some serious cash for our competitive endeavors directly, in addition to player sales.
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Feb 14, 2023 15:47
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  Layoff Pass, Head Play, or Reaction. Assuming you are still going with the DM first, then CD training plan you mentioned; if not, let me know. PokeyTax, pick a skill.
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Feb 14, 2023 15:47
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 What are those guys doing in Second League? Those stats should be good for a Premier League mid-table.
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Feb 14, 2023 16:49
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DM, Head Play. Plan to train CD after unless told otherwise. Was really hoping for Long Pass but the idea of putting on a janky hat that grants +100% exp is too hard to pass up regardless. Maybe they’ll loft it over me.
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Feb 14, 2023 17:02
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Tevery Best posted:
Their coach pulled reverse SS, and due to some amusingly bad plays are now a level lower than they are supposed to be 
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Feb 14, 2023 18:14
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This was probably written somewhere, but is it premier, first, second league?
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Feb 14, 2023 20:08
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DTurtle posted:This was probably written somewhere, but is it premier, first, second league? Yes. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4014526&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post526948206 TeveryBest posted:
You probably know, but others may not, that there's actually not a huge difference in terms of attribute score between a good Second League club, all the way through First League, and a poor to middling Premier League one. This leans back into the gradual moving away from attributes being that important, compared good squad construction of various classes, depth, skills & giftedness ... Bochum and Brauschweig are 3-star clubs, most of the First League is also 3-star, most Premier are 4-star. So clubs like Bochum are much closer to being Premier League quality than they are to being ... what we are. Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Feb 14, 2023 |
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Feb 14, 2023 20:47
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I feel like PMJ is starting to hit the end of his usefulness. He just doesn't seem to have the potential to succeed in 2nd League, unless I'm mistaken on what his single * rating means for his future. I do hope you're able to cash in on him when it's time to let him go.
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Feb 14, 2023 23:54
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PotatoManJack posted:I feel like PMJ is starting to hit the end of his usefulness. He just doesn't seem to have the potential to succeed in 2nd League, unless I'm mistaken on what his single * rating means for his future. He has L2 Long Pass, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. But yeah, at level 18 he's already gaining experience at a reduced rate (60% of regular). You'll slow down even more at level 25 and finally down to 10% at level 30. So there's a shelf life to him, but... We don't have a good rotation of defenders. We'll be looking for reinforcements in the next couple of seasons - at least I think we will - but we need bodies to put on the back line, and I think if we were rotating people out, you'd be fairly low priority. - Insurrectionist, while a much better player and with quite a bit of potential left, is already 27, has L3 Head Play, and will never be more valuable than he's now. - I'm a 0-star who's about to top out at level 15. - Torannor and Megane are in the same boat as you, but they both have Slide Tackle, so losing one of them does not create a capacity gap. - You're our only wingback. At the very least, I'd expect that you'll get L3 Long Pass before getting the axe.
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Feb 15, 2023 00:47
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What skill is our team missing the most? Nutmeg and rainbow feint ?
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Feb 15, 2023 01:39
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If you mean what ones we don't currently have, ShadowedFlame has Rainbow Feint. We don't have: - Throwing In - Intercept (coming with PokeyTax though as DMs get L1 automatically) - Layoff Pass - Strong Goalkeeper - Nutmeg If you mean what ones we most need more of for the club to play better, that's a complex question and one that you can't really answer in terms of just the skills/talents. What class the player is matters, how they combine with other players in the squad matters, and so on.
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Feb 15, 2023 02:53
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PotatoManJack posted:I feel like Backpfeifengesichter is starting to hit the end of its usefulness. We just don’t seem to have the potential to succeed in 2nd League, unless I'm mistaken on what our single * rating means for our future. Tevery Best posted:I don't know what came over me. we are all of us football players, football fans, and football coaches at the same time, the three angriest jobs a human being can have quote:My instinct is that at least the giftedness malus is a multiplier to the actual base XP gain, and so the XP is just not coming in as hot. Basically training grounds coaches let us hit the ceiling faster, and after that that XP is kind of wasted. More or less correct, the 10% is not something you can cheat out of. I think pushing into diminishing rewards feels bad but is nonetheless worth doing because those incremental levels are worth more in selling value and catching up to competition. But correct to focus on training our most gifted players. quote:It's not that I am entirely against position coaches on principle or against Training Grounds in general, I just think trying to max them out ASAP means a lot of diminishing returns while we could be saving up to invest into actually making the team better instead of reaching mediocrity faster. Yeah, that's the trick, what is the most relative benefit? With 10 coaches, we can max out a single position coach, considerably sharpen initial stats for recruits (First Youth Coach), or eliminate long term injuries (Chief Physician). Given that First Youth Coach does not change Fate and future stat gains, just initial stats, its power is muted right now because we aren't having recruits come in at level 25. You're right to note that it bumps up a player's long-term potential and it will become more useful later. Long term injuries can be mitigated with fatigue management but eliminating them would be better and we should do it in the long run. The problem is that the benefit is backloaded somewhat because of the way the math works, so having 5 Chief Physicians is not remotely as good as having 10 Chief Physicians. I do think these are both good things and maybe worth doing after maxing a position and maybe tossing in a few GK coaches. The reasoning behind the Midfield Cool Zone is that it's better to have one megabuffed position than four mildly buffed ones. Partially because we have some control over who goes where and can overweight our formation. Midfield is the best position to use because it gives 20% experience instead of 10% and it can accommodate a variety of stat spreads. I don't know if it would be optimal, but if we had 10 MF Coaches and no others, 4 AMs and 6 MFs would be a perfectly viable squad simply because they'd be super ripped. "We should be more like Wurzburg," I say, with confidence. (Remember, the bonus is about what your class is, not where you are located on the field.) Partially because the coaches stack in order to offset diminishing returns, so splitting that exponentially increasing experience linearly by sharing playing time can get you more bang for your buck by spreading it around. If I have a completely hypothetical player who splits time between DM and CD, he gets 1.5x experience. Going Utility becomes a better experience boost than going Dedication and offers team versatility too; I can level up a lot and then "retire" to Defense with good stats when a 3-star shows up and needs full time in MF. Primarily because I want to have a hat I can equip that makes me level faster. It's an inherently janky concept and could even lead to degenerate stuff like Sage reluctantly playing me in Defense while classed as DM to farm experience against weak opponents. That's the kind of nonsense I want to promote in this LP. Fortunately, this discussion is moot, because the System is Working and from now on we're going to have a scattershot distribution of coaches based on our own random noise. This is good! I got the coaches I wanted but this feels considerably fairer. Question for the head coach: how much XP do we get for a Second League win? I ask because, uh, we may not see another one for a while. Pokeytax fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Feb 15, 2023 |
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Feb 15, 2023 03:46
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Tevery Best posted:Lots of words Me, drunk in the public park not understanding what's going on until quote:it's probably the best moment for it Me, drunk in the public park, hooting and hollering in celebration because I'm a bad football fan and this is all I understood. Go crabs!
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Feb 15, 2023 10:45
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8.3.31 Kaiserslautern (0-0-2, 13th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (1-0-1, 9th) Subs: BraveLittlToaster, Torrannor, ShadowedFlame Kaiserslautern is off to a bad start, but they theoretically should be a top-half Second League squad. Of primary concern is LF Koch, 65 accuracy and 56 control. I might do something different in the second half, but for the first PMJ is out of position on that flank to block off a break-in. Our chances of preventing a crossing play though are not good. Dragongem is still somewhat fatigued, but out there to start the match with a break-in. They took the ball away from him cleanly, and ShadowedFlame was sent in to replace him at the next opportunity. Meanwhile Insurrectionist stopped a weak long try by one of their midfielders. In a strange play, their RM feinted past Fat Samurai so he could try the same thing on the other flank. Midfielder shots from distance is not the most high-percentage idea. Finally they get it to Koch late in the half, megane misses the tackle try, and the cross to one of their CFs puts them on the board. I went for a power shot to get a corner, but they keep it in play. Torrannor in for Insurrectionist to start the second half, more fatigue management. We'll go with a five-high defense since we're already behind and likely to remain so. He blocks their initial shot, but only a lucky slide tackle from megane temporarily keeps them from scoring. Soon afterwards they put a header wide that would have likely added another goal. They blast a shot through our line ... and then another despite Torrannor being motivated for that one. Another spicy 3-0 defeat at home. The fan exodus begins, just 5 of them for now. Kyoon Griffey Jr. has become a Universal Foward (FW).  8.10.31 Backpfeifengesichter (1-0-2, 11th) @ Cottbus (2-0-1, 3rd) Subs: Coward, megane, Dragongem  Everyone is back to full match readiness or close to it. Cottbus has fullbacks positioned to stop break-ins on either side, so Dragongem couldn't really do his thing here. One of their forwards, another guy in the 60s with accuracy, flanks our defensive line and scores with a fairly poor shot - 22 on the roll, but our effort at stopping it ended in the high teens. Anytime one of the CDs sits we are vulnerable to this kind of thing of course.  On the other end, GK Seizinger has good control, almost equal to his defense which is low by Second League standards. Our own flanking maneuver has a decent chance of netting a goal. It's not the best effort, and Shickedanz intercepts. They hold on the wing, PMJ narrowly misses a tackle, and then Cottbus tries to feint Insurrectionist. L3 skill, so it should have worked but he held them off. We hope for Odd Wilson to hold at midfield. They take it back ... but the fullback who did it is tired and it's an auto-success slide tackle to get it back. Long Pass into ShadowedFlame in the box ... it fails, but KGR tackles it back and has time for a power shot to get us a corner. Nope, they keep it in play. *sigh*. That was a couple of scoring chances that actually might have worked. megane in for Odd Wilson who need a rest. If we can get a goal on the kickoff here, maybe be can hold them out for a draw. Then they make a chance in response to ours, and there's a break-in opening on the left. I'm really not sure which gives us a better chance, but Dragongem is on for KGr. With 37 control, his last two rolls at retention have been 18 and 17, which here is just bad enough to lose the ball to the first challenge. Minimum roll 11 or 12, so that's pretty poorly done on both. Faced with no good options, we range megane out from defense to do some slide-tackling, and eventually he picks up a yellow card. We're close to keeping the margin to a single goal, but they get a pass through Tevery Best at the end and rainbow-feint their way to another goal.  If we had enough actions go our way, this could conceivably have been a 1-1 draw. Enough actions did not go our way. megane is the latest to reach his next SL upgrade.
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Feb 15, 2023 18:15
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  30% Reduced Training Time is the most obvious choice with L2 Slide Tackle still years away from finishing. Increasing the experience boost or going for something in Fan Favourite tree are also there. megane, you are on the clock.
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Feb 15, 2023 18:17
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Yellow card? I barely touched 'im, ref needs his eyes checked.  Let's go with -30% training time.
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Feb 15, 2023 19:08
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Tomorrow's update has two more matches as we gradually inch our way through this season. The ending of the second one is ... really something. PokeyTax posted:I don't know if it would be optimal, but if we had 10 MF Coaches and no others, 4 AMs and 6 MFs would be a perfectly viable squad simply because they'd be super ripped. No it wouldn't. I'm going to resist the temptation to unleash a lecture on what I think about coach investments, but I don't care how high your defense is, a collection of pure midfielders is going to be pretty bad in defense. At a certain point skills just matter more than attributes, and the other abilities of defensive classes matter also. When I see a midfielder in defense - not a proper DM, but one just hanging out in defense - they're often a target regardless of how high their defense is. An example: - If you have a high line, Nutmeg/Crosses will eat your lunch. Nobody on a midfield-only defense can react to the Nutmeg, etc. - If you pack the box, we can happily Rainbow Feint our way through. Again, nobody is reacting because they can't - that's a defender-only ability. Our team's major improvement in defense didn't happen when the players got better attributes. It happened when we got two fully-trained CDs, which allowed us to defend the corners of the box and prevent opposing players from getting close for easier shots or crosses without being auto-tackled. It's not as much of a factor when it comes to attacking, but I'd still rather defend against a group of high-level midfielders than a squad that has some reasonable mid-level forwards mixed in. I should also point out that if you look longer-term, it won't be possible simply because we won't be able to have a club of all-midfielders. There will reach a point where we can't do youth rivalry every window because it'll be too expensive - as in, more Glory than we even have to spend - and we'll have to make do with what the Academy sends us anyway. So it doesn't even matter if we want a club of all one position, eventually it will become completely impossible to sustain that. PokeyTax posted:Question for the head coach: how much XP do we get for a Second League win? I ask because, uh, we may not see another one for a while. me, at the start of this year posted:We've already seen the sponsor payment increase; tickets now go for 15 euros instead of 10, with a corresponding rise in match experience. PotatoManJack posted:I feel like PMJ is starting to hit the end of his usefulness. He just doesn't seem to have the potential to succeed in 2nd League, unless I'm mistaken on what his single * rating means for his future. You're not wrong, but the important fact here which others kind of touched on is that two-thirds of the squad is in the same boat. I think this would be a much more valid concern if we had anybody to replace you with. But since we don't, you're still a quite important part of the squad. Merely being a fullback matters quite a bit absent anything else, and this is really just a casualty of us moving through Third League in a single year. Takes time to turn over a roster with youth only, and there's only so much you can speed that up. Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Feb 16, 2023 |
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Feb 16, 2023 02:05
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I suppose our best bet is to aim for mid league to stay up, while frantically training/recruiting 2*+ players to match the skill level of teams here. Or set up the team to be jacked in comparison to Third League when we get relegated.
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Feb 16, 2023 08:48
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Breadmaster posted:Or set up the team to be jacked in comparison to Third League when we get relegated. This, I think.
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Feb 16, 2023 09:06
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Breadmaster posted:I suppose our best bet is to aim for mid league to stay up, while frantically training/recruiting 2*+ players to match the skill level of teams here. It's possible Insurrectionist hits his next SL before the season break or just after during the transfer window, gets a Fan Favorite value boost, and we can bail on avoiding relegation and sell him a window early to upgrade the Academy. It's increasingly clear that 1* players are not gonna cut it here, and if we plow into Academy upgrades we could well start seeing rookies who are level 20+ and on par with our vets. Definitely sobering for all of us seeing our 1* players trying to compete. There is no universe where we belong here at the moment even with Sage fighting for every single goal. Strategic Sage posted:We've already seen the sponsor payment increase; tickets now go for 15 euros instead of 10, with a corresponding rise in match experience. Thanks. Can you estimate what a second Academy upgrade would cost and give us for Giftedness distribution (ceteris paribus, etc.)? quote:No it wouldn't. I'm going to resist the temptation to unleash a lecture on what I think about coach investments, but I don't care how high your defense is, a collection of pure midfielders is going to be pretty bad in defense. you coach a (generously) mid-table Amateur club to first place in the Third League just once and suddenly you're some kind of football genius, huh???! quote:Tomorrow's update has two more matches as we gradually inch our way through this season. The ending of the second one is ... really something. 
Pokeytax fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Feb 16, 2023 |
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Feb 16, 2023 15:51
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Pokeytax posted:you coach a (generously) mid-table Amateur club to first place in the Third League just once and suddenly you're some kind of football genius, huh??
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Feb 16, 2023 17:31
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8.17.31 Halle (2-0-2, 5th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (1-0-3, 13th) Subs: Coward, megane, Kyoon Griffey Jr. It looks to me like a chance for points here, otherwhise I'd have a bit different lineup in place. megane and Odd Wilson could use some rest but I think they are good enough to go. I also am trying to get PokeyTax up to start working on training at DM, but with all the fatigue management going on lately plus a bunch opposite-wing forwards to deal with, it hasn't been an option lately. Halle has a green-shirt keeper, but also a sweeper and a high line of CDs. That means this is an opportunity to score ... if we can get to the keeper. Attacking from the right, Dragongem can break in against two of them with defense in the 40s. The other one has 69 ... we'll stay away from him.  We have to get past DM Szelig first though. His intercept roll here would be 58, so lofted it is; Odd Wilson is the only player who is at all reliable on these. He makes the pass, Dragongem easily gets by their sweeper ... and then rolls a dead-minimum 11 to watch their CD take the ball away. Dude, just stop doing that. Much of the action afterwards take place in our end. They feint Torrannor, Tevery Best narrowly succeeds in taking the ball away, then they take it back, then Torrannor needs both of slide tackle levels to get it back again ... next turn BraveLittlToaster bats away a power shot that almost certainly would have scored against Coward. We run it up the flank with PMJ, hoping to provoke a response from Szelig who has L3 slide tackle. He needs all three rolls to make the play, but more importantly he's now tired.  We've got just enough to set this up at the end of the half. That's Szelig bent over near the sideline. Diagonal from him is PotatoManJack, who got a long pass through to ShadowedFlame. If I'd put him next to the keeper, they would have been able to stop the pass from getting through ... but all we need is an open shot and we've got one. That was our first magical moment really in Second League. Scrappy defense just barely holding them off until we managed to manipulate an opportunity, and then execute for the goal. We're doing ok on energy. PokeyTax in for AJ_Impy at the 'stand near the sideline' wing defense spot. I stick with everyone else as is, trying to seize the opportunity. They try a long angled shot with LF Scragenheim. That becomes reasonable when you have 88 accuracy, but from that far out 44 is his max roll and he doesn't hit it great. Insurrectionist picks it off ... and then a bad pass - 19 vs. 14 roll so I took the risk - is blocked by one of their forwards. megane picks up another yellow trying to get it back; now he'll be sitting next match I expect and they have a close free-kick. A motivated Insurrectionist and also Torrannor form a wall, which they power shot into; it goes to another forward, but Tevery Best gets in the way of their pot-shot. There's lots of traffic, so ...  That's right, we're holding the ball on the wing with PokeyTax. They'll have to move to get there, but it's risky esp. with Insurrectionist out of position. The other option was the time-dishonored just blast the ball downfield. I'm not sure which is better. Note that Breinlich would be off-side here if they just manage to take the ball back and pass it to him. FW Hummel dashes from the other side of the formation and narrowly makes the tackle, 15 vs. 14 on the roll. They have no actions left though, and PokeyTax is now motivated. An Aggressive Tackle works, then he moves forward and holds again. It'll be even harder to take the ball from him this time, although they are closer to him now, and he's skill-immune. Even better, I'm able to move him into what is technically DM territory.  Jerks. At least he won't be out long. That's a yellow card for Hummel. With just one turn left for each side, I bring in Coward and send BLT out to the wing. Except it doesn't exactly work as intended ...  I'm calling this one a bug. Both keepers are in goal. Fat Samurai is set to take the indirect free kick because reasons ... closest player at the time, perhaps? Fat Samurai - Odd Wilson - Long Pass to Shadowed Flame. Has to get through their sweeper though, but has somewhat positive odds of it. Comes up one number short. 26 vs. 27. Now SW Rossen has the ball, on their final turn, whole length of the pitch to go. He has L3 Long Pass because of course he does, getting it through OW in midfield ... but they only get a super-long-range pipe dream out of it.  We don't need a lot of these to avoid being relegated, but we will need one every once in a while. Quite an intense match, and I'm not sure Insurrectionist deserves his MoM but we'll take it.  Our first suspension. Congratulations, megane! We are notified in two ways; this email from our Assistant Coach, and also on the squad screen.  The '1' on the yellow card icons tells us how many matches he'll have to miss. It's always a single match unless it's a straight red card, in which case I've seen it as high as 3. 8.24.31 Backpfeifeingesichter (2-0-3, 10th) @ Karlsruhe (1-1-3, 12th)  We're basically donating this match to science. We have little choice. Subs: BraveLittlToaster, PokeyTax, megane (suspended) With megane suspended and PokeyTax only a hair above the point of exhaustion, our defense is largely theoretical. Karlsruhe's keeper is highly unimpressive, but ** SW Heckers, 89 Defense, is not. A break-in against him is unlikely, but we don't have a better option to try. This is one of the clubs that I think we have a legitimate chance of beating out this year, but we went for the win last match and got it. This is the price we pay for that. They score on a cross immediately, and we don't really have a way to stop them from doing that all day long. Heckers takes the ball away from Dragongem easily on the ensuing break-in. It's been a fun match fellas, congratulations. Technically it's only the 10th minute, but this is pretty much already over. Heckers holds it on the side for some reason, Odd Wilson chases him down but that buys us time and little more. Down by one at the half, ShadowedFlame is on for Odd Wilson to give him a rest. They switch up their formation and take out Heckers, but still have six defenders. Most of them are in 50s with defense, a couple at over 70. It's not like they are pushovers. One side is overloaded with CDs, so Dragon attacks that way. He doesn't even get into the box, stymied by a max roll from CD Wurst. I remain convinced this has to swing back our way eventually. There's just too many favorable rolls on these plays that aren't falling for us. And as mentioned, it really doesn't matter because we have no chance of scoring in any other manner on kickoffs anyway. Dumb situation immediately afterward; Wurst gets a 2 on a L3 Long Pass roll .. that's hard to do ... and ShadowedFlame intercepts. Only to roll a 1 resisting their slide tackle. RNG is fickle.  Stupid levels of possession battling ensue the rest of the way. Starring are Torrannor, AJ_Impy, and ShadowedFlame at various points. Through sheer dumb luck, a passing lane is available to get it to Dragongem for our final action of the game, with an open angle and proper positioning for this cannon shot. We have no business not losing this match, and from a squad composition standpoint didn't even try particularly hard not to. Yet somehow we have a chance to pull out a draw at the final horn. A fairly good chance. 1 vs 2. FAIL. But ... it's out for a corner. It's not over yet. I went for the crossing play. This was a mistake.  Their defenders didn't leave to chase Dragongem as usual - they had enough to cover him without doing that. I hadn't properly considered this. So Insurrectionist has two players opposite him at the near post, which means he can't do a header. Probably giving AJ_Impy a look at Olympic Kick would have been better with this dense a defense. This leaves us with two direct possibilities. If Dragongem holds his ground, there's a small chance of getting a lofted pass to him. There's a much better chance of lofting to ShadowedFlame, who would have a very low chance of scoring through multiple defenders, and their CDs would just tackle him if he feinted closer.  Then there's this rather stupid one, which is actually best IMO. A Long Pass to AJ_Impy has the least-bad odds of failing, as he could likely pass it through their defense to Dragongem afterwards and he's still have a chance to do something. 5 vs. 7 is not great, but it beats the alternatives - the loft to Dragongem is 36 vs. 60. Dragon holds his spot ... and the pass is a 5 vs 5. It goes through! Perfectly done by Fat Samurai. 33 vs. 30 on the pass from AJ_Impy to Dragongem ... it has to go through DF Schwacke, who has 75 base defense. Jerk. 22 to 9! Incredible!! Of the scoring options available to Dragongem - down to his last action for the second time - Cannon Shot is the best. It's 4 vs. 3, as he's hounded by one of their fullbacks. If this goes out to another corner, we'll go the Olympic Kick route. But I mean, Dragongem isn't going to miss another favorable chance, right? RIGHT?!? 1 vs. 2. Again. I really like you Dragongem, but you are testing my patience. It is however out for a corner. On the other side. This time KGR is the decoy, AJ_Impy takes the kick, I set up Insurrectionist just in case ... and they actually move one of their defenders away! This is our third chance to equalize at the very end of the match. Let's survey the chances:  This is just a straight-up favorable 5 vs. 3 roll. No muss no fuss.  The cross very likely scores if the pass is good; that's 33 vs. 25. As much fun as it is to score with your sweeper, gotta go Olympic Kick here. It's quite a bit better odds of success. 4 vs. 1!! The kick is over the keeper's head, who jumps, can't get it, and falls backwards as he lands and the ball goes into the net.  AJ_Impy celebrates his first career goal! Tevery Best also likes what he sees and applauds enthusiastically.  MoM award as well. Starting with our last turn, we: - Missed two Cannon Shots that should have scored, Mr. Dragongem ... or should I say Dragondud. - One coming on a corner kick that I made a mistake on setting up. - Still got a second corner that was scored directly by a player who had never scored before, or even tried to. That.Just.Happened. If we avoid relegation this year and it's close, this could be remembered as a turning point. The biggest part of it may not the point we gain from the draw, but the fact that Karlsruhe only gets 1 instead of 3. On top of everything else, AJ_Impy hits SL3 after the match, and is mentioned in the Second League Team of the Round summary as well. Basically he won every honor you can win for a match. Even got an attribute level-up.  We're one match short of the quarter pole, but I'm throwing this up here anyway. I think cautious optimism about staying up is appropriate at this juncture. We're near the bottom in both goals scored and conceded, and if anything I'd expect us to regress from 9th position. But we are 3 points clear of the relegation zone and have managed to only lose half our matches. On the other hand, we are 0-1-3 against clubs with a proper keeper, and those two wins came against the only two opponents in the whole of the Second League who don't have one. It could be a lot worse. Without a doubt, the underachievers early on are Kaiserslautern. How they have only one win I have no idea. And on the fans front? Overall on the year we have lost ... two. We're at 542.
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Feb 16, 2023 17:43
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  Sort of a short vs. long-term choice here. An 30% experience boost or 2 Attribute Points in Focus if you don't like the way the balance is shaking out could be useful in shaping the future as you are still a very young player. Level 2 Skill Trainable would allow us to get going on L2 Olympic Kick immediately. AJ_Impy, you're starting to become kind of a big deal. Time to choose the next step.
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Feb 16, 2023 17:55
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PokeyTax posted:Can you estimate what a second Academy upgrade would cost and give us for Giftedness distribution (ceteris paribus, etc.)? I can, but I'm not going to. We're past the point where this is a viable option unless you're willing to do a fire sale. I wouldn't bet the farm on getting people to vote for that. Suffice to say that even selling Insurrectionist with the 60% boost from his next SL would not get us close to enough money to buy two upgrades. On the info available in the thread, we can do a little math; each upgrade so far has been at least double if not more the price of the previous one. That would put a second upgrade north of a million euros on it's own.
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Feb 16, 2023 18:09
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Look I have a brand, and that brand is comical misses. The fans love it!
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Feb 16, 2023 18:23
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Once Dragongem gets out of his slump, we will be unstopable!
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Feb 16, 2023 18:26
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Kanthulhu posted:Once Dragongem gets out of his slump, we will be unstopable!  
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Feb 16, 2023 18:42
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