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Whoa, that's extremely heartening! If we can at least get results against 2-star clubs we've got a good shot at avoiding relegation and earning a bit more experience than we did running the table in Third League. Also this is even with Dragongem doing whatever the hell is going on up there.Strategic Sage posted:That's a yellow card for Hummel. Ah, an exciting preview of what most of my career as DM will look like. Big thanks to megane for precognitively enforcing justice here. For what it's worth, training CD first and then DM would be perfectly fine, or even RD/LD if I somehow accumulate a lot of SL points there. I didn't even consider I would be a relevant player at this stage. I think you can even sneak a trained CD/LD/RD into the back of the DM exp zone and still retain their abilities while cross-training? Although you're not exactly guarding the box at that point.
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Feb 16, 2023 18:46
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L2 Skill Trainable. If Olympic Kick just straight up gets us goals, then Citius, Altius, Fortius!
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Feb 16, 2023 19:38
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First suspension on the team, woo! 
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Feb 16, 2023 20:24
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I'm pretty sure you can just force your guys into positions in the second row from goal during corners, no? Even if they are occupied.
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Feb 16, 2023 21:18
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megane posted:First suspension on the team, woo! 
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Feb 16, 2023 23:52
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TeveryBest posted:I'm pretty sure you can just force your guys into positions in the second row from goal during corners, no? Even if they are occupied. I don't know everything there is to know about set pieces, but my experience is any place you can push them out of on a corner, they can push you right back if they want to contest the spot, instigating the 'control fight'. And since almost all our players, save Dragondud, have low control ....
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Feb 17, 2023 06:45
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8.31.31 Aalen (3-2-1, 4th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (2-1-3, 9th) It's hot again. *sigh*. Subs: Coward, Torrannor, Kyoon Griffey Jr. We'll be doing some early subs in this one most likely. A lot depends on how that initial break-in goes. Aalen is rocking a dual-wing attack, one of whom has control in the 80s. My main goal for this is to keep everyone healthy and manage fatigue. 38 vs. 34 on the break-in. They hit the jackpot with 34. Dragongem hits the junkpot with a 14. I might have known. Ok KGR, you're in ASAP. They hold in defense. We can do nothing, so we do - just shuffling players around to get some specialization. Then LF Apel feints his way through everyone; megane, then Insurrectonist, then BraveLittlToaster for the goal. Gonna be one of those, eh? Might as well bring Coward in when we can. After a lay-off pass and a hilariously bad tackle attempt by Tevery Best, they get a free-kick near the box. It was 11 vs. 67. You missed it by 'that much' there pal. We set up a wall, so they pass through and easily dribble in for the goal. We are children being toyed with. In the second half, one angled shot from the touchline goes in. A second is tried but at least Insurrectionist gets in front of that one. Odd Wilson intercepts a pass at midfield, and we have a chance ... until their midfielder picks off his long pass attempt. He could get it back with an aggressive tackle, but it's not worth expending any more energy from him than we have to. If they score again ... well, that's just more experience for Coward. We get another stop and limp out of our home stadium with a 3-0 loss. Everyone ends the match above the exhaustion line in energy though, so we avoided sabotaging future matches too badly. No attribute levels are gained for the first time this year, but PotatoManJack gets his next SL.  Because Braunschweig wasn't good enough, so they brought in a nearly 3M sweeper. Apparently they have no intention of flirting with the idea of staying down in Second League. They are the definition of a yo-yo, finishing no worse than runner-up in Second and no better than 13th in First every season since '23-'24. 
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Feb 17, 2023 06:53
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  The next upgrade for you will almost certainly be an incidental cross-classing to LM, just due to the numerous runs up the flank. For this one, 30% Training Time Reduction would knock a little over a year off that L3 Long Pass and get to that cashing-out point you spoke off that much sooner. Otherwhise the Dedication and Fan Favourite trees await if you have a different plan in mind. PotatoManJack, you're up under typical weekend allowances; through Monday night if you need it.
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Feb 17, 2023 06:54
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I see the devs made sure to include a joke fake team in the game. Complete with a 'fading in from invisibility' logo that's almost not there as well.
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Feb 17, 2023 08:53
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Dragongem posted:Look I have a brand, and that brand is comical misses. The fans love it! I've just seen your avatar and in the context of the past few matches it has me laughing
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Feb 17, 2023 10:22
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Kangra posted:I see the devs made sure to include a joke fake team in the game. Complete with a 'fading in from invisibility' logo that's almost not there as well. Bielefeld isn't even a believable name, they should have tried harder with their fake team.
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Feb 17, 2023 13:31
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Strategic Sage posted:I don't know everything there is to know about set pieces, but my experience is any place you can push them out of on a corner, they can push you right back if they want to contest the spot, instigating the 'control fight'. And since almost all our players, save Dragondud, have low control .... See what happens next time you're defending a corner. Or taking one, really. I just checked and at least in my game on Medium I can place guys in the second row wherever I want and the defenders have to grit their teeth and take it. When an AI did that, I couldn't shove them out of position, either, so it's not like they were afraid of my Control 32 L4 Head Play CF.
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Feb 17, 2023 16:44
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Stamina Is actually the way I'm going to go. PMJ does a lot of running and seems to get tired a fair bit. Let's see if we can fix that. e: If I'm not understanding the training and usefulness of Stamina training, then as back-up I'll go with 30% reduced training time PotatoManJack fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Feb 17, 2023 |
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Feb 17, 2023 23:47
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It can definitely help with that. I assume you want the top one, which doubles energy recovery at halftime if you play the whole first half. There is no way to have a superhuman who can just run around constantly and never get tired, but it will mitigate the problem.
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Feb 18, 2023 01:15
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Strategic Sage posted:It can definitely help with that. I assume you want the top one, which doubles energy recovery at halftime if you play the whole first half. There is no way to have a superhuman who can just run around constantly and never get tired, but it will mitigate the problem. Yes - let's go with that, I reckon it will help him throughout the season
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Feb 18, 2023 01:48
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9.7.31 Backpfeifengesichter (2-1-4, 10th) @ St. Pauli (2-3-2, 8th) Subs: BraveLittlToaster, Odd Wilson, Dragongem I see little chance of a result here if any; St. Pauli is only a couple of points above us, but I think this is going to be ugly. We have a much better chance in the next match which is at home, so I'll use this one to just try and get ready for that. LF Posch, their best player, narrowly resisted megane's tackle attempt on their opening turn 92-17. The shot was actually close, but he scored and we trailed immediately. A failed tackle by PMJ allowed them to maneuver for a cannon shot not long afterwards.  You just sort of run out of ways to say 'and they kicked our butt again' after a while. All three goals here we actually had a chance of stopping. Two of them we probably should have - deserved a more respectable loss, but still a loss. Got another level in for Coward and PokeyTax though. Fat Samurai is next up on the hit parade.  We've reached an instructive point in the year. I'm sure it won't entirely stay this way, but the standings have separated themselves neatly into three tiers. - Promotion contenders 1st through 5th; including St. Pauli because they are a 3-star club and because of their goal differential, even though they're behind on points. - Mid-table 6th through 9th. They can be fairly confident at this point that they'll be playing in the Second League again next year. - Relegation candidates 10th through 14th. Kaiserslautern could well escape this group and become mid-table. I don't think we'll escape the relegation cluster of clubs; to stay up, I think we need to plan on 'winning' the group 11th and below. So far we are 0-3 against the promotion group; no shocker there. We are 1-0 against the relegation group (not including Kaiserslautern), and 1-1-2 against the rest. Our remaining schedule for the first half: - Our next match, the one I'm hoping for success in, we host Osnabruck. This is the range where upsets are reasonable for us, and there are some aspects of their squad that we may be able to take advantage of. - Two matches against promotion contenders; Muenster and Braunschweig. We can mark those down in the 'L' column. - We finish with two against Aspach and Jena, below us in the relegation zone. It'd be nice to win these but above all we absolutely don't want either of them getting three points against us. Points are at a premium of course down here and we can't be giving them away to our primary competition. It gets complicated, because sandwiched in between those last two matches is our first Prestige Cup fixture. I'll have to choose what to prioritize at that time; points in the league or getting to the next round of the Cup. Depends on who we draw in the Cup, whether that first match is home or away, and so on, but it's looking like a tough call there. It'd be much better of course if it was the better clubs we were playing at that time, and we could just focus on the Cup knowing we are going to lose those anyway. Didn't work out that way this year. At the moment, I can see it going either way. I'm leaning in the direction that we probably manage to avoid relegation, but I'm not confident in it.
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Feb 18, 2023 18:14
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  I figure we know the drill by now. There's time to ignore Second Skill Trainable and get it before L2 Long Pass finishes, so the training time reduction from the Talent tree or any of the other available options are in play. Fat Samurai, you're up!
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Feb 18, 2023 18:21
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Probably Training Time Reduction (assuming there is enough time to level up again to get another trait before the L2 finishes training). My punchable is not going to have big enough numbers, so let's focus on skills.
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Feb 21, 2023 10:15
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9.14.31 Osnabruck (3-2-3, 8th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (2-1-5, 11th) Subs: Coward, PokeyTax, Kyoon Griffey Jr. There are two main players I'm concerned with in this match. DM Kiemlin, 72 Defense, requires lofted passes to consistently bypass. That's a job for Odd Wilson. Unfortunately he missed the opening pass, and all we could do is try to hold the ball instead of getting a shot to start the match. Osnabruck only got one low-quality attempt in the first half, but we didn't get any. Just a lot of maneuvering. FW Kircher, ** with 67 Accuracy, is the other danger. Fortunately they weren't really set up to take advantadge of him, with their kickoffs coming from a wing midfielder on the opposite side. Another forward narrowly dribbled past Tevery Best, but Torrannor intercepted the shot.  A bit of tricky maneuvering here. PMJ could have moved one tile further forward, but I have him hold here because it will take RD Hausmann two actions to reach him, but only one if he moved up a bit more. Their DM comes up to take the ball and succeeds, but uses all their actions in the process. It's another possession scramble, which could end in any direction; win, lose, or draw. We kept most of the action in their half, and had most of the second-half pressure with some good skill rolls. It wasn't enough to get anything more than a very low-percentage power shot that was blocked by their defense. I was hoping to get a corner at some point in this match - if we'd done that I think we had a good chance of scoring.  Neither club is really happy with this, which probably means it's the correct result. I always get a chuckle out of the 'no significant events' after a tense struggle. Now we've got a couple of hopeless matches to lose before the key ones heading into Winter Break. 9.21.31 Backpfeifengesichter (2-2-5, 11th) @ Muenster (5-2-2, 4th) Subs: BraveLittlToaster, Odd Wilson, Dragongem PMJ is a bit tired as well - his new ability is definitely helping, but he was very involved in that last match. Since we're going up against a dual-wing formation though he's out there anyway.  RF Sievers is their best attacker, and goes with a long-range blast. I can live with that, and Insurrectionist blocks it off. We try to hold it but they take it back and blast one through. While I'm pondering whether we could have done anything differently, their wide midfielder - with 57 accuracy - gets a wicked long-range bender to go in. Yep, not really a whole lot we can do here. Down 3-0 at the half, there's no point in even keeping up a pretense. Odd Wilson in for Fat Samurai, Dragongem for PotatoManJack. Big play from Coward later on, stuffing Sievers on a L2 Rainbow Feint after he'd gotten through Tevery Best and Insurrectionist. Not because of this match, but it's a nice boost to his development. 4-0 was the final. Officially our worst match of the year on the scoreboard. 9.28.31 Braunschweig (7-2-1, 3rd) @ Backpfeifensichter (2-2-6, 12th) We're officially back in the relegation zone for the moment, but we don't really have time to worry about that; we have another match to lose. Subs: BraveLittlToaster, Fat Samurai, ShadowedFlame Dragongem wins the opening break-in against their stout sweeper, his second straight and it was slightly odds-against. Naturally the power shot is easily kept in play by their keeper. Tevery Best gets a block on their low-odds shot on the other end at least. PMJ is able to counter thanks to getting the extra roll from L2 Long Pass, but Dragongem really can't threaten their keeper. Cannon Shot is a 5 vs. 10 roll. Possible, but he'd need Level 2 there to make it worth doing. Another Power Shot? Sure, we'll take a corner. This is not a moment for AJ_Impy's Olympic Kick though, not at level 1. GK Niemann has Playing Out, which of course will also make our corner-cross attempt harder. But that's the rub at this level, nothing is easy and somehow we aren't losing yet, so if we could score a goal ... well, it's early but you can always hope.  I try the suggested 'just take the second row' approach. It works. This is weird to me because I know - unless I'm just going insane - that I've seen AI teams set up for corner crossing plays with their attacker in the third row. Maybe I just imagined it, but otherwhise why would they do that if you can just go in the second row? Anyway, this is the first time that Insurrectionist really meets his match on one of these. If Odd Wilson's cross is hit properly, it's overall a little below even odds for scoring. That's better than the 'you're having a laugh' odds we have trying to score any other way. Easily saved. Ahh well. A L3 Long Pass from one of their defenders later, one of their forwards tries a near-midfield potshot that doesn't succeed. Remember our sweeper is still stuck near their goal, so we're kind of not in great position here. DM-in-training PokeyTax gets it forward, they take it back ... and then I decide to go for a risky aggressive tackle-from-behind by AJ_Impy.  He probably gets sent off it fails, but if it succeeds we may have another scoring chance right at the end of the half. 21 to 10 it works! He sends the pass over to Insurrectionist for probably the stupidest Power Shot in the history of the sport, 10 vs. 135 roll. But it's a straight shot to the keeper. We get the corner, set up the same play again. This time odds are just slightly worse for us, 99 vs. 108. Their LD Trapp actually gets to it first, which was worse odds. *sigh*. You can't say we didn't fight for it. ShadowedFlame in for Dragongem at the half, for fatigue reasons. We need to be ready for the next set. CF Bittner, with a mere 95 accuracy, blasts one through our line. 46 roll against 10, 10, and 19. BLT wouldn't have stopped that one either.  Interesting choice here. They ran their sweeper, L3 slide tackle and all, out to midfield to take the ball. I'd rather not use the actions, but if Odd Wilson can take the ball back we will have yet another chance. I think I have to try it. Works right until the point we're called for off-side. Heh. Maybe that wasn't quite as silly a sweeper move as I thought. They tack on another goal for 2-0 final. We played well enough most of the way to give ourselves a chance, but we really needed at least one of those crossing plays to put us on the board. Then we could have played more conservatively in the second half and just maybe come out with a draw. Wasn't to be though. I forgot to mention that Odd Wilson picked up L2 Slide Tackle recently; doing the same on Long Pass will take less than a year. Coward is one match away from reaching GK status, but that match will have to wait. Situation at the bottom of the table: Jena - 8 pts --------------- Backpfeifengesichter - 8 pts Wurzburg - 8 pts Aspach - 6 pts Everyone else has 12 or more. Our Prestige Cup draw is Burghausen, currently ranked 2nd in the Amateur League. This is definitely a favorable draw for us. I think staying up in the Second League is far more important than getting an extra Prestige Cup round though, and I also think it's going to take every effort to have a chance at doing that. So my call is to focus on the league matches here, and if it costs us advancing in the Cup so be it. 10.5.31 Backpfeifengesichter (2-2-7, 12th) @ Jena (2-2-7, 11th) Might look identical in the records, but we are 10 goals behind them so effectively they're a point ahead in the standings. You might have noticed that we haven't scored in quite a while; only Wurzburg is still worse on goal differential. Subs: Coward, PokeyTax, Kyoon Griffey Jr.  It's raining for this one, and we're on the road against a team that's more tired than we are; Odd Wilson starts out a little below max. energy but everyone else is ready to go. This is really the match we need to not lose of our last two, but I also have a hard time seeing how we do that. They have two forwards with accuracy in the 60s. If ever we needed Dragongem to step up and draw a penalty, this would be the match for it. They go to CF Braun, and megane misses the tackle but somehow manages not to foul in the rain. Great bad job! Then we get lucky as it's a bad shot attempt. 19, and Insurrectionist is quick to jump on it with a 51 on the intercept. megane slide-tackles it back, we press to improve his odds, and now we need to keep it. Odd Wilson in midfield, they fail a tackle from behind - again no foul. Keeping the cards in their pockets here. Long pass is in to ShadowedFlame; GK Hummel has L1 Reaction so he gets only one roll, but with his Talent tree complete he has the skill abilities of a 4-star player. It's 12 vs. 6 on the feint, and suffice to say we need this. 9 vs. 1!! Well that's emphatic, our first goal in quite some time. Braun dribbles through megane who is having himself quite the busy match. Unfortuately for him that wasn't exactly the wisest course of action, as it means Insurrectionist and Torrannor get to combine to intercept the shot. Torrannor gets this one. Swing it to PotatoManJack, who lines up a long pass down to AJ_Impy. Good odds, but if it fails we just turned it over in our end and they almost certainly score. Two rolls of 6 versus one of 5 ... 5 vs. 5. Eeek. It worked, which means I'm smart. We'd have had some unhappy fans otherwhise. Impy holds it, they land an odds-against slide tackle and blast a shot through our line to tie it up at the half. Argh!! It would have been really nice to not have that happen. Contested pass to Dragongem in the rain, but it gets through; only Odd Wilson could have made that play. Much depends on this break-in. They have two CDs with a shot at him. 27 vs. 23 on the first one, not in our favor. Grrr. We're pretty much playing for a draw now unless we can make some magic happen. I post ShadowedFlame in the box just in case.  58th minute. The question is who do I go after Schenkel with? |I decide on PMJ rather than OW because he's fresher and because L2 long pass. It does make for a riskier tackle though. It's won narrowly and he'll need some luck to get the pass through; 2 rolls of 5 vs. 1 roll of 8. Or I can try to hold it, the play-it-safe route. There are worse plays than going for a draw on the road. I decide to play it safe and hold. They botch the tackle even after pressing and foul. Yellow card awarded. Odd Wilson takes the kick and has a better long-pass chance; 7 vs. 7, straight-up. That worked out better than it should have. He doesn't cover himself in glory, but neither do they. 2 vs. 1. Another feint chance for ShadowedFlame, he scores easily again, and then megane outduels Braun. 34 to 33. Nope, wasn't the least bit concerned; he had it in the bag the whole way. We actually get it in to ShadowedFlame again, but with their keeper motivated all he can do is set up a corner. Could be worse. Passing sucks right now, and I pull a tired Odd Wilson for PokeyTax anyway. Gets some energy for next week's match. You've earned it. We call on AJ_Impy for an Olympic Kick.  Appears that it's impossible because it has to go through two players; we need to clear that near player out perhaps, or have a higher level skill? Up a goal at the end of a match is a good time to learn these things. We try a lofted pass that doesn't work, they try a desperation one, and then it's over.  It's difficult to overstate how crucial this victory is, and it was definitely a fortunate one. ShadowedFlame, Odd Wilson, megane at least really earned their pay here. We are now back in position - temporarily though it may well be - to avoid relegation. Coach Level 14 shows up. We have the second level of Prioritize Defender, second level of Prioritize Midfielder, or Sincere Support available. That last one allows us to speed recovery time at a cost of Glory, and if I recall correctly a chance of making the injury worse if it doesn't work. Still, the second level of the other two is not usable until we get to a 3.5* Academy, so Sincere Support it is. Five attribute level-ups follow the match, and a pair of SL upgrades as well. Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Feb 21, 2023 |
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Feb 21, 2023 21:38
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  Where to go here depends probably on how long we expect to keep you. If the idea is to sell sooner rather than later, 30% Reduced Training Time might allow for the possibility of getting that second skill first.   Completing the Talent tree with 70% Training Time Reduction would keep the skills flowing. Perhaps the main alternative would be starting on the Fan Favourite tree. BraveLittlToaster and Torrannor, you are both on the clock.
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Feb 21, 2023 21:44
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Woo! Go our Punchable Faces! 
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Feb 21, 2023 21:50
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Going for 30% Reduced Training Time, not expecting much more for my player there.
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Feb 21, 2023 22:01
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70% Training Time Reduction sounds good. Going for fan favorite is probably the "better play" for getting more money later, but I've become too attached to my player to think of him as simply a future big payout.
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Feb 23, 2023 02:10
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To be honest, I probably would have done that too. Accelerating the training will let you finish more skills - since you're a universal player - and get a strong transfer price anyway.
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Feb 23, 2023 05:34
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10.10.31 Backpfeifengesicher @ Burghausen Prestige Cup Round of 32, 1st Leg Subs: BraveLittlToaster, Odd Wilson, Shadowed Flame  Burghausen normally plays a DF in goal, but they're going more defensive against us with this 6-2-2. Kind of amusing as it was only about three years ago that they were regularly beating us like a drum. Goals here are to draw at worst, and get Coward his GK class. Even more importantly, have everyone as rested as possible for Aspach. BLT can even sub in out of position if necessary. CF Kuhlberg, 52 Accuracy + 28 Control, is our biggest problem. The opening kickoff pass goes to him, narrowly getting past PokeyTax. Tevery Best stopped his dribble attempt though.  Dragongem tries to hold it, but a good slide tackle gets him. Then a L2 long pass goes through both Fat Samurai and Torrannor, leading to this. Super-great. On the ensuing break-in, it's a 38 vs. 26 roll to get into the box. Result; 13 vs. 25. Seriously dude, what is wrong with you? Combination of lucky and good as I reposition AJ_Impy and he intercepts a pass. We keep the ball in their end, but still trail 1-0 at the half. ShadowedFlame on for Dragongem; I want him to try a shot and then we might pull him. Or Fat Samurai could botch the pass and let their midfielder intercept it. That works too. They run a crossing play around our flank and score again, we finally get on the board with ShadowedFlame blasting one through their line, but now I have to decide whether it's worth pushing for a result here, or whether we conserve ourselves. BLT in for Fat Samurai, and he'll just hang out in wing defense. This match has been a disaster and is salvageable, but only if we're ok with not being ready for the next one. I am not ok with that. I kind of second-guess myself though after we stop them, burning some more energy with ShadowedFlame who ties it up. They make a couple of subs, Insurrectionist blocks their next shot, and I try one run up the side with PotatoManJack. They double-press and tackle, he tackles back, L2 long pass to Kyoon Griffey Jr in the box ...  This the final turn of the game. It's possible, but very hard, to blow this. He scores easily, then slides across the grass like a moron. Not sure what I expected. We win 3-2, and ShadowedFlame is MoM. I fear the price in fatigue may have been too high however ...  Would have been nice to have one of those passing points stick in defense. Nonetheless, Coward is now a full GK. 10.12.31 Aspach (2-3-7, 12th) @ Backpfeifengesichter (3-2-7, 11th) We need at least a draw here. It's a simple as that. And it's raining. Subs: Coward, PokeyTax, ShadowedFlame Most of the club has modest fatigue, none are in terrible shape. We're doing ok. Aspach meanwhile is just ready to go with the exception of a injured forward - not sure who played for them in the Cup but nobody looks like they did. Anyway, we're worried about CF Norling and his 77 Accuracy. We attack the way we always do. Dragongem holds off one tackle - I thought fouls were more likely in the rain? He's beaten on the second one though. That was actually a decent effort, can't really blame him for that. Just for almost everything else he's done the last year, but that was an adequate effort. I have Odd Wilson stashed on the flank for the first half to preserve his energy, so of course they just hang on to it on the opposite side. PMJ can come up and try to tackle, but it's a slightly unfavorable try and they will almost certainly score if he fails. Instead I have Fat Samurai press and we hope for the best. Norling challenges megane, who passes the test, they slide-tackle it back ... and then just dribble it here.  It's a full house at 'Backpfeifengesichter Stadium'. A wonderful rainy day. And this is not the wisest approach, we should be able to take the ball back. Insurrectionist presses, PMJ almost botches the tackle ... 21 vs. 21 out of a max roll of 42. Too close, but it worked. Then a lofted pass downfield, the old 'just get rid of it' tactic. Despite a turnover by Fat Samurai - that's two of those in two matches, get it together - Insurrectionist gets in the way of two low-percentage chances and we get to the half still scoreless. ShadoweFlame in, Fat Samurai is tired and has to come out. We need someone else to handle opposing their winger on the flank now, so PokeyTax is on for Dragongem  Here's how we start the second half. If we can work a counter, great; but mostly I don't want them to score. Norling challenges megane, loses, they tackle it back and now megane is motivated. This is an opportunity for us right now. Not a great one, but he slide tackles it back, gets it to Odd Wilson ... who has to hold it in midfield as their defense is too good to get a long pass through. RF Kreissig's L2 slide tackle from behind is denied, and a yellow assessed. Even an AJ_Impy pass through the defense is unlikely in this downpour. We hold again. They literally get a max roll on the tackle taking it back, then retreat. That was a mistake I think.  If Odd Wilson can pull off this slide tackle, we might get a corner attempt. Nope. Forgot about their DF, he can intercept it. Still, we're holding it again deep in their territory. They take it back, retreat to the opposite corner and dare us to do anything about it. We can't.  A win would have been nice, but this is still a successful conclusion to our first half of the league season. There were no serious scoring threats, the rain hurt both teams trying to attack but probably hurt us more. I'll take it. Odd Wilson is a very deserved top player on our side. 10.31.31 Burghausen @ Backpfeifengesichter Prestige Cup Round of 32, 2nd Leg Subs: BraveLittlToaster, Odd Wilson, ShadowedFlame Only OW has any fatigue coming in, and that only a sliver. We need a draw here or better to advance. The break-in is a smashing success, and draws a penalty! Roll was 14 vs. 33 ... I'm wondering if it's more likely to draw a foul if you miss the tackle by a lot. I don't think it's supposed to be that way, but it would explain why we haven't been getting these against better defenders.  A chance for KGR to score, and he converts! On the other end, Kuhlberg waltzes past megane who kind of didn't really do much there, but Torrannor blocks the shot anyway. We try a clearance, but their fullback long-passes through megane and it's a point-blank shot against our out-of-position defense. 1-1. Another break-in success, and Dragongem dribbles past their non-keeper to give us back the lead. I think we're learning something here. He's not the kind of player who 'punches up' well against better competition. Meanwhile PokeyTax continues to do a great job of repeatedly barely missing passes that go right through his tile. You'll get there eventually, pal. megane finally does something right this match, and their attack is stymied. ShadowedFlame in for Dragongem, Odd Wilson in for Fat Samurai. We'll leave the young players out there, this should be in the bag. After they make a midfield tackle, PokeyTax gets to have a moment taking it back. A tap to OW, long-pass to KGR, and he adds an insurance goal. We pour it on later as AJ_Impy hits ShadowedFlame for a final tally. megane by the way, made three consecutive tackles and then a blocked shot after his initial flubs. Didn't start well, but finished quite strong. 4-1 is the final, 7-3 aggregate. Dragongem is MoM. 11.28.31 Backpfeifengesichter @ Cottbus Prestige Cup Round of 16, 1st Leg Subs: Coward, PokeyTax, Kyoon Griffey Jr. It's the first time we've ever made it this far, and it's worth noting that there's 21k Money and 16 Glory on the line here. That's the prize for reaching the Prestige Cup Quarterfinals. We are 0-0-3 lifetime against Cottbus, including a 2-0 defeat earlier this year, but it's still a fortunate draw and I'm going all-in here to do the best we can. If we can manage an away draw, we'll try to advance. If not, we can put in the developing players for the second leg. By the way, Aspach is the only Second League club who didn't make it this far. 13 Second League, 3 Third League is the breakdown of clubs. They dribble through Tevery Best, then blast a shot through everyone else. It was a good strike, but still unlucky that it went through.  You may recall that GK Seizinger is as much a control keeper as a defense one. Here's a traditional flanking manuever by ShadowedFlame; break-in might be almost as good of odds, but let's not tempt fate. Fortune smiles upon us and we get the equalizer. megane is on the short end of a 20 vs. 21 result making a tackle after the kickoff, but they try a power shot and Insurrectionist is on top of it. After considerable nonsense ensues, a layoff pass that shouldn't have gotten through Odd Wilson does, and then Tevery Best makes a tackle that he shouldn't have, 20 vs. 20. We're even at the half, Odd Wilson's a little tired but the rest are fine. Try to score the same way again, but Seizinger is equal to the task this time. A crucial coin-flip tackle is made by PotatoManJack, and we play for a draw, but can't quite do enough to hold them off. CF Huporkorny L3 Rainbow Feints his way through everyone to score, and they change up their defense to a 3-deep CD look. Now Break-In is our only chance. It fails, and we fall in a tight one 2-1. 12.19.31 Cottbus @ Backpfeifengesichter Prestige Cup Round of 16, 2nd Leg Subs: BraveLittlToaster, AJ_Impy, Dragongem It's not out of the question that we could still advance, but it's unlikely and we are under a Rotation instruction. We'll do our best here, but also spread around the minutes. A poor effort from ShadowedFlame keep us from scoring initially, but an Odd Wilson slide tackle sets him up with another chance which is converted. They try shooting one through our line but Torrannor puts out the stop sign, and the early returns are looking pretty good for us. There was lots of PMJ that first half, but he bounces back fairly well at halftime. AJ_Impy is in for Fat Samurai, Dragongem for ShadowedFlame. I'm not sure about either change to be frank. I think about swapping keepers, then decide not to. There's a 5-pt difference in defense, and the odds of that mattering compared to getting Coward more time on the field ... meh. megane makes the tackle as they try to flank us, our defense still getting the job done.  Why is Odd Wilson here? Well, they tackled the ball away from AJ_Impy, then backpassed like they're not losing or something. After running OW up here to slide tackle, I ... have nothing actually. Any shot he tries will be blocked by their CD. There's no useful pass. So I just run him to the deep corner and dare them to do something intelligent. To be clear, this whole sequence is quite dumb. But it also works. They take it back, can't do anything with it, he slide tackles again, and sets up KGR for a point-blank chance. 34 vs. 40 Precision Shot is one option. Power Shot for a corner kick is another. It's a tough call, but I go for an entirely uncalculated option. KGR has been making some good plays, he's worked hard to get where he is, and I just don't feel right taking away the chance for him to put us in the quarterfinals. He fails miserably. PokeyTax picks off a layoff pass on their final turn. Can we do anything with it? KGR gets another look, a desperation one that is much lower odds from further out. Technically it could score ... but it doesn't. We're going to penalties! - KGR is up first. He scores, but so does FW Kezer for Cottbus. 1-1. - Dragongem converts, Huporkorny almost misses ... but it stays inside the post. - AJ_Impy's try is snagged by Seizinger, but Coward stops their attempt as well. 2-2. - Insurrectionist beats a good diving try at a save, and against all odds Coward makes a second stop in a row. - That means all PMJ needs to do is not screw up. He goes high, they dive right, and that's it!  Yes, this merry band of misfits is headed to the Prestige Cup QF! Also this happened:  First player we've had hit the transfer fee bonus. This is also the first time we will go into the Winter Break with the Cup situation unresolved. That's because the last few rounds are actually played in the second half of the season. Fixture density FTW!
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Feb 23, 2023 20:18
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Winter Break We are the worst at scoring by a sizable margin, and only Wurzburg has been significantly worse on defense. 13th out of 14 in differential, but due to strategically going after results in critical matches in a targeted manner, we have a toe-hold in the Second League. That's all it is though; relegation remains a very clear and present danger. In general, the better teams have definitely filtered their way to the top. Some development has also taken place; Aalen, Karlsruhe, and St. Pauli have all added a half-star to their eval since the start of the year. ShadowedFlame has finished L1 Cannon Shot and begun working on L2. A couple of economic facts that are worth looking at. - In a half of a year playing in the Second League, we have 76.7k Money from sponsors and 67.5k from ticket sales. - In the previous nine full seasons combined, eight in the Amateur League and one in the Third League that regrettably had no sponsor income, we made 50k from sponsors and about 42k from ticket sales. More income in half a year playing at this level than the previous nine put together. Selling players is still primary, but it's not the only game in town anymore so to speak. We have significant diversified revenue streams.
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Feb 23, 2023 20:26
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 Is Insurrectionist worth more than the entire rest of our team combined?
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Feb 23, 2023 20:31
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I was going to describe my punchable as a cup hero until he missed that chance. Still, seems like he is progressing fairly nicely. Up the Crabs.
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Feb 23, 2023 20:49
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I like how intimidated, (or at least wary,) the AI seems to be of my dude's punchable face now. He's come a real long way from a guy with stats not all that impressive.  Also just proud we not only blazed our way past Third League, but managed to tackle our way into sticking the Second League position we shouldn't even have for this long. That little 1 star team hanging out with pro teams. Just imagine how salty Wurzburg, Jena, and Aspach are right now.
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Feb 23, 2023 21:14
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I bet they are extremely salty. So what's the long term plan? Staying in the Second Liga for a few years while we build up our roster? I can't imagine that we'll be able to do much more until we're at least a two star team. With the massive increase in income we get from playing on this level, we finally have the money to invest in our facilities so that we get much better players.
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Feb 23, 2023 21:23
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megane posted:Is Insurrectionist worth more than the entire rest of our team combined? You'll be able to see the numbers for yourself in the Coaches Report tomorrow, but no. That would have been the case at the start of the season, but Odd Wilson and Shadowed Flame hit skill level 3 since then. Those three players hold over 80% of the squad value at the moment.
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Feb 23, 2023 21:42
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Strategic Sage posted:You'll be able to see the numbers for yourself in the Coaches Report tomorrow, but no. That would have been the case at the start of the season, but Odd Wilson and Shadowed Flame hit skill level 3 since then. Those three players hold over 80% of the squad value at the moment. How boned are we if any of those three take an injury that leaves them unavailable for more than 1 match?
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Feb 23, 2023 22:25
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Also, I checked: Sincere Support does not have any adverse effects, it just costs Glory. You can also do Formal Support, which costs a lot less, but is less effective and has a chance of extending the recovery instead.
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Feb 23, 2023 23:30
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Odd Wilson posted:Just imagine how salty Wurzburg, Jena, and Aspach are right now. Pretty salty, but not remotely as salty as Cottbus, who effortlessly dunked us out of the Round of 32 three years ago, had never failed to beat us before, and just ate dirt on penalties to miss quarterfinals because they gave up one goal on our crappy little field. Incredible efficiency to get 6 results out of 7 goals. We also must be picking up some significant Glory rewards for results against stronger teams. Since literally every other team is a stronger team. Pokeytax fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Feb 24, 2023 |
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Feb 23, 2023 23:39
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Breadmaster posted:How boned are we if any of those three take an injury that leaves them unavailable for more than 1 match? I can't think of a good way to answer this, so I'm going to refrain from making up a bad one. PokeyTax posted:We also must be picking up some significant Glory rewards for results against stronger teams. Since literally every other team is a stronger team. It's pretty much a solid 10 each time. I think Aspach is probably saltiest, given that we 'stole' 'their' Third League championship last year. Wurzburg is probably still screaming at anyone who will listen, those who won't, brick walls, and other inanimate objects about why oh why didn't they just get a proper keeper. Jena likely still thinks - rightfully - that we were lucky to beat them and that they will bounce back in the second half of the season.
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Feb 24, 2023 07:16
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Coaches Report: Winter 2032 Resources - 178 Glory - 176,033 Money - 620 Fans Most of the new fans have come from our success in the Prestige Cup, and given that we've reached above our station I expect only a small exodus when we crash out.  You kind of have to feel sorry for Tevery Best's agent, even if it's a relative. Even PokeyTax, still amateur-classed, commands a larger price. We're starting to transition into a phase where asking prices in the millions will become the normal course of business.  We'll see a couple more skills come in the off-season, but most of the squad is still in the early stages of their current training.  Odd Wilson is probably a couple matches away from his next upgrade, with the rest a scattered mix of progression. Full Experience 'Ceiling' by Giftedness * - 0*: Level 5 - 1*: Level 15 - 2*: Level 30 - 3*: Level 50 - 4*: Level 70 - 5*: Level 90 This is the point at which a player starts getting reduced experience gains. Extensions    Facilities & Personnel  - 3 Academy Coaches available Youth Academy Giftedness *: - Current: 5% 0%, 45% 1*,45% 2*, 5% 3* - Next Upgrade: 29% 1*, 60% 2*, 10.9% 3*, 0.1% 4*  - 5 Training Ground Coach upgrades available  - 1 Medical Staff upgrade available; additional upgrades require a Medical Centre improvement Youth - Price: 18 Glory - Request Keeper - Request Defender - Request Midfielder - Youth Rivalry  Our overall luck in getting players from the Academy has been frankly ridiculous. I'm starting to suspect that Dragongem performed some sort of rite, the origins of which I dare not speculate about. Essentially sabotaging his career for the benefit of good young players for the club. Regardless of the reason, we can add to our midfield or our defense with this selection.
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Feb 24, 2023 07:18
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Routine Contracts - Tevery Best; 1 year for 3,539 - megane; 1 year for 9,090 - Coward; 1 year for 17,127* * Coward is the first youth player we've hit where I don't think it's worth going with an initial 3-year contract, although it's arguable either way. Total here is 29,755. That would leave us with 146,278 Money in the account. Critical Contracts None. There will be some important ones coming up in the offseason if no changes are made this window. Stadium Expansion This automatically comes up again as we remain over capacity. Playing Time We are presently using Rotation; Adaptive and Best Feet Forward alternatives as usual.
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Feb 24, 2023 07:19
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Coaches Ballot, Winter 2032 Agenda, along with anything else that might get proposed; - Youth Work - Youth Signing - Stadium Expansion - Playing Time On the Glory side, we have enough for up to two staff upgrades if desired. Vote early and often.
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Feb 24, 2023 07:23
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I want to stick with the 'ironclad defense' idea, so let's sign Ebner, the Defender, and hire two Defender Coaches to help him git gud. For youth work we want Youth Rivalry, as it's majorly paid off so far. I think we should switch to an Adaptive playing mode. Even if we get beaten up, we really want to avoid relegation just because of the money we can get in the Second League.
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Feb 24, 2023 08:14
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We really need more money. It's a tough call on the new signing. We only have three midfielders and no backups, but defence is going to suffer some severe turnover soon. Insurrectionist is 27 and packing up, I am a weak link that just wastes XP at this point and need replacing, we have no right wingbacks. With that in mind, I'm going to vote for Ebner, but I don't think either one is a wrong call. I will agree it's time for a defence coach. In fact, let's get two - we need a serious boost to see any real returns, 10% won't cut it. Youth Rivalry No on stadium expansion. Stick with Rotation.
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Feb 24, 2023 10:25
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