None Of Us Is As Dumb As All of Us: Let's Play Football, Tactics & Glory!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > None Of Us Is As Dumb As All of Us: Let's Play Football, Tactics & Glory!

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Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

What?

Football, Tactics & Glory is what you might get if you took parts of Football Manager and XCOM and put them together. That's my take, but interestingly it's also how they describe it:

Developer Steam Blurb posted:

XCOM meets Football Manager. Develop your club, earn experience in turn-based matches, learn new skills, achieve new classes, upgrade your facilities, buy and sell footballers, grow your youth academy, make difficult choices. It's a deep strategy game that respects your time.

It's a hybrid of sports simulation and turn-based strategy. Decidedly odd, and also perplexingly compelling. My evaluation is that it's fairly well put-together and a lot of fun. Steam release was in June 2018, with two noteworthy expansions since: we'll be using both of them. Progress has been slowed recently, but that's only natural given their misfortune; small developer Creoteam (est. 2005) is based in Kiyv, where the war has changed many plans and destroyed many lives, to say the least.

Hard Homegrown Challenge

This is how we'll playing, aiming to set ourselves an challenge of sufficient difficulty so that the choices that are made have a major impact on the outcome.

- Hard is the most difficult setting in the game. It means rival clubs face no penalties to development of their players, and prices for our upgrades, contract renewals, and so forth are elevated. It also means our starting club will be a complete dumpster fire.

- There are two paths to play in FTG. One is the 'journeyman' style, hopping from club to club on your way to the top. That's the easier path if done wisely. Homegrown means we will only be getting players from our Youth Academy, and not signing them via transfers. It's harder and slower because we can only get two players per year this way, and we can't control the skillsets nearly as much. The transfer approach allows a skilled manager to get exactly what they want and trivialize some aspects of the game; we'll be facing more of a 'making do the best we can with what we have to work with' reality.

- Our ultimate goal is to achieve back-to-back 'quadruples'. That means winning all the top-level competitions in back-to-back seasons: domestic league, national cup, continental cup, and club world cup. I'm not sure if this is even possible with a homegrown approach; it was done pre-expansions but I don't know of any documented cases since. We'll see as the saga unfolds.

I expect this to take a few decades in-game; it's going to be a long and hopefully enjoyable haul. It will also enforce a slow start which I think should be useful in onboarding new people who aren't familiar with the game.

How To Join

Anyone who wishes may participate in any of the following ways, or none. It is within your power to make this saga fail entirely, or be much better than if I just made all the choices myself, or anywhere in between.

Hopefully it won't look like this wonderful thought from Despair.com:

- Take control of a player's development. Just post and ask for one. Position requests are perfectly acceptable but will also likely make it take longer until a player fitting what you want shows up , so make those or don't at your discretion. You can choose how to train your player, what upgrades they get, etc. There's quite a bit of RPG feel to this part of the game. If you're into that sort of thing, I can also put in a custom name and edit the facial appearance to a stupid level of detail.

You will have total control of these for your player as long as they are on the squad, but when - almost never if, but when - the majority of coaches votes that it is time for your player to be sold, you can't override that. Carte blanche otherwhise, and of course you can just re-join with a new player.

- Vote on and/or submit formal proposals in bi-annual Coaches Meetings. These will cover decisions such as what players to extend contracts on or sell, what club upgrades to invest in, and any match tactics instructions for the poor sap (me) who is serving/infesting as Head Manager/Coach.

- Just do what you do in other LP threads; lurk/post as you wish without doing any of that stuff unless you feel like it.

- Any decisions that come up will be given a 48-hour time frame to respond, to allow people to have a semblance of a life and not necessarily have to be on the forum every day. I'll also try to avoid/delay for major holidays. There will be a 3-strike policy in effect; if you miss three pings/choices on your player in a row, I'll take over control of them so that the thread isn't perpetually delayed for someone who isn't interested in participating anymore.

Active Punchable Faces

Inactive

Must post in the thread to re-activate.

BraveLThreester

Sold/Retired

CD Jossar ('25-'28); 50 matches, 35 tackles, 1x MoM. Cost 7.18k, Sold for 85.3k (11.9x)
AM ally_1986 ('22-'30); 115 matches, 43 goals, 31 tackles, 4x MoM. Cost 14.5k, Sold for 218k (15.0x)
CM AverageLettuce ('23-'30); 115 matches, 2x MoM, 37 assists, 11 tackles. Cost 16.5k, Sold for 164k (9.9x) + 14 Glory
GK NiftyBottle ('24-'31); 109 matches, 5x MoM, 71 saves, 3 tackles. Sold for 514k
SW Insurrectionist (''23-'32); 163 matches, 10x MoM, 12 goals, 148 tackles. Cost 168k, Sold for 1.2M + 19 Glory
CD Tevery Best ('28-'32); 115 matches, 1x MoM, 68 tackles. Cost 11.1k, sold for 55.2k (4.97x)
FW ShadowedFlame ('26-'34); 166 matches, 22x MoM, 95 goals, 7 tackles. Cost 201k, sold for 3.71M (18.5x)
GK BraveLittlToaster ('28-'34); 93 matches, 2x MoM, 51 saves, 3 tackles. Cost 25.9k, sold for 414k (16x) + 25 Glory
MF Odd Wilson ('24-'35); 217 matches, 27x Mom, 97 assists, 125 tackles. Cost 680k, sold for 4.39M (6.5x)
LD PotatoManJack ('25-'36); 219 matches, 2x MoM, 17 assists, 84 tackles. Cost 91k, sold for 417k (4.6x)
CD megane ('27-'37); 206 matches, 7x MoM, 159 tackles. Cost 117k, sold for 677k (5.8x)
LF/RF Dragongem ('27-'37); 204 matches, 20x MoM, 42 goals, 8 tackles. Cost 94k, sold for 801k (8.5x) plus 43 Glory
DF Torrannor ('26-'37); 248 matches, 6x MoM, 2 assists, 211 tackles. Cost 389k, sold for 2.39M (6x). To Oberhausen!

.
MF Fat Samurai ('29-'38); 230 matches, 2x MoM, 51 assists, 14 tackles, 1 goal. Sold for 3.33M
FW Kyoon Griffey Jr. ('30-'39): 202 matches, 14x MoM, 72 goals, 13 tackles, 1 assist. Cost 290k, Sold for 933k(3.2x) + 37 Glory.
GK Coward ('31-'40); 278 matches, 25x MoM, 7 tackles, 382 saves. Cost 2.94M, sold for 16.2M (5.5x).
DF Quackles ('31-'40); 278 matches, 2x MoM, 162 tackles. Cost 262k, sold for 1.29M (4.9x).
CD/DM PokeyTax ('30-'40); 281 matches, 6x MoM, 202 tackles. Cost 173k, sold for 367k (2.1x) + 54 Glory.
AM AJ_Impy ('29-'42); 264 matches, 6x MoM, 28 goals, 73 assists, 45 tackles, 3 yellow cards. Cost 611k, sold for 130k (0.21x)
CD illmucche ('32-'43); 248 matches, 7x MoM, 181 tackles. Cost 372k, sold for 1.68M (4.5x).
AM NiftyBottle2 (''33-'43); 155 matches, 4 goals, 8 assists, 16 tackles. Cost 191k, sold for 38k (0.2x).
FW ShadowFlame2 (''36-'43); 92 matches, 1x MoM, 4 goals, 3 tackles. Cost 108k, sold for 38k (0.35x).
DM Nizaha ('32-'43); 208 matches, 19x MoM, 12 assists, 245 tackles. Cost 583k, sold for 1.09m (1.87x)
CD BraveLilToaster2 (''35-'43); 139 matches, 68 tackles. Cost 155k, sold for 170k (1.1x).
GK PotatwoManJack ('39-'44); 181 matches, 12x MoM, 2 tackles, 196 saves. Cost 1.31M, sold for 26.7M to Greece (20.4x!)
CF/AM Kanthulhu (''33-'44); 261 matches, 44x MoM, 153 goals, 6 tackles. Cost 1.31M, sold for 2.11M + 53 Glory (1.6x)
CM DTurtle ('37-'45); 215 matches, 8x MoM, 33 assists, 85 tackles. Cost 2.9M, sold for 20.7M (7.1x)
LD/RD Nea (''34-'45); 287 matches, 3x MoM, 2 assists, 102 tackles. Cost 838k, sold for 2.36M (2.8x)
MF Arcturas ('34-'46); 266 matches, 10x MoM, 63 assists, 75 tackles. Cost 4.38M, sold for 8.59M (2.0x)
RF DavidCorperial ('46); 9 matches. Sold for 80.5k (undefined x)

Waiting List

DavidCorperial2
ShadowThree

Completed Seasons

'22-'23; 3-3-8, 12 pts, 6th in Amateur League, R32 in Prestige Cup
'23-'24; 2-6-6, 12 pts, 7th in Amateur League, R32 in Prestige Cup
'24-'25; 1-4-9, 7 pts, 7th in Amateur League, Qualifying Round in Prestige Cup
'25-'26: 1-3-10, 6 pts, 8th in Amateur League, Qualifying Round in Prestige Cup
'26-'27: 1-5-8, 8 pts, 7th in Amateur League, Qualifying Round in Prestige Cup
'27-28: 3-5-6, 14 pts, 7th in Amateur League, R32 in Prestige Cup
'28-'29: 3-3-8, 12 pts, 7th in Amateur League, R32 in Prestige Cup
'29-'30; 8-4-2, 28 pts, 2nd in Amateur League, Qualifying Round in Prestige Cup. Promoted to Third League!
'30-'31; 14-4-4, 46 pts, 1st in Third League, R32 in Prestige Cup. Promoted to Second League!
'31-'32; 9-5-12, 32 pts, 8th in Second League, QF in Prestige Cup.
'32-'33; 11-5-10, 38 pts, 6th in Second League, R16 in Prestige Cup.
'33-'34; 14-7-5, 49 pts, 4th in Second League, Finals in Prestige Cup. So close!
'34-'35; 18-4-4, 58 pts, 2nd in Second League, Semifinals in Prestige Cup. Promoted to First League!
'35-'36; 6-12-12, 30 pts, 12th in First League, Round of 32 in National Cup.
'36-'37; 8-14-8, 38 pts, 9th in First League, Round of 32 in National Cup.
'37-'38; 20-5-5, 65 pts, 2nd in First League, Round of 32 in National Cup. Promoted to Premier League!
'38-'39; 4-12-18, 24 pts, 18th in Premier League, Round of 32 in National Cup. Relegated to First League

Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Apr 12, 2024

# ? Oct 11, 2022 02:41

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 18:05

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Coaches Corner

Reserved for reference material on mechanics, classes, skills, talents, and the like.

Base Classes

There are the four options, one for each of the four position groups.

- Amateur Goalkeeper (G)

Must be in the goal to receive G experience. Amateur Goalkeepers gains a +10% to Control and Defence, but suffer a -85% to Defence if not in goal. In other words, get by the net and stay there.

Any class that isn't a goalkeeper has a -50% to Defence if they are in goal. Basically you always want a keeper, and you always want them in goal and nowhere else.

- Amateur Defender (D)

Intercepts shots on goal that pass through adjacent tiles. Amateur Defenders possess a modicum of awareness and anticipation, and can compensate to a degree if the defense is out of position.

- Amateur Midfielder (M)

Moves two tiles without the ball. Amateur Midfielders are more mobile, allowing them to adapt to changing tactical situations.

- Amateur Forward (F)

Able to act after an unsuccessful shot on goal. Also, Motivation lasts 7 actions instead of the usual 6.

All of these also have the ability to begin training Skills at a limited level; one Skill, and only up to Level 1 at this point, but it's a start. Also, just because you start someone as a midfielder or forward doesn't mean they have to stay there. A common approach that actually has an achievement attached is to turn a defender into a defensive midfielder.

A couple of caveats with that though. You need to train them in adjacent positions; that is, you can't turn a forward directly into a defender, or vice-versa. They'd need to train in a midfield position, and then into one on the other end of the pitch. Also, Goalkeepers aren't eligible for cross-training. Training in another position means you can't be a keeper, and keepers can't turn into another position. You either start out becoming a keeper, or you aren't one.

Advanced Classes

There are two types: Universal and Special classes. I think 'Special' is being used too much though, so I'm going to limit the confusion and call those Focused Classes.

Universal Classes:

- Are notable for their versatility
- Except for Goalkeepers, allow a player to be effective anywhere on the pitch
- Allow the training of two Skills or Talents
- Are not as powerful as a Focused Class in terms of the abilities they provide
- Are a permanent and final choice; you can't be cross-trained from a Universal Class into something else.

Focused Classes:

- Are notable for their powerful abilities, but only within a specific area of the pitch
- Allow the training of only one Skill or Talent
- A player can be cross-trained into as many as three additional Focused Classes, each requiring a specialization level under the Utility section. Cross-training is advised to be done early. Since each successive SL is more costly than the last, and the player will be ineffective until it is completed, a highly cross-trained player is a major investment in specialization poins and also reduced team effectiveness while it is being worked on.

When making this choice, you need to know specifics. First, the Universal Classes simply grow directly out of the Amateur Classes. They can be seen as the final version of them.

- Goalkeepers (GK) increase the bonus of Control & Defense in goal from the 10% for Amateurs to 50%. They also get the same two skills/talents to maximum level allowance that all other Universal Classes have. The penalties for being out of goal remain intact, however - GKs are useless out of the goal.

- Universal Defenders (DF) add the ability to intercept passes on adjacent tiles to the Amateur ability to intercept shots. Aside from training two max-level Skills/Talents, they are otherwhise the same as Amateurs.

- Universal Midfielders (MF) add the Skill/Talent training and the ability to move 2 tiles with the ball; Amateurs can move 2 tiles only without the ball.

- Universal Forwards (FW) add the Skill/Talent training, have a 30% boost to control on the opponents turn, and can move 2 tiles without the ball.

Most players are not fans of Universal Forwards. While I've not tried it much myself, using them in a 'defensive forward' role, where they hold the ball and wait for a better scoring chance on the next turn, seems in theory that it could be useful. This depends a lot of course on whether the opponent has anyone with Slide Tackle nearby.

DF, MF, and FW all gain specialization experience regardless of where they are on the pitch, and retain these abilities in all locations.

There are many more Focused Classes, which exist more in the realm of positives and negatives. This diagram shows the areas where players can gain specialization experience in each:

Starting with the defense, the capabilities of each focused class. For 'wing' classes, the abilities are the same but if you want to play a player on both sides, they need to get a SL in both. If a focused class player leaves the effective area for their class, they also lose the benefits of their class until they return to it.

- Fullback (LD/RD) - Reduce the effectiveness of skills used by nearby (adjacent) opposing players. Specifically, the maximum roll of those skill is reduced by 1 + (skill potential / 2). They can also advance three tiles in a straight line along the flank. If they have possession, there is a chance for opponents to tackle them while doing this at a 70% penalty to the tackler's defense. Fullbacks retain their abilities anywhere along the flanks, but not in the middle of the pitch.

Fullbacks are one of the classes that can easily come in different flavors. They can neutralize some of the most dangerous types of opposing forwards if given high defense. Alternatively, with some investment in control and either passing or the Long Pass/Layoff Pass skills, they can be effective in counterattacking and delivering the ball to an attacking player in time for a scoring opportunity. You could even spread them out into defense, passing, and control for a more balanced player that can do some of each, but not any of them at a particularly high level.

- Sweeper (SW) - Moves automatically in the penalty area just in front of the keeper, attempting to keep themselves between the ball and goal as long as there isn't another player in the way. The Sweeper also retains the amateur defender's ability to intercept shots only on adjacent tiles. Only effective in the three tiles directly in front of the goal.

Sweepers are quite effective esp. in the lower leagues. Their automatic movement can often assure a second player in position to stop a shot on goal before it reaches the keeper. However, deploying one does make it impossible to utilize the offside trap, which depending on the formation may or may not be a good thing.

- Central Defender (CD) - Automatically tackles any opponent that enters their zone, unless that opponent just used a skill on them. Effective anywhere in central defense; the entire penalty area or a tile forward outside of it. No longer intercepts shots on adjacent tiles.

It is common to combine CD and DF players in a defensive line, as their abilities complement each other; CDs being more proactive and DFs more reactive.

- Defending Midfielder(DM) - Automatically intercepts passes up to two tiles away; Defence is doubled when intercepting passes crossing their tile; gets 1 level of Intercept talent innately; retains amateur ability to move two tiles without the ball.

It is very difficult to pass the ball directly through the middle to forwards when a good DM is in position. On the other hand, they do tend tire out quickly.

- Wing Midfielder (RM/LM) - No action points required to press. Moves 4 tiles with or without the ball. Like Fullbacks, they can be tackled while on a run with a 70% penalty to the tackler. Also like Fullbacks, they are effective anywhere on the flank but not in the middle of the pitch.

Wing Midfielders are the most mobile players on the pitch, able to switch from attack to support/defense and back quickly. As with DMs, this results in fatigue becoming an issue. They are particularly well-equipped to push the ball up the flank for crossing attempts.

- Central Midfielder (CM) - A very small effective area, in the middle just behind the midline. 30% boost to Passing, no action points required for Pressing, and retains the 2 tiles without the ball movement of an amateur.

Central Midfielders clog up the middle as a traditional passing link between defense and attack. Their passing bonus can attempt to counter the presence of an opposing DM.

- Attacking Midfielder (AM) - Opponents suffer 60% penalty when intercepting their passes; Range penalty for shooting is halved; only class capable of using the False Kick - costs no action points, and draws an opposing player a tile in their direction. AMs are effective anywhere on the attacking half of the pitch except for the final tiles along the goalline.

Attacking Midfielders are favored by many skilled players. They essentially come in two flavors; long-range shooting assassins, or brilliant passers who can thread the needle into the opposing penalty area through the defensive line consistently.

- Wing Forward (RF/LF) - 2 tiles movement with or without the ball; owners of the powerful Break-In ability. Break-In allows a Wing Forward to cut in from the side of the pitch into the penalty area, with a 50% penalty to defense for any trying to tackle them. It also costs no action points. As with other wing players, Wing Forwards are effective anywhere along the flanks.

Because of Break-In, Wing Forwards often are built with high Control. It also common for them to rely not on scoring directly, but on provoking a foul in the penalty area to result in a penalty kick. If this is combined with a skill that the keeper can't counter for scoring directly if a penalty does not result, they can become very dangerous indeed. Often a defender is placed wide to prevent a Wing Forward from easily reaching the Break-In tile, as shown:

The tile with the red X must be reached in order to attempt the Break-In. Another use of Wing Forwards is of course to be used as a Passing weapon to cross the ball into the box. For this role though, they rely more than Wing Midfielders or Fullbacks on other players passing the ball up the pitch to them, as they are not as mobile.

- Central Forward (CF) - Automatically moves one tile closer to the opponents goal if there is space available. Innately has one level of the Head Play talent, which is used for attempting to score via headers off of crosses. Central Forwards are effective anywhere in the middle of the pitch within four tiles of the opposing goal.

Central Forwards naturally synergize with wingers. They specialize in scoring at close range in a variety of methods, but esp. at the business end of crosses with their headers. A full, skilled defensive line is often required to keep a quality Central Forward at bay.

Skills & Talents

First up a quick correction on how counters work. If you have a talent that counters an opposing skill, it doesn't just make it less likely to succeed - it completely negates the possibility. If you have a talent of the same level as the skill, the result looks like this:

If you have a talent of a lower level, it reduces the level of the skill. So a talent of level 2 working against a skill of level 3 would result in that skill still being available, but only as a level 1.

Rainbow Feint - Player with the ball kicks the ball over the defenders head. The players will switch positions with the player still in possession, if it is a success. It's basically a skill version of dribbling - it can be and often is used to score against the keeper. Rainbow Feint is countered by Reaction

Nutmeg - Player with the ball kicks the ball between the legs of the opponent, taking possession 1-2 tiles past them. It only works directly forward, not diagonally or to the side. Nutmeg cannot be used score, but it does allow making it through a troublesome line of opposition. Additionally, 50% bonuses to Passing, Control, and Accuracy are conferred immediately after the Nutmeg is used, so the biggest danger to the defense is what happens afterwards. There is no talent counter to Nutmeg.

Cannon Shot A powerful shot on goal which can only be used if the player is directly on a line in front of or diagonally away from the keeper, with no defenders in the path. Countered by Strong Goalkeeper.

Slide Tackle allows taking the ball from a player with high control or who is holding it to try to retain possession. It has no counter, but if it fails it is susceptible to similar possibilities of fouling/injury as a regular tackle, esp. if made from behind the play.

Long Pass as we've noted is a pass of 4-5 tiles instead of the default 3. It is countered by Intercept

Layoff Pass is a teamwork play where the pass 'leads' the target teammate into a hopefully better position on an adjacent tile. This allows both the pass and moving the teammate in the same action, as shown below. It is also countered by Intercept.

Olympic Kick is used on corners, an attempt to make a curved kick into the goals. Defenders with heading talent can try to intercept it, and it is also directly countered by the Playing Out talent, which is also useful in intercepting crossing attempts.

A couple of other Talents not yet mentioned as counters:

Head Play, which all CFs get one level for free, is the ability to score via header from a crossing attempt. On set pieces, midfielders and defenders can score this way as well, but CFs are the primary targets for it. Another use of Head Play is players fighting for the ball in the air on a Lofted Pass. There's an example this that I'll try to remember to show in an upcoming match.

Throw-In is easily the least-valued Skill or Talent IMO, simply because it's not a common situation. Throw-In extends the range of throws that can be made, adding one tile per level of the talent. Even the help says it's 'rarely useful'. So typically you'll just be irritated that it shows up in your list ... but we'll keep an eye on any possibilities that come up.

One thing to keep in mind is the 2-skill limit means that no GK can counter all possibilities. High Defense is good against Precision/Power Shot, Playing Out + high Control is good against Crosses, then there's Rainbow Feint and Cannon Shot to consider. You can't have Playing Out and Strong Goalkeeper and Reaction .... so you will always be susceptible to something.

The Specialization Trees

As we've noted, once you get your Advanced Class the options open up. We can select any of the blue options. The grey ones need to be unlocked by working our way down each section of the tree.

This is another player, who has a Focused rather than a Universal class. The Talent section is a bit different, and there is also the added Utility section.

Specialist

We've already been through the first section. Every player gets a Base class, then an Advanced class, then they can get into the other options.

Talent

The top pick for a Universal player (first picture) allows training their first skill up to Level 3. Until you get this, Level 1 is the limit. The left pick for a Universal player allows training a second skill up to Level 3.

In the second picture, a Focused player only gets their skill up to Level 2 for the top pick; they need to get the left pick to reach Level 3, and of course they don't get a second skill.

For both types of players, the pick on the right speeds up skill training by 30%, and the bottom one increases that bonus to 70%. Completing the entire Talent Tree increases the maximum potential of skills by 2. Another way of looking at that is that it boosts your Giftedness by one star for the purpose of skills.

Dedication

Dedication has two types of picks. Upper-left is a 30% increase in match experience for increasing attribute levels; lower-left boosts that to 70%. Upper-right is 2 points in the attribute being trained on level-up; Lower-right is all 3 points, allowing total control of attribute gains and eliminating any further influence of the player's 'Fate'.

Completing the Dedication Tree confers a sizable boost of 5 attribute levels.

Fan Favourite

Left is Glory boost for making it into the Team of the Round. Right is where you get the 5% boost in sponsor payment when signing a new sponsor deal each year. Middle is a 30% boost in selling price for the player; bottom a 70% increase.

* Note: these have now been increased in a patch to 60% and 130%.

Completing the Fan Favourite Tree produces a one-time 5% increase in fans of the club.

Stamina

Upper-left; a player who has been in the game the entire first half will double their energy recovery at the half. Middle-left: 20% reduction in injury chance. Lower-left: 30% reduction in the odds of being carded when making a tackle. Right; player spends more time on the match day for recovery. 50% energy recovery on match day for players listed as substitutes. 150% if they are in reserve squad.

Completion of the Stamina Tree halves the energy recovery penalty for players 30+.

Utility

This is pretty straight-forward; up to three different Focused classes to cross-train into. Completing the tree doubles Specialization experience gained for the next 10 matches.

How to Choose Your Specialization

No player will ever get all of the possible upgrades in a career due to the escalating cost. You need to be selective. There's also a tension between aiming for peak performance, flexibility, or the long-term goals of the club.

Talent and Dedication are good ones to go for early to maximize a player in a particular class. Skills are powerful on the one hand, while Dedication allows you to shape your player more to your choosing and can give you a boost in leveling up. Esp. if you have a high-Giftedness player in a lower league, you may not be able to get enough levels to really have them reach their potential without it.

If you want versatility instead, going for Utility right away is the play. Stamina is probably my least-used tree; I expect it will be uncommon for players to hang around long enough to really benefit from it, and the other upgrades are just better in general IMO.

Fan Favourite allows the player to leverage their abilities to bring in some extra Glory and espescially money. If you go into this tree early enough to get the selling price boosts, it can really elevate the financial status of the club for the future after a player is no longer around.

Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Sep 14, 2023

# ? Oct 11, 2022 02:41

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Initial Setup & Choices

This is the first screen after starting a new game. If you want, there's the 'sandbox' start as high as you want option. We're not using that of course. Normal here.

Now we're asked about game setup. The tutorial shows a match demonstration which has a bit of backstory for the manager and is useful, so I will show that. It's off here though because it will clog up my email notification inbox throughout the campaign if it's on.

Note the description of what Hard does at the top.

Match Duration: 48 actions is the recommended amount. Some people think it's too short, but making it longer messes with balance, ends up with unrealistically high scores, etc. We're sticking with 48; the other options are 60 and 90.

RNG type: This is the most controversial one, and is an interesting example of gamer psychology. I'll explain these later, but Decreased is the most realistic option IMO.

Here we decide settings for the player personally. Strictness impacts whether you can be fired - yes for Adequate or stricter - and how big the Reputation hits are for failing objectives given by the club President. This will not be relevant for this campaign, because ...

We are now presented with the two main different ways of starting out, and see our first example of how the email works in FTG. You can see a reference here from our Assistant to us being a footballer ourselves at one point and business failures - we'll get back to that when we go through the Tutorial. She's presenting to us the 'Journeyman' path here. If we choose this path, the Strictness level we set on the previous screen will be used, and as noted it will be an easier start because we'll have a low-level, but established club to work with and some choices between which we want to take.

Here's an example of what we would get if we took this path. A total of five offers, and you will get more choices annually, with the club names, overall star rating, expectations, length of contract, and so on.

'Unknown contact' is about as impersonal as it gets. This guy is the club president we'll be working for - same photo even if you take the Journeyman route.

As this notes, management is set to friendly regardless of what we entered for Strictness on the previous screen. We can't be fired so long as we stay at the drek club we're going to have. If we choose this option and later decided to take another job, then the Strictness level would take effect. Basically getting fired from this job would be too easy for us, it would simply force us into a better situation rather than making good on our goal of progressing in rags-to-riches style.

The starting conditions don't change whether you Create a new club or Select an existing one. The Create option just lets you name the club and give it your own aesthetic stamp. So let's do that.

Here's where the choices for the thread start to come in. We're going to need a nation to start in - I'll switch the manager to whatever nationality is chosen. The choices I am giving are the top nations in FTG in Europe. There are four continents; Europe, Africa, Asia & Oceania, and Americas. Europe has just over half the nations in the game though, and is at High playing level; Americas are at Medium, Africa & Asia at Low. This is important because if we went to another continent, we would have a lot less competition. Also somewhat lower talent coming in from even a maxed-out Youth Academy, but overall it would IMO be much easier and less interesting than playing against the best regularly as we'll do at a top European nation.

There are five 'heavyweights' that are of equal quality in the default setup: England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. In addition to choosing one of those, we need a Club Name that isn't completely inappropriate.

Now I need to spam the thread with the aesthetic options. If you're just in the 'whatever, I don't care' category I can always pick something myself, but I'd rather it be chosen by the thread depending on how many are interested here. Color schemes and visual artistry are not my strong suit. I'm also cutting out a lot of the choices just for the sake of not making it overwhelming - I don't think the precise model of shoes and socks is going to matter a whole lot for the LP. But others elements area more visually obvious, and I would like to give everyone a voice in those.

These are the available colors for all elements. It would probably be helpful if people said 'Row 1, Column 1' or similar instead of just saying 'Red' because then I'm just going to ask 'ok, which red'?

We need a Logo first, which is comprised of two parts; a Shield, and an Image. We'll be looking at this on the main screen for advancing the game, in the league standings table, in cup matchups, when viewing information about our club - it's pretty much everywhere on the management side of the game. Another example of a Logo:

Shield is obviously the black with the white outline, the ball on top of it is the Image element. I'm going to have a fairly basic shield, probably not this one but not one with an extravagant design. So just Main and Additional Colors here. The Images though I will list.

Here the choice is which Image, along with Main and Additional Colors. The Uniforms are where it really gets stupid. There are selections Jersey, Shorts, Socks, and Boots for Home and Away uniforms, then also Jersey Socks and Boots for Goalkeepers. Guh. The Jerseys will by far be the most important here, I'll find something that fits reasonably well for the others.

The Home & Away Jersey options are from the same group:

So a Home Jersey with colors, and a Away Jersey with colors from these. They don't have to be the same jersey type, but they can be. The goalkeeper jerseys are a much smaller selection:

One of these, and colors as well. I should mention that typically keeper jerseys are a much different and brighter color than the other uniforms, for reasons of distinguishing them.

Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Oct 14, 2022

# ? Oct 11, 2022 02:43

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

First Decisions

The initial information needed from the above post then:

- Country. Choose from England, France, Germany, Italy, or Spain.

- Club Name. Preferably appropriate to the nation chosen.

Those are the most important. For those who want input on the aesthetics, also:

- Logo Image and Colors
- Home Jersey and Colors
- Away Jersey and Colors
- Keeper Jersey and Colors

I'm not in a hot hurry at this point, I'll wait at least a couple days, longer if useful, until it looks like initial submissions are done and then introduce our pathetic starting situation and start getting the game proper underway. Anyone who wants to get on the Player Waiting List right away, just post to that effect. Name if different than your username or you want the default game-generated one, and Position if you want to request one.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 02:43

NiftyBottle: Jan 1, 2009; radical

I�d like to get on the player list as a goalkeeper.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 07:25

Average Lettuce: Oct 22, 2012

For country I would go for Italy. No decent ideas for names though.

I would also like to get on the player list as a winger.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 11:42

ally_1986: Apr 3, 2011; Wait...I had something for this...

- Country. Italy

- Club Name. Golazzo

- Logo Image and Colors A crab / Pink & Black
- Home Jersey and Colors Pink & Black
- Away Jersey and Colors Yellow & Black
- Keeper Jersey and Colors Green and Black

I want to join Gaffer!

# ? Oct 11, 2022 13:40

PurpleXVI: Oct 30, 2011; Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Any particular reason you're limiting it to the five "heavyweights"? It feels like it would be funnier if it was some smaller nation, but I imagine that there's a gameplay/mechanics reason for it.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 13:54

Insurrectionist: May 21, 2007

Put me on the list as a big, burly center back. Germany sounds like a fun place to manage.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 16:05

Kaboom Dragoon: May 7, 2010; The greatest of feasts

Country: Scotland :colbert:

Name: Goon of the South
Logo: Teal Crab

# ? Oct 11, 2022 16:21

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

PurpleXVI posted:

Any particular reason you're limiting it to the five "heavyweights"? It feels like it would be funnier if it was some smaller nation, but I imagine that there's a gameplay/mechanics reason for it.

me posted:

if we went to another continent, we would have a lot less competition. Also somewhat lower talent coming in from even a maxed-out Youth Academy, but overall it would IMO be much easier and less interesting than playing against the best regularly as we'll do at a top European nation.

Same reason as I mentioned here. If we don't start at a top nation, when you reach the highest domestic league in that country they won't be able to compete with us as well and it would trivialize the end-game challenge most likely. I could take a small nation and edit them to be as strong as the big boys, but then they wouldn't be small anymore so it would defeat the point

# ? Oct 11, 2022 18:52

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Kaboom Dragoon posted:

Country: Scotland

Your input does not compute. Please check the available options and try again :P

# ? Oct 11, 2022 18:54

PurpleXVI: Oct 30, 2011; Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Strategic Sage posted:

Same reason as I mentioned here. If we don't start at a top nation, when you reach the highest domestic league in that country they won't be able to compete with us as well and it would trivialize the end-game challenge most likely. I could take a small nation and edit them to be as strong as the big boys, but then they wouldn't be small anymore so it would defeat the point .

Oh, my bad.

I thought we'd end up in a continent-wide or world-wide league so we'd have to face off against the big boys of our chosen continent in any case.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 19:54

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Totally understandable, I haven't gotten into the details of how all that works yet.

We would have to face off against them in the cup competitions, but on the domestic league side it's only within your country. Just for frame of reference, top league in a small country in Africa or Asia has 2.5-star clubs at best. Whereas the big five have nobody below 4-stars in that top league, a handful of 4.5, and a couple of 5-stars each. It's ... not a small difference.

# ? Oct 11, 2022 19:58

Left 4 Bread: Oct 4, 2021; i sleep

Strangely, I could come up with a lot of ideas, but I think this one is the best one:

Country: Italy

Team Name: The Paisanos

For the logo image, I suggest the tree that kind of looks like a mushroom if you squint (4th image, 10th icon)

And all of our jerseys and colors should look as close to blue overalls with red undershirts. (Particularly looking at that shirt with the two big stripes down the front.)

(Although, I really wanted to pick the silly looking crow.)

E: Regardless of the final team decision, put me in as a central midfielder with the biggest beard possible.

Left 4 Bread fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Oct 11, 2022

# ? Oct 11, 2022 20:12

Quackles: Aug 11, 2018; Pixels of Light.

Darn it, so Wales is out, then...

# ? Oct 11, 2022 20:50

Jossar: Apr 2, 2018; Current status: Angry about subs

Put me in, coach! I'll play anywhere you got.

Country: Germany

I was gonna make a Bielefeld joke for the team name, but apparently Arminia is very real and just made it back to the Bundesliga, alas.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 00:48

BraveLittleToaster: May 5, 2019

Country: Italy.

I'd like to be put in as a player as well, toss me in any midfield position there is to spare.

BraveLittleToaster fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Oct 12, 2022

# ? Oct 12, 2022 00:53

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Jossar posted:

Put me in, coach! I'll play anywhere you got.

Country: Germany

I was gonna make a Bielefeld joke for the team name, but apparently Arminia is very real and just made it back to the Bundesliga, alas.

"Bielefeld, the friendly construction site in the Teutoburger Wald..."

# ? Oct 12, 2022 01:19

Quackles: Aug 11, 2018; Pixels of Light.

Country: Germany and have the club name be a hilariously long compound noun name.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 01:33

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Quackles posted:

Country: Germany and have the club name be a hilariously long compound noun name.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 01:53

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Quackles posted:

Country: Germany and have the club name be a hilariously long compound noun name.

I actually googled the longest German word and apparently it's a clearly recognized winner: "Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung". The internet proclaims that means 'motor vehicle indemnity insurance'.

As spectacular as that would be, esp. given it's total irrelevance to a football club - it's 36 characters. We are limited to 22 characters for the name in the game. So if we go this route, we'd have to settle for 'fairly long' rather than 'hilariously long'.

This also means supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is out of the question.

Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Oct 12, 2022

# ? Oct 12, 2022 02:05

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

'Backpfeifengesicht' = 'Face in need of a fist,' 18 letters.

edit if there was a 63 letter limit, 'Rindfleischetikettierungs�berwachungsaufgaben�bertragungsgesetz' would be the obvious choice 'Beef Labeling Supervision Task Transfer Act'

# ? Oct 12, 2022 02:13

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

'Backpfeifengesicht' = 'Face in need of a fist,' 18 letters.

Ok I'm not going to lie, that's very funny! Is there a plural version? 'Faces in need of a fist'?

# ? Oct 12, 2022 02:25

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Strategic Sage posted:

Ok I'm not going to lie, that's very funny! Is there a plural version? 'Faces in need of a fist'?

Of course, 'Backpfeifengesichter' 20 letters! The meaning is about the same as the English, 'Punchable Face'

# ? Oct 12, 2022 02:28

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Keep all the good ideas and votes coming! I thought it might be useful to get tutorializing while that goes on, so that there's some meat/substance to look at in terms of how FTG works. First up, the Tutorial on match play. After that I'll do a run-through of the main screens on the management side of things.

This is how the tutorial begins. The National Cup is the highest domestic cup; i.e., best clubs in the country battling it out for the trophy.

Appropriately, we've got a late-game stadium backdrop here. The one our club will have is decidedly .... less impressive. The matches take place in this horizontal orientation always, and you can see the grid; 10 squares wide by 7 high, and the keepers on each end of it.

Simple enough.

We're going to see what happens when we shoot on goal first.

Notice the ratings for 'G Dwelley', the opposing keeper, at the top. He is terrible. This type of player would never be a starting keeper in the final of the National Cup, full stop, in any country on the planet. They're set that way so that we can actually score using basic methods for tutorial purposes.

We're currently set to Precision Shot by default, so we shift to Power Shot as instructed.

The description here is accurate for Default RNG, which will always be used for the tutorial. A few interesting bits on the RNG system. It was originally designed in XCOM style, with a % probability of success. In testing they found people were very averse to trying low-probability actions though, and they were willing to experiment and try different things when it was presented as this kind of straight dice roll - even though the underlying calculation was unchanged.

So under Default, it's 100% fair and even, using the entire range from 1 to whatever the attribute rating is. The better player will usually succeed, but it's possible for even a very low-rated player to rarely succeed against a world-class one. For Expected RNG setting, the low end of rolls for the player only is cut off. It's biased in favor of the player, feeding into human bias that tends to exaggerate bad luck against us and minimize good luck in our favor. I just find the fact that it's labeled as 'Expected' quite amusing. The third option and the one we are using for the campaign is Decreased, which cuts off the bottom 30%. In other words, in the case here with a maximum of 8, a roll of 1 or 2 would never happen. But Decreased is fair to both sides - the bottom is cut off for both our rolls and those of our opponents. It just prevents the scenario of an immensely outclassed player succeeding against a far superior opponent, increasing the advantage of higher abilities. If a 25 is rolling against a 100, the 100 will never roll below 30, and the outcome is assured.

The number by Shaffer hasn't changed, it's still 8. Accuracy decreases with distance, and whenever possible it's advised to shoot as close as you can. But compare the picture above to the one a couple pictures above it, and you can see the numbers over the defenders has changed. Dwelley had a 13 against Precision Shot, but a 20 against Power Shot. This is because when using Precision Shot, defenders are reduced to 65% of their full rating. Power Shot has a different advantage; if a Precison Shot fails, whatever defender stopped the shot has possession. If a Power Shot fails, it will 'bounce off' or rebound to a random tile adjacent to that defender. If a Power Shot is stopped by the keeper, there's a fairly good chance a corner kick will result. A common strategy then is to go for Power Shot if you don't have much chance of scoring directly, and try to get a better opportunity out of a corner kick. There are many other ways of scoring of course. Precision Shot and Power Shot are just the basic ones that every player can attempt.

To score from here, we must get the ball past all opposition on a direct line - Dwelley in goal, and Wicker immediately opposite us in the direction of the shot. But also notice that the toughest obstacle is in between; Snowball and Kirkland will move to intercept the shot on the empty tile there, with a combined resistance of 30. It would actually be better for us if one of them was just standing on that tile as opposed to having to deal with both trying to block it. This is one example of how positioning when attacking or defending the goal will be a very important tactical factor going forward.

Shaffer has almost no chance of scoring, so it's time for Plan B. The old adage from chess that when you see a good move, look for a better one, is appropriate here.

This is where 'I' enter the story. The player under the arrow is named what you entered as your coach on the settings screen; all the others are random.

The in-game help is quite good overall. Pretty much every important topic is covered in the 'Footballopedia', and there's also contextual stuff like the ? here on Lofted Pass. Mousing over that brings up this:

I'm not a fan of Lofted Pass being used at this point in the tutorial though. As you can see here, the passing and the range factor - the number above Sage - are both at 60. There will be a dice roll for each, and under normal conditions this would have almost a 50% chance of failing. Almost, because the action succeeds if there's a tie. In this case though it is hardcoded to work.

Setting up a situation with a normal pass, which has a range of up to 3 tiles and automatically succeeds if no defender is in the way or can intercept it, would be more sensible here.

There's animations as these actions play out, I'll show those in a brief video once we're through these instructions.

It's now setting us loose and allowing us to play around with some different possibilities. One note on the three actions per turn; skills are an exception to that, as we will see in a bit. At the bottom of the screen is says SKILLS ARE UNAVAILABLE, because right now we're just supposed to be learning and experimenting with the basic actions.

Time doesn't pass unless we take an action. We can sit here and contemplate the situation, our navel, our shameful lack of repentance, or the vastness of the cosmos for as long as we wish before deciding what to do.

Let's consider our options then. Selecting a player and clicking on the square they are on allows for Hold, an attempt to just maintain possession or more realistically, force the other team to spend some actions getting it back, giving them less actions to use trying to score. This is your delaying/stalling tactic.

Here's the basic pass I mentioned. Swap Positions is only used when two players are adjacent. This can be done with or without the ball - players can be moved even if they aren't the one in possession. If I did it here, Sage would keep the ball and dribble to where McCraken is.

If you just want to go through the defense instead of around them, try Dribbling.

If there's no opposition, technically it's not considered a dribble, just Moving. I can move two tiles to the right, but not two tiles up, because of the limitations of my 'class'. That's something we'll get to in the future, but basically my player is trained to be most effective operating up the flank, not in the middle of the pitch.

This isn't the best choice, but I'm moving here to demonstrate one other possibility .... which as it turns out isn't allowed in the tutorial. When you're next to the edge of the pitch, you can choose to Kick Out, and require the opponent to execute a Throw-In. This is probably one of the weakest and least-used actions, but it is an option worth mentioning.

We've only got one action left, so let's shoot. Due to my player's high accuracy and the ineptitude of the opposition, I actually will probably still score even though accuracy is halved due to the distance of the shot. Let's go to the video at this point.

:siren:

FTG Match Play Tutorial (2:23)
:siren:

The rest of the half plays out with a couple of turns for each team, just to give an idea of the flow of play, animations and sound effects, etc. The cinematic celebrations after scoring, kick-off after a score (or at the start of a half), and we see the actions of Tackling and Pressing for when you aren't in possession and need to get it back. There's also a bit where a midfielder on our team could have used the Kick Out option, and then an example of a halftime report.

The pace can be sped up if you choose; that's an option under the gear icon in the lower-left. It was set to 1 here which is the slowest. I think 1.5 is default, and it can go as high as 3 if you just want to get through the animations and opponents turn as quick as possible. The kickoff animations and such can be turned off as well if you don't like them, they do get repetitive but I just had them on here for demonstration.

After the half, we are skipped forward to near the end of the game for the conclusion of the tutorial. It's time to learn about Skills.

The 'across his opponent' statement is an important stipulation. It is possible to perform a skill that no opponent is in position to oppose. You can't abuse this free action to endlessly position optimally, but it is not uncommon to have 4 or even 5 actions in a turn instead of the default 3 by using skills wisely. This becomes increasingly important as you reach higher levels of competition. Another balancing element is the fact that you cannot use skills on the first turn following a kick-off.

It's me again!!

The Long Pass has a range of 4-5 tiles, allowing passing further than the regular Pass action, and more accurately and safely than the Lofted Pass. The maximum number above each player for this role isn't determined by any of the attribute ratings, but by the player's Giftedness (if you have the expansions, otherwhise it's just always 10). We'll come back to that when we look at the management side of the game. The 'x3' by the 8 for Branch indicates that he has Long Pass trained up to Level 3. That's the maximum level for all Skills, and for each level you get another roll. So he has three rolls of 8 to beat or equal one roll of 5. This will be no contest.

Many skills have other skills that counter them, which makes it a lot more interesting. For example, if the player on the other team had Level 3 Interception, which counters Long Pass, and the same Giftedness as Branch does, they would stand a good chance of preventing this pass from being completed.

At the lower level of competition, skills are only a minimal factor and you're generally only thinking about one turn. Attribute ratings are central. You're weighing how to get the best chance to score, and whether it's best to go for that, or go for a strategy of trying to make sure your opponent can't score if you fail to. As you progress upwards, it becomes a lot more complicated. Attributes diminish in importance as skills become predominant. Skills countering skills, counters to the counters, and so on - and there are also situations for a multi-turn strategy. On one turn you might want to provoke or manipulate a weakening in the opposing formation, so that you can later exploit that for a scoring opportunity.

I'm competent at tactics, but far from the best. Perhaps some of you will have ideas I've not yet considered. 'Backseat management' is welcomed

.

It's also important to note that every action you take consumes some energy - you can't just overuse one player non-stop. If a player's energy drops below 50%, their attribute ratings are decreased and any skill used against them automatically succeeds. Such players will be shown bent over with hands on their knees to indicate how tired they are. Particularly for positions where the players move around a lot, you can't just 'ride your best horse into the ground' for long without paying a price for it.

There is another mechanic not shown in the tutorial - motivation. Motivation basically balances out particularly bad RNG but it also provides a home-field advantage; home players become motivated twice as quickly as those playing for the visitors. If a player fails enough actions in a match, he can become 'motivated' - the worse his rolls are, the less failures it will take for it to happen. This is indicated by a Star by the player with the duration indicated, usually 6. Motivated players are immune to having skills used against them for the duration, have their attribute ratings increased by 30%, and have access to the Aggressive Tackle action, which operates with a +20 bonus to Defence. But if it fails, it's virtually a guaranteed yellow card at minimum, so it's not a good idea to use it mindlessly. Still, motivated players in the right situation at the right time can make the difference in scoring or preventing a key goal.

Here's motivation-in-progress. Look at the yellow star in FW Gilmore's information bar at the top. He's had the ball tackled away from him on a couple of consecutive turns, and his star is mostly full. He becomes motivated when it is completely full. Early in a match, most players will tend to have a completely or mostly black star. But they will tend to fill up over the course of a match as various actions are attempted and some inevitably fail.
You can also see a bit in the background of what it looks like when you're not exactly at the apex of the football pyramid

Later in the game, Gilmore is now Motivated and will remain so until 7 more actions have occurred.

We've seen how hold works already.

Note that now we would have the Kick Out option available.

The red X by the nearby defender is there because they've tried to perform an action - a failed tackle on us - and can't do anything else for the rest of this turn.

On 'tackling from behind' - behind in this case means away from your goal, away from the direction of play. If you are not 'even with the ball' or further up the pitch, it is considered a tackle from behind. If we are tackled from below or the left in this case, it is not from behind; it would have to come from the right. Weather also has impacts on play. This is normal weather conditions, but there can also be hot conditions (increasing how fast players fatigue), rain (increased chance of fouls), or snow (skills are harder to use). Those are uncommon, but we will have to occasionally deal with them.

The opposing midfielder Dougherty approaches from the right and attempts the Slide Tackle skill. It fails, and I am injured. He receives a red card, being sent off for the rest of the match and his team will play a man short for the remainder. The red card booking also reduces their rolls for all actions in the rest of the match by 15%.

And thus have the Fates treated me. I have become a statistic, left to ponder what might have been for the rest of my days ...

We fade to black ...

And so ends the Tutorial. From here it returns to the game setup process. This does place the age of my in-game persona however at probably late 30s.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 02:50

PotatoManJack: Nov 9, 2009

This seems really cool. I remember when this came out I looked quite a bit at picking it up, but it eventually fell off my radar.

I'd love to control a player development - so sign me up!

Edit for Team Suggestion:

Country: France
Logo: Elephant Head
Jersey Colour: Lime Green & Pink
Team Name: Gros Fromage

PotatoManJack fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Oct 12, 2022

# ? Oct 12, 2022 05:32

ShadowedFlames: Dec 26, 2009; Shoot this guy in the face.; Fallen Rib

Saw this on Discord, came over to follow on the main site.

Much as I�d like to put the team in Ukraine as a nod to the devs, I don�t really have a preference and will defer to the hive mind.

Perfectly happy to assume a role as a bench player of any type though!

# ? Oct 12, 2022 12:19

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

If anyone has an opinion on Country but hasn't held forth yet, we have a tie between Germany and Italy. I could always flip a coin, but since this is the one choice we can't change later, I'll leave it open another couple of days to make sure there are no decisive votes.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 17:33

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Management Overview

In the upper-right of the main sim screen and many others is the 'Key Resources' area. Club Name, Logo, Flag, ? links to the help, but it's the four icons and numbers that we are concerned with now.

- Glory is the red flag. We will start with no Glory. None whatsoever. We will be Gloryless. From the game:

FTG posted:

this is an indication of your authority and influence. You can use your authority to motivate footballers before matches, carry out individual training sessions and invite more experienced assistant coaches. Glory gives you the ability to influence those aspects of club management where money has no power

In the long-term, you would have to be wildly successful to accumulate more Glory than you can use. It's possible, but only at the very highest level. I view it as being the overall most important resource, although it becomes more critical later and won't matter much to us in the early years.

- Money is the coin with the dollar sign on it. It isn't hard to understand. As shown here, we will also start out with none of it. To extend players contracts or upgrade facilities at the club we need to turn a profit, and the bigger the better. If we become successful in the Premier League we will eventually get to a point where we are effectively printing money, but we will need a lot of it to reach that point and we'll need all we can get for most of the journey. I'll refer to this as Euros probably.

For both Money and Glory, purchases are done almost exclusively on an up-front basis. You either have enough to buy something, or you don't. The full price for player contracts is due and paid at the moment the contract is signed.
There are no 'maintenance fees' or degredation in facilities, the world isn't dynamic in that way. Facilities at rival clubs will remain indefinitely as they were set at the start of the campaign. Climbing the ladder will require us to manage both resources well. It is possible to get into a situation where you don't have enough to even maintain your current roster and go into a tailspin. If you haven't built a reasonable foundation, it can even be unrecoverable.

Let's not do that.

- Below Glory is the Stadium. At start, 100 fans can attend our home matches. Even if we get more fans than that - which we don't have to worry about happening for quite some time - only 100 will be paying customers until we upgrade this. 'Stadium' is a hilariously pretentious term for where we will be playing a miserable excuse for football, but if we do manage to expand the fanbase then we need to upgrade the grounds to accomodate them, or we'll lose out on potential income.

- Fans are the blue jersey. Because there's no accounting for taste, 50 people will currently pay to attend our matches. This is always an accurate number with no variance. If we win regularly, it will begin to rise. If we lose regularly, it will decline - but never below 15. I'm assuming that's the 'die-hard friends and family' level, the people we know personally who attend because it would feel like a betrayal if they didn't and we'd pack their bags and take them on a guilt trip otherwhise.

Cup results, and esp. being promoted and relegated between leagues will have an even more dramatic effect. Hard-earned fan loyalty can go in the tank in a hurry if you tank too badly. This is important to keep in mind when selling a star player.

Inbound transfers will not be a thing in this run, but it's worth knowing how it works in case someone is interested in a more 'standard' playthrough. The personal list here will always have at least five names - you can unlock more and younger ones with upgrades to club scouting. The Extended List requires a cash payment for the service, international scouting you have to progress further as a manager to be able to use, and the wishlist is just your basic 'I want to keep an eye on this player' feature.

The Squad screen is the most used screen in FTG. It is the nerve center of your operations. The most brilliant coach or manager accomplishes not a darned thing without players. There's also sections for Club and Coach if we are looking at our club and also contract & training details and so on. For purposes of having a good variety of players to demonstrate though, we're looking at Third-League Bristol FC in a fairly mature save.

The pitch on the right allows us to move players around as we see fit. This is the Tactical View which I pretty much always use; there's also the Default View which has jerseys with numbers instead of the symbols if you prefer that. In general though, we'll note that defenders are placed anywhere in the blue area; keepers obviously in goal; midfielders in the yellow area; forwards in the red. Green is reserved for our opponent. We can click and drag players around to arrange our starting formation, and on match days we'll see the formation they are going to start with and match up against that as best we are able.

What we really want to focus on here though are the players themselves. There's a number of elements to look at, and this will be a general overview. We will break out details and specifics as they come up and become relevant with our club.

- Class. This is the general position the player is trained to play. There's four basic categories: Keeper (purple), Defense (blue), Midfield (yellow), and Forward (Red). The players in green towards the bottom? Well, they're not trained in any position yet. Sadly we'll get to know players like that far too well.

- Name I hope I don't need to explain what a name is.

- Giftedness Added by the first expansion, this doesn't have a column but is indicated by the stars on the player's name 'panel'. For example, Fielder has two. Many others have one. MacNeil has one, but it's empty/not filled in. That's a Giftedness of 0. The range is 0-5. It's basically a cap on their potential; lower Giftedness means a player earns less experience and therefore improves slower once they reach a certain level. They will also have lower maximum rolls on their skills; you can see here Fielder has a maximum of 8 in the Skills column - while the others are at 6 or 4.

- Attributes Acc for Accuracy (shooting on goal); Pas for Passing (kicking the ball to a teammate); Def for Defense (stopping passes or shots by the opposition, tackling to gain possession); and Ctr for Control (maintaining possession once you have the ball, dribbling through opponents).

Accuracy is the primary attribute for Forwards, Passing for Midfielders, Defense for Keeper & Defenders. Control can be useful for all positions, and is always useful for Keepers and some variants of Forwards, but it's sort of in it's own category as a 'universal attribute' that's often useful but rarely of first importance. Of course, you don't have to follow that approach - thinking outside the box and developing a player in a 'non-standard' way can be rewarded if done intelligently. If done foolishly ... well, you'll just end up with a player who isn't very useful and I might end up consigning them to the pine pony.

- Level. Players gain levels when they have enough match experience, and their attributes increase. So think of Level here as 'general indicator of how good the attributes are overall'. One aspect of control over development is the training focus, an attribute that the player will be guaranteed to get at least one point in out of the three gained every time they level up . This is part of how you can shape your player in the direction you wish.

Players will tend to keep to the same distribution of attributes, all other things being equal. This is known as 'Fate', but you could consider it their 'shape' or whatever other term you might prefer. Look at the two green players at the bottom. Lappin has more passing than all other three attributes combined, so he's the kind of player that needs to be in a role where his passing is valuable, because he can't do much of anything else. Left to his own, he will continue to have most attributes he gains go to passing. You might want to train them in passing and make that even more prominent, or train on another attribute and shore up a weakness. By contrast, McLeary is nearly equal in accuracy and passing, also possessing some control. If he is played in a role that heavily relies on one attribute, he's going to be in trouble. Training McLeary you'd probably want to emphasize either accuracy or passing and place him in a role where both of them would be useful. As we get into classes in more practical detail, we'll get a better picture of how to do that.

There is also a different kind of experience, 'specialization experience', that is used to unlock training in different classes, allow players to begin training skills & talents, and shape their development and value in other ways. That's where probably the most important decisions come in building a player into a vital member of the squad.

- Age. Main points to know here are that players have a more difficult time dealing with fatigue once they reach 30, and they can't be re-signed to a contract once they hit 34. So if you haven't done it before, at 30 it's time to start thinking about how much longer they should be with the club. The selling price for players also decreases with age - a young prospect with the same skillset as an older one is more valuable because clubs will get more mileage out of them.

-Skills. Players can have up to two Skills or Talents, all maxing out at Level 3. The difference between a Skill and a Talent is that Talents are passive - the player just does them on their own when appropriate. In the Tutorial example that I discussed, Long Pass is a skill, Interception is a talent that counters Long Pass.

There's a lot under Club info to cover later; a Trophies Room where all of our hardware won (or lack thereof) will be displayed; graphs of historical performance, a number of stats to peruse, H2H results against any opponent, we can change our club logo/colors/uniform at any time, etc. Photos of the current roster are another cool feature. But all of that is best explored when we've actually got our club up and running and some history built up IMO. But I will show one example of how the stats can be useful:

This is an Action Zones display. We can see most of our Assists coming from midfield, the most shots coming from straight on outside of the penalty area but not scoring anything from there, most of our goals coming from close in as you might expect.

This is from a simmed season, a human would likely be a lot different, and it will also vary based on your tactics. The aggregate data though is good enough to give valuable tools for adjusting your approach.

Now for the Club Upgrades - this is where we make those investments in infrastructure and facilities. These are permanent, strategic decisions. As shown here, we will start once more with not a darned thing. Each upgrade increases our rating by a half-star; there are 10 in each category, of escalating cost. Not listed here is the important fact that Youth Academy upgrades also boost the Giftedness of youth players - this is the main factor, but playing level on the continent and country ranking also impact it. To start with, we'll get 90% 0-stars no matter where we are. There's a remote chance of getting 2-3 star Giftedness but it's very unlikely. This will be by far the most important and prioritized upgrade for us - filling the pipeline with better players.

Youth Work opens up the possibility, once we've learned how to do it through Coach experience, to spend Glory for requesting a certain type of player, or to be able to choose from multiple options for our youth intake. The cost of this scales with the level of our youth academy.

The Training Grounds section and the coach upgrades here allow us to boost how much improvement players gain from each match.

Finally, Scout Centre we are not going to care about since we're not going to be buying players, but the Medical Centre is not wisely ignored. Career-ending injuries as such or permanent ability reductions such as we suffered are not a feature, but losing your top goal-scorer or a key defender for half a year - that you are still paying them for - is not an easy pill to swallow. Eventually this can get very OP, with the ability to eliminate long-term injuries through the Chief Physician. And there's another sub-screen for improving recovery time as well.

Indie games often suffer from a lack of work on the in-game help, but that's one of the strong points of FTG in my opinion. This is a game that wants you to understand how to play it. Three-tier system including some focused tutorials the Tests section - on implementing various tactics.

There's also browser-like navigation with links to other relevant topics and returning to previous articles conveniently. Here I went to Sporting Anger and then linked to Aggressive Tackle, so I can go back if I wish. I would say 90-95% of the mechanics questions I've had were answered somewhere in here. A lot of work clearly went into this.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 17:54

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

We must have the Bielefeld Backpfeifengesichter FC!

# ? Oct 12, 2022 17:55

PurpleXVI: Oct 30, 2011; Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Italy

Let the pizza.mp3 play proudly.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 18:24

ShadowedFlames: Dec 26, 2009; Shoot this guy in the face.; Fallen Rib

Ok, so I�m going back on my �whatever the hive mind decides� stance.

We had a decent FM LP in San Marino/Italy many moons ago. So we need a change of pace. Germany gets my nod, plus �Bundesliga� sounds funnier to me.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 20:31

NiftyBottle: Jan 1, 2009; radical

Yeah, I�ll throw my hat in for Germany.

# ? Oct 12, 2022 23:16

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Competitions

For our last bit of overview before we dive in, we'll look at the full range of the task ahead of us.

Tables shows us the standings for all the competitions. We can also view the rules - there are 11 tiebreakers if different clubs are tied on points - top performers in the listed competition, and completed matches in the current season. The star ratings by the clubs are a sort of power ranking; they change gradually as you win, lose, or draw matches, not as a result of players improving, being signed, or being sold. The red flags on the left are the amount of the Glory awarded for finishing the season in those positions - there's also a cash reward for finishing in a good enough position.

Competitive Structure

The general 'European Model' is used across the board. All countries have the same competitive structure for their domestic leagues; five tiers as shown. They have increasing numbers of clubs in each; Amateur League has 8, Third League 12, Second League 14, First League 16, Premier League 18. I can change the names if people are interested in that to match our chosen nation, but that would be cosmetic only - they will still function the same. They all have a double round-robin format, one match at home and on the road against every other club in the league. The top three in each are promoted, bottom three relegated, except of course that you can't promote from the Premier or be relegated from the Amateur. 3 points for a win, one for a draw.

Then there are domestic cups. Every country has a Prestige Cup and a National Cup. Both have 34 clubs in each. Premier and First League clubs participate in the National Cup, lower three leagues in the Prestige Cup. Advancement in these is on a knockout tournament basis, each round has a home leg and an away leg, winner determined on aggregate goals scored. Penalty shootouts resolve ties, and they are annoying as I'm sure we'll experience.

For the international play elements, we need to take a look at this Countries table. This is from a save in Asia; Europe has about triple this many countries. On the right though, we see that 4-6 clubs from each nation are competing in the continental cups. In Europe, the top nations send 7, possibly as many as 8, but 4 is always the minimum. The clubs that particpate are based on the previous year's standings. Points are awarded for their performance in these cups and reflected here on a 5-year rolling basis.

In other words, if a nation's top Premier League clubs do well in the continental cups, the nation's ranking will rise in the continent and more spots can open up for other clubs to participate. Do poorly, and a nation can lose available slots to another nation. This works in general, but there is some funkiness in this part of the game; sometimes it appears that a nation will have a spot more or less than they should.

All continents have two cups; the lower one, in the case of Europe the EFA, will have the lower two-thirds of entrants. The elite cup, European Cup for us, has the better one-third. All nations are guaranteed at least one entrant in the higher-level cup. The continental cups work on a 'pool' system. Clubs are divided into pools of four team that play double round-robin against other clubs in the pool. Then the top two advance to the knockout rounds, while the bottom two are eliminated. So there's more room for error in the pool phase.

This is an example of the current Premier League table for a game that's over a decade in progress. Norway is a mid-level nation, presently ranked 19th in Europe. In general, all of the bottom-half nations will look like this. They have the one European Cup slot, Drammen FC highlighted in green. The next three slots are highlighted in blue, and they will have admission to the EFA.

This is Portugal, currently 6th. They are looking at six positions; three in the EFA, three in the European Cup. The different shading of each color indicates playing in the qualifying rounds or making it directly into the pool phase of each cup.

Finally, there is the Club World Cup which is pretty much a throw-in event. The winner of the top continental cup from each continent (Asia, Europe, America, Africa) the previous year will meet in a four team tournament. Starting in the Amateur League, we'll have at least 16 matches a year - two for the Prestige Cup and 14 in the league. A club at the top of the Premier League winning everything in the quadruple - Premier League, National Cup, European Cup, Club World Cup - will have on the order of 60 matches a year with all the associated issues of fixture density, squad rotation, etc.

# ? Oct 13, 2022 18:56

Strategic Sage: Jan 22, 2017; And that's the way it is...

Club Intro

It's still a close vote, but I'm calling it for Germany 6-5 over Italy. I was going to pick Germany if it was tied, so the result seems unlikely to change.

Club Name, abbreviation, and logo are seen here. All can be changed, only playing in Germany is set in stone. I think I'm going to be calling us 'the club' or 'our club' or 'Club B' or something instead of typing that all out every time. Thanks a lot for that.

On the logo, the idea suggested of a teal crab I initially thought was ridiculous. But then I considered it a bit more, and thought - 'Yes! It's ridiculous! Let's go with that.' I didn't want to make it a total clown car though. The idea of this logo is that it starts off reasonably well. The shield is solid - it's not too simple but not too extravagant, looks like some thought went into it ... and then somebody stuck this crab on top of it for no reason. It's as if you really tried to come up with something good, and that's still the best you could do?

A few more options on this theme;

This one I particularly found amusing in the crab so absurdly large compared to the lions along the side. If people like any of these other ones better, I'll make a switch.

In keeping with the same general idea, the uniforms have I think a decent design but the the thinner stripes of the jersey don't quite match with the shorts. Also, it's like they wanted all three colors of the German flag but they were told they could only have two in the uniform, so the socks and boots use the opposite color because we're using all three whether you like it or not.

First one is home, second one away.

Goalkeeper. There was a suggestion of using pink and lime green, and I put that in the main uniforms but ... it was just too silly. I thought maybe it was too silly here also, but then I looked up some real pictures of keepers. Some of them just have different shades and designs of the same color, but then there are some like this ...

Copyrighted image, so credit to Justin Tallis, Getty Images, printed in the LA Times. This is Jonathon Bond, and not the only example of basically deciding to use half the colors in the rainbow. By that comparison, there's nothing 'too much' about what we've got.

Our initial motley collection of 'Punchable Faces'. None of these are the players you will control; you'll have entirely new players from the Youth Academy to punch.

The Trophy Room. We don't have any, naturally. This room will stay the same except for those pedestals. From right to left, they are used for the five domestic leagues in ascending order, and the four cups in ascending order. We'll be able to see what how many times and in what year we won each trophy - third or better gets one for the leagues - once we, you know, actually do that.

I won't go through these every year, but our Assistant has a few messages for us to consider:

There are two transfer windows each year, one at the start of the year from mid-July through the end of August; the other for the second half of the year after the Winter Break, covering the month of February. Along with dealing with player contracts, this is also when we get new players from the Youth Academy, one at the start of each transfer window.

Only the worst 4 out of 34 in each domestic cup play in the qualifying round. We're considered one of the bottom 4 of the bottom cup. Just in case we were wondering where we ranked in the grand scheme.

Annual reminder that we're part of a country with a grand and successful tradition. One that we are actively detracting from at every turn right now. I also enjoy the matter-of-fact way she says 'Advance to the Premier League' as if it were as simple as wishing it to be so.

The Amateur League. Note that only one other club, Oberhausen, is so low that along with us they don't even merit half a star of power ranking. A less prestigious country would have three no-star amateur clubs to begin. But hey, the length of our club name puts them all to shame! The standings are worth noting for another reason; mark my words, this placing is the highest we'll reach this inaugural season.

Next up, we'll get to know our starting roster and make some decisions on what to do.

# ? Oct 13, 2022 19:46

PurpleXVI: Oct 30, 2011; Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

These player faces look like serial killer Miiverse avatars. It's perfect.

Also I love the crab shield logo.

# ? Oct 13, 2022 19:50

Average Lettuce: Oct 22, 2012

I like the crab as well, I would prefer the first our second alternative logos though, they're a bit more clean.

# ? Oct 13, 2022 20:07

Quackles: Aug 11, 2018; Pixels of Light.

Strategic Sage posted:

I�m a fan of this one a bit more than the default shield. It is definitely cleaner.

# ? Oct 13, 2022 21:00

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 18:05

Left 4 Bread: Oct 4, 2021; i sleep

I personally like the look with the lions around the crab for the comedy factor. It's a very ridiculous look.

# ? Oct 13, 2022 21:46

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > None Of Us Is As Dumb As All of Us: Let's Play Football, Tactics & Glory!

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