Q&A Thread

Haha one regret I have,is not giving you the link to make you all my satellite clubs when this thing first started. You get a % of pro that they buy. 

ditto, I have to make sure I add more pro days before my reserves get wiped.

When one of my players is injured does the number mean how many games, or how many days he will miss? 

I assume with the Red Card that it is the same?

Just trying to figure out when my best central defender and striker will be back...

It's the number of games they're out. Depending on your facilities there is a chance that can go down by 2 in a particular game though. 

Thanks Tegal, that helps, means I have one more game for red card, and 2 more for the injury. 

All my facilities are in the process of being built, can't upgrade them more right now.

Question about routine - I have a defender with 22 routine, who is slightly worse than a defender with 5 routine. How important is routine and should it be a decider in my selections?

I think the closer your get to the Premiership, the more important routine is.  If you don't have a B team however, then you've got to give them experiance at some point (you could do that through substituting them on with 10 minutes to go though).  It probably depends on how large the skill gap is.

As I have a B team, I don't like to put anyone forward to my A team unless they have at least 10 routine.  Sometimes because of injuries & cards you have no choice, but I always feel uneasy playing a guy with less that double digits routine.  They'll be some guys in the Prem who probably don't like playing anyone with under 25-30 routine - I'm too impatient to wait that long though.

Yup ^. I'd also add that the goalkeeper is the most important routine position, I'm very uneasy playing a low routine goalkeeper. Routine is (I believe) a collective thing across midfield, defence etc. so you can get away with having a low routine midfielder if your others are quite high. 

Alright, cheers guys, I have some surprisingly high routine in my team so guess that helps.

 I am curious, when are the teams and tactics locked down for each game?  Is it an hour before each game?

 Yep that's right.  You can make changes up to an hour before each game.  I think if you make changes within the last hour then it will not take place until the next game (you'll also see that each player has a little hourglass next to him, indicating he is about to play a match I think).

 What are the pros/cons of having a reserve side vs fielding a 'B' team?

 I want to build up my squad routine and get them more than just training especially the youth, but having a B team seems ridiculously costly (90 pro days) vs having a reserves team.

A B Team and a reserves team are exactly the same thing...

 OK, well a Reserves team vs having a second team altogether then?

A second team altogether is literally just a completely seperate club. A B team is part of the same club so you can promote/demote players. I don't know what else to add to that haha. 

A second team has to be in another country and I think you can't trade players between the two teams, so it is of no use if you want to build routine.  They are basically separate entities.

I have a desperation question - can someone look at my team and advise me on tactics? I can't find the right formation and tactics to play with. Any help much appreciated! http://trophymanager.com/club/2642973/ 

One thing I'd note - I looked at your team earlier, and it seemed that you had a right midfield player playing in left midfield, and your right midfielder was a player out of position. I'd say you probably want to try get the best out your players by playing them in position where possible... I don't know about different formations etc though.

Your defense/keeper seem to be going alright.

Seems you have good heading stats going forward, so I guess you want to try utilise that ? I've not actually had players with particularly good heading going forward, though is a key stat for strikers I've heard.

Yeah I've had 3 straight games where I've put a gold star crosser on the wing, and a gold star headerer up front alongside one rated 18, still can't score!

My RM is back on the right now, just so happened that my two best players were at the same position so I sold one of them, I shall put others back where they belong from here on. Thanks!

Haven't had a look at your squad, but from what colvinator says..are you playing the wings as your attacking style? 

Yeah I was, 3 games without a goal and I'm a bit angsty is all! Might have to keep sticking with what I have.

I would line your team up:

                     Duck

Oliver    Mccallum - Entani    Fuentes

                      Jackman

Muir                                        

                    Williams            Martinez

              Dodd - Coman

Subs: G: Aitken, D: Vagg, M: Haidar, F: Seghers

Notes:

Duck good goalie, Mccallum good centre back. Second centre back is tough pick. I went for Entani, but you may want to go for Spain for his crossing skills which do come into affect even for centre backs, I didn't like his low tackling ability much though. Fuentes good young player.

Muir at right mid. Martinez on the left - a shame about his crossing skills though. Could go standard left mid or offensive. Keeping him standard will help the midfield more. I'd probably flirt between the two.

Then it gets incredibly tricky! My thinking is that you got killed in possession in your last game. You've played 2 in the midfield before, and the overall shooting stats in those matches were closer, you were maybe a bit unlucky. Chucking 3 up front with an offensive midfielder was maybe a bit of a panicked move out of frustration. So personally, I'd go back to two up front. I am incredibly biased towards this tactic though it should be noted ! The game does recommend 4-4-2 to start with, until understanding the pros/cons and how the match engine works a bit better.

Deciding who goes in the middle area / areas I always find the hardest. Too many skills to look at and my head ends up hurting. So it's between Williams (if not picked up front, which I looked at and didn't pick him there anyway), Jackman, Syred, Bates, Haidar. I'd probably leave Bates & Haidar out because of little routine, though their skills are good. Williams & Jackman go in because they have 3 stars, haha.

Strikers are between: Williams, Seghers, Dodd, and Coman. I'd have Dodd in there for his real good finishing ability. Coman looks ok and is young - only scored 2 in 12 but still your top goal scorer! Seghers decent and young too but just missed out on my picks. His passing is good which seems a good 'secondary' skill for forwards.

I would be playing balanced attacking style with the above lineup. Though, that's partly because I don't know enough about the pros & cons of others. Also, your wingers don't have the best crossing skills. I also can't see the potential of your players, which may influence things a bit if you have longer term plans. I can see what you've been doing to some extent - putting players in different positions because they've got good key skills for that area / what you want - but it hasn't been coming off and I don't think it's the best approach.

I'd be subbing in defense, midfield and forwards with 10 to go quite a bit to give the lads on the bench more routing, without really losing much (if anything). 

My goal scoring ability improved though improving my midfield substantially a season ago. This'd be the next thing I'd be looking at if I was you. Even with a 3 star player for the middle with a bit better overall skills than Jackman & Williams, with decent routine - maybe worth saving up for a big awesome buy. On the international general forum there's a massive self help to newbies guide. On page 2 of that there's a bit about key skills for each position which is helpful. You have a very young squad which is good. Looking at a couple of the other teams, you have every chance of beating most of them once the scoring draught stops ! It should do with most combinations you pick anyway - I reckon you've been a bit unlucky.

Anyway, that was fun ! Haha. Overboard much? Do whatever though, but hopefully a outside perspective on players etc helps your thinking ! The other option the club has is of course to sack N-Bomb.

Wow, that's incredible! Much much much appreciated Colvinator, I'll give your line-up the full runout tonight! Although the 5 foreigner rule screws things up a little so I'll have to tinker with the bench.

 I was wondering on the differences between direct, longballs and balanced etc, I'll give balanced a run out for a while. With no fear of relegation, in fact if it happened I'd probably welcome it I think so I'll just continue to try give some youth a run in the team. 2 goals in 12 as topscorer, that says it all at the moment!

Yea, I'd picked a team and then forgot about the foreigner rule, and couldn't be bothered checking that! I see your opposition tonight has a good goalie. Don't pick the whole team what I said or then I'm to blame ! haha. A few picks were close calls. I see Haidar went good last night. His skills probably better than Williams & Jackman, just low routine kept him out my picks. 

Looked up about the attacking styles, for my own interest too. Must look at my own team to see if they fit particularly in them... Could be a tactic to purposefully bring in players suiting a certain style. Or even to use them depending on oppositions weaknesses.

There are 6 attacking styles to choose from. Here are their characteristics

Balanced:
If your players have very different strengths and weaknesses this would be fine choice.

Direct:
You need defenders and midfielders with passing and pace.

Wings:
You need wingers with pace, technique and crossing.

Shortpassing:
Is the style for you if your midfielders and forwards have good passing and technique.

Long Balls:
Your defenders need passing, crossing and technique and your forwards need heading and strength.

Through Balls:
Your playmakers need passing and technique and your forwards must have pace.

Balanced should be the way to go then... Though maybe I can carve out a niche with some long-balls, Stoke-style, that might be my next Fever league tactic!

I think there is a particular advantage (and a fun challenge) at your stage if you can get players based on a certain attacking style, then use it. However with the level I'm at, and the funds I have, I end up just taking what I can get without the ability to specialise sadly. 

But I reckon one of you newer guys are at a financial and competitive level to be able to attempt such a thing. 

Are anyone else's youth academy development ratings terrible? I keep getting 3.5 star players and signing them up, then scouting them and seeing they are only two stars etc.

Yeah it gets more accurate the higher your youth facilities are. It works the other way a occasionally too. 

Good to know, I just end up hiring them all, hopefully one day someone good will come out of there

I usually hire anyone with at least 3 stars, then fire them if they scout lower. 

Nah it's not that bad! Usually about 1 off max. Which is why 3 stars and above is worth hiring.

I've invested quite heavily in my youth academy (7/10 I think it is up to now) but I don't seem to be getting any better players. I have the same plan as Tegal, hiring 3 star potential or higher, but I only get one of those about every three or four weeks and then when I scout them they pretty much all say 2-2.5 stars. I've had a couple of 3-3.5  players come through but probably only one a season, which really doesn't make it seem worth it to keep paying what I'm paying, but I don't know if this is just bad luck or if this is what to expect from my academy. Especially as my best youth player I've got yet (4 star potential, I sold him) came through when I think the academy was only at 3/10. How often do other people get decent youngsters coming through? Should I consider downgrading my academy to save running costs?

Perhaps to begin with. As you go higher, it gets harder and harder to buy local talent at the level that you require, this makes it worth having my good youth academy (since you can only have so many foreigners). But until you start needing 4.5-5 star players I'd take it a little slower. 

I'm doing this with my Aussie side, gradually improving the playing squad while putting a lot of money into stadium facilities rather than youth and training facilities maintenance. 

But that's just my strategy. 

I've seen others make similar comments on the TM forum. You pay a lot for a youth academy but don't necessarily get that great players. It improves your chances of getting good pulls but doesn't mean you will. If you hit jackpot and get a real star though then it's huge. Mine is only a couple of stars, but plan to get it a bit higher at some point.

Seems like it pays off for some people, but not so much for others. I like the idea of pulling a player that is better than I'd otherwise be able to buy, but I hate the idea of paying lots and it not coming off. There's not a yes or no answer - depends on your strategy really.

Basically I'm trying to foster homegrown talent because I like the idea of it. Plus every time I look for kiwi players to buy there are none closing any time soon and I don't have pro-days to put an agent on a bid. It just seemed easier in the long run to develop my own players! But it's costing me over 4 million a week, and if I didn't bother with an academy at all then that's $50,000,000 more a year to pick up players with. I'm definitely not getting anywhere near that worth of youngsters coming through. On the other hand I'm reluctant to give up now I've sunk so much money into it already. I feel like a gambling addict, thinking that I've spent so much I must be due a big win soon :(

The youth development can be quite frustrating, but if you do get a good pull, it can change the whole game for you.  I drafted N Sutton (in the NZ team now) and ended up selling him for around $500m.  This allowed me to purchase some slightly lessor players in key positions and really turned my team from a bottom half Div 2 team to a top 6/challenging for promotion team. 

My YD is 9/10 now and I still usually only get the 2* - 3* pulls, which usually get fired.  It is a bit of a gamble I guess.

Will have to double check, but I think all of my local players are from my academy. I then buy young foreigners with potential for cheap then sell them off for more to keep my head above water, or keep them to fill a hole in my squad. 

Got a 3.5 star rated player, scouted him twice - 1.5 stars. So frustrarting!

What is more important for a corner taker?

Crossing skill, or Set Piece skill?