One of the primary reasons I sold my entire squad of superstars last season was because it became clear to me that having an amazing team was of no benefit whatsoever. Obviously in general terms the teams with the best players will be at the top and winning all the games but my theory was if you drop things back a couple of levels there is little difference. The ME/game just seems to put some restrictions in place to stop you panning everyone in sight and then you have the absurd league results which have no relation to your team anyway.
So 3 weeks ago I had no players left except some youths and not a great deal of money to spend. A quick calculation shows my current squad cost a measly £2.6m less 2 existing average quality youth players and a GK. The Aguero deal is difficult to value because it involved 3 decent youth players leaving. So lets call the team value £2.6m + Aguero.
My team is generally quite poor - To give an example, my AML is a chap by the name of Johan Absalonsen who's AF is £60k while my AMR has an AF of £200k. So how's it going with my team of duffers ? Exactly the bloody same as it did before! I'm still sitting a #3 in the world rankings, I still generally win most games, I still get super keepered every other game, I still get 1sw'ed with annoying frequency and I still get exactly the same results against the top teams and in fact of late have beaten them more so than before! It's pretty much back to the days of hit submit team and watch the result roll in within no tactical changes even required. There is no way my team should be a top team, it's just crazy.
I look at last season's squad and it was perfect in every possible way other than perhaps a stronger forward being needed, but then the one I had did have a 1 in 1 goal ratio in friendlies. I look at this season's squad and it's full of duffers with red arrows, youth players and a couple of decent players. Yet my results are exactly the same! It just proves to me that you don't even need a team of world class players for the result-o-generator to work it's magic.
I've been looking at some stats from my most recent matches. In my last 50 games or so I have not won (be it a draw or defeat) 10 games. Three of these games were fair defeats and one of those was against GW rank #1 while one of the others I had 10 men. In the other SEVEN I was either super keepered, 1-shot-wondered or both. It is literally nearly every game you don't win and it is most infuriating.
The usual FA bullshit is under way with random draws starting to crop up in FA games and the super league. I'm not even sure why I bother playing these, after 5,000 games played I can pretty much tell the other player what the score is going to be before kick off or if not within the first 15 minutes of the match.
I'd quite like to create my own FA, I had the idea some time ago but someone else gave me the name - the Non Bullshit Association or NBA. Basically it involves all games being played a neutral venue and no two-legged cups. Clearly i'd never be allowed but I think i'd be onto a winner if I could do it.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Black Magic
The 1.2 update saw the introduction of the new tactics wizard, or tactical interface as I understand the preferred term to be. I'm going to refer to it as the Wizard because this thing is more magical than Harry Potter.
I have noticed a huge increase in the number of super keeper-ings, one shot wonders (1sw) or games where you simply can't create anything at all. It's getting to the point where it's literally every single game I don't win except against 4 teams who have good teams. I believe I have found the cause of this and it is this bloody wizard!
I've been speaking to my opponents and every single one where this is happening appears to be using a magical wizard created tactic. The problem usually starts by you being unable to create _anything_ at all in the match because of the defensive set up of the tactics. With a little bit of time you can counter this but it just seems you have already passed the point where it's possible for you to score and the opposition GK is already on 'playing with confidence'
Full respect to anyone who creates a hard working team of poor players and an effective tactic but it is slightly frustrating when they are simply pressing a button to get the same result. It's possible that the defensive nature of the tactics mean that the ME has calculated the result as a draw but sees you have awesome players and decides they should have 40 shots on goal, I don't know but it's most annoying.
It's not just me experiencing this either, it seems most of the top teams on our GW are getting repeatedly done over by super keepers. I know this has always happened in the past but it is most certainly on the rise since the last patch and the introduction of the new tactical interface.
They certainly seem to be more George Graham inspired rather than Arsene Wenger!
I have noticed a huge increase in the number of super keeper-ings, one shot wonders (1sw) or games where you simply can't create anything at all. It's getting to the point where it's literally every single game I don't win except against 4 teams who have good teams. I believe I have found the cause of this and it is this bloody wizard!
I've been speaking to my opponents and every single one where this is happening appears to be using a magical wizard created tactic. The problem usually starts by you being unable to create _anything_ at all in the match because of the defensive set up of the tactics. With a little bit of time you can counter this but it just seems you have already passed the point where it's possible for you to score and the opposition GK is already on 'playing with confidence'
Full respect to anyone who creates a hard working team of poor players and an effective tactic but it is slightly frustrating when they are simply pressing a button to get the same result. It's possible that the defensive nature of the tactics mean that the ME has calculated the result as a draw but sees you have awesome players and decides they should have 40 shots on goal, I don't know but it's most annoying.
It's not just me experiencing this either, it seems most of the top teams on our GW are getting repeatedly done over by super keepers. I know this has always happened in the past but it is most certainly on the rise since the last patch and the introduction of the new tactical interface.
They certainly seem to be more George Graham inspired rather than Arsene Wenger!
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Saturday
All is good today. No, really.
Well, there was that game I drew 2-2 and the opposition GK got a 9.4..
Well, there was that game I drew 2-2 and the opposition GK got a 9.4..
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Records breakers
Here's my hour on FM so far today:
I sold the remainder of my youth team last night. The main reason behind this was because most of my potential stars had left the club in other transfer deals and I decided there was no point keeping the rest as they were unlikely to make the grade. The second reason was most of them being unhappy with competition - my 21 year old DM is STILL unhappy with competition despite having a squad of 19 players and no one else who plays in his position *sigh* or maybe that should just be *si*
Anyway this isn't what has annoyed me. My youth team was in a Senior-Unranked reserve competition which had about 30 or so games left to go. I figured that these matches would just get abandoned now I had no squad left. I figured wrong, the AI decided to play my senior team in these games and we all know how bad auto resolves are for injuries!! Also I had previously sent round an email to the entrants asking them to stop playing their first team. To avoid being a bit of a hypocrite and to try and prevent injuries I decided to abandon all of these games.
But hey what's this ? I have a new club record for defeats in a row now standing at an impressive 11, formerly 4. Now I posted about this in the bugs forum several months ago about how abandoned games counted towards achievements and records! *si*
Moments after this, a challenge comes in for the Weekly Cup. Some moments later I get 2-shot-wondered out of the Weekly Cup.
Time for a league away game. 1-0 up with 83 minutes on the clock, pretty much in control and nothing happening. The other side have had 1 shot in the match so far and then the following happens:
(Lee Jones says:) (19:57:36)got a feeling this will be a draw
Gili Vermut scored 84'
(Other Manager says:)YEEEESSS (19:58:32)
Aguero is also injured until tomorrow.
I'll finish up with a screen shot of the other game I played:
Welcome to FML and enjoy the game you hate to love.
UPDATE:
So a challenge comes in for the GWC from some dire looking team and off we go. What happens ? WHAT FUCKING HAPPENS A-FUCKING-GAIN. YES I GET FUCKING ONE SHOT WONDERED... I call it a shot, but it was a 40 yard punt where the ball rolled along the floor at about 3mph and my GK dived out of the way of it. Meanwhile I proceed to play the twat off the pitch only for his GK to get MOTM and him not to have another sodding shot in the whole match. IT IF HAPPENS JUST OCCASIONALLY, JUST ONCE OR TWICE I COULD TAKE IT BUT EVERY FUCKING TWATTING CUNTING TIME AGAINST SOME SHIT RETARD... JESUS CHRIST SORT THIS FUCKING GAME OUT YOU MORONS. Seriously, it's just an utterly pointless, meaningless result generator is this game.
I don't know, maybe my team are bottlers and can't take the pressure? I just beat some other guy 8-0 in the Super FA ? What the hell??
Anyone for a game of dice ??
The season is well and truly under way. Why oh why did I expect this season to be any different? Another night wasted.
I sold the remainder of my youth team last night. The main reason behind this was because most of my potential stars had left the club in other transfer deals and I decided there was no point keeping the rest as they were unlikely to make the grade. The second reason was most of them being unhappy with competition - my 21 year old DM is STILL unhappy with competition despite having a squad of 19 players and no one else who plays in his position *sigh* or maybe that should just be *si*
Anyway this isn't what has annoyed me. My youth team was in a Senior-Unranked reserve competition which had about 30 or so games left to go. I figured that these matches would just get abandoned now I had no squad left. I figured wrong, the AI decided to play my senior team in these games and we all know how bad auto resolves are for injuries!! Also I had previously sent round an email to the entrants asking them to stop playing their first team. To avoid being a bit of a hypocrite and to try and prevent injuries I decided to abandon all of these games.
But hey what's this ? I have a new club record for defeats in a row now standing at an impressive 11, formerly 4. Now I posted about this in the bugs forum several months ago about how abandoned games counted towards achievements and records! *si*
Moments after this, a challenge comes in for the Weekly Cup. Some moments later I get 2-shot-wondered out of the Weekly Cup.
Time for a league away game. 1-0 up with 83 minutes on the clock, pretty much in control and nothing happening. The other side have had 1 shot in the match so far and then the following happens:
(Lee Jones says:) (19:57:36)got a feeling this will be a draw
Gili Vermut scored 84'
(Other Manager says:)YEEEESSS (19:58:32)
Aguero is also injured until tomorrow.
I'll finish up with a screen shot of the other game I played:
Welcome to FML and enjoy the game you hate to love.
UPDATE:
So a challenge comes in for the GWC from some dire looking team and off we go. What happens ? WHAT FUCKING HAPPENS A-FUCKING-GAIN. YES I GET FUCKING ONE SHOT WONDERED... I call it a shot, but it was a 40 yard punt where the ball rolled along the floor at about 3mph and my GK dived out of the way of it. Meanwhile I proceed to play the twat off the pitch only for his GK to get MOTM and him not to have another sodding shot in the whole match. IT IF HAPPENS JUST OCCASIONALLY, JUST ONCE OR TWICE I COULD TAKE IT BUT EVERY FUCKING TWATTING CUNTING TIME AGAINST SOME SHIT RETARD... JESUS CHRIST SORT THIS FUCKING GAME OUT YOU MORONS. Seriously, it's just an utterly pointless, meaningless result generator is this game.
I don't know, maybe my team are bottlers and can't take the pressure? I just beat some other guy 8-0 in the Super FA ? What the hell??
Anyone for a game of dice ??
The season is well and truly under way. Why oh why did I expect this season to be any different? Another night wasted.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Season predictions
Season 8 starts tonight so I thought I best get my prediction down before it begins.
My FA results will end like this:
P68, W50, D11, L7
The games may be random but the the overall standings are fairly predictable. Good news is I have been allowed to withdraw from all FA 2-legged cups this season so don't expect any 2-legged cup rage this time round!
Not much else FML related to moan about really, but I think today I have found something as random as the FML FA results - Women! I think they are bugged, can SI fix this for me please?
My FA results will end like this:
P68, W50, D11, L7
The games may be random but the the overall standings are fairly predictable. Good news is I have been allowed to withdraw from all FA 2-legged cups this season so don't expect any 2-legged cup rage this time round!
Not much else FML related to moan about really, but I think today I have found something as random as the FML FA results - Women! I think they are bugged, can SI fix this for me please?
Monday, 3 August 2009
'Cause I'm the taxman
Let me tell you how it will be;
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
So I signed Sergio Aguero yesterday. After creating a squad with balance, a strong work ethic and determination I threw it all to one side for a cheat player. The deal took around 45 minutes to conclude due to battles with the tax man.
The deal was.
Theo Walcott - purchased for £4m, MV £2.1m - 100% profit tax
Blaise Dao (regen) - purchased for 300k, MV £1m - 100% profit Tax
Guilimere Romero (regen) MV £1.4m - 0% tax
Total wages - £38.5k
In exchange for Sergio Aguero with a MV of £3.5m and wage of £40k
= Bank veto ?? I'm sure there is some kind of logical explanation for this but i'm not quite sure where my 'profit' in this deal is coming from to explain the tax.
In the end I had to remove Blaise Dao and add in Stefan Damm(regen) (MV 160k - 80% or so profit tax) instead which prevented the veto. This is fine except it leaves me with no AML to speak of! I also paid £150k sell on for Romero from a 30% sell on??
T-Bag Town 0 v Baffling tax system 1
There's one for you, nineteen for me.
'Cause I'm the taxman,
Yeah, I'm the taxman.
So I signed Sergio Aguero yesterday. After creating a squad with balance, a strong work ethic and determination I threw it all to one side for a cheat player. The deal took around 45 minutes to conclude due to battles with the tax man.
The deal was.
Theo Walcott - purchased for £4m, MV £2.1m - 100% profit tax
Blaise Dao (regen) - purchased for 300k, MV £1m - 100% profit Tax
Guilimere Romero (regen) MV £1.4m - 0% tax
Total wages - £38.5k
In exchange for Sergio Aguero with a MV of £3.5m and wage of £40k
= Bank veto ?? I'm sure there is some kind of logical explanation for this but i'm not quite sure where my 'profit' in this deal is coming from to explain the tax.
In the end I had to remove Blaise Dao and add in Stefan Damm(regen) (MV 160k - 80% or so profit tax) instead which prevented the veto. This is fine except it leaves me with no AML to speak of! I also paid £150k sell on for Romero from a 30% sell on??
T-Bag Town 0 v Baffling tax system 1
Sunday, 2 August 2009
No rage
I have had a reasonable FML related week or so of calm. After selling my team and buying in a few duffers I still managed to somehow finish 4th in the league and only dropped to 9th in the World Rankings. I think I also only missed out on the Super FA league finale by 1 point - which i'm blaming on a 3-0 up fucked it up, 3-3 draw.
Only 2 outfield players remain from last season and they are both youth players. A new squad has been brought in with spending right up to the overdraft limit. A few old men discarded as dead by everyone else combined with some youth and quality forms my new squad. Played around 30 or so friendlies over the last day or so with zero defeats and just a couple of draws.
Pre-season optimism is high, the lows of last season are long forgotten. This will be the season..... Actually I know it wont because i'll be angry about the random league results in a week so I decided to move FA to play some AI games all season.
So all is good ? New team, new tactic, new FA, back to being unbeatable. Well actually no it's bloody not, i've got many things to moan about.
"Spazmo feels there is too much competition for a first team place" - WHAT? You are 20 years old, you have played EVERY single FA game you were eligible for last season (over 150) and there is no other player at the club who can play in your posistion ???
I have a squad of 27 players and only 9 senior outfield players yet my youths who PLAY in the bloody first team want to leave ? I've had 3 reject auto extends already but managed to resign them. This morning I lost my ever first player in WA in 8 seasons on St John. Of course I didn't get outbid or something simple like that. I bid 5k and the other guy bid 5k - he got him for bidding first!! He's my player!
I started getting these messages just before my 'rage sale' so even after selling my entire first team they didn't become happy. I can't even replace what I have lost because any signing is going to piss off the rest of the squad and i'm still in the middle of auto extends. I have one more key first team youth player, the aforementioned Spazmo, who I need to resign yet.
Moving on to something else, injuries are annoying me again. I have had the audacity to PLAY the game this weekend setting up some Quickplays and getting some friendlies in. The result ? Yep, players injured and one set to miss the start of the season. Of course I have cover but he got injured too so I now can't play the game today unless I want to risk losing. FML is the only game which seems to reward you for NOT playing the damn thing - is it telling me something ?
In other rage related news I decided it was time to punt up a new stand. I spent around an hour or so with the calculator out doing my sums and looking at the preview reputation tab and the atmosphere tab. In the end I decided it would be best to knock up the most expensive stand on the basis of the huge corporate provisions which could have brought my stadium income to around £265k just from 2 boxes. I wasn't so worried about the empty seats because my atmosphere was still 4.5*. Shortly after confirming this I discover, not through any kind of official communication, that empty seats will have an effect on stadium atmosphere and atmosphere will have an effect on the new ME. **bangs head against wall repeatedly** So now I will need to fill an entire 3 tier monster with seats - I'd estimate this will cost around £10m not including corporate boxes and will take well over a year to pay back. I'm scared to actually work it out properly as I know it will just annoy me.
I despair at this game I really do. I think it would actually be cheaper to knock the stand down while it's building, losing the £2m it has cost me and building a 2-tier instead! I think it would work out cheaper on the basis of not cost as much to fill the stadium with seats. My aim for this season is to stop pissing money away though as I reckon I have lost somewhere in the region of £7m through my own stupidity and rage in the last 3 weeks. So if anyone wants to suggest how I can sort this out then please let me know.
Only 2 outfield players remain from last season and they are both youth players. A new squad has been brought in with spending right up to the overdraft limit. A few old men discarded as dead by everyone else combined with some youth and quality forms my new squad. Played around 30 or so friendlies over the last day or so with zero defeats and just a couple of draws.
Pre-season optimism is high, the lows of last season are long forgotten. This will be the season..... Actually I know it wont because i'll be angry about the random league results in a week so I decided to move FA to play some AI games all season.
So all is good ? New team, new tactic, new FA, back to being unbeatable. Well actually no it's bloody not, i've got many things to moan about.
"Spazmo feels there is too much competition for a first team place" - WHAT? You are 20 years old, you have played EVERY single FA game you were eligible for last season (over 150) and there is no other player at the club who can play in your posistion ???
I have a squad of 27 players and only 9 senior outfield players yet my youths who PLAY in the bloody first team want to leave ? I've had 3 reject auto extends already but managed to resign them. This morning I lost my ever first player in WA in 8 seasons on St John. Of course I didn't get outbid or something simple like that. I bid 5k and the other guy bid 5k - he got him for bidding first!! He's my player!
I started getting these messages just before my 'rage sale' so even after selling my entire first team they didn't become happy. I can't even replace what I have lost because any signing is going to piss off the rest of the squad and i'm still in the middle of auto extends. I have one more key first team youth player, the aforementioned Spazmo, who I need to resign yet.
Moving on to something else, injuries are annoying me again. I have had the audacity to PLAY the game this weekend setting up some Quickplays and getting some friendlies in. The result ? Yep, players injured and one set to miss the start of the season. Of course I have cover but he got injured too so I now can't play the game today unless I want to risk losing. FML is the only game which seems to reward you for NOT playing the damn thing - is it telling me something ?
In other rage related news I decided it was time to punt up a new stand. I spent around an hour or so with the calculator out doing my sums and looking at the preview reputation tab and the atmosphere tab. In the end I decided it would be best to knock up the most expensive stand on the basis of the huge corporate provisions which could have brought my stadium income to around £265k just from 2 boxes. I wasn't so worried about the empty seats because my atmosphere was still 4.5*. Shortly after confirming this I discover, not through any kind of official communication, that empty seats will have an effect on stadium atmosphere and atmosphere will have an effect on the new ME. **bangs head against wall repeatedly** So now I will need to fill an entire 3 tier monster with seats - I'd estimate this will cost around £10m not including corporate boxes and will take well over a year to pay back. I'm scared to actually work it out properly as I know it will just annoy me.
I despair at this game I really do. I think it would actually be cheaper to knock the stand down while it's building, losing the £2m it has cost me and building a 2-tier instead! I think it would work out cheaper on the basis of not cost as much to fill the stadium with seats. My aim for this season is to stop pissing money away though as I reckon I have lost somewhere in the region of £7m through my own stupidity and rage in the last 3 weeks. So if anyone wants to suggest how I can sort this out then please let me know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)