Many Various Questions

[Kay of Sauvage]

Edit: I was able to get some answers on my own.
I recently starting playing this game and I'm unsure how a few things work. But I would rather not test everything to the possible detriment of my current game. Maybe someone can help with the answers to my questions here.


1. What benefit or drawback is there to board happiness other than it affecting whether they agree to give you more funds?

A: I saw an in-game hint that said the cash reward amounts for dilemma choices is increased from board happiness (and maybe sponsor or media happiness? I forget)


2. How much does the board give you, or what factors is that based on? I think I read that downside is the shareholders will take 1% more of your gate/shop/sponsor income for a year. I'm trying to figure out if it would be worth it.

A: When I asked for money when the board was 100% happy, I got 10k cash, and the shareholder take went from 1% to 3%.


3. What happens if a player's concern on one issue reaches the maximum?

A: Nothing. It's just the maximum unhappiness for that one issue. So if that is the only issue they are unhappy about, it's not too bad.


4. What causes player contract concerns?

A: When the player is down to like 26 weeks left on their contract, they'll start developing contract concerns, unless they will be retiring.


5. How many games do youth players just need to play to reach their full value (not counting any skills increases)?

A: My most experienced youth player has 17 games played and still seems quite undervalued compared to what he should be worth as a normal player. Using some math to extrapolate, it seems he would need 40 games to reach his full value. Though I wonder if this applies to youths bought on the transfer market.


6. At the season start, I choose the max of 3 friendlies. Will selecting fewer matches result in having less progress in the coaches being able to provide cards, since they usually make progress after each game?

A: According to an in-game hint, yes, the extra friendlies allow you more card opportunities.


7. How do ticket prices relate to attendance? I understand raising ticket prices will hurt fan happiness, but will just as many fans come as before if I were to get happiness back to it's previous level? And at the start, prices are just 2, so raising prices by 1 is a 50% increase. Would it be profitable to do that, or should I be waiting for happiness to almost reach maximum before raising prices. What approach seems more optimal? Same for shop prices, which apparently don't even affect happiness. What's the strategy there?


8. What does sponsor happiness do?

I guess it has the same effect as board happiness, affecting dilemma cash rewards?


9. I know the individual mix of skills of each player affects how they play when you are controlling them, but does that mix affect their performance in the simulated part of the game, or is it just the overall star rating that matters? Like if I have defenders without much tackling, or add points to my GK's pace instead of GK specific skills, will they play worse even if the star level is the same?


10. The in-game info says that the defend focus tactic decreases you chance of conceding goals, but you will have more of your chances start at the back. Does that mean there is no reduction in your total chances to score? So then if you are confident in your ability to score from any chance, this is the best tactic?


11. The direct attack focus penalty is that it weakens your midfield. What does that mean exactly? Is that a reduction in possession? Or opponents are more likely to break through midfielders?


12. The in-game info says more offensive formations can give you more chances, while defensive formations can reduce your chance of giving up goals. But I'm not sure how to determine which formations are considered most offensive in some cases. I mean, clearly a 3-4-3 is offensive. But is a 4-2-3-1 more offensive than a 4-4-2, since in the former case, you are moving a forward back, but also moving 2 wingers up higher.


13. What determines possession %? And does that directly relate to how many chances you and the opponent can have to score? One possibility is that the abilities of the midfielders have the most effect on possession, perhaps with DMC and AMC having less influence than pure MC?


14. What is happening in games where there are almost no chances for either team? Does that mean that the defenses are so strong compared to the attacks that nothing comes close to creating a chance?

[Bill (New Star Games)]

Sorry, only just seen this. I will do my best to answer these points on Monday when I'm back in the office. In the meantime, there's a decent player guide here:- https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1540480689

[Kay of Sauvage]

I was able to get some kind of answer for most questions on my own. But I'm most curious about the match engine questions now, since it could make the game more fun if I know how I should try to adapt my formations based on the opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

[Bill (New Star Games)]

Being able to draw on extra funds is the prime advantage of a healthy relationship with the board.

Unhappy players will perform less well on the pitch, so if you're planning on keeping them active in the squad then it's best to reduce their concerns in as many areas as possible.

Players or staff who are happy to stay at the club do not like the uncertainty when there are only a few matches left on their contract. Using a contract card on them or successfully renegotiating with them with alleviate the concern.

Players under 18 are considered RAW until they have made 5 appearances and players under 21 are considered ROOKIES until they have made 10 appearances. Once players are no longer rookies then they should exhibit the full value for their current status.

Playing friendly matches is a good way to get a few more cards from your coaches before the season starts, without the pressure of a league or cup match.

In the early game, the overall star power of the team will be the main factor in drawing crowd attendance. Ticket pricing and fan happiness is a balancing act where managers need to experiment within the boundaries of their current team strength and stadium capacity to find the best results. If you feel that you have misjudged things, then you can lower the ticket prices again and the fans will regain some happiness. The level will be down a little overall (they don't like being messed around!) but you should be able to regain that by winning matches or other means. (Messaging around this feature will be improved in a future update).

Sponsor happiness will increase the likelihood of the same partner(s) offering a better deal when it's time to renew the sponsorship. (Messaging around this feature will be improved in a future update).

Individual skill and fitness stats are important during the simulation. Watch out for the little tags to the left of each comment for clues as to which players are struggling due to a particular deficiency, or which players are doing well because their skills are high.

So, defending means you will get less chances in the attacking part of the pitch (easier chances) so yes, if you are feeling confident playing out from the back, it's not a bad strategy as the opposition will probably get less clear cut scoring chances. However in some circumstances like counterattacking, your team will use more energy playing like that. Playing a formation like 5-3-2 can play out 2 different ways as you can put 5 defenders in or you can have midfielders on the wings. That makes this a very versatile formation.

Abilities are key for determining outcomes you don't see, like key battles in midfield and defence.
If you exactly match the opposing team 4-4-2 playing against 4-4-2 for example and you have very similar stats for players, there will be less chances.

Hope that helps.

[Kay of Sauvage]

Thanks for the reply, it was very informative!

Originally posted by Bill (New Star Games):

Players under 18 are considered RAW until they have made 5 appearances and players under 21 are considered ROOKIES until they have made 10 appearances. Once players are no longer rookies then they should exhibit the full value for their current status.

The youth with the most matches in my team now has 17 appearances, but his value is still even less than what his 40 match wage request. Full value on every other player should be about 2.2 times that wage. At this rate, the math shows it would take 40 appearances total to reach the full value. I don't think this is a bug, though, because there is an in-game hint that states something about youth players need to play a lot of games to have value, while any other new players that are bought take 10 appearances to reach full value. Though I'm not sure what happens if you were to buy a rookie from another club.

Also, I have another player that came out of my youth academy as a 20 year old, and he wasn't considered a rookie, and he is on track to reach full value after 10 appearances.

Originally posted by Bill (New Star Games):

Individual skill and fitness stats are important during the simulation. Watch out for the little tags to the left of each comment for clues as to which players are struggling due to a particular deficiency, or which players are doing well because their skills are high.

So, defending means you will get less chances in the attacking part of the pitch (easier chances) so yes, if you are feeling confident playing out from the back, it's not a bad strategy as the opposition will probably get less clear cut scoring chances. However in some circumstances like counterattacking, your team will use more energy playing like that. Playing a formation like 5-3-2 can play out 2 different ways as you can put 5 defenders in or you can have midfielders on the wings. That makes this a very versatile formation.

Abilities are key for determining outcomes you don't see, like key battles in midfield and defence.
If you exactly match the opposing team 4-4-2 playing against 4-4-2 for example and you have very similar stats for players, there will be less chances.

This is great. The matches are more detailed than I expected, so that gives me a lot more details to think about when I manage my team. I think some of this information would be good to have in the game's help section. If people don't know about it like I didn't, they won't be able to fully appreciate it.

Though this does bring up a few more questions. You mention some formations have the option of using either midfielders or defenders (and forwards in some cases) in some positions, but is it only the stats of the players there that matters, or does it also matter whether they are a midfielder or defender?

And if matching formations of a 4-4-2 versus 4-4-2 with similarly rated players might cause there to be less chances, is the only option to go to a more aggressive attacking formation, or could I even pull back a forward in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-1-4-1 to gain an advantage in midfield and create more chances that way, even though it might be considered a less attacking formation?

Finally, I don't quite understand what determines possession % and what the significance of it is for the game. Many times I'll get the notes at the end of the game that say my team dominated midfield, but I often still have a lower possession % than the opponent. I know the intensity levels has a large effect, but that affects almost everything. Though I'm not even sure it's important.

Thanks again for replying.

[Harnemo]

When I borrow funds from the board and the shareholders increase the 1% to larger amount, can I in future return the borrowed money and return shareholders to 1%?