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I posted a thread about this in the General Forum, but didn't get any responses, so I'm trying again here.
A couple of months before FM08 was released, there was a discussion here regarding the ambiguity inherent in tactical instructions. Many people were complaining that in most cases, there was no way to tell, with any degree of certainty, what effect their tactical instructions were having in-game. One of the results of the discussion was a call for some kind of tactical feedback system - either through the in-game commentary or a post-game report from your ass-man that would tell you what tactical instructions were effective and which weren't and why.
So when FM08 finally came out, I was extremely disappointed to find the exact same frustrating, archaic tactical system. Still the same ambiguous sliders, still no way to tell what effect your instructions were having, for the most part (this is the reason I most likely will not buy FM08).
However, a rather serendipitous discovery I made gives me some hope that the tactical system in FM can be rescued. I was browsing among some of the data files, when I cam upon a file called events.cfg. Out of curiosity, I opened it up in Notepad, and was presented with a enormous list of all the possible events that can take place before, during and after a match. I went poking around to see if I could find some weird and wacky events, which I did - EVENT_REFEREE_BOOKS_TWICE_BUT_FAILS_TO_SHOW_RED (SI watched the last World Cup evidently) and EVENT_REFEREE_BOOKS_WRONG_PLAYER, among others.
The more important find, from a tactics standpoint, was a number of events directly related to tactical instructions: events like EVENT_LONG_SHOTS_RUBBISH, EVENT_RUNNING_WITH_BALL_TOO_LONG, EVENT_FORWARD_RUNS_WORKING, EVENT_CREATIVE_FREEDOM_NOT_WORKING, EVENT_MARKING_TOO_TIGHT, EVENT_DEFENSIVE_LINE_TOO_DEEP, EVENT_TARGETMAN_NOT_USED_WELL, etc. (If you want to look at all the events, there are near the bottom of the data\matchevents\events.cfg file. Searching for the # sign is an easy way of finding events).
Yet, after playing a number of demo games, I did not see a single one of these instructions pop up in the match commentary. I feel like SI is sitting on a great way to make tactics more enjoyable and understandable to everyone. Does anyone else think that we should see tactical hints like these in the commentary more often?
I somewhat agree with your point. Though it is actually possible to see the effects of your instructions however, currently the only way to do this is to the watch the full match in highlight mode. Though of course no one in their right mind would this every game, it's simply infeasible. So yes i agree that more help is needed.
I like your idea about the ass man aswell. It would be great if he could give you feedback on how your players/tactics are doing in-game and though to spin on things, perhaps SI could make it so that he is not ALWAYS right. Heeding to his suggestions could sometimes have a detrimental effect on performances maybe? Think it would be a great addition
creative freedom determines to whyat extent your players will follow your instructions. The higher it is, the less likely they'll follow and vice versa. PLayers with high CF generally go about doing their own thing
i think it would indeed be a great addition to new and struggling players. Pro's who understand the match engine may find this makes the game too easy. So put it as part of the manager options like some of the others.
Let us choose whether we want a tactical analysis by our ass-mans.
After all, in real life, managers have running conversations with their assistants on the sidelines about the match and i'm sure the assistants give their ideas all the time.
Whether the manager wants to take the assistants advice is up to him.
This could also bring a bigger role for the Tactical Knowledge stat in the staff. The higher this is, the more accurate his analysis will be.
creative freedom determines to whyat extent your players will follow your instructions. The higher it is, the less likely they'll follow and vice versa. PLayers with high CF generally go about doing their own thing
I thought that too but i also heard that a higher creative freedom means that your players will take more chances when it comes to breaking down the opposition's defence. That might be worth thinking about when adjusting the setting too.
Originally posted by TheMightyLeeds:
<BLOCKQUOTE>creative freedom determines to whyat extent your players will follow your instructions. The higher it is, the less likely they'll follow and vice versa. PLayers with high CF generally go about doing their own thing
I thought that too but i also heard that a higher creative freedom means that your players will take more chances when it comes to breaking down the opposition's defence. That might be worth thinking about when adjusting the setting too. </BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes this is also true. If a manger had to instruct a real life player to have high creative freedom he would probably say: "I want go out there and try things. These are yuor instructions, however if you feel you have other options dont be afraid to take them!"
Now as you can see, it's not the best idea to say this to everyone in your team. PLayers with high CF should either be playmakers, or target men
How tactics can be understood by all.... 
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