sm1979

I have found that the tactics I used on FM07, simply dont have the same effect in FM08. Why do they not work as well? If the match enging and AI have evolved, so to speak, does that mean that they were broken in FM07 and all previous incarnations of the game?

I had tactics that were Defensive, Counter, Possession, Attacking and Control. These were kind of devised by wwfan (tactics guru in T&T forum) and worked a treat, without me being unrealistically successful. They made the game far more enjoyable. But again, the tactics seem to have been overhauled again, and now I just don't seem to be able to do anything positive in this game.

I know i'm a very shoddy manager, but people should be able to pick up the game and do a decent job. I think it's too tough a game, but like I say, i'm rubbish at FM.

Bodis

I've found this as well. if you dont get the tactics spot on then you'll never come close to winning a game. A shame that a standard 442 cant be relied on any more. I'm not looking forward to sepnding a weeks worth of reading in the T&T forum to be able to win a match, but thats what I'm going to have to do.

Que 40 people saying they play 442 and never lose a game...

daztomo2k8

i play 4-4-2 with derby county and have never lost a game yet

daztomo2k8

sm1979

Amaroq

I think a lot of people's frustrations comes from the same assumption: "the tactics I used on the last version should work on this version too".

That simply isn't a valid assumption.

You need to assume that the match engine has changed enough that each version is a unique "new game", and consequently needs a new tactic.

For example, if I bring in a tactic from, say, CM01-02, where I relied on the fact that the defense never picked up forward runs by central midfielders / attacking midfielders .. and I import that into an engine in which the defense can recognize that threat and pick up those runs .. of course my tactic isn't going to work.

In this example, its because my tactic was taking advantage of a "flaw" in the match engine, and that flaw has been corrected.

What I do, instead, is come to each game without looking at my previous' save-games tactics, and try a tactical set that I "think intuitively" should work. Then I watch on "full" highlights to see if it is working or not.

In past versions, it never did work. But I'd usually spot "little things" that I thought weren't working, and I'd adjust them - and after about five to seven seasons of tinkering, I'd (finally!) have a tactical suite that I thought should work, a local-optimization of the tactics I wanted to work with.

This was what impressed me the most about the '08 demo: my team came out and played the way I imagined they would - in other words, for the first time, my "intuitive" approach looked the way I thought it should.

That's not "I never lose a game", in fact at the moment I'm stuck in a rut of draws. But I'm quite content with it.

sm1979

Unfortunately mate i'm gonna have to join you. I know I suck but people should not have THIS much trouble. It's obvious there are too many people struggling with the game, otherwise they wouldn't have a separate forum for tactics - especially with so many players struggling to find one good tactic.

White Raven

There's still a big problem with closing down on this game, even after the beta patch. Defenders are just standing back and letting the opposition take dozens of shots. They don't close down. What's the point of spending hours on tactics if they don't work anyway, in the end you're trying to beat or find ways around the match engine's flaws instead of applying tactics to a team, your team employing them and seeing what happens.

sm1979

Cheers Amaroq for the non-patronising, non-arrogant post.

I would simply love to have the time to be able to watch matches on full highlights, and play out many seasons to try out new things. But I just dont. I relied heavily on the tactics I got from wwfan on FM07, and that is when my enjoyment of FM07 started - about 3 months before the release of FM08. The thing is, I start to play 08 and then don't want to have to go back to 07. When I consider that FM07 gave me that sort of enjoyment, I really want to go back though. I'm rubbish at this - and due to the complexities of the modern FM, that is what is ultimately losing fans of the game. IRL I consider myself to know a reasonable amount about football, but unfortunately I seem to find it impossible to port this into FM.

I see what you say about maybe flaws of the opposition in previous versions, but I just don't think that my FM07 tactics relied on these things.

Thanks again mate for taking the time to reply - you are definately one of the more mature members of this community.

SCIAG

I spent a long time thinking up tactics for 07. The only good piece of advice I found in T&T was the RAFALoution Opposition Instructions- those could change a game! Just a shame even they don't work any more. (For anyone who doesn't know, it was Always close down keeper and Show onto Weaker foot, and I can't rember the outfield ones)

I don't think you should be able to move sliders randomly and get results, but I do think there should be ways in which you can dramatically increase your chances- like making your passing style and tempo the same, which was very useful on 07.