Football Tactics - New TB Soccer Game

It’s possible to get stuck early on in a constant run of 0-0 games when you’re at the very low levels, to which I’d just say don’t sleep on the “Break In” skill for Wide Forwards.

It doesn’t look like much until you start experimenting with it.

Cool, thanks!

I started the demo and played my first game. It seems like it has potential, mostly my lack of soccer knowledge is holding it back a bit, along with the use of icons during game time for skills that I need to keep looking up. Looks like there are lots of ways to improve your team using training, transfers and leveling up / specializations. My lack of soccer knowledge is what held me back from really trying to get into Football Manager too. This game is obviously much more approachable so the hurdle isn’t so big.

I won the first real match in the demo 2-0. It’s a good thing they start off in the easy league!

Yeah, I actually made an excuse to leave work early as I have thought about it all day and wanted to play a bit before a hot date that will sooner or later implode and I’ll need to play this to distract me.

Those little coaching exam tests are kinda fun. They are pretty easy, but illustrate the mechanics pretty well.

I feel like the matches are a bit short. It feels like time goes by too quickly to make the match feel like a battle.

Yeah, those training lessons ease you in well.

I feel like if the games were any longer the scores would skew too high and be unrealistic possibly. I haven’t looked to see if there ia an option to add to the number of actions per game.

Really like the amount of RPG/Management there is. It’s a nice balance between fun and stats. Like Super Mega Baseball 3.

In the game options you can set the number of actions per match. I think there are three options to choose from.

Oh cool, thanks. I only have played in the lowest league and scoring hasn’t been too high, but maybe when players are more skilled adding actions would jack up the score.

I think I won 4-0 once, but that pretty much was uninterrupted trips down the field. Then I got beat 3-0 by a 2 star team. I’m also playing in the lowest league.

There’s a lot more to it with the multiple skills and types of shots you can set up.

It is irritating when you play a team with one good player that pretty much scores at will by doing the exact same move. I guess I need to actually move people around when that happens.

Anyway, I bought the whole bundle and started back over as the tutorial is a bit different as it incorporates some of the expansion stuff. The loading times in between matches are a bit irritating, but I’ll live.

It’s everything I was expecting/wanting and then a little more.

I finished one season (I think?), because it seemed to have an off season period. But, my record is still the same - the teams didn’t go back to 0-0-0. I’m at the top of my easy league, but when I got the chance to play a team from the higher league I tied them. I’m not exactly sure I understand how the seasons work. I do enjoy playing out my games though.

I kinda wish I bought the one expansion at least. Maybe it will go on sale next week for Thanksgiving.

I thought the same as there seem to be a long break that may have been after the “Prestige Cup”, but there’s two halves to the season or something. There’s a proper end that shows top players for the season in the league and on your team.

I’m on my fifth season. A lot of my good players have retired at the ripe old age of 34. I’ve been training noobs and carefully hiring some seasoned vets. I made it into the next league up, I’m in 4th place and finished 5th in my fourth season. I made it through two rounds of the Prestige Cup finally.

There’s not enough scoring in soccer and it makes it difficult for me to get into. There’s not much scoring in this. I love it anyway. I am sure some people find it grindy as improvements from one season to the next come in small increments at best. Just like happens often in real sports.

A superstar can make a huge difference all the same. I’ve mostly relied on defense. It took a couple seasons before I realized how important it is to tweak formations based on the skills of the players on each team against whom you are playing. Sometimes you have to shift everyone back to defend. Sometimes you can do with just 4 defenders.

It’s clicking with me right now. Not sure when it’ll stop and become tedious, but really enjoying it now as you can crank out a game in 10 minutes or so. It’s got a “Just one more game” feel.

Great game if you have the patience, which I often do not. :)

The real version doesn’t see the save from the demo, so I need to start over. But, I’m waiting until the sale because I’m thinking of getting the DLC. Are both DLC worth it?

I haven’t messed with formations yet. Is there a good way to learn about them?

SInce I just grabbed all of it, I don’t know which parts are DLC and which are original content.

I actually have just fiddled with formations based on the various accuracy vs. defense comparisons on both sides of the field. Those high accuracy rates will murder you if you dont’ have a wide enough defense line. And because my better players have been better on Defense, I look at that first and then decide what to do with forwards and midfielders. Then as the game develops I’ll move people around. fatigue, injuries and red/yellow cards also make it very challenging.

So, short story, I’ve looked at nothing other than the tutorials it gives you throughout those first two seasons. I need to dig deeper as the positions as they upgrade have positional benefits that I haven’t used very efficiently because I wanted to play and not read. :)

A lot of the game is in this detail. Understanding your opponent’s attacking setup, what kind of Forwards they have and where to put what kind of defenders (CD vs DF vs SW) is a real key, especially when you’re in the early days and your players might not be as good as the opposition.

For formations I almost exclusively played 4-4-2 or 5-3-2 (with a rare trip into 6-3-1) but understanding how to layer the backline and place the specialisations you have is a really neat challenge.

Thanks for the tips. I’m in my 6th season and it really is a challenge to build up your team and improve your play. But the games are so quick, I really don’t mind a bit of the grind.

I’ve played so much that last ast night, throughout my sleep, I kept doing Layoff Passes so I good get a free action. That’s the only action that bed has seen in far too long. [rimshot]

And on the subject of the importance of positional skills, I found this. I avoid things like this as I think I will figure it all out and then at some point I reach a threshold where I realize I’m not smart enough to figure out much more. This is a good summary of all the postions, their possible skills and it includes GRADES!

“Rainbow Feint : A+” isn’t really doing it justice. Even when you get a CD with the skill specifically designed to counter Rainbow Feint the Forward will frequently just Feint his way by anyway and then there is only pain.

My first season with the game I had a Rainbow Feint forward. He got immediately injured for four months and then retired at the end of the first season. This is how I came to fall in love with Break In. It was all I had left.

Yeah, I had some crappy injuries in my first season that lasted FOR-ever and then sold my top, old player for like $100K+ to try to rebuild.

Then…so many retirements…so damn many.

I’m sure all the grades have a margin of error, but I’ll just use this as a rough guide as I go forward.

Then I see level 100 players with ridiculous stat numbers in the hundreds in the higher leagues and I think I just need to be developing young talent more.

Yeah, this was my Forward when I got to the top division.

186 accuracy at 24 years old really broke the game.

I only just noticed the second-top scorer. I don’t think it’s @tomchick but who can tell.

$31,407,930!!!. OK, I’ve got a ways to go.

How many seasons did it take to build up to that league? Did you just get hired away from your lower league teams once you got more reputation points?