Turn-Based Tactics blank

[normie]

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[sser]

 

[Zanzoken]

I have this in my Steam library and remember spending a decent chunk of time with it a couple years back.

The concept was interesting and fun but there was one weird design aspect that ultimately made me put it down. As you would expect, each of the players on the field has stats for skills like passing, shooting, tackling, etc that affected how well they could perform those maneuvers. But at the same time, there are also special "power moves" -- don't recall what they're actually called in game -- that only check against the player's current fatigue. So for example, you could have a player with a rotten shooting skill, but if he had the right power move and was fully charged on fatigue, he could pull off a powerful shot on the goal that was really difficult for the defenders to stop.

It was really jarring to try to strategize for -- like playing an RPG where your basic fighter class inexplicably might have the ability to cast a massive fireball, even though he shouldn't be able to use fire magic at all. And the system was pretty buttoned up otherwise, so these power moves were a really important part of the overall gameplay. Sort of like having free actions in a game where everything else relies on 50/50 dice rolls.

Again that was a while ago, and it looks like the devs have continued working on the game, so it could be completely different now. I remember the game being pretty decent otherwise, so might be worth checking out if you're a big football or turn-based tactics fan.

 

[Inspectah]

The game was definitely Fun for a few good hours. Some problems definitely emerged eventually like the over reliance on headers beeing the only way to score against strong teams, which meant that the whole match the only tactic was this Guy gets in front of this line and this one runs to the side. Repeat ad nauseum.
I really like How the game feels though, like a powered up Button football board.

 

[Shackleton]

Yeah, I played this quite a lot when it was released and like the posters above, it was entertaining but flawed. I tried again not long ago and they've made so many changes to it, it was almost like a different game. Got sidetracked playing something else, (Battle Brothers?) and forgot about it, but might well give it another go when I get the itch.

I saw it described as a cross between football and the combat from HoMM, which got me to buy it. Not entirely accurate, but I can see some resemblance.

 

[TemplarGR]

Great little game. Not a masterpiece by any means, but addicting if you like football, you can waste hours easily on this. I love it, definitely getting the expansion.

 

[thesheeep]

I gotta admit, I read "Football, tactics & gory" and was a bit disappointed that this is not a football (not handegg, I like that one) Blood Bowl.

 

[Teut Busnet]

Can you change the number of turns a game takes now?

When I played it a couple of years ago, you chose it once at the start and where stuck with it. Very annoying.

 

[Teut Busnet]

Can you change the number of turns a game takes now?

When I played it a couple of years ago, you chose it once at the start and where stuck with it. Very annoying.

I suppose it's the same it was then, you choose between the default 48 turns, 60 and 90 at the start of the career and that's that

I think the game is balanced differently depending on what you choose to account for the difference having more turns in a match makes, so switching mid-career would screw with what effort has gone into balancing the game

Having to play 90 turns against teams you don't have a chance against -like after promotion- is frustrating and sucks, but shorter games aren't very engaging. Oh well, thanks for the answer.

 

[Norfleet]

Are there vuvuzelas? There needs to be vuvuzelas.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

The concept of the game has enormous potential, unfortunately the scope in FTG is too small to be anything more than couple hours of fun and never touching it again as you saw all it can offer.

 

[Sranchammer]

Handegg is better suited for this.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Has anyone ever tried to make football tactics game that uses WEGO-system?

 

[JarlFrank]

Has anyone ever tried to make football tactics game that uses WEGO-system?

Wouldn't that be a complete mess, kinda like the naval battle game Mare Nostrum? WEGO really doesn't work for that because you need to guess the enemy's moves in advance but can't react to them on the fly, leading to everyone just maneuvering units past each other.
I would imagine it to be similar in football where you have to be aware of enemy players positions and maneuver your guys on the fly to get an advantage. In WEGO it would just turn into a mess where the ball never goes where you plan it to go.

 

[3 others]

Tried the demo and whaddya know, there was a solid squad tactics / sports management game lurking underneath its slightly frivolous presentation.

First things first, lol @ Lothar Matthäus in the game cover:

The demo only offers one season of amateur league play but it was engaging enough to make me buy the whole game. For each week's match you see a preview your opponent's formation and can select and position your starting 11 to exploit their weaknesses and counter their strengths. The players have different abilities depending on skills (ball control, defense...), their playing positions (centre backs automatically tackle nearby players, wide midfielders can move much further, attacking midfielders can fake opposing defenders out of position, etc.), and every player's signature skill (which can be something like slide tackle or nutmeg feint). It manages to create an illusion of football instead of just reskinned chess on reimagined Blood Bowl. One week's match might be a dramatic back-and-forth capped by a moment of inspiration from a star winger while another degrades into an uneventful midfield grindfest with unskilled players unable to keep possession on either side. Games between evenly matched teams can be determined by which one of the teams happened to get a friendly roll on their best scoring chance in a 1-0 victory. And games are quick enough that being on the receiving end of a last-ditch equalizer isn't that big of a deal.

As noted in one of the first posts in this thread, this is probably the defining feature of the game:

The concept was interesting and fun but there was one weird design aspect that ultimately made me put it down. As you would expect, each of the players on the field has stats for skills like passing, shooting, tackling, etc that affected how well they could perform those maneuvers. But at the same time, there are also special "power moves" -- don't recall what they're actually called in game -- that only check against the player's current fatigue. So for example, you could have a player with a rotten shooting skill, but if he had the right power move and was fully charged on fatigue, he could pull off a powerful shot on the goal that was really difficult for the defenders to stop.

The devs are pretty insistend that the game is intended to be played as a puzzle on how to take advantage of your signature skills and minimize the opponent's skills, match in, match out. A successful skill play (winning the ball back with a Slide Tackle instead of a normal tackle) nets you one additional action on your turn (normally turn ends after 3 actions), so plenty of goals come as a result of chaining skills together (slide tackle --> long pass --> feint) to play 4-6 actions on your turn. I don't mind the design, it certainly adds dynamism to the game, but having them completely decoupled from underlying core skills feels wrong. A Long Pass signature skill on an already skilled passer feels superfluous since the signature skill is checked only against the player's fatigue level.

The management side seems promising. Players gain positional skills based on where they play over the course of the match, youngsters are developed by picking spots for them to play in, veterans will have gained more skills over their career but they recover slower and will want to retire sometime after age 34. Contracts, transfer fees, and lots of BAR GRAPHS INCLINING after each match!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rWz5_sQCO0

Big Update of Manager's Journey

While we are trying to find ways to optimize the simulation of the game world, we decided to work in parallel on improving the mechanics of Manager's Journey. This update is pretty big as it adds very important balance changes, improves one important mechanic, and improves the usability of different parts of the game.

Spoiler

Gameplay Improvement

• Earlier, when a coach got a new uneven level, a choice between Money and Glory was available. But if the contract came to an end, the player did not need either Money or Glory. We've added a third option - Reputation. Now you can choose between Money, Glory or Reputation.

Statistics

• Previously, you could only view league statistics in the country you are playing in. Now you can see the statistics of any league available in the game, including countries on other continents. Full statistics are available, including top footballers, all match results of this season, league tables for all previous seasons played, etc.
  
• Previously, we did not give the opportunity to view information about a club if this club is in the lower league of another country or on another continent, since the scouts cannot collect reliable and complete information about the team's footballers. Now, you can watch any club, but information about the footballers will not be available. This is useful for viewing the history of the club's development. Also, many players like to change the names, logos and kits of clubs during the game. Now, they have such an opportunity.
  
• When you get a request to sell your footballer, we now give the opportunity to view information about any club from which the request came (previously, we showed information only about clubs from your country or Premier Leagues of other countries).

Quality of Life Improvements

• Improved the president's mood scale. Now, you will see how much Reputation you earn or lose depending on the different management moods at the end of the season.
  
• The screen for requesting money from the management has been improved. Now, if the mood of the management is higher than the maximum, we more correctly show information about how the mood will change after the money request.
  
• In Footballpedia, a picture with the values of the Cross Factor has been added to the article.

Balance Changes

• Reduced penalties for bad and very bad mood by 2 times. Also reduced the cost of renewing contracts with the current club.
  
• The difference in strength between Strong, Medium and Weak continents has been slightly increased.
  
• Previously, the AI extended contracts for footballers in such a way that when a player joined a club, most contracts ended at the beginning of the second season. AI now renews contracts more evenly.

Bugs

• There was a bug in which, when requesting money from the management, one amount of money was shown, and another was given. Fixed.
  
• When a player motivated the team before the second half, the substitutes were not motivated. Fixed.
  
• In the statistics of income and expenses of the Glory, the Glory given for the new level of the coach was not displayed earlier. Fixed.
  
• One of the articles on Footballpedia misused the names of the tournaments in the examples. Fixed.
  
• The achievement 'Walk the Talk' was not working correctly. It was given even when the player failed the task in the club, but stayed and completed it the next time.
  
• If the player started the game in the year 0, then the game has started in the year 2021. Fixed. You can now start the game in year 0.
  
• Fixed other less noticeable bugs, typos and translation problems.

 

[Shackleton]

I started this up again with the new DLC, but fuck me they added too much and slowed it down so it runs like treacle in between games. I've not the fastest CPU (I7-6820 2.7) but it's not antique and handles everything else just fine. This game takes minutes sometimes between turns to process results.

Can't play it like this so shelved it for now. The core game is still addictive, although auto-resolve is still a bit too strong imo. It's nice to build up your little men into stars and see the team improve but not when more time is spent waiting than playing.

 

[3 others]

I started this up again with the new DLC, but fuck me they added too much and slowed it down so it runs like treacle in between games. I've not the fastest CPU (I7-6820 2.7) but it's not antique and handles everything else just fine. This game takes minutes sometimes between turns to process results.

Can't play it like this so shelved it for now. The core game is still addictive, although auto-resolve is still a bit too strong imo. It's nice to build up your little men into stars and see the team improve but not when more time is spent waiting than playing.

The game does a lousy job describing this but you can change the game world depth when launching a new game. Click on the Country Settings button after you've selected your gameplay settings and game mode and you can select what countries' leagues are simulated in full detail (premier league + lower divisions), partially simulated (remove checkbox) or not included in the game world at all (click Remove or something like that).

As with some other things, the game does a poor job communicating this, and the setting can't be changed after the game has been set up either. By default all countries are on so your CPU can enjoy spending cycles on resolving Zambian Amateur Division matches.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I'd really love a 2D or low key graphics Rugby game, RT or TB, whatever works best which would be inspired by Mutant League Football and Speedball 2.

Or ultimate frisbee but with bladed frisbees and mutant / fantasy creatures as players.

 

[Papill0n]

can't stop laughing at Lothar Matthäus being used on a prop for a football tactics game. Did they actually pay him or did he pay the publsihers to get featured?

 

[Bigg Boss]

Fuck. I thought this was Football Tactics not soccer. America just had to be different.

 

[Stokowski]

can't stop laughing at Lothar Matthäus being used on a prop for a football tactics game. Did they actually pay him or did he pay the publsihers to get featured?

They covered his bar tab.

 

[Jrpgfan]

The game was definitely Fun for a few good hours. Some problems definitely emerged eventually like the over reliance on headers beeing the only way to score against strong teams

Not that far from reality. The stronger the defense, the harder it is to get inside the area and find space to shoot. That's why you usually see a lot of crosses in games between two teams with solid defense or when one team goes full Mourinho and stations all the 11 players inside and/or near the box.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

You've all made a similar mistake. You keep calling this football. This is soccer, or as it's sometimes known, a pretend sport to keep little kids, high school girls, and Europeans (but I repeat myself) occupied while the men play real sports, like football.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

You've all made a similar mistake. You keep calling this football. This is soccer, or as it's sometimes known, a pretend sport to keep little kids, high school girls, and Europeans (but I repeat myself) occupied while the men play real sports, like football.

Isn't that just rugby football with added padding?