Game Question

[Ragin Cajun]

So I got FM13 and was immediately overwhelmed and never opened the game again..lol.

FM14 was my first real foray into the game and I enjoyed it.

My question for FM15 deals with formations. In FM14 I came to find from playing and reading that there were certain formation "glitches" that allowed you to excel at the game from a Win/Loss perspective. Just setting a 4-4-2 and putting your best players in wouldn't get it done, you'd lose more than not even with the better roster. So if FM15 still in this vein of playing where you have to "super formation" the game to be competitive or was that corrected (assuming it was NOT supposed to be that way before)...or is this just what FM is as a game; to the best formation schemers go the spoils?

[Cougar2010]

Every formation has strengths & weaknesses just like IRL.

A formation can also play very differently depending on the individual roles & mentality.

The coding of each version of FM tends to favour some formations over others but is not the be all & end all.

You need to look at your options and how best to use them. 442 can be a strong formation but like all formations it has inherent weaknesses and if you come up against a formation that exploits those weaknesses then you have more to overcome.

You don't need a "super formation" or cheat tactics to win, you just need to have tactical awareness and make good choices. There are plenty of threads in the tactics forum talking about the finer points.

[Ragin Cajun]

Every formation has strengths & weaknesses just like IRL.

A formation can also play very differently depending on the individual roles & mentality.

The coding of each version of FM tends to favour some formations over others but is not the be all & end all.

You need to look at your options and how best to use them. 442 can be a strong formation but like all formations it has inherent weaknesses and if you come up against a formation that exploits those weaknesses then you have more to overcome.

You don't need a "super formation" or cheat tactics to win, you just need to have tactical awareness and make good choices. There are plenty of threads in the tactics forum talking about the finer points.

I guess what I'm talking about Cougar (and I remember you answered a lot of my FM14 questions when I started playing...so thanks again for that) is that I ended up using just one tactic and winning a vast majority of games each season without changing anything. This was a common discussion point in my forum readings so this is what I was referring to as "super formations".

But even putting the "right" formation and having a better roster more than not led to continued losses when I was efforting myself to do my own formations and setups.

[HUNT3R]

Meh. I've used 6 different formations so far, totaling about 8 tactics and I've done well with all of them. There are probably weaknesses in every FM, oddball tactics/formations, but balanced tactics do consistently well in each version.

[thomit]

Every formation has strengths & weaknesses just like IRL.

The coding of each version of FM tends to favour some formations over others but is not the be all & end all.

The bolded is by me.

Well, I don't know if that is strictly true. I don't think there is a bias toward any specific formations in FM - at least less and less so with every edition of the game - but I think there are some formations that the regular FM gamer find easier to get to grips with than others. Easier to choose (either by rationale or by luck) the right roles and duties, mentalities, shapes etc. I struggle to find any "exploit" formation/tactic in FM, not since the Championship Manager 3 days, at least, when the 4132 with a central midfielder with a long arrow into attack was the go-to formation for being successful.

[Cougar2010]

I guess what I'm talking about Cougar (and I remember you answered a lot of my FM14 questions when I started playing...so thanks again for that) is that I ended up using just one tactic and winning a vast majority of games each season without changing anything. This was a common discussion point in my forum readings so this is what I was referring to as "super formations".

Different formations also lend themselves to different situations.

For a team who is consistently one of the strong ones in the league and consistently challenging up the top then you face similar situations year after year - mainly breaking down weaker, more defensive teams. Once you have a formation & style that allows you to do that you can continue like that for many seasons as your situation doesn't change.

For other teams their situation can change either through relegation/promotion or by getting better or worse over time. The different situations call for different approaches.

In terms of "super formations" FM15 seems to lend itself to top heavy formations that focus on attack. These tend to perform better than they should or do in the real world while defensive formations need more attention to get them working well.

But even putting the "right" formation and having a better roster more than not led to continued losses when I was efforting myself to do my own formations and setups.

This is where you need to identify what you could be doing better.

This could be choice of formation, roles, duties, players, better recognition of the opposition tactics or better handling of team talks.

There is plenty of advice to be given in the tactics forum but its always difficult because we aren't standing over you when you play so can't see what you see or show you what we see. Like it or not its something each user needs to try and work out for themselves.

[Cougar2010]

Well, I don't know if that is strictly true. I don't think there is a bias toward any specific formations in FM - at least less and less so with every edition of the game

Maybe not a specific formation as such but certainly different types of play.

I can remember over recent versions we've had one that was weaker to wide tactics & crossing, one where crossing was useless and narrow tactics a bit OP. I've already mentioned FM15 a bit OP on top heavy formations while I'm pretty sure we had another that was very defense orientated.

None of these of course were to the exploit level that diablo was but just weaker & stronger against certain styles. I do agree with you though that it gets better with each version and the aim is for all formations & styles to perform equally well.

[millwalllion]

I've found that I generally evolve 1/2 tactics. If I'm a top team and don't win a few, I look to see what I can improve. Why did I lose the last game, how could I have avoided that?

I'm now tweaking the tactic quite regularly, depending one opposition, players available. I look to try and get the best team available in the 11, then optimize the tactic for those players. E.g if I have an abundance of strikers in form, I'll try and fit them in. If I have 1 fit striker, I will play 1 up front, or none, and utilize players that are fit (wingers, CMs etc.).

I find it difficult to just keep 1 tactic and consistently win. Which is how it should be!

[HUNT3R]

I find it difficult to just keep 1 tactic and consistently win. Which is how it should be!

I find it too easy to just keep using the same tactic and win the league and CL every season. It's definitely possible though. I do like tinkering though, so instead, I opt to rather develop a tactic alongside my proven one and after 6-12 months I'll introduce that one as my 'main' tactic. Within a season or two, I'll repeat the cycle. It keeps things interesting and there's always something I feel like doing, tactically, or a newly acquired player who I want to build a tactic around.