How does condition work in this edition?

[superdave]

I think I've played the '01, '02, '04, '06, '10, and '12 versions of FM. Now I have the '16 version.

My style is to build a relatively big squad and rotate to keep players fresh. I'm in my 3rd season of going through the Christmas period (Notts County) and the match engine, I'm pretty sure, has changed significantly to downplay condition. I've been losing late leads or late draws to teams where half the field players are well under 50% condition, while my team is all over 70. This used to be the time of the year where I started making my move, but now, I'm continually falling back. I wonder if anyone can clue me in as to what's going on? My team right now is fairly typical...I'd say 4 guys who are unquestioned first choice field players, 3 guys who are slightly ahead of their backups, and 3 positions where one player is as good as the next guy. (It's made a bit more complicated because I run more than one tactic and they have different "first choice" players in certain roles.)

Anyway, in the 15-16 version, should I ignore condition and just play my best lineup? I'm starting to think I should.

When I see I have a clear condition advantage, I move the tempo slider up one level from normal. I close down average for the first half (except I close down more the 3-4 minutes after I score) and then move the closing down slider up one for the 2nd half.

Thoughts?

[trajano080]

I generally try avoid less than 90-92 condition, unless its a very important player for a very important game (and in those cases I usually rotate quite a bit on the game before).

[aderow]

I think you should still consider condition otherwise you could find yourself running players into the ground (sorry ronaldo).

I've always been a fight fire with fire type of manager; when my opponent pushes forward then I push forward because they leave wholes that are easier to exploit. Especially when they are tired. You just have to find them.

[superdave]

My League 1 team made the 5th round of the FA Cup, AND the semifinals of the Paint Trophy, so from just before Boxing day through mid-January, I had insane fixture congestion, mostly against clubs that ALSO had insane fixture congestion. So I got to play with this some.

I was just experimenting with heavy rotation strategy, light rotation, etc. I wanted to figure out how this #$%^ actually works. And I can assure you that there's something fundamentally wrong with condition in this version of the game.

First, let me just get to the end and say that you shouldn't worry about low condition. My most successful strategy was just to play my best players and barely worry about condition. I didn't try to play my best striker 90 minutes twice a week for a month, but if I took him out at 75, I'd run him back out there next game and get another 75-80 minutes.

Second, let me tell you how I came to this conclusion. My heavy rotation games were just bizarre. The issue is NOT (just) that I didn't do well with a heavy rotation policy. That just tells you that condition doesn't matter much, that good players who start a match at 80% are better than above average players who start a match at 96%.

What DID happen was that my heavy rotation teams were constantly either even at 75+ minutes and ended up losing, or ahead at 75+ minutes and ended up drawing. IOW, my teams were BETTER when we were "ahead" 15-20 condition points and the margins were, for example, an average of 70 for them and 85 for us, but we were WORSE when we were ahead 60 to 45.

That obviously makes no sense. Think about real matches you watch...do teams with a light rotation policy routinely have the advantage against teams with a heavy rotation policy the last 10-15 minutes of a match? No, they do not. That's when they fade. Those teams hope their talent has given them a lead to hang on to. They don't outplay the fresh team over the last quarter hour on a regular basis.

And before you suggest anything, chances are very high I already thought of that. I tried managing matches with my high rotations very AWARE of the condition difference, and I tried managing them completely ignoring it. Didn't matter.

It's just a fact that condition doesn't work in '16 like it has in the other 5-6 editions of this game I've owned.