Zilla Blitz
-
Posts
144 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Articles
FAQs
Online Manual
Support: Blocks
Support: Games
Bug Tracker
SIGames Manual (beta)
Profiles
Posts posted by Zilla Blitz
-
-
I was initially frustrated with FM20, but the last big patch fixed the major issues I was struggling with. The current version is good enough for me that I'm having a great time with it.
0 -
Season 1 Summary: 2020-21
Season Review | Table | Manager Profile | Transfers: 1, 2Season Notes
Nuneaton Town were slated for relegation as a newly promoted team, but had a handful of decent players on the team and over £4k in wage room. Nevertheless, we started out the season horribly and sat in 21st place after 18 matches. But our reinforcements started clicking and led us on a long charge through the middle of the season that saw us rise to 7th place. We hung on to that playoff spot for the back third of the season, but got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. We’ll be back next year!Results
Season Division Position Champions League Notes 2020-21 National North 7th - Lost in 1st Round of Playoffs
0 -
Year 1: 2020-21 Summary
Season Review | Table | Manager ProfileSeason Notes
I started with Nuneaton Town in the Vanarama National League North at the beginning of the 2020 season. We were slated for relegation as a newly promoted team, but had a handful of decent players on the team and over £4k in wage room. We started out the season horribly and sat in 21st place after 18 matches. But our reinforcements started clicking and led us on a long charge through the middle of the season that saw us rise to 7th place. We hung on to that playoff spot for the back third of the season, but got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. We’ll be back next year.Scoreboard
England: 0/12
Scotland: 0/7
Ireland: 0/8
Northern Ireland: 0/10
Wales: 0/5
European/World: 0/5
International: 0/3
Total: 0/50At a Glance
0 -
9 hours ago, NoNonsenseFM said:
It's taken 2 weeks but I have a new job. I'm off to England with FC United of Manchester in the National League North
That'd be a fun team, especially because you can combine it with trying to take down Man U.
Good luck!
0 -
Club
Season 1: April 2021
Playoffs!
Notes
With the continued help of the faltering 8th and 9th place teams and a huge 5-1 win over Southport, we lock up 7th place with two matches to spare! On the whole, we play like Jekyll & Hyde during the month, with two disappointing losses and two inspiring wins.
We’ll face Darlington on the road for our first playoff matchup. We’ll need to win three road matches to gain promotion. A tall order for sure, and our road performance hasn’t been strong.
First Playoff Video is up.
0 -
Looks like this season could go any which way for you! You're not impossibly far from first with 9 matches left, and Farnborough, with their 2 games in hand, are closer than they would appear. Anything from 1st to 8th is in the works. Should be an exciting finish to the season!
0 -
16 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:
Confident thoughts Zilla...
Thanks! The other teams below us seem to be determined to give us the playoff spot, which is helping a lot. Seems like whatever team gets to 8th place immediately implodes. Very nice of them.
0 -
Club
Season 1: March 2021
Let’s All Be Mediocre
Another month of mixed results. We net three draws and a strong win against Hartlepool, but it’s clear the magic has faded. Losing our Left Back to a month-long injury and Chez Isaac, our best midfielder, to a 3-match ban hasn’t helped either.
Fortunately, everyone around us struggles as well. With four matches to go, we find ourselves on the cusp of securing a playoff spot. We’ve just got to seal the deal.
For more details and an advanced look at next month:
April Video is up.
0 -
45 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:
You should make the playoffs.
I agree, but I always feel like I'm one step from tumbling into the abyss with this game.
0 -
I wish I had a good save from a manager who has managed in multiple countries, but I've reported this in the bugs forum so it can be looked into.
It really seems to be that Adaptability and Working with Youngsters don't go up in any circumstances.
0 -
Has anyone had success increasing manager Adaptability & Working with Youngsters ratings?
- I'd think my Working with Youngster ratings should go up if I have, well, young players on my team, but in both FM19 and FM20 it seems to be staying flat at what I started with.
- It seems like adaptability should go up as you manager in different countries and learn more languages, but from what people mention on the Internet, this doesn't happen in the game either. Adaptability stays at what you start with?
0 -
Club
Season 1: February 2021
Slipping, but not Sliding
Notes
We start the month by extracting revenge for our Boston United defeat on King’s Lynn Town, pasting them 3-0. A close 2-1 win against Altrincham follows, but our results tail off at the end of the month. We draw to 22nd-place Blyth, then lose at home to mid-table Spennymoor.
Fortunately, the teams around us in the standings fare no better, and we end the month still lodged in 7th place, 6 points up on 8th place Gateshead, and 2 points back of 6th place Darlington.
It’d be nice to make the playoffs, for sure, but in all honesty I don’t think we’re ready to make the jump to the National League. We started pretty much from scratch building a team this year, and we’ve got little to no talent that is ready for another promotion. Of course we’ll take on the challenge if we go up, but I think another year to bring in a few more strong players wouldn’t hurt at all.
But eight matches to go and we’re right in the thick of things! Onward!
March Video is up.
0 -
Club
Season 1: January 2021
Riding the Edge of the Playoff ZoneRecord: 15W-9D-10L, 54 points (7th place in Vanarama National North)
A packed January schedule is made even tougher to navigate thanks to a couple of key injuries, but we make it through the month with 4 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss in league play. The play lifts us three spots in the standings, and we end the month in 7th place, the last playoff spot.
A lot of our results come from late heroics, goals in the 80th minute or later kind of stuff. For whatever reason, this team just doesn’t seem to give up. It’s been fun watching them play. Our only league loss of the month comes against first place Boston United, who also beat us earlier in the month in FA Trophy Cup play. 3 matches against Boston this year and 3 losses. We just don’t have quite enough to take on the top team … yet.
12 matches left and we suddenly find ourselves in a playoff battle instead of a relegation battle. Considering we were in 21st place after 18 matches, I’m certainly thrilled with how things have gone. The playoffs would be gravy on a good season, but now that we’ve got hold of 7th place, I’d like to keep hold of it and finish the deal.
Four matches coming up in February, each and every one of them important for reaching the playoffs! Go Yellow Pokemon Bears!
February Video is up.
0 -
16 minutes ago, Etebaer said:
some Streaming Software...
Sorry, yes. OBS is free software that allows you to record video of games. For whatever reason, I get a rock solid 60 FPS in FM when OBS is running in the background, but frequent noticeable drops in FPS when it's not.
I'd recommend giving it a try if you've got stuttering that shouldn't be happening with a good machine, and you've tried all the other fixes.
2 -
I'm in the final stretch of my first season down in the Vanarama National North, about half played before the latest patch and half played with the latest patch.
General feedback
- This might be the most fun I've had in a season of football manager. I'm really liking the latest match engine overall, although I despised the match engine before this. I see a lot of variety in goals, lots of variety in play.
- I've been reading here some of the comments about how tactics don't impact the game enough, but I'm not finding that to be the case for me. My changes seem to have a significant impact on the match, and I feel like I can build a team how I'd like and make it work.
- The only exception to this would be having a speedy CD on Cover in your back four. I can't imagine playing without this with this match engine. With it, we've dramatically reduced our opponents' ability to score using balls over the top.
Things that could be better
- Number of balls over the top and conversion rates. I can live with things now, as the game usually has a lot of 1v1s and some of them score, so overall the impact on the game seems about the same as if there were fewer 1v1s and more highly converted. But yeah, it'd be nice to see this addressed.
- Just going on my own keeper's match ratings, I wonder if goalkeeper ratings are too low, or perhaps dependent on passing more than they should be? Our keeper has certainly performed well this year, but has a rating of about 6.6.
- Sounds are kind of messed up in my game. Random dribbling sounds at various points in the match. Cheering timing seems to be off on occasion as well. I've had sounds cut out after making subs, etc.
- Other minor bugs
- Match video drops to below 60FPS and stutters unless I'm running OBS. With OBS the engine stays dialed in at 60FPS and never changes. So now I always run OBS when I play and everything is fine. Not the best solution but it works.
Overall though, I'm having a wonderful time with the game. Thanks for everyone's hard work!
0 -
Club
Season 1: December 2020
Playoffs?!?Record: 10W-8D-9L, 38 points (10th place in Vanarama National North)
In a light month of activity, we continue to defy the oddsmakers and slowly rise up the table. We only have two league matches. Chez Isaac, our newly acquired midfielder, blasts a 92nd-minute rocket into the top right corner to salvage a 1-1 draw against FC United, and we end the month with a solid 2-0 win over Needham Market. In between those matches we pick up an FA Trophy Cup win over Braintree to advance to the second round.
I’m still amazed at how well this team is playing. One third of the way through the season we were in 23rd place. We are now in 10th place and potentially chasing a playoff spot. A big reason, for sure, has been the additions of striker Harry Williams and central midfielder Chez Isaac. Williams has been a scoring beast that gives us multiple weapons up top. He can combine with our other striker Luke Benbow, and our attacking midfielder Rafferty Pedder has more targets to feed. Similarly, Chez Isaac has been a big upgrade in central midfield. The guy plays like his hair is on fire. He’s everywhere at once and creates so many problems for other teams to solve. It’s no coincidence that our good run of form started with their insertion into the starting eleven.
January will be a huge test. We’ve had some matches cancelled in December due to bad field conditions, and those rematches have fallen in early January, giving us a packed schedule again, with some tough opponents throughout. We’ll need all our team depth to keep the run going.
January Video is up.
0 -
Summary: I made a substitution in a match, but after clicking confirm and resuming the match, the substitution reverses and doesn't get completed.
Description of Issue: Our left back gets a red card. After subbing in a central defender for a striker and pulling the defender back to the defensive line in the tactics screen, I confirm the substitution. After leaving the tactics screen, then returning, the central defender is listed both on the pitch and still in the list of players on the bench. When returning to the match later in the game, the striker is still in the game and the central defender is still on the bench.
Initially I thought I had just screwed up the substitution, but I was recording the match for YouTube, and I have the whole thing on video:
Here's the link to 10:15 in the video that shows me make the substitution. (Parker for Benbow.) If you watch until 11:09, you'll see that the central defender (Parker) is now listed both in the match at center back and on the bench. (I don't notice this at that time.) Later, at 14:08 in the video I go back to the tactics screen to make another sub and notice that the first substitution never happened. Benbow, our striker, is still in the match and has played center back for 50 minutes.
Steps to Reproduce: No clue.
.pkm attached.
0 -
Club
Season 1: November 2020
The Beat Goes OnRecord: 9W-7D-9L, 34 points (12th place in Vanarama National North)
A quiet month but solid month sees us nudge up in the standings to 12th place. In our only two league matches, we grind out a 1-0 win over a strong Darlington club then finish the month with a thundering 5-1 victory over Bradford PA. We also advance in the FA Trophy Cup with a tight win over Southport. The undefeated month sees me end up third in the Manager of the Month voting.
I’m a bit at a loss to explain the sudden rise in fortune and I keep feeling like the shoe is going to drop. In FM 19, I tried three times to keep relegation-slated Vanarama regional teams up and only barely succeeded once. To be sitting this high in the table at this point in the season feels a bit like fantasy-land. I can say that the budget with Nuneaton did give us a lot of room to bring in players, and not all the players we originally had were garbage. Our main striker, Luke Benbow, was on the team when we started, and we’re still using a handful of other players. So compared to the previous three times when I tried this with FM19, this attempt with FM20 is probably the easiest set up of them all.
But that aside, we’ll enjoy this while it lasts. To be in the top half of the table heading into December is a glorious feeling. We’ll just keep taking matches one at a time and see how this goes.
0 -
7 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:
Showing good improvement.
Thanks! I'm not used to this with relegation-slated teams, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!
0 -
Really nice job with this, and I like the presentation. Good stuff, and everything you're touching is turning to gold!
0 -
Good luck in the final!
0 -
Club
Season 1: October 2020
Ah, This Looks Like the Way!Record: 8W-6D-9L, 30 points (13th place in Vanarama National North)
As September ended I felt like we were playing better but just not getting results. We were getting good amounts of shots and chances, but not able to convert enough of them to pick up points. In October, things shift in our favor. The shots start to drop, the goals start to pile up, and our tactics seem have molded us into shape. The result is 4 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss over the month in league play. We finish the month in 13th place, a good nine points clear of the relegation zone and eight places higher than where we started the month. The clubhouse mood is strong. We’re firing on all cylinders.
If I had to point to one reason for the better play, I’d have to say that I think it’s simply a matter of the newer players we’ve brought in getting into match shape and getting comfortable with their roles and with each other. We just look smoother. Our passing is better. Our defensive play is more confident. I’m not sure if we can keep this up over the back half, but it’s fun for the moment!
We’ve still got weaknesses, in particular out on the wings, but we’ve completely tapped out our wage budget now so we’ll just have to hope we’ve done enough with the roster as is. We’re also going to run into unhappy players shortly. Some players are grumbling already about playing time, and the lighter schedule isn’t going to make things better for them.
Looking ahead, our schedule slows down considerably going forward. We’ve only got three matches in November, one of which is the first match of the FA Trophy Cup. With fingers crossed, we start the second half of the season...
For more in-depth coverage and a look at our match versus Blyth:
Video Episode 30 -
Club
Season 1: September 2020
Struggling to Find the WayRecord: 4W-5D-8L, 17 points (21st place in Vanarama National North)
Back at it now that the new patch has fixed ratings, 1v1s, and some odd stuttering I was experiencing...
September hit us hard. We started with a draw, lost three in succession, bounced back for two wins against bottom of the table teams, then ended the month with two more losses. We only pick up 7 points in 8 league matches. The poor play drops us to 21st place, just in the relegation zone after roughly a third of the season done. On a minor positive note, we did make it through the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, and our next round draw is also against a club in a league below us.
I feel like we should be playing better, but maybe it’s a matter of tweaking tactics and letting new players get comfortable in their roles. We’ve brought in a bunch of players, and have pretty much tapped out the rest of our wage space. Some of these players should up our play, but our biggest gamble, an £800/week splurge on Ivor Lawton, a central midfielder with sky high mental attributes, good physical skills, and weak technical skills, has panned out terribly so far. Every match the guy plays has been a mess. Instead of solidifying our midfield, the guy is a sieve. I still haven't given up on him, but it looks as if it's a painful lesson in the importance of technique.
Looking ahead, we’ve got another busy month, with seven matches in October. We’ve yet to have a week with less than two matches. Fortunately, only one of October’s matches are against teams in the top 3rd, and more than half are against bottom half teams. If we could find our form just a bit, I’m hopeful we can pick up some points to lift us clear of the relegation zone.
0 -
1 hour ago, Johnny Ace said:
Ratings have been fixed
Excellent! That's good to hear, thanks. I'm not sure why this wasn't a bigger issue to more people. I'm super glad to hear they've addressed it.
0
[FM20] Devotion to Promotion
in FM Career Updates
Posted
Club
Season 1: May 2021
Playoffs vs. Darlington
Darlington controls the first third of the match, outshoots us, and goes up 1-0 just before 30 minutes. We shift our tactics and things balance out a bit, but our offense just cannot find a way. We have a disappointing lack of chances and fall 1-0. Our first season is done.
On the whole, however, we have to be thrilled with the first season. We were in 21st place after 18 matches, then cranked it up and roared up the standings for the middle third of the season. Securing 7th place in our first season feels like a solid foundation to build from.
Time to move on to Season 2! Really looking forward to it.
Season Wrap Video is up.