Formation and Orders...do they actually matter? (No Guide)

[kebess]

From my experience, Quality and Formation and Order are the most important factors. I rarely do bad against lower quality teams, but the margin needs to be high. Less than 20% in the quality difference isn't really that noticeable.

Then comes the formation. I don't hesitate to change my formation in games if I see my possession too low, and regularly I see a pretty noticeable change when I do so -- either it drops even lower or climbs suddenly. There's also some logic to it, but not always very intuitive.

Then comes the orders. The orders with which I have seen a clear impact in games, are the Mentality and Pass orientation ones. I haven't noticed any noticeable game change with the others -- but that's probably because I don't change them very often.

[dv8r]

So here's the deal:

In my very short experience of T11 i couldn't figure out what are the most important factors to maximize my winning chances.

Lets draw them down:

1. Formation
2. Orders
3. Quality
4. Ratings
5. Skills
6. Supporter Advantage
7. Condition
8. Morale
9. Boosters
10. Factor X

1. Formation

Now i've heard several versions which importance this Factors and its either big or small. In one guide i've been told that you can use kinds of counter Formations. If the opponent uses 2 ST you should have at least 3 Defenders to "counter" them for example (and vice versa). On the other hand to counter a 3 DC defense Setup you use 1 ST and a set of wingers (AML, AMR).

The other "guide" basically says to go for 1 Formation which suits your Team best and go with it. (kinda "never change a winning team" like)

Counter formations only work to an extent so don't rely on them too heavily. Using your best set up does work too. Change your players based on form. If a player is getting poor ratings then drop him for a few games until another player's form starts to dip.


2. Orders

Same story here basically you either change your Orders according to your Formation or keep up one style of play.

So orders are dependant on the formation you play. There are no generic orders. Change accordingly, don't use middle passing if you're using a wide formation such as 4-5-1v.


3. Quality

Now as for the quality of the players i use to give less credit then to their spot on the pitch. Now here's the problem. Either quality matters only a little or it does matter a lot. Just today i got told that quality ist the most important thing to have in mind. Always put your best squad on the pitch just make sure its a legal formation. I'm not very sure about that because i've lost a fair share of games against teams a lot less rated then mine.

Form over quality. That's what I can say.


4. Rating

Ratings are very tricky to me..or i'm just to stupid to figure it out. I never had any constant low rated players. I mostly have the jumpers which look like this for example: "8-6-9-7-8-5"

To this day i have no clue how this value gets calculated cause as ST getting a 6 after scoring a hattrick is kinda weird.

It depends really, it may be due to that player not being able to get chances or just making bad tackles. I find that players who miss shots and get yellow cards are likely to get low ratings. As for the 6 on the ST getting the hat trick, I don't know.

5. Skills

Not much to say here. Had all my young high value players pick a skill according to their position and have some skilled up till now. Tho i can't say if it makes any difference to before. NEEEXT

Well what's the issue here? Assign skill points according to the position that they play in. If it's a defender, invest most your skill points in defence and if it's a striker then invest most your skill points in attack. The higher the skills, the more likely they are to perform better.


6. Supporter Advantage

I try to watch as many of my games as i can and i've seen only very little other players (in my leagues) doing this. I believe it doesent matter at all if you watch a game or not because i've lost soooooo many matches (even against bots) against really
low rated teams.

By now, it seems to me that you're very sceptical about this game. It does count, I've been supported against and had opponents getting 10% possession bonus on me and end up playing better than me. I have lost when i didn't watch my matches and I have also lost when I didn't watch my matches. It does matter because with possession you will get a slight advantage but it's not massive.

7. Condition

Not much to say either only that i always make sure they are in the greens (80% or higher) before every game.

That makes sense


8. Morale

Same as condition.

Also makes sense, having players with low morale can result in worse performances.

9. Factor X

Factor X is what i call the "lottery" Factor. Its basically a Coin-Flip system which says either A or B (or C as Draw in our case). If this really exists it basically eradicates the importance of points 1-8.

Luck IS a factor as said by one of the moderators some time ago. I have a feeling that a lot of calculations are done and return a value, which results in the event that occurs. I'm not entirely sure about this but if it's a percentage based value then of course there has to be luck involved. It absolutely does not eradicate the points of 1-8 because everything is factored in, luck is just something that COULD occur to either side.


Summary:

I like this Game...it has a lot of potential but the lack of control gives it a bittersweet touch. Now i'm looking for some people that can supply me with some sugar to solve this problem. I'm not asking for a solution to win every game but i would like to gain a bit more control. Bad Beats can happen but it should stay within a reasonable amount.

Thanks for taking your time reading this mess.

/discuss

In direct response. No one will know what factors matter the most. But what we can try to do is have a good balance. For example, I watch all my matches, keep morale and condition as close to maximum as possible. I also use my best rated players and attempt to use counter formations as well as my best team from time to time.

[TimYoung]

I can agree on form over Q. I know a lot of managers swears by Q over form.

But them again, my second team’s Q is not miles away from my first teams. Maybe different if it were.

[Mischa Cali]

Hey Guys...

Thanks for taking your time to read through my "problem list".

@dv8r: The skills part was ment to include only the special skills like "defensive wall, Penalty Spec, etc".

for the other skills i just have 1 question: does it matter if a ST has a low defensive rating or should this be close to equally leveled with off and phys skills?

cheers

[Bob Sponge]

Hey Guys...

Thanks for taking your time to read through my "problem list".

@dv8r: The skills part was ment to include only the special skills like "defensive wall, Penalty Spec, etc".

for the other skills i just have 1 question: does it matter if a ST has a low defensive rating or should this be close to equally leveled with off and phys skills?

cheers

It should be quite equal, imo. Atleast thats what I'm trying to do.
For an example, 30 def, 34 off, 33 phys. Something like that.

[Mischa Cali]

It should be quite equal, imo. Atleast thats what I'm trying to do.
For an example, 30 def, 34 off, 33 phys. Something like that.

Thx Mate.


Here my last match..Domination from A-Z and it got waaaay to close:

[TimYoung]

Hey Guys...

Thanks for taking your time to read through my "problem list".

@dv8r: The skills part was ment to include only the special skills like "defensive wall, Penalty Spec, etc".

for the other skills i just have 1 question: does it matter if a ST has a low defensive rating or should this be close to equally leveled with off and phys skills?

cheers

It depends. I train two types of strikers. short strikers I do most attck and mental and tall strikers I train them equal mainly for the heading skill and also useful if I do whole pitch pressing.

Short strikers I would want SP.

[Mischa Cali]

Some info to my last game posted above:

Started out same formation as opponent (3-5-2). He scored first goal so after first half (still behind) i decided to put my ml and mr to aml and amr. Scored me 2 goals and switched to a 3-1(dmc)5-1 to defend my score. I scored another and he scored shortly after...then i switched to hard defense and made it to the end..

To close of a score if there aint an ominous Factor-X.. my opinion.