Tutorial for new users about the basics of the game.
Top Eleven – After playing the game for a few months I have concluded a few things myself.
Training – Using Tokens to personal train.
Firstly in my view it is pointless buying Tokens in order to personal train players. Unless you have hundreds of pounds worth of disposable cash, using 'Tokens' to enhance a players ability will only guarantee an improved squad for that season. If you buy 1000 tokens and use these to personal train players, your players will obviously be better but there is a few things you need to account for. The first is choosing the right players to power train. I am sure veterans will tell you that sometimes no matter how good a player is on paper they simply do not perform. Improving there quality might make them play slightly better but if you chose a player that is already showing he can play well the chance is that you will have a season changer who will contribute massively.
The second thing is choosing a young player that trains fast. You can view how fast a player trains by viewing his statistics and choosing the 'Personal trainer' – Players can train at different speeds and this reflects in the amount of tokens it will cost to train them. The cheapest you can train a player for is 32 tokens = 8 training points. I often read that all young players train at this rate but this is not true. Younger players in general are fitter and will mostly train faster, but if you have trained a youngster up to a high enough level that exceeds the top level that a scout would offer (I'll come to scouts later) The amount of tokens will rise dramatically. For instance if you are Level 4, the highest quality player you can purchase from the market would be 39-quality with the highest scouted player being 44-quality. If you train a player at this level to 45-quality that exceeds the top scouted players quality. This means that if you wish to train your player any more it will cost you 60 tokens per 8 training points as opposed to the 32 you have just spent. The amount of tokens will decrease the following season to 40 tokens per 8 training points. Please note, Personal training is different to Power training. See further down for Power training.
Training – Special abilities
You can spend training points that you receive from training and playing games on a special abilities. To add a special ability you simply go to the player in question an in the central box under 'Statistics' it will tell you weather your player has a special ability or not. If he doesn't you can add one by clicking the plus button in this box. Special ability costs vary depending on which one you want and the ability you can choose varies depending on the players position. Special abilities cost either 40 or 50 training points. Remember this is a massive amount of training points. In my experience I have to say I do not think having a special ability makes your player better in any way. It also does not add value to your player which is ludicrous considering it has just cost you 50 training points or 224 tokens in power train. I will tell you that these training points are much better used on improving your players quality rather than adding an ability. I once power trained a ST to have the 'one on one scorer' ability, however I notice through the commentary that he seems to miss on on ones all the time.
The choice is yours but if these abilities worked why do they not add value. Remember the amount of tokens you spend on tokens to power train an ability could buy you over 100M of cash (level 5 for example). I know what I would rather have.
Training – General training
You can train players when there is no game by scrolling to the right on the 'training screen'. There are three types of training, Stretching – Cardio – Practice Match. Each offer different levels of intensity and varied rewards. Do not jump straight into a practice match every day as this will increase your chance of injuries. Stretching however can reduce the chance of injuries during games. A tip – Instead of playing a practice match play friendly matches, This way you will receive extras like moral boosters – Health boosters and injury packs. You can also make 11 substitutions which will spread the training points across the entire team.
Another tip - When your are training via 'Stretching' or 'Cardio' change the intensity of your training to suit your needs. If you like to have 99% health before every game but don't have the health packs to boost players, change intensity to 'REST' you will gain training points slower but players will be well rested and heal quicker. If you don't mind playing with 80% fitness+ (which is fine) then train players hard to maximise training points. Generally 'NORMAL' is a good balance.
Training - Power training
Power training is a good way of boosting a players stats without having to constantly keep buying new ones. I have attached a link to 'July Fourths' guide to power training as it is in-depth and and a must read for anyone looking to take advantage of power training: http://forum.topeleven.com/tutorials...-training.html
Transfers – Buying/Selling
The Transfer market is without a doubt the most common way to strengthen your squad spending as little tokens as possible. I will explain bidding mainly because I hear people saying they do not fully understand Top Eleven's transfer system. When you see a player that you want you can bid on this player by selecting the player and hitting 'BID 1 T' in the bottom right hand corner. If you are the only bidder when the counter/timer reaches zero you win that player. If another player bids also, there is no need for you to bid again as you have already bought your ticket into the knockout stages of the bidding. (The last person to bid in normal bidding time will not win the player under any circumstances if others have also bid). The knockout stages are unlimited and will go on until there is only 1 bidder left bidding in that knockout round. Again if you are not the only person to bid in the knockout stage you do not need to bid more than once. Tip – Bid early if you want to progress to the next stage. If you really want the player bid every round even if you are currently winning as people often bid in the last second in an attempt to nick the player in the closing milliseconds.
After you successfully win an auction that player will usually be added to your squad immediately. However, If your new player is currently in a game or training it can take an hour or so for your new signing to arrive.
Transfers – Choosing the right player for you
It is obvious that you are going to want to buy a young player with as much quality as possible. What you should also look at is how many tokens you have. For instance if you have 10 tokens or less there is little point chasing young talent as there will be lots of interest and it will eat up your tokens without you winning that player. Tip – Try and bid in hours that are less busy, through the night or early morning are good times as interest will be lower. Secondly decide weather you believe a player with a special ability is what you want? If it is then try for them first and wait. Do not rush into a buy as the market changes all the time. Remember a player with a special ability has 40/50 extra training points worth 224 tokens +. Also limit yourself, if you have 40 tokens decide to not go over 5 tokens per player approach, this way you will not get caught up in a bidding war that could see you lose all your tokens with no player to show for it.
Tip – If you have a low amount of tokens bid on older players with high levels of quality. Its a shorter term fix but it works, There will be less interest and if a 29yr old can help you win games for a few seasons and only costs you a fraction of the price and tokens then I would say that would be a good result.
If you are playing from a desktop computer be sure to check a players statistics before bidding on him. This will tell you how many goals, assists etc he has accumulated during his career and therefore give you a better view of who you are trying to buy. Tip – You can click the plus sign in the heart on the bidding page to favourite a player therefore keeping them at the top of your transfer page. This is a good way of tracking a potential player without committing a token as you will often forget about a player that still has an hour left to bid.
Tip - If you have a low amount of tokens but really want a good young player best time to find one is a couple hours after the servers restart (servers restart around 2AM) This way you should be able to find Nordeus generated players and due to the time your chances of successfully capturing the player is greatly increased.
Transfers – selling
Selling players can be very profitable if done correctly. Check your players quality level and go from there. For example if you are (level 4) and have a player that is 39 quality, this would be the highest level a player could be sold in a level 4 transfer market. So a player that is 39-quality in level 4 is classed as a high quality player and would attract a lot of potential buyers. If that player reaches level 40 he will no longer be sold in a level 4 transfer market and will automatically be put into a level 5 transfer market. However this player now loses his va va voom and now becomes a low quality level 5 player. The chance of getting a lot of cash for him decreases dramatically and if your lucky you will get the lowest possible fee. If you sell whilst at level 39 (even if you carry on using him and wait until your at leve5 yourself) You will have more potential buyers and a higher chance of getting a good price for him. For example I sold a player that is level 39 when I became level 5, he was valued at 4.1M and I got 11.4 Million for him. Now if I had waited until he reached level 40 he would have been sold at a level 5 auction and probably sold for his asking price.
Tip – If you are struggling to sell players you could always change his name for 1 token. This gives the player a higher chance of being sold as people often go for players with real names I.e “Messi” than low quality players with random names. As a friend that didn't know how to edit names said to me “Your paying for the name”.
If that made no sense to you what so ever then here is a simpler way to sell. You can only have a maximum of 22 players in your squad. 11 first team players 7 substitutes and 4 reserves. If you sign another player whilst your squad capacity is full, you will have 7 days to make room for this player. If you do not want to wait for the sale of an unwanted player you can always 'sack' the player for a small fee.
Transfers - Scouted players
Scouted players can be found in the transfer market screen by scrolling right. Scouts cost 50 tokens plus the asking price in cash. The best time to buy a scouted player is without a doubt 'Day 3'. Never buy a scouted player in the first 3 days as the league doesn't start until day 3 and sometimes you are placed in a higher league. For instance if you have just become level 2 you could be put in level 3 or even 4 but no higher. If you purchase a level 2 scouted player and then realise you are level 4 this player becomes under quality rather than above your levels quality like you would expect. This also stands for regular transfers but there is a much lower risk as you are not shelling out 50 tokens on top of the asking price.
I personally don't believe scouted players are worth the tokens as they are hit and miss. You could spend the 50 tokens and the player could not make an impact at all. However you could spend the tokens and he could be great. What I am saying is if you have limited tokens don't rush into buying scouted players assuming they will bring you immediate success. Also when choosing your scouted player take into consideration his age as well as his current quality level which can range from 22yrs old to 29yrs old and can differ in quality.
Transfers – Negotiations
When you reach level 4 you have the ability to by from other people that play the game. If you are playing through Facebook note that you cannot buy from your Facebook friends but CAN buy from friends added in-game. My advise about negotiations is simple, Don't do it. Negotiations cost money and tokens. After finding a player in a team that is eligible to join you (not above your allowed buying quality limit) You then have to make the offer. Now no-one will accept the asking price for a great player, they will want tokens too, the only problem is that the money/token ratio is set by Nordeus and varies depending on the player. For instance if I want to bid on a young player that is of good quality according to my level he might cost me 6M. With that 6M you HAVE to pay the person 20 tokens on top which is mandatory. If this is not enough Nordeus (the middle man) take their cut on top which is 48 tokens. So that is 68 tokens and 6M for a player that is not as good on paper as a scouted player which costs 50 tokens and about 4M. For this reason I steer clear of negotiations.
If you do decide Negotiations are for you you have to make an offer via a Desktop computer or a browser that supports the desktop version of the game. Then you have to wait. The tokens are held by the middle man (Nordeus) - The person that owns the player then has 24 hours to either accept or reject your proposal. If they decide to accept your offer, your tokens remain spent and the player is transferred upon successful payment. If the potential seller rejects your offer you will receive the tokens back. And no cash or player will be transferred.
Friends
If you play through Facebook your Facebook friends will automatically become your 'Top Eleven' friends. You cannot remove a Facebook friend from Top eleven without deleting them from Facebook first. If you add or accept a friend within the game they can be deleted whenever you want. Tip – be sceptical about accepting random friends requests as once you accept them they will have the ability to play you in friendlies without your permission. They could do this just before a crucial game in order to weaken your team or even innocently not knowing you have a game. Nordeus are addressing this issue and on many servers teams on the receiving end of friendlies are not weakened, however this is not consistant throughout every server. (This is not what happens, it is simply what can happen)
If a friend wishes to play you in a friendly you have no option to accept or reject there proposal, instead you will be automatically put into the match at the friends desired kick off time.
Having friends does have its plus sides, for instance they can help you out with booster packs and skill points for free by sharing them with you every day so don't be put off simply choose your friends wisely. I believe that the inability to chat with friends flaws the idea of adding strangers straight away although I do understand why they do not allow it.
Another commonly asked question is “why can't I see/watch my some of my friends matches” this will be because they will be on a different server and once you are placed on a server you cannot be moved under any circumstances.
Want to start over? - You cannot simply delete your team either. You will need a new account either through Top eleven or a by using a new/different Facebook account.
Tactics and formations
I am not going to go into this as there is many other threads that go in-depth about this already.
TIP – In your first seasons do not worry about improving your stadium or injecting cash into logos and other items from the club store. Instead make sure your ticket prices are set accordingly for each game. Level one I would start at £5 – League £7 – Cup and £1/2 – friendlies. This will guarantee an attendance possession bonus during home games. I went without this for 3 seasons as my prices were far too high. Next decide what formation you want to use and make sure you have enough players to man this formation. When buying for the first time buy older players with higher quality and concentrate on getting a good GK and a good MC to start as I find ST can score many goals even if they don’t look good on paper by simply having a good MC that can feed him with good passes. Make sure you have your sponsors sorted for both shirt and Television rights. Then you are pretty much ready to go. Giving players a win bonus will help reduce how rapidly his moral will drop but this is not essential.
Earning more Tokens – Obviously Tokens are the most precious things within the game and if you don't have the money to buy tokens there are other ways to obtain them. The simplest way to earn free tokens is by watching videos (which can be found by clicking on your tokens and then scrolling right). If you have friends that you know that would love Top eleven don’t just tell them but Invite them within the game. This will not only increase your daily bonuses but this player/friend becomes a referral and referrals win you tokens by carrying out simply tasks. You can obtain many extra tokens throughout the season.
The final way to get tokens other than logging in every day and selling players through negotiations is to sign up for promotions. (Promotions can be found by clicking on 'Tokens' and then scrolling right). Promotions offer tokens in return for your custom. Promotions vary from filling out a survey for 1 token to adopting a tiger for 85 tokens. There are always new promotions available and they are sometimes worth it even if you don't need the product. For instance one promotion offers 214 tokens if you purchase a web domain for £4. Nordeus tokens cost around £20 for this amount of tokens. Remember if you accept a promotion do not wait until you have your tokens and then cancel your order as your tokens may be revoked and you will be banned from using promotions in the future.
Sponsorship
It is vital to take advantage of the free tokens you can obtain within the game and the most effective way of getting these tokens is by sponsorship. There are four different options for shirt and TV sponsors but not all are available to every level of player. The best sponsor is the 'come back every day to earn extra' as this has a potential income of 35T per season. If you do not log in every day then the '1 token a day no matter what option may suite you better' - I would categorically steer clear of the 'Defeat your opponent to get more tokens' option as this is by far the worst deal. As far as shirt sponsorship goes this is pretty self explanatory, simply working from left to right when deals become available is the most effective way of earning cash.
I have tried to cover some basics. From my own experience I feel if I had known these things from the beginning I would have understood the game better in those early days. For anything else and for more in-depth talk about tactics etc there are many threads from more experienced users that cover this.
Other
Game times: - You can change the time of any HOME match. You have to change the game time at least 24 hours before kick off if you want to make the kick off time alot earlier. The longer you leave it the smaller the window gets for a time change. It is possible to change the kick off time up until 5 minutes before a kick off BUT you will only be able to put the time forward and not back.
Extra Tokens - Don't forget to see if there are any videos to watch every day by clicking on the health pack symbol at the bottom of the screen. You can also earn/win packs via the 'Top Eleven' Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/topeleven?fref=ts - As they often hold free draws and mini competitions.
