New Player

Thanks MadJack. Having played a lot of these type of games it seems a very weird concept that human owned teams should lose to bot managed teams. In fact in my experience it makes it unique! However, it is what it is and unless one wishes to leave the game then you just have to accept it.

I am slightly heartened by your post though and it has prompted me to search through the Amateur League 1 ranks and I have found that an awful lot of those teams due to be relegated are in fact human teams. Most of the teams that started with me from Maxithlon are in the same boat as myself. Therefore, it appears that the game was designed to be that way. So maybe I am not doing as much wrong as I thought I was.

I can imagine that there must be one hell of a drop out rate from the game! Then again there is in all these sort of games I guess. Who knows maybe making games where you are getting beaten by bots is the new way forward!?? Who knows?

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement.

No Wulfman I realise that you have to fight for victories and that is no bad thing. It is also very boring in other games where you instantly thrash bots until you reach high enough up the pyramid system to play against human opponents. So I guess somewhere between the two extremes lies the true answer.

Only you know the extent of people dropping out after being relegated in their first season so only you know whether there is a problem or not. There is a big difference between newbies not really engaging with the game from the very start and newbies engaging with the game until they are relegated and then leaving. Again I guess you are monitoring these figures closely.

You have a great game here. The only bit of advice that I would offer, as a total newbie, if I may, is make it very obvious to people like myself that losing to bots is normal.

Until I read MadJack’s post and in fairness he also privately messaged me with a note of encouragement (which was very much appreciated) I was of the opinion that I must be doing something wrong.

Only last night I lost to the bot who is bottom of the league so you start to scratch your head and wonder what is going on! Therefore, a strong message telling newbies that it is normal to lose to bots would put mew players minds at rest. A message along the lines of MadJacks would probably go down well for new players.

keep up the good work!

Wow this game really doesn’t make it easy for new players does it. Talk about taking the stuffing out of you!!

Today I was informed via a random event that I have lost my best player for two days thanks to this message “Brendan Pugh is invited to participate in an international tournament. Reluctantly (or proudly?), you have to let him go. He is not available for the next two games.”

Not that I ever did have much chance of not getting relegated but now all chance has just about disappeared. So with a fair bit of the season left I now feel as if I have nothing left to play for so logging on to see my daily losses is becoming a bit of a grind.

I will not quit but I have to confess that I can see why so many do. I strongly suggest that you look at the random events Wulfman and maybe for newbies you remove the bad ones and only give them encouraging ones for their first season or something like that.

Anyway as you have so obviously put so much effort into the game I thought I would share the feelings of a total newbie with you so that you can get a flavour of what new players feel, which might help you in your development of the game.

Random events sometimes hit you hard but my personal experience is it's not that bad (Wulfman already reduced it a little - previously locks could hit more than 1 player of your team at the same time).

about the relegation, don't worry, I actually see that as a benefit (if we eliminate the real life time factor of 20 days per season) because you should be able to win the championship easily next season and get a lot of money.

Registration date is usually a random factor also (in case you don't have someone to tell you what gameday of the season it is) because a lot depends on it. If you are lucky, you can register in between 2 seasons and get a chance to use player loans, or you can register on gameday 10 (or later) and have little chance to keep the league.

Look for the positives and try to study the game in your first month, without any radicle moves.

I am always a glass is half full type of person so no fears there. On the positive side I have already slightly upgraded the hall and am managing to fill it and overall I am making a profit so the money side of it is going ok. Plus there are only a few more games left until I get relegated and hopefully next season will be more encouraging.

Thanks for the comments though domac101.