FIFA MANAGER 12 MANUAL

1 CONTENTS INTrOduCTION Welcome to FIFA Manager 12 – the entire world of football management at your fingertips. Take on one of the most challenging jobs in the world as you immerse yourself in the most authentic management simulation on the market. Visit www.fifa-manager.com for all the latest FIFA Manager 12 news, tips, and forum discussions. COmplETE CONTrOlS FIFA Manager 12 is mouse-driven. When the mouse arrow changes to an icon of a pointing hand with a plus sign, right-click to access further details (you can also view helpful tooltips by hovering your mouse over certain on-screen information). Most popup screens can be closed when you simply right-click anywhere outside it. WhaT’S NEW? If you are already familiar with the FIFA Manager series, this section gives you an overview about the most important changes of the latest version. Transfer MarkeT Each club analyses the current and long-term situation of the squad, including the estimated development of the players. A priority list for specific positions is created, and the clubs are trying to fill the vacant positions. On the other hand, players who are not needed any longer are put onto the transfer list to save salary. Another list contains players who might develop into squad players and should be loaned out or get increased match time. Club faCiliTies Twenty-five buildings with a total of 289 configuration levels are reproduced in detail in Club Facilities. In addition, there are up to three stadiums with up to 120,000 seats directly on the club grounds. Also, buildings now age and must be maintained with renovations. Each building has a configuration level, which has specific impacts in other areas of the game. As a manager, you are faced with decisions on what to expand and thus level up. You’ll find you need to develop a genuine strategy in terms of how you want to set up your club in the future. WWW.fIfa-maNagEr.COm 1 INTrOduCTION 1 COmplETE CONTrOlS 1 WhaT’S NEW? 4 hElp SySTEm 4 prEmIum fEaTurE 4 gETTINg STarTEd 6 SETTINg up yOur fIrST gamE 6 playINg ThE gamE 15 TEam mENu 21 TraNSfErS mENu 23 Club mENu 26 CarEEr mENu 27 OpTIONS 28 NaTIONal TEam 29 maTChday 34 playEr dEvElOpmENT 35 fIfa maNagEr 12 ONlINE 36 lObby 38 NEW ONlINE fEaTurES 39 maIN mENu 42 bONuS raCE 42 TraNSfEr markET 42 maTChday 2 3 3D MaTCh MoDe Changes to the 3D Match mode create a more realistic experience, and include new logic and player artificial intelligence, and marked improvements to tactics, substitutions, and the conduct of opposing managers. In addition, a new easy-to-use interface makes it simple to retrieve all the data relevant to the game within seconds and to issue precise tactical instructions to your team. Training This year sees a return to the daily training schedule. Up to four sessions a day can be scheduled. The calculation has been reworked to enhance the realism of the training results, as well. finanCe New elements, like Fan Assets and Membership Fees, make it possible to interact with your fans, while earning some money for your club. New calculations for the distribution of TV money, and realistic numbers for main sponsor payments lead to more realism in the financial area of the game. buDgeT Budget distribution has been recalculated so that you can now see the fixed costs and can distribute parts of your cash to your budgets. The money that is not distributed to a specified budget goes to the Reserve budget, which can be used later in the season. It is also now easier to move money between the budgets. sponsoring The sponsor system has been revamped from head to toe. There are now more types of sponsors and each has different priorities. Use the new main sponsor negotiations, and take advantage of the Sponsor Pyramid, which contains a list of Platinum Sponsors, Gold Sponsors, and Silver Sponsors. It is also now more important to keep the sponsors happy. Award free tickets to sponsors or organise a meet-and-greet with one of the players to keep in their favour. sToCk MarkeT The Personal Life section has been updated with a new Stock Market segment. Here, trade shares of football clubs that are also listed in real life. Every year there are new clubs going public. The performance of the shares depends on the financial and sporting success of the clubs. CalenDar evenTs This year there are some new calendar events, such as Trial Day, Charity Event, Autograph Session, and Lactate Test. It is also now possible to schedule friendlies (friendly matches) against all possible teams and to get offers for friendlies from other teams. Another new event is determining how to present a new player after signing them. Manager Tasks Accomplish various manager tasks to earn points. The current tasks are displayed on the newly implemented Mobile Phone, found on the right side of your desk. iMproveD player DevelopMenT With the help of player potential, the distribution of player levels and talents is now much more realistic as years pass in the game. This also holds true for the individual player skills. The Ups and Downs are more focused on single player skills such as finishing for strikers or leadership for team captains. final 24 hours The final 24 hours of the transfer period are more exciting than ever. You are now able to negotiate the transfer fee with the other club as the last 24 hours of the transfer period proceed. Moreover, you can now try to finalize deals with players you are already in transfer negotiations with. It is also possible to be offered players at the last moment, or even for other clubs to want to sign your players during these final 24 hours. injury proneness As the manager, you have to pay close attention to the physical status of your players. If they return too early from an injury, or if their Energy is low, they can get an Ailing status. This status increases the probability of the player gaining long-term injuries. A new character trait, Injury Prone, is added for the players. This increases the probability of the player picking up an injury. insTanT resulTs It is now possible to adjust the speed of the calculation. Chance bars show what team is dominating the game at the moment. sTaDiuM In FIFA Manager 12 a completely new stadium can be built, while the team still plays in the old one. You can apply to host big cup finals and tournament matches in your stadium. MaTCh speeCh Take a risk and make a speech before a match to attempt to improve the morale of your players and increase the chances of winning. The bolder the speech the higher the positive effects for the match. But after the match, you pay the price if the speech was not successful; your team’s morale can plummet. perManenT loss of Morale for unDerpaiD players If a player is underpaid, an email is sent to your inbox. The morale of the player constantly decreases should the problem not be addressed, you don’t offer a new contract, or increase the salary of the player. Don’t wait too long to take care of the problem, or the player may not want to extend his contract with your club. furTher iMproveMenTs In FIFA Manager 12 there are many more little improvements such as shorter construction time for international youth camps, new player talks, training camps, selectable transfer budget for the first season, or retired players becoming managers and staff. 4 5 hElp SySTEm FIFA Manager 12 comes with a new help system that gives you a lot of advice on how to use every feature in the game, together with a number of hints. Look for this icon in the game: On most screens it can be found on the upper right corner of the screen. Click on the icon to open the help for the current screen. Some help texts even contain links to other screens. Click on the links to open the connected screens. Since you can access help on how to use each screen in the game, this manual will serve you as a guide through the screens and options and provide in-depth information. prEmIum fEaTurE FIFA Manager 12 introduces the option of acquiring an exclusive Premium Feature Live Season. Acquire this Premium Feature to keep up-to-date with all major leagues. Download regular updates to start your game with real world data, and continue receiving the data throughout the whole season! Live Database lets you access the latest editor version, so you won’t miss any real life transfers. gETTINg STarTEd maIN mENu The main menu offers the following options: sTarT gaMe This lets you start a new game or continue a previous one. sTarT new gaMe Start a completely new game and manage your favourite teams with up to four players on one PC. You can select from over 180 different leagues, with more than 40,000 original players in the database. You can be the coach and the manager, and you might even own your team or be a part of your squad as a player manager. ConTinue lasT gaMe Continue your latest saved game. loaD gaMe Load a game of your choice from all the ones you have previously saved. QuiCksTarT Each time you start a completely new game, FIFA Manager 12 creates a saved game with the current settings. Using this option will thus load the game you have created previously, so you can start from scratch again, without having to do the set up once more. sTarT online gaMe Right-click the icon the game explorer and follow the on-screen instructions to start the FIFA Manager Online mode. live season (preMiuM feaTure) You can start a new game with current real-world data! Register for this feature in your EA account and you can download updates with the latest data at regular intervals. Manager exTras MaTCh preDiCTion Simulate any game, any time with the Match Prediction tool. Choose whether to use an existing saved game or a newly generated database as the basis for your match(es). Follow the in-game help for further details about this exciting feature. 3D highlighTs When you play matches in 3D Match mode, you can save your highlights of the game and watch them again. CreDiTs See who participated in the development of FIFA Manager 12. opTions Adjust the standard game settings to your personal preferences. You can change audio and video options here. exiT Leave FIFA Manager 12 and return to your desktop. 6 7 SETTINg up yOur fIrST gamE If you are new to FIFA Manager 12, take some time to have a look at all the options you are offered in the game, to be sure it looks and plays the way YOU want. Remember to use the Help System if you are unsure about the meaning of any of the options. When you come to the country selection, take a second to consider the performance of your PC. If you select too many countries, this will noticeably reduce the speed of the game, since it takes a lot of time to calculate the effects for all teams in the world, including youth teams. player level anD TalenT sTars (for uk only) This feature shows the overall level and the talent of all players. This enables you to quickly estimate his strength in each position, without having to check all the player’s skills. Manager appearanCe This screen lets you define your appearance in 3D Match mode, as a player as well as a manager. If you enable the cutscenes in 3D Match mode, the camera might display your manager reactions to the match from time to time. playINg ThE gamE If you have little or no experience playing the FIFA Manager franchise, check out the information in this chapter. However, even experienced players might find some useful information in this guide. During the first season you will get a regular Help screen that contains useful hints to improve your gameplay. You can have another look at these hints if you click the Help icon under OPTIONS > PREFERENCES > OPTIONAL SCREENS. Your starting point is the News Centre in the main menu. This is where you will get mails from your staff or other sources concerning the whole game world. Many news items have a blue Hyperlink behind the text. Click on this Hyperlink to directly go to the relevant screen. Click on the blue information button at the top right corner of the News Centre to find out more about the main menu. assigning Menus To hoTkeys To assign a menu to a hotkey (F1-F8), press and hold SHIFT and press the appropriate key when the menu is on-screen. Then, to access that menu at any time, press the relevant F-key again. righT-CliCk on Menu enTry If you right-click on a specific entry in the main menu (e.g. TEAM > TRAINING), you can right-click the menu caption (TEAM) from then on to open this screen directly. wiDgeTs You can place a number of widgets, containing many useful pieces of information, around your main menu screen. To do so, move the mouse next to the main screen until a transparent rectangle appears. Then click the right mouse button and choose from the available widgets to place it there. Use the ‘Navigation’ widget to select five screens you want to assign to a quick selection. navigaTion Depending on the resolution of your monitor, you might not be able to see the complete menu at once. To scroll the menu, move your mouse to the borders of the screen. WElCOmE TO yOur Club You should first get to know your team better. To do this, select TEAM > FIRST TEAM. This shows your current team and formation, as it would be used if there were a match today. Right-click the name of a player and then select PLAYER DETAILS. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the information you see there, we’ll focus on the left part of the screen first. This contains the skills of the player. playEr dETaIlS A player’s level is a good indication of how well he is likely to play in a match. The overall level is a combination of the Position Level and the player skills, with emphasis on the Position Level. Click the dropdown above the player skills and select POSITION LEVEL to show the player level on all available positions. If you have activated the DISPLAY PLAYER LEVEL option on the Game Mode screen, the overall player levels for up to six positions are indicated on the top left. You can use this value to quickly evaluate a player. A player’s Talent represents his expected development. Gold stars, worth two Talent points, and silver stars, worth one Talent point, indicate a player’s Talent. For example, 3 gold stars and 1 silver star add up to 7 Talent points. Players with a high talent will most likely show a faster training progress. The maximum Talent value is 10. On very rare occasions a player with a Talent of 11 will appear, who is determined to be a player of the century. You can cycle through all players in the list by using the arrows on the upper right. Take some time to have a look at all your players, to get an idea about their strengths and weaknesses. Find out more about the player skills and other details in the in-game help. Now let’s take a look at your line-up and the tactics! Close the Player Details by pressing ESC or by clicking the red button on the top right. 8 9 lINE-up Use the upper dropdown above the pitch to select a formation for your team, and drag the players on or between the pitch and the table to assign them to new positions. Note that the overall level will probably change on different positions, since it depends on the player’s Position Level and skills. If you are not sure about the line-up, you can leave it to one of your assistants by clicking on ASSISTANT. In this case, he will create a team that best uses the strengths of the players, although it might be biased by his personal preferences. Use the dropdown above the table to display various data about the players. Now click the TACTICS button below the table. TaCTICS The best players of the world will have a hard time winning a game if they do not play as a team. It’s your responsibility to make them do just that! If you open the screen for the first time, a Wizard will help you to choose some of the basic settings. You can open the Wizard again by clicking the icon on the lower left. Click the COMPLEX checkbox to see all available tactical settings for your team. You can change the settings by either using the arrows on the pitch, or by using the dropdown controls for each tactic. Use the buttons on the upper menu bar to change the display to the INDIVIDUAL ORDERS. These are split into Orders (default) and Running Routes. In the individual orders, right-click a player to change his settings. In the running routes display, each player has a defensive and offensive arrow that determines his position if either the opponent or your own team is in control of the ball. Drag the arrows to a new position to change the settings. Click the buttons OFF, BAL, or DEF, to automatically select an offensive, balanced, or defensive formation for your team. Right-click on one of the numbers next to these buttons to open the QUICK FORMATIONS screen. in DepTh If you start a season at a new club, most managers have a formation and system in mind that they would like to play, for example, to put high pressure on the opponent team and play with risky, direct passes. Or they might prefer a safe system, with most of the players being in their own half, and long passes to the attackers once the ball is gained. You should decide what system suits you best and see what the current squad can do to fulfil your scheme. This should be a long-term decision for the next few years, so you should also look for matching players that might be available in the upcoming seasons. On the other hand, lots of managers are hired during the season, so there is hardly a chance to change the current squad. This will mostly mean that you have to make the best out of the current squad, but you must also plan in advance for the future. Click the OK button to close the tactics screen. CONTraCTS aNd TraNSfErS Most probably you will not be completely satisfied with your current squad. There might be some serious gaps in certain positions, or players just do not live up to your standards. Select TRANSFERS > CONTRACTS. exisTing ConTraCTs You will now see an overview of your First Team. Players who are highlighted in an orange colour possess expiring contracts. If these are important players, you should think about offering an extension. To do so, right-click on a player and select CONTRACT > EXTEND CONTRACT. You will first see a general evaluation of the player, including his expectations and possible interested clubs. If the player is interested in an extension, click the OK button to open a new screen in which you can make your offer. A basic proposal with the most important factors is already selected. Click the ADD/REMOVE button to change additional bonuses and clauses. On the bottom you can see the Assessment of the offer (not displayed when playing the Hard difficulty), which is an indicator of how likely it is that the player will accept the new contract. If you are satisfied, click on the green button to make the offer. In most cases the player will think about it and get back to you in a few days time. Tip: Altering the contract duration can influence players. Young players with potential may speculate about getting better offers from other clubs and thus only want to sign for a short duration. A long contract, on the other hand, can be good for older players who are happy to play for your club for an extended period of time. Moreover, you can release a player from his contract (saves money, but costs you some compensation fee), and change his transfer status. Transfer sTaTus Only Adjust Transfer You set the basic transfer demand for the player. This serves as a Requirements: guideline for teams that are interested in a transfer. Listed for Loan: The player is put onto the transfer list for loan. This option is mostly used for young players who should gain match experience in lower leagues. Players cannot be loaned out if th