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How do player abilities work?

Bubbles, FC Sunnyvale Developer 26 September 2014, 16:44

Last week we implemented an update that gives you much more detailed information on your players' development than ever before.

In connection with that, I think it is about time that we give you a description of what each ability actually does in the match simulator. We've never intended for this to be a secret; we just haven't gotten around to writing it down for ou until now.

Shared abilities

Acceleration: Determines how quickly the player can speed up, slow down, and change direction.

Speed​​: Determines the player's top speed.

Stamina: Determines how quickly the player loses energy during a match. As a player gets tired, his abilities degrade. A player with high stamina can keep his energy up for longer and still be fresh towards the end of the game. If you have a player on the team with low stamina, it might be a good idea to substitute him out during the match before he collapses completely.

Leadership: Applicable only for the team captain, or his replacement. The captain's leadership gives a bonus to all players on the team.

Morale: When a team falls behind, players have a tendency to lose heart, to the detriment of their abilities. The further behind the team is, the worse they perform. A high morale helps the player keep his spirits up.

Passing: Determines shot precision when a player passes the ball to a team-mate. When passing, the player aims for a point where he feels that his teammate can intercept the ball. If his passing is low, there is a greater risk that he misses that point.

Outfield player abilities

Finishing: Determines the precision and speed of the player's shots on goal. If a player has high finishing he will also choose to make more risky shots to get the ball past the keeper - for example, very close by the post - since the risk of missing is lower. If his finishing is very low, he will usually aim for the center of the goal, to minimize the risk of hitting wide of the mark.

Dribbling: Helps determine whether the player can fend off a tackling attempt. When a player attempts to tackle, his tackling is compared to the opponent's dribbling with an element of chance mixed in. The player attempting the tackle receives a small bonus, so if two players meet with the exact same tackling and dribbling, then the the attempt to tackle will succeed slightly more often than no.

Tackling: Helps determine if the player succeeds with a tackling attempts, as described above. Tackling also determines how close to the opponent a player has to be, before he can attempt to tackle. The higher the tackling, the further away he can attempt a tackle.

Set pieces: Works much like finishing, and determines the precision and speed of shots during set pieces.

Keeper abilities

Handling: Determines the chance a keeper has to catch the ball (if he is close enough to try). The faster the ball, and the closer the shot came, the harder it is for the keeper to grab it.

One on one: Works much the same as handling, except it is used during set pieces.

Diving: Determines how far and fast keeper can dive when he tries to reach the ball in the last split second.

Aerial Determines, along with with diving how close the keeper must be to the ball before he can attempt to catch it. The higher the aerial and diving, the further he can stretch to get his hands on the ball.

The abilities are interdependent

When considering what abilities are most important for your team, you need to remember that they influence each other.

For example, a defender with very high tackling isn't much use if his acceleration and speed is so low that he can never catch up to the opponents. Conversely, a very dribbling might compensate, for example, if a forwarder is not particularly fast.

A player with very high abilities in almost everything can be very good at first, but if his endurance is too low, he won't be much use near end of the game.

An underdog team might be able to turn a match around near the end, by sheer morale and endurance.

I will leave it up to you guys to think up even more interesting connections between the different abilities.

Coming soon as manual entry

This was a quick review of all the abilities. We are working to get them added to the manual with some explanatory graphics and basic tips for new users.

Have a nice weekend!