Tips for a Master League newbie from a former newbie

[Seeker7]

There are so many things that I had to learn from trial and error, I thought I would give a few tips. Granted I've only been playing for a week or so, but some of this stuff would have been great to know before I started. Anyone feel free to correct anything that is wrong below:

- Training. You need to change what you are training at least once a week, or the players stop learning. You can go to the squad screen and see the orange/blue bars. You want them always to be orange. I stop advancing every Monday and change what I'm training. And I don't train conditioning.

- Before 9/1, hire some better coaches. You can't do it after that date until the next season.

- When you first start the game, set management to on.

- When you first start the game, set tranfer activity to high, unless you are anal about the top players staying on the proper team. (I'm not).

- The "game plan" screen, accessed from the main screen, makes permanent changes to your line up. The "game plan" screen from within the pre-game screen makes temporary changes.

- Ignore the transfer "targets" screen. Search for you own targets by filtering for players on their team's transfer lists. Trying to buy players not on their team's transfer list will not work and is a waste of time.

That's all for now, good luck!

[Seeker7]

Some more tidbits:

- When you first start, on the first day, add all of the players you don't want to keep to your transfer list. Wait for offers until around around 8/30 or 8/31. Anyone that is still left but you don't want to keep, release them. You have to release them before 9/1 or you will have to pay their salaries. Start calling up the youth players you want on around 8/28. You can only call up 3 per day. After 9/1 you can't call them up until 1/1. If you try to call them up after 9/1 you will get charged for half their salary, but they won't show up until 1/1.

- (edited) Expected Earnings screen. This screen can be confusing, but here is my understanding. From the time you start until your first 9/1 its pretty obvious. It shows your cash, and your expected expenses (based on the salaries of current squad members, coach, and investments). On 9/1 the net has to be positive, or the game will automatically make cuts. It won't stop and ask you what cuts to make, it will just do it and keep on advancing...I learned this the hard way. Throughout the season you will earn additional money from gate receipts and sponsorships, and from other misc sources. At the next 8/1 you will once again get a pile of cash from your sponsors and the team owner. Add this new cash to your existing cash, and that is what you have to work with for your second 9/1. Its a little disconcerting to see a negative balance during the season, but remember that you will get a wad of cash on 8/1 every year. Also, between every 8/1 and 8/31 you can make changes to your investments, coaching staff, and roster in order to make sure you stay in the black. I suggest holding as much cash as possible during the season so that you can buy the best coaches for the next season.

- You don't have to set investments and hire new coaches until 8/31, or if you do it before that, you can change it anytime before 8/31. I just wait for 8/31, after I have made cuts, call ups, and transfers, and then decide how much I can spend on investments and coaches at that point.

- Transfers. Remember that when you first start you only have until 8/31 to bring in transfers and have them show up immediately. After 9/1, you can still sign transfers, but they won't show up until 1/1. I identify transfer targets on the very first day, list them all as "favorites" and then make sure I always have 3 transfer negioations in process at all times until 8/31. Personally, I look for young cheap players when I first start. Filter for players on their team's transfer list, and look at their market value. Remember that since your scout sucks at the beginning, you will be paying around 5 times their market value. Likewise, your players that you are transfering away you will get right at their market value. I try to sign 1 or 2 CF/SS types, 1 CB, and 1 MF. That is really about all you can afford at the beginning, and still have money for youth team call ups. One of my favorites to go out and get is SS Chavez. He is young and cheap, and always signs with me, and has great hair. Another is AMF/CF Junior Parreba. Its hit or miss with him, but another good young player with awesome dreadlocks. After starting over numerous times while learning the game, I am now have a team I didn't mess up by making mistakes, with Chavez and Junior as my strikers...lots of fun so far.

- Your youth team has two good goal keepers, i call up the better of the two. (Personally I like Fatecha better just because he is cool looking). There are two others, but one has no stamina, and the other (Cooper) is a little unskilled. Other players I call up are Shimizu, Palmieri, Comacho, and Duffy. Shimzu makes a great AMF even though that is not his primary position...his speed makes him deadly on the attack. I also like Schmidt, Schwarz, and Ribiero. I like Ribiero because of his height for scoring headers. A note on Duffy, he is 19 and will disappear on 1/1, so if you want him, you have to call him up before 12/31 of the first season....plus since he is a quick developer, you want him on your main squad anyway getting trained.

- There is chance that on 1/1, one of your playes still on the youth team will make a huge jump into a future star. My first time through the game it happened to Cocio. He went from like a 48 to a 57, and gained a bunch of skill cards. It also said in the notes that he is a future superstar, which I assume means very rapid skills gains and high ceiling. Not sure how common this is. My youth investment was at $200m. I have had to restart numerous times while learning the ins and outs of the game, and it hasn't happened again since.

- I have not yet made it to my second 1/1 yet, but I know that on the first 1/1 the youth team does not replenish. I have read that on the following 1/1s it will completely turn over....I am anxious to see.

- The names of your youth players when you start is always the same, but their starting ratings can swing 5 points or more for each one. When you first start, look at the ratings, and if you don't like them then restart until you do. Better to waste some time now by restarting a few times, than be locked in with a crappy Comacho. I also want Palmieri to start at 70. Shimzu and Palmieri are the cream of the youth crop so focus on them, and then Comacho and your GK. Duffy I like because it says he will advance quickly, just wish he was taller.

- If you start a player with a lower rating for the set position than someone on your bench, and that higher rated player does not see the field at all, they will get upset. So, if you have a higher rated player not starting, make sure they always get in the game, even if it just a few minutes at the end.

- Fatigue. You have to go into the game options menu and turn on the fatigue bar. Once you do, in the game plan screen you will see a bar undernear their current stamina bar, that represents long term fatigue. Players are really picking about playing when they have long term fatigue and can get upset, so be careful.

- Form. In the game plan screen, the little arrows pointing up or down represents how they are feeling. I read that this can have up to a 13% bonus or penalty to their ratings, so feel free to sit someone if they have a purple down arrow. In my experience, players don't get upset for sitting when they have bad form.

That's all I can think of but I will add more if I think of anything else. Everyone please let me know if this is helpful.

[Seeker7]

Ah, one more tidbit on how to do training. Like I said earlier, I change what I am training every Monday. However, it took some thought and tinkering to figure out how to physically manage this, since the advance button will often take you right past the Monday. Here is what I do.

Look ahead at the schedule. If there is a game before the next Monday, just hit advance. If there is not, then advance it a day or two at a time, by selecting "advance to this date". You need to be judicious with your use of the "advance to this date" button, as it will advance right past things like players wanting to talk to you and transfer offers.

Note that on the calendar, weekends are highlighted in red. Also note that it keeps a history of what you have trained each day utilizing a little symbol on the left of each day.

If you hit advance and didn't mean to, you can hit the button make it stop, but it won't stop right away sometimes, sometimes it will advance for two more days....very, very annoying.

After a game is over, the game immediately takes you to the advancing calendar. Usually it stops the next day since there is something your coach wants to tell you, but for some reason every rare once in awhile it won't, so always be ready to hit the stop button just in case.

Finally, if your game is on a Monday, change your training BEFORE you play the game.

[Seeker7]

Made it to my second 1/1 and got a new youth team. As an experiment, I saved on 12/31 and ran it through 1/1 several times to see if its always the same guys or not. What I found is that most of the players are the same, but 2 to 4 are random but the position they play are set.

More importantly, in one of the 5 times I reran it, I got one of those future superstar types. It was a CF that 4 times out of 5 had a 38 overall rating. 1 out of 5 times, he was a 58 overall, and it said he was a future superstar. Youth team investment set at $1,000,000.

Somewhat of a cheat to do this, but hey, its offline and the goal is to have fun. Having one of those future superstar types is fun. Use this at your discretion.

EDIT: After writing the above, that night I went home and ran it through 1/1 several more times. This time, the same guy that went superstar before did it again, but this time he went from a 38 to a 75!!! He also has around 8 skill cards!!! Not sure if everyone gets the same 2nd youth team players or not...the guys name is Loblabork or somesuch. So I now have a 16 year old phenom as my main CF who projects out as an eventual 90+.

[Yeats]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seeker7

Somewhat of a cheat to do this, but hey, its offline and the goal is to have fun.

Hee hee, what you do with the game in the privacy of your own home is your business! Great info thread.

[ZoneBlitz]

Truly a great thread. This information is very helpful.

[Seeker7]

One other little tidbit I just discovered...perhaps a bit of cheat. Any player who currently plays for "other" will tranfer to you every time. You can search for "others" and take your pick, including some very young players.

[Chessboxer1]

I wanted to revive this thread and also find out if these methods apply to PES 2013 as well. I've been searching this forum looking for training tips, but can't seem to find them specifically for 13.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.