anjuna wrote:
Hmm, I suck so bad at this, but there seems to be no way to UN-sign up?
Be off of all teams? I hope the fact that I won't be participating will not lower the team I am left "on" to suffer? I simply do not like this at all! :P
I really think it sucks that I can only move one on my team at a time and the other team can just surround me like a swarm. Seems to kind of defeat the purpose of having any control over the players, game, etc.
Moving the mouse and clicking does not help, my reactions are too slow. I can't aim; these circle bubble things are hard to rotate; and my team members can't move fast enough so always get the ball stolen from them.
Congrats to those doing so well with it. :) It all just goes too fast for me.
It is a real shame that you have had this many problems with it. I had similar problems when I started, but managed to get better quite quickly. Even though I can't abide football, I'm really enjoying this game now. If you want to give it another chance, here's some advice targeted at the exact problems you've had:
(1) You say that you often get the ball taken off of you... this shouldn't be happening! Once one of my players has possession he can usually keep it all the way to the goal mouth (from any starting position) with little or no problems. This is the only thing you mentioned I've never experienced. Maybe it would help to know:
* The other team moves only one player at once most of the time too. If you know who that player is, you can move away from him.
* There's nothing bad about going in the wrong direction for a while to reach space and avoid losing possession. They don't seem to cope too well with this.
* The other team hardly ever changes that player early enough, so you can often walk past the defenders while he's still trailing behind you with a midfielder. By the time he switches, the player he switches to will be behind too!
(2) Taking the ball off of them: don't play the chasing game. If they have the ball past you, hit Space, then Shift, then choose the closest player in front of them. Once you've done this for a few games, you'll hardly ever see them in your half. Actually taking the ball off of them is easy: approach from the side just ahead of them and you'll magically get it. If you approach from the side just a little behind them you'll just push them and probably both lose the ball, so give them a little space until you run past them, or better: switch to someone in front of them!
(3) If you've got used to the last two items you should now have possession most of the time; and will want to start scoring: this is the most difficult bit to get used to. Following is some basic strategy that almost anyone should be able to use:
* Aim for the corner, at at least a slight angle (except with faerie ball: most of my goals with that are by firing straight at a corner).
* Approach STRAIGHT, but not down the MIDDLE of the playing field. Straight at one of the goal-mouth corners. If this makes no sense I'll draw a picture.
* Shoot when you're just past the defenders (as soon as you're clear, usually). Don't worry too much about which ball you're using, unless it's the faerie ball (which I don't know how to deal with yet, good luck!)
* If you approached straight then the goalkeeper is on one side of the goal. Click the opposite corner.
* You HAVE to click on the pitch to shoot. You can't click inside the goal or past the goal mouth. You want to click just on your side of the goal mouth, and adjust to slightly further in from the posts than you expect.
(4) Random advice/troubleshooting:
* To start with, ignore ALL the keyboard controls. Use the mouse only.
* After a while you may find it a bit annoying when you have too many players in their half, and they get in the way by focus stealing, or in the path of your shot. Try hitting Shift when you notice this.
* Mouse control is of utmost importance. If you have problems, try to keep the mouse trailing just ahead of your player. If you still have problems, try assigning more concentration to your mouse cursor's position!
* After a while you'll find that a lot of your goal concessions are from being unable to control the goalkeeper in time. Unfortunately, there's no quick fix for this. Using the 'closest player goes to the cross' method doesn't work on goalkeepers at all, and the time it takes to hover on your goalkeeper might be too long. The only other way is to develop ninja (A/D) skills to switch players. I can't do this, though, it's too hard. Three ideas: (a) Don't let them take a shot: work on keeping possession. This isn't silly as it sounds, I'm down to one/two shots from the opposing team per game. (b) Don't let them take a shot: work on REGAINING possession. A possible strategy is to hit shift EVERY time they get possession and are nearly in your half. (c) Petition TNT to give us a 'focus to goalkeeper' button.
* Treat the fire and ice balls about the same to start with. For the purposes of scoring cross-goal-mouth goals they are more similar than you think. Treat the mutant ball like an ice or fire ball, since this is the easiest way to deal with it. Treat the faerie ball with contempt. n.n
(5) If you're not getting better and still losing more than half your games after a dozen games or so, seriously consider quitting. Maybe you don't have the specific kind of mouse skills for this kind of game. :(
Don't feel too guilty about bad play affecting your team. Remember most of your team will be 11/12 year old american kids. ;)
{EDIT}: Disclaimer: this is a beginner strategy that has served me, personally, well. I think it will do people fine until they develop a strategy that suits them.