GoalTycoon Guide (online football management game which uses real money)

Well, goaltycoon began about 43mins ago, have just signed up my team, the "Terra Novas", will use this article to report back how the game plays / advice / mistakes made etc...

GoalTycoon (design your team here) is a new game by the makers of marketglory, an online business management game that has been running a for years now.

After the game went live and the first few teams started popping up the server then promptly went down, then stayed down for most of the evening, the next day was a mad dash to buy shares at 0.35 a euro cent.

After the initial 10,000 shares were all sold, the next (and final) batch were set at 0.55 cents, not a bad profit margin for about 24hrs...

Unfortunately now though not much at all is working within the game apart from the shares system and currency markets.

Well, training was activated for a day / evening and was then stopped once more, it seemed to work fine and would've meant a surge of early gold spending on trainers as they'd be even more valuable, oh well... The mild disappointment continues... I know in month's time these first few days will have been forgotten however to trail ads for a game launching on the 14th December it's a little poor to have about 10% of the game functioning and then a few days later have even less, possibly now 5%...

Well it appears the training logs and training itself is working again, yip! , this makes me happy again as something at least is working, also one of the ways things work in these types of games the better an advantage you can get early on means you can potentially still compete (ish) with the big boys later on.

I would now recommend joining goaltycoon, even if you're not going to invest any euros I believe one can still get a good fighting chance especially with it only being days old.

For example if training continues to work, each team gets 2 coaches to start with plus basic training also, so your team might have weeks worth of training by the start of the season advantage over teams in cups that might've just joined. If you play marketglory I'd recommended putting across some euros and investing in the shares market even if you don't plan on investing in a team or playing it much, the shares offered by GT at 55 cents mean if they are sold by start of season they'll be at least 6 dividend payments, could just funnel that back to MG.

Still love the oddities of the game makers, they can come up with such well constructed games in some regards yet for example,when buying a trainer : ST = Shoot, RZ = Resistance / Stamina, then when on training screen ST = Stamina SH = Shoot, even as an English speaker this just seems made to confuse who knows what it's like for players who know little English and little about football, still, looks like could be an interesting game.

GoalTycoon is a football (not of the American variety) management sim, if you're new to football or "soccer" training might be a little confusing at first, I'll try to help to explain using how I'll be training my players and viewing the team as a whole;

(I'd train all players' stamina fairly generously no matter which postion they were in)

Forwards
CF = Centre Forwards, IF = Inside Forwards, HO = Hole (in-between strikers & mid)
These are you strike force, with the best support in the world from the midfield and a brilliant defence, if your guys can't put the ball in the back of the opponents' net you won't be winning any games.
Core Training : Shoot
2ndry Training : Head Shot, Speed, Ball Control
Tertiary Training : Passing, Long Shot

Offensive Support
OM = Offensive Midfield, RW / LR = Right & Left Wingers
Many formations have a more aggressive stance, behind and alongside the forwards come the offensive support, also a danger in their own right.
Core Training : Head Shot (if tall)
2ndry Training : Long Shot, Ball Control, Shoot
Tertiary Training : Passing, Speed, Tackling

Central Core
CM = Central Midfielders, DM = Defensive Midfielders
Right in the centre of the pitch, these players I'd often recommend are where your money should be, if nothing else, because they will see most of the ball, dictating the game plus being both a boon to attack and defence.
Core Training : Ball Control
2ndry Training : Long Shot, Passing
Tertiary Training : Speed, Tackling (Core if DM)

Flanks
SLM / SRM = Right & Left Side Midfielders WLB / WRB = Wing Left & Right Backs
These players try to create play down the flanks, stretching defences plus cross the ball into the box or along the channels, whilst also shutting down the opponents attempts to do so.
Core Training : Long Shot
2ndry Training : Speed, Passing, Tackling
Tertiary Training : Ball Control

The Defence
CB = Centre Backs, SW = Sweepers, FLB / FRB = Full Left Back, Full Right Back, .
There to shut down, lock out and limit any ventures into your own half of the pitch by your opponents, not sure how detailed goaltycoon's model of the game will work though usually a very strong defence may appear to be a dull tactic however it usually means the rest of the team is more able to attack.
Core Training : Tackling
2ndry Training : Speed, Passing
Tertiary Training : Long Shot, Ball Control


Keepers
GK = Goalkeepers
Your last line of defence, the only player able to handle the ball, unsure at this point if any stat other than goal keeping is worth training. Not really sure why they have only gone with psychical stats, where's all the players' reactions / nerve / determination?
Core Training : Keeping
Tertiary Training : (unsure of all these) Long Shot, Passing, Speed, Tackling, Ball Control

Not sure if matches themselves will start on the 15th of Jan, if they do this means under two weeks left of training, looking at my starting 11 here's how the training's been going so far;

1 Keeper : (GK) Manuel Jakub (24)
Goalkeeping 11 (+4)

2 CentreBack : (SW) Adrian Fiwasay (26)
Tackling 9 (+3)

3 CentreBack : (CB) Idriz Docker (26)
Tackling 8 (+2) Passing 7 (+2)

4 CentreBack : (WRB) Charlie Miller (23)
Tackling 11 (+3)

5 Side Left Midfielder : (SLM) Xyver Radu (27)
Passing 8 (+2) Long Shot 9 (+1)

6 Central Midfielder : (MLB / SLM) Durga Ich (26)
Passing 12 (+3)

7 Defensive Midfielder : (DM) Guy Paulo (22)
Passing 10 (+3) Tackling 10 (+1)

8 Central Midfielder : (CM) Jack Hasan (28)
Passing 9 (+3)

9 Side Right Midfielder : (MRB) Ferguson Hans (20)
Passing 12 (+3)

10 Centre Forward : (IF/CF) James Azrael (26)
Speed 9 (+2) Shooting 6 (+1)

11 Central Forward : (CF) Cojocaru Samko (22)
Speed 8 (+3) Shooting 10 (+1)

I've transferred a fair bit of money from MarketGlory to GT, I didn't spend a huge amount on the club, most going on cheap shares, however I did buy a fairly expensive coach (passing, thought the midfield was awful in this regard) plus quite a few lvl 2 ones, plus a few lvl 3 youths and a bunch of lvl 2 ones, not built any buildings yet though gathering the resources, oh I also spent 100 gold on placement in the top league by accident, my vague strategy I thought on the first few days was to invest in shares then put dividend money into the club however at both dividend payments there were shares at decent prices to buy.

I'm hoping that whilst I haven't upgraded any buildings that the training team will give my guys the edge over weaker teams in the league to not get relegated, or if hardly anyone has built buildings in the UK league then to do fairly well in the top flight.

To upgrade buildings you need materials, as it stands I wouldn't purchase the following goods any higher than :

Steel 0.03e
Wood 0.02e
Glass 0.03e
LQ Pitch 0.01e

If there's none available, just wait, some people upgrade many buildings at once meaning stocks get low, and the price high.

Shares have paid dividends (of one euro cent per share) on :


* 31/7/14 - Share Price : €0.93

*** 17/7/14 - Share Price : €0.55 (3 Div payments today as 50K+ shares bought up)

* 6/7/14 - Share Price : €0.55

* 20/5/14 - Share Price : €0.53

* 6/4/14 - Share Price : €0.55

* 13/1/14 - Share Price : €0.54

Well the unfortunate occurred and the launch of the championships has been put back yet another month, this was annouced the evening before the month-long wait for the 15th to arrive, sigh. I'd love to report that to ease the pain of still nothing new working that the transfers have been activated or the referal market, anything really however the 15th came and went with the only change being the banner saying things start on the 15th of Jan to things start on the 15th of Feb.

It really felt like the game makers have been behind right from the off and the first appearance of the Advert in marketglory saying it was coming should only have appeared on the 1st of Jan, so far it's been a very poor show, the game makers do thankfully listen to when there's bugs in what is working so far, however as that is so little an amount of things that it's already a worry as to just how buggy and unfunctioning things will be if the matches do begin in Feb.

With a lack of anything else to do will report training progress so far, now with a month to go...

1 Keeper : (GK) Manuel Jakub (26) (+2 wtf?!?! they've all gained 2 years?! Not even played a match and the youths haven't aged even a single year?!?)
Goalkeeping 14 (+7)

2 CentreBack : (SW) Adrian Fiwasay (28)
Tackling 10 (+4) Stamina 10 (+2)

3 CentreBack : (CB) Idriz Docker (28)
Tackling 8 (+2) Passing 7 (+2) Stamina 9 (+3)

4 CentreBack : (WRB) Charlie Miller (25)
Tackling 11 (+3) Stamina 10 (+3)

5 Side Left Midfielder : (SLM) Xyver Radu (29)
Passing 8 (+2) Long Shot 11 (+3)

6 Central Midfielder : (MLB / SLM) Durga Ich (28)
Passing 14 (+5)

7 Defensive Midfielder : (DM) Guy Paulo (24)
Passing 14 (+7) Tackling 10 (+1)

8 Central Midfielder : (CM) Jack Hasan (30?!?! - this guy's going to retire before he gets to play at this rate)
Passing 11 (+5) Ball Control 10 (+2)

9 Side Right Midfielder : (MRB) Ferguson Hans (22)
Passing 12 (+3) Ball Control 6 (+1) Long Shot 8 (+2)

10 Centre Forward : (IF/CF) James Azrael (28)
Speed 9 (+2) Shooting 9 (+4)

11 Central Forward : (CF) Cojocaru Samko (24)
Speed 8 (+3) Shooting 12 (+3)

Ten days till kickoff, things have become somewhat more interesting with the mod revealing youths can join the seniors at only 16 yrs old, this means some starting teams will already potentially have a sprinkling of youths, which could be 5 star (I've no 16yos yet, tho about 11 15yos). I've bought about 20 youths so far, 1 lvl 5, the rest 3 and 2 star, I wanted to really buy a full new team that would slowly replace the current aging team, some players have gone for 5 star however I think 3 star players might be roughly the best bang for your buck.

Not much else to report, I am going to start slowly taking senior players out of training one by one as the re-launch on the 15th approaches incase matches do start fairly soon afterwards, I'd recommend doing this by looking at the EC (efficiency coefficient) of your 1st team players and reserves, take the ones with the lowest EC ratings out of training first (with a high EC each point of trained stat in a way counts more).

So for example if you had two centre forwards, one with high morale and focus, plus another with low values of the two then increasing the stat of shooting will be more effective on the high EC (one with high mo + fo), as each +1 stat increase will be worth more.

If I were to invest cash from marketglory or some spare paypal funds, these are the purchases I'd make primarily :

* A starting 11 of 3 or 2 star youths (youths at 3 and 2 stars are pretty cheap to give a very large comparative advantage (you might not beat 5 star teams however will be light years ahead of the majority of teams which will be 1 star).

* A Lvl 2 Hotel Upgrade (As each upgrade of the hotel gives +3 energy this means the first upgrade, which is the cheapest gives an 100% boost to the background energy increase. Energy means training faster plus player better, a cheap double whamy, so that if even no other city upgrade is considered for a long time, this I'd see as a must).

* A Mid to High Coach (There's often one stat your team is going to always be training heavily, excluding STM and SPD as they only allow 3 players at a time this means getting at least one high to mid lvl (3-5 star) will be very cost effective).

* A 5 star youth Keeper (As all other youths when you purchase them might be in a position you do not use in your favoured formation they might be a disappointment, however all formations need a goalkeeper so one can purchase them safe in the knowledge they'll be making the first team not potentially sold for a loss on the transfer market).

* A 3 Star Hotel

* A few 5 star players in certain positions (Once the transfer market has been running for a while certain positions will sell for extremely high prices (Centrebacks, Centre forwards) whilst others will go for attractive prices meaning that it'll be much cheaper to buy some of these than youths, for example a 5 star left wing player might be of no use whatsoever to the person who recruited the youth, yet be extremely useful to another team that utilizes wingers).

As the 1st season nears a new equipment feature has been released where managers can design logos / kits for their teams, it's actually very nifty little feature and very pretty in 3D who's interface is very intuitive and user friendly.

Hats off to the devs for this nice little suprise treat.

Just to have a glance at how things are looking around the globe, going to take some pictures of teams to have a look at the (astoundingly already very varied) emblems plus upgrades team scores etc... my own team's score is 29.80 , however a lot more players are now out of training so this is increasing quickly, I've seen a few 30+ team scores plus a few very high ones, thought I'd just have a look at any players that appear on the transactions list so know are active (pictures adjacent can be clicked upon to be made large) plus perhaps have a comparison a few weeks into the season to see how things have changed.

First up is a Canadian team in the 1st division, 21.94 team score, won't ever play this team unfortunately unless a world cup is introduced.

After that is a Turkish team owned by darktears1, with impressively over 40 team score.

Which means after only 3 teams, my own included they've got an average team score, could be a tough season ahead... Still get the feeling will just about do well at home and then get knocked out very quickly in the Europeans.

Incredibly the game continues not to have begun, 3, 4 months now? Who knows, the community has several times rallied each other to get back behind the project however it feels with every passing day the remaining players get sourer and sourer, the share price is also hitting regular lows of 47 cents.

I still have hope, however they've really killed the buzz on this project already and really not handled the delays well, which is a real shame.

Site's been down for two days now with a "Under Construction" sign, there's a small chance things might finally be about to start, a good chance it's just a little update like allowing player transfers, and a fair chance something went wrong or needed re-coding with downtime. Fingers crossed.

It appears the first matches are about to be played. My first match is against the Eagles, unfortunately I think currently either the second or first score-wise. I've been really looking forard to this first run out for the team and hopefully start the game with a win, however things didn't go so well, with only two days notice even taking the team out of training only got them up to about 18% energy, also I was mid-way through setting the tactics (about an hour and half before the first match) then a little red msg appears "team in process" which I think is meant to mean the match is about to start, so about a third of my players aren't even in the right positions, bleh.

So yeah, even though my opponent hasn't hired a single trainer my team looks set to get slaughtered as our team scores are 36 (my team) to 46 (Eagles). It's annoying also that this will affect the team's morale for the rest of season all down to poor or non-exsitant communication from the developers, which would be okayish if it were a free game however there's a lot of euros invested and not bothering to tell players what's going on just sucks.

I'm still vaguelly excited about the game in general just feels like the devs had a good idea and have then repeatedly failed at every single opportunity, apart from possibly the section where players design their kits. Anyway onwards, 4 months of negativity to hopefully give at least years of fun.

actually, I sit corrected, the match system works much better than I expected, as the match progresses energy goes down meaning raw stats become more important, and even though only caught last third of match was more exciting than I expected, I'd assumed just a block of text however the game is played out in real time a bit like the old text based champsion manger, am hopeful about the game again, also playing a match a day is a good fast pace.

Top of the league on goals scored also, very happy with the lads specially as many of them were forced to play in positions they'd never played in before moments before getting on the bus, next match is against a similar scored team (31, 31) hopefully will have edged ahead by then plus do well in the second half, once more hoping to win the wide open home league though no real hopes of going far in a major european cup, glad it's finally started :)

Can thankfully say with 3 matches played the team remain undefeated however with 2 draws and win giving only 5 points it means 6th place so far.

However with a 4-2 win, 2-2 draw and 3-3 draw the fans certainly haven't been short of goals to see.

The game overall seems fairly buggy however they appear to be finally pulling it together somewhat.

The last opponent I think was either afk or had not managed team well perhaps, either way a five - nil victory still didn't manage to push the team any higher and remain in 6th.

Oddly the first five matches or so vanished from the league points-wise as if they didn't happen, the table reset and my and Pastpain's team (Radiostars) look set to fight it out over who claims the first league's crown, we already played a match I think that then vanished and there's now a game which might be now this season's only match that counts in about 3 days time.

Pastpain's team is leading mine by about 10 on goal difference so will probably need to win the game a draw will mean coming 2nd on goal difference, am considering resting a few players from the up coming couple of games to ward off injury and build up a little energy.

Have received first injury, one of the Centre Backs oddly the top scorer (?) for the team by a long way, 32 games, so a month pretty much, another player spoke in the forum of 10 injured players so consider self lucky to have only one thus far.

As you can see from the above match, lost 3, 2 pretty much deciding the season (Pastpain's Radiostars 1st, 2nd for my Novas) I missed the match so couldn't do anything at half time, Pastpain said on the forum he'd had to fill up the players a lot during the break with energy drinks, I'd thought my youths with a few days rest would've given them the advantage or at least level pegging.

Ah well, as they say there's always next season :) Plus there's a small chance a load of his players could get injured and booked and forfeit a match, though can't quite see it. I think there's also possibly a european tournament at the end of the season which is in about a week and a half.

As expected, managed to get 2nd, first season is now complete, I'm not actually sure what's happening next, if a new season, euro cup or home country cup, it's been a bit of a rocky start for the game, and my team, though hoping next season is a bit less broken (for example the first 5 games of the season not vanishing).

The game so far though is already prooving to be a fairly decent football manager game, as a fan of the very old text based championship manager games am happy on the whole. I'm also happy with the team (the Novas) they pretty much performed exactly as had hoped and hopeful for them in the future, I'm not sure if going to be able to beat the Radiostars next season with their energy drinks however hoping they drop a lot more games to other teams in league 1 with the new 4 teams coming up from the 2nd leagues.

With a day break it's now on with the 2nd season, have a very tough match up first, away against JURA, a team promoted from the second divisions. He's been feeding his players well over the break so the scores are very close, I've treated my players to a good meal as saw one in the marketplace for a good price compartively.

It's looking like going to be a very close game, JURA though it appears has a weaker team of players that are mainly relying on energy for a very high team score so hopefully as energy decreases through the game my guys can edge ahead or at least equalise if they fall behind. I've also been trying to get most of my player's stamina stats up to at least 10 or so over the past season which will give them a slight edge holding onto their precious energy, I predicted 3-1 (to JURA) in the first half then 4-3 in the second, however after tracking down some cheap food I'd predict 3-2 in the first then just possibly 4-5 in the second.

Phew :) not quite as many goals as expected though definitely glad to open the season with a win and put one of hardest games away. Next game is an easy one against a team with only 35 score which not even sure is still around and probably for relegation next time round.

Woot, the 2nd season comes to a close with the team on top, a star added to the emblem to represent the team's league victory. Things became much smoother after learning "possessive" tactic vastly reduces injury chances (and the team score by 10%) so injuries went from over half the team to currently only one player.

The team almost had a perfect season however played with some reserves in the last few games and ended up losing them fairly narrowly, wouldn't make much difference however it has meant a double knock to the player's morale meaning the first few matches might be pretty crucial otherwise the morale drain will become an inescapable downward vortex.

The team remains fairly similar just better trained, however sold off most of the old one star players, I'd recommend the transfer licence for purchase though is going to get fairly flooded and poor prices until the "dismiss" button is implemented on players, currently there's an increasingly large flood of un-needed players like 1 star goal keepers that are not needed and impossible to get rid of.

If you'd only just joined goaltycoon and were looking for advice I'd offer the following info;

1) After you've named your team and made your logo and kit I'd immediately change your formation to one that means the most number of your players have correct positions, and for the future (when able to transfer players) I'd avoid the default 4-4-2 one as these players will be most expensive to buy, and you'll be keeping the most potentially profitable youths (rather than having them spare to sell).

2) Before you've started earning euros you'll only have gold to play with, however with this you should be able to build a powerful team, I'd recommend a full set of youths of 2 or 3 stars plus at least a couple of half decent trainers for the slots that most players will need training in (like tackling or ball control).

3) When it comes to your matches as a basic rule I'd try to keep tactics at "possessive" unless the match is really crucial and try to use the match bonus first if it's needed.

4) Now with a half decent team in the making, to maximising their profitability, namely seating, I'd funnel pretty much all gold you now make into euros for seats for your fans. I'd keep doing this until it becomes fairly rare that you lose popularity through lack of seating. As your team wins more games and has larger capacity the number of seats you can support will increase however there's a big initial jump of popularity so the first large buys of seats I'd recommend being mainly based on how good a deal they are price-wise.

Unfortunately the start of season 3 coincided with moving house and a lack of Internet, the boys of the Terra Novas fared okay to begin with winning the opening games however then drew 2 meaning 4th is currently the best they can manage in the league.

I'd planned to set the championship bonus at max for the season however was only at around 10% plus with an injured defender it meant their performances were a little lack luster and am actually happy they escaped without a loss. Back at the helm now should see the team hopefully reclaim 1st, there's a couple more decent teams in the league this season however no big threat yet emerging from the lower divisions.

There is a new change since was away, being able to train coaches so they in turn train your players faster, however the cost seems rather dramatically high for just +1 skill point so am holding off really considering it unless find myself with a 4 or 5 star coach.

* I'd advise buying a fairly decent amount of seats at least. Basically each set of 100 seats will generate income every home game (and require a very small upkeep). The general rule at current exchange rates is seat will pay for themselves after about 100 games (so about 6 months, or 6 seasons however much better if can find cheap ones) after which they simply generate profit from then on.

* If you've only just begun and have no seating I'd recommend just buying the cheapest seats to begin with of an type using the rough guide of 50 cents for low quality, 1.5 for medium and 2.5 for high quality then whatever type has the highest % reduction stock up on those first.

* After you've got a few seats and a better income it's best to install seats at a ratio of 60% low quality, 30% medium and 10% high quality, so for example it might be best to aim toward 6,000 low quality seats, 3,000 medium and 1,000 high.

* One way of buying seats I'd recommend is class the seats in the order you need them the most so for example say medium the most, high the 2nd most lacking and low grade, 3rd the least needed. Then look for a reduction of at least 10%, 20% and 30% respectively, so in the example would buy medium seating at €1.35 or below, high at €2 or less and low grade at 35 cents.

The second match up against Team Moose saw the team draw with them for a second time, a 3-1 lead at the half slipped to 3-3 with the injury of another of the defenders (meaning now 3 of the 4 are in the hospital and two midfielders playing defence at -50% ability) and some full energy well made subs by Moose (I wasn't even aware we could make subs mid-match yet).

This left Moose 2 points in the lead in 1st in the league however they then drew the next match against Man Utd meaning the points are now tied. With nine matches left in the season if neither team drop a game it means the 1st spot will come down to goal difference (Moose currently trailing by 8 goals).

The team remain undefeated this season (3 draws though) and manage to win the league on goal difference, only 5 in it, meaning their second league crown out of three.

I'm content overall with how the team is functioning and general tactics, I think losing internet connection at the start which resulted in 2 draws couldn't have been helped, however I should've realised (when selling an old CB for a euro) if use a tactic that requires 3 CBs then can't have only one reserve for half a season (have youth to be promoted soon), after selling him three of the four centre backs promptly got injured which almost cost the season.

Next season looking to focus on more seating as the team and coaching staff now seem pretty sorted. The four new teams all seem pretty decent with team scores usually over a hundred replacing four old ones that usually didn't exceed 50. With a bit of food and bonuses the Terra Nova's team's avg can start hitting over 200, however the usual average is around 140 meaning next season probably going to be another very close one.

Also released is the new player face designer not a huge amount of options yet, just a few features and haircuts, thought would show probably this season's MVP, the goalkeeper Tamsik in his shadow form. Having a highly weakened defence was saved by his skills and was probably the most important factor to managing to win on goal difference.

As the report is getting a little full will write the season updates as new articles each whilst updating this main one with any new tactics or suggestions etc whilst keeping up to date (ish) the current stuff and cleaning it up.

So, season 4's goings on to be found here, in this season decided to keep a profit and loss log as not much happens if report games daily as many are easy with little incident (though each season bringing more and more challengers).

Season 4 (and 1st National Cup)

Season 5

The short answer yes, Goaltycoon (plus MarketGlory for that matter) is legit and can be a fun hobby that can also earn a little cash with, however be warned there's a few things to be aware of :

* The minimum withdrawl amount has been raised to 21 euros, this means at least 21 whole euros are needed in the "manager funds" of which 20% will go to the fund.

* When you transfer euros from the club to the manager there's a small tax of 5% so withdraw for example 11 if you need 10 in the manager's chest.

* Seats and all materials etc are bought via the manager's fund so becareful not to invest your euros if you're meaning to upgrade seating capacity for example.

* If you use energy in your team I'd highly recommend using subs in the 2nd half when players are tired, can swing close games though means you need to be present at the match so only needed in the crucial games.

* Expanding the tactic above you can develop what I call "blitzers" who have low stm scores though high other stats that are made to sub rather than 1st team role.

* If you're using energy drinks pre-match remember to wait until after the 15% away match nrg drop.