Hi guys,

I'd like some feedback from "all y'all" as they say in Texas.

1) How is it my European friends get 12 weeks of vacation and I get two? 

2) Can people offer to help others (ie Europeans) when they are on 12 week vacations? 

3) Seriously though...I would welcome a design where a manager could enter a "vacation profile" which identifies how to manager a team whilst the manager is gone, in particular to help manage SBY/APP appearances and CP for SL usage.

Thoughts please.

Thanks,
Al

PS: As far as when Season 3 starts, I'm not sure yet...I'd like a short break to add some more stuff, but I'm also really enjoying the game. 

I'm sure there are several of us who could help out with lines if we needed to.  Al could reset the password and give access to the orders page for a team in order to submit lines each week for them.  The manager helping out could be chosen based on being in a different division and being least likely among the pool of volunteers to be facing that team in a Cup match in the next several sessions.  With the season format of United, unfortunately the only matches that anyone can be sure of happening from week to week are the league matches.  That makes giving specific match instructions difficult, such as noticing that your Midfield is way better than another team's and shifting from the usual 1-1-3-4-2 you like to play, to a 1-1-3-3-3.  Or noticing that your opening opponent for the Youth Cup is Plymouth Argyle and giving up the thought of Youth Cup glory this season to focus on the AP Cup instead.

If setting up an "away from keyboard (AFK) order sheet" for future sessions, here are some ideas for instructions to be left.  I'm thinking in terms of a Check Box order sheet with some fill-in-the-blank notes that could be done in just a few minutes without having to write a novel.

1) Focus On...

[Rank the Following: League Matches only, FA Cup/Shield, AP Cup, Youth Cup, All Cups, T11 the best chance of a win and PFD the most likely loss, Equal Effort all around, Other (fill in blank)].

The idea being that a manager can tell the order filler which Cups to focus the T11 on, or to use the backups and youth in Cups and focus on the league matches, or give a T16 effort in all matches without a pure T11 in any of them unless directly told to in #2 (below).  If out of a focused competition, then the focus shifts down the list to the next one left.

2) Must Win Matches...

List matches that you want a T11 lineup thrown out (such as for a big Cup clash or league match against a rival) and preferred format such as 1-1-3-3-3 or 1-0-3-4-3 Offside Trap.

3) Hardness preference...

10 in all, 7 to 9, 4 to 6, 1 to 3, or none?  Also specify preferred distribution such as: 5 at GK each match, or "max the FWs" (up to 9 if possible) and use the rest at MF or DF to be able to put some more at FW if 3:1 rules would be violated.

4) CP...

Spend all CP on SL first with leftovers given to Fit as possible.  Or raise fitness first and use the leftovers on CP.  Or ignore one or the other for the sessions.

Fitness so all T16 players are Fit 2?  Fitness so the T11 players are Fit 2?  Fitness so that just these players (listed by manager) stay at Fit 2?

Then list players to use CP on in order of preference and how many to use (1,2,3 for age II plus, and 1,2,3,4,5 for age I).  If a higher-SL player cannot be raised in a session and a lower can, then should we "Save Up" the CP to guarantee the higher-SL player gets raised next session or "Use All" each session?

5) Youth Players...

Max all (Apps get 2 matches or Youth Coach per session, Sbys get 1 no matter how weak the lineups end up being). Max just Sby or App (other gets ignored unless needed in a 3-4 game lineup). One each (Apps and Sbys get 1 game per session). Half-strength (Apps get 1 match per session, Sbys get at least a match every other session). Use Only When Needed (play older, stronger players whenever possible). Special Orders (such as "Use Youth Coach on Sby Gk each session so he NEVER plays and gives up six goals, thanks."

6) Top Players...

Use in every match possible and CP Fitness.  Use in every match possible and ignore Fit CP.  Use in 2 matches per session only (3 for Gks) with focus of when to use them per Item #1 above.  Use however you'd like to give us the best shot of a win each session.

7) Auction Instructions...

"I need a MF, age I or II, SL 10+.  Bid up to 75% of total cash at time."  "Get backup Df, any age, SL 7-9, max bid 500k."  "Get me a top Fw, SL 11+, break the bank if needed!"

8) Other Orders...

"T11 Brentford and use 10 hardness.  Take it easy on everyone else."  "Flip a coin each session to determine which league match to use the T11 on and which to PFD in with the youth guys. I like to keep everyone else scratching their heads about what my team will do each week."  "Just try to keep me from getting relegated this year while focusing on the youth as much as possible." Anything else could be written in here to give a better feel for how the team's instructions from the rest fit into the overall long-term plan of the club.

a design where a manager could enter a "vacation profile" which identifies how to manager a team whilst the manager is gone

superb idea.

Interesting idea, I'd expect it would be difficult to get working reliably though. In other words, I wouldn't fancy being the one coding it