In the previous news post, I talked about the new scouting system. Here are the key points:
- Your knowledge level about footballers from other clubs is determined by a new attribute called “Scouting”.
- As long as Scouting is below 100%, the attributes, Giftedness, and skill levels of the footballer are distorted to some degree.
- When Scouting reaches 100%, you gain full information about the footballer.
- Scouting of opposing footballers increases when you play a match against them.
- Scouting of other footballers increases if they are on the transfer lists or Watchlist, and your scouts are skilled enough to observe them.
How it works
When a manager takes charge of a new club, they don’t know the players. Sure, they can roughly estimate their overall strength, but to accurately assess a footballer, they need to see them in action. A new column called “Info” will appear in the footballer list — it’s the equivalent of “Scouting”. This information bar fills up as the footballer performs actions during a match. The more actions they perform, the faster it fills. Your scouts’ level doesn’t matter here, since you as the manager are the one observing the footballers. So, by fielding them in matches, you’ll gradually study them (even in Simulation mode).
Until the bar is filled, a question mark will appear next to the footballer’s uncertain attributes. These footballers cannot train or improve their skills yet, because you don’t know how best to train them.
The transfer value of such footballers is based on inaccurate data. So, if you suspect a footballer is better than they appear, it’s worth fully studying them to sell them at a higher price.
But the opposite could also be true. For example, you’ve joined the weakest team in the Amateur league, and you have a few footballers with a relatively high level and a one-star rating. You suspect that people have the wrong impression of them — they’re actually worse than they look. So, it’s better to sell them while their inflated value is still based on false information.
Keep in mind: you’re not completely “blind” regarding your own footballers. You can roughly understand their level and Giftedness. You also know what skills they have, but not the level of those skills. This means you can still make tactical decisions in matches. Moreover, as soon as it becomes clear during a match that the real skill level or a specific attribute is higher than expected, that info is automatically updated in the footballer’s profile (even in Simulation mode).
How it affects the game
This mechanic significantly impacts gameplay, adding new challenges for you as a manager. Now, when building a team, you must also consider how well you know your own players. Additionally, I believe this brings a new level of realism to club management. It’s important to note that footballers from the Youth Academy are also unresearched. So, you’ll need to give them real match time to discover their true attributes. However, when after a few matches you realise a footballer is actually better than expected — it’s a very satisfying moment.
Still, be prepared for unpleasant surprises too:
This mechanic will mostly impact players who frequently switch clubs. If you manage a single club, your footballers will eventually all be fully researched, and you’ll only need to study young talents and new signings. But when joining a new club, you’ll have to learn the whole team from scratch. It’s interesting and realistic, but it may increase the difficulty (for many experienced players, that’s a big plus). Especially because, until a footballer is fully researched, they can’t train their skills.
Some may think that this change will fundamentally alter the game. In reality, it’s still the same FTG, just with a new layer of depth that adds freshness and interesting challenges. The game remains understandable and accessible, without turning into a spreadsheet simulator.
What’s more, at the start of a campaign on normal difficulty, most footballers in your club and in the Amateur League will already be 100% researched, so starting the game won’t be difficult.
Managing a national team
I really like how this mechanic affects national team management and how realistic it feels. When you take over a national team, you need to get to know its footballers. You can choose from all footballers of a given nationality. You might know some well because you’ve played against them a lot, and others because they played for your club. Most, however, will appear with approximate attributes. Some of them will have a high “scouting/study” level, while most will be at zero. If, in the beta version (before this mechanic was added), selecting players for the national team was relatively straightforward (you just picked the ones with the best stats that suited your tactics), now you have more room for interesting decisions. You’ll need to take risks and experiment with players to find those who suit you best.Friendly matches
At the moment, I’m not sure whether friendly matches will be available at launch, because as you can see, we’re struggling to release the game as early as we’d like. But the player research mechanic was partly created with the idea that friendly matches would be added later. Previously, when players asked us to add friendlies, we weren’t keen — they felt artificial. In form, they resembled the real world, but in practice, they lacked purpose. I’ve long wanted to add them, but only if they had real value. And now, with the introduction of this research mechanic, there’s a genuine need for friendly matches. Sooner or later, they will definitely be added to the game, giving you a few extra matches each season to study players who would be risky to field in official league matches. Similarly, national teams will eventually have friendly matches too. But I can’t promise they’ll be ready before the game’s release.So, when will the game actually launch?
Ah, that’s a tough question :) If not for the war, the game would already be out in Early Access. But as it is, we constantly have to delay Early Access because we don’t have time to rewrite the match engine. The changes are massive, which leads to new and recurring technical issues. So for now, we’re once again pushing back the Early Access release — to late autumn 2025 :(How to follow the development progress?
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