JasonM

Update: Survived the first year. Second year we're on the cusp of playoff spots at the halfway mark of the season. Mostly just wondering how on earth anybody is able to run a profit at the fourth tier, because I have the lowest wage budget of all professional clubs (there's 4 semi-pro's who can run lower), I have the 5th highest attendance in the league, yet we're bleeding money like a sieve. I get that part of it is selling players, but it's not like I can put together a squad long enough to get to a point where i'd be able to sell them on. Also I look at other teams that are spending more yet draw smaller gates which are somehow making more. Weird stuff. But still enjoying myself, had a near total overhaul of the playing squad between seasons (due to most players demanding higher wages, and I can literally only give them 300-500/w max to stay within budget.), but a striker and winger combo are carrying us on top of an inordinate amount of players on loan to fill holes cheaply. Hope I can sneak back into the playoffs before the end of the season, but there's like 5 U21 sides in the league, which makes it tricky because Celta/Sporting/Deportivo/Valladolid B have deeper squads than any of us. EDIT: Pain

Honestly, the writing was on the wall for Kubica two seasons ago. The fact he got to have one whole season in 2019 with Williams and two appearances deputizing for Alpha in 2021 is honestly as close to a fairytale ending as this sport tends to have for old hands. I can see him show up at Le Mans, though. He continues to be a great driver, and his team won ELMS with the LMP2 class in 2021. He's got plenty to offer.

Tried to get into a save with Wrexham (partly through the encouragement of a close friend who lives in Wrexham), but despite not getting fired I still decided to stop that save because it was more frustration than I wanted. A combination of the players not doing what I wanted and a pressure to play in a certain way kind of put me off massively. Now decided to give Create-A-Club a try. Haven't ever used it, closest I got was in FM20(?) where I used the pre-game editor to create a Scottish Club starting in the Vana North. Decided I wanted to do a save in Spain because it's probably my least played of the Big Four in recent years. Created "Sporting A Coruña", a 'friendly' breakaway club looking to put the city back on the map with Deportivo continuing to toil in the third tier in recent years. Replaced the worst team in the Fourth Division Group I (3rd and lower tier in Spain is kinda like the English 6th tier in that it's all regional blocks onwards). First challenge of course is the fact that there's squad registration windows, with a maximum of 23 players being able to be registered, not counting any U19. But of course, I have no youth or B squads to begin with. Picked up a few old hands to find out about the next rule, that I can have a maximum of 16 O23 registered, which creates a tricky balance where I can't just stock up on experienced lads to carry me up. Went with a flat 4-1-4-1, Kinda like the classic late 00s Spanish style. Sit behind the ball, and avoid putting myself at risks. Had a very shaky 2-3-1 record in the friendlies, but have started the season with 0-1 and 3-0 wins against better competition to help my mood and hopes that I might be able to use this strategy going forward. Already I feel a lot more interested in this save than I was the last one, so hopefully I can make this my main going forward. Bring some glory back to Galicia, and see how far I can carry a new club.

EDIT: I can see the irony of going "It's really not that hard" and then hitting you with a long piece like this. I have played DF since about 2012 and have picked it back up proper with the release of the Steam version, and I will say that it's more so difficult by being obtuse rather than difficult through requiring advanced strategy or foresight. You could effectively just build a wall around your colony, and pull up the drawbridge every time enemies show up, and be 95% safe for near enough any bad thing that comes at you. You could also start on an island, and be guaranteed to never be invaded by an outside civilisation (although you'll also miss out on trade caravans and migrant waves after the first guaranteed ones). I suggest most first timers who dig into the caverns (it'll happen) to simply just close it off and continue digging down somewhere else, and worry about that some other time. Also, Dwarf Fortress is mostly just a supply chain management game combined with a dwarven city builder. For the dwarves to not die, you need to create supply chains to ensure they have food and drink, beds and rooms to sleep in, taverns and dining halls to drink and eat in, and metals to turn into weapons and armor to ensure their long term survival against both the sentient and non-sentient dangers of the world. For new players especially the early game of any fort is "Ok, what do I do now?" and needing to learn the basics when it comes to what you need to dig out and set up to guarantee a steady supply of booze and food. - You need to dig out a soily layer, drop down farm plots, and set them to grow plants. -- (Optional), you could only ever bring Plump Helmets and have a boring but perfect supply of both food (you can eat plump helmets) and booze (you can distill plump helmets). - Then you need to build a still, and order the dwarf in there to make x(=10) amounts of drinks from plants. - You'd also need a carpenter to craft new barrels from wood, so you need to cut trees and have a carpenter's workshop. So just for making alcohol, you need to set up at least three types of industry. Farming & Carpenting > Brewing booze. The essence of DF is basically that it's all flowcharts in some form or fashion. To make one thing, you need to have set up an industrial chain that ensures you can produce what you want produced. Later on you put down an office (a room + chair + table) and assign a dwarf to be a manager from that room, and you can start giving off work orders. Where you can automate parts of industry with if/and/or type statements. (If booze <= 10, craft 10 booze | If barrels <= 5, craft 10 barrels | etc.) But I digress. What I am trying to say mostly is that the difficulty is in figuring out how it all works the first time around, and once you get a decent grasp of what you need to get XYZ done, the perceived difficulty starts becoming much lower. A few things that the steam version does right out of the gate is having starting industry be pre-set to be done by whatever dwarf is available, rather than having to assign every dwarf their specific tasks or else it doesn't get done. You can still override it, by having two dedicated miners assigned and only the ones that are assigned can do mining, but for many of the industries it's a godsend when your fort is small, you're figuring things out, and you don't have to worry why nobody's building that butchery you wanted set up. (Someone will do it now) Also with a rudimentary UI with menus it's a bit easier to find workshops, place them, and select materials. The built in tileset is nice and clean, and much easier than slapping one on by hand. There's a lot of quality of life features that make it a little bit more accessible for first timers. I also suggest to just check out a few tutorials, and just pause the game whenever you need to sit down and figure something out by checking out the wiki, going to the reddit or forum, or watching another tutorial. It's just one of those games, but personally I find the game's difficulty to be less fickle than Europa Universalis IV was which can derail you pretty hard in the early/mid game. Down here's a tutorial from Nookrium from the new steam version, and I can suggest Nook from both a tutorial and a gameplay standpoint. Also added a longplay from Quill18 who specifically build a fort with the aim of explaining what he's doing and why he's doing, so that beginners can build along.

I have personally been a fan of 13th Age, it does away with stat crunch for a more freeform approach to gameplay. Example, instead of having a very specific preset of skills you can pick from like athletics or animal handling or w.e., it is based around player established backgrounds that challenge the player to invent the reason why they might be capable at climbing a wall. Situation: you need to scale a wall. Player: "My character worked in a circus as an acrobat, and learned to scale even the dizziest of heights." DM: "Ok, roll your acrobat background with a dexterity mod to try and scale the wall." Furthermore, it focuses on moving things forward, so every turn you get a +1 to your to hit until combat ends through an "escalation die", but it could also hooked into enemies showing up or getting bigger moves when the die hits a certain point. It also does away with equipment crunch, for weapons the damage is class based and it allows the players to simply roleplay what weapon they're carrying, rather than needing to pick something from a list of acceptable gear. Tl;dr - its very friendly towards beginners and groups that prefer roleplay and problem solving over stat crunching and dice grind.

I mean, fwiw, there's also the fact it's a 128 player tournament draw without even accounting the qualifiers. That's already one of the things that sets it apart from even the masters which save for Wells/Miami are 56 players. It's a monster two week tournament where (as we're seeing right now) big upsets can happen. And I don't feel the WTA slam or the doubles feel any less 'major' despite being 3 set affairs, the tournament itself has that kind of aura where you are near certain you're going to get big upsets and big matchups. But I can see both sides, from a competition standpoint there's definitely merit in having the Grand Slams be 5 set behemoths, but from a spectator's standpoint it feels like a drag more often than not.

Honestly, the best of 5 format is one of the things I least like about watching Grand Slam's. Sure, it tends to create some of the most gripping matches like Federer/Nadal Wimbledon 08, but they also make for some excruciatingly long matches, and even foregone conclusions mean those matches last another 45-60 minutes beyond its expiration date. I prefer best of 3, I find the WTA Slams to be much easier to watch somewhat casually where I can sit down and watch a full match from start to finish. Best of 5's just become a huge investment, and especially on a slam like the AO where the time zone is hell for me, I can't watch any of the matches.

Here's hoping Griekspoor can beat Tsitsipas, but I am not holding my breath

Andy Murray has probably become the most formidable bogey player on the tour in past years, he's an absolute monster for anybody to face in early rounds, and whilst he's been able to work up his stock again after his terrible injuries in years past, he always struggles to get into the second week of any major tournament due to his body not being able to handle it. But watching him in early matches like these, he's still a bonafide top 10 player that can beat near enough anybody that isn't named Alcaraz, Nadal or Djokovic. Just wish that he could really get a deep run in a major tournament to give him a title he deserves, maybe not a Slam but a 500/1000 would be so sweet to see him be able to get. On the Dutch front, sadly Hartono got knocked out in the first round but full props to her for getting into the main draw as a 200+ ranked player on the WTA tour... Meanwhile Van der Zandschulp and Griekspoor won their first round matches, but they will have to face each other in the second round which should be an interesting cagey duel because they've trained together so much in their careers. On the one hand a shame we'll have only one player in the 3rd round, but with how tough these tournaments are, having one guaranteed third round player beats possibly having none.

Also on the topic of hiring staff. I am probably an absolute dingus for not realizing it sooner, but I found out late in FM22's cycle that Fitness and Goalkeeping coaches work for all squads when they're signed on a first team deal. So having a few really great Fit/GK coaches can lift up the entire club whilst still allowing you to fill out the U23/U18 with top notch youth-focused coaches (or in my case, using the U23 to build up talented coaches to a Seniors/U18 level.

"Sure, we unanimously agreed to a 200M entry fee. But we now unanimously agree we didn't expect anybody to be able to hock up the price, so we're unanimously deciding to ignore our own precedent and jack up the price some more" And when they somehow get 600M, they'll probably push it to a billion because they like a round number. This entire thing is just fully establishing that the voting power of the teams need to be heavily curbed because they're detrimental to the actual sport. I can understand protecting (financial) interests, but when after so long of famine they finally get a few reputable clubs to show up, suddenly they're clutching their pearls. Of course, the demands are conveniently only levied to an independent side like Andretti-Cadillac, and not against AUDI or Porsche. The double standards are embarrassing.

Who are you to doubt FC Nottingen.

Wrexham was extremely nervous when they went the man up and the three up. But also full beans to Coventry for trying to fight back from that deficit.

Honestly, if it leads to the season schedule to be extended by a week or maybe two in future seasons, that can only help things in the long term. Also I have zero issues with dropping the pro bowl, it's always been one of the weirder All-Star game kind of affairs because with how physically draining Football is an extra game is just more reasons for injury, and many athletes already forgo playing in the pro bowl for those exact reasons. Could be possibly replaced with a skills competition or some other sort of showcase event on the Friday/Saturday instead, but idk what the logistics would be on that. EDIT: @Chris2K has corrected my notions of the pro bowl.

I don't know if you're interested in 'nationbuilding', but I have always been enamored with the idea of picking up a mid-tier European league and trying to see how far I can get (until I burn out) in putting that nation on the major European stage. Croatia and Serbia tend to be good nations since they regularly produce good talent and have reasonably good registration laws allowing you to import some 'local talent' from beyond too. Austria also could be a good shout, although the small league size is a turnoff. A club like Austria Klagenfurt is interesting though since they never won a league title, but have the biggest stadium in the nation at 32K (Beyond the National Stadium) and some decent facilities, it could be a nice stepping stone to challenge moneybags Red Bull and the old Viennese order of Rapid/Austria Wien. Downside to Austria is the tiny 22 game playing schedule, and just general sense of 'small time' even when you eventually start growing the team and the league (by funneling money into other teams).

Well, technically in the dying hours of 2022. But I have finished my playthrough of Trails in the Sky FC. As far as JRPG's go I really enjoyed it mostly because it was at most a 50-ish game rather than the usual JRPG game that goes 100+ with all the side stuff. And I managed to get most of the side quests bar a few that were hidden and I failed to find. The graphics also appealed to me, kinda like Harvest Moon 64 characters but in a steampunk-ish JRPG instead. Very fun, very enjoyable, and with a whammer of a cliffhanger at the end I have of course picked up the sequel in the GOG sale to continue the fun for another go around.

I watched Glass Onion two days ago and I also repeat the gushing over it, it was absolutely delightful. It was extremely dense, and it took a while to get into the meaty bits, but since most of the mystery was about the setup it of course was genuinely fun to see all those little bits and red herrings that threw you off. The eventual reveal, albeit a bit cheating through unreliable narration, was great. It's hard to really say which one I liked better, though. Glass Onion was grand in every way, by design, seeing it was all about an out of touch tech billionaire having a self-indulgent wank session about his brilliance. But I liked Knives Out's more quaint setting, and more personal stakes. But I think that's where the brilliance of the franchise lies already, they can switch it up from one film to the next. Put in Benoit Blanc, add an ensemble around it, and present a different mystery presented in a different way. The lack of a distinct formula sets it above other whodunits, you go in expecting a mystery but you won't directly know what it'll end up being.

It's too early to tell, but after last night's ridiculous display he definitely is up there... But just in the past two decades alone you had Kobe, LeBron, and Dwight Howard all carrying some woeful clubs to the finals or thereabouts. And there's of course Dirk Nowitzki, who for the longest part of his career had to make do with average talent himself, so it's the Mavericks tradition to give our stars nothing to work with. I honestly feel frustrated for Luka, because of course the historical 60/20/10 performance is in the record books, he literally had to hard carry the team just to stay in the game last night, and did all the work to get them the win. That must be utterly exhausting and frustrating to do, because if you get him a Jason Terry-esque #2 who can carry a part of the load then it'll be much healthier for all. Kristaps was not going to work out with his injury proneness and just mismatched style, and the choice to let Brunson walk is probably going to hurt for a long time. But surely there's got to be somebody that they can bring in that will give win games for the team and not require Luka to be 110% every single night of an 82+ game season?

And despite going nearly double of Andy Cole's record, his average rating is only a 8.14? Just FM things

@Chris2K, the biggest thing you'll run into with Y3 is that it's the roughest game of them all. It was the first step away from the PS2 games and had a bunch of quality of life changes for its time, but it's also the oldest title that hasn't been given a glow up in the form of a Kiwami game. So it's very... uneven and rough. Also it probably has the most bullshit fight AI in any of the games, like having to fight peak Shao Khan with every boss battle, getting blocked constantly and then walloped with mega moves. It'll test your patience, and taking a lower difficulty is not an excessive luxury. Everything combined makes Yakuza 3 a weird middle child compared to all the other games. Yakuza 4 in turn is the first one that feels modern in terms of how it plays, all the different fighting styles and the mix of playable protagonists, it's arguably the point where the franchise really was at its best. Also in my opinion, Yakuza 3 probably has the weakest story, but on the positive side most of the early game takes place outside of Kamurocho in a new area that hasn't been present in 0-YK2, so that'll be a breath of fresh air.

Either him or Bounou. Letting through only one goal (two if you count the own goal from the Group stages) AND stopping Spain in the pennos is an insane effort in its own right.

Honestly I am surprised we've not had a 'long shot era' yet. With players becoming more and more skilled, the long shot often gives a player the most open space to lace one at goal. Kinda like how in the past decade the three point shot has become THE shot in basketball, to the point where near enough everyone needs to be able to shoot one and it's become a game where you either take a dunk/layup or you shoot from behind the arc, and anything in between is sub-optimal. Football has gone the other way, from speculative crosses and shots to (pardon the meme) trying to walk it in. Playing in such a way that it creates an opportunity for a forward to run past the last man to slide one in after a lot of build up play. Although it's clear this world cup that counter football is making its resurgence, with the Netherlands making it into the QF's and the most logical extreme in Morocco having a goal difference of 5-1 (with the one goal against being an Own Goal), it's a new generation of shithouse football with an extreme emphasis on positioning rather than old timey 'clog the box' that good teams can play through. It's honestly what draws me into EC/WC the most, it feels like it's a really nice barometer for the state of Football in terms of what happens on the field.

Decided to watch a compilation of the goals scored in 2002, and it's actually very novel and insightful to see how massively the nature of the game has changed away from "Run and hoof, kick everything at goal" to the heavily skill focused game we have now. Especially compared to now, the defenses then were absolute shambles and even great keepers like Khan, Barthez, and Seaman made some absolutely shocking moves that wouldn't even get you a spot on the bench nowadays let alone starting in the world cup. But it has also made me a bit nostalgic, because it felt a lot more chaotic with so many headers and pot shots going in.

https://www.pcgamer.com/after-spending-20-years-simulating-reality-the-dwarf-fortress-devs-have-to-get-used-to-a-new-one-being-millionaires/ After being developed for free for two decades, the paid version of Dwarf Fortress has sold 160k units in the first 24 hours and hit 300K in only a week of being on Steam. That's on top of the fact that the same game is still available for free on their website, with the only difference that the steam version has a 'modern' UI to streamline things, it's exactly the same game. As someone who has played DF on and off for the past 8 or so years, this is just an amazing result for Zach and Tarn to hit paydirt with an amazing passion project of a game, that will continue to be developed going forward. If anybody hasn't played Dwarf Fortress, you should genuinely check it out. It inspired games like Prison Architect, Rimworld, and Oxygen not Included to a significant degree, and is one of the grandfathers of roguelike and citybuilding that doesn't really have an equal in terms of scope, depth, and just randomness, on top of difficulty.

I'd start with XP and have 98 just incase, but as @John MickClane my experience with XP has been quite good with near enough every game from around 97 and beyond. Including being able to run some notoriously tricky games to get running like Gangsters and Constructor.