FIFA 09

[AJ]

So, turns out I am piss-poor at Ultimate Team.

Things were going well in the demo. Five straight wins with 4 or 5 goals per game and all clean sheets. So I buy the game and enter a tournament. Then when things like injuries, contract renewals, poor fitness come into play everything goes to pot. Not to mention all of my better silver players that I got in packs want to play in silly formations and in CAM/CDM/RWB/LWB positions rather than the standard CM/LB/RB.

Does anyone else think the AI sometimes acts a bit odd in Ultimate Team? I've noticed the goalkeeper tends to do a lot of throwing now, even to players stood right next to him, amongst other things.

I think I'm just going to keep my really shitty players that at least play in a normal position and like 4-4-2 and just keep using contract cards til I can afford to splash out on some gold packs.

[AJ]

I just won a Paul Konchesky for 400 coins

He's a left back who likes to play 4-4-2 and will compliment my CDM, Olivier Dacourt, nicely. Things are looking up.

[KoA]

Right, I've installed UT and been through whatever . I try to play a match now, and it says, 'Unable to load Ultimate Team store'. Anyone have any ideas if I'm missing something here? :/

Edited April 19, 2009 by The King Of Awesomeness

[Liam]

Surely it would make sense if it made note of the team difference between two user teams in Cups? I played a 5 star team with my 2 star team, but I at least should have got some kinda bonus to the number of points I recieved. It's worthless, otherwise.

[alldaws1]

Does anyone else think the AI sometimes acts a bit odd in Ultimate Team? I've noticed the goalkeeper tends to do a lot of throwing now, even to players stood right next to him, amongst other things.

I think I'm just going to keep my really shitty players that at least play in a normal position and like 4-4-2 and just keep using contract cards til I can afford to splash out on some gold packs.

There are moments, even on legendary, when a goalkeeper throw or set piece goes to the closest player and it's fairly easy to intercept, I've noticed that.

To save up for gold packs, I use my first team to rack up some solid wins (I beat Bayer Leverkusen 8-0, got over 1100 coins for it) then as their contracts go down to just a game left I use my back-ups. Then when I absolutely have to buy some more cards I buy bronze packs, renew as many contracts as I can with what I get and use the bronze (sometimes silver) players that I get in them. Then eventually you'll have enough for a gold pack and by sending the players you don't need to your collection you can usually get enough coins for another bronze pack or two to start renewing your starters' contracts again.

I said I needed some better CMs and with my latest gold pack I've got them. I got some Italian called Paro who I sent to the collection straight away because in the same pack I also got Xavi and Steve Sidwell. This enables me to move my created player to RM which I've needed back-up at for a while now.

My team is now:

GK: Robert Green

RB: Gianluca Zambrotta

CB: Carlos Puyol

CB: Belenguer

LB: Fernando Navarro

RM: David Bentley

CM: Xavi

CM: Ruben De La Red

LM: Arjen Robben

ST: Fabio Quagliarella

ST: Francesco Totti

Got some decent back-ups too including Aliadiere and Peter Crouch up front. I'm also enjoying a nice little chemistry boost at the moment thanks to my three Spanish defenders and preferred 4-4-2 of my manager Ricky Sbragia.

[AJ]

I've had another little dip into the trade section and I got Justin Hoyte for 600 coins which I thought was decent since he has 19 games left on his contract and a cheap CB that played 442 in Chilvers who plays for PNE.

So my team now looks like:

GK: J. Young

LB: P. Konchesky

CB: L. Chilvers

CB: E. Boyce

RB: J. Hoyte

LM: C. Lines

CM: O. Dacourt (CDM)

CM: I. Vigurs

RM: L. Britton

ST: A. Musgrave ©

ST: M Bridges

9 of those are English and 9 of them play 442 which puts my chemistry at 62. Dacourt is the only one which is neither so I should probably look to replace him but he's my best player outside my defence. I've also put a bid in for a David Moyes which finishes in 2hrs so I'll have to check back on that in a bit. Also had a daft bid on an Alex Ferguson card which had a whopping 101 games left on his contract.

[DavidMarrio]

Anyone know all the arenas for Ultimate Team? I'm missing one to complete them

[AJ]

If they're the same as in the normal game, then they're as follows:

Spoiler: Click here to view

Allianz Arena

Aloha Park

Anfield

Bayarena

Camp Nou

Crown Lane

El Bombastico

El Medio

El Reducto

Emirates Stadium

Estadio Azteca

Estadio De Las Artes

Estadio Del Pueblo

Estadio Latino

Estadio Mestalla

Estadio Vincente Calderon

Euro Arena

Euro Park

Football Ground

Fussballstadion

HSH Nordbank Arena

Ivy Lane

Millenium Stadium

O Dromo

Old Trafford

Olimpico Generico

Olympiastadion

Parc Des Princes

San Siro

Signal Iduna Park

Square Ground

St James' Park

Stade Gerland

Stade Kokoto

Stade Municipal

Stade Velodrome

Stadio Classico

Stadio Delle Alpi

Stadio Olimpico

Stadion 23. Maj

Stadion Europa

Stadion Hanguk

Stadion Neder

Stadion Olympik

Stamford Bridge

Town Park

Veltins Arena

Wembley Stadium

Just won David Moyes in an auction for a minimal 150 coins. That boosts my chemistry to a nice 80. I also got a trophy for getting a gold manager.

[DavidMarrio]

Sorry for not clarifying i meant the 7 player arenas for Ultimate team. Got 6/7 and have no clue what the last one is here's the ones that i've got.

Parc De Pays Arena

Green Park Arena

Pokoj Arena

Seoul Park Arena

Parque Da Paz Arena

Intimidade Arena

Just dunno what the last one is

[alldaws1]

I don't know what it is, but even if someone tells you you're going to have to take the same measures to get it as you would if you didn't know what it was because there's no search by name function. Just note down which ones you have got then browse the trading section and when you come across the one you haven't got, voila.

[Chris2K]

The search filter, or lack of it, is annoying. It's ok for players, but everything else is just pot luck.

If there was a "search for cards outside your collection" option I think I may scream with happiness.

[AJ]

I'd be quite happy if only they sorted the auction search results so that they were in order of ending soonest.

I could increase my sniping tenfold.

Speaking of which, I just bagged an 80 rated Salihamidzic with 62 games left on contract for 150 coins. Hands down best bargain I've found so far.

[Captain Kirk]

Started a new ultimate team first gold pack I picked up Buffon and Riise. Buffon kept the chemistry with my other two italian defenders up as Riise replaced the third. Got Kalou up front with another guy from Ivory Coast too.

[alldaws1]

I won Porto's home kit in an auction earlier. Paid 900 coins for it but totally worth it, it's one of my favourite kits. I also have Bayern Munich's dark blue away kit which is awesome as well. Happy with my kits, I can try and improve on my actual squad now instead

I need to get a better logo than Middlesbrough's though.

Edited April 22, 2009 by AD

[Chris2K]

I went for Palermo's home kit, it's pink, which is different at least.

My away kit is Levante's bright lime green shirt, because apparently I need to be even more different.

My logo is Spurs, but it was Bohemians Praha for a long time, as it's a picture of a kangeroo.

[AJ]

I just got my Solid Gold trophy for having 11 gold players in my squad

Still using Chunnam Dragons as my home kit. I've had a few other kits in packs I've bought but I'm kinda attached to it now. Could do with another away kit though. Willem II is just dark and depressing. I'd like Valencia but it's rare as hell.

Currently playing with a 2* team to get a decent multiplier to earn some coins. So if anybody knows some 4-5* teams that aren't much of a problem to win against let me know.

I'm getting sick of beating Genova

[Liam]

I just love how, for the initial periods at least, your team can be pretty random. I mean, my rock solid defensive partnership is Radhi Jaidi from Birmingham and Khalid Boulahrouz, with Ismael Miller doing the bulk of the work up front.

[alldaws1]

Currently playing with a 2* team to get a decent multiplier to earn some coins. So if anybody knows some 4-5* teams that aren't much of a problem to win against let me know.

I'm getting sick of beating Genova

I usually just take on 1-star teams when my squad has thinned out to the silver and bronze players (I usually have at least one gold player left and it's usually Totti so it's easy to win big). Legendary difficulty, win by 3-5 goals, get plenty of shots on target and toss a few corners in (which may sound quite a lot but I manage it quite often) and you can usually get upwards of 800 coins per game. If I play teams around my level I usually concede early and when I concede early I can't get back into the game at all unless Totti is playing.

I bought another gold pack last night, picked up Gokhan Inler, a RW called Pepe and Humberto Suazo. It meant I could send Skjelbred and Jeremie Aliadiere to my collection (I also sent my back-up RB Chalme because both he and Zambrotta were out of contract and when renewing I'm always going to choose Zambrotta). Sending those to the book gave me some nice coins as a result with which I bought plenty of bronze packs and renewed all of my players' contracts that needed it. I also completed my first couple of pages to get more coins, Cheltenham Town (woohoo, first completion is a local team and totally unintended) and Modena.

[AJ]

My team is a bit of a mess at the minute because I'm just using up games on the contracts of players I don't really want to use before I send them to my collection. I hate putting players in the collection or on the trade pile with loads of games left.

Ideally my team would look something like:

GK: R Wright

LB: P Konchesky

CB: E Boyce

CB: L Chilvers

RB: J Hoyte

LM: B Robson

CM: M Carrick

CM: S Sidwell

RM: H Salihamidzic

ST: M Bridges

ST: A Musgrave ©

Not a superstar team by any means. I've got players like Cordoba and Niang who are far better but A. don't have the right formation, B. don't give me any chemistry boost through nationality and C. would give my team too high a rating meaning my coins multiplier would take a hit. I would have chemistry around 80 with this team plus Moyes my manager.

Lately I've been earning coins by buying gold kits and badges for 300 coins and sending them to my collection for profit.

[alldaws1]

Lately I've been earning coins by buying gold kits and badges for 300 coins and sending them to my collection for profit.

That's a pretty good idea, hadn't thought of that. I'm currently trying to get rid of some of my kits, badges and managers through the trade system, the ones that aren't in the collection or that I already have. No one wants to buy them, even if I put the buy now price at 200 coins :/

Edited April 23, 2009 by AD