FIFA 13

Turned off handballs. Went ahead in my CM game and then the CPU starts to pressure me. Suddenly they get some handball from out of nowhere and a penalty, which I save. But clearly the CPU getting beat wasn't part of the original script so they get another penalty from another handball. Can't remember the last time I conceded a penalty from a handball so felt very convenient.

I have handballs on but not for penalties. Always seems fair to me and I've never had a complaint. It would also completely remove the goalkeeper handball bug too.
 
I'm getting dodgy pens without the handball on.

Just normal tackles and clearly getting the ball and the ref giving a pen. I know stuff like that happens, but the incidents I am talking about were really no doubt that they were not penalties, if they got given in real life, you would think the ref was dodgy.

It is happening for about 70% of the pens against me at the moment, so is frustrating.
 
Yeah I got an IF Gignac card. Meh.

Best I've got in a pack was Rooney a few days ago. Others of note were Di Natale and David Silva. Made around 270k from those 3 alone.

My first team at the moment is (4-2-3-1):
Mandanda; De Ceglie, Barzagli, Pique, Juanfran; De Rossi, Pirlo; Boateng, Silva; Di Natale; Falcao.

Bench: Amelia, Armero, Rami, Vidal, Alonso, Narsingh, Remy, Muriel.
Nice...

http://www.ea.com/uk/football/fifa-ultimate-team/show-off#ej1HQhLenHJe9:pc

I want to buy Inform Adler, Muller or Gotze on CAM, Piszczek on RB and new striker.
 
Does someone know if the free agents always go to the same clubs?
Or it's random?
I would prefer if they were out of the career mode, because this change the reality of the squads. Like Quaresma to Barcelona, Drogba to Spartak etc...
 
I'm getting dodgy pens without the handball on.

Just normal tackles and clearly getting the ball and the ref giving a pen. I know stuff like that happens, but the incidents I am talking about were really no doubt that they were not penalties, if they got given in real life, you would think the ref was dodgy.

It is happening for about 70% of the pens against me at the moment, so is frustrating.

I've lost twice online due to penalty decisions - both of which it was the AI off the ball barging over an opposition player. Very frustrating as I had absolutely no input in what happened.
 
I'm getting dodgy pens without the handball on.

Just normal tackles and clearly getting the ball and the ref giving a pen. I know stuff like that happens, but the incidents I am talking about were really no doubt that they were not penalties, if they got given in real life, you would think the ref was dodgy.

It is happening for about 70% of the pens against me at the moment, so is frustrating.

To be honest, I find fouls completely dodgy in this game as a whole. They don't look natural and always seem clumsy rather than desperate. I've said it before but I thoroughly believe that normal fouls are both hard to give and receive because it is really hard to mess up a standing tackle and take out a man. It can happen but it's rare. I simply never give away penalties for taking out a player's leg, it's always from accidentally running into him and blocking his path.

Funnily enough even when I'm trying to take swipes at the opposition to take out the last man, they love to dodge my slide tackles.
 
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Has anybody got any tips on defending as the game is too frustrating to enjoy at the minute. Counter attacks from the AI are impossible to deal with with any level of comfort. There's nothing I can do which makes me feel in control. No matter who I'm playing against, the AI uses the same tactic and the attackers show the same level of skill an control regardless of who the player is. Ricky Lambert might aswell have been Ibrahimovic and Jay Rodriguez might aswell be Alexis Sanchez. It doesn't matter, they all do the same thing.

Here's a breakdown of a typical AI goal.

Pressure from me. Misplaced pass. Clearance by AIwhich lands at the feet of a winger. Series of short forward or sideways passes which nearly always result in a lofted through ball which my defenders can't react to. Player switch doesn't work quick enough, and my two centre halves repell against each other creating a massive gap for the forward to run into. End result is either a goal or a terrible miss.

These are pretty much the only type of goals I concede and it's becoming boring. I just beat Swansea 6-5 on world class, full manual, with 7 minute halves. It's ridiculous.
 
Yes I wish there was a slider to control the ESP the AI has with sliding tackles.

@ono. I dial down the AI's dribbling, passing and control perfection by reducing their acceleration to 42, passing error to 64, and first touch error to 75. This is on World Class. My own sliders for these are made worse than default too (44/50/62).
 
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I guess there's a few factors at work in terms of fouls.

There's probably a deliberate gameplay decision to make tackling about timing, rather than random. On this page of the thread there's people complaining about accidental fouls out of their control. If you pressed the tackle button at the right moment and you still didn't make the tackle on that occasion, you might feel just as frustrated.

Then there's the things related to the impact engine, empowering players to dynamically step over attempted tackles and retain their balance. As well as the generally high agility in terms of movement and change of direction. I guess this contributes to mis-timed tackles being evaded rather than resulting in fouls.

So generally-speaking you end up in a situation where well-timed tackles tend to win the ball, and mis-timed tackles tend to be evaded entirely. Leaving little room for tackles that become fouls.

There might also be a deliberate gameplay decision to not have matches stopped as frequently. If a common way to play is a rabid 5/6 minute online blast, those people are notoriously impatient and find breaks in play frustrating (skip every cut-scene etc), and just want the game to flow rather than be hacked down.

Then it's probably also true that the collision detection may be imperfect... or in some cases maybe even too perfect. So if you vaguely brush the leg before the ball, or get the slightest toe on the ball as you lunge viciously through the back of someone, it can call it wrong.

But I do think that if you're regularly giving away penalties, you perhaps also need to look at your own defending.
 
Counter attacks from the AI are impossible to deal with with any level of comfort. There's nothing I can do which makes me feel in control.
Counter attacks aren't supposed to be comfortable, are they? :) For maximum control of the game, keep the ball.

For more control while defending... control implies that you can manipulate them into less dangerous areas than they want to go. In order to do that you have to anticipate everything one step ahead, and not make positional/aggressive errors that allow them into those dangerous areas.

No matter who I'm playing against, the AI uses the same tactic and the attackers show the same level of skill an control regardless of who the player is. Ricky Lambert might aswell have been Ibrahimovic and Jay Rodriguez might aswell be Alexis Sanchez. It doesn't matter, they all do the same thing.
I would agree that the behaviour templates are not varied enough, but to me there's differences in abilities at least.

Here's a breakdown of a typical AI goal.

Pressure from me. Misplaced pass.
Give the ball away less frequently, for starters. Sounds flippant, but it's the best way of defending. If you didn't force that risky pass when you were committed forward, then they didn't counter, they didn't work that chance, they didn't score that goal.

Series of short forward or sideways passes which nearly always result in a lofted through ball which my defenders can't react to.
Perhaps you're not spotting the passing lanes enough and preventing ball movement by blocking those lanes. Every time a CPU player looks forward and sees you positioned between him and the potential recipient, is one more time he couldn't move the ball towards your goal.

I think this is the key to defending in this game, to be one step ahead and already prepared to prevent a danger before it can happen. If you're purely reacting then it's never going to be comfortable, it's always going to be desperate.

The lofted through ball can't catch out your defender if you've already anticipated it, selected that defender and given yourself a headstart to get onto it.

Player switch doesn't work quick enough, and my two centre halves repell against each other creating a massive gap for the forward to run into.
Set your Player Switch to Air Balls and get into the habit of a) angling the Right Stick to select players rather than the shoulder button, and b) thinking ahead so that you are already in control of the defender in the best position to deny what's about to unfold... rather than only reacting again.

Player selection is crucial to putting yourself in that position ahead of time. If you're already in control of one of those centre halves, they're not going to open the gap.

I just beat Swansea 6-5 on world class, full manual, with 7 minute halves. It's ridiculous.
And at some point, maybe it's time to try a more defensive formation ;)
 
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Has anybody got any tips on defending as the game is too frustrating to enjoy at the minute. Counter attacks from the AI are impossible to deal with with any level of comfort. There's nothing I can do which makes me feel in control. No matter who I'm playing against, the AI uses the same tactic and the attackers show the same level of skill an control regardless of who the player is. Ricky Lambert might aswell have been Ibrahimovic and Jay Rodriguez might aswell be Alexis Sanchez. It doesn't matter, they all do the same thing.

Here's a breakdown of a typical AI goal.

Pressure from me. Misplaced pass. Clearance by AIwhich lands at the feet of a winger. Series of short forward or sideways passes which nearly always result in a lofted through ball which my defenders can't react to. Player switch doesn't work quick enough, and my two centre halves repell against each other creating a massive gap for the forward to run into. End result is either a goal or a terrible miss.

These are pretty much the only type of goals I concede and it's becoming boring. I just beat Swansea 6-5 on world class, full manual, with 7 minute halves. It's ridiculous.

yeah - this problem with the CPU playing the ball over my 2 central defenders and leaving it one on one with my keeper was killing me. Every game resulted in atleast one goal for the CPU using this method.

Since I switched to Nerf's sliders (i also changed the acceleration and sprint a bit lower - can't remember the exact values but there are about 5 less than Nerf's) i don't have this problem anymore and I'm enjoying the game more. Not sure exactly which slider compensates this but it might be the run frequency lowered. It seems now that when the CPU counter attacks I have plenty of men behind the ball. the only problem with this is that sometimes my own players do not get forward quick enough and I have to spam LB to get them to make runs. Its not a major problem and its certainly preferable to getting beat each game because the CPU forwards can get into far to many one on one situations
 
Not sure exactly which slider compensates this but it might be the run frequency lowered. It seems now that when the CPU counter attacks I have plenty of men behind the ball.
Yep, I imagine there could be fewer of your midfielders piling forwards so you're less exposed, and maybe fewer CPU players making penetrating runs to get onto those passes.

I guess maybe Line Height might also be involved, generally leaving slightly less space behind the defence for those passes to be lofted into.
 
Yep, I imagine there could be fewer of your midfielders piling forwards so you're less exposed, and maybe fewer CPU players making penetrating runs to get onto those passes.

I guess maybe Line Height might also be involved, generally leaving slightly less space behind the defence for those passes to be lofted into.

yes - i think you're right. the games now seem tighter - had quite a few 0-0s which sounds dull but there were lots shots on goal from both sides and a good midfield battle. I can now build up slowly from the back and get my midfield to hold onto the ball and probe the CPU defence for openings. Just feels better now so thanks for the Sliders Nerf :WORSHIP:
 
yes - i think you're right. the games now seem tighter - had quite a few 0-0s which sounds dull but there were lots shots on goal from both sides and a good midfield battle. I can now build up slowly from the back and get my midfield to hold onto the ball and probe the CPU defence for openings. Just feels better now so thanks for the Sliders Nerf :WORSHIP:

What your sliders set at now then?
 
yes - i think you're right. the games now seem tighter - had quite a few 0-0s which sounds dull but there were lots shots on goal from both sides and a good midfield battle. I can now build up slowly from the back and get my midfield to hold onto the ball and probe the CPU defence for openings. Just feels better now so thanks for the Sliders Nerf :WORSHIP:
You're welcome, glad someone else is enjoying them too.
 
Even sliders can't help the defense. Markers are not properly marking, leaving plenty of space for the receiver to turn and have a shot at goal.

Btw, isn't players like Scholes and Rafael short enough in the game?
 
Also another point re: tackling

I made a team using creation centre (it was based on some team i play with). The average player is probably about 45 overall and I deliberately tried to make them about half a star overall. I've played with them for about 20 games now and it shows a huge array of problems with tackling being too instant, often at times exemplifying this not being contingent on skill.

Firstly: These players take time to get the ball under control, time to turn and take touches. It's but in a lot of ways it looks quite realistic, at least lower league football realistic. The problem is that I can't do anything with these players even against equally bad teams (half star teams) especially in tight areas because the moment the CPU gets within 5 yards of me they get an instant tackle in. Every. Single. Time. The only way to attack is through space and these players are slow and can never actually run into space (no problem with this though because they aren't fast or strong).

So basically by the time i've passed the ball to feet, a player takes a touch and is instantly tackled 19 times out of 20 as long as the other player is anywhere within 5 yards of him. Playing against the CPU is an unrealistic chore to tell you the truth. Playing against real players only works because I know they'll commit to one way and often second guess which way they'll go. Personally I like the way it takes longer to take a touch. It reminds me of Fifa 08 when even good players actually needed a non-instant first touch. It's clear that it simply doesn't work in relation to the defensive element of the game though.

Secondly: These players are awful but I have no problem tackling with them. In fact it's still really easy to do and it's evident in a lot of situations that there's no real tackling variation. They tackle like the best players in the world at times. The only difference is really the speed of them to chase players or the strength for them to hold them off.

This team is awful and i want it to be that way but it's actually annoying that because of the instantaneous tackling system this game has going for it, bad defenders still play well regardless. I wonder if anybody else who uses exclusively lower teams finds this, especially on manual where more time is taken to do basic things naturally.
 
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I am in the same boat. Most people are easily pleased though.

Don't make generalising condescending digs thanks.

The people who post on here are generally the hardest to please, I certainly put myself in that category and besides the shitload of bugs which is utterly shameful, IMO it's an excellent game in CM, no idea how online is and don't care personally as I don't play it.
 
Also another point re: tackling

I made a team using creation centre (it was based on some team i play with). The average player is probably about 45 overall and I deliberately tried to make them about half a star overall. I've played with them for about 20 games now and it shows a huge array of problems with tackling being too instant, often at times exemplifying this not being contingent on skill.

Firstly: These players take time to get the ball under control, time to turn and take touches. It's but in a lot of ways it looks quite realistic, at least lower league football realistic. The problem is that I can't do anything with these players even against equally bad teams (half star teams) especially in tight areas because the moment the CPU gets within 5 yards of me they get an instant tackle in. Every. Single. Time. The only way to attack is through space and these players are slow and can never actually run into space (no problem with this though because they aren't fast or strong).

So basically by the time i've passed the ball to feet, a player takes a touch and is instantly tackled 19 times out of 20 as long as the other player is anywhere within 5 yards of him. Playing against the CPU is an unrealistic chore to tell you the truth. Playing against real players only works because I know they'll commit to one way and often second guess which way they'll go. Personally I like the way it takes longer to take a touch. It reminds me of Fifa 08 when even good players actually needed a non-instant first touch. It's clear that it simply doesn't work in relation to the defensive element of the game though.

Secondly: These players are awful but I have no problem tackling with them. In fact it's still really easy to do and it's evident in a lot of situations that there's no real tackling variation. They tackle like the best players in the world at times. The only difference is really the speed of them to chase players or the strength for them to hold them off.

This team is awful and i want it to be that way but it's actually annoying that because of the instantaneous tackling system this game has going for it, bad defenders still play well regardless. I wonder if anybody else who uses exclusively lower teams finds this, especially on manual where more time is taken to do basic things naturally.

Isn't that how Sunday league football works? Lots of turnovers back in forth because of bad passing and first touch. I play in a good Sunday league in my area and it doesn't take much effort to steal the ball off most players' first touch. It's pretty rare to see teams string together more than just a few passes in a row.

In real life it's a lot easier for a bad player to make a challenge on the ball than it is for a bad player to try and dribble around somebody. I'm not surprised you are getting a lot of up-and-down play with little possession.
 
Not to disregard the tackling aspect, but as a side point: if you take one touch and then are instantly tackled, you directed that first touch in a direction that made the tackle possible.

I don't know how widely appreciated is the difference between having the ball between you and the defender, and having your body between him and the ball, in terms of the effect on the defender's decision. The two triggers provide good tools for protecting the ball with your first touch, even when first touch error is high.
 
Also another point re: tackling

I made a team using creation centre (it was based on some team i play with). The average player is probably about 45 overall and I deliberately tried to make them about half a star overall. I've played with them for about 20 games now and it shows a huge array of problems with tackling being too instant, often at times exemplifying this not being contingent on skill.

Firstly: These players take time to get the ball under control, time to turn and take touches. It's but in a lot of ways it looks quite realistic, at least lower league football realistic. The problem is that I can't do anything with these players even against equally bad teams (half star teams) especially in tight areas because the moment the CPU gets within 5 yards of me they get an instant tackle in. Every. Single. Time. The only way to attack is through space and these players are slow and can never actually run into space (no problem with this though because they aren't fast or strong).

So basically by the time i've passed the ball to feet, a player takes a touch and is instantly tackled 19 times out of 20 as long as the other player is anywhere within 5 yards of him. Playing against the CPU is an unrealistic chore to tell you the truth. Playing against real players only works because I know they'll commit to one way and often second guess which way they'll go. Personally I like the way it takes longer to take a touch. It reminds me of Fifa 08 when even good players actually needed a non-instant first touch. It's clear that it simply doesn't work in relation to the defensive element of the game though.

Secondly: These players are awful but I have no problem tackling with them. In fact it's still really easy to do and it's evident in a lot of situations that there's no real tackling variation. They tackle like the best players in the world at times. The only difference is really the speed of them to chase players or the strength for them to hold them off.

This team is awful and i want it to be that way but it's actually annoying that because of the instantaneous tackling system this game has going for it, bad defenders still play well regardless. I wonder if anybody else who uses exclusively lower teams finds this, especially on manual where more time is taken to do basic things naturally.

Tackling in the current gen FIFA has always been poo. There are two main elements that make it bad - 1) all cpu players seem to have impeccable tackling ability and accuracy, irrespective of any of the numerical attributes recorded against their name - 2) nearly every tackle, as well as being perfectly delivered, results in the "loose" ball being directed straight to a cpu team-mate in an all too scripted fashion.

The cpu tackling needs to be good as it's one of the cpu's main weapons to stop the game being too easy for the better players, but it would be more plausible if the stats appeared to mean something tangible, like the cpu would mis-time a few, make far more mistakes, commit some fouls.

And it would be more believable if the ball didn't squirt straight to another player all the time, but instead had some sort of objective tackle engine which dictated where the ball would go based on laws of physics, rather than being scripted by a heavily biased AI engine. The ball just doesn't feel loose or free.
 
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