Handball-Manager 2021
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Handball-Manager 2021MANUAL. Health & Safety Precautions READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU, OR ESPECIALLY YOUR CHILD, USE ANY VIDEO GAME. A very small portion of the population have a condition (photosensitive epilepsy) which may cause them to experience epileptic seizures or have momentary loss of
MANUAL. Health & Safety Precautions READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU, OR ESPECIALLY YOUR CHILD, USE ANY VIDEO GAME. A very small portion of the population have a ...
MANUAL. Health & Safety Precautions. Read this notice carefully before ... 1.1 Getting started and help options Handball Manager 2021 incorporates a number of...
MANUAL Health & Safety Precautions READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU, OR ESPECIALLY YOUR CHILD, USE ANY VIDEO GAME. A very small portion of the population have a condition (photosensitive epilepsy) which may cause them to experience epileptic seizures or have momentary loss of consciousness when viewing certain kinds of flashing lights or patterns that are commonly present in our daily environment. For the most part, computer games are not intrinsically dangerous for persons suffering from epilepsy, but this warning specifically advises of the possibility of epileptic seizures when playing video games. Furthermore, it cannot be excluded that players who have not had any previous seizures may nonetheless have an undetected epileptic condition. If you or anyone in your family has experienced symptoms linked to an epileptic condition (e.g. a seizure or loss of awareness), immediately consult your physician before using any video games. If you or your child experience any of the following symptoms: dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitching, involuntary movements, loss of awareness, disorientation, or convulsions, discontinue use immediately and consult your physician. Follow these precautions: - Always play in a well lit room - Play as far back from the screen as possible - Take plenty of breaks while playing (a 15-minute break per hour of play) 1. Basic idea of the game.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Getting started and help options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Player appearance/attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.3 Contracts/agreements.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Player development/trends.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Direct negotiations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Ratings using symbols.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7 Coaching ability/appointments/property.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8 Coaching level.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9 Prestige, relations between coach and players, and derbies 2. The first week. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Data slots and Steam Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 "Real career", "Select first club" or "Create own club"? . . 2.3 Sponsors/Initial negotiations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Inbox and online instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 What are the key tasks in the first week?.. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 The assistant coach and other staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Team.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Tactics.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 The line-up.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Defence tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Offence tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.4 Tasks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.5 Instructions to assistant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Weekly planning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Annual planning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Individual training.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Sick bay.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Plays.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Training plays .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Edit plays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Training camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Training methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Youth section.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.1 Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.2 Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6 Second (Reserve) team .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. MANAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Employees . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Co-Trainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Other employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Transfer list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Scan clubs.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Search Player.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.4 Watch list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Player contracts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Contracts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Squad planning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 Automatic extension. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.4 Player rating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.5 Transfers.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Merchandise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Annual overview.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1 Comparison.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2 Overview . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6. Record/Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Hall overview.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Move to new hall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Site overview.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.4 Extension.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Finances.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Supporting program.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Public relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 Overview.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. Statistic.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. Person.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.1 Overview.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.2 Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.3 Search for a club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.4 Personal sponsors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Skills.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Property.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Appointments. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Shares.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6 Bookmaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7 Career / Hall of Fame.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7.1 Successes.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7.2 Career overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.7.3 Set up Hall of Fame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. National. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Squad.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.1 Assemble squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.2 Scan clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.3 Search Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 Line-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.3 Team ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Tournaments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.1 Recent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9. Options.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Game options.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Sound options.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 Load/save game.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4 Change data record. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 9.5 High score. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10. During the week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 Negotiating with players.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 Negotiating for players.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4 Change of coaching level.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11. Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Before the match.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Match in progress.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3 Time-Outs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4 End of match/Newspaper.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12. Editor. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13. TROUBLESHOOTING/SUPPORT . . . . . . . . 1. Basic idea of the game 1.1 Getting started and help options Handball Manager 2021 incorporates a number of tools making it easier to work your way into the complex and multi-level features of the game. The Online Help function will be especially helpful to beginners. Accessed via the Help button in the area to the top left, you can call up a detailed help text for every menu option in the main menu, offering advice on the area of the game you are currently in. If you find yourself struggling with certain abbreviations and symbols, use the Tooltip. This will occur automatically (provided you have not deactivated the Tooltip under Options), if you briefly hold the mouse pointer over the appropriate text or symbol. The pointer also shows a question-mark when the Tooltip is available. In the case of individual players, right-clicking on the player name or picture displays detailed information about the player. This also provides a variety of settings options relating to the player in question. Left clicking on the club emblem (or for national teams, on the national flag) to the right of the main menu displays further information about the club, in particular their next opponents. Clicking the Manager portrait in the area to the left displays comprehensive information about your alter-ego in the game. To the bottom of the Handball Manager 2021 start screen, you will see a ticker bringing you the latest news from the real handball world. Please keep an eye on the top stories displayed by the ticker, where we'll be keeping you informed about updates and other developments relating to your game. If an update is available, please run the Auto-Update programme from the Programme menu. 1.2 Player appearance/attributes The players are the main characters in the game. It is important to maintain an overview of a player's attributes and abilities so you can correctly assess the player's potential. A player's most important attributes are talent and strength. There are five different levels of talent, which restrict a player's strength and specific abilities. Strength is measured from 1 to 12 - or more in exceptional cases - and is subject to change depending on a player's age and current form. Talent Maximum strength Maximum ability None 4 red ability (poor) Low 6 green ability (good) Average 8 bronze ability (very good) High 10 silver ability (top class) Exceptional 12 gold ability (world-class) In gameplay, specific abilities are indicated by small symbols, indicating that the player is performing better or worse in one training area than you would expect from his/her strength. Field players have 10 different training areas, goalkeepers five. Training area benefit Acceleration Player is more effective on fast counter-attacks Fitness Fitness training is more effective Creativity More ideas in attack, useful at set plays Duelling Effective in challenges and solo runs Trickshots Can overcome almost impossible throwing positions shot power More powerful throws, affects all throws Blocking Better able to block opponents' long-range throws Jumping Useful for making and defending long-range throws Shot precision More accurate throws, more difficult for the goalkeeper Technique Careful with possession, safe passing Reflexes (GK) Better at saving direct throws Passing (GK) Safe passes to own team, advantage on fast counter-attacks 7-meter killer (GK) More likely to save seven-meter penalty throws Run forward Defence (GK) Throws from the wings are less likely to score Field overview (GK) Goalkeeper always well-positioned, very important for long-range throws Each player's primary (and secondary) position is a vital factor for the coach. There are seven different positions in all: Abbreviation position throwing hand GK goalkeeper both RW right wing left RB back court right left CB back court middle both LB back court left right LW left wing right LP line player (pivot) both A player has a primary position and may have a secondary position. A secondary position can emerge automatically out of the primary position and does not have to be specifically learned. Players who operate in the back court or on the wing can also play on the opposite side but are not as strong there. A player not fielded in his primary position does not exploit their full strength in attack. Moreover, motivation, form, fitness, freshness, weight and a player's size affect performance and strength. Position in attack Playing style/strength Primary position 100 percent Secondary position or position on opposite side 80 percent Position opposite to secondary position 70 percent Any other field position 50 percent Motivation scores come in at approximately 100, and depend on the mood in the team, the team's current situation, the coach's behaviour, acceptance of the coach, satisfaction with salaries, and frequency of appearances. Unmotivated players cannot perform to their full strength. A player's form is measured from 0-20. Form increases after good performances in matches and training, but decreases in other cases. A player who is on form plays correspondingly better than an off-form player. Fitness and freshness are measured from 0-100, and depend solely on training and matches. Players with high fitness ratings maintain energy levels for longer in matches and can be given more playing time, while players with high freshness ratings invest more effort. A player's size is important for back court tactics in attack, as a taller player can more easily throw over the top of the defence. If your team features a number of smaller back court players, you shouldn't attempt too many long-range throws. Smaller players in defence are usually better at challenges and have more stamina, as they compensate for their lack of size with a higher work-rate. Heavier weight can positively influence a player's effectiveness around the circle, but will tend to reduce the player's sprinting speed (e.g. on fast counter-attacks). You may find that younger players are a little better in defence, whereas defensive performance tends to decline in older players. As a result, a player can have a defence bonus or a defence deficit, which is measured in percent and directly affects defensive strength. Try and keep your levels of acceptance as a coach as high as possible, to prevent dissatisfied players leaving the club. It can also help if you persuade players to adopt your (and their) club as their favourite club in the whole handballing world. One background factor, although it is often important, is a player's character and attributes. There are a lot of different character facets and attributes, which affect many areas including a player's strength. If you have an all-rounder in your team, this player can fill every field position with a minimum of 70 percent of their strength. Fair players are penalised less often, while lazy players have more problems in training. Right-clicking a player's image or his/her shirt displays full information about the player. Briefly holding the mouse pointer over an abbreviation or symbol activates the Tooltip, which automatically explains the symbol or abbreviation in question. 1.3 Contracts/agreements A player may have either a contract or an agreement with a club. In professional leagues, clubs may only retain players on contracts. These have a limited time duration. Within this time period, the player may only leave the club with the club's consent. In amateur leagues, players may also be retained on contracts, but these are more expensive than agreements. Agreements have no time limit, but the player may leave the club at any time, if the player is dissatisfied or receives a better offer from a different club, for example. The game does not include a compulsory waiting period after transfers, but direct transfers are only possible until 15 January during the season. After that, transfers may only take place for the following season. The same rule applies to loan players. A new feature allows you to signal your interest in signing a player. You may do this, for example, via the info screen displayed after right-clicking the player. Once you have signalled your interest to a player, and provided your club is attractive to the player, s/he will delay extending their current contract, and will wait for you to make an offer. 1.4 Player development/trends Player strengths are updated on 15 December and 15 June each season. In gameplay, the likelihood of a strength being adjusted is frequently shown as a trend. If this shows as positive, the strength rises with the level of probability shown, but if it is negative, the strength reduces with the probability shown. 1.5 Direct negotiations In gameplay, you will frequently undertake negotiations with a wide variety of contacts. Negotiations always follow the same pattern. Your negotiating partner's mood is displayed on the right. The goal and status of the negotiation are also specified. How satisfied a negotiating partner is can be seen in the face of the negotiating partner and is also written out under Attitude. If a certain negotiation time has passed in negotiations with players, the negotiation is broken off, this is clearly written on the partner's face. If you don´t want a time limit during your player negotiations you are able to disable it in the settings. When the negotiation dialog box opens, look at the negotiation items on the left. With the + and - buttons you can increase or decrease the corresponding negotiation parameters. You only send your offer to the negotiating partner by clicking on "Submit offer". But don't overdo it, or the negotiation will fail. If you are satisfied with the result, confirm this by clicking on "Sign contract". This type of negotiation is used in many places in the game and always works that way. 1.6 Ratings using symbols To simplify the process of comparison and evaluation, the game uses a rating system with the following levels: bronze (poor), silver (average), gold (good). For example, if the total number of fans is displayed with two bronze and one silver symbol, you only have an average number of fans. However, if you see two bronze, two silver and two gold symbols, this indicates a large number of fans. To simplify the display, the game frequently only displays the symbol which best represents the situation. For example, a team with a single silver ball is better than a team with five bronze balls. In the same way, talent stars and abilities use the following rating system (from poor to very good): red - green - bronze silver - gold. Player ratings are indicated both by a number and a symbol. The colours red, yellow and green are used in that order. 1.7 Coaching ability/appointments/property The game offers a number of opportunities to gain an advantage through coaching ability, appointments or property. For a simplified overview, the advantages and disadvantages are briefly summarised on a card. You may only use coaching abilities once. You may only make a certain number of appointments every month. This also depends on any other private commitments on your time. Any property you acquire brings permanent advantages. 1.8 Coaching level Coaching levels are measured from 1 to 10. If you succeed as coach and manager, your level increases, but your level decreases if the opposite is true. The higher your level, the better you can train and prepare your team. Furthermore, each higher level offers the chance to acquire improved coaching ability. From a certain level onwards, personal sponsors may also start to show an interest in you. 1.9 Prestige, relations between coach and players, and derbies Handball Manager 2021 incorporates an ongoing system for evaluating your club's longterm success and translating this into Prestige. The maximum value is 100, but many clubs have yet to accumulate any international prestige. The status of the country in which the current team plays will also be taken into account. A championship in an emerging handball nation earns less prestige than a championship in Germany or Spain. Prestige is a very important commodity, because top players, sponsors, fans, the media, financial backers etc. are very conscious of prestige when deciding whether to commit to a particular club. The game features a wide variety of favourite and hated clubs. Every player and the manager develop certain sympathies and antipathies towards individual clubs. These emotions have a significant influence on a player's reaction to offers from the corresponding clubs. An extremely important factor is the relationship between the coach and his/her players. This is reflected in the game by the level of acceptance achieved by the coach. Every club has two derby opponents. These are the clubs in the current league geographically closest to your club on the map of your country. Derbies assume special significance for the crowd, the real fans, and your board of directors. 2. The first week 2.1 Data slots and Steam Workshop Data can be exchanged very well with other users via the Steam Workshop. We offer slots 1-9 in the program in the DB folder, each of which can be filled with different contents. In the game, the slots are selected on the main menu. The contents in DB_Default should not be edited directly because we are also updating them. However, you can copy the contents of DB_Default to another slot and edit them there. Please take a look at the instructions for the Steam Workshop tool. 2.2 "Real career", "Select first club" or "Create own club"? First, choose whether to be a manager in men's or in women's handball. After clicking the "New game" button, you may enter your name and your date of birth. You then have the opportunity to choose your position as a player, should you wish to play for your team as a player-coach. You may also select one of the default manager portrait shots, or use your own image in the game. Use the .jpg image of your choice. Simply click the appropriate buttons. Advanced users may upload a .tga image with a black background and Alpha channel. You can also name your favourite clubs, and the clubs you like considerably less. You are much more likely to receive offers from your favourite clubs, whereas an offer from one of the clubs you dislike is fairly unlikely. You may also identify your favourite national team, which increases the likelihood of an offer in the course of the game. Now you may choose whether to select a club, start an actual managing career, or set up your own club. If you decide to choose the club directly (you may optionally select a national team), you will be hired straight away without a negotiating phase. Your coaching level at the start depends on the team you choose, but will only rarely be better than level 3. If you check the "contract protected " box, the club will not fire you, and you can play without fear of dismissal. You can remove your protected status during the game in the Person menu. If you begin an actual managing career, you will receive offers at the beginning of the season from a variety of clubs, generally from lower leagues. You can set up a negotiating appointment with one of the clubs. This initially takes you to the overview screen, although your options remain limited as you have no track record as a coach. On starting the week by clicking the arrow to the bottom right, the clock starts and your negotiating appointment draws ever nearer. After successfully completing your negotiations, from the following week you have the opportunity to check out your new club, set up a training plan, and work on your team lineup. In this scenario, the club will have completed all its pre-season activities, and sponsorship deals are already concluded. You will only need to complete your calculations for the season in this scenario if you already had a contract with a club at the beginning of the season. You start at coaching level 1. If you wish to set up your own club, you will see a menu allowing you to set more precise options for your club. You enter a name, further details of the club and a location on the map. You also set investment levels in different areas of the club's activities. The initial conditions for your club depend on how you spread your investment. You also have the opportunity to enter names into the naming pool. These will then appear in the youth and amateur sections of your club. Once you have finished entering the details, you set up the club by clicking "create new club". The club starts in the lowest division of your chosen country. As team owner, you cannot be fired. 2.3 Sponsors/Initial negotiations If you have chosen a club or set up your own club, your next task is to negotiate with sponsors. Open negotiations with a sponsor by clicking the appropriate logo. Once the negotiations box has opened, you will see the points to be negotiated on the right. Click on the ball to select the contractual detail. In "easy negotiating mode", click on the ball to amend the detail. In "expert mode" you may set specific raises or reductions using the lower slider (e.g. sums of money). Continue negotiations until your opposite number no longer appears "quite as happy". Make sure you don't overdo it, or your talks will collapse. Once you're happy with the results, confirm by clicking OK. This form of negotiation occurs frequently in the game, and always follows the same pattern. You need to negotiate contracts with one main sponsor and two secondary sponsors. Select candidate sponsors by clicking the tabs. You must also conclude a contract with an advertising/marketing agency, responsible for signing up further commercial partners. You may set the required sums for the sponsors pool and the number of sponsors you've incorporated in your budget. Be aware that overly high sums may put off potential sponsors. After you're done, leave the sponsors dialogue box. 2.4 Inbox and online instructions We introduced two functions to increase accessibility to the game. In the lower right area you will find the inbox. Here you will find e-mails that are sent to you at the start of the game and then in the further course of the game with information on which actions are useful at the moment. Some of the mails contain links that lead you directly to the relevant menu item or a website. In order to maintain a clear overview, the mails are deleted after 30 days, alternatively you can delete the selected mail yourself using the button. You also have the "Instructions" button in the weekly overview in the upper left area. If you click on this you will receive detailed information about the menu screen you are currently on. However, only as long as you remain on the menu item with the mouse. 2.5 What are the key tasks in the first week? In the first week of the season, you should be sure to set up your training plan for the whole season in advance. From the main screen of the training area (Team - Training), you will come to the annual training planner. Use the buttons to the bottom left to set up training for the coming week. After this, you are automatically taken to the following week. Simply click the weeks as they come up to set up a training plan for the full season. Keep an eye on team values such as freshness and fitness, and don't ignore team spirit, fighting spirit and consistency (team work). If you feel the values are too low, consider whether targeted training sessions, a training camp or motivation sessions could bring about an improvement. Use the Training Camp option in the Training area to set up special training activities. If the fighting spirit is too low, select a motivation seminar (Training Training Camp Motivation) and set a date for the motivation seminar by drag and drop. Your team's fighting spirit increases when the motivation seminar takes place. If you have funds available, you may also select a more expensive variety of appointment, with correspondingly greater effectiveness. At the start, you will possess one or more abilities as a coach. Go to the personal area and select "Skills". Review your skills in the lower area. If you want to try one of these out, click on it and use the dialogue box if necessary to choose the player it should affect. 2.6 The assistant coach and other staff If you wish, the assistant coach can take over certain tasks. Initially, the assistant coach can select the team line-up. Choose this function directly by clicking the "Co" button on the line-up screen. If you are choosing a line-up according to special criteria, you may also instruct the coach specifically regarding the line-up and your defensive tactics. In terms of attacking and defensive tactics, the assistant coach can set the tactics via the co-button. It is also possible for the assistant coach to set up the annual training plan. The assistant coach can take on a major task during matches if the assistant is instructed to make substitutions automatically. Use the appropriate button to the top left. To hire an assistant coach and a goalkeeper coach, use the "MANAGER Employees Assistant coach" option. Use the option Team Assistant instructions and the "Special" button under TEAM - Tactics to give your assistant detailed instructions. Hire an assistant Event Manager using "CLUB Supporting programme", and an HR assistant using "CLUB Employees Other Employees". Both should help you with the settings under the corresponding menu point. 3. Team 3.1 Tactics 3.1.1 The line-up When finalising your line-up, you can choose attacking and defensive line-ups and your defensive system. Select a defensive system using the buttons to the bottom right. The "Defensive players: attacking players" system describes the ratio of players in defensive or attacking positions. For example, if you choose "6:0" as your ratio, this means all field players are defensively orientated. The positions of the field players on the court change directly depending on your choice. You can review the effect of your choices on the defensive system using the "Defence tactics" button. The Player List displays all the players on your team and appropriate information about them. For a more in-depth review, click "More info" for additional details. To add a player to the line-up, click the name in the list and drag and drop the player information field which now appears to the desired position. If you hold the field over a particular position, you will immediately see the player's strength in this position. To move a player already in the line-up to a different position, you do not need to choose the name again from the list. Simply select the player on the court and drag and drop to the new position. You can alternate positions in defence and attack. For example, you might wish the left wing defender to switch to the line player (pivot) position in attacking mode. Drag and drop the player information field to the desired position in defence/attack. If you do not adjust the settings, a player chosen in defence will automatically take up the corresponding position in attack and vice-versa. If you wish to remove a player from the line-up, select the player, drag the player information field to the list of players, and drop the player there. If you do not wish to choose your line-up manually, you can pick your team accordingly to specific criteria, which are found by pressing the "Special" button. The "Auto" button automatically completes your line-up. You can use this function to ensure your best players appear on the bench. If your club has hired an assistant coach, you will see a button marked "Co". This allows the assistant coach to pick a line-up quickly and simply. The list of players displays all important information about the players. Players who have already been added to the line-up are shown in blue. Players only selected for attack are shown in light green. Substitutes are shown in white, players not selected are shown in grey. Switching to your "second line-up" allows you to specify a substitute for each individual player. This means the player will only ever be replaced by the named substitute (provided the substitute is available). Consistency is indicated to the bottom left. This will tend to increase as the season goes on, thanks to training and matches. This value is improved by not overdoing transfer activity, allowing your team to settle as a unit. Right-click on a player to access further functions relating to individual players. 3.1.2 Defence tactics You may choose one of six different defensive systems. The more defensively you set up your team, the easier it is for your opponent to score with long-range throws. However, it is more difficult to succeed against a very defensive team with challenges or passing moves. A very defensive system would be appropriate if your team features physically large players, some of them boasting the "blocking" ability, but showing an overall lack of fitness. Aggressive defending makes it more difficult for your opponents to score with long-range throws. If the players are fit as well, they can stop solo runs and passing moves. This can help neutralise strong attacking opponents. As these tactics require a lot of energy from the attacking players, it would be an advantage to reserve strong players on the bench, which you can bring on later as required. A player in your opponents' attack can be marked man-to-man by dragging and dropping your directly opposing attacking player onto him. An attacking player who is man-to-man marked can no longer play to his full strength in attack. However, the man-to-man marker is no longer available to defend for his team, and quickly burns up energy. If you switch your defensive system, any man-to-man marking is automatically cancelled. You should carefully consider man-to-man marking when your own team is significantly worse than their opponents, or your opponents only have one outstanding player. Use the field to the bottom left to set your team's attitude, physical approach and frequency of attempting fast counter-attacks. The comparisons of your own team values with those of your opponent help with these settings. Use the values to estimate the settings you will require to succeed in defence. The higher you set your team's effort, the more chance you have of winning a match, even with a worse team. On the other hand, high effort requires extra energy. If your team's fighting spirit is much lower than your opponents, one tactical option is to increase the effort. If you set your team to play with a highly physical approach, your team will win more duels, but at the same time runs the risk of more sin-bin penalties and a corresponding disadvantage in the match. If your team boasts good fitness and your opponents are worse than you in this respect, you have a good opportunity of scoring with fast counterattacks. If your fitness levels are low, it is best not to pursue this strategy. To help you with your settings, your defensive strengths are compared with your opponents' attacking strengths. If you have hired an assistant coach, you will see the "Co" button, allowing settings to be made automatically. You also have the choice of setting individual defensive options for each defensive position. By clicking the "Defensive behavior" button, the player information fields change, and you can now see how each individual player will behave in defence. Clicking the slider in the middle of each field allows you to choose between strongly attacking and strongly defending options. If you make a substitution, the new player takes over your settings for the position. Use the "Delete" button to return the settings to the default. 3.1.3 Offence tactics You can choose your team's favoured method of scoring goals in attack. Make an initial basic choice between free or fixed tactics. Free tactics allows the players to decide who will attempt what kind of scoring attempt and when, based on their roles in the team. Fixed tactics allow you to decide more precisely which players should attempt to score in which situations. In free tactics, you make settings for the entire team. In fixed tactics, your attacking parameters are set per player and position. You can also use the corresponding menu item to set how the goalkeeper should behave when he attacks himself. You may set the frequency of long-range throws, solo efforts and passing moves. The most important factor is the relationship between the three. If you set all three to the maximum, this has the same effect in gameplay as setting all three to the minimum. Review the specific abilities of your attacking players in comparison to the defending players, the defensive system, and the training status compared to your opponents. For example, if you have players with good jumping ability and your opponents favour a very defensive system, a good option is to give priority to long-range throws. You can swap the positions of your attacking players by drag and drop. If you have hired an assistant coach, you can make these settings automatically using the "Assistant" button. Regardless of whether you have opted for free or fixed tactics, you can specify the plays you want your team to deploy. Keep an eye on the complexity of the play. Relatively simple plays are quicker to learn in training, but have a lower prospect of succeeding in matches. Complex plays require more training time, but will result in goals more often than simple plays. Click to select whether your team should use a play in a match (golden ball) or not (bronze ball). Certain plays cannot be used against a 6:0 defensive system. If an opponent deploys this system, the plays are unavailable for selection. Methods for training and creating plays are explained at point 3.3. You may also choose to activate a fast centre. A fast centre increases the likelihood of scoring a lot of goals relatively quickly. However, your team will burn up a great deal of energy, so you should use the option sparingly. It is usually sensible only to activate the fast centre for short periods. A further tactical option is to select two line players (pivots). This also requires rather more energy than standard tactics. The greater effectiveness around the circle offered by two line players is offset by a weaker back court. 3.1.4 Tasks During matches, a number of situations arise which are the responsibility of a single player. Use match tasks to assign these responsibilities to an ordered list of players. You can assign an ordered list of players for the following tasks: captain, 7-meter thrower, goalkeeper to defend 7-meter throws, and free-throw taker. The team captain uses his character and ability to exert extra influence on the team, especially when the team spirit or the fighting spirit are low and the atmosphere in the team is tense. Assign the 7-meter thrower, the free-throw taker and the goalkeeper according to specific abilities and strengths. Depending on the match situation, the 7-meter thrower may be your second or third choice on the list. 3.1.5 Instructions to assistant You can make a wide variety of settings by right-clicking on a player and making selections in the dialogue box. This menu item is used to make it easier for you to have an overview of the settings made there and to have quick access to the assistant coach's instructions and player conversations. By checking the corresponding box, you can order your assistant to deploy the corresponding player in his/her main position only (even if the player may be stronger in an alternative position than another player), and whether a player should always play, or never at all. You may also use the appropriate buttons to order your assistant only to field a player in attack or defence. At certain intervals (depending on the player's acceptance of you as the coach), you can hold talks with players, allowing you to influence the player's feeling of well-being and other behaviour. 3.2 Training 3.2.1 Weekly planning You can review all scheduled training sessions for the coming week in the weekly planning view. The number of available training sessions depends on the division your team plays in. You can make changes to the scheduled training sessions for the week, or to individual training sessions. Click on a training session to open the training session selection dialogue box. Training weeks labelled "free" can be edited as you choose. You can rename them by right clicking. Changes to individual training sessions remain when you select one of the three training weeks and are saved with the current game status. This allows you to set individual training weeks and use them in your annual planning. With the corresponding buttons you can also save and load training weeks (even in different savegames). In the upper area you will see a comparison of your team's fitness and freshness with those of your next opponents. If you are not satisfied with the comparison, you could make changes to your weekly training schedule at short notice. In the lower area, you are offered the opportunity to save or load all your training weeks. You can use these functions regardless of the game status. 3.2.2 Annual planning You can set a training schedule for every week of the season. An overview showing every week is displayed on the right hand side. The display is divided in two, so you need to click on the down arrow to see the second half of the year. Select a week and use the buttons on the left to set a training schedule for the corresponding week. Should you wish to delete the current annual plan, click the "Rest training" button. If you have hired an assistant coach, the assistant can set the training plan for the year. Use the "Co" buttons. The dark blue training diagram indicates changes in the freshness and fitness of your team over time. The button above the diagram allows you to switch to your diary for the corresponding week. This allows you to evaluate the demands on your players during that week. Use the buttons at the top to load and save your training plans. Training plans can be used regardless of the current game status. 3.2.3 Individual training Your players can work on improving their specific abilities in training. The display shows your players in a row at the top. The ability which a player is currently attempting to improve in training is shown under the shirt. If a player is not working on a specific ability, you will see a star. You will see a progress bar alongside the indicated ability. As soon as the progress bar reaches the end of the line, the player acquires the new ability. Click on the player to choose the ability he should work on. Switching to a different ability costs a large part of the progress he has made on the previously chosen ability. For this reason, changing the ability to be trained must be confirmed by clicking "Train the selected ability". If no ability is selected, the player works on all his abilities. As time passes, the colour of the star changes until it is gold (yellow). In this case, a new specific ability can be acquired immediately by making the appropriate selection. This procedure takes significantly longer than learning an ability directly, but it can be a good approach with older players whose abilities may decrease. Underneath the ability currently in training, you will see the primary or secondary position the player is currently learning. You cannot set or change this using individual training, it simply comes about when a player is fielded in a different position than the primary position. The learning progress is also indicated by a progress bar. As soon as this has reached the end of the line, the player acquires the position as a new secondary or primary position. Note that a right-handed player cannot acquire the positions of right back and right winger, and vice-versa for a left-handed player. If a right-handed player whose primary position is left back is fielded on the right wing, that leads to him learning the wing position of a right-hander, i.e. left winger. 3.2.4 Sick bay You will see which of your players is currently injured or ill, and the nature of the illness. You can make a player happier by paying a visit, which will also increase your level of acceptance with the player. You can only make one visit per week. 3.3 Plays 3.3.1 Training plays This is the area for your team to learn and practise plays. Relatively simple plays will be learned more quickly, but have less chance of success. Complex plays require more training time, but will result in goals more often than simple plays. Certain plays cannot be used against a 6:0 defensive system Use the buttons alongside the plays to select which plays should be trained at the present time, and which should be used in the next match (the play is active when the button lights up). The more plays you train, the lower the benefit of training for each individual play. If you choose not to practise a play for a lengthy period, the players will gradually perform the play less effectively. The effectiveness of a play is a product of complexity and familiarity. 3.3.2 Edit plays This area allows you to create your own plays, practise them in training, and then use them in matches. After selecting the play to be edited, give the new play a name. On the right, you will see a schematic view of your attacking plays (using standard abbreviations). The silver ball indicates the play in possession. Lower down, choose the next move e.g. pass or cross. Once you've chosen a move, the players available to participate in the move are displayed in the upper area. Click the corresponding button to select the player. After making these settings, advance the list to the top right by one step (step 2 in this case). Now repeat the procedure for step 2 not all moves require a receiving player. In certain cases, it's enough to click one of the buttons to the bottom right. In step 3, you may decide whether the play should come to an end or whether there should be another move. A golden ball indicates a player with the chance of finishing off a play. Frequently, a number of players have the chance of throwing at goal. In this case, you must select one of the players indicated by a golden ball. If you want to keep the play going, specify another move and set the play to finish in step 4. Once you're happy with the play, make sure to save it. You can also save plays "externally", for use in other game status situations. 3.4 Training camp 3.4.1 Training methods You can boost your training activities by holding a training camp, and other special training events. Choose a month using the buttons to the top left. The diary for the corresponding month is displayed below the buttons. Available training methods are displayed to the right. All methods are available in three forms and price levels. To set up an event, drag the field to the appropriate date, so that the grey arrow on the left points to the line. You have a limited number of events per season. In the events overview, alongside the "Number" point, small symbols indicate how often you may still set up the corresponding event. With a click on the button "Training camp / Motivation co-planning" you can let the program set the tasks appropriately. 3.4.2 Motivation A variety of methods to improve your players' motivation are listed here. Select and deploy these using the same procedure as detailed at point 3.4.1. With a click on the button "Training camp / Motivation co-planning" you can let the program set the tasks appropriately. 3.4.3 Friendly During the pre-season phase, you can organise up to three friendly matches, which will be played in the course of the week. Use these games to test various tactical options and boost your team's consistency. All the teams in your country are available as opponents. Better teams will demand a bigger share of ticket sales. Otherwise, procedures are similar to those detailed at points 3.4.2 and 3.4.1. 3.5 Youth section 3.5.1 Teams In the youth section, you can monitor promising young players in the U17, U15 and U13 youth categories. Current strength, age, character, ability and talent are displayed for each player by a star. If you are determined to retain a player, you can click on the name and bind the player to your club with a payment. Youth players can improve with the passage of time. This is partly dependent on what you invest in the youth section. Once a youth player turns 17, you can test the player in your team or offer a contract (or an agreement). The individual then becomes a normal player in your team. A player in the second year of the senior youth category (U17) who you do not sign automatically switches to the reserve (amateur) section in the following season. You can influence the success of your youth teams. The better the quality of your players in the youth departments and the more money you invest in the youth section, the higher the standard of your youth teams. In turn, youth teams in higher divisions attract more talent from your region. If your youth teams appear to be struggling and your club has money to spend, one initial step towards improving the situation is to increase support for the youth section. 3.5.2 Development You can specify key areas for youth development. As part of this, you may select specific abilities requiring special attention in training for both field players and goalkeepers. Players from your youth section will frequently come equipped with these abilities. However, personal attributes and character-building also play a major role. You may select a key area for these as well. However, training and character-building methods may also produce negative effects on your young players. For example, a youth section concentrating on the key area of skill in challenges will often produce players with exactly this ability, but the proportion of overly rough players may increase too. If you do not select any key areas, abilities and attributes will be randomly distributed. 3.6 Second (Reserve) team Your reserve or second team falls into one of two distinct categories: a) The team plays in a much lower league, which is not active, b) the second team actively competes in a league. a) If the team is not active, and provided your club plays at least two divisions above the game's lowest league (this is the second division in the German database as supplied), it may be activated, and will be promoted to the lowest league. The button for this appears to the top left. If your second team is not active, you may set a budget for the team to the left side, while the right side shows the most promising talents in your reserves. As the players are competing at a different level, it is much harder to gauge their true ability. A variety of coloured symbols for defence and attack give a rough indication of the players' strength and abilities. Click on the name if you wish to sign a particular reserve player. b.) If your second team actively competes in a lower league, your scope for action is much greater: Click the "Line-up instructions" button to set a tactical system and decide which players will and will not play. Use the appropriate button to appoint a coach yourself. Click a player name if you wish to trial a player in the first team, with a view to signing the player later on. Players may also be demoted from the first team to the second team; for more details, see point 4.3.1 Contracts. Your second team needs to include a minimum of twelve players. The Infobox to the top left displays information about your next opponents and the current situation in the league table. For more detail, select the "Compare" menu option. Consult the "Finances" area to discover whether raising the budget for the second team would be advisable. Use the "Switch team" function and click the appropriate button to toggle between the first and second teams. If your second team is active, a button to switch back to the first team at any time appears at the top next to the Help button. If you have selected the second team, you may now use the main menu to make a variety of settings for the second team, although the main menu for the second team offers significantly fewer options, as you are not in a position to influence as many aspects of the team. However, it is possible to sign players specifically for the second team (appropriate information appears on the negotiation screen), although you will only have a limited number of appointments for this each week. You cannot end a week while in second team mode. To end a week, either toggle back to the first team using the button at the top, or use the function in the second team menu. The option of operating the second team yourself is intended for experienced players who wish to exercise complete control over all aspects of their club. Beginners or players preferring faster progress through the season may leave the second team to the game's AI with a clear conscience. 4. MANAGEMENT 4.1 Employees 4.1.1 Co-Trainer Selecting this point displays (if available) the contracts with your coach, your goalkeeper coach and your own contract. You can also hire a new coach and goalkeeper coach, thus firing the current coaches (if you have already hired a coach). To do so, click the "Search for a coach" button. This displays a list of all the coaches currently available in the country. You have the opportunity of negotiating with a candidate. An assistant coach can help you with training and a range of other tasks. A goalkeeper coach improves goalkeeper training programmes and the goalkeeper's training scores. If the contract with your coach is set for the duration of a year or less, you have the chance to offer an extension. Use the corresponding button under the contract length indicator. 4.1.2 Other employees High quality staff can have a powerful influence on your club's success. You will notice the benefits on a long-term basis. For example, don't be surprised if players repeatedly suffer injuries if you've cut the medical unit budget. The associated costs are shown as an annual sum, but this is deducted on a weekly basis. Raise or lower the budget by clicking the slider on the ball. The assistant HR manager will provide helpful suggestions regarding personnel if you click the button. The suggestions take into account your club's overall situation and financial position. 4.2. Transfers 4.2.1 Transfer list The transfer list shows players who are leaving their clubs. The list also shows players currently not playing for a club. The buttons labelled 1-13 relate to a player's strength and serve as a filter. Click one of the headings to sort the players in the list according to the corresponding criteria. Should you wish to sign a player, select the player and click "Negotiate". The display indicates whether the player wishes to negotiate with you, and allows you to set an appointment for the negotiation, provided there is no previous appointment. "Conditions" displays the conditions the player requires for a transfer. If you reach agreement with the player on the negotiations, the following applies to a transfer: Conditions: explanation Purchase: You negotiate a transfer fee with the club Purchase (fee): You must pay the club a fixed fee Loan (fee): The player is loaned to you for a year on payment of the fee Free: The transfer has no fee attached Immediate: The player is currently without a club 4.2.2 Scan clubs Choose the continent, the country, the league and the team to start a targeted raid on players from other clubs. The chosen club's squad overview provides information on the players and allows you to set negotiating appointments. Naturally enough, players and their clubs might not play along with your plans. If you are unable to sign a player because he/she is contracted to another club and the club is not willing to release him/her, the player is marked with a red arrow. It can also come about that the player does not wish to switch to your club. In this case, the player is similarly marked with a red arrow. You may sign players showing a yellow arrow, but the club will demand a correspondingly high transfer fee. Players marked with a green arrow are out of contract, or have been placed on the transfer list by their club. These players can be signed without a fee, or for a moderate sum of money. By clicking the appropriate buttons, you may watch the player's progress or signal your interest in signing the player once s/he is out of contract. In both cases, the player will appear on your watch list (4.2.4). 4.2.3 Search Player If you cannot find the appropriate player on the transfer list or by searching other clubs, and if you have funds available, you can perform a filtered search for an appropriate player. Use the dialogue box to set the criteria for your search. If you make no entry for any particular point, the search includes all possible combinations. Pressing the "generally search" button fills the list (below) with players who match the selected criteria. You can choose one of the players and open negotiations with him/her, or call up information about the player. However, the player you have chosen may not be able (or may not wish) to come to your club. You will be advised of this after selecting the player and clicking "Negotiation". If you wish to restrict your search to players who are available for you to sign, use the "candidate search" button. 4.2.4 Watch list The list on the left displays the players you are currently monitoring. Right-clicking or pressing the appropriate button displays all further information about the player. The list on the right displays the players you have indicated you are interested in signing. These players will now think twice before opting to extend their current contracts. Right-clicking will also bring up more information about the player. 4.2.5 Transfers This displays transfers which will take place at the end of the season, both for your club and the entire country. 4.3 Player contracts 4.3.1 Contracts Select this point to display an overview of current contracts. You can review the estimated cost for players for the season, and the proportion of your total budget this will consume. Based on this information, you can decide whether you are still able to sign new players, select the players whose contracts you may wish to extend, or choose which players to place on the transfer list. Choose what you would like to do from "extend contract", "to transfer list", and "lend", and click on the appropriate player. In addition to the contracts, the display also shows a number of key attributes, for example a player's development trend. When you transfer list a player, you'll often find the player disagrees with the decision. You will usually have to pay a sum of money or make the player available on the transfer list without a transfer fee. If the player is prepared to be put on the transfer list, you can choose whether to demand a fixed fee or a negotiable fee for the player. Once a player is on the transfer list, the colour indicating the length of contract changes. If you wish to remove a player from the transfer list, click the name using the "Transfer list" option. If the player does not have a contract, you can only receive a fee if the player is correspondingly young and you are able to demand compensation for his initial training. If your club operates an active reserve team, you may "punish" players using the "in the second team" option. However, players have the opportunity to refuse demotion from the first team. Simply click the player and wait for a reaction. You may also take out insurance by making the appropriate selection and then clicking on a player. The insurance pays the player's salary if s/he is injured, meaning the club avoids paying for an unavailable player. Players who have become entirely surplus to requirements at a club can be fired, although you will have to pay compensation in almost every case. 4.3.2 Squad planning Selecting this point displays information helping you to assess your team and decide whether to make new signings. Your options are to extend contracts, place players on the transfer list, send players out on loan, and demote players to the reserve team. However, the focus of this menu point is the player's position and value. You can review how many players you have available for individual positions, and evaluate them relative to each other. Based on this information, you can make choices to strengthen your team in specific areas. The value of a player depends on the team, the player attributes and his performances. Select "Player rating (see 4.3.4) to display how a player's value is calculated. This should be taken as an indication which can be helpful when making changes to your squad. The column "cont val" displays the player's satisfaction with his own contract. If you see bronze symbols, the player is dissatisfied with his contract. If this is the case, a contracted player loses motivation, while a player with an agreement will probably leave the club at the end of the season. Make sure you review your players' satisfaction with their contracts from time to time. 4.3.3 Automatic extension This menu option simplifies the process of extending a player's contract. Negotiations will not be as intense as negotiations held during the week. Instead, an extension can be swiftly agreed on mutually acceptable terms. This option helps the manager ease his daily workload, but is only available for contracts which are due to expire. 4.3.4 Player rating Use this menu point to view helpful ratings and information about the players on your team. The table shows precise figures for total points earned and a player's value (in percent). The cost per point helps you to assess a player's value to your team. If the cost is over 100, you should consider releasing this player. You should similarly review the situation if a player's value slips under 70 percent. The point "contract" gives an indication (as in squad planning) as to how the player himself assesses his contract with you. 4.4 Merchandise Selecting this point allows you to manage merchandising sales to fans. The list shows ten typical items offered by the club to its fans. By clicking on an item, you can change its price. Be careful not to alienate your fans by setting prices too high. Your income will be the same whether a few fans purchase expensive items, or large numbers of fans buy at a lower price, which also leaves the fans more satisfied. When purchasing items for resale to fans, large orders automatically attract a quantity discount, which depends on the item in question and is displayed below. You may automate the purchase of merchandise simply click the ball. 4.5 Annual overview 4.5.1 Comparison Your task is to lead the club into a financially secure future. It makes sense to plan the season precisely, this is what the calculation is for. Click on the audience area in the calculation view. There you can change the prices for the admission tickets and the calculated average attendance. Note that higher ticket prices do not necessarily lead to higher income, as fewer fans of your club will come to the home games. Take a look at the other calculation points and try to make sensible settings, if you do not understand everything immediately, it doesn´t matter all that much, you have made the most important setting. 4.5.2 Overview The annual overview shows you the club's income and expenditure in the current season, subdivided into a number of areas. On the left, you will see the cash position in the course of the season. To the bottom left, you will see information regarding any conditions you currently have to fulfil. Try to fulfil these as soon as possible, or you may face instant dismissal. 4.6 Record/Series 4.6.1 Season This provides a view of various indicators across the course of the season. All are vital success factors. 4.6.2 Series This provides an overview of a number of series covering your entire coaching career and at your current club. 5. Club 5.1 Hall 5.1.1 Hall overview This displays important information about your hall. You can change your ticket prices here. Use the "Set prices automatically" function if desired. You can also display your hall from every angle. 5.1.2 Move to new hall There may well come a point in time when you need to review whether your current hall matches your club's needs. If your hall is much too small for the club, use this function to move to a bigger hall, provided you have the necessary funds. However, moving hall is only worth the effort if your current hall is permanently sold out. If your team cannot fill its hall for matches, it is possible you may find yourself playing in a smaller hall the following season. You will be warned of this danger during the season. If you move, any additions you have made to the site around the hall will largely be lost. Extensions to the lobby move with you to the new hall wherever possible. You may also rename your hall here. 5.1.3 Site overview Selecting " Site overview" displays information about various functional attributes of your hall. The display shows the lobby and the dressing rooms, with facts about the site over on the right. You should make sure your fans enjoy coming to matches by providing certain services and facilities. These include sufficient parking spaces, appropriate ticketing facilities, and naturally a few activities and distractions to pass the time before entering the hall. The current standard of your facilities is displayed in a facilities index underneath the lobby. If the index fails to match the fans' expectations, you should consider expansion plans to avoid losing spectators. Some additional facilities cost money, some are a source of revenue. A summary of income and expenditure is also displayed. 5.1.4 Extension You can expand the facilities at your hall and on the site. The right half of the display allows you to set the potential expansion options. Every expansion increases the cost estimate. However, planned changes and their associated costs do not take effect until you award the contract for construction work by pressing the confirm button. To improve your hall, select "stadium" at the top of the screen. Using the "changes by click" buttons, you can choose to install bench seating, plastic seats, VIP seats, standing places or advertising hoardings. Click on the appropriate area of the hall to reconstruct that area. Bench seats are cheaper to build but less comfortable and command lower ticket prices. Individual seats are more expensive and comfortable, thus justifying higher ticket prices. Bench seating and plastic seats each provide space for 100 spectators, but VIP seats can only accommodate 30 spectators, while 200 spectators fit into areas set aside for standing. Advertising hoardings provide no seats, but can generate more money from advertising for the following season. If your club frequently plays to a full house, VIP seats represent an opportunity to earn more money, whereas advertising hoardings are a good option for clubs whose normal crowd is too small for the current hall. If you wish to add an upgrade to a better scoreboard, check the "improve" box to install the next best scoreboard. Reconstruction work naturally takes time. The number of weeks you will have to wait is displayed above the area in question. During this period, the corresponding section of the hall cannot yet be used. Click the "periphery" button to view the site. Click "built new car parks" to expand the carpark and increase convenience levels. Click "develop dressing room" to improve the standard of the dressing rooms, increasing your opponents' respect for your team and improving your team's satisfaction at home matches. You should make sure you have a good ticketing system. Selecting "Improvement of the entrance hall through click" displays a choice of features which can be installed in the lobby by clicking the appropriate field. Not every feature is available in every type of hall. The benefit and cost of each feature is displayed to the right. If you wish to install a feature on a field which already contains a feature, you will have to pay additional demolition costs. If you do not wish to proceed with awarding the contract, use the appropriate button. The display on the right shows how many seats are affected by reconstruction. 5.2 Finances Selecting "Finances" displays general information on the club's financial situation, and offers the opportunity to take out credit or invest funds. The display shows the total budget, expenditure to date, cash balance and the club's assets. To take out a credit or invest funds, click the appropriate button. You can set the amount and the term. The longer the term, the better the conditions. The club is subject to a credit limit. Use the same buttons to pay off loans and withdraw investments before the term is up. The display shows the associated costs. The basic rate of interest is displayed to the top left. This changes annually depending on the overall state of the economy. 5.3 Supporting program If you wish to offer your fans entertainment over and above the match, you can set up a supporting programme. You can hire a PA announcer to keep the fans informed and enthusiastic, increasing their support for your club. You can publish a matchday programme for each match, keeping the spectators informed. You can cover your costs by selling the programme, or give it away for free. The programme can help amuse the crowd during a boring match, functions as a souvenir, and (if you give it away free) can help boost sympathy from the spectators. You can organise a half-time show which may attract a few more spectators. Note that you will only see an actual benefit from an appropriate show. If your show is too expensive, you will soon use up the extra revenue provided by more spectators. To help rouse your team and improve your home advantage, you can hire a cheerleading team. If you wish, you may hire an assistant Event Manager to take on the appropriate tasks. 5.4 Public relations Over the long term, you can improve your club's overall position with targeted PR activity. You have five choices, each with three variants. Select a month using the buttons to the top left. You will see your appointments for the month displayed below. Your potential PR activities are displayed to the right. To set up an event, drag the field to the appropriate date, so that the grey arrow on the left points to the line. You have a limited number of events per season. In the events overview, alongside the "Number" point, small symbols indicate how often you may still set up the corresponding event. With a click on the button "Co - PR Manager" you can let the program set the tasks appropriately. 5.5 Sponsors You can review your main sponsorship contract, your two secondary sponsorship contracts, the total raised from your sponsors pool so far, and your advertising agency contract. You can change the fee charged to each participant in your sponsors pool. Review the effect of your team captain standing in front of the sponsors logo board in a home and away shirt. In the first three weeks of a season, you have the option of changing your home and away shirt colours for next season. 5.6 Overview The overview displays all the key information about your club. The following facts are especially important: Number of fans: There are nine different fan levels which indicate the size of the club's following. The levels are relative to one another and are based on the division you play in. If your club is promoted, the fan level will probably decrease, although this does not necessarily mean the number of fans has reduced: what may have been a large number in the second division is only considered normal in the first division. The fan level within a league tends to remain constant, but can rise or fall depending on specific events (winning the league, relegation etc.). Not all fan levels are available for certain clubs because they operate in a limited catchment area. The black symbols indicate the maximum achievable level per category. Fan attitudes: Fan attitudes influence the size of crowds in various situations. Matches against weaker opponents will not attract many demanding fans, whereas loyal fans will turn up regardless. Loud fans mean a better atmosphere in the hall and slightly improve your home advantage. If the atmosphere in the team is poor, frustrated fans prefer to remain at home, while success-oriented fans simply stay away if the team is not successful. Euphoric fans, who frequently appear after winning a trophy, will be determined to see every match played by their club. For the most part, however, the fans behave totally normally. Image among fans and board directors: These values indicate your standing within the club. Both values range from 0 to 100, although the lower range is something you will never experience, or at least not for long. If these values fall to around 50, your job is in danger. The board's faith in you decreases if the team falls below the targets stipulated in your contract, if you frequently lose, or if your finances are not orderly. Your image among the fans rises and falls depending on the way the team plays, and your incoming and outgoing transfers. The significance of changes mainly depends on media interest (see below), as passions will be influenced and exaggerated by the media. Attitude of club officials: Your job security following bad defeats or missed targets depends on the attitude of club officials. Concerned officials may overreact, even if you do not expect it. Financial circumstances: The financial circumstances of the club indicate how much money you can expect to receive from sponsors. There are 10 different levels. Changes to the financial environment are a definite possibility for a successful team. Media interest: Media interest indicates the interest shown by (local) media for your club. High media interest will lead to bigger crowds, but also to more extreme reactions from the fans and the board of directors. Media interest varies dramatically and is largely dependent on success. All these values can vary depending on events, appointments (see 7.4) and coaching ability (see 7.2). The club's honours to date are shown on the right. In the lower section, you will see certain details of your contract with the club. This is also where you can offer to extend your contract with the club. This area indicates your current derby opponents. Derbies have special significance for your crowd, your most loyal fans, the team and the board of directors. 6. Statistic The statistics area contains a wealth of important information about leagues, tables, competitions etc. Depending on the statistics you choose, the buttons above the statistics help you navigate or set filters. In the team statistics, right click to display detailed information about individual players. On the left side, you will see a number of sub menus depending on the statistics you choose. If you mark one of these sub menu points by right clicking, this statistic will be added to your personal favourites and marked with an "F" (please use the final list). To remove the statistic from your favourites, right click again. Pressing "Favourites" displays your personal choice of statistics. Coach of the Year provides an overview and comparison of the current top coaches both at home and internationally. These lists are a good indicator of which coaches are in line for the "Coach of the Year" or "European Coach of the Year" awards, although these lists are much more likely to be influenced by short-term events than the awards jury. Your own points total is displayed lower down, allowing you to estimate your current standing in world handball. Awards and trophies will have a positive influence on your club's prestige. 7. Person 7.1 Private 7.1.1 Overview The "Personal details" area displays a review of your situation, your contract and your honours to date. If your contract is due to expire and you have concluded a contract with another club for the following season, outline details of the new contract are displayed instead of the length of contract and options. You retain the opportunity to play in the team as player coach. You begin and end your career by clicking the appropriate button. You may also review your profile. Clicking the "Use image as player image" button allows you to use your manager portrait (which you may already have uploaded as a jpg image see point 2.1) as a player image as well. As a player coach, you always have the highest level of talent and an initial strength from 2-4. You can also review your personal financial situation. If you have money left over after deducting your living costs, it is transferred to your account. You can use this to purchase property (see 7.3). Your current property and the benefits it brings can be reviewed in the top field on the right-hand side. You may wish to donate money to your club out of your own pocket. A very generous donation may even positively influence the board's faith and trust in you. To set the sum, scroll down below the "Donate X to the club" button. Click the button to make the donation. Once you have achieved everything there is to be achieved and you have risen to the top of the coaching ladder (coaching level 10), you can use your private resources at the end of the season to set up a new club, which will start in the lowest league. Naturally, you cannot be fired as coach of your own club, handing you the opportunity to build up the club at your leisure and lead from the front. Click the "Create own club" button and enter certain details of your club in the dialogue box. You can choose how much money you wish to invest and how this should be distributed to the various sections. The more money you invest in a section, the better the starting conditions for this section of your club. If you wish to remove your protection from dismissal, you can do this here. You may also extend your contract, and set or amend your favourite and most disliked clubs. 7.1.2 Family Away from the hard-edged business of handball, you will wish to enjoy the benefit of a loving partnership and start a family. Events in your private life take place normally in the course of a week, and you will be informed accordingly. In this area, you can make settings which may make certain developments more or less likely. A very modest lifestyle tends not to be particularly inspiring to potential partners, and may not necessarily make your partner happy. Investing little or no time in your private life leaves much more time for the business of handball (taking on more appointments, for example), but little time to get to know somebody. Your partner will naturally expect you to spend at least some time with them. Settings made here apply to the coming weeks. Changes will only produce the desired result a few weeks later. If you have been blessed with the gift of children, you will naturally consider how to bring them up in the professional handball context. Your partner will be less than thrilled if you bring up your children to be too obsessed with the game. Once your children have reached the U13-level age group, they can join the youth section of your current club. If you switch clubs, your children move with you. From the age of 17, your children can embark on handball careers of their own. 7.1.3 Search for a club Use this menu option if you wish to take the initiative and go in search of a new club. Your best chance lies in finding a club with relatively low satisfaction ratings and a level approximately matching your coaching level. You are more likely to be hired by a club you have identified as your favourite. Use the "Inquiry" button to give it a try. You will receive an appropriate answer, stating whether the club is interested. If so, you can set a negotiating appointment. 7.1.4 Personal sponsors If you are successful, you will start attracting offers of personal sponsorship. When considering commitments to sponsors, you should balance the obvious financial advantages against the time commitment involved. If you commit too much time to your personal sponsors and your family, you will not be able to accept as many club appointments each month. It could leave you unable to fulfil club appointments for a full two days. 7.2 Skills This point allows you to use your skills as a coach. Skills you already possess are displayed in the lower area. You have a number of opportunities to acquire coaching skills: Appointments (see 7.4) Success: By gaining promotion, winning a cup or winning the league you can acquire coaching skills normally only available above your coaching level. Collect points: Underneath the display showing your current coaching level, you will find six areas of expertise. Every week, you receive a certain points total, which you can distribute among these areas any way you wish. Once you have filled the bar underneath a particular area of expertise with points, you acquire this as a new skill, which is then displayed at the bottom of the screen in the form of a card. Click on an ability card to review the effect of using this skill. Furthermore, you can use the "Change" buttons to control priorities for the individual skill you acquire. For example, if you set the "Training organisation" area of expertise back to level 1, the bar will fill with points more quickly and you will soon acquire the skill, but the effect of using this skill is correspondingly reduced. The maximum number of skills is limited by your coaching level. To use an skill, click on the skill to open a dialogue box. You may be required to select a player, before clicking the "Use skill" button. You will then be shown the effects of using the skill. Once you have acquired a coaching skill, there is a certain probability that you will acquire a special skill, known as "Inspiration" in the game, and recognisable by a different colour. This leads to significant changes and can be extremely helpful. 7.3 Property You can use the money you have earned to make purchases, and improve your life as a coach with your new property. The left box shows the property you are currently using. The right box shows the property you are not using at the moment. Normally, property only benefits you if it is in use, but certain property benefits you in an unused state, or only if it is not used (e.g. stocks and shares). To move a property to a different status, select it and then use the arrows. If you wish to sell your property, click the appropriate "Sell" button. If you wish to view a precise description of an object, click to view a descriptive text in the lower area of the box, and view the benefits under "Effects". To acquire investments, use the ball to set the amount you wish to invest and click "invest money". Search for other property using the list above the investment bar. Click "Buy" to purchase the item. 7.4 Appointments You can earn coaching abilities by showing personal commitment. Choose one of the appropriate appointments. You are not available to the club or your team on that date. During the week, you will discover whether it has benefited you. Depending on the time you have set aside for your private life and personal sponsors in the last two months, the number of available appointments may increase or decrease (maximum 3). 7.5 Shares You can invest your hard-earned money in shares. You may choose from shares issued by all the sponsors represented in the game. Never forget that although you can earn a lot of money with shares, you can also lose heavily too. The top row lists the most important information about the shares. At the bottom, use the appropriate buttons to buy and sell shares. You can set the size of your portfolio using the up/down buttons. You may set target prices and stop prices for all the shares you own. The target price is the point at which you wish to sell your shares. The stop price is a form of emergency brake at which you wish to cut your losses and sell. If you set a target or stop price, sales take place automatically during the week, provided the shares hit the specified price. Once you own shares for yourself, you will see a new sub-menu option where you can manage your own personal shares. 7.6 Bookmaker You may visit the bookmaker and bet your own money on any match featured in the game. Use the tabs in the upper area to select the league or event which you wish to bet on. Use the left and right arrows underneath to select the country and competition. The matches then appear in the box. You may bet on victory - 1, a draw - 0 or a defeat - 2 for the home team. The odds on draws are considerably higher, as this rarely occurs in handball. You may also combine matches from different leagues and competitions in a combination bet. Your odds are displayed to the right. Decide how much to stake by clicking on the bar with the rolling ball. The odds multiply with every extra match you add to your combination. Click the "Place bet" button to complete your bet. Select the Open tab to review running bets. Account provides an overview of your betting account. 7.7. Career / Hall of Fame 7.7.1 Sucesses You can review your successes as a coach to date here. 7.7.2 Career overview Click here to access information as to which clubs and national teams you have coached so far, and the honours you have won with these teams. 7.7.3 Set up Hall of Fame The Hall of Fame allows you to choose your favourite players of all time from your current club, and from the entire game database. This allows you to enjoy the achievements of alltime greats even after they have ended their active careers. A list of Hall of Fame candidates appears on the left. Up to 20 players can be added to the list. You may add any player to the list by clicking the "Candidate for the Hall of Fame" button, to the bottom right of the detailed player information. You access the detailed player information at various points in the game (e.g. line-up, transfer market, player search, etc.) by right-clicking on the player name or image. Use the arrows on the right of the box to toggle between the two sides of the candidate list. Use the trash can symbol to remove selected players from the list. Use the arrow to either side of the boxes to transfer players between the two Halls of Fame. Use the tab in the right top corner to select whether you wish to edit the Hall of Fame from your current club, or your personal favourite players regardless of their club. The club Hall of Fame can naturally only include players currently playing for the club. 8. National 8.1 Squad 8.1.1 Assemble squad If you have chosen to manage a national team, this area displays your squad. The list comprises a maximum of 16 players. You can drop players from the squad, and call up new players to the national team using the "Search player" function (see 8.1.3). If you do not wish to undertake this task yourself, click "Select best players" to add the best players in the world to your squad. If you wish to drop a player, select the corresponding player in the list and click the "Discard player" button. The player will then be removed from the squad. Use the "Resign" function to step down when you no longer wish to coach a national team. 8.1.2 Scan clubs You may search for players among all the clubs in the world. Click on a player to check the player's eligibility for your national team. Players displayed in grey do not have the right nationality. To complete your squad, click the corresponding button. Once you have found a good player who is suitable for the national team, select the player and click the "Add to squad" button. 8.1.3 Search player This is where to perform a targeted search for players for your national team, and then call them up directly for the squad. Use the tool in the way described at 8.1.2 and 4.2.3. 8.2 Team 8.2.1 Line-up The functions here are identical to the functions detailed at 3.1.1 under Team. Naturally, they apply to the national team here. 8.2.2 Tasks You may assign responsibilities and the captaincy of the national team here. 8.2.3 Team ratings In this area, you may compare your team rating with that of your next opponents. You require high approval ratings as a national coach, otherwise you face dismissal. At the start of the season, you will receive coaching offers from national associations, even if you are already a national coach. You are free to choose whether to accept a rival offer or stay in your current job. 8.3 Tournaments 8.3.1 Recent This area displays the current status of all tournaments which may be of interest to your national team. 8.3.2 History This area lists all the honours your country has amassed to date. 8.4 Training In this area, you can set weekly training schedules for the national team. This function is only active once you have assembled a national team. Other wise, the menu option is displayed in light grey (like all unavailable menu options). 9. Options 9.1 Game options The settings can be called up at the top right. In the game options, you can make settings for the game. When you adjust the settings in the main menu, you change the game options for each game you start. Otherwise, change the options for the current game; the options are saved with the savegame. If your saved data include more than one active country (a country in which you are able to work as a coach), you can choose whether to limit the number of active countries at the beginning of a new game. If this is the case, please activate "Permit selection of the active countries at the beginning". Your 3D settings are important here. You may switch off the 3D engine entirely, which also deactivates 3D elements used in the menus. We suggest not using this option unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, you can deactivate all 3D segments. Under Game Options you can make settings for the course of the game. When you adjust the settings in the main menu on the home screen, you change the game options for each game you start over. Otherwise you change just the options for the current game; the options are saved with the savegame If there is more than one active country in your data set (a country in which you can work as a coach), you can also decide at the start of a new game whether you want to limit the number of active countries. In this case, please activate "Allow selection of active countries at the beginning". Use the "Reassign teams to leagues at the end of a season" button to redistribute teams to appropriate leagues, depending on the leagues' and clubs' location on the map. 9.2 Sound options You can activate or deactivate music and sound effects. You can also incorporate your own music into the game. To do this, deactivate the "Use standard folder" checkbox and choose other directories for the music. After this, add music from the directories to the playlist by double clicking. The music will play in order unless you activate random playback. The order can be changed using the buttons under the playlist. Double clicking sends a track to the top of the list. 9.3 Load/save game To load a game, choose the corresponding game status from the list and confirm your choice. To save a game status, enter a name and confirm. You can also perform these actions in fast mode using the small symbols to the top right of the main menu at any time. You can also save the current game status at any time within the game with the key combination "Control" and "S". 9.4 Change data record Here you can also change the current data record or data slot in the game. Since the database is saved in the game, this only makes sense if the data slot contains other graphic content. For example, you can change the skin of the application here (if another skin is available) or select a folder with other player pictures. 9.5 High score "High score" ranks your career to date and shows your best careers. The list of your best careers is updated at the end of each season. 10. During the week The calendar sheets displayed show you the progress of the game. At this moment, some important game data and the latest events are also displayed. There is a "Play" or "Pause" button below the calendar pages. If the button is set to "Break the next day", it will be paused accordingly. You can then make changes to the calendar during the break. Click on the "Play" symbol to continue the week. If a red stop symbol can be seen in the lower right corner of the calendar day, the week cycle is interrupted on this day and the menu is opened. 10.1 Negotiating with players If you negotiate directly with a player during the week, for example to extend the contract, the negotiation dialog box opens. With the + and - buttons you can increase or decrease the corresponding negotiation parameters. You only send your offer to the negotiating partner by clicking on "Submit offer". While younger players are interested in shorter performance-related contracts, older players want long contracts with a high fixed salary. The happier the player looks, the happier he is with the offer. If the player is satisfied with the offer, this is displayed in the status and the negotiation dialog box closes. 10.2 Negotiating for players If the player was a player from your team, he is now playing with a new contract. If you have negotiated with a player from another team, the modalities of the change still need to be clarified. If you have to pay a transfer fee, you can negotiate the amount with the club. With the + and - buttons under "New offer", you can increase or decrease your offer. You only send your offer to the negotiating partner by clicking on "Submit offer". This then reacts to the changed offer, which you can see in the upper picture area. If you are satisfied with the request, click on "Comply with the request" to finally commit the player. 10.3 Events Events frequently take place during the week which can have a positive or negative effect on your situation or on your team. You can deactivate displaying events in game options, but you cannot switch off the effects. Your players' strengths are updated on 15 December and 15 June every season. 10.4 Change of coaching level At the beginning of every month, your performance is analysed to check the appropriateness of your level. If your level is too low, it will sooner or later be increased. If it is too high, it will sooner or later be reduced. If there is a change to your coaching level, you have the opportunity to reset your priorities in the areas of expertise. If you do not do this, the game assigns equal priority to each area. 11. Match 11.1 Before the match At the start of a matchday, you come to a tactical view incorporating menu points for the line-up, defensive and attacking tactics, and tasks. At the top you will see a comprehensive comparison of team values. The operation corresponds to the corresponding menu point. A warning advises you if you have picked too few players. Should this happen, you may make further changes to your line-up. 11.2 Match in progress If you have chosen a complete match simulation, you are taken from the match information to the match screen. You can make display settings (speed, match display) in the centre of the screen underneath the scoreboard. To the top left and right, you can adjust your team's effort and physical approach, defensive system and a range of tactical changes in real time. Under the scoreboard, you can choose from a number of match viewing options. Ticker: Selected incidents are described here. Use the "Ticker detail level" setting to specify how many of these incidents should be reported. To the left of every entry in the Ticker, you will see the time elapsed in the game, and an image, either of the club or the player, or a symbol appropriate to the incident. Telegram: This view is best if you require a rapid match with only the most essential information. Goals and penalties with the corresponding minute are displayed above and below. 3D scenes and segments: This displays all the action on the court in superb detail. The meaning of the symbols is explained on the right. Goalscorers are displayed underneath. If the 3D engine is active, you can follow the action using the 3D engine. Use the slider under the scoreboard to set the frequency of 3D segments. Use display options in the main menu to set the size of the 3D display. Live table: During league matches, the table shows the updated standings based on current scores. In knockout rounds of Cup tournaments, the display shows which teams are through to the next round based on the current scores. Use the buttons above the table to scroll through other leagues/competitions which are running simultaneously. Matches: Displays the results of all matches currently taking place on this matchday. You will see player lists to the left and right. This displays player ratings for the match so far, the penalties incurred, and energy levels. Players with no energy perform significantly less well, and it is definitely advisable to substitute players with low energy for a brief recovery period. You may personally take over substitutions by clicking the button with the name of the position. The next best player for the position will be brought on from the bench, or - if you have defined a substitute/second line-up the specified sub. However, you can also leave this task to the assistant coach (see below). To the bottom right the display shows the hall where your team is playing on this matchday and the total attendance. To the top left, you'll see a navigation with four buttons offering the following functions (left to right): 1.) Make substitutions and/or change tactics 2.) Assistant coach (if hired): activate or deactivate automatic substitutions 3.) Pause match 4.) Time-Out (once per half) 11.3 Time-Out Click the appropriate button to call a Time-Out. You may do this once per half. You have the option of motivating your players with a brief team talk. You can also instruct your team as to the next play, although this obviously only applies if the team is on the attack. Certain plays may not be available if they are unsuitable against your opponents' defensive tactics. In the last minute of each half, you have the additional option of withdrawing your goalkeeper by checking the appropriate box. This strengthens your attack, but significantly weakens your defence. You cannot call a time-out if the game is paused. 11.4 End of match/Newspaper The match normally ends at the end of the second half. However, if you are playing in the Cup or in an international competition and there is no winner at the end of normal time, extra time may be necessary. At the end of the match, an overview shows the result, the ratings and goals per player. At the end of a game, you will initially see a match summary detailing the result, the ratings, and a variety of match stats for each player. After this, you will see a newspaper overview with a round-up of news from the matchday. The top section shows a general review of the matchday, with the result of your team's match reported underneath. You are then taken to the results and the table. At the end of a round in a knock-out competition, you may watch the draw for the next round. Interesting facts relating to the matchday are displayed on the right-hand side. This includes the best player in each position and the biggest attendance of the day. 12. Editor Information concerning the editor can be found in the installation directory under Editor.pdf 13. Troubleshooting/Support One frequent reason for crashes is defective or outdated MCI sound drivers. If the game crashes, please deactivate the sound using the sound options on the starting screen and see if this solves the problem. Should this be the case, your MCI drivers are faulty. Windows updates or potentially the FFDSHOW tool may help. If you encounter problems with the 3D engine, please first check for updates to your graphics card drivers, and whether the game supports your graphics card. In certain specific cases, particular systems encounter difficulties installing the fonts. This is indicated by the game freezing at the start pop-up. If you encounter this problem, please copy the "keinFont.txt" file from the Save directory in the Handball Manager 2021 directory and install the font manually from the "Schrift" folder. For any other problems with Handball Manager 2021, please contact Support with a detailed description of the problem, screen shots and the game status as appropriate: Support-E-Mail: info@handball-manager.com Game website: www.handball-manager.com